Yellow Ledbetter

I just always think how badass, yet entirely appropriate, it is that the guitar lines from Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" are the closing audio at the end of this bit.  If you know the mood of that song on its own, and parallel it to what has just happened in the show, it is piercing.

Plus like any true 90s junkie....chances are, in the years you were addicted to F*R*I*E*N*D*S, you were also a little bit in love with grunge music and the likes of Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam frontman).

I am that 90s junkie.  I am a sucker for Pearl Jam.  Anyone who can get me to see them in concert in this lifetime, I will be indebted to you!!


So for the writers of F*R*I*E*N*D*S to go and put this song in at a very tender moment in the show, knowing how much I love the show, yet also knowing how much I love the band...and fusing them together....is like kung-POW.  It's like the writers are taking this chance to speak right to me!  WHAT?!  I get this feeling every time I watch this scene.  Whoa.

I love this show, F*R*I*E*N*D*S.  I was one of the millions of fan followers when it was actively on-air, and even after it retired in 2004, I bought the whole set of 10 seasons on DVD, and watch an episode from those DVDs at least every other day.  No, really.  I have been doing this since 2004.  Any time there is a F*R*I*E*N*D*S rerun on TV, I'll choose to watch that above anything else.  Even though I do still have the same freaking episode on DVD and catch watch it whenever I can.  It's very similar to my dad's odd fascination with the movie Shooter.  The world stops and the TV remote is off limits whenever that movie plays on TV.  I guess I know where I get this quirk from!


Anyway, this show and the character lines that are drawn in it, are ones that I have really been able to pull from for my own life.  Watching this show has gotten me through some of my more challenging phases in my life, too.  When I was living alone in Mississippi -- my first time living ALONE (meaning, no college roommates and a 14-hour drive away from home) -- I watched the entire series over the course of my 3-month summer stay.  I started on episode 1 and went through all 10 seasons.  It became a little project for me, something to look forward to.   And, call it dorky, but it almost became like the characters on the show became my friends, because after a long day at work I'd come home, put my feet up, press 'play' on the TV/DVD set in my Mississippi apartment, and my F*R*I*E*N*D*S would be there for me.  It was my comfort, and the things I learned, and learned about myself, in those short 3 months, are ones that I will treasure.  I wish those 3 months lasted longer.  I could have used more time.

I am doing this now, again, for a second time.  I started watching the entire series of F*R*I*E*N*D*S this summer and I am taking it slower, enjoying the episodes and watching them casually whenever I can get to them.  I don't feel it is as relevating as it was for me back in Mississippi, but I hope it strikes a chord real soon.  But again it is a project for me, and I am watching how the writers grow these characters from season to season.  I am also learning how the characters adapt and keep their cool in various pressure-cooker situations....so I can mock that myself in my many pressure-cooker scenarios that have been popping up this year especially.  Thanks again, F*R*I*E*N*D*S.

Time for some more Pearl Jam.