Good news, bad news, and Esther Day

Ok let's start with the good news first. Actually its not really news, its just describing my trip.

Anyway, Colorado was amazing. I absolutely loved the mountains. They were so beautiful, I just don't even have words to describe it. But there was this moment I wish everyone could experience at least once in their life:

So we were at an elevation of 7,522 feet in the town we stayed in, which is basically this town smack dab in the middle of the mountains. Like a valley. Not much further up were the clouds. So to get to the top of this one mountain where all the tourists can drive too, you literally had to drive through this cloud. The only thing we could really see driving up was the yellow line in the middle of the road. Occasionally we could see the car in front of us and then drop offs to the right (yikes). But then there was this moment... one second we were hugging this yellow line for dear life and then literally the next second... this is our view:

This was so shocking not only because we were just clinging to the yellow line for dear life, but also because back down on the ground, it was completely cloudy. No blue to be seen. Then we get up here and its... gorgeous... and I wish everyone could experience that instant change to beauty at least once in their life.

Anyway, we ended up making it to the end of the road where there was a massive gift shop and this food place called Café in the Clouds. Awesome. The highest point we got to on foot was 12,005 feet above sea level. Let me tell ya, it hard to breath up there. My goodness, the first time I got out of the car I walked up this little hill, right, and I was trying to catch my breath for like three minutes. It seems to take three times longer to catch your breath up there than down here (Rockford is 715 feet above sea level... very low). But I have now made it my life's goal to climb Longs Peak which is 14,400 something feet above sea level and its an actual climb. So I'm recruiting anyone who wants to climb a mountain with me! We'd be climbing this one in the middle:

Any takers?

After I left the mountains :( I went to Denver to see Hank Green WHICH WAS AMAZING. I don't know what was better: the mountains or Hank Green. Like it was amazing to have Hank Green twenty feet away from me and do the GOOD MORNING JOHN ITS FRIDAY thing (which sadly did not get used... ). Denver is 5,280 feet above sea level and some of you may know how fast Hank sings in some of his songs. Well, he was making jokes and comments about "how do you people breath up here" and "you guys don't have enough air" which I was completely agreeing with (a stroll downtown Denver also left me out of breath). I am also now a fan of Harry and the Potters mainly because they're so freaking hilarious. See video below.

There was also this boy there that was handing out free CD's with two songs his band had written on it. So I picked one up. And they're pretty good. The guy I saw is on the far left in the beginning of this video.

I guess now its time for the bad news

As none of you know (at least currently), I got into an accident on Sunday. It was just in a parking lot and we were both backing up at the same time and didn't see the other. Well, my rear end isn't pretty. But it'll get fixed and as long as the other woman doesn't make a claim (which she shouldn't cuz shit didn't happen to her car, not even a scratch, and she was an old lady who was a sweetheart) then my insurance won't go up. But I was so upset because it was my first accident and I had just gotten back from driving all the way to Colorado and back without any problems. Ok I'm done talking about that.

Bad news part deux (that's two for non-French speakers) - also on Sunday, I find out they screwed up my financial aid... AGAIN. Seriously that pissed me off. And it turns out they lost my loan application so I had to fill out a new one and it still says my classes aren't paid for. Ugh.

Bad news finale - I'm not going to Michigan. I'm not going to the upper peninsula. The class has been cancelled. People dropped out. I'm really fucking upset and pissed off. End of story. That was also on Sunday.

Leading into Esther Day:

Since now I will be here on Esther Day, I want to do a project. Esther Day is in memorial to Esther Earl for which TFIOS is dedicated too. I'm not going in to detail since most of you know the story. Anyway, Esther Day is when you tell the people you care about that you love them no matter how hard it is to say it. I wanted us to do the Stick-it-to-Barnes-&-Noble again. Check out this video I saw posted on the This Star Won't Go Out Facebook page.

Uh.... I can't find the video... dammit... now I have to explain it.... Ok so basically it was a video of people putting notes into books saying "you are loved" or "you are beautiful" and really just positive, inspirational things like that, or quotes. And all the notes said Happy Esther Day on them. This year, This Star Won't Go Out and the Harry Potter Alliance are proposing we put these random notes anywhere we want too. On a wall, lamppost, fire hydrant, bathroom mirrors, anywhere in public really. I will probably put some on bathroom mirrors of public places, but I'm not going to urge you guys too. If you want to go ahead and do it, or give me a call and we can together. But I definitely want to do the post-it notes in Barnes & Noble. I'm going to try and mention this when the vast majority of us are together the next time, but Esther Day is coming up quickly. Here's a link where you can learn more:

http://thehpalliance.org/esther-day/

I also have this link that you guys should check out of the current Esther Day project and how it's going. Some ideas for what to write later.

http://www.operationbeautiful.com/

That's finally it. I'm leaving with what I've come to love as my favorite song. Its called Sticks and Stones by Jonsi and its from How to Train Your Dragon. This song make me feel so good and happy. Part of it is in Icelandic. Its beautiful.

Music is How I Stay Sane

I seriously didn't know I could love a band as much as I love Paramore. And I didn't think I would ever like punk rock/punk pop, but I do. Paramore puts on a freaking amazing show. The crowd was really tame because they didn't take the chairs away from the floor seats, so it was more or less just screaming the lyrics at the top of your lungs and enjoying the intensity of the band.

Hayley Williams is as cute a button. No joke. She is so energetic and loves to talk to the crowd, which I think is cool. Also, she dyed her hair bright blue, which I personally like a lot better than the orange. I hope she keeps it blue for a little while. At one point she said, "I have a question for you guys. How many of you have been fans of us for a while and have been to one of our concerts before?" A bunch of people screamed and she said, "It's nice to see you again! Welcome back!" Then she said, "I have an even more important question, though." Connor was next to me and said, "Yes, I'll marry you." I cracked up, but then she said, "How any of you have never been to one of our concerts before, or maybe don't even know who we are?" We all screamed, and she said, "Hello! It's nice to meet you! We've been waiting for you. Does that sound creepy?"

At one point the two main guitarists did this cool trick. While still playing, one of the bent over, and the other back-rolled across the one guy's back. It was pretty sick.

I'm pretty sure most of you know the song above, but it was really cool what happened at the concert when they played it. We were all singing along with her, and all of a sudden she stopped singing, so we all picked it up and screamed, "I watched his wildest dreams come true, and not one of them involving you, just watch my wildest dreams come true, and not one of them INVOLVING!" Then the guitars were supposed to go crazy, but instead they got really quiet, and everyone got really confused. Then Hayley said, "Gotcha, didn't I? You know, my voice is getting kind of scratchy, and I really need some water, so I think I'm going to need someone else to come up here and take over this part for me." She then picked a girl out of the crowd and finished the song up with her. It was pretty cool.

We only stayed for about half of Fall Out Boy, because we weren't exactly sure how to get out of Milwaukee, and we wanted to do it before there was a lot of traffic. Plus, we (meaning Connor, John- Connor's roomate/best friend- and I) aren't very big Fall Out Boy fans. John didn't seem to really know who they were, and Connor and I know some of their songs, but not really enough to sing along or anything. Basically, we waited until this song (see Youtube video below) was played, and then we left, because this was the only song we really wanted to hear. (Sorry Alex)

We were wanting to try and check out some of the free venues that they had, but by the time we finally found the parking lot our parking pass was for and grabbed something to eat, we needed t get to the concert. It was freaking awesome though, and I really want to find out who is playing at Summerfest next summer (hopefully someone I really like is playing, if not I probably won't go).

New Politics was the opening act. I only knew of one song by them ("Harlem" which I have posted in a previous entry) but hearing them live I wish I had listened to more of their songs beforehand. They are really pretty good (at least I think so). Also, the lead singer can breakdance, and it's awesome. Here's one that they played at the concert (they drop the F-bomb a few times, so don't listen when little ears are around)

Here's another song by them that is pretty catchy.

Also, I went shooting for the first time ever this weekend, and apparently I'm pretty good. I shot a .22 rifle, an AK-47, and two handguns that I can't remember the names of.

Anyway, that's about all I have to talk about, so I'll leave it at that.

Love,

Sara

I'm back!

It's official. I have an obsession with Sleeping With Sirens and Johnny Craig. Kellin Quinn from Sleeping with Sirens is the cutest person to me right now. 

Seriously. How can you not love him? He's adorable. He thinks he's a dinosaur. 

On a more serious note. So.. I've been precariously searching within my career choices for my English major.. and debating whether or not I truly want to be a teacher. I mean yeah. I think I would enjoy it. But lets pick apart the pieces of being a teacher, shall we? Or rather, let's not. We all know what being a teacher entails. So I've furthered my outlook on the English department. I've looked into being an editor, a grant specialist, and a public relations specialist. An editor.. well y'know.. edits stuff. A grant specialist is someone who is hired by companies to write in favor of the company to appeal to larger companies as to why the smaller company should receive money from the larger company. Basically stating why the larger company would benefit from funding the smaller company. I thought it sounded fun. But I don't know. And the public relations specialist basically appeals to all the people in and out of companies. They "... need to tell a compelling story about a client or colleague which will capture the attention of the media and generate placement with a magazine, newspaper, website, television or radio station." Yeah I quoted. I was too lazy to type it all. More than anything, I'm considering pursuing a career as an editor. I love editing papers and telling people what they did wrong and what they can do better. 

This is Roger Rabbit by Sleeping With Sirens. No screaming, I promise. This is my favorite song by them. It's beautiful. I used to listen to this senior year almost every night. On repeat. 

My 4th of July weekend. Honestly, it could have been better. My family and I went to Woodhaven for the weekend. There were so many people. My dad's coworkers were there, my dad's friend Allison, her son and her husband, some creepy guys who wouldn't stop staring at me, and my brother and Sarah were there. It was so crowded. There were so many bugs. And my brother and Sarah were kinda in their own little world, which is as expected. So I just hung out by myself. On Saturday my mom and I took a twenty minute bike ride along all the trails there. That was exhausting. But we stopped at the market and bought popcorn and cake pops. Those were awesome. Then Sunday morning.. Luis called me. I didn't want to answer. So I ignored it. But he kept calling. So I finally answered. He started asking me if  I hated him. Oh how I wanted to tell him that I did. But I couldn't. I can't be mean to him. Even after all the hurt he's put me through, I just can't fucking.. hurt him back. He started talking like we used to, just about everything. And even asked if I wanted to hang out again. Then he started flirting with me. He is still dating Gabbi. That's all he is. A fucking liar. I don't mind being his friend still, but fuck. Just leave me alone. 

Enough of that. 

So yeah. Changing careers, my weekend, and my shitty ex boyfriend. That's pretty much all I got right now. I'm trying to convince my parents to let me drive again. Its not going so well. I'm just gonna drive. I don't even care anymore. I can't stay cooped up like this. I need to see you guys. I need to get out of this house and go back home. Lake in the hills isn't my home. It never will be. My home will always be in Rockford. In that little house on Charlotte Drive. Never here. Never.

Uhhh hullo there...

Ok, I was going to post last week because my internet had been down and it just got fixed last week, but then I got busy. So here I am! Yay!

I've been reading like crazy. Ever since school got out I've managed to read the other four books of the Percy Jackson series (which I highly recommend, its funny and I really enjoyed reading a book series that had pretty much no romance at all), I re-read TFIOS, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (about a boy raised in a cemetery by the ghosts inside it. Its basically stories of his adventures over a course of fifteen years and he's also being hunted by this guy who killed his real family when he was a baby. Its a really cute book. Also no romance), the last book in the No Safety in Numbers trilogy came out and I read that book in one day. I waited a year for that book to come out and end the trilogy and I finished in one day. I didn't want it to end! I am now reading The 5th Wave and I thought it was supposed to be about the zombie apocalypse, but I was so wrong. Its about an alien invasion. Wrong apocalypse.

So yesterday I went to Cassy's grad party. Some of you may know that we had problems last year, but we're beginning to patch things up between us. Anyway, I had a lot of fun. Julian and this other girl I used to talk too from theater were there. And there was a pool. First time swimming all summer. Hopefully I got some sort of tan out of it because as Will nicely pointed out, I am "vampire pale". I ended up staying for almost twelve hours yesterday.

The power went out tonight at work. Have you ever heard McDonald's absolutely quiet? I have before when the power flickered for a few seconds, but this was almost a minute tonight. And let me tell you, when your used to the constant noise and the constant beeping from something, and the hum of the power itself, silence is creepy. We weren't busy at all, we were so dead because of the storm. I didn't even know we had emergency lights. Speaking of work, I practically live there now. Ugh. I don't really mind because its not like I do much outside of work except read and occasionally hang out with you guys. But its like they're a third family right now.

Confession time. Actually I don't know, I may have said this before. I seriously consider you ladies and Julian more of a family to me than my own family. My parents and my grandparents on my dad's side are close to me, but beyond that I really only see my family on holidays or rare occasions. I lied, I see my aunt that I work with a few times a week but its not like we really talk too much. We can't really because the store manager can't find out we're related or I'll get transferred. I still don't know how I've dodged that bullet. Going back on topic: you ladies are my family. And if any of you ever need to talk or hang out, I'm here for ya. Shoot me a text, or give me a call. I like hearing Carry on My Wayward Son go off randomly.

Last bit of news: You all know that camping trip I'm going on as a class or whatever and I'm going with nine complete strangers (some of which could be serial killers) and the teacher? Yeah, make that eight complete strangers. That's right, I know somebody. I go on our chat thing today to find that Mike Grant has introduced himself sometime last week (I've been busy). So I commented on it saying, "Is this THE Mike Grant? From Baldwin's AP Chemistry class?" I went on to apologize if it wasn't in fact the Mike Grant, but he did say he graduated from Rockford East High in 2013 so really, I had no way of being wrong. Its really a relief knowing that I will know someone on this trip and I won't spend the whole time alone and not talking.

Since everybody is doing it, I shall post videos... Sara... these are probably all songs you suggested to me.

I am pretty upset that I'm just getting into My Chemical Romance after they broke up but Welcome to the Black Parade is so far my favorite. The video is a little odd.

 

 

Followed by Mama only because its just so weird... especially the very end.

 

 

 

Panic! At The Disco's Nearly Witches which is also a bit weird but I like it.

 



 

Mama was actually a recommendation from Julian, the other two I got from Sara one way or another.

 

Kay. I'm done. I'm going to go read The 5th Wave now. And eat.... I should go to bed...