relient k

As I said to my friend Leeann yesterday when I arrived at the gym and she asked how I was doing because I looked 'not okay'..."It's been a...year." Indeed, life has been full of very interesting and semi-overwhelming occurrences since January 1. Ups and downs, of course, but I remember commiserating with my coworker one day after we both encountered weird, weird, weird results in the lab during the last week of January - and she said, "2007 is not going so well."

Er...I hope this isn't sounding too melancholy...!

At any rate, it had been a long day of thinking and fixing and working with people, but after some biking and ellipticaling (since the chiropractor says running is not such a good idea for my back, hips, and knees), I headed home and felt rather better. And as I sat down on the couch to start working on my home-work (that is...work I needed to do at home to "turn in" to my boss today), I popped an old favorite CD into my new laptop. I was craving some of the comfort and truth of "Getting Into You" from Relient K's 2003 album Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...But Three Do. According to the artists, nobody knows them, but I've known them for a long time, so it's hard for me to tell if that's really true. Anyhow, if you don't know them and you have the sense of humor that made you smile when you read the album title (since...it's true!), check them out (and while you're there, make sure you listen to "Must Have Done Something Right" - even if you're a bitter single person, you'll probably smile because this guy's in-love-ness is so cute and genuine!). Oh, and they also have lots of fun things to say about the 1980's, so if you like the 80's...there you go.

What I appreciate about Relient K's music is that it's not about big, crazy drama. It's about everyday things that happen. When there's a song about "I'm mad at you!" it isn't, "...And my life is ruined and it's all your fault and you'd better come apologize or you'll be sorry." It's "Hm, getting along with people is real tough. Real and tough. I feel angry. You probably do, too. I feel worse thinking that I made you angry. We're both wrong. There's a lot of stuff that needs to get worked out between us and within me." ...Sounds like healthy, well-adjusted, thoughtful people approaching a problem in a logical way. And I guess that's why I couldn't stop with just the one song I had set out to hear last night; I listened to two of their albums. And if you know me and my musical inclinations, you'll know it is quite abnormal for me to spend that much time listening to something. I'm much more of a peace and quiet type.

But - good thing I wasn't last night, because after the music (oh, and a nice cup of cappuccino), I felt much, much relieved of many of the stresses that have been bogging me down lately. It's not that the music fixed my problems. No...I guess it rather reminded me that bad things occur to everyone and we all have to select our way to deal with the bad things and sometimes it takes a long time for bad things to get fully worked out; and that good things also occur; and that the year hasn't been that bad; and that I can thrive under the grace I've received and live a much more joyful life if I recall to extend grace to others.

...Deeeeeep, eh? All that from a band whose songs say stuff like "Ohio has the flavor of a water chestnut."