LIFE FOR RENT

everyone's all cd reviewing so i thought i'd jump the bandwagon and tell you about DIDO's new cd "Life for Rent." maybe you think someone who's obsessed with *NSYNC and loves to sing and dance around to the bubble sound that is pop music couldn't possibly be interested in listening to someone as mellow as Dido. well, i heard her NO ANGEL cd and i must say that after that i was just drawn to her melancholy, whisper of a singing voice. that's one reason i love listening to norah jones' cd, but that's another entry.

anyhow, there's one song on Dido's cd that really got to me. it's the title track, "life for rent." just take a glance at the lyrics and tell me it doesn't make you think:

life for rent

i haven't ever really found a place that i call home
i never stick around quite long enough to make it
i apologize that once again i'm not in love
but it's not as if i mind that your heart ain't exactly breaking
it's just a thought, only a thought

but if my life is for rent and i don't learn to buy
well i deserve nothing more than i get
cos nothing i have is truly mine

i've always thought that i would love to live by the sea
to travel the world alone and live more simply
i have no idea what's happened to that dream
coz there's really nothing left here to stop me
it's just a thought, only a thought

but if my life is for rent and i don't learn to buy
well i deserve nothing more than i get
cos nothing i have is truly mine

while my heart is a shield and i won't let it down
while i am so afraid to fail so i won't even try
well how can i say i'm alive

but if my life is for rent and i don't learn to buy
well i deserve nothing more than i get
cos nothing i have is truly mine

this song could have a hundred different interpretations. but here's what it is to me. if you ever happen to wonder what the meaning of life is for you, and you can't, for whatever reason, figure out what that is. ask yourself about the last time you took a chance on an opportunity. did you seize the day or just tell yourself you were gonna fail at it anyway so why bother trying? how about the last time you asked yourself why you're alone. have you passed up chances to meet people because you're scared they won't think much of you? ever forbade yourself from feeling any kind of romantic feelings for someone because you can't remember the last time that emotion didn't fail to hurt you?

well, here it is folks. life is about taking chances, taking initiative. when i was younger i felt like this came naturally to me. teachers and bosses called me a "self-starter." but i know that for a lot of us, life seemed to slow down and the ability to "self-start" became harder and harder to maintain. i know my starter was cold for the last 3 years, but i feel like it's coming back to me. and not because i waited for it to warm up again, but because I decided put the heat back into it MYSELF. i don't want my life to be for rent, not having invested any kind of genuine risk in a venture. i don't wanna look back at my twenties when i'm 60 (god-willing i live that long) and say my life was a wasteland of missed chances. i've been reminded time and again in the last year that there is no courage without fear and there is certainly no victory without trial.