Singing Along Forever

Goodbye Vox

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:22:54 -0500

So, I'm leaving Vox. After almost three years here, I've begun to long for something new.

I'll still post photos from traveling, write stories about music, life, relationships and everything under the sun.

I'll come back and check on my neighbors every so often but I doubt I'll post anything new here.

Vox does a lot of things right, and some things not so well. The groups, QotD and features are all great, but I feel the blogs are too clunky, there's too much going on. That's what lead me to Tumblr. It's a lot more stripped down, plus having a functional iPhone app scored huge points for me. Hosting high-res photos also looks great on Tumblr. More of my friends use Tumblr while only a handful use Vox. I also feel it's easier to find relevant content on Tumblr than it is here.

Regardless, I wish Vox and Six Apart the best. Thank you for hosting my blog for free for all these years.

Best,

Sean J. O'Rourke

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Say, That's a Sweet Tweet Cloud

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:21:08 -0500

I read an article this morning that said "twitter" was the most used English word of 2009. In the past year, I'm proud to say I tweeted a lot more about listening than watching or sleeping.

Tweet Cloud

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QotD: New Moon Lights Up The Dark Knight

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:35:20 -0500

New Moon broke The Dark Knight's single day box office record. Are you planning on seeing this teenage vampire love story? If so: Team Edward or Team Jacob?
I'm not big on tough yet worthless decisions. Two guys, one girl...hmmm, I know what can remedy this!

Jerry Springer

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Sun In An Empty Room

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:27:35 -0500

The Weakerthans' video for "Sun In An Empty Room" is one of my favorites in recent memory. It features the once-booming and affluent North End of Winnipeg, a city that reminds me so much of Asbury Park in how a traumatic handful of years can be devastating for decades. Oh, and the song is pretty good too. The first time I listened to it I was driving just outside of Washington D.C. during sunset, it was perfect.

The Weakerthans - "Sun In An Empty Room"

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Let The Fist Pumping Commence

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:26:06 -0500

There's been a lot of talk about MTV's new show Jersey Shore set to debut on December 3rd as being offensive to both Jersey-ites and Italian-Americans. As if we in the Garden State don't catch enough flak already, thank you MTV for another batch of pseudo-entertainment. I honestly don't worry about people trashing my home state anymore because I've been around the country to know there's people from Jersey everywhere. I'll probably wind up watching this piece of garbage too, and I bet half of the people are really from Philly like they were in MTV's recent True Life: Jersey Shore. Does anyone else notice the startling similarities between the casts of this show and VH1's Tool Academy 2? I know I'm splitting hairs but that show was hilarious.

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Pianos & Jackhammers

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:14:19 -0500

Everyone always tell you when you're young that time flies by. I'm glad to say I have some amazing, unforgettable experiences in my pockets. The bad times and hard lessons are the change that sinks to the bottom. They're there but they don't weigh me down. I've spent a lot of the past two years like feeling like I'm being dragged down a hall, scratching on the walls with every ounce of strength to just stop if only for a second. This morning I woke up at 23 years and 338 days old and realized I'm just beginning. Don't count your years, fill them and stay open.

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Battle Studies

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:05:15 -0500

John,

I love your new record. Yourself, Steve and Pino have done another great job. Like Continuum, this heartbreak handbook couldn't come at a better time for me. I promise to live your advice of staying human, staying hurtable and staying open. Thank you for being the coolest musical act of my generation.

Best,
Sean

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Thank You, Kris Roe

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:09:49 -0500

Uninspired and growing tired,
why am I always so attracted to trauma?
So here I am, grown up at 23,
will someone tell me what it takes to be happy?
I play in my band and write a lot of songs
about relationships and how mine went wrong.
Maybe I'll meet that special girl along the way,
then she'll break my heart and leave me crying.

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Destined For Anything At All

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:04:23 -0500

I can't believe it's been a year since I moved to Miami. Well, a year yesterday. It's not that it hasn't felt like a year, it's just been one crazy amount of emotion in 366 days. I'm endlessly happy to be back home in New Jersey after six months in south Florida. It just wasn't for me. I missed my friends, my beautiful and amazing girlfriend (she's one person), my home, my feeling like I was home. Those six months were tough, insanely tough on me. I definitely experienced palpable growing pains in the last twelve months. Emotional swings, tough, really tough decisions, issues bearing with the past, the future, present, nano-crossroads, accepting wins and losses. A wise man once said it's not the amount of years in your life but the amount of life in your years. I'm stoked (stoked being something I don't feel too often anymore) to say I've lived like that for the first 23 years and 11 months. I have no shortage of dreams and emotions (sometimes the latter is not apparent) but this past year has left me feeling dry inside, searching for anything inspiring, finding fewer reasons to do things because I want to but more often because I don't want to do/suffer the alternative. I never wanted to be that person that's bummed by having to grow up. I've never wanted to be like so many of the adults I was surrounded with as a child, scattered, stressed, graying and fraying at the ends. I never ever ever wanted that. It's fair to say I reached out to role models who barely knew me, or I only knew one side of their lives. And even the people I most admire, I wonder and often doubt my ability to uniquely replicate what they've done. In fact, if I could sum up the past 12 months in just one sentence, which is tough, it'd be that I've never felt less special, less unique or less important. I am young, and I know that, yet I don't feel like I am. I feel absolutely beat up. When you're down is when you really realize how many people lean on you, which sucks because I feel like that is ONE huge thing that I lack. I feel less like the downtown and more of the neglected bridge and I can't put my finger on it. I guess it's because I've had a lot of idealogies turn into actual experiences and haven't been happy of the outcomes. I've moved way too often, made way too many transitions and squeezed myself too tight too often. In a way it's all I know how to be: crazy. I guess the overall tone or still-hidden rationale to this is it's the only way I know how to live. And the thought of the future scares me when I know I shouldn't fear it but shape it. You can only live in so many moments. Dreams, the things that hopefully push us all, can be altered or tarnished so quickly with such little effort. I guess I have a lot of those patches on my sleeve and I'm not sure what's going to take their places. I don't mean to sound so downtrodden, so oppressed, but time is short and something nobody should be so blase about. I'm not so sure that old me would like the older me. I need to take some advice from a younger version of myself and stay stoked, about anything. About something coming. I want to be stoked for the future and for new experiences..

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Lately

nobody@vox.com(Sean J. O'Rourke) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:39:02 -0500

Couldn't get into Halloween. Couldn't fill a room at the Stone Pony. Couldn't miss the rain. I'm glad that weekend is over.

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