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 |   My 2nd blog. My spot for sharing my life, music, and writing with my friends. |
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Hello, Hello. Fancy seeing you here. I'll work on making this nice and pretty later. *  I also have a poetry blog, for those who dig poetry:
AND I have a mental health group with a monthly challenge:
[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Lay my hands on Heaven and the sun and the moon and the stars While the devil wants to fuck me in the back of his car ♡ * I will never make this pretty. |
30DBC: I'm gonna make this easy on you today...write whatever you'd like! But...each sentence must contain at least one emoticon (and after this week you've got so many more to choose from). I won't put a minimum line count on this...it's harder than it looks. Awwww, we're getting into the  festivities after all!  I knew you couldn't hold out, Norb  . Ah, well I think  I can do this. I've been doing homework  all day today.  School is picking up  so when I'm not working, I'm schooling. Is tomorrow still going to be news  day? Please, please can it not be  . I can't bear to see the horrible things happening in the world  right now!Did I tell you guys I'm doing NaNo prep  next month? I'm actually going to try to do NaNoWriMo  for the first time this year- while in school and working full time. I think I might be crazy  to even attempt it, don't you? Still, even if I don't finish, life's all about trying new things  , right? Plus, I have a sorta kinda maybe idea  rolling around in my head that I want to play with. We'll see what I have time  for, I guess. Like I've said before, I really just need two more hours  in a day.This weekend is kinda meh  . I was sick and I accidentally got Kira sick  too. Then I pissed Jordan off  , so now I have no one to hang out with tonight  . I guess it's more math and accounting  for me. That's okay though, I should get ahead  on stuff anyway.Is using one emoticon per sentence supposed to be hard  , cause if so, I'm rockin it. I could probably just rattle on and on  until you all fell asleep and made a deal with yourself to never read my blog again  . Which new emoticon  is your favorite? I really love the new  kiss emoticon, cause it got hella sexier. BLOG CITY: What is a valuable lesson you learned from a teacher? I have a really awesome public speaking professor this semester. I've only been in her class for a couple weeks, but she's just awesome. She sends us inspirational quotes all the time and brings food to every lecture. I won't say I've learned anything from her yet, cause I really haven't, but I have thought about how different she is than the other two profs I go to in person. She's way different than the other ones are, like she seems like she actually wants to teach and it's obvious that she likes giving speeches and communicating with people. Why do math profs always suck so much? I have no idea, I don't get it. I had one that was pretty good during my first semester and then the subsequent two have seriously sucked, like either just not known their shit at all or they're super pissy all the time. We have to be in their class for three hours at a time and instead of trying to just, like, stay positive, they're bitchy as fuck. At first I thought it was maybe because they felt like none of the students really liked math, which still isn't an excuse to be a dick, but might make sense. Now I'm thinking it's something else though, like maybe the people who major in math are just super disconnected from emotions so everything is just as robotic and literal as possible. I'm still not sure though. The one I have this semester has thus far been in a bitch-ass mood during every lecture. I'll keep you updated. I will say that as far as learning from instructors, I don't necessarily learn the topic they're teaching as much as I learn how to be likeable and reasonable. You can learn how to get people interested in things that they typically wouldn't be into, like public speaking. I'm not into public speaking at all. I'm not afraid of it, but I think it's a pointless class for me to take because it has nothing to do with my degree. I know, I know, everyone has to give a speech or share opinions in a group at some time. I think you should be able to just present something to a room full of people and show that you're competent to deliver a speech before they make you dish out the money and time for a four month long class, but whatever. Still, that's the whole point. I'm somehow more engaged and interested in my public speaking class (one I don't want to take) versus math, which is a subject matter that I have genuine interest in. Sorry, but the professor DOES matter and affect the course a lot. Some people say that if you can't pass a class or aren't interested in a class, it's your fault. In my experience, that's not the case. I learn from my professors the way I want to present myself to people. And darling I will be loving you till we're seventy And baby, my heart could still fall as hard at twenty-three |
30DBC: On this day in 1888, George Eastman registered the name "Kodak" and patented his roll-film camera. The camera took 100 exposures per roll. Are you the designated picture-taker in your family? How have the technological advances in digital photography changed the way you look at taking pictures? I’ll be honest; I’m not a picture kind of guy. I mean, I do have photos of myself, but I’m not the #selfie type. I don’t know why, I just never really got into taking pictures. They weren’t a big part of my family life as a kid, as far as like, no one in my family had to run and grab the camera to capture every moment. So, I never got used to taking pictures in order to remember specific moments. In fact, no one in my family is really big on pictures. I remember my ma trying to take pictures of grandma and the rest of the family and grandma told her that she doesn’t need a photograph to remember something that she was there for. I think it was kind of like a, ‘just enjoy the moment for what it is’ kind of thing. Because of that, I don’t have a lot of childhood pictures of myself. I’ve seen a few in my grandparents’ collection and my parents have some on their walls from specific professional family photo events, but other than that, yeah… just not big on pictures. I wish I was more interesting on this topic, but I’m just sort of not. It never occurs to me that I should be taking pictures of myself or the people that I’m with. I’m usually so in the moment that it would be out of nature for me to be like, “Ah, hang on a second, let me grab the camera.” When I do take pictures, they tend to be more of what I’m doing rather than WHO I’m doing it with. For example, I’ll take pictures of landscapes and sceneries before I’ll take a selfie with the building behind me.  It just wouldn’t even occur to me to do that. When I’m at a concert and I see someone turn to face the audience so that the photo is of them with the concert behind them, it’s just… weird to me. Like, not trying to rag on anyone who does that, of course, to each their own. It just isn’t something that I would personally think to do. I might take a photo of the band or the mountain or the museum exhibit, but I’ll rarely take a photo of Kira and I with it.I know it’s weird, but I think I take LESS pictures now that I have a camera on my phone. I mean, no matter what I’m doing, there’s going to be someone with me who IS a photo person and they’re going to snap about a million photos on their phone and upload them all to Instagram, so if I for some reason feel the need to see a photo of something I experienced in person, I can always just go look at it online. Photos don’t have the sentimental value that they once had because they’re just so easy to take and delete and save on your computer. You don’t have the experience anymore of waiting for the roll to develop and hoping that at least most of the photos turned out okay. So, in short, I’m not the one taking the pictures; I’m the one who’s too busy experiencing it firsthand to even think about stopping for pictures. WTMR 2. What is the most daring thing you have ever done? How did you feel about it afterwards? Would you ever do it, or something like it again? The most daring things we do are the ones that we do spontaneously without a plan in mind. For me, the most daring thing I’ve done is move across the country to live with Kira when we were first dating. I mean, we had been dating for only a couple weeks when I met her and we hung out, kinda hit it off really hard and then I realized she’d be heading back home in a couple days and that her home was hella far away. It really wasn’t a big decision for me because I had nothing else going on anyway. I was hopping from couch to couch and just thought, Hmmm, yeah, I could move across the country tomorrow. So, I did. At this point, I don’t know if I would be able to do something like that again. I mean, maybe someday, but I have too much responsibility right now to just get up and move with a small bag of belongings. I work, I’m in school, I have an apartment with a lease. Things change when you get older and you have things and people, which you’re tied to. I think that when you’re very young, that’s when you should do those things. When you have nothing else major to do, that’s when you should travel and live as carefree as possible. After that, you have to get kind of serious for a while, but then later in life, you can get sort of carefree again if you play your cards right. That’s what’s cool about it. You sort of go full circle. I know retired people who live like I did when I was first out of my parents’ house, minus all the general debauchery, of course. But, they do those fun things like pack up the car and drive ten hours to visit somewhere they’ve never gone. They’re retired and have nothing else to do on a Thursday. See, that’s fun to me, but you just have to time it out right. You can’t live like that at every point in your life. I felt fine about moving after I did it. I had no qualms about it and I do not have any qualms about any decision I’ve made in my life. I have no shame for anything I have done in the past or continue to do currently. People have to live their lives in a way that works for them and, as I’ve said before, the only choice I will ever regret is one that I allow someone to make for me. WTMR 6. What is the one thing that brings you the most joy, above all others? Ah, there are so many things that bring me joy. I think one of the best things in life is spending time with someone that you really care about. There’s nothing better than forgetting all your real-life problems for a while and just going out with someone who is fun and happy. It just rubs off on you and, no matter what else is going on, you find your mindset adapting to fit theirs. Another awesome feeling is when you’re trying to learn a difficult concept and it suddenly ‘clicks’ in your mind. It’s like an ‘aha moment’ and there’s not much that can replace that feeling. The realization that all the work you’ve put into something has paid off is just a good feeling. I have it a lot doing math where I try to understand the same type of problem for an hour and then it just suddenly works in my mind. That’s always a lot of fun. Of course, as a writer, we have those moments where a poem or story just works really well. Like, whatever original idea we had in mind comes out even better than we could have hoped. We express what we meant to express in the most perfect way and there’s such a joy in that. We all have those days where nothing will work no matter what we write, so it’s a good feeling on those days where things just… work. And if there's nothing left to say I'll string you along until I get my way Use all those subtle inquiries Like I want to know if you aim to please |
30DBC: What do you remember about being 15? Share with us the awkward, hilarious moments. HA, I thought you'd never ask, Fivesixer  .  You know when you hear parents telling their teenagers that karma's gonna come around when they have a teenager of their own who acts exactly like them? Well... I am the reason for those types of parental warnings. Let's see, I'm not into sugarcoating, so let's put it like this: I was a fucking dick when I was fifteen. My entire goal in life was to piss people off as much as possible, because, well, I guess because I was pissed off. I judged what I did based on how much it would hurt the people around me who were trying to control me- like the church and my parents- because I thought I knew everything. I know every fifteen year old thinks they know everything, but I really did. I thought I'd been through enough to have seen everything, but I was really just super fragile, naive and damaged. I'd seen just enough to be dangerous to myself and everyone around me. The funny thing about that age is that you're completely uncontrollable. There really isn't anything that anyone can do to you. Even if you run away or something, the cops will just bring you back to your parents house and you'll go in the front door and straight out the back door. My parents tried everything, I swear. They tried more church activities. They tried beating it out of me. They tried therapy. They tried family nights. They tried buying me things. They tried medication. There was nothing anyone could do to control me. I spent most of my nights high as a fucking kite or drunk off my ass. They'd wake up and I'd be passed out in the living room at 7 in the morning with my shoes and jeans still on. I knew I had to be home for Mass on Sunday mornings, so I'd get home with just enough time to get dressed and go to church either hungover or still drunk. We'd get home and I'd pass out for the rest of the day still in my Sunday best. They made me start doing this regular confessions and I'd say the most ridiculous things to the priest just because I had a personal issue with him. I felt like he was way too involved in my family and my life because my parents turned to him for everything. So, I'd just make up this crazy shit to tell him like, "Oh yeah, I have much to confess since last time. I went to Boston and sucked a dealer off in an alley for Oxy." And he'd just shift awkwardly and clear his throat through the screen and I'd be like, "But you know how hard it is to get Oxy..." I don't know. I guess I was a fairly normal 15 year old. I just didn't want to be told what to do. It was funny though because we had this joke between me and my brother and our cousins who lived back in Chicago. Our great-grandmother visited us one time and she was like 85 years old. She mixed up my brothers' names all the time and couldn't remember mine at all. Like, not even once, which isn't her fault because we never saw her and she was elderly. So, I got dropped off by my school bus at the end of the road and I had to walk down the road and up our long-ass driveway to get to my house. It had been raining that day and there were puddles everywhere. I was walking up the gravel driveway and I tripped over something and totally wiped out. I was wearing my school uniform, so... khakis, white button up, tie, school vest... and my clothes got all wet and dirty. I scraped one of my hands and my elbow on the gravel and it was bleeding a bit. I got up to the house and my great-grandmother, senile as fuck, comes to greet me at the door and she's like, "Geeeeorge!" or something like that. I can't remember what she called me, but it wasn't even close to my name. Apparently she thought I was just always dirty? I have no idea. Like, she must've thought I just walked around covered in mud all the time? I only say this because she called to my cousin back home, who she was hella closer to because they lived by each other, and she was telling him about her visit and she describe me as 'the little one, the skanky one' because she couldn't remember my name. He called me later that night laughing his ass off about great-grandma calling me skanky. And of course I thought he meant sexually at first and I was like, oh fuck, how can she tell? I guess that was just her term for someone who was physically dirty all the time or something like that, which is hilarious, because I was only dirty ONE time for like five minutes before I got undressed and took a shower. I thought it was hilariously judgmental, but in a cute way because she was so old. She still called me that though, like even after she went back and years later. We'd be going to visit and she'd be like, "Oh, is the little one coming? What's his name? The skanky one?" And my ma would get all pissed about it because it wasn't her grandma and she hated dad's side of the family. I still thought it was funny though. So, yeah, basically... I was a skanky 15-year-old. Hate to sound sleazy, but tease me I don't want it if it's that easy |
Artist: Bob Dylan Album: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan Song: Masters of War [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Lyrics  30DBC: Wednesday is usually "War Chest Wednesday". But I'm really tired of war. Shoot some flowers out of your cannon. What does "peace" mean to you? What I ended up doing with this prompt is just so... Charlie? I immediately started thinking of anti-war songs because I love so many of them, and then I couldn't pick a song of the day because there are too many good ones. I ended up going with "Masters of War" by Bob Dylan. Say what you want about his voice, but you have to respect Dylan's lyrical abilities. The lyrics to this song are so ridiculously vicious that it's almost funny. Like, the harshest, most confrontational lines ever: You've thrown the worst fear That can ever be hurled Fear to bring children Into the world For threatening my baby Unborn and unnamed You ain't worth the blood That runs in your veins Ouch. Eddie Vedder also did an amazing cover of this song. lizco252 and I definitely posted it during our Eddie Vedder covers face-off on the newsfeed forever ago. His voice is just absurd and the level of emotion he puts into it can't be beat. Check it out if you're interested.Other contenders were: Born In The U.S.A. by Springsteen , which is NOT a patriotic song, by the way. I hate when people think that this is like a pro-America anthem or something. Listen to the lyrics of the verses instead of the one line in the chorus. Fortunate Son by CCR , probably my favorite anti-war song of all time, because, Creedence. War Pigs by Sabbath . Fuck yeah, Sabbath! One by Metallica . This music video is really creepy too. I haven't seen the movie it's based on though. And also almost every Iron Maiden song. I can't list all their anti-war songs. There are too many.You guys know how I am with music though. I could make you all a huge anti-war playlist in half an hour and you'd be set on music for the rest of the day. Songs that DID NOT make the list? Give Peace a Chance by the Plastic Ono Band. Sorry, I mean, I try not to judge people but John Lennon is widely known for abusing the women he was with and admitted to it on several occasions. I won't bring up to time he almost killed a guy for asking about his relationship with Brian Epstein because we all have rough nights, right? But beating the shit out of your wife and completely pretending like your son doesn't exist? Ehh, why don't YOU give peace a chance, John Lennon? I'm not impressed.I know I'm off topic, so let me try to pull it all together now. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a peaceful person. I'm not a pacifist like Cinn  and I definitely lose my temper and fly off the handle a little bit at times. Don't worry, I've never hit anyone who wasn't bigger than me, which isn't hard when you're like 20 pounds underweight. But, to me, peace is just trying to diffuse situations as much as possible, talking about things instead of trying to fight them out. It's trying to find compromises and middle grounds that will work best for all parties involved.I've gotten better at being peaceful over time. I have abilities to walk away from situations when I can see that they're escalating. I can leave and revisit the problem later with a more level head. I don't like to fight with people anymore and I don't feel like I have anything to prove to myself or anyone else. That's the biggest thing that causes physical fights, I think. They happen when you think you need to make a point or act based on emotion instead of logic. I actually haven't been in a fight in almost a year, which is really good for me. I definitely think I'm growing up a little bit and learning to handle things in a more peaceful way. I'll be a pacifist before you know it. BLOG CITY: If you could live forever, would you want to be a child, adolescent or an adult? I want to know. If I could live forever, I definitely wouldn't want to be a child or adolescent. You'd always have someone telling you what to do. You couldn't do anything on your own without a parent's signature and all that. I think I'd go for a young adult age, like 21 or maybe 25. I haven't been 25 yet, so I'm not sure, but i know your car insurance rates go down. You definitely want to be old enough to get into 21+ clubs and venues, not even so you can drink, but even if you just want to see a band at a place where they sell alcohol and don't allow minors. Plus, people take you a lot more seriously after that age. 19 and 20 are just weird ages between 18 and 21. I'd go 22 to 25, but probably 25. That's young enough to still do whatever you want but old enough to also do whatever you want. I think 23 is a pretty cool age. I've not had any problem with it anyway. Time does go really fast after 18 though. I'll be 24 soon and I literally feel like I just turned 18 a little while ago.But, it doesn't really matter in this situation because you get to be this age forever and ever. Sooo, yeah, I'm going to go with 25 years old to be forever. WTMR: 3. What is the one thing you are most fearful of, and why? You mean other than dying or having everyone I care about die? Um, I think my biggest 'not super serious' fear is being stuck in a major city during an apocalyptic event. Sometimes I think about it when I'm stuck on a packed subway or just in the middle of downtown with a ton of cars honking their horns and people almost getting hit by cars while they run out to cross the street.Like, if there were some outbreak of a horrific disease, the city would the THE WORST place to be. I mean, everyone is in such close quarters and they'd all lose their minds. They already do lose their minds on occasion, just imagine throwing in a crazy airborne illness or something. Fuck that. People always run in the movies and books. They're in the middle of a huge city and all of a sudden people are turning into zombies, so all the citizens get in their SUVs and wind up stuck on a bridge where people just start abandoning their cars and killing each other for some reason. I think if I was at home and there was some crazy shit like that going on, I'd just stay at home until the initial rush was over. That's probably the safest place to be, just boarded up inside somewhere. But you can't stay long enough for the looters to come through. It's a delicate balance. I have no idea why I've even thought this through. I think it just comes to mind when you're in the middle of a packed school or subway or street corner. You know, you kinda think, "I wonder what would happen right now if someone jumped off that building and splatted on the ground in front of us. Oh? What? You don't think that? Okay... Like Judas of old You lie and deceive A world war can be won You want me to believe But I see through your eyes And I see through your brain Like I see through the water That runs down my drain |
Artist: Portugal. The Man Album: Evil Friends Song: Modern Jesus [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Lyrics 30DBC: Take a look at everyone who is taking part in this month's challenge. Pick one member, go into their portfolio, and review one of their items in your entry. Then, suggest an item of your own you'd like to see reviewed. I love Cinn , but I just cannot give her legit reviews at this point. I don't know why, but it just doesn't work. I'd rather just IM her and say, "Hey, I read this poem and I dug this and this, but thought you might wanna change this like to X." It's the only way I can go about reviewing her because if I try to do a legit one, it feels strangely proper and serious, which isn't like our friendship at all.However, ~Minja~  is doing "Give It 100!" right now. She just started, so make sure you sponsor and support her. The goal is kind of cool because it's 100 poems in 100 days in her mother tongue. I love the story of Minja and I actually becoming friends. I had seen her around the site, of course, but we first started talking because I read one of her poems in Bosnian and I used Google translate to get it in English. Then I tried to respond by using the translator and I accidentally called her a guy.  Her item for give it 100 is here:
And the entry I reviewed: "Invalid Entry" She was kind enough to translate this one for us in English so we can see it in her native tongue and in English. I think this is super cool for a Give It 100 project because it's cool to see the way things translate and what it looks like in her language. It's like doing 100 poems in 100 days, but on steroids.  Okay, so here's my review: Review of "Taming Drogon"  As far as things that I like to be reviewed, pretty much any of my poetry. Anything in "Invalid Item" is a surefire good thing to review of mine because that's where I posted all of my 100 poems for Give It 100 when I was doing it. A lot of them are just first drafts. None of them are actually edited pieces. I think Cinn is going to help me edit some of them sometime so I can put them in my poetry folder in my port.BLOG CITY: If you could write on something you have never thought of to write about before, like a different idea, genre, or method, what would it be and how would you go about it? I'd really like to write something in the romance genre. I don't know why, but I've been reading a few romance novels lately, not like Jane Austen, but more contemporary stuff.  I'd really like to write something in that genre and mix some coming-of-age into it. They're fun to read and I'm pretty sure they would be fun to write too if you could get a good plot line going, which is the hardest part, of course.If I were really to go outside my box, I'd do something in the sci-fi or fantasy genre, but I can't even think of where to start there. I've never been able to get into that stuff for some reason. I've read a couple sci-fi books that were really well-written and awesome, but I don't think I could ever write one of my own. I'm starting to go outside my box though. I'm going to try to do nano this year for the first time ever. I still have no idea what I'm going to write or what genre I'm going to write in. Maybe I'll branch out completely and do something I'm really, really not comfortable with?  WTMR: 1. What are three things you want to experience that you never have. Why do you want to experience them? How would they impact your life? Will you try to do these things in the future? I've never traveled outside the country and that's just blasphemous living so close to Canada. Everyone else in my family has been, but not me! I don't know why I've never done it because I easily could, just one of those, 'meh, someday' kinda things. We were actually thinking about doing it this fall, but then we planned a trip South for the holidays and we're doing that instead. Maybe next year?I want to have a 9 to 5 Monday through Friday job because I never have before! I think that would be kind of interesting, just the structure of it. I'd rather do like 7 to 3 though, I think. I go to school on Friday's now from 8 to 2 and I kinda like that 'shift' so to speak. I did 6 to 2 at a restaurant I worked at, but it wasn't Monday through Friday. It was definitely every weekend and then two random days off during the week, like Monday and Thursday. After I get my degree, I'll most likely work in an office, so my schedule will probably be something like that. Let's see what else... Oh, I want to own a house! I think that would be awesome. Apartment living is just... not ideal. There are so many people in such a close proximity, you're bound to annoy each other at one point or another. I just want to have my own house where I can decorate how I want and have my own yard and stuff like that. I don't want to hear my neighbors stomping up and down the stairs all night or arguing in the hallway. That's another 'maybe someday' for me. WTMR: 7. If you own a pet, what is it? Is it just a pet or part of the family? If you don't have a pet, why not? Would you have one if you could? Why? I do own three cats! They're amazing.   I have a little work/study buddy. He's the youngest kitty, a super fluffy Maine Coon. He's not a lap cat, but he's always laying right next to me while I'm working or doing homework. He gets in these super cuddly moods where he desperately needs attention and will drive you crazy if you don't do it. You have to drop what you're doing and pet him or cuddle with him. If you don't, he'll start annoying you, like kneading his claws into your arm or laying across the keyboard while you type.My cats are for sure part of the family. I somehow became one of those people who talk about their pets like they're kids or something. They're so cute though and they're just always... there. It just feels good to come home and have them be there to keep you company and they're super chill too. You can just hang out with them and watch movies or whatever.I do want a dog, but I wouldn't have one in an apartment. Like, in my own house with a yard, a dog would have room to run around and play. In an apartment, it's just kinda cruel because they can't go out unless I'm with them and I'm too busy to go on runs with a dog or something like that. They'd just be stuck in a one room apartment with three cats. Yikes. Don't pray for us We don't need no modern Jesus To roll with us The only rule we need is never Giving up The only faith we have is faith in us |
Artist: The Strokes Album: Is This It Song: Someday [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Lyrics 30DBC: Grab your gear, its time to say adieu to each other. This guide is tired, I don't know about you but its been a busy month for us in Yellowstone, or maybe it was the tequila shots I had last night but could you please leave us a tally of how many days you blogged for this activity. Thanks, see you next summer... on our next camping adventure. Awww, don't you guys hate goodbyes?  Ah well, thanks for another fun year of August camping, Lyn's a Witchy Woman  . I managed 15 entries this month, not including this one, for the 30DBC. I'll see all of you next year if you're around!BCOF: "Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time." ~ Leonard Bernstein What is your approach for "the rest of the time"? My approach for the rest of the time is to either not write, which yes, I do that choice frequently OR to just force myself to write. I guess I do both of them, depending on what it is and how badly I need to write it. I like to wait for the inspiration to hit me, but if it's taking too long or I haven't written in a long time, I'll just force myself to get something out because sometimes that's all you need to get the juices flowing again. So, I guess I deal with a lack of inspiration by trying to find inspiration. I'll go on a walk, read a book, watch a movie or just talk to someone. I work with Cinn a lot on trying to keep the creativity going. I think we kind of lean on each other for that sort of thing.BLOG CITY: How much do you think the life-stories of parents affect their children? To what degree has the story of your parents affected you, if it has? I think this would completely depend on the child and what their parents life story was. I think if someone's parents overcome a lot of adversity, they seem to have kind of a fire lit under their ass because their parents were able to do so much, they feel like they'd let them down if they didn't succeed. I don't know a lot about my parents' life stories. They both lived in their homes with their parents until they were married. They were both pretty young when they married, especially my mum because she had just turned 19. They're both hardworking people. Neither of them have drink or drug problems and haven't since I've been alive, although my dad did a bit while they were dating. If my parents had led different lives, I might be totally different now. I think that all of their kids place a lot of value on education because my ma has her master's degree and is super smart. We've always been kind of told that a degree is necessary. Whether it is or not, I still don't know, but I know it is necessary for what I want to do. I just always assumed I'd go to school eventually, so I'm happy that I'm following through with that now. I think the way our parents live and raise us has a huge overall effect on our personalities though, don't you? My-ex says I'm lacking in depth I will do my best You say you wanna stay by my side Darlin', your head's not right |
Artist: Catfish and the Bottlemen Album: The Balcony Song: Tyrants [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Lyrics 30DBC: We are going to spend out last night together at Soda Butte Lodge, Tavern And Casino & Prospector Restaurant so today is all about getting what ever you need before going back home because once our stuff is moved to our final destination the party is on. The saloon is just like you would find in the 1800's, with card tables and show girls on the stage. The tavern is noted for its big game specialty meals, please let me know if you are vegan or vegetarian so I can make arrangements for your meals. The lodge only has 32 rooms so I booked everyone so we could enjoy ourselves without any outsiders... let your hair down moments. What happens on WDC and 30 Day virtual camping stays there. While you are partying and having a good time on our last night could I ask another question... Where would you like to go camping next year? Last year, we were up in Moosehead country in Maine, this year we've been in the west at Yellowstone. Do you want to try international camping across Europe or Asia? Do you want to go on a safari in Africa? Or do you want to go to South America or Antarctica? I need time to plan so speak up now or forever hold your peace as the saying goes. Whaaaaat, did someone say showgirls? Ah, Lyn's a Witchy Woman , you know how to end a camping trip. Card tables means Cinn and I will be kicking ass against anyone who challenges us. Oh, and yes, I'm a vegetarian, but I'll be drinking so much I won't want to drink anyway. Fivesixer will probably find a lampshade somewhere and put it on his head, because, why not?? ~Minja~ would deffo be the best-dressed. What happens on the 30 DBC camping trip stays on the 30 DBC camping trip? Quick guys, do something crazy. Don't get the herp though because that shit will NOT stay on the 30 DBC camping trip. You're bringing that shit home with you.I loved going back to Maine last year for our camping trip. This one was fun too because we got to look at some of the actual locations and lodges. Good idea, Lyn. I think it would be fun to do a camping trip in Alaska. That's the only place left in America that I'd really want to spend some time camping in. Antarctica might be fun, but how cold would that be in August? Lemme go check... Riiiiight, so it's 17 degrees fahrenheit in Palmer Station, Antarctica right now. Look, I found a live video of it. Too bad it's dark there right now. Never mind, I don't want to go there. It looks cold af.Just let me know if we're going out of the country so I can get my passport in time. I think Africa would be fun. Let's go there. What shots do we need beforehand? You know you're going to have to plan all of this out, right, Lyn? OOOOHH. And YAY for exactly 15 entries this month without even keeping track. That's awesome.  See you all next August! Eyes rolled back guess we were living fast Where did you go, yeah where did you go? Your eyes go to show, that it was so rare to see you sober And so the streetlights would carry us home |
Artist: Nirvana Album: Nevermind Song: Something In The Way [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Lyrics 30DBC: We are picking our gear, cleaning our site up and naturally Lyn who always asks questions asked...What do you now know about yourself at the end of this month-long challenge? What did you learn about your fellow campers? Is there a blog entry this month that really struck a chord with you. The biggest thing I learned this month is that blogging takes A LOT of time. I mean, there's the time put into writing an entry and sometimes that takes a long time, but what takes the longest amount of time is reading other people's entries and commenting on them. I used to have time every day to read and comment on everyone's entries and I realize now that it probably took hours. I missed a lot this month because I'm in the middle of school and work. There's no time to read all the entries. I really want to though.I learned that my fellow campers are really good at costume contests, especially ~Minja~ . Oh and that I'm probably the laziest of the group because I always refuse to do, well, pretty much everything. It's not really news to me, but Cinn and Fivesixer are the best tent mates ever.How did we end up finding Ky and I when we got lost in the woods? I can't remember how that twist ended. I think she was lost a bit longer than I was. I probably just ran in one direction until I found civilization while she explored in the woods a little longer. I guess being missing for a week isn't too big of a deal when you're camping? Oh, and as always, Lyn's a Witchy Woman is a fun tour guide during the month of August. I found out about a lot of different lodges and places to visit. BLOG CITY: We often make the mistake that we have to be "in the right mood to write". Do you simply sit down and write? Or do you procrastinate until you are in the right mood? Do you need to have a topic when you start writing or do you let your mind take you wherever? I think that not being in the mood to write is sometimes a legit excuse to not write, especially when it comes to poetry. You just can't use it as an excuse all the time. I'm terrible at writing poetry when I'm really, really not in the mood for it. Say, when I'm in a super analytical mood... It just won't work. Like, if I do my accounting homework for three hours and then I try to write a poem... just, no. I need some sort of unwind between those two things. I don't need to have a topic when I start writing, luckily. Once the mood strikes, I can sort of just go from there and write to my heart's content. If I've been 'not in the mood' to write for a long time, that's when I'll sit down and force myself to get something done because I know that if I just keep letting it go, it's only going to be longer before I write something new. It's all about a balance between doing it when you want to and doing it when you need to. Sometimes the things you force are even better than the things that come naturally, and sometimes they totally aren't. You just have to sort of go for it and let the chips fall where they may. WTMR 5. When was the last time you went somewhere new, somewhere you'd never been before? Write a short vignette describing a small part of what you saw, so that we can see it through your eyes. Ohh, was this prompt made for me, Elle - on hiatus ? I'll take the challenge. He's sitting across the diner, playing with the lace tablecloth in his creepy, lecherous way. A plain-looking waitress comes up and grabs a menu from the podium near the door."Just one?" she asks and you point toward the man at the back and tell her you've got someone waiting. She motions for you to go back as if you don't know that you can pace the olive green and tan checkered tiles without her permission. You reach the table and drop your computer on its salt-covered surface. He doesn't look up from his gooey pancakes, all mushed together with way too much syrup. He takes a bite and it dribbles down his chin. You look out the window to keep from being sick and count the cars in the parking lot. There are eleven. "Well, hello, Princess Charles," he starts with a laugh and you try not to notice the food stuck in his teeth. "Okay, look, my boss sent me here to consult with you on your brand strategy. So, let's start that." He laughs and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and you look out the window again. Four white cars. Roughly 36% of the cars in the lot are white. "I need something that stands out," he decides, drinking way too much milk at once. Two red cars. 18% of the cars are red. "Right now, your branding is an issue because your logo doesn't indicate what type of company you have and the name doesn't either." He points at you with a stubby finger, nail chewed down to the quick. "See, that's what you don't understand, Princess. That's the allure of the company. It's the mystery." One blue car. 9% blue. "Okay, could you not call me that?" He laughs in response and you add, "No, I'm serious." "Ahh, Princess Charles, so sensitive!" he waves obnoxiously for the waitress. Three silver cars. 27% silver. "You say that you're having trouble getting customers. That's because no one knows what the fuck you're selling," you say bluntly. You just can't be nice to some people. "Well, it's a bike shop. We sell, buy, and fix bikes," he tells you, looking genuinely hurt. One green car. 9% green. "Right, but how is anyone supposed to know that? Nothing in your branding indicates that your company has anything to do with bikes. That's why you're having trouble finding a customer base." He waves a pudgy hand at you. "Eh, you're just a kid. You don't know anything about business. What do you know about business, huh? You got an MBA all of a sudden?" "Then why am I even here right now? Why did I drive all the way to meet you here if you don't want to work on branding your company." He ignores me, asking the waitress for another cup of coffee while I wave you wave your hand 'no thanks'. It's too early for food and the coffee looks awful. He watches her walk away, then returns his eyes to you. "So, Princess Charles, be honest: Are you gay?" You roll your eyes with a loud sigh. "That's my cue to leave then, I guess. Thanks for wasting my time." You stand up and grab your computer. "Aw, come on. I'm just messing with you. Sit down!" He opens his arms wide as though you're the one being crazy. Same thing, different day. If this client didn't spend thousands of dollars on bullshit services all the time, he would've been cut off a long time ago. Still, the bossman requires that you just ignore his 'strange' behavior and deal with it like a 'professional'. Of course, he wasn't the one who had to deal with the shitty nickname and early morning calls. "Yeah, we'll see you around then," you say, pushing in your chair and heading toward the door. Out in the parking lot, you get in the car and remove one of the eleven. At least the math will be easier to do now. WTMR 6. Writing has lots of rules, some that can be broken. Choose one 'rule' and explain how it works in your writing, and share an example of your writing that illustrates this. People say not to use second person point of view when you're writing with the very occasional exception of poetry. I say that's bullshit. The first month first blog "Invalid Item" was all second person point of view and people seemed to dig it a bit. I think that any rule of writing can be broken when done correctly.For example, you can fuck up the grammar and spelling, when you're doing it from the POV of an uneducated character. They might say the wrong word or 'nuffin' instead of 'nothing' or whatever. We've seen it done in novels before where the dialogue of a character is all FUBAR but it just helps bring the character to life. Then we have the people who misspell everything and when you mention it, they say that they MEANT it to be like that because the characters are from a poor, uneducated area. What the hell?? The characters are from a poor area so you use horrific grammar and spelling when describing the scenery? Are you sure YOU'RE not the one who's from a poor, uneducated area? Wow, I have no idea why I went into that rant. Totally weird to be so passionate about something like that. Um... I guess it's just because it's annoying to review things on here and have people come back and say that they intended to use the wrong 'there/their/they're' repeatedly in the story. Anyway, here's a couple examples of the second person perspective from my first blog: "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" The order doesn't matter because they're just random ramblings. I've since learned that these are called vignettes... I think? Is that right, Elle - on hiatus and Cinn ? And I'm living off of grass And the drippings from the ceiling It's okay to eat fish 'Cause they don't have any feelings |
Artist: Jets To Brazil Album: Orange Rhyming Dictionary Song: Chinatown [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Lyrics 30DBC: Pack a light bag, to take with you the wardens will transport the rest of your stuff to our next site. Toothbrushes, combs, and clean underwear for two days will suffice. We are leaving the park and going to the Shoshone reservation in Wyoming for a special celebration. Remember we talked earlier about the Northern and Eastern Shoshone (sheepeaters) well they invited our group, it's quite an honor. "Wind River Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation shared by the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes of Native Americans in the central western portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is the seventh-largest Indian reservation by area in the United States, encompassing a land area of 3,473.272 sq mi (8,995.733 km²), or land and water area of 3,532.010 sq mi (9,147.864 km²)."`Wikipedia They have native clothing for us to wear so we can participate with them around a huge bonfire on the reservation. We will be sampling many native dishes and sleeping in actual teepees during this festivity. ps. Charlie ~  , the women wear more than the men do!There will be storytelling from the elders about their history, they are hoping each of us will share something of our family history or nationality. So am I, we all have rich family histories/nationalities if we think about it. Some of you recently have written some lovely poems I am sure will be appreciated as well. So here's your chance to enlighten us about what makes you shine! Whatever, Lyn's a Witchy Woman , you lost me at the women wearing clothes. I'm boring nationality-wise. I'm a mutt, a mix between English, Irish, and German. My great grandmother was full-blooded Native American from the Cherokee tribe. That's about as interesting as I get. I'm not exotic and I'm a pretty standard example of American.I haven't gotten too far back in my family history. It's hard to do because I'm not close to one set of grandparents, then my grandma just passed so I can't ask her anything about our family history. My grandfather doesn't talk about the past at all because he had a really rough time in life. I know he lost his sister though when she was 19 and he was a young teenager. There were 10 kids in my grandma's family and 11 in my grandpa's. It's hard to keep track of them and I always mix up the names and all that. On my dad's side, I just have no idea. I don't even know my grandma's full name on that side. I did write a poem though about my grandpa's sister. It's here: "Invalid Entry" I'll let you read it there because I don't want to mess up the spacing on it. I'm picky about my spacing. BLOG CITY: Tell us about the person you were when you were sixteen. Ahh... haha. I was a bad kid when I was sixteen. I was generally lost and confused most of the time. I bounced around from house to house a lot. I wasn't in school like I should've been. I had A LOT of fun at that age though. Like, in between the bad memories, some of my favorite memories are from that year. It was my first year of freedom, and freedom feels amazing when you're held down and then you're suddenly not under anyone else's thumb anymore. I ran around doing pretty much whatever i wanted to do, whatever felt good at the time. I can't really do that anymore and I've grown up a lot since then, but I'm generally fond of my sixteenth year. Candle is waxing, takes my apartment, I bask in its magic All of the firefighters put out my fires, took all my matches Staying up later, waking up old and I'm leaving her never Ordering in, all friends and lovers and we're making our weather |
Artist: Walk The Moon Album: Talking Is Hard Song: Anna Sun [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Lyrics 30DBC: You are spending my 59th birthday with me at Slough Creek for the night before we go to the Shoshone Indian reservation on the 27th. We have been invited to be their guests. We are hiking to Slough Creek from the lodge so we will be busy most of the day. "Slough Creek Campground is generator free with drinking water and vault toilets, and is best suited for tents and small RVs. Each campsite has a picnic table and fire pit with grate. Food storage boxes measuring 48 x 22 x 22 in. are available for shared use. Campsites are on a first-come, first-served basis. One of the most popular campgrounds in the park, Slough Creek is often full by 8 AM from its opening day through mid-September." We were lucky to have it reserved for just our group. It has some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities, the wolves can be heard very clearly at night and the stars are supposed to be breathtaking. Do the wolves howling make you nervous? Inspire us with some creativity...poetry, short story or even a tale of a time under the stars in your real life. Well, first of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Lyn's a Witchy Woman !!   Ugh, does this mean I have to wake up early? I feel like what you're saying is that we have to wake up super early to get a campsite.  Screw it, make Fivesixer or Cinn find us a good spot. They're the ones I'm bunking with anyway. We'll just stay up all night and get a hella good spot at like five in the morning. Take that, bitches!!Wolves don't scare me. I like the way they howl. They sound kinda cool, actually. I do have a funny camping story though. When I was younger, we lived on a lot of property and my older brothers would sometimes camp outside in a tent, just for, I don't know... that's what kids do. Anyway, I was probably 5 years old or so and they were like 10 and 11 at the time. I decided that I wanted to camp outside with them because I was for sure a big kid by the time I was five. It started off decent enough. We planned it out all day and I had my little bag packed with books and crayons and a flashlight with extra batteries because I've always been a neurotic little fuck and thought the current batteries might die. Of course, with older brothers, they had to try to scare me with stories about red-eyed beasts that kidnapped kids while they were camping. They were all out in the stories when we were younger and even namedropped this kid who had left our church the year before. I'm like 99% sure it was because his family moved, but my brothers convinced me that he had been kidnapped while camping with his family. So, it got a bit late and my eyes were growing heavy while my brothers talked about whatever they were talking about. The next thing I knew, I woke up to total chaos in the tent. There was screaming and scrambling, I think they even ripped the zipper off of the tent door. I grabbed my bag and blankets and chased after them all the way to the house while they were screaming. We ran inside and made enough noise to wake my parents up. My brothers told them that they heard either wolves or coyotes and then a weird screaming sound. My parents figured they just got scared by the wolves howling and told us all to stay inside and go to bed. The next morning though, my grandparents went out to feed their ducks and found out that one of them had been attacked by a coyote. POOR DUCKY. They nursed him back to health, but he was blind in one eye after that.  So, basically, I camped out like 30 feet from where a duck got attacked by a wild animal AND ran through the dark without any shoes on while the attack was still happening. It took me forever to go camping again after that. BLOG CITY: Better to be hurt with the truth than a lie. Do you agree? If you're going to be hurt either way, then yes, the truth is better in the beginning than going through the pain of a lie AND the pain of the truth. If the pain can be avoided altogether though, a lie is a perfectly viable option and should be used liberally to protect the people you care about. I hate this whole, 'never tell a lie' thing. There are times when it's better to tell a lie. If there's no way the person is going to find out the truth and the truth would only prove to put them through a painful experience, a lie is probably more appropriate. If someone is just an acquaintance, surely you're not going to go into all the details of the questions they ask you. You're just gonna lie about it to keep them at a distance. It makes sense. It keeps the relationship stable. It's the smart move. Sometimes you need to lie to protect yourself. If you don't have your back, no one else is going to do it for you. When you use a lie to keep yourself and the people around you happy, then I think it's morally right to do it. But remember, as always, my morals are crazy confused half the time... or maybe all the time. BCOF: There are four types of ice cream cones (1) cake cones, (2) sugar cones, (3) waffle cones, and (4) waffle bowls. See https://www.joycone.com/food-service/cone-compare/cone-types for pictures of each. What is your favorite ice cream cone? What type of ice cream do you like in the cone? I like waffle cones and sugar cones the best. I like those frozen drumstick things you can buy because the waffle cone with chocolate on it is really good. The problem though is that I pretty much HATE ice cream. It's just.. yucky. It's cold and dairy and just no. I can't stand the taste of it and then it melts and it's just disgusting and sticky. If I do eat ice cream, I like either the mint chocolate chip or cookie dough. I can eat a little bit of the mint chocolate chip and then in the other one, I just eat the cookie dough pieces. Yumm, cookie dough. People think I'm crazy when I say that I don't like ice cream. I like sweet things... ice cream just isn't one of them. I hate dairy. I drink almond milk with my cereal because yuck. You can all have my share of ice cream. You're welcome! WTMR 7. Tell us about one of your friends. My best friends are Kira (obviously) and Jordan. Um, I met Jordan like 6 years ago during the first stint I had in Chicago. I basically had nowhere to go and ended up staying with him in a house he rented. I was super grateful that he let me stay with him because I didn't have any plans for where to stay. I did have family here at the time, but none that I was in contact with regularly. Just the kind you see at family reunions and stuff like that. I'd say we were fast friends in the sense that one day, we didn't know each other, and the next, we were pretty much inseparable. I figured I'd just crash on his couch for a few days and then move on, but it totally ended up not being like that. We did everything together because our personalities just clicked really well. I really felt like he understood me and where I was in my life at that point in a way that most people couldn't understand or didn't want to, anyway. We're still super close, probably now more than ever. It seems like we get closer all the time. I don't really know how to explain him. He's sort of a complicated person. He has a good sense of humor though and he's probably the most fun person I've ever met. Like, just generally likes to have a good time. He's rarely a downer. I think he balances me out pretty well and I definitely trust him, which is a major plus. So, uh, yeah... that's my best friend. Firecrackers in the east my car parked south Your hands on my cheeks your shoulder in my mouth I was up against the wall on the west mezzanine We rattle this town we rattle this scene |
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I have seen so much of the disasters it has caused with some people. I have in the past been unconsciously roped into financial situations that were most unpleasant and having to make sensible plans to unravel them.
