October Favorites

I've decided to try this thing when at the end of each month I tell you all about my favorite things of the month. It's mainly a YouTube thing, but considering I don't actually make videos, I'm turning it into a Blogger thing. So we'll see how this goes. [And, yes, I realize it's 3 days late.]

BAND: We the Kings I used to be a huuuuge We the Kings fan when I was a freshmen. I swear I know all the words off their first CD [self-titled]. After that, though, I didn't really keep up with them. I'm not sure why. But I just recently ordered their last two CDs [Smile Kid and Sunshine State of Mind] off their website. Right now I have Smile Kid in my car stereo. I haven't listened to Sunshine State of Mind yet but I have high expectations. If you haven't already you should definitely check them out.

SONG: "She Takes Me High" So, obviously, because I've been listening to We the Kings nonstop, one of their songs is my favorite of the month. It's the type of song that's expected by them: upbeat, cheesy lyrics, and totally pop rock. But I can't help jamming to it all the time.

BOOK: Heist Society This is a book by Ally Carter that you should definitely read. It is a Young Adult book, but if you're a book snob don't let that discourage you. The basic gist of the plot is that there's this 15-year-old-year girl, Kat, whose family is made up of art thieves. They're always stealing valuable paintings and whatnot, because, well, that's what art thieves do. Except Kat's dad gets accused of stealing some gangsters precious art collection. Kat has to get them back so that the gangster doesn't do anything to him. This book makes me want to become a highly-skilled art thief, wear black all the time, meet an incredibly hot millionaire, and tiptoe around doing daring, dangerous things. Like I said before, you should definitely read it.

SNACK: Quaker Quakes - Cheddar Cheese I know a lot of people have this misconception that rice cakes aren't good. But I promise you, they are. At least the cheddar cheese kind. If it's crunchy and cheesy chances are I'll like it. Plus if eaten in small proportions they're not that bad for you.

BLOGGER: Random Ramblings If you're into books and blogs about books, this is a great blog to check out. Jillian always has great reviews of books, many of these books are now on my ever-growing to-read list.  Not all of her posts are about books, but these are just as good as her reviews.

YOUTUBER: JoeyGraceffa This is Joey's personal channel on YouTube. His main channel is a music video channel, WinterSpringPro, which he does with another girl. This channel, however, is his personal vlogs. I love him so much! He's terribly adorable and reminds me a lot of my friends Trevor. If anime, video games, and music are your thing then what are you waiting for?

TV SHOW: American Horror Story This TV show is creepy as shit. No joke. I can't even begin to explain it. This family moves into a huge, old mansion where a bunch of murders took place but they don't know. All this weird stuff happens to them. And somehow this random, crazy neighbor of theirs is obsessed with the house. I can't explain it any better than that. It's on FX on Wednesdays 9c. If you watch it, please don't think I'm psycho. I have no clue why I like this TV show so much, I just do.

MOVIE: Paranormal Activity 3 I haven't watched many movies this month, so pickings were slim. But I did really like this movie. It's rated R, so if you're younger than that you'd have to find someone to take you. It follows Katie and Kristi's lives when they were very young girls. The whole background of why the things happen in the first two movies gets explained is this one. I would say it's the best one out of all three. Scary movies don't usually keep me up at night, but this one did. I went and saw the 10 o'clock showing the day before it released with a bunch of my friends. We were all scared out of our minds.

VIDEO GAME: Cube Field So I haven't had much time to play any videos games this month because of school. I don't think cube field actually qualifies as a *video game* but it's the only one I've really played this month. Basically you just have to navigate around a bunch of cubes. Really simple. It's supposed to help your perception and reaction time. I usually play it while I'm in Intro to Business because we don't really do anything. It's one of those games that you play if you have your computer and have some time to kill.

THING: My Brand Spankin' New Packers Lounge Chair I saw it at Farm 'n' Fleet with my dad and I couldn't not get it. It's sooo comfy. I could literally sit in it and read or watch TV for hours. It must be good luck too, because the Packers are 7 and 0! Yeaaaaaaaaaah! It wasn't a purely impulse item, though. My old blue one had gotten really uncomfortable and dirty. I mean, I did have it for almost 7 years.

What do you guys think, should this be a thing?

My Summer Thus Far

In a photo series.

My big brother's 20!

And I'm horribly sun burnt.

This is why my parents love vacations now, because my brother and I can now drive they can get crunk.

Oh, you know, just feeding some baby giraffes. Nothing too exciting.

Showing Conor some love at the Garden of the Gods.

I'm using this one purely to show you Pike's Peak in the left hand corner. At 14,000 feet it took us about 2 hours to drive up it.

My lovely parents.

Notice the cold shoulder Conor's trying to give me. RETURN MY LOVE.

Just a seventeen year old and a twenty year old with matching stuffed animals. No biggie.

Nearly to the top.

The Royal Gorge! And group shot.

A herd of wild donkeys roams Cripple Creek. Where we also toured a brothel.

Some babe at the Seven Falls...

We had to stop at Dwight D. Eisenhower's library on the way home.

Kayla, me, and Morgan going to see Cars 2. Such a good movie, sometimes you just need to see a little kid's movie and pretend you're still 8.

You all know about this of course.

I decluttered my bedroom and added another bookshelf! In the process I might have discovered a drawer full of candy from 4 years ago. Now I'm slightly worried that I might be a hoarder.

Sorry if I bored you with the excess amount of pictures. I figured it'd be less boring than a long, detailed account without pictures. Because we all know I can't tell a short story... It's okay, I said it so you didn't have to.

I get to act like a 9 year old and get paid for it!

Reasons why I love my baby sitting job:

• 9 year old boys are the easiest in the world. It really doesn't take much to keep them happy.
• It gives me an excuse a reason to watch cartoons and TV shows such as: The Fairly Oddparents, The Suite Life on Deck, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
• I have no other choice than to eat bad foods such as pizza because how can I expect a 9 year old to eat an entire pizza by himself?
• Moneymoneymoney! That's a good enough reason right there.
• I'm expected to do such activities as: go to the zoo, go to the pool, play board games, play video games, watch TV, etc. And get paid for it. Heck, I do those things anyways!
• Free pool membership! Need I say more?
• But, most importantly, Daphne turns the AC on at their house far more often than my own mother does.

Reason why I don't love my baby sitting job:

• Year and half old pit bull puppy decides to go into middle boy's bedroom and rip mattress pad to shreds. But it's not my fault he left the bedroom door open.

Day 12

A picture of something you love.

I love books. The end. I will be the first to admit that I am a huge nerd/bookworm. Ever since I read the Harry Potter series back in the 2nd grade I've been a non-stop reading machine. The picture above is my own personal library. I have more books than are in the picture, but, as you can see, I've run out of room. So I've hijacked my brother's matching bookcase to use. Except that means clearing out an entire section of my room. This would be a problem because I am a huge pack rat and will probably someday be featured on Hoarders. I have a feeling it's going to be a summer long project.

I can't really say what I love about reading so much. To me, it doesn't even really matter what I'm reading, just as long as I'm reading. I guess it's the escape of it all. You just immerse yourself in the story, get lost in it. You can learn about different lifestyles, cultures, the past, anything. Maybe that's it, seeing into a life different from your own.

I, of course, read all the cute little novels specifically aimed towards teenage girls. I mean, what teenage girl doesn't? But after reading Pride and Prejudice in the 8th grade I've been a huge fan of 19th century books. I believe I've said this before, but I own the complete works of Jane Austen. Needless to say, Jane Austen is one of my all-time favorite authors. I'm also a huge fan of the Bronte sisters. And I also own the complete works of Sarah Dessen [who's totally pumped for her next book?!]. And, obviously, Harry Potter is the best of all. Those books will forever hold a special place in my heart. Not only did they introduce me to the wonderful world of literature, I grew up with those books! For almost 10 years now I've lived during the reign of Harry Potter. My dad and I sort of share a special bond over the whole Harry Potter thing. We're huge fans, every time a book was released we went to the midnight releasings. I will bawl like a baby at the last movie, that's for sure.

I felt the need to include of picture of my collection corner. As in my very large collection of DVDs, books, and CDs. *Pack rat*

Oh BEDA.

I was all nice and comfy in my bed watching Chelsea Lately when I realized I hadn't blogged today. Sigh. Oh BEDA, ruining my sleep schedule. Just kidding, I do that pretty well on my own. Is it sad that I'm basing this weekend on when I can sleep? I think it's a sign that summer can't come fast enough.

I'm not really sure what reminded me of BEDA. My subconscious maybe? But I have noticed that I do my deepest thinking while lying in bed trying to fall asleep. Has this ever happened to you? Usually I reflect back on the day and think of the next day and some random topic pops into my mind. [This also happens while I'm in the shower, but we won't go there.] I guess it's because there's really nothing else I should be doing, besides BEDA, except sleeping. I don't have to sit there and think about all the things I need to get done. I can just let my mind wander.

This is usually when I think a lot about my future. All my plans for going to college, what I want to do with my life, where I want to go. Honestly, I think I've planned out my whole life whilst lying on my bed waiting for sleep to take over. I know now that I want to major in accouting [so dry! but I can't help it, it's in my DNA] and minor in foreign business. The one constant I've always known about my future career is traveling. I have always wanted to live in a foreign country, one where I have to learn a foreign language. And for some reason I always imagine myself in Germany. Don't really know why I picked a country with a hard language to learn... My dad lived in Holland for 3 years when he was in his 20s. He's told me numerous times that it was probably the most life changing thing he's ever done. It forces you to learn a whole new culture and language, suddenly you're just there and you have to make do and survive.

This isn't working, I can barely keep my eyes open. I promise that tomorrow I'll remember at a more decent time.

The Place that is Me

Find your setting. Well that one's easy. I'm sitting in a room where my imagination has clearly been set loose. It's full of and decorated with things that are solely meant to distract me from reality. Over there, in that corner? Oh yeah, that's just a bookcase full of books I know from cover to cover, CDs of which I could sing every track, and movies that I can quote at the drop of the hat. I like to think of myself as accomplished... in procrastination.

The walls are plastered with anything you can imagine: movie posters, pictures cut from magazines, images dug out from rummage sales, a bulletin board covered with whatever you can think of. I'd much rather look into those windows than the one facing the dismal street outside. Why look out that window when I've got multiple ones displaying foreign scenes, dashing colors, wondrous stories in each picture. I mean, does my neighbor taking out his trash really compare at all to the deep, crystal blue of a Grecian harbor?

Now that might be enough distractions for you, but not me. Piled, stuffed, hidden away in every place imaginable are random, colorful objects that you can't find just anywhere. I pride myself on being a successful collector of stuff. Got any junk you need to get rid of? I"m sure there's a spot for it in my room. I've got martini glass lights, dollar store trinkets, leis, old souveniers, grain bin piggy bank; I could keep going but I think you've got the idea.

You see, to me, my room is where I hold my memories. My hopes and dreams. My regrets and accomplishmenhts. My everything. Every object, every picture, every piece of junk holds a special meaning to me. Places I've been, places I wish to go. Memories I've created, more memories I hope to create. Achievements, accomplishments, failures kept out in order to learn from them. Yes, it's busy and distracting. And yes, it's a bit weird and random. But it's a reminder and symbol of every I am.