Sweet Digression

I’ve been going on about this forever on twitter, and I decided to just let all of my frustrations out here once and for all.

Four years ago, I got my iPod. At the time, it was somewhat cutting edge (being the first generation video). I wanted it, needed it, begged for it, paid for some of it, got it.

My iPod and I have gone through a lot. We’ve gone through my sixth grade music stage (when anything catchy was instantly purchased), my sixth grade TV show phase (when I felt obliged to purchase every episode of ‘Kyle XY’ and ‘Three Moons Over Milford’). My iPod was there for me when I began to branch out and listen to music away from the radio. My iPod even put up with my youtube downloading phase, for when I started to hate purchasing iTunes gift cards. My iPod was there when I starting feeling bad about this but, still not wanting to buy from iTunes, began to buy physical CDs from the local music shop. My iPod has my name engraved on the back. My iPod has gone through numerous pairs of headphones. Up until this year, my iPod was my friend.

Then this year, my iPod betrayed me. Lately it’s just like, ‘I don’t like this song, I refuse to play it’. (Granted, this iPod has put up with my for four years. I don’t know how long that is in iPod years, or how long iPods tend to last, but it sounds like a while). I’ve tried staying faithful to my iPod. When the iTouch first came out, I ignored my want for it. The nano chromatic had me going crazy, but I kept my iPod. When my friends began to get the iTouch, i though I needed it too. But on to the problem.

I start track next week, so I decided to update and charge my iPod in preparation. After not letting me upload videos (even though they were specifically in iPod format), I spent an hour re-converting the videos until they finally uploaded. I brought my iPod to school that day, and tried listening to it after I finished my work. It let out an insanely high pitched beeping noise, shocking everyone within a three meter radius. I did the cool reset thing and tried again. It seemed to be working perfectly, until I pressed pause. The song paused, but wouldn’t start again when I pressed play. I thought ‘okay, whatever, cool reset thingy to the rescue!’. So I reset it in order to de-freeze it. It then had some problems with playing specific playlists.

So, now more than ever, I definitely need a job. Because I really want a new iPod. Which iPod is the best buy?

The other day, I was on AmIrite.com. It’s one of my favorite websites to spend the time going through, because it’s nowhere near as dull as MLIA or FML are lately. One person said something to the extent of, ‘People who say music is their life but have never played an instrument are annoying, amirite?’, and almost everyone agreed. I moved my cursor over to click ‘you’re right!’ before thinking for a moment.

Throughout my lifetime (that of an average high school student), I’ve played piano, recorder and guitar. I’ve only truly loved guitar, but my practicing skills are awful, so I’ve started/stopped/started about three times. Same with piano. Recorder wasn’t really an instrument, just a gateway into playing others.

This experience has left me with basic knowledge of notes on guitar, as well as chords (I can also read tabs and attempt finger picking, as well as play chords by ear, the strumming pattern is the problem). It’s also left me with a very basic, easily forgotten knowledge of piano.

But I listen to music. I love music. I’ve been to two concerts in the past month (TnS and SSPU/Muse yesterday ¹), I have a wide variety of music interests (ranging from 80’s pop to rock to indie and everything). I take a Music History course and am beginning to understand how music has evolved through the centuries. I’m love buying CDs and organizing my iTunes, I try to find new music constantly.

Let’s say I still went to concerts, still loved music, but had never played an instrument (my playing is very limited as it is, so this isn’t a stretch). Obviously I wouldn’t go as far as to say that ‘music is my life’, but would that really make my musical interest any less important? What if I just couldn’t focus on making the music, was too impatient (this somewhat applies, since I could never write a song), or just lacked talent?

How about you guys? Do you play an instrument/have played an instrument? Do you think playing one is necessary to full enjoy music and be a fan?

(I hope this entry makes sense)

¹ A very good show, flashy and awesome and lots of talent from both bands. But the TnS one is still my favorite of the three concerts I’ve been to.

Having recently entered high school, thinking about the past has been inevitable. In the town I grew up in (and am still growing up in), high school was the big deal. Get there, and you’re set. You’re an adult. It was a staircase.

In the first stage of elementary school, you were the coolest of cool if you were a third grader. There was no reason, you just were. Then you went on to the second stage of elementary school, where you were cool if you did student council, or if you were a fifth grader. But once you were a fifth grader, you spent the whole year pining for sixth grade. Why? Because in fifth grade, you still walked in lines. You still had one teacher. Sixth grade was a whole new world. You were an adult. Well, you were a teenager. Tween. The terms all blurred in your head.

(Come to think of it, fifth grade was my most naive year. My friend had me convinced there was a dragon in the school’s tool shed, I tried to open the doors all year)

Sixth really was all it was said to be. You got a locker, a gym locker, separate classrooms, new folders. You convinced your parents you were ready for an iPod or cell phone (but didn’t text message). Seventh grade was the forgotten year (though my favorite by far), and then you entered eighth grade. The clock ticked throughout the whole year, ticking time away. Soon - very soon - you would be in high school. You’d be a freshman. You’d choose your own classes. You couldn’t wait. And so the year droned on, and you would have done anything for it to end.

End it did. You left the middle school happily, swearing never to visit again, and entered high school. Where you were the baby, the freshman, and not really respected by anyone. You got to the top of the staircase, only to find that you were stuck in mid air, attempting to float to the next staircase just out of your reach.

I still can’t see that staircase. It’s blue, maybe. It looks pretty high. It has high and low steps, and I don’t know where it ultimately leads. I see college, a career, real adulthood. Vague, and the top is still cloudy.

In a way, I never left sixth grade. It was the first real change in my life, at leas that I can remember. It was the first time I started blogging (shhh - those entries are long gone), the first time I realized how much I loved to write, the first time I met one of my best friends (who happened to move this year). Sixth grade represented transitions in my life. At the time, when we were writing papers on the elementary school/middle school transition, I BS’d it all. I really didn’t realize how important that year was and still is. Because when I close my eyes and picture school, I see my sixth grade hallway. Not my eighth, seventh, or current. I see my sixth grade hallway, my locker, my friends, my math class. It’d ridiculous.

This blog entry is a total ramble, and I had a completely different point in originally writing it. But that’s okay, I needed to blog. What are you nostalgic about? Is there a time in your life that seems to define your whole life so far (like sixth grade has to me?)

(Click on any pictures for larger image)
For the past three years, my favorite band has been Tegan and Sara. I’ve been meaning to see them live since I first listened to ‘Walking With The Ghost’ but was never able to find a good day to go.

This weekend, I went! The doors opened at 7:15, and we got there at about 6:30 to eat beforehand. I legitimately couldn’t eat, though, because I was really excited. By the time we got in line, it was 3089540835 miles long (or, you know, not). It went by quickly and we ran into the venue. While waiting for the opening act to start, I bought a huge Tegan and Sara poster! (I can’t find an online picture of it, but it’s amazing and on my right as I write this)

There were two opening acts. Both were incredibly talented, but lasted a very long time. And then…Tegan and Sara! They opened with ‘The Ocean’ (one of my favorites from Sainthood).

And then they played Speak Slow, The Cure, Alligator Tears, Nightwatch, Where Does the Good Go, Nineteen, So Jealous, Sentimental Tune, Call it Off, Redbelt, Arrow, Back in Your Head and Hell (though not in that order, and I’m definitely missing some). Tegan was on the far left for most of the performance (and at one point, she pointed out that those on the far left seats couldn’t see her, and they should switch with those in the front row mid-performance. During Arrow, she also pointed out that she would be on the keyboard, making it sound like a guitar because Sara can’t actually play guitar)

But of course the best part of the concert was their commentary/banters. Sara started with one about AM radio (”it was like…twitter”) and how she regrets not being an R&B artist instead of an Indie one.

Later they talked about their stepfather, Bruce, and how they were attached to him when they were younger. They also talked about how they had become musicians, and everyone’s original reaction to it (”We’d travel, and on the way we’d visit family. What I then thought was love and excitement at seeing us, I now realize was fear and judgement.”). They talked about how Sara was once ‘Most Improved Piano player’ and Tegan ‘Best Piano Player’ when they were little.

Tegan later complained about her lips being chapped, and someone threw her chapstick (”Someone gave me lipchap. Thanks! Oh, Sara says I shouldn’t use it…”). She also made a ‘that’s what she said’ joke and everyone cracked up, because it was hilarious.

Then they left, and everyone cheered for an encore. Being awesome, they came back. But they didn’t do just one song! They did a couple. They played My Number (I never thought I’d get to hear that live, because it’s older, but SO GOOD), Walking With The Ghost (being the first song I’d ever heard by them, I was really happy to hear it!), Feel It In My Bones (which I had only heard once before and loved!) and Living Room (which I freaked out about, because I LOVE that song live).

Four second clip of ‘Walking with the Ghost’

Every time one of them would start to tell a (somewhat) serious story, the other would interrupt and make the whole audience crack up. Their interaction is so fun to watch! So basically, if you ever have to chance to see Tegan and Sara live…DO NOT HESITATE. They are fantastic live, charming, hilarious, quirky, adorable, talented, AWESOME. I would have posted videos but my friend and I are laughing through the banters and singing along to the songs.

I really hope I get the chance to see them again soon. They really are my favorite band ever.
(Buying a TnS hoodie wouldn’t be at all weird, would it? Because I’m a second away from buying one, so tell me that’s okay!)

I’ve seen a bunch of people mention their organizer/planner/whatever lately (a bunch of people seem to have a Moleskine, which I was a moment away from buying), and it made me realize…I actually use a planner this year!

I start off every year saying that I’ll use one, because I crave organization (ahaha). But by second quarter, I usually give up. Not this time though! I’ve made into second semester still using one.

Granted, I cheated. I had a planner since September, but as soon as I got my Harry Potter planner, that planner was left on my desk, where it will stay forevermore (I actually own three planners this year, my HP one, my first one, and a school one)

Reasons to love it:
1. It’s Harry Potter. It’s IMPOSSIBLE not to love. Here is a picture:

2. I love the organization. It’s so nice, I’d be lost without my planner!
3. Great when I’m bored. Seriously, doodles = Love. And I can rewrite all my homework pretending I’m at Hogwarts *lame*

How about you? Do you use a planner?

I swear, there are way too many networking sites out there right now. And I always tell myself I won’t join them. But I have a Facebook, Mugglenet…and now a Twitter.

I’m not really sure what made me want a Twitter, the site was pretty and it sounded a step above Facebook in the way of stalking (just kidding, really), so…voila!

My Twitter.

[Someday - Tegan and Sara, I’ll stop quoting eventually]

I really need a school break. I know that one of my resolutions was to stop always wanting what I can’t have, but my resolutions are sort of failing anyway.

I took my midterm exams this week. Being a freshman, this was my first time taking high school exams, and it wasn’t really a pleasant experience. Biology especially.

My math exam was more difficult than I ever expected, ever. I sat there for two hours, confused out of my mind on three problems (there were about thirty total). It was mind-numbing, I basically got home and cried for an hour.

Language and Literature was a bunch of writing. We read a short story by Sylvia Plath and had to answer questions and prompts on it. Pretty simple, but I got a hand cramp. Also had to write an essay on ‘Lord of the Flies’ (as much as I originally hated this book, I kinda love it and recommend it now).

History was slightly more difficult than expected. I love history, and I’m normally good at it (A+ both quarters so far, had a 99% for a good portion of first quarter), but the questions were phrased strangely. At very least, I don’t think it brought my average down (and I honestly don’t think I did too poorly).

Biology was 170 questions. No joke. Plus 2 free response questions. I studied all weekend and for a total of about four hours the night before. I got to my exam room, hyperventilating, and covered my ears. I cannot talk about a test before or directly after the test. I freak out that I forgot something, did something completely wrong, etc. I don’t need that stress! The exam was relatively decent though and, with 170 questions, I don’t think I scored too low. Fingers crossed!

On the bright side, I should still have mostly As this quarter. One or two Bs (GAH!!), but I’ll try and fix them next quarter and not stress too much right now.

On the bright side, Tegan and Sara concert next month! <3

-Beaches
-Bright sunlight
-Not wearing seven thousand layers
-Running barefoot through fields
-Flipflops
-Biking miles upon miles with my friends
-Ice cream
-Going to playgrounds, swinging, taking photots
-Down time: no homework or exams
-Flowers
-Pretending the world looks like the picture on this layout
-Shells
-Windblown hair
-Camps
-Missing school (yes, I miss the feeling of MISSING school)
-Getting bored
-Sunglasses
-Shopping downtown in the sun and running around the college campus nearby
-Shorts and tanktops and light hoodies
-Jumping over hoses
-Waterguns
-Reading books under shady trees
-Doing volunteer work
-Hiking
-NOT going to the mall, because there’s so much other stuff to do!
-Picking flowers
-Not freezing to death

Oh wait.
I guess I could have just said,
I miss summer

-DW spoilers-

David Tennant, I already miss you. I cried so much at this regeneration. No, not the regeneration, the companion visiting.

Matt Smith, welcome. I think you’re going to be brilliant.

/Short entry

Bit late, but here’s a recap of 2009. And completely out of order, as I think of them

1. I started high school, survived half my first semester.
2. I read ‘Deathly Hallows’, which I’ve been meaning to do for years. I cried for hours and absolutely loved it.
3. I got unlimited text messaging, which sounds random, but I never really text messaged before.
4. I started Debate and placed for State’s at my first tournament.
5. I participated in my first mock trial, and won (and I hyperventilated)
6. I bought my first pair of high hells
7. I stayed up til midnight at my friend’s house, rather than with my parents (New Year’s Eve)
8. Took a train with my friends to the city, then a subway, and it was amazing.
9. Had my best friend move away.
10. Took Health class twice, just to hang out with my friend.
11. Didn’t finish my Halloween candy.
12. Discovered spicy shrimp tempura rolls
13. Began watching House (and stopped at the end of Chase and Cameron’s relationship)
14. Tried out for (and didn’t make) the volleyball team, and did debate instead
15. Took my first elective, and am quite happy with it.
16. Opted for all the higher placement courses and realized it wasn’t as easy as I had thought.
17. Discovered the Muse.
18. Saw Twilight, hated it. Saw New Moon, admitted it was decent.
19. Saw Half Blood Prince, completed my life.
20. Started using contacts again and stopped, again.