Girl Meets Chair: Sleeping, Regina Spektor, and a Cozy Chair and a Half

Sleep……..

Sleep is my current arch nemesis. Its either awake all day, awake all night, or I go to bed at a decent hour only to sleep well into the next day and begin the vicious cycle over again. What’s wrong with me!?!? Why can’t I just go to bed at a normal time and get up at a NORMAL time like the rest of society? As I write this, the clock reads 12:36. I need to be to work at 8 am tomorrow morning. I don’t want to be exhausted.

Then I remember something great. Something that happened to me one night while I was lying in bed….. watching, listening to the ticking clock in my head.

Regina Spektor's Facebook

The TV was on mute but the glow was still lighting up my bedroom walls. I was on my stomach in my normal “falling asleep” position. Right arm under pillow, left arm over pillow, left knee bent, right leg straight. I was restless. I sat up to turn over and try my not so trusty position from the other direction. As I was turning I noticed a music video playing on the television. A young woman in a black dress was sitting in a black and white room. She was singing to a lovely man…..who happened to be headless. He was also wearing black and white. I couldn’t hear the music, all I could see was this young girl falling in love and letting her insecurities get the best of her. In the end she allows her heart to fall and instead of pain. She finds, joy, laughter, color……..and a really cute guy. As the video was ending the caption read, “Regina Spektor; Fidelity.” I smiled but didn’t think much of it. Little did I know, I had just met the musician that would change the way I look at music…. forever.

I heard the actual song on the radio a few days, later. It was then that I linked my encounter with late night television to this beautiful voice. I visited her MySpace page (I didn’t say this happened yesterday!) I was hooked. The voice, the lyrics, the intense pounding of the piano keys. ….. Each element of her music gave me goose bumps. I immediately purchased all of her albums on ITunes. They were all I listened to for a good six months. I remember starting to feel more like myself, and less like the girl I thought I needed to be.

Begin to Layer

Window Panels & Bird Paper Clip: Anthropologie, Lamp and Writing Desk: West Elm, Pillow: John Robshaw,
Tulip Chair: Knoll, Rug and Side Chair: ABC Home, Steel Knuckle Coffee Mug: Amazon.com

Fast fast forward a year or so later, one night at a bar, “Poor Little Rich Boy” was playing under the sound of people chatting and glasses clinking. My face lit up!

“Oh! This is Regina Spektor!” I exclaimed, “I love her!”

“Yeah, and I can’t figure out why…..She sucks.” My friend responded.

I was crushed, but this time unlike ordinary times, I was not defeated. The “old” Nikki would have stopped listening to Regina and downloaded the latest KESHA album, only to suffer though for the sake of popularity.

But No….The glimpse of ”new” Nikki was not going to let this girl who called herself a friend, tear her down once again. That night I took one step closer. One step closer to learning how to not give a damn what people think.

I’m not quite there yet….but I’m working on it.

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