Wish you were here...

I can NOT believe Syd Barrett is dead. Like I totally feel numb. You could say comfortably numb, but I won't because I think it would be disrespectful.

I'm upset about this for two reasons:
1. While Pink Floyd is not one of my all-time favorite bands, some of their songs rank right up there. "See Emily Play" has got to be one of the most ridiculously addicting rock songs ever; it's so weird, but you have to hear it over and over and over until people threaten to stop being your friend if you don't quit with the "ah-aaaaaaaaaaaaaah"'s. And although he wasn't technically with them when it came out, I think that "Wish You Were Here" is perfect. Absolutely perfect. Like I seriously had a religious experience when I first heard it. I was twelve-ish and sitting in my mom's car for some reason, and it came on the radio. I was about to change the channel (20 bucks I wanted to hear something like "Mmmmmbop" or "Barbie Girl" or or something equally horrific; I can't stand the barren wasteland of music that was my adolescent years) but something about it was so eerie that I just couldn't. And then the singing started, and I have never been so immediately touched by lyrics. It made me cry. See, I'm tearing up right now. It's just perfect.
2. I'm afraid that I killed him.

I'll explain.

This is going to sound ridiculous, but I'm kind of psychic. Well, not really in a traditional sense. But I have this weird thing where if I say something bad/mention someone out of the blue, they might end up dead/sick. HOWEVER, this, for whatever reason, ONLY applies to old men (so all you twenty-something boys that have pissed me off, don't worry you're safe-for now...). Might I present THE EVIDENCE:
1. Last fall, I randomly put up an away message that said "I can't wait until Castro bites it so I can go to Havana and have a mojito." Ok, so it MIGHT be a little tasteless and insensitive, but whatever, I thought nothing of it. And how often does Fidel Castro come up in your everyday conversations? Hardly ever. So this was just some random thing that I thought about while sitting in class and put in an away message. The next day CNN runs a story about how Castro is actually really sick and has Parkinsons and might possibly die very very soon.
2. A couple of months ago someone sent me an e-mail and randomly mentioned Richard Pryor. I read it and said to a friend who was in the room "I totally don't care about Richard Pryor, he's not even funny." A few days later? Dead.
3. I bad-mouthed Cheney, per usual. Hours later he was in the hospital with chest pains.
4. Said that Bob Denver gave me a pervy vibe. He died later that week.

There are like a ton more-this happens all the damn time. But this brings me to Syd.
Monday evening I was driving with my brother and dun dun dun! "Wish You Were Here" came on the radio. I made him stay in the car and listen to the whole thing and told him why it was such an awesome song. We talked about it for about 20 minutes.

Less than 24 hours later, I find out that Syd Barrett, founder of the band that did that song, had died.

So now my psychic abilities have extended to when I say nice things about people. From now on, I say NOTHING. I want no part in the deaths of anymore rock legends.

I might be persuaded to discuss a few pop-stars, however.