some hope, some despair

Beyond all reason, I am attached to the idea of true love and the idea that there is someone in the world that you are meant to be with. You know, “the one”. Maybe you already know that person, or maybe you have a connection waiting to be discovered, whatever, that person is somewhere in this world.

It's a kinda crazy and overwhelming prospect. What are the chances that while you're going about your daily life and normal routine, you will find someone who totally gives you THAT feeling?

It's not something that just happens all the time, so when it does, it totally sets your world on fire and makes your heart feel alive. All of a sudden, it's hard to imagine a life worth living without that person in it. You feel absolutely convinced that those feelings will never die, in fact, they will keep growing deeper and deeper with time.

But. What happens when you think you've found that person, but the timing and circumstances are all wrong?

Like, for starters, what are the chances you that the other person will immediately get the same feeling from you? And that you, or they, won't have just ended some messy relationship and be all fucked-up and heartbroken? And that you, or they, despite your best intentions, won't be all hurt and bitter from general past heartbreaks?

And that neither of you will be just about to leave town or move away? And that you, and they, actually feel ready for some sort of “all-consuming thing”?

What if the circumstances simply don't allow for you to be together? What if the timing is just all wrong?

Do you accept the idea that there may never be a chance to ever be together? Do you just keep moving forward, with a heart that has some bitter regrets about missed opportunities and stupid timing?

Even if that other person finds someone else, do you let it go?

Or do you remain ever hopeful and eternally delusional? In love with the idea that everything will work out and be perfect in the end. I mean, you don't want to settle for your second choice, right?

I always kinda wrote off the Descendents as being a bunch of adolescent suburban punk boys, teeming with juvenile sentiments and, I suspected, probably renowned for charmingly dumb teenage antics.

But in the last few years, Chris has almost always played them on the 4ZZZ Punk Show, and finally, I get it. I get them. And shit, I gotta give some play to a band that is considered to be somewhat pioneering in the pop punk genre. And if I was to put them in a further sub-genre it would be “eternally-heartsick-but-forever-hopeful-if-not-somewhat-naive-about-matters-of-the-heart pop-punk”.

I mean, that song “I'm The One”...woah. Who doesn't wish that they wrote that? And of course, “Hope”. Which is the reason why we're here today:

My day will come/
I know someday/
I'll be the only one


PS. Do you like how I tried to make this sound all objective and generalised and universal? I mean, you don't -heaven forfend- think I'm talking about ME and my own experiences, do you?