Event of the Summer

Three weeks from yesterday will be the highlight of my summer. The greatest part of the whole three months I have off (aside from the wedding, obviously).

Warped Tour 2010.

Can we say EPIC???

I am a huge music buff and Warped is basically the best thing to happen every summer. For those who don't know, Warped Tour is a day-long music festival that travels during the summer with over 40 bands and several indie underground clothing brands. One such brand I discovered last year and absolutely fell in love with: KKBB Apparel. Check 'em out here. Their designs are fun and shocking and in your face and awesome. Not to mention their badass booty shorts, aka my new favorite item of clothing.

I'm super stoked to see several bands there this year, and I have a feeling I'm going to be exhausted after bouncing to and from all seven stages (yes, I said SEVEN) in the summer heat, but it is most definately worth it! Among the other fabulous bands that will be playing, some of my must-sees are:

• Anarbor
• Breathe Carolina
• Hey monday!
• mayday Parade
• motioncity Soundtrack
• The Cab
• You me at Six
• and so many more...
  

So if you've got nothing to do this summer, I highly recommend and encourage you to experience the magnificence that is Warped. Bring a friend or go and make a friend, enjoy some music and get in a dirty, messy, claustrophobic mosh pit. I guarantee it will be the highlight of your summer.

Feast your eyes of some photos from when I went last year.

Starting off the day with the maine.

Sea of hands for 3OH!3

With Sing It Loud [reppin' that KKBB!]

Things I hate about being a waitress.

1. Working consecutive doubles because I don't know how to say "No."


2. People who are really needy, but super nice... and then don't tip.


3. Having umpteen aprons and all of them being dirty.


4. Hokeys that don't work.


5. People who come in 15 minutes before close.


6. People who come in 15 minutes before close and don't tip.


7. "Did she put down straws? I need a straw... Where are those straws? I am so thirsty... Honey can you give us some straws please?" Sure, lemme put down the tray full of the rest of your table's drinks, because YOU need a friggen straw right now.


8. Trying to do sidework and getting interrupted by every single imaginable request from your ONE table.


9. People who pay with fifties, and then don't tip.


10. The elderly who will talk my ear off about how they can't eat dairy and "Oh honey does this have milk in it? What about this? Are your mashed potatoes instant?..."


11. Old people who leave $1.37 in change.


12. Old people who don't tip whatsoever.


13. Kids who throw food at other tables.. and at the floor... and at me.


14. Parents who have kids who don't tip.


15. Grown men that call me "girlie".


16. When I say "Hi! How are you today?" and their response is "Coffee. Extra cream."


17. People who try to "help" by taking drinks/food off my tray.


18. Spilling italian dressing all over myself. That shit stains.


19. Those irritating people who need extra everything... extra dressing for their salad,..Oh honey I forgot I need extra gravy too. Oh I forgot to tell you extra butter. Sweetheart I promise this is the last thing, but I need........
20. People who come in and instead of sitting at the table the hostess so graciously lead them to, head straight to the bathroom.
21. Couples who, if one is in the bathroom, have absolutely no idea what they want to drink. It's a friggen beverage people!!
22. Parties of 10 or 12 or 14 that begin as one single person sitting there for 45 minutes going, "Oh, they must be late... Oh maybe I'm early? Oh, that's right, we were going to Baker's Square instead!"
23. Other servers who are terrible.
24. Thos who ask questions about every single thing on the menu... and then order chicken tenders.


25. People who don't tip.

Resolved: Resolutions actually work.

So, July 1st will mark the halfway point (approximately) of this year, and this little fact has brought to my attention the issue of my own personal New Year's resolution. For all of you who do not know me, (and for some of you who do) my resolution was two very simple words....

But we'll get to that in a minute.
Coming up with a resolution for the new year (new decade even, if you want to get technical) was nothing short of intimidating, so all specific and confining ideas seem to go out the window. Some of the resolutions that wound up on the cutting room floor?

• Give up fast food. I am a college student with a limited budget and an even more limited time crunch most of the time. Do NOT take away my mickey D's, or I will become unmanageable and hostile.
• Get a 4.0. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... yeah, right.
• Learn to snowboard. Well, technically I still have a chance to do this one, but it's really no good for a 'yearlong' resolution.

So, after trashing most of my ideas and desperately staring into space for hours on end searching for the perfect resolution... Ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration... Anyways, after putting a LOT of thought into it, I came up with a PERFECT resolution. One I could easily stick to for the entirety of the twenty-teens, which I fully intend on. I stumbled upon a resolution that is applicable to not only myself, but to every single person on the face of the Earth. You may be wondering to yourself, "What is this most flawless and universally compatible of resolutions?" It is, as I mentioned before, a very simple two words...

Work. Harder.

These two short words I wrote on sticky notes in my desk, made my banner when I open my phone, and think to myself at least once a day when I feel I am not pushing myself as hard as I can go.
As I said earlier, this short but sweet little statement can be applied to practically every situation in life, and trust me, I have applied it to damn near everything. Whether it be pushing myself to do ten extra minutes on the bike, or write that extra credit paper for Art History, or take that double shift at work because it's extra cash in my pocket, this resolution has probably been the most potent of any resolution I've made on New Year's past.

So my challenge to you is to take these two tiny words and make them your New Year's Resolution. Or New Month's, or even New Week's. Auld Lang Syne does not need to be your Rocky theme song to get motivated. Then get at me. Tell me how it's going for ya. I'd love to hear how you work harder at what you want in life.

Find your voice

Entering into the blogoshpere was more of a random whim than anything else... I didn't want to be a famous fashion blog, a la Tavi Gevinson, or a controversial opinionater (see John Scalzi). In fact, I had absolutely NO clue what I wanted this blog to be about. So I suppose it ended just being about me, myself and I. How. Incredibly. Interesting.

Right.

What I mean is I need to apologize (profusely) for the lack of intrigueing or worthwhile content within the confines of said blog. I have made an agreement with me, myself and I to be a whole hell of a lot more interesting. If anything, simply for the specific reason that I wish myself to be more interesting. Such a life goal.

I also made a pact to try (valiantly) to blog every day. This is an enormous undertaking considering the fact that I have the attention span of a hyperactive goldfish, but try I shall. So here we go, folks. Hang on for the ride.

How my day got a billion times better

I shall preface this post with a very simple fact about myself... I like books.

Alot.

Reading has been something I absolutely love to do ever since I learned how back in kindergarten or first grade or whichever grade it is that you learn to put together cohesive sentances.

I read at a college reading level by the time I was in fifth grade, and from then on it was m parents telling me to quit bring a book to the dinner table and at my damn dinner. Needless to say, its been pretty much the same ever since.

Books are one thing that have a weakness for. I will halt my life to finish a good one, or drop some serious dough for one that catches my eye. I throw all this seemingly useless information at you to give you some kind of relative understanding of the joy I felt today at the monthly church sale at the top of my street.

Another useless fact you must absorb in order to effectively wrap your head around today's scenerio is my deep affinity for yard/church/garage sales. I (as well as my mother) love a good bargain. So imagine, just imagine, my overwhelming excitement when I enter the aforementioned vicinity and see a sign proclaiming that the first book you find that you like is FREE. That's right, zero dollhairs and zero sense.

Free is my favorite number.

Followed closely by the lovely number of $0.10 per book after the initial one.

I pretty much had a fit.

So, I perused the selection and found several books that piqued my interest, some titles I'd not seen before, some old classics that I'd like to revisit and own for myself. Because simply stated, when it comes to books, I am a packrat. Although I am no antiquarian by any means, I love having a full bookcase as well the shocked look on people's faces when I reaffirm them that yes, in fact, I have read every one of those books in that case.

Today, in case you were wondering (which I know you were!), I bought

• Z for Zacharian,
• Animal Farm,
• Dr. Jekyll & mr. Hyde,
• On the Black Hill,
• a book on Degas, and
• a book on masterpieces that highlight picasso, Chinese block printing and early Renaissance artists.

I'm a nerd, I am quite aware.

So, tell me, what are some of your favorite books?

Charlotte's Web sure is alot like life.

Relationships are such funny little things.

I don't mean juvenile boyfriend/girlfriend hold your hand under the table in the cafeteria kind of relationships. I'm talking complex, interlaced, intricate social webs of coworkers, family, acquaintances, first crushes, sweet old lady with whom you bitched about reality shows with while waiting in line for 15 minutes at Walmart.

The extent of human interation and association absolutely dumbfounds me sometimes.

Have you ever met someone randomly through some twist of fate, and it just so happens that they know someone who is best friends with a girl that works with a boy who is a son of one of the girls you work with? Ok, maybe thats a bit of a hyperbole, but you get the picture.

Not only do these social interactions weave together so coincidently that you are utterly convinced that fate is a sure and true entity, but also the way relationships are forged and hold steadfast amazes me.

For example, one of my very best friends in the world was introduced to me one day in a class that I had absolutely no intention of being in by another of my best friends. The first words out of this eccentric, bubbly, outgoing blonde's mouth were, "I can count to eight! Wanna see?"

Granted, we were 13 and freshman in high school and my smartass response went something along the lines of, "Well I can count to ten... in French!", but the fact remains that it is that seemingly meaningless and trivial introduction that has lead to a friendship of close to six years. A friendship that exists over several hundred miles currentlyand yet somehow still is one of the strongest relationships I have to date.

In the same respect, I findit funny how some relationships just fall apart. Someone with whom you've been best friends simply disappears from your life. Despite years of friendship and hours of laughter and enough inside jokes to fill a novel, there are people who seem to be strangers.

It is these incidences and experiences that have lead me to a recent discovery, albeit seemingly obvious. I have realized the frailty of human interaction. How absolutely fragile the web that binds one person to another through means of interests, disinterests, preferences, happenstance, etc.

So I guess I have this to say about it...

Cultivate.

Help those relationships to grow. Talk to that stranger in the grocery store with the same exact ringtone as you. Fate is real. It sets up the who and where and when and all we have to do is let the pieces fall effortlessly into place and admire it's handiwork. Go with it.

Trust in it.

Know that you have a lifetime here on this planet with billions of other people and it's up to you to make the most of it.

So what are you gonna do when the time comes?

Get at me.

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