Summer Time Bucket List

So, summer is getting pretty close, and I never thought I'd be so sad to leave the most stressful time of my life! Madison has become my home in such a short time, and home is completly different than it is here.  But then again, Madison is nothing like home, either.  So to make my summer a little more interesting, I decided to make a summer time bucket list, to try to spice things up a bit.  I realize most of the things on my list are down right ludicrous, but some are really meaningful.  Either way, it should pose for an interesting summer!

Without Further Ado, my summer bucket list!

1. Go on a 2 week long road-trip to California and never once stay in a hotel (this is really happening I promise, and Im stoked!)

2. spend 24 consecutive hours in a Walmart without getting kicked out

3. have a black-out night with my friends, which we use no electricity, batteries, or anything technological

4. read as many books as i can (top of my list are Through Painted Deserts, Wuthering Heights, Tuesdays With Morrie, and 1984)

5.  spend an entire day with just my mom (no cell phone allowed!)

6. throw a party while my parents are away (kind of opposite than 5, but Im going for variety here!)

7. dress up in plaid and have a mini-golfing tournament

8. have as many bonfires as possible with my friends

9. Befriend people I didn't like in high school

10. Do a chinese fire drill in the middle of town

11. find more time to sit and think each day

12. have a water balloon fight with paint or tie-dye

13. make new friends

14. tell a cop he has nice legs (without getting arrested hopefully)

15. drink entirely too much

16. get dressed up and go to Chuck-E-Cheese with my girls!

17. meet a celebrity

18. discover a new band, and follow said band to a gig somewhere

19. sing karaoke 

20. volunteer at a retirement community

21. draw/write something on my arm and sit in the sun to get a tan-tattoo

22. Forgive someone unconditionally that I never thought I would

23. Go to a Brewers game with my face painted

24. Make a pice of art-painting, drawing, and leave it on a busy street to see who takes it

25. write a letter to everyone i love, and tell them how much they mean to me

thats all for me! Hopefully I wont get into too much trouble this summer!

Hope you all have a good summer!!!

Generation Remake

I decided to do my research paper on the remakes that I have noticed becoming more and more prominent, most notably in the music industry. But evidence of this can also be seen in movies, broadway, So the big question I had, is why does this pattern seem to be more apparent now more than ever?  I wanted look at how creativity has changed, and if it is something that has gone completly out the window, or if our generation is simply using cover songs to show the progress that we've made since the original, and have a deeper motive in terms of artistic interpretations rather than just copying. 

I think it would also be kind of interesting to look at some of the lawsuits that have been very publicized over the years for plagiarism suits.

10 Years From Now

10 years from now, I'll be pushing 30, so the only thing I am sure of is that I will be surround by my same friends, and have the great relationship that I have with my family.  Hopefully, I will be married (kids is something that am still unsure if i want or not).  

In terms of career, I only know I CANNOT have a desk job where I sit in a cubicle for hours at a time.  I think going into Advertising, working for a magazine, or something along those lines would be great, and keep me busy!  I have also circled around the idea of working for a non-profit organization like Invisible Children.  Either way, I just have to be doing different things or else I will go crazy!

I really really hope that I will have had a lot of experiences in other places.  Traveling is definitely something that I want to do as well.  But I don't care for touristy areas too much, I'd rather go to experience the real country in places like Africa, Prague, and Greece. 

I would love to move away from this area, even if its just for a few years. I can definitely see myself in a place like New York, or San Francisco, but I'd love to ultimately end up in North Carolina.   

In terms of society, its so hard to try to tell where such a huge group will be.  Hopefully we will have broken down some more barriers in terms of prejudices, and hate.  But also, in a better state economically.  Also, technologically and scientifically, I think there will be some really great advances that can hopefully help the world.  

Also, here is a song i think pertains to the subject pretty nicely, its  Snow Patrol's song Open Your Eyes, enjoy!

With that, I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes, (which has been modified several times over time)

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in an attractive, well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways throughly used up and totally worn out screaming 'wow, what a ride!'"

-Unknown

Frustration on the 80

I witnessed something today that really frustrated me, and thought that it was worth mentioning.  I was sitting on the 80 earlier today, completly packed in.  But in the front, there was a lot of room in the aisle.  An elderly man got on, he was walking with a cane, and carrying what looked like some sort of medical device that he was obviously hooked up to (maybe an oxygen tank or something along those lines) but looked like he was having a difficult time none the less.  Yet, not one single person in the front of the bus got up to offer him a seat, mind you every single person was younger, probably late teens to no more than mid 20s, and would have a lot less difficulty standing than he would.  I started to get up, trying to push my way into the aisle, but the man next to me, who was also older (about 50s) saw he was having difficulties, and offered his seat.  All I have to say is, its such a shame the way elderly people get treated these days.  If you look at other cultures, their elders are feared, and respected to the highest degree.  I'd hate for them to ever have to see this representation of young America almost as much as I hate the fact that I am clumped into this group of people.  If the rest of the world could see how poorly respected the elders are, it would only fuel the hatred many other countries already have towards America.  The more of this I see, the more I understand why my elders have always told me that respect is going out the window.

Just thought I'd throw that out there. 

Spring Break

So, I didn't go anywhere over spring break, so I told myself i would try to get a lot of work done in my "free time."  And of course, that didn't happen!  I hate that I always tell myself that I'm going to work really hard and get a lot of stuff done and then don't even pick up a book.  Then, Im always stuck finishing things at the VERY last minute.    

American History X

So I've seen this movie before, but some of the parts still made my skin cringe.  Not gonna lie,I had to look away at the parts where he killed the guy, when they were robbing the store, and the scene where he was raped.  But one thing that stuck with me most was the part immediately after Derek was raped and Sweeny asked him "Has anything you've done made your life better?"  I wonder if people (anyone, not just "bad" people) were to ask themselves that question if they could change like Derek did.?  I personally don't know how I would answer.  Do you?

Break out the kilts and bagpipes...we're goin to Milwaukee!

So this is my friday night in a nutshell..

I went to milwaukee with one of my friends for a Dropkick Murphys concert.  She was using the excuse for "anthropological research" for Anthro 104 project, and I just wanted to go to a concert because I hadn't really been to one in a long time.  

To begin our little adventure, my friend had a serious case of road rage that nearly killed us on a few occasions.  I wonder if she realizes it yet? Anyways, I thought it was rather hilarious, so I was laughing hysterically (and kind of annoyingly) for a large portion of the stretch across 94.  I felt kind of bad because she was obviously frustrated, and again...I had a serious case of the chuckles....oh well...it made for a good story so far don't ya think?

So we got to the venue, and made our way to the Eagles Ballroom, which I had never been to before.  I was hoping that it would get too crowded because Im not very tough when it comes to concerts like these (with excessive pushing and head-banging) so I didn't sustain too many injuries.  None the less, a few minutes before the concert started, we started to get packed in, and i just started to brace myself..I felt a little bit of relief when me and my friend were suddenly surrounded by people twice our size...they looked like they could hold their own.  haha...FALSE! they got pushed around more than I did! Granted, I had a gate to hold onto (we were in the front and off center a bit) but seriously!  These guys were getting pushed by like 14 year old girls and guys with legs that may compete with toothpicks.  So to say the least, I was disappointed in those guys....

Anyways, the concert went on and the first two bands were okay (Civet and H20).  The crowd wasn't really into Civet, but when H20 came on, they had a descent sized mosh pit...it kind of terrified me within reason...I didn't really want to go home with bloody nose and/or black eye.  Dropkick finally came on and, let me say, they were GREAT performers!!  I wasn't too familiar with a ton of their stuff, but do they know how to put on a show!  At one point there was a man crowd surfing naked (he lost his kilt) and I punched someone for the first time.  It was completly within reason...girl was ridiculously drunk and was repeatedly trying to gouge my eyeball out! She was drunk so i assume she didn't feel too much at that point anyways.  But my friend also jumped the gate and was on stage for a while because they let girls go up for one song and guys for another.  While she was up there (with 50 other girls) I was surrounded by dudes, it was a total sausage feast.  Awkward.  But the lead singer jumped off stage and came up to me and handed me the microphone, and i proceeded to sing "kiss me Im shit-faced."  Kinda awesome.

The concert finally ended, and we were driving to a friend apartment.  Well, as if our night hadn't been long enough, we witnessed a hit and run!  This guy hit a car full of people and a lady got trapped in her car, and the coward completly booked!  We stopped to make sure they called the cops, they said they did.  We saw an ambulance come, so we thought it was okay, but they just passed right by a very visibly hurt group of people.  Not once did this happen, but TWICE! another ambulance, that didn't even have its lights on, went right by.  The guy tried flagging her down, but she just waved and continued on her own path.  Way to keep it classy, lady.

I have a night like that anytime soon, I think it'll be the death of me...

If you do anything today..

This past weekend, me and one of my best friends went down to Chicago to see Jamie Tworkowski speak for the organization he started a few years ago, To Write Love On Her Arms. I have to say, he is an AMAZING person to just sit and listen to. I sat there for a good two hours with goosebumps, just listening, letting it all soak in. He talked about three things that I really consider to be important in my life; people, music, and faith.

  But one thing that he said really stuck to me, and has had me thinking this past week. He said, "we're all people. we all hurt, we all have pain, happiness and struggles all the same." This is probably the most honest thing I've heard someone say in a very long time. It really got me thinking. I thought to how I have treated people, what I've said, and more importantly my actions towards others.  It sparked a new ambition in me; I don't want or need to be a hero, or but i just want to be a (small) part of a change for the good.  Im not entire sure when or where this whole idea of change is supposed to happen, but i hope i can recognize it when it comes.  But every single person on this earth is apart of a community.  We all live on this earth that is harsh and broken, and we were meant to live with one another.  We were meant to live alone, but to love and give love. 

This brings me to my second point; my faith.  I know people will probably want to skip over this part, but Im not going to ever try to push any ideas or beliefs on anyone, and i never will. Another thing Jamie Tworkowski said was "the word christian offends a lot of people...i really don't like what it has become."  There is this whole idea that every person who is a Christian is going to thrown their bible at you.  Thats just not it.  I will simply say this; I feel that the idea of a God has so many different perspectives.  A God i know and love may be completly different from the one you do.  And thats okay.  I just hope that people will be able to accept the idea that He has more grace, love, and forgiveness than condemnation.  He is constantly "in the business of redemption."    

Jamie started to talk about music, and how it has the ability to move people.  This is nothing new to me.  Music has the ability to heal, and is the foundation of TWLOHA.  It speaks for itself really.  

I truly admire Jamie for being able to take people from so many different backgrounds and bring them together for a greater good.  I was able to talk to him for a little bit after the show, and he has so much to say, and so many people that he wants to hear him.  Hopefully you guys will check it out if you haven't already.  Its such an amazing and unique org!  He has and continues to change the world, and started it all with one person.

So if you do anything at all today, just take a second, a small amount of time to really reflect on the great things that you have in your life. Try to learn something new, do something small for another person, or smile at a stranger on the street. You never know when you can completely make someone's day by doing the smallest deed.

Also, check out some of the new shirts TWLOHA has, they're all really tight and all go towards helping pay for treatment of people who are having trouble dealing with things in their life. you can buy them here:
http://www.zambooie.com/twloha/

Democracy At Its Finest...

Okay, so after reading this some three or four times, I think I'm finally able to come up with a pretty legitimate response to Carl Becker's article "Democracy" (especially for not being very politically charged).

I truly believe that we, especially as Americans who are constantly told we are lucky enough to live a democratic lifestyle, need to really understand the power that we may or may not have in the so called "land of the free." I completly agree with Becker's statement about how a democratic way of life can be very destructive to society (he referenced Napoleon, Caesar, and Stalin). Some people may even argue that we are victims of this "destruction" in the form of President Bush and low approval rates, some would. But what also came to mind, was, how well would a society actually be able to function without leaders? I think if we were to truly become a government ran by the people (non-politicians) the country would just go to shit, and thats putting it politely. Yes there are societies out there that are completly ran by the people with equal distribution of power (thanks Anthro 104 for teaching me that one!), but those are small scale societies. I feel that more industrialized societies need structure in order to get by.

Sure, it has its downfalls, but what government doesn't? It's simple fact that we will never be able to create a government that is completly approved by all people, but what we have is pretty kick ass if you ask me. Not too many government would allow a bunch of 19 or 20 year olds the freedom to talk about the government like we have.

Hopefully I didn't butcher this article too much!

That's All for Now Kids!!

Just Incase..

Here is a really funny site that a friend showed me recently.  I thought I'd spread it around, just incase anyone else needed to feel a little bit better about their lives...

http://www.fmylife.com/

Enjoy!!

Blog Launch!

My blog is officially underway, thanks to my English 100 class!! 

Now onto the assignment...

1. Freakonomics- I haven't read this book, but from what I hear, this is an amazing book that takes a whole new perspective on the usually boring (as least in my opinion) of economics.  Especially in time of economic strain, it would be helpful to see a new point of view.

2. The Lion King- I know this sounds pretty weird, but I heard from a friend that this movie can be directly related to Shakespeare's Hamlet.  I think that area in itself would be a really interesting way to connect various types of genres, media and historical pieces of work. Plus, it is a classic movie and everyone loves it!  

3. The Real World (and other related reality t.v. shows)- I truly believe that this is what started the whole "reality t.v. phenomenon" that we are currently in.  It's a great way to analyze the types of shows that dictate what we see as entertainment, and what better place to start than the source.

4. Crash- This movie is one of the first that really challenged cultural boundaries and racism, and does so in such a raw form.  It is a movie that every person can relate to, whether on a large or small scale, and can be affected by.  Its not too often that one single piece of work can impact such a wide rage of people.  

Thats All for Now Kids!