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List Of Good (and Not-So-Good) Ideas

So I haven't blogged in... a really long time. But this blog has been begging to be written since I've been at college (yes! I've been at college for over two months! ah!). This blog is dedicated to things that are good- and not-so-good- ideas.

Good Ideas:
1. Getting a job. Seriously. If nothing else, you will make money... campus minimum wage is often higher than normal minimum wage (although not always). Plus, if you get a job in your field (if you're a science major, for example, and get a job in a lab), that'll be a super-plus for your resume. Even if you can't find an "interesting" job, it's still good to work. Consider: lifeguarding, tutoring, waitering/waitressing.
2. Studying. If you don't study, you won't get good grades. If you do study, you'll get good grades. If you get good grades, you'll get a job / get in to grad school.
3. Joining a few extracurricular activities. It's a great way to have fun, do something outside of classes, and meet people.
4. Making friends with someone who has a car. Even if there is public transportation where you are, it's nice to know someone with a car... especially if you need to get to the pharmacy to get a prescription and you're on crutches and don't want to take the aforementioned public transportation.
5. Joining the street team for To Write Love On Her Arms!


Not-So-Good Ideas:
1. Making Easy Mac without water. Come on now, it's college. Haven't you made Easy Mac before? Even if you haven't- don't you know how to read? It says on the box and on the pouch that you have to add water. Why is it so important? Because if you don't, it will smell like burnt popcorn, and it will set off the fire alarm, and everyone in your dorm will be annoyed with you.
2. Running through a fountain at midnight. Always a great idea, especially, when you're wearing socks and sneakers.
3. Staying up till 1:30am when you have to wake up at 6:20am. I know this from experience, unfortunately.
4. Tearing your ACL. I know it *sounds* like fun, but it isn't. Really.
5. Putting off your laundry. You WILL start to run out of clean socks.

Things I've Done This Month

So I haven't blogged in over a month! Wow!

Since then, I have...

• Purchased a new bathing suit.
  
• Started work (I'm a lifeguard/swim instructor/bus counselor at a day camp).
  
• Loved work.
• Hated work.
• Realized that while my job can drive me crazy, I'd MUCH rather be doing what I do than working in retail.
• Realized that, as a 17-year-old with a high school diploma and lifeguarding certification as my only qualifications, I'm lucky to have a job that pays (even though it doesn't pay $500/hour).
• Lost said previously mentioned bathing suit (it's gotta be somewhere!).
  
• Gone to orientation.
• Met my (temporary) advisor.
• Found out that I am walking in to college with at least one semester's worth of credits (18?).
• Registered for my classes... including Calculus 3.
• Realized that Calculus 3 will probably be pretty hard.
• Re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and started re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
• Gotten a sty in my eye.
• Watched way too much TV.
• Had a sore throat and been terrified that I would lose my voice, and been equally terrified that I had swine flu (I didn't).
• Been to Barnes & Noble too many times to count.
• Bought a large number of magazines.
• Read a ridiculous amount of magazine and newspaper articles about Michael Jackson.
  
• Gone shopping for my dorm room.
• Learned that the Quiet Game (with the promise of stickers and/or lollipops to the winners) works WONDERS when trying to tame young children.

That's about it. Maybe more later?

GRADUATION

I was originally going to post a really long, detailed post about the day of my graduation, but I decided against it.

I graduated high school! Woo hoo!

BLINK-182

SO BASICALLY I'M JUST WRITING THIS BLOG TO SAY... MY BLINK-182 TICKETS CAME IN THE MAIL! YEAH IT'S ALMOST A 3 HOUR DRIVE TO THE VENUE! I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT!

... okay, I'll say a little more. I love Blink-182, and I'm EXTREMELY excited that they're coming back. Of course, they're not in New Jersey/New York until I'm in Ohio (although they will be in Ohio when I am!). So instead, I'm driving almost 3 hours to see them in Pennsylvania. Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy will be there, too. The tickets weren't super cheap, and there was like a $14 "service charge" on them ($14? what, exactly, is that money used for? I have no idea. and that's $14 for "regular" shipping- it costs 44 cents to mail something, not $14. You want overnight shipping? That's even more money).

Yeah, I'm thinking the money and long drive will be worth it to go to this concert. I'm planning to spend the whole drive blasting Blink-182. I wasn't really in to Blink-182 years ago when they were super-popular (I liked their music, but I didn't really care about going to concerts). I sincerely hope there's a moshpit, cuz that'll be epic.

I know why Blink-182 broke up. Supposedly, Tom [Delonge] wanted to spend more time with his family, or something (although, if that's really the case, why did he start Angels & Airwaves? hm...). I'm kind of interested as to why they got back together, though. I've read several interviews of Tom since the break-up, and not so long ago (2007, maybe even 2008) he said he didn't plan to ever see Mark [Hoppus] and Travis [Barker] again, and that he's "moved on" from Blink-182. Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked to see Blink-182 back together, but I do have to wonder why.

OH MY GOD RYAN!

On June 25, 2006, I went to a Yellowcard concert. One of the opening bands was Matchbook Romance. I decided to buy a Matchbook Romance t-shirt; the guy working at the merch stand asked me if I wanted to buy a CD, too. I bought the CD, and he gave me a free sticker (which I put on my guitar) and a poster (which I hung on my wall, right next to my desk). The poster has a picture of the band, and the Matchbook Romance logo.

Over a year later, in July 2007, I went to Power Chord Academy. On the first day, the counselors were introducing themselves, and I noticed that one of the counselors looked familiar. Then he introduced himself as Ryan Kienle, former bassist of the band Matchbook Romance. I realized that the reason he looked familiar was because his picture was on my wall, and I had been looking at his face every day for over a year. It turns out Matchbook Romance had broken up.

Just over two months ago, my good friend from Power Chord Academy informed me that Matchbook Romance was going on tour, and invited me to a concert in their hometown of Poughkeepsie, New York. I bought my ticket, and made a tshirt. We talked about the concert almost every day, and hoped to meet up with Ryan.

Yesterday, I drove up to meet my friend, and then we drove to the venue in Poughkeepsie. We were early, so we walked around and got drinks at a convenience store. It was sort of a "sketchy" area of Poughkeepsie.

The entrance to the venue was in an alley. We had a perfect view of the bands loading equipment into the venue. We saw some cute guys, some really cute guys, and some not-so-cute guys.

Eventually, we got in line. Doors were supposed to open at 5pm. We had been waiting for awhile, when some guy announced that Just Surrender (one of the bands that would be playing) was starting to film their new music video that night. So everyone gets in a straight line, and we all go crazy as some guy runs down past us, filming the whole thing.

We got in to the venue a little after 6. It's a small venue. Of course, my friend and I wanted to be up close. So we stood right up against the barrier. Right next to us was a guy wearing a wristband signifying that he was older than 21s, who appeared to have taken advantage of the beverages at the bar available only to those that are of age. He was kind of creeping us out, so eventually, we moved.

The first band was The Hill Valley. They were okay. Then there was Searching for Skylines, and they were awesome! Their keyboard player was barefoot on stage, which was kind of weird. But they put on a great show.

After that was Show Me The Skyline. Show Me The Skyline was AMAZING. After their set was done, my friend and I went to their merch stand to buy a tshirt and CD. We saw their bassist and lead singer, and got the lead singer to sign our tshirts (!!!). Yeah, it was awesome.

Next was Crush the Everlasting. They were good- not as good as Searching for Skylines or Show Me The Skyline, but better than The Hill Valley.

After that came Just Surrender. I hadn't heard any of their music before, but they were good. A mosh pit formed, and my friend and I were at the back. We didn't get thrown around, but the people that were getting thrown around did get thrown at us. It was somewhat painful; a few times, people slammed into me so hard (I was standing with my back against a barrier) that I felt like I couldn't breathe momentarily. I got continually stepped on by god knows how many people.

Finally Matchbook Romance came on. Yeah, my friend and I screamed when we saw Ryan. Matchbook Romance was amazing live- possibly better than the last time I saw them. The mosh pit during Matchbook Romance was less violent. Also, I started getting into self-preservation- rather than just stand there, I shoved people around when they got too close (although I myself didn't actually get shoved around).

After Matchbook Romance was done, my friend and I waited outside of the venue- we wanted to say hi to Ryan and see if he remembered us. We waited for awhile and didn't see him, but the drummer from Crush the Everlasting said he liked my hoodie. We saw guys from the other bands in the show, and even one of the other members of Matchbook Romance, but we were waiting for a long time before we finally saw Ryan.

Finally, we saw him. He was cursing a lot, and appeared to have taken advantage of the bar- one of the other musicians asked him if he had consumed a certain beverage often made in Mexico, and he said, "Yes, I did!".

Anyway. Then my friend and I talked to Ryan for a few minutes. He did remember us, and it was good to see him again.

When we got in the car after midnight, I was still feeling the effects of that minute amount of Red Bull. When we got home and I got in to my pajamas at 1:30am, I was still feeling it. Then, at 1:35, while brushing my teeth... I crashed. I was tired and went to bed.

All in all, I had an awesome time.

Fire

Fire is pretty cool... or should I say, hot. Haha, I crack myself up.

I've always thought fire was kind of cool- scary, but amazing.

When I was in chemistry, my favorite chapter in the book was the one where they talked about flames, and how different chemicals produce different colored flames. I thought it was pretty cool. Once, my teacher chased around a bubble with a burning candle (it was a small votive-type candle, attached to a meter stick). Another time, he poured alcohol onto the tables (they're "lab" tables, I think made of stone or something) and then lit the alcohol, which produced spectacular, (approximately) 1.5 foot tall flames (which is pretty spectacular in a classroom setting, about 5 feet from where you're sitting). One of our labs involved heating... um... something?- and so each lab group had to light a match so the flask of... something... could be heated. For some reason, I was designated to light the match. The first time I tried, it didn't light. Then, when it did light, I was so scared that I dropped it onto the table (at least I didn't drop it onto my foot).

You know how sometimes, the bathroom starts to smell- well, like a bathroom? Well, once, one of the bathrooms in my house started to smell like that. There was no air freshener, so my mom suggested I use a match. I lit a match, and then dropped it into the garbage can. Um, apparently there was some lint (this particular bathroom is right next to the washer and dryer) in there, and apparently, lint is flammable. Thank god there was a sink there- I dumped some water on it and it was fine.

One of the coolest shows ever, Time Warp, showed a grease fire in slow motion. It was pretty darn scary, but in slow motion, it looked pretty cool. Another really cool show, Mythbusters, lit a million match heads (yes, a million) on fire. It looked awesome. Actually, come to think of it, pretty much every myth shown on Mythbusters involves fire.