"20 Questions" with John Violago, your sensitive guy

1. What was the first thing you did when you woke up?
- I prayed to Baby Jesus, thanking him for giving me another chance to be able to do good in this beautiful place.

2. If you're being extremely quiet, what does it mean?
- That means I'm thinking of ways to be a better person and how I could make life wonderful for each and every one of you.

3. Are you an emotional person?
- Yes, I believe so. I cry when I'm hurt, I weep tears of joy when I'm happy and I just couldn't stop the tears to flow down my cheeks when, when...oh god here I go again...

4. Do you want to get married and have children one day?
- Of course. Isn't that why we're all here? In this world? To find your one true love and spread more joy and goodwill through the little ones?

5. Are you close with your mom?
- Oh yes, dearly. Mothers are awesome and they surely know best.

6. Are you happy right now?
- Very happy. Why wouldn't I? I'm surrounded by wonderful people.

7. How is the weather right now?
- Brrrr....very cold. And I'm in need of a big loving hug to keep me warm. Hug me?

8. Are you allergic to anything?
- If anything, I'd say rudeness. Everytime I see people acting stupid in the subway, it just makes me wanna...sneeze.

9. How are you feeling today?
- Today, I woke up feeling the love and having an urge to just go out and spread more of it.

10. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it?
- Is there love in the relationship? Then it's definitely worth it.

11. How do you feel about your life right now?
- Life is great. Life is good. In fact it's so good that I just couldn't...that I just wanna...just wanna...oh dear, here I go again...

12. Do you believe that you are a good boyfriend?
- Well I've always been a good friend. And I've definitely been a good boy. But if what you're asking is, if you were my girl and I was your man? I would definitely make everything 'good' for you.

13. What is the one thing you notice first with the opposite sex?
- Her heart through the beauty of her eyes.

14. Are you a forgiving person?
- Holding on to hate is such a terrible feeling. If you haven't forgiven someone who has done you wrong in the past, I suggest you do it now. I guarantee you'd live a happier, fuller, more meaningful life. I am an SG and I am a very forgiving person.

15. Do you hug your pillow when you sleep?
- I have the tendency to hug whatever is next to me when I sleep. It's in my nature to seek for that warmth and cuddliness :)

16. Do you think you have made a difference in anyone's life?
- I believe all of us could make a difference in everyone's lives. All of us are hoping for change. We all want to live a more fruitful existence. I believe if we want that change to occur in the way we live, it should start in you. If you have changed the way you perceive things and accept the good in mankind, actual change would start to unfold all around you. So, did I make a difference in your life? I would say yes. Because with me just being here, you would have another person who'd love you and accept you for who you are.

17. Were you happy when you woke up today?
- Was I happy when I woke up today? You betcha! Was I happy that you've reached question number 17? absolutely! :)

18. When was the last time you cried?
- Just now, when I found out you kept on reading my answers, and actually cared about me. Thank you.

19. What/Who always makes you feel better when you’re upset?
- I would say my guitar. It lets me convey all my sad emotions into wonderful melodies that let me gather all the pain in my heart and pour them all into thin air.

20. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?
- In six weeks, there's nothing else that I look forward to the most, other than seeing all your beautiful faces at our next "Sensitive Guys with Guitars" show @ PJ's Coffee on the 20th of December. It would make me really happy if you're there. So please come! Spread the love! All the proceeds would go to charity :) Details on the right ->

Again, this is John Violago, your Sensitive Guy, thanking you for sharing a bit of your time...

with this, I bid thee farewell and always bear in mind, "A litte love goes a long, long way..."

- JV

My Life's Soundtrack- With Sensitive Commentary

Dear Diary,

So I've gotten this forward several times where you throw your iPod into shuffle mode to see what the soundtrack to your life would be.

I'm going to attempt to do this right-- the SG way. With added commentary. So here we go.

Thanks to Theresa Lee for the idea. :)
*/--Forward starts here--
IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...
7. Be Sensitive and add why you agree to how fate chose this song for you.

Opening Credits: Heaven- John Legend
- Man, if this were really the soundtrack to my life, I would love for this to be the beginning. Nothing says directed by Ang Lee or Judd Apatow (strangely interchangeable in my mind). But let's be real... this song screams sensitive... even though sensitivity never screams, but rather talks in a soft voice... why? So you'll listen.
Key Lyrics: "Sometimes when we're talking words get drowned out by the sound/Let's get back to touching we'll get back to solid ground"--Amen Jonathan Legend... nothing says I have something important to tell you like getting back to touching... I'm pretty sure I know what that means... you sir... are classy.


Waking Up: City of Angels- Bill Withers
I'm not so sure how this works in my life since I've been to LA all of 3 times in my life. But hey... it's fate so I'll take it. The song does reflect a longing for a location in life. Although sometimes I think it's more of a reference to Manifest Destiny 2.0. Maybe it's a sign I need to get out of Jersey and play in the West Coast. West Coast Sensitive Contingent... I'm pointing at you.
Key Lyrics:"Eastern cities move too fast/And southern ones too slow..." Proof positive that in this Mother Goose world, the west coast is not only the bee's knees, but apparently also the Baby Bear's Porridge.


First Day At School: Lost to the Lonesome- Pela
This is actually the first time I've heard this song on my iPod. I downloaded it as it was the band of a colleague of mine and I never got around to listening to it. There is elements of lonliness in the song, and a longing to be someone... which is exactly what I want to be. Incidentally, I also wanted to be something/someone my very first day of school. If you guessed Fireman, you're absolutely wrong. (The kid riding the Transformers big wheel would have been the right answer... good guess though).
Key Lyrics: "Don't just stand there with your face in your hands/Don't just stand there, clean up your broken glass"- No real significance here, I just liked it.

Secondary School: Virus- Deltron 3030
I heard this song for the first time in college, but it fits my less sensitive, rebellious high school years, when I wore 36 inch bottomed Kik Wear and JNCOs, getting into Hip Hop and giving it to the system. Nah I'm kidding... I had the asian butt cut and was singing Boyz II Men's 4 Seasons of Lonliness to my crush.
Key Lyrics-"I want to devise a virus/to bring dire straits to your environment/crushing corporations with a mild touch/trash your whole computer system and convert you to papyrus"- Apparently my iPod is reminding me that I wanted to get rid of English and write in heiroglyphics...ironically.. Del the Funkee Homosapien, the lead rapper of the group, was from the Heiroglyphics crew.


Falling In Love: We Leanin'- Zeebra
This song is vaguely appropriate, given that Falling In Love to me was like a foreign language to me, and this song is in Japanese.
Key Lyrics- 最高なこのfeeling/You, Me, we dreaming.-So sensitive... no need to translate.


Fight Song: Balloons- Foals
No lie.. these are the lyrics to the song:
There is a thing called //
there is this fuel called //
we can fly balloons on this fuel called //
fairweather storms are all in yr head //
oh there is this thing called..... (L) //
there is thing a thing called
this is all called //
WE CAN FLY BALLOONS ON THIS FUEL CALLED! (Love!!!)
- If that doesn't make you want to fight someone...namely the person who wrote it... Just kidding.. the song rocks.


Breaking Up: Genius- Kings of Leon
Ok. this song has nothing to do with me... and is much less sensitive.. but strangely... it appears to be about breaking up with someone you were having a fling with. That's not sensitive. Shame on you iPod... why aren't you playing my All 4 One playlist... it's 60% of the songs on you.
Key Lyrics- You keep stickin' to me like a prickly porcupine/You're gettin' your information from the grocery checkout line/Are you through confessin' of your little girl obsession/'Cause I was only messin' and I had a little time- Apparently... the Kings of Leon are not Prince Charmings.

Prom: Gangbangin' 101- Snoop Dogg
HOLY CRAP MY IPOD IS F***KING WITH ME. (pardon.. that wasn't sensitive)
Key Lyrics- If you ain't a Crip or a Blood just throw up Westside- She was wearing a red dress... i KNEW I shouldn't have gotten a blue boutineer. At least I threw a W up in her parents face as I passed by... now that's sensitive.

Life: Jim Gaffigan- The Case Against Cinnabons.
Ok so I skipped 2 songs because one was talking about blaming God (Woodlands National Anthem-Arcade Fire)... not gonna do it. The other one that came next was a snippet that had no lyrics. And then I landed on a comedy bit by Jim Gaffigan... and I was like.. why not. For those who don't know the bit, Jim Gaffigan talks about how Cinnabons shouldn't be considered food.
Key Lyrics- How about that Cinnabon odor? You're like, "What's that smell..awww I just got a cavity!"- Well... life sure is sweet (I still think my iPod is messing with me... that's not very SG of you iSGPod.

Mental Breakdown: Walkinonit- J Dilla.
This is fitting. When Dilla died, I was very sad. It was a very tragic passing for music and Hip Hop. Not many people realize the influence Dilla Dog had on music... if you're curious, he produced Q-Tip's Vivrant Thing and Janet Jackson's Got Til It's Gone, which sampled Joni Mitchell. And that's just the tip of his achievements.

The song Walkinonit has no lyrics save a vocal loop of someone singing Broken and Blue. That's how you left the world homie. RIP. TURN IT UP!!

Driving: Vermillion 2- Bloodstone - Slipknot
Kinda a weird thing to have pop up for Driving but sure. And yes, I do like Slipknot...for some reason. This reminds me of driving angry...with a angry demon carnival in the backseat.
Key Lyrics- I Won't Let this Build up inside of me. - You gotta admit... for a masked metal band. That's pretty sensitive.

Flashback: Another Rainy Day- Corinne Bailey Rae
FINALLY a song that's actually up to SG standards. A gentle ballad about being shy in front of someone you dig like a garden just starting up... and that garden... is LOVE.
Key Lyrics- Why am I so shy around you? /Why am I so shy?- Oh Corinne Bailey Rae, it's like you opened up my grade school yearbook and plucked out 12 year old Jay to remind me that I used to secretly refer to girls I liked with my friends with Anime Girl Character Codes ("Man... Akane is so cute! I like Kasumi!... they were Irish and Italian... respectively).


Getting Back Together: Maybe- UpDharmaDown
No one writes love songs like the Filipino Bloc Party. Not so much a getting back together song, more like a "Do I stay or do I go" but good try iPod.
Key Lyrics- When I see you standing there/I still want you here with me- Oh wait... it is kinda like a getting back together song... nice.

Wedding: Boku mo- Nitro Microphone Underground
I speak Japanese, but translating Japanese rap is really difficult. I think my iPod is telling me again, that this stuff is a foreign language to me...Boku mo means "Me Too"... so I think I'll get married... I believe it... my iPod says so.

Birth of Child: I Wanna Do it For You- Lonestar
Don't judge. SG's like Country. It's an unwritten code. We wear argyle, but next to our loafers, is a pair of cowboy boots.
Key Lyrics- I've Heard You Saying That You Need Someone Like Me/Baby, Open Up That Door- Yea I know the "baby" referenced in this song is like a lady baby and not a goo goo ga ga baby...but it fits. Like my hand in hers.

Final Battle: Derka Derk (Terrorist Theme)- Team America Soundtrack
Well... I ... uhm... yea... moving on.

Death Scene: Can't Let Her Go- Boyz II Men
Nothing says touching death scene like a P.Diddy produced club banger. But hey... Boyz II Men could sing from the Appendices of an Organic Chemistry text book and I'd still think it was appropriate.
Key Lyrics- Hey Boyz II Men, why'd you guys let go of Michael "Bass" McCary? I know that you guys replaced him with an actual bass guitar, but that's not cool. He had that quiet cool factor with that cane and well placed "Hey Baby". Can your bass guitar do that? I know there's no lyrics here... but he was great. I know he has sclerosis, but you could have at least had a press conference about this or something. Bring him back...please. <3.

Funeral Song: (PM~AM)-Buddha Brand/Under My Umbrella-Incubus
I'm calling two songs for this because the first one is a slick instrumental by a Japanese rap group. Apparently my iPod is telling me I will die unmarried and not understanding Love... in Japan. The second song that came up is equally strange Incubus's Under My Imbrella... an album written during what seems to be a sad time in Brandon Boyd's life.
Key Lyrics- When I close my eyes/I can see for miles/There's comfort in my dark scene/And chaos in the aisles- Cryptic.

End Credits: Learn- Vordul Mega
I wouldn't mind going out on a vibed out hip hop track like this. HARLEM!
Key Lyrics- Everyday we learn/Every day we turn/To make right knowing the basics- There's not much else to say.. they're the end credits...

And that... was my SG playlist... even though in hindsight, it's not very sensitive, and pretty Japanese... but hey such is life. I hope the other SGs do the same exercise as me...I might have to hound them. :)

Stay Sensitive.

JL

ps. Usher's My Boo just popped up on shuffle as I'm writing this... WHERE WERE YOU FOR THIS POST. My iPod and I are having words later.