"Jessica" by The Allman Brothers Band

Today, I'm 31. Well, almost. Not until 3:45AM, which is in about 2 hours as I write this. And I feel pretty good. I treated myself to a nice, fancy new hairstyle yesterday, have a bunch of presents I bought for myself on the way, and - later today - I will finally get my first tattoo. It definitely feels different from my 21st birthday, which sucked for so many reasons that I'm not going to get into. But I definitely feel more grown up today, which I think is a good thing. One more day towards immortality. Or death. I'm not picky. Whichever comes for me. And I am still only an egg. ("Stranger in a Strange Land" reference....that book changed me in more ways than I can even explain.)

The story about today's song....pretty simple - this is the song I was named after. My dad has a habit of naming pets after whatever is on TV or the radio. He's had dogs named Pugsley (from "The Addams Family") and JR (from "Who shot JR?"). He even had a fluffy white cat named Cocaine - which sounds very rockstar but it just happened that a PSA for cocaine addiction was on TV that day. Fast forward to my birth. My parents are discussing what to name me. If it was up to my mom, my name would be an alliteration, like both my sisters' names are (i.e., their first and last names start with the same letter). My dad turned on the TV and it was a broadcast of a Madonna concert. Uh oh! Yes, folks, I was almost named Madonna. In hindsight, I don't think that would've been all that bad. It certainly would've been more unique. However, he decided against that idea and instead, turned off the TV and switched on the radio. "Jessica" by The Allman Brothers was on and, thus, a legend was born.

Being the virulent individualist that I am, you'd think it would annoy me that I have the same name as like 10% of the girls born in the 80s have....but you'd be wrong. I actually really like my name. I think it suits me. Also, whenever you meet another Jessica, you always have a friend. It's like a bond, a sisterhood of Jessica's. I have had more friends named "Jessica" then you can shake a stick at - but they were all some of the most awesome people I have ever met. I don't think that's a coincidence.

"Jessica" is an instrumental, and I'm not usually a big fan of those, but this song is an exception. From what I hear, it's the hardest song to play on Guitar Hero - and it was the theme song for "Top Gear (U.K.), which happens to be a favorite show of mine. I'm a car person - I may not know how to fix a car beyond changing the oil, but I know my supercars from my muscle cars, my hatchbacks from my caravans, my Lambo's from my Bugatti's. If I win the lottery, I'll be in trouble, because the list of cars I would like to own is about a mile long. Just so I can look at them and rub the interior every once in a while. Who knows? I may just go crazy and buy myself an Alfa Romeo for my birthday. You don't need to tell me....I already know that's probably a bad idea. But what is life if you don't go a little crazy every so often?

"Jessica" Video