For the third year, The Weeknd‘s “Blinding Lights” makes my playlist, although last year the song was represented by Sam Tsui with production by Kurt Hugo Schneider. I find the cultural discussions around the song fascinating: how a song from 2019 predicted the loneliness and isolation of the world, the greater concept in the record After Hours complete with thematic story-telling music videos and conceptual live performances leading up to and during the release of the record. “Blinding Lights” was the omni-present hit in 2020 that worked whether you were a drug or sex addict, a celebrity dealing with the dark side of the industry, or none of those things. A lot has been said about this synth pop track a lot better than I can prepare in an evening, so I’ll leave you with a podcast that talks about it pretty well. And for the rest of the post today, I’m going to leave you with a Spotify Edition of my Pseudo ’80s Hits from last year. Kids make sure to cover your ears, there may be some gratuitous sax.
Harry’s House, the third full length record fromHarry Styles, was one of the most anticipated records of the year, and it dropped late last month. In aninterviewwithZane Lowe, Styles talked about how the writing process for his third record was a continuation from his writing process forFine Line.Styles’ former record had been a surprising take on psychedelic pop akin to the ’60s and ’70s, and listeners and critics wondered what he would offer on his third record. It turns out that, so far,Harry’s House holds a high Meta-critic ratingthan either hisself-titled debutorFine Linewith a score of 83%.
LEAVE AMERICA, TWO KIDS FOLLOW HER. The similarity between Fine Line and Harry’s House, though, can’t be pointed out from the lead single, “As It Was,” alone, though. Many critics have pointed out the similarity between “As It Was” and A-Ha‘s “Take On Me“; often with the argument that Styles’ “As It Was” is inferior to the 1985 hit. While I’d agree that if we had to choose one synth-pop classic, “Take On Me” would win; however, I think that’s more of a valid pre-album comparison. While Harry’s House does have its fair share of synthesizers scattered throughout the record, “As It Was” is a bit of an outsider compared to the rest of the album tracks which feature prominent acoustic or electric guitars. “As It Was” is the album’s clearest homage to the ’80s, with most of the songs sticking in the sweet spot of ’60s and ’70s folk/disco influence. Furthermore, “As It Was” is a bit of an anti-“Take On Me.” Styles’ sad-boy post-punk melody and bittersweet lyrics on “As It Was” contrasts with the exuberant “Take On Me.” With “As It Was,” Styles picks an emotionally complex track to lead an emotionally complex album. While some of us were at home reading up on zymurgy since we were too scared to go to the liquor store, Styles was at home writing a new record. Many of the lyrical themes on Harry’s House deal with fractured relationships, death, and the pandemic, and how the pandemic made fractured relationships and death even more devastating. Today’s song is a reminder that the world is a different place from 2019, and it will never go back to “As It Was.”
IN THIS WORLD, IT’S JUST US. But I didn’t get this song at first. When I watched the Zane Lowe interview a few days before the album dropped, I started to respect what Styles was doing. Harry hints at dealing with a break up, the loss of a loved one–perhaps his step-father who died during the writing process of Fine Line–and being locked down in America, Japan, and the UK. But it was something much more personal that made this song connect. I’ve talked about being a bad music critic in that I don’t always listen to the new albums as soon as they drop; however, I did happen to listen to Harry’s House on Friday afternoon on the way to meet my friend and co-worker of six years and his wife. Having been very close for years, I finally decided to come out to them. It’s part of my journey toward honesty with meaningful friendships, rather than suffering the burden of keeping my life sub-rosa. Everything went well, but as I took the bus home and listened to the album, I thought about all those moments in life that you can’t take back. I can’t go back into the closet to the people I know. Then I think about the people who I still need to have that conversation with. Once we have that conversation, things will never be the same, for better or worse.
In early 2012 when Anberlin announced that they would be returning with an album produced by Aaron Sprinkle, longtime fans knew that they were in for a good record. While their prior major label releases had stretched the band and had proven how versatile their sound was, the band had not produced an album that matched the lyrical and musical depth of their fan-favorite,Cities. 2012’sVitaltook Anberlin to both familiar territory and reinvented their sound.
I CAN FINALLY FORGET A PAST YOU SAY YOU NEVER KNEW. Vital is a heavier album than their previous two. But, up to that point, the band did very little with electronic music.Vital, however, opened to the electro-heavy “Self-Starter,” complete with an autotune chorus, somewhat reminiscent ofAvenged Sevenfold‘s “Lost.” In fact, many of the the tracks incorporated electronic elements. The band admits to consuming a lot ofM83at that time. Critics and fans both loved Vital. However, the album failed to grab new fans because the record label, Universal Republic, had decided to stop promoting rock music. The lead single “Someone Anyone” failed to crack the Alternative charts, the first time that Anberlin’s lead single from a record since they had signed to a label had done that. The band had truly put their hearts and souls into the record. Vital was supposed to be a celebration of youth and energy. The band’s new electronic sound aimed to be marketable in a changing music environment. But just as the band had felt they had hit the glass ceiling at Tooth & Nail, they found that the big tours with The Smashing Pumpkins, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and Linkin Park were behind them. And while Vital may have been one of their best albums, “Feel Good Drag” would be the band’s one hit wonder as far as radio was concerned.
THERE’S A TIME AND PLACE/ AN UNKNOWN REGION OF SPACE. Perhaps the best example of the Anberlin’s marriage to electronics while keeping full guitars engaged is “Other Side,” a metaphysical song, wondering about the deeper understanding that will come on the other side of life, possibly death. Lead singer Stephen Christian sings passionately calling for someone to love him and hold him. Like the album cover artwork of the boy being consumed by a large wave, the speaker of the song is just at a precipice between him and being pulled into a deeper understanding of the universe. It could be a romantic song about death, like The Smiths‘ “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” also covered by Anberlin or the Albert King reference in “Hearing Voices” on Lowborn, which states “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven / But nobody wants to die.” Is it Stephen Christian’s self-destructive streak, threatening to dismantle Anberlin? To me, though the album, and “Other Side” had another significance. Vital was released in my second month living in Korea, over ten years ago. While I loved the musicality on the record, I realized that, like its predecessor, Vital‘s lyrics were a little weak at times. “Other Side” works lyrically because the music is so strong. Like Adele‘s “Hello,”“Other Side” reminds me about the complications of living on the other side of the world. I reminds of me of the time and distance between the two groups of people I love. In 2012, it gave me comfort that what I was doing was meaningful. At the beginning of 2023 before I fly back to see my family after the longest ever being away, it makes me excited that for about $2000, you can love and spend time with friends and family anywhere in the world as long as there’s no pandemic.
I conked out at 10:30 last night. I didn’t sleep well on Friday night, and without New Year’s plans–boyfriend in another city with his family, friends abroad, and not wanting to brave the cold with strangers–I decided to let 2022 end with a whimper rather than a bang. Rested up, I decided to make a playlist of some songs for a theoretical New Year’s party. This playlist is some of the songs I listened to today, some of the hits of last year, and song songs about growth and renewal. Happy 2023!
This year, The Juliana Theory released an EP presumably the first half of an album that will probably come out next year. The EP was released in May, which is a long time to wait for its second half; however, it seems that Brett Dettar and crew never rush the band’s music. Long-term fans of The Juliana Theory have suggested that the band’s post-2005 Deadbeat Sweet-heartbeat music doesn’t fit with the band’s direction, and while many fans like Still the Same Kids, Pt. 1, they suggest that The Juliana Theory isn’t still the same band. But that argument could be made for any band that stuck together consistently, updating their sound into the ’20s music landscape.
SHIT, I GET NOSTALGIC. I’ve heard that the Germans consider nostalgia as a kind of illness. If that’s the case, the film, television, music, and fashion industries are sick. The pandemic reunited lots of bands to play reunion shows. Extra time at home had us revisiting the music of our past. Even teenagers felt homesick for a time they never had as they discovered classic rock albums for the first time. While Brett Dettar had been writing film scores and country music, The Juliana Theory was on hiatus. Today’s song is blatantly nostalgic for late ’90s culture, namedropping technology and Oasis‘s “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” and talking about things the speaker did in high school. When the speaker says, “I’m just living on borrowed time,” he suggests that we think of our own prime. Usually, a band’s listeners will be younger than the band members, for Dettar and The Juliana Theory, the bandmates came of age in the early ’90s and formed in the late ’90s with their peak arguably 2000’s Emotion Is Dead, when emo started going mainstream. While The Juliana Theory may not be first in the conversation of mainstream emo bands, hipsters both admire The Juliana Theory for their contribution and call them a sell-out for turning to a pop rock/alternative sound, as a recent video on emo the YouTube channel Trash Theory suggests.
DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER. So we come to the end of another year. What does that mean for my New Year’s Day Project? It’s looking like a busier year, and I’m dying to get back to the gym to get back in shape. In some ways, it’s like this blog has me stagnating. This year I tried to make playlists for different moods and events and tell in-depth stories about bands I was learning about. I’m not sure that my schedule will allow for that kind of research next year. During the school year, particularly March-June and September-November I’m going to be busy with extra classes, eating up hours in my nightly free time. I’m considering doing lots of repostings and maybe a weekly update of song suggestions in addition to my repeated song of the day posts. Also, I will try to do some of my writing during my vacation period so that I have a reserve of posts. Music and writing are still very important to me, but there are three other priorities that I want to achieve: 1. Focusing on my teaching and picking up extra classes 2. Actually speaking Korean 3. Returning to the gym the minute the indoor mask requirement is lifted–going for personal training at first to build muscle memory, which is time-consuming and not cheap. Music will fit into my day, but I’m not sure how as of yet. But for now, I’m going to keep going, pressing forward into the future. Happy New Year!
Today, I listened to Good Christian Fun‘s latest episode, a Second Service repost because the Kevin and Caroline were probably enjoying the holidays too much to record a new episode. In the episode, the hosts and their guests picked their favorite Christmas songs like a sports draft. One of the songs Kevin chose “River” by Joni Mitchell, a pick that was mocked by the others. However, since I heard the words, “It’s comin’ on Christmas,” I haven’t been able to get the song out of my head.
I WISH I HAD A RIVER I COULD SKATE AWAY ON. Joni Mitchell is one of the great singer-songwriters of the ’70s. “River” comes from her Bluealbum. Most of her catalog was pulled from Spotify, along with fellow Canadian Neil Young, in response to Seth Rogan’s Covid misinformation. “River” is a Christmas moment on an album of many moods. It may be awkward to include a future Christmas standard on a general album–think of the future evermorewhen “’tis the damn season” is a standard! On the episode of Good Christian Fun, Kevin was play-mocked for how “River” isn’t that recognizable as a Christmas song, and maybe that’s what makes it a great song. Today’s version is by British pop star Ellie Goulding, but the song has been covered on several Christmas albums including Sixpence None the Richer’s The Dawn of Grace and Barry Mannilow’s A Christmas Gift of Love. The cast of Glee covered the tune as well as Harry Styles and Olivia Rodrigo.
AND HE LOVED ME SO NAUGHTY. The theme of “River” is missing your home. Christmas music is northern-hemisphere centric. Snow, reindeer, evergreens, cold weather are all common tropes of Christmas music, but in the song Mitchell is in a warm environment missing her hometown in Saskatchewan. Musical fame had brought the singer-songwriter to California where the seasons don’t change. Of course many of us don’t have white Christmases. Even in New York after I moved to North Carolina doesn’t have a white Christmas every year–though most of the time they have white Thanksgivings and even white Halloweens. The truth is that the mythology Christmas songs prescribe is mostly false. It doesn’t magically snow on Christmas Eve in Disney other than the soap bubbles they pump in Kissimmee, which is quite disappointing for a New Yorker to experience at Christmas. Sure the orange trees froze one year when we went down to Florida to visit our grandparents, but we were swimming a few days before that. As we near the end of the holiday season, I wonder how much just accepting Christmas for what it is and not trying to make it something that it’s not will make the holiday better. Yes, I want a river to skate away on where Christmas is more magical, but ultimately the spirit of Christmas adapts to its surroundings.
It’s not too late to listen to Christmas music, especially as I wrote the other day that my Christmas feels unfinished. American light rock radio stations start playing Christmas music before Halloween, so by December 26, we’re ready to stuff the tree back into the closet. Of course those same light rock stations keep playing Christmas music until early January. Liturgically, we’re still in the Christmas season. You should be receiving five golden rings on from your true love today.
HAPPINESS AND CHEER. I certainly won’t be blogging much more about Christmas music, even though my family has delayed Christmas for my homecoming a month after the holiday. However, I thought that an inclusion of Rosie Thomas‘s “Christmastime Is Here” is a worthy entry to my playlist. Like many households, Vince Guaraldi Trio‘s A Charlie Brown Christmaswas one of our holiday standards when I was growing up. It is the only Christmas album my dad likes, and “Christmastime Is Here” is his favorite Christmas song. The song was performed as an instrumental and with a church’s children’s choir who represent the singing voices of the Peanuts gang. “Christmastime Is Here” became a holiday standard and has been covered by other artists including Debbie Boone, Mel Tormé, Rosemary Clooney, R.E.M., Stone Temple Pilots, Starflyer 59, and Family Force 5. “Christmastime Is Here” doesn’t always translate in its cover versions for when artist adds the merest characteristic of their own sound to the song, they risk tainting the original feeling of the Christmas special. The Starflyer 59 version inadvertently does this making the song sound too weird.
BEAUTY EVERYWHERE. Rosie Thomas’s “Christmastime Is Here” opens her 2008 holiday record, A Very Rosie Christmas. I think Thomas’s version is one of the best I’ve heard. While Vince Guaraldi Trio’s version is classic, I often felt the instrumental was better than the vocal version. The children’s voices are flawed and awkward, though much better than his version of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” But Rosie Thomas’s vocals texture is often childlike, and “Christmastime” is no exception. Furthermore, Thomas keeps the melancholy of the track but embellishes beautifully. The piano, too, plays interesting countermelodies as Thomas sings. By keeping the melancholy in the song, listeners are reminded of the plight of Charlie Brown, a boy who has enough, but still can’t seem to find his happiness. Christmas is a time that depresses him because he sees so much happiness around him, but he doesn’t understand how he can be happy. He’s a child with adult problems that many of us feel particularly around the holidays. It’s the kind of joy that we feel is lacking from our lives when we see others’ Instagram wraps from the year and we wonder what we’ve been doing with ourselves. Linus offers some words about the “true meaning of Christmas” which seems to set Charlie Brown straight until the next holiday, but it seems like the melancholy fog persists over the Peanuts crew thanks to Charlie Brown.
Coming to the end of the year, it’s time to remember some of the musical highlights of 2022. I listened to a lot of music this year and maybe more new music than last year. But there certainly were albums that slipped under the radar. I had every intention of digging into The Weeknd‘s Dawn FM, but somehow I was never in that dark of a mood to resonate with the characteristics of that record. Today, I’m going to reveal my controversial list. Enjoy!
#10. The Loneliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen. The latest from the “Call Me Maybe” singer is a record that isn’t immediately catchy and could easily fall between the cracks of all the big releases of this year. The diverse singles showed different camera angles of a maturing pop singer who has solidified her status in music nerd-dom and gay music listeners alike. And with her first explicit labeled song, Jepsen is distancing herself from former tween-friendly aesthetic. I’m sure next year I’ll be digging into songs like “Surrender My Heart” and “Joshua Tree” and writing a blog post about the hilarious “Beach House.” Maybe next year, the art pop vibe of this record will hit at just the right time.
#9INVUby Taeyeon. I didn’t listen to much K-pop this year, but one record that I did listen to a few times was Taeyeon’s latest LP. Last year, she released the single “Weekend,” which became hugely popular and that single was also included on the LP. The title track, “INVU,” was her biggest song of the year and people are still signing as Taeyeon does in the music video. My favorite track has to be “Siren” because of the emotion Taeyeon brings to the song.
#8 Midnightsby Taylor Swift. I was expecting more from Taylor, ngl, especially after the journey she brought us on with folkloreand evermore. Mic the Snare summed up an opinion on the record that I felt when the album came out and struggled to get into it: that it feels like a repeat album cycle of reputation. Despite the lyrics of “Anti-Hero,” though, Swift has become wiser in her lyric writing making Midnights a much more tolerable record with some genuinely good tracks–“Maroon,” “Snow on the Beach,” “Lavender Haze” are interesting lyrically with Jack Antonoff‘s ’80s-inspired production. I’ll keep giving it a try, but as of writing this post, I’m not convinced this is best Swift’s got.
#7 I Blame the Worldby Sasha Alex Sloan. The self-identified sad-girl made a “mad record” in 2022. There was a podcast I listened to reacting to Sloan’s EP Self-Portrait. While the podcasters enjoyed the EP, they hoped that Sloan would never make a full-length record. She did. Only Child is a heartbreaking masterpiece, but it pulls back from the gut-wrenching, sometimes mean-spirited lyricism of her EPs. On this year’s I Blame the World, Sloan is caustic as ever. So, this record may not resonate with you. The title track “I Blame the World” is probably the most catchy, but the other songs are worth a listen. Emo surely is alive in 2022.
#6 MUNA. The June release of MUNA‘s self-titled record came after the group released several singles starting with last October’s duet with Phoebe Bridgers “Silk Chiffon.” The full album was solid. “Anything but Me” was a beautiful break up song wishing the best for an ex. The group also had an interesting post-album release single, the ’00s sounding shock pop song “What I Want,” a song about getting back out in the world after a break up, doubling as an anthem for the once cooped up quarantined listeners. Unfortunately, the album was released the same weekend as Roe was overturned, and that didn’t make for fun listening, and I haven’t really gotten into the album since. The record was really hyped before its release and then kind of forgotten in my other music circles. Maybe we can bring it back next year.
#5 Voyeuristby Underoath. I didn’t listen to this record a lot. It was too dark. I thought that the band had summed up what they wanted to say on 2018’s Erase Me. “Religion is a means of control,” the band continues to argue, wrestling with an evolving spirituality and atheism in the former Christian band. But listening to the documentary mini-series of Labeled: Deep Dive, the band got into the deeper personal issues they had which shaped this record. Voyeurist is a hard record to get into unless you love hard music. Some of the tracks feel bereft of all hope and blasphemous, particularly “Pneumonia,” the album’s closer. Other tracks are just creepy like “I’m Pretty Sure I’m Out of Luck and Have No Friends.” But the most accessible track has to be “Hallelujah,” which blends melody and screaming in a way similar to tracks on Define the Great Line.
#4 Dawn FMbyThe Weeknd.I listened to Dawn FM through once. Similar to the Underoath record, but in a different way, Dawn FM is a depressing record. The ’80s/’90s RnB sounds of the record make the album fun, but the eerie impending doom of the record–death–freaked me out. “Out of Time” and “Take My Breath” are the stand out tracks for me, as well as the voice of Jim Carrey as a radio DJ.
#3Harry’s Houseby Harry Styles. This album has received a lot of hate, and I’m not sure that it’s warranted. Harry’s House is an interesting ride, though it certainly is a little disjointed. Haters say that the songs like “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” are soulless as a Target commercial, but from listening to Styles talk about the album, it seems that he and his team are adding something unique to top 40 pop music. Yes, “As It Was” feels like a less original “Take on Me,” but the album shines in the middle with slow tracks like “Little Freak,” “Matilda,” and ’70s disco fun tracks like “Cinema” and “Daydreaming.”
#2 People Like Peopleby Watshi Wa. I admire what the band did with production on this record. It’s a punk rock record refined by 2022 technology. It’s collaborative featuring friends of the veteran band. I chose “Let Me Prepare You” as today’s song and the song to represent the album. “Let Me Prepare You” features Gasoline Heart–a band that certainly need their own post. People Like People may not age well given its reaction to the pandemic and as I sat with the album throughout the year, I wrestled more and more with the themes of government control and reliance on technology. The record seems to fall on the more conservative side of the pandemic, and lead singer Seth Roberts points out the toll that the pandemic had on his corner of the music industry. The album makes a few covert statements on tracks like “Land of the Free” and “Who Who Hu (Man)” comes off as subtly racist. But tracks like “Trust Me,” “Like You Mean It,” “Some Time,” as well as today’s song and the Stephen Christian-featuring track “Zombie” all make the record ridiculously catchy.
#1 Milk Teethby Tyson Motsenbocker. It’s the indie rock album I’ve been wishing Death Cab for Cutie would record. Tyson Motsenbocker tells stories on Milk Teeth, but also has mastered hooks in a way that he has never played hooks before. Sure “Wendy Darling” is a slow start for a pop song, but by the saxophone outro, you may just put the song on repeat unless the instantly catchy guitar riff of “Carlo Rossi” comes on. But it’s not just the hits. The lost loves on “UC Santa Cruz” and “Give Up,” the existential dread of “North Shore Party” and “Time Is a One Way Mirror,” and even the light-hearted “Hide from the World” balance the album. It’s poetry, storytelling, and beautiful instrumentation.
Beginning with a youthful momentum, transitioning from the piano-based pop-punk band Something Corporate to the alternative sounds of Jack’s Mannequin, Andrew McMahon had a very busy 2005. Jack’s Mannequin released their debut record Everything in Transitin August and the band was set to debut strong. Several of the songs from the album were featured in the WB hit show One Tree Hill, ensuring a built in fanbase.
IT’S GOOD TO BE ALIVE. But Andrew McMahon started feeling extremely tired at the time of launching Jack’s Mannequin, more so than he had been as a touring musician with his previous ban. And it turned out that his wan complexion wasn’t from exhaustion. McMahon was forced to cancel Jack Mannequin’s fall tour dates following their August release of Everything in Transit because McMahon had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. But thanks to the singer’s sister Kate, Andrew was able to receive stem cell treatment and was cured of his cancer. After receiving treatment, Andrew penned and recorded “The Lights and Buzz,” a song about the hardest year of his life–a year that he started a band, recorded a great record, and survived cancer. The song was released through iTunes and on the Japanese release of Everything in Transit and was included in the 2015 re-mastered edition.
IT’S CHRISTMAS IN CALIFORNIA. In some ways, “The Lights and Buzz” is a Christmas song, but I think it fits better as a “Thank God the Year Is Finally Over” kind of song. Like the haunting piano of Chad Howat in the Paper Route rarity, “The Lights and Buzz” invokes a kind of mystical Christmas/end of the year sound. It’s a song from a place of exhaustion and it can relate to anyone who is exhausted from a year of toil. Maybe it’s the head butting against the wall that won’t break and the headache an Anacin can’t beat. But it won’t go on like this forever. The year ends and a new one begins with new challenges and opportunities. I think about the incredible feeling of being among the jet-setting elite who get to travel halfway around the world. In less than a month I’ll be home, and I’ve made plans not to make plans. It’s coming to the end of the hardest years in our lives, a time when what we relied upon as a society–international travel to anywhere in the world–just disappeared. I really hope that we’ve come to the end of these “unprecedented times.” I really hope that we all can find rest in the end of the holiday season. I hope that we can set Atomic Habitsthat we can all accomplish in the New Year. But for a few more days, let’s continue to enjoy the lights on the tree.
Fiction Family was a side project found by Christian Rock band Switchfoot‘s Jon Foreman and bluegrass band Nickel Creek‘s Sean Watkins. Eventual Switchfoot, Tyson Motensbocker producer Tyler Chester and Aaron Redfield also joined the group. The band produced several folk rock recordings and a free HolidayEP on NoiseTrade (now Paste). The album is not available on streaming sites, so besides my YouTube playlist, I will include “California Christmas” from Switchfoot’s latest release this is our Christmas album. But I will include “I Don’t Need No Santa Claus” because I think it nails the meaning of Christmas that I’ve been appreciating this holiday season.
I DON’T NEED NO CHRISTMAS SONGS. Christmas this year feels unfinished. There are some years that I’m in a holiday spirit from September to February. Other years I’m just glad that Christmas ended. But this year I feel as if Christmas didn’t actually happen. For me location often plays a big role in how Christmasy I feel. In Korea, Christmas is a couple holiday, and because it was on a weekend, it was back to work right after Christmas. And some countries Christmas isn’t even a public holiday. And everyone has localized traditions. In Korea, it’s a couple’s holiday and couples go out and buy a cake–not a fruitcake, but a chocolate or a strawberry cake–and share it together. It’s kind of exhibitionist holiday showing off who’s together. When my family moved to North Carolina, I had to adjust to feeling a Christmas feeling without snow because when I lived in New York we had had a white Christmas every year. But this year, I realized something about Christmas. If I don’t actively try to celebrate it, I’m going to lose a part of my culture. The culture of Christmas is based on family traditions passed down from generation to generation. I also wonder what the importance of celebrating Christmas is without having a family.
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY BABY HERE WITH ME. But without family what else is there? Couple Christmases. Friends’ Christmases. My first Christmas in Korea I spent with friends/coworkers who were planning on leaving Korea the coming March. They were missing home and so we watched Back to the Futurebecause it all reminded us of home. The following year, I cocked up by not making plans. I felt lonely until I started watching a Korean drama called Reply 1997 (응답하러 1997), and I was glued to TV, eating chicken and snacks. I was so moved by the loneliness in Joon Hee’s (준희) story–portrayed by singer Hoya–that I vowed that the next year I would start dating guys secretly. But then I got my heart broken by the next Christmas in Korea. This is my eleventh Christmas in Korea and every year has been different. Most have been without a tree. Most have been last minute changes and plans, and when I try to recreate a Christmas that is similar to my memories and expectations, I only get disappointed. I guess if Christmas is that important to me, I need to start planning at least by September what I should order or find in order to recreate Christmas traditions. Otherwise, I should decide that the most important thing about Christmas is family, and family now includes my partner. Spending time together is good enough. Everything else is just a bonus.
Mixtapemotions 