11:11

11:11 by Andrew Bird

This song will forever be tied to the Lou, for better or for worse. It's a long story, but I can shorten it for the blog. I was dating the Lou and really liked her. She moved off to New Haven and I moved back to DC. So we were doing the long distance thing for a few months, she came down to visit me, I went up to visit her and so on. At the time I had very little going for me at the time - for two months I was unemployed. I was unsure about everything in life. I was scared to do much of anything. I had little clue of what I really wanted to do. In a way, the Lou was all I had. And she made me happy. I enjoyed visiting her and I fell for New Haven in the process and planned on going back up there in October over Columbus Day. In my mind, everything was fine and dandy. In reality, things were not. And the moment I got off the train on that fine Friday afternoon in New Haven, I knew something was up. We had an awkward lunch. We went back to her place. She broke up with me*. I was now faced with a problem... do I stay or do I go? We had planned on going up to Boston to see a BC football game. I couldn't go anywhere that night since it was going to be tough to get a train back to DC (plus I was going to try and give it once last shot, what the hell right?). So the Lou says, yeah stick around for the weekend. I say fine. On Saturday, we get up and since it's raining like the end of the world, we end up going to her home parents house in Farmington, CT. We spent that Saturday doing pretty much everything broken up couples do not do, in other words acting like a couple. This was probably not a good idea in the long run, but that's life. Sunday, we go back to New Haven, and Monday is my train back to DC. But in the process of all this driving, we listened to Andrew Bird a good five or six times. I am really enjoying him and 11:11 especially. So right before I leave for DC, the Lou gives me a CD of Andrew Bird's Swimming Hour. Of course, 11:11 became the song of that late fall of 2005. I listened to it all the time while I sat around doing nothing but watching Gilmore Girls reruns. I got a temp job, and eventually I would listen to it walking to and from the King Street Metro... singing along as I danced (figuratively) down Cameroon Ave. Wow... okay, there's also memories of sitting a top the hill that surrounds New Haven, looking out upon the town, and thoughts of Gilmore Girls, and milk... I love this song, even if the memory is pretty bittersweet (as far as the Lou... we pretty much never talked again after that weekend and needless to say it took me a few months to get over her; what a weird break up, oh well).

Listen:

Listen whole song now!
Andrew Bird "The Swimming Hour"— 11-11

*[NOTE: The White Sox were also playing the Red Sox as this was happening, but I won't get into that].