8 things that I learned from O-Town

When O-Town became a band on the oh-so-fabulous show "Making the Band", I became their #1 fan.
Tied only by one other person - my best friend, Amanda. There were four of us stalkers girls who were obsessed with Ashley, Jacob, Dan, Trevor, and Erik... but Amanda and I were hardcore about it.

Our obsession was so bad, in Junior High, that most of the kids in our class (and some other classes) knew how much we loved them. We had pictures of Ashley Parker Angel in our locker, all over our binders, walls of our bedrooms, etc. We had various doodles on our notepads saying things like "Mrs. Faith Parker Angel" or "I love Ashley", etc. Amanda may or may not have even named one of her guppies, Ashley Chang, because Ashley had a dog named Chang. She's creepy, I know. If she reads this, luckily she probably won't, she'll kill me.

We may have only been 12, with limited access to the interwebz, but we were definitely stalkers knowledgeable about their lives. You could have asked me literally anything about them, and I would've known it. For some reason I still remember Ashley, Jacob, and Erik's birthdays... I know Ashley's favorite chocolate bar. I know where Trevor went to school. I know a bunch of useless crap various random facts about their lives... and I don't think it'll ever fade away from my memory.
For this, I'd like to give thanks to Tiger Beat, J-14, Bop, and various other 'teen' magazines.

I was thinking about O-Town the other day (I have no idea why), and I started thinking about the various ways they have influenced my life... or at least what I've learned from them.


Love this scene from Veronica Mars.

8 Things that I learned from O-Town

• One. Liquid Dreams are real.
  
  They aren't just somthing that your Sixth Grade health teacher tells you about. Maybe I was the only girl who thought this way, but I thought this was a lie. I didn't believe that boys experienced this.
  Thanks, O-Town, for clarifying this.



• Two. All or Nothing, baby.
  
  If you can't have it ALL, then you better have nothing at all. So, yes, I grew up with the mindset that I could have my cake and eat it too. Wait, I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANY (mom & aunti jay, no I didn't get any on me and it didn't hurt, everyone else... please don't ask what that means).
  This is probably why I'm fat. Clearly, it's because O-Town said that if I couldn't have it all, I should have nothing at all. Obviously, I always got it all... I could've used with a little 'nothing' if you know what I mean. I digress...
  Anyway... It's like they say - there's nowhere left to fall when you reach the bottom, it's now or never. That's a deep lyric when you're 12...





• Three. You can be famous if you make it through various rounds of a reality show.
  
  These boys started on Making The Band and were catapulted into fame really quickly. This was before Youtube, American Idol, or The Voice even existed. Watching this happen gave my twelve year-old self such huge hopes/wishes/dreams of becoming a rock star. All I needed to do was win a reality competition show. I still have time to make... my time isn't up just yet.



• Four. O-Town is a fun way to say Orlando.
  
  Shout out to my girl, Whitney, who lives in Orlando.
  This nickname is inappropriate for any other city. Don't try and nickname your hometown "blank-town". Seriously, it only sounds cool to say 'O-Town'. If you walk around saying H-Town, V-Town, J-Town, K-Town, you might get kicked in the balls.





• Five. You can't launch a solo career after the band splits up.
  
  I'm looking at you, Ashley. As much as my 12-year old self would hate me for admitting this: Ashley, you are not J.T. As far as I'm concerned, Justin is the only boy band member who has successfully launched a solo career (and surpassed his previous fame).



• Six. These Are The Days.
  
  These are the days between your hopes and fears
  These are the moments that are still locked here
  It's still uncertain if she will appear
  But, like it or not, this is what I got
  
  Guys, this is deep. This is probably the 'deepest' that O-Town ever got in a song. There's still a slight under-tone of sex in this song, however, I'm opting to only focus on the lyrics "these are the days."
  I'm pretty sure it's boy band lingo for 'Carpe Diem', or something.
  Whether you're 10, 25, 50, or 400 years old, this applies to you. Okay, so the part about waiting for 'her' to show up doesn't apply to me (or the 10 and 400 year olds) but I'm reading between the lines here.
  
  
• Seven. We Fit Together.
  
  I wanna go knock knock
  Our bodies to the beat
  And when the morning comes
  we're letting the sun shine
  We'll stay in bed
  You can't separate us
  We fit together
  
  Whether you like it or not, we fit together. Okay, hopefully if we 'fit together', you like it as much as me. If you don't, just don't tell me about it. Wait, I think I just took this in a completely different direction than I had intended. Oops, haha - Mom, if you're reading this - just pretend I didn't write this point.
  I don't feel like re-writing #7, so I'm leaving it...



• Eight. Boy bands Boys are perverted
  
  This one is pretty self-explanatory and also pretty obvious. When I was 10-15 years old, I had NO idea that my favorite songs were about sex. Who'da thunk it?
  

For the record, it is 100% acceptable to have an O-Town jam session and listen to every song you can think of while you write a blog post like this.
Don't hate.

These are the days where we fit together like liquid dreams because it's all or nothing.