So it’s late on Friday night, around 5am, and I’m chilling in my kitchen. I’ve got the lights out, and I’m sitting by the big window. I’ve got the Google Home blasting, and I’m just trying to get through the night and fight off a slightly sad mood.
I’m not sure why I’m sad, because I had a really good day overall. I woke up late on Friday, after staying up all night Thursday working on my website, genxchronicle.com. We cover news, culture and lifestyle through a Generation X lens.
So after working from home for a while Friday afternoon, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday night. The Met is open late, until 9pm, on Fridays and Saturdays.
I had a great time browsing the art, and I took a bunch of pictures. I stayed for about two hours, and it was just great to get lost in the works of some of the world’s greatest artists.
I got home around 10pm and chilled out for awhile. I ordered a chicken parmigiana hero from a local pizza place, and I watched some Taylor Swift videos on YouTube. I don’t love her music, but I like it a lot. She’s smokin’ hot, and she has a classy elegance that really makes you want to marry her and make babies with her.
Around midnight I got inspired to write an essay about my night at the museum, which is also the name of a cheesy Ben Stiller movie series. But my night was better than his.
So I spent the next four hours working on a story about my time at the Met. I took pictures of a lot of paintings at The Met, along with the accompanying captions. So I went through a bunch of them and chose the best ones to include in my story.
I finished the story around 4am, and I published it on genxchronicle.com, and publicized it on Facebook and Twitter. Then I told myself to just kick back and relax, you’re done working for the day dude.
Because when you work for yourself, you never really know when you should take a break, or for how long. Every break is time lost when you could be furthering your career.
But at the same time, you have to chill sometimes. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, to quote Jack Nicklaus from the 1980 Stanley Kubrick horror classic The Shining. So I ate some food, and I watched some more videos, and then I headed into the kitchen to chill out.
For some reason, though, I can’t relax. I just can’t wind down from work. The music on the Google Home is not hitting the spot, and I’m just dragging. I’ve got it set to a station based on In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins, which is a great song, but I’m just not feeling it.
Phil’s song ends, and “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal comes on. Boom! I’m instantly transported out of my sadness, and enraptured by Seal’s smooth, passionate and melodic voice. He’s just so chill, and his voice is so moving, it’s like he’s taking you on a journey through the range of human emotions.
The chorus is the best part, when he sings:
Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray
Ooh, the more I get of you the stranger it feels, yeah
And now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the gray
Wow! I absolutely love this song. It was released in 1994, when I was in college, and it really made an impression on me, and on all of my friends too. Seal’s had an underrated, great musical career. He’s was also married to German supermodel Heidi Klum for a long time, so good for him.
But what really matters is that on this night, at this lonely 5am hour, Seal released me from the dark clouds that were hovering over me, and made me see the light.
Because I really did have a good day, and I got a lot done.
So I tell myself to just relax, sit back, and enjoy yourself.
You can be sad tomorrow if you really want to.
Tonight let’s be happy. What have we got to lose?
