BEDD 31: thank you

2011 has brought tears of confusion, anger, happiness, pain, love, relief, sorrow and everything between.  The year has also brought me several fond moments I want to cherish for the rest of my life; moments that were tough but made me a better person, I want to remember these for when things get rough again in the future; and moments that I'd just rather forget even happened.  Through it all, I've learned a lot from someone I found one early morning when I coudln't sleep on YouTube.  This person I haven't gotten the chance to meet yet, but he's changed my perspective on things.  He is also the same person that I wrote half of my music history final exam paper over.

Mike Lombardo.

There really aren't enough words for me to express how much of an impact Mike has had on me this year.  I'm thankful that I found him when I did because I don't know how my year would have gone without his music.

One of the things that I really like about Mike is that he is so much into what he does, he puts all of his effort into what he's working on and produces something that is just magnificent.  He keeps pushing through and continues to do what he loves: music.

I've struggled a lot with people telling me what I should and shouldn't do with my life from the small things all the way up to some major things.  I've learned through watching Mike's video's on YouTube and listening to his music that no one can decide what I do and that I should do what I love.

One thing that 2011 has taught me is that the internet is a special place that can be used for great things.  It can allow you to reach out and help someone or multiple someones.  Mike has made me want to be a better person by not letting anything stop me from not only doing the things that I love but from being myself.

I can't thank him enough.

Mike, if by the slightest off chance that you've come across this; just let it be known that you've made an impact in my life and that I'm forever grateful for what you do. Never stop.

Link of the day: Page A Day So many different calendar choices to choose from to get sent to your e-mail daily. I got my mom and I each a Page A Day calendar for our desks, I just love them to death.

days until Senior Year Part 2 begins: 4
days until I become an adult: 7
days until graduation: 139

BEDD 28: how music has changed things

For my last final exam for my music history class, we had to write a two page paper over how music has changed our lives.  Everyone was complaining because our teacher made it a whole TWO pages when we had almost two hours to complete it.  The page limit didn't phase me one bit after my senior English exam that morning. It really got me thinking, so long in fact that I didn't start writing until thirty minutes into the final.  I was in such a rush to write the two page minimum that I didn't get to proof my writing let alone make it a nice read.  I honestly wish I could have somehow gotten back my paper just so that I could transform it into something worthwhile a read.

I decided to just rewrite it and hope I remember what I wrote.

In 2010 I went through a lot of things that I don't ever wish to repeat and that I still have a tough time talking about even to my closet friends.  The beginning of 2011 wasn't that great either.  I learned though towards the end of February that music was one of my best friends.  Perhaps it was my new found interest in YouTube that helped me discover amazing musicians who now I can now say that their music helped me through the lowest of times in 2011, but I found that music was a way to express the emotions I was feeling and the thoughts I was thinking.

Music has allowed me to find comfort in in times of need to the point where I can always turn towards that one perfect song that can always make me feel better.  I  sometimes wonder if I have been relying too much on music, maybe I am but it helps.

Link of the day: Plants vs. Zombies Such an addicting game to play! I got so into it the other night that I was yelling at my laptop trying to get the zombies to go away.

days until Senior Year Part 2 begins: 7
days until I become an adult: 10
days until graduation: 142

free write: too much pressure

I've been meaning to do a few free writing excersices before NaNo starts, but I havn't really been able to do any because my lack of time and brain engergy.  Today though, in my music history class we were listening to music from the romantic period, and though the first couple of selections were good, I couldn't just sit there and listen to the music.  So I flopped down on the floor, sprawled out with my notebook and pencil and started writing.  I was going for a 40 minute free write which would have lasted until the school dismisal bell, but about ten minutes before that we got on the subject of graduation so all my focus was averted else where.

And I thought maybe you'd like to see what I wrote. *bashful smile*  I would like to preface this with the fact that it was mainly inspired by the fact that the first selections of music that we listened to today in class was those primarily composed of piano, since the romantic time period is when they really started using pianos as a center piece if you will.  Also, this is unedited or proofed, so keep that in mind...

Too Much Pressure

Michelle pounded on the keys of her piano in frustration. She was thankful though that she was the only one in the piano hall since it was three thirty in the morning.  Things from the outside looked good in Michelle's life, it would be confusing for anyone to see or hear her banging on the one thing that made Michelle such a known person.

That in itself was part of the frustration Michelle was feeling.  She had been taught by world known pianists, even taught her own classes to adult beginners.  Michelle hadn't even applied to the university she was attending, they wanted her so badly for their music program they made offers that even Michelle's extremely wealthy family couldn't pass up.  She had all that weight on her shoulders, to continue to be the "best". It wasn't like she didn't love playing anymore but all the pressure was definitely taking a toll on her.

Folding her sheet music up and slipping into a folder specifically for her recital music Michelle let out a sigh.  As she poked out a simple rhythm using only middle C, she couldn't help but wonder what could have been if she had never came here.  Or even yet, if she pursued something in another field.  Pounding one last time on middle C, Michelle stood up and left the hall headed back to the dorms to sneak into her dorm room without waking her room mate, Alexis, up.

It seemed like the walk back to her dorm room that morning helped clear Michelle's head.  waking up in a good mood she had happily agreed to get breakfast with Alexis.  Instead of wearing a nice pair of jeans that she normally wore while at school, against her mother's protests, Michelle chose a coral floral print dress that fell right above her knees.  Instead of her Converse, aslo not approved by her mother, she chose a pair of nude pumps that made her tall stature even more apparent.

"You're in a good mood." Alexis noted with a smile as they left the building.

"I guess so." Michelle said nodding her head slightly.

"How many more weeks until the senior recital?" Alexis asked.  "You're staying at the hall later and later every night." Alexis pointed out.

Today is awesome because: I finally got to free write!
current location: homework covered desk in my warm bedroom
days until NaNoWriMo begins: 6
days until the fall musical: 23
days until I become an adult: 74
days until graduation: 207

10DYC: two songs

This one was really difficult for me.  But I think I have this narrowed down as best as I can.

Just Fishin' by Trace Adkins

The greatest memories of my dad that I have are the times that he's taken me fishing.  I can remember even when I was younger and we'd go out to the lake to fish.  I used to be a really inpatient child, and sometimes I still am, but he was always patient with me.  This song just reminds me of all those fishing trips I went on with my dad.

Have You Forgotten by Darryl Worley

I can't even begin to express everything about this song that makes me love it so much.  I can share that a short time after 9/11 the old amusement park, Joyland, which isn't operating anymore, had a veteran's/military day.  Upon entering the park, they were handing out copies of the official Darryl Worley cd that only had this song on it.  Every time I listen to this song, I remember 9/11 and how confused me and my fellow classmates were.  I mean, we were only second graders when it happened.  Half of us thought that it was a horrible movie.  I guess what I'm trying to get at, is that this song makes me remember this historic event.

days until ACT: 28
days until the fall musical: 52
days until I become an adult: 106
days until graduation: 237

BEDA 23: random words and thoughts and stuff

I have a presentation to give tomorrow in my business class, it's just the run of the mill beginning of semester stuff, where it all relates to the person giving the presentation.  We have all these requirements for the power point, and one of the slides I labeled was "important dates".  I had thought long and hard about including this slide in my presentation because I obviously put February 14th down for when I had my hip replaced.  I don't mind getting up and presenting something to a group of people, I mean, I debate and perform, so that's not what I'm worried about.  Actually I don't know why I feel like I'm worried; but I debated with myself whether or not to include the slide because explaining my hip requires a lot of talk, and I don't want to bore people; but at the same time, I feel like I need to share this piece of information because it IS  apart of me and who I am.

In other news, I've been playing Still Got Legs so often, especially in my car, that Marcella has had Kiss the Girl stuck in her head for a couple of days now. I feel rather accomplished, considering that there were a couple of other songs, like Snape vs Snape by Ministry of Magic and Mrs. Nerimon by ALL CAPS that I got stuck in her head over the summer.  She told me this morning on the drive to school that I'm slowly converting her to become a non-main stream music listener. I laughed. I mean, I only listen to main stream music when we're hanging out.

I'm still feeling pretty confident about keeping up with my homework.  It's amazing how good it feels to actually be doing legitimate homework again.  I wish I could have had this feeling the last three years so my grades wouldn't have ended up so crappy.

I've come up with a couple of blogging projects for the next couple of months, so I can slowly ease out of blogging every day, but yet at the same time, still blog. I fear that once BEDA is over that I'll just stop blogging for a long period of time and forget about it, and I'm determined not to let that happen.  I'll share what I have in store for next month when we get closer to the start of September.

In civics today, I managed to take a nap during the lecture/video and still take over detailed notes. +45 points

Oh, we had our school photos today.  Was a pain in the butt, but that was because I refused to dress up nice for the entire day, so I had to do a lot of extra walking so I could go change to be presentable and then go back to change back into my sweats. I think that the photos ended up well though, we should be getting the proofs sometime later this fall.

And, of course, if you saw my tweets from earlier this evening when I was working on homework, you would see one about note taking...my earth space science teacher wants notes taken in a certain way, which is really a pain to do when you've got your own specific way you take notes, especially if it's a lot more efficient. So, not happy about that, but I completed the reading and notes; I had no other choice.

Meh, random, out of place blog, completed. Like it's titled, it's just random words and thoughts and stuff.

Today was awesome because: My best friend is back state side after his long trip to Africa. I can't wait to see him when he finally gets into town.

days until the fall musical: 54
days until I become an adult: 136
days until graduation: 270
steps taken today: unknown, because the pants I wore today the pedometer doesn't stay on the waist band, so I put in my pockets, and it only counted 162 steps. ):

BEDA 22: background noise, but not really

I've noticed recently, that I work and generally tend to focus better if I have a background noise or something else to work on. For example, during the lecture today in my civics class, I retained more from the latter half of the lecture when I started doodling on my paper. I don't know why this is, but it just is.  I was watching Doctor Who not too long ago as I was finishing up my civics assignment.

Whether it's having my headphones on and playing music softly so that I can still hear it, but it's not my main focus, or if I just have something running on my laptop like a Youtube video or something streaming for Netflix, it always seems to help me get my work done, and I generally can retain more it seems.

In other news, it rained today, like when I got up this morning. It was nice, especially considering this is twice this month that when it rained my joints hadn't hurt before hand. Which is also kind of weird, because I like knowing when it's going to rain.  Also, a plus, I managed to incorporate Doctor Who into my English assignment over heroes today, I felt pretty freaking awesome.

Today was awesome because: I finally received my hard copy of Still Got Legs in the mail from DFTBA Records. I've listened to it several times in my stereo in my room, it just sounds so much better in the big speakers than my crappy laptop ones.

days until the fall musical: 55
days until I become an adult: 137
days until graduation: 271
steps taken today: 2,488+

BEDA 21: shuffle that music

My brain shut off completely about an hour and a half ago, so I'm just going to do a the Music Shuffle Meme that went around Facebook a while ago with my friends. This isn't the exact one, but close enough to it. I thought it might be interesting considering the wide variety of music I have on my iTunes.

The rules are:
Put your music player on shuffle and for each question hit next song and put in the song title as the answer.

Will I get far in life?
Halfway Gone by Lifehouse

How do my friends see me?
Any Man of Mine by Shania Twain

Where will I get married?
The Subwave Signal by Chameleon Circuit

What is my best friend’s theme song?
Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars

What is the story of my life?
Hey Stephen by Taylor Swift
What was high school like?
Hey You by Miranda Cosgrove
How can I get ahead in life?
Halfway There by Big Time Rush

What is the best thing about me?
Travelling Man by Chameleon Circuit

How is today going to be?
The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert

What is in store for this weekend?
The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars

What song describes my parents?
Delta Dawn by Tanya Tucker

My grandparents?
I Want to be a Cowboy's Sweetheart by Patsy Montanna

How is my life going?
What's This? by Danny Elfman

What song will they play at my funeral?
The Sound of Drums by Chameleon Circuit

How does the world see me?
Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap

Will I have a happy life?
More Beautiful You by Jonny Diaz

What do my friends really think of me?Blink by Revive 
Do people secretly lust after me?
A Little Opera Goes a Long Way by Sky Sailing

How can I make myself happy?
Ode to Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry

What should I do with my life?
Duet with Myself by Charlie McDonnell

Will I ever have children?
Single Ladies by A Rocket to the Moon

What is some good advice?
Indigo by Tom Milsom

What is my signature dancing song?
Holly Hop by Buddy Holly

What do I think my current theme song is?
Last Man Standing (Bon Jovi)

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Franklin by Paramore
What type of men/women do you like?
Nerdfighteria Island by Hank Green


Bahaha, some of those ended up quite funny from my perspective of things. I kind of got side tracked while doing this, I kept wanting to listen to an entire song, but then I kept remembering I needed to get this done.


Hopefully tomorrow my brain feels up to actually blogging about something of importance.


days until the fall musical: 56
days until I become an adult: 138
days until graduation: 271
steps taken today: 3,564+

BEDA 9: mainstream music

Nine times out of ten, if you're with me when I'm in my car I have my i-pod plugged into my stereo.  I've come to a conclusion this summer that I seriously have an issue with mainstream music.  I've been thinking about my dislikes for main stream music for a few months now, but it has become extremely evident this summer, especially the last couple of weeks.

My biggest problem with mainstream music is pretty simple.  Repeating the same twenty songs over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over get my drift? again.  I don't know if it's just the local stations around here that do it or if it happens every where else, but it really gets on my nerves.  I don't know how many times in the last two weeks I've heard Super Bass by Nicki Minaj and though I kind of like the song, I really don't care to listen to it thirty times in one day.

I feel like main stream music is just the same artists all. the. time. Most of my music comes from artists that I've found of YouTube. And I have to admit, that on a whole, YouTuber artists are by far a lot better than the artists I've been hearing on the radio around here.  I think another part of why I like YouTuber artists more is the fact that you can tell that music is truly their passion and that they care for their fans.  Yeah it's probably rough being a YouTuber artist some times, but they have the passion for what they do that keeps them going, and that in itself is really inspiring.  If you can continue to do something you love even when you're not the richest person around or have everything in the entire world and still feel such much emotion about you do, you're a genuine artist. 

Now with this being said, I'm not hating on all the popular artists out there who we can hear any time on the radio.  They all bring something to the world of music, but sometimes I can't help but think "They're in it only for the money and fame."  I mean, it's just how I think about it.  Does anyone else share the same feelings, or other thoughts? I'd love to hear them.

days until graduation: 283

most listened to

I decided, in order to keep procrastinating my history essay I'm supposed to be doing, I would list my top 23 songs that I've been listening to recently (in no particular order).

1. Hard Workin' Man by Brooks & Dunn
2. Jolene by Dolly Parton
3. The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks
4. Touch by Natasha Bedingfield
5. Love Like Woe by The Ready Set
6. When by Shania Twain
7. She's Not Just a Pretty Face by Shania Twain
8. White Lies by Stacy Clark
9. I'm a Ramblin' Man by Waylon Jennings
10. Tennessee River by Alabama
11. Say It Now by The Afters
12. You Are Holy by Peder Eide there are sooo many versions of this song, but I only have the LIVE version from Peder Eide
13. Wolves by Steady Your Pace they don't have a video for this, Check it out on iTunes!
14. Pam Pam Pam by Madame Recamier
15. Jesus Freak by Newsboys
16. I Am the Champion by B.o.B.
17. If I Die Young by The Band Perry
18. Crushcrushcrush by Paramore
19. Manic Monday by Relient K
20. Wild at Heart by Gloriana
21. Still in Saigon by Charlie Daniels Band
22. Harper Valley P.T.A. by Jeannie C. Riley
23. Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson

So yeah. I tried to get the music videos for all of them, but you can at least hear the song. Maybe give you a new reason to procrastinate something you're supposed to be working on...

under the radar

So, I'm addicted to music. It's a simple fact to grasp.  But the one thing I absolutely hate about music, although it really isn't music itself, but radios who do it...is when the new cool "hip" songs get repeated every single hour.  I mean, why can't we listen to some older music that once used to be new and cool and "hip"? Huh, why?

Well, I found this awesome site a few days ago through a link on Facebook from a band I'm friends with a few of their members, (Bread of Stone) and they had gotten the opportunity to guest on this radio show. Of course, I had only followed to the link because it was Bread of Stone, I hadn't known anything about the radio show or site, I just simply wanted me some Bread of Stone to listen to even though I own two of their three cds....

BUT. this wasn't just any ole radio show.  They play songs that are under the radar, songs on popular albums that haven't been given the chance of the spotlight.

I fell in love with this show, and not just because they had Bread of Stone guest on one of their recent shows, but because I love the simple reasoning behind it.  Most of my music on my i-pod that isn't classic country because, I love love love LOVE classic country... is made up of random songs that I found through different outlets that are actually quite good but have never got the recognition they deserve.

I love this show so much, I found the first show and I've begun the process of listening to each and every show they've done. Over a 100 of them.  They last around an hour, so I'll have some good music to listen to while I sit around folding laundry and procrastinating my school lessons.

So, grab a pencil and paper and head on over to Under the Radar and listen to a few radio episodes, you might even find some new music that you've never heard of.