Tuesday, August 18, 2009

She's Leaving Home

My oldest niece is leaving for her first year of college this week. Thursday, I believe. It's great - and it's a bummer.

It is a very exciting time for her. I think she's a little more nervous than she cares to let on. The same can be said for her parents. Both my sister and brother-in-law I think are going to be a little lost when they get back home and realize she won't be back later in the day.

I feel worse for my nephew. Katie was always so "out there!" that Matt could slink into the background and do whatever he had to or wanted to without too much interference. Now it's just him. Two more years of just him. Poor kid. He'll never escape my sister's attention until he's packed away to college.

But times are so different. We were all talking about taking our Peaches crates (if you had Peaches record stores) and our 100s of albums with us to school - along with your turntable, tape deck, receiver and speakers. Now it is all on your laptop. It's makes the move that much easier.

And the cellphones. I had a rotary wall phone in my room. They now have micro-fridges. I couldn't even have hot plate. Don't get my started on my manual typewriter.

Yes, I sound like Abraham Simpson talking about wearing onions on his belt because it was the style at the time. ""Give me five bees for a quarter", I'd say".

Anyway, I've written now and again about Katie, my niece. She's pretty (and not just a proud uncle saying that). She's smart - an honor student and who got a nice academic scholarship for her hard work. She's a gifted athlete who gave up tennis because she was never thrilled at the competitive aspect of it. And she's a talented guitarist and songwriter.

Truth be told - I bet she'd rather just do music than study, but here's hoping she can balance both.

But I am bummed she's going because she was always a lot of fun to hang out with - she got my sense of humour and she and I could talk music to death. She loves all the stuff I've given her and is now really into the Smiths, which I think is so cool (her mother, does not share the same sentiment).

I knocked off a couple of cds for her before she left - the new Morrissey, some Arcade Fire, Talking Heads. She oddly enough wanted the last Killers cd - which I didn't think she'd ever like. And I gave her a cd of songs I think she should cover that would suit her talents and voice well. We'll see if she takes my advice and posts any of them.

But I don't have to miss her too much. She has set up video-conferencing, so with the new laptop, I'll be able to talk to her and see her. That will be fun. I think. She might just find it annoying.

I thought I'd post her new song/video here, but opted for her doing a cover of the Beatles, "I Want to Hold Your Hand". It was done about a year and a half ago, so she's aged, matured and progressed as an artist. I'll let you sample her original stuff on your own time. You can find it here.




Song by: the Beatles

5 comments:

Breenlantern said...

Loved this. Very talented woman.

rebecca said...

This is awesome. I love this kid. Get her on AI!

Birdie said...

I love her throaty voice; but was that because she was tired? You have every right to be proud of her.

This may be old news, but Arcade Fire has a very cool video of "Neon Bible" in an elevator. Watch the percussion.

Brettcajun said...

That's a very nice video. Thanks for sharing! :)

cb said...

Jesus man-- where did you go to college?? U of Bedrock???