i've been drowning in memories.

Progress on my "52 Books in a Year":

House of Night Series: Books 1-4

I have always been a sucker for vampire books, and so when Jackie Pierre recommended it on Christmas, and handed me three books of the series--of course I had to go buy the first one and start reading the rest of them immediately. Let me preface this by saying that I have read the Twilight series and although I like the idea behind it, and I find guilty pleasure in the movies, I do not think the books are well written at all. Yikes. These books, however, are written even more horribly! I groaned at the majority of the dialogue and shotty, predictable, unrealistic-but-makes-the-story-flow-along plot. Despite my huge criticisms, I could NOT put these books down. I wanted to read more! The vampire ideas are interesting (Vampires are "marked" at an early age--and it is a genetic dysfunction that is somewhat accepted in their society. Once marked, they attend a "vampire boarding school"). There are also lot of guilty pleasure "romance novel" aspects to this series. I will never say these books are good, but I apparently sure do love a trashy vampire novel. I read four of them in one weekend.

Lolita:

I was prompted to read this book by Justin, after we watched the film Lolita (1962). It was always on my list of "books to read one day," and after the movies I was quite interested in how an author could write a novel that is seen as controversial even in today's society. Lolita is a witty, well-written, disturbingly fun read. It gave me a very conflicted feeling while reading it. The main character is a pedophile, and at times in the novel I forgot that fact. It is unnerving to love a novel about a completely horrible scenario--a man in love with a child. This writer had some serious balls, especially in his time. It is a must read.

Next up: Eating Animals, finishing Good Omens, The Life of Pi, On the Road.

Justin, MCS, and Farewells:

Justin came home from MCS's small in-store tour in promotion of their new album (which you better have gotten by now!) on the 22nd for an in-store show and signing at the Best Buy in Mall of America. I worked until 6, so I had to rush over to the mall. I missed the show, but I arrived just as the signing had begun. The whole store was packed to the gills with MCS fans. The signing line wrapped around the store--it was insanity!

So I stood around with Mike Minehart until the signing was finished. I had the pleasure of chatting, meanwhile, with Beth and B-South. I love seeing how many people are so dedicated to the guys and their music. It was fun to witness. After the signing I drove Justin back to his place and we watched some movies, ate some food, and lounged.

The next day was the First Ave show. I got ready early and arrived to the venue a few hours early and met up with Justin's family. Little did Justin know, that MCS was getting a star on the side of First Ave that afternoon. Jill, Josh's wife, had contacted me a week earlier about the surprise. So we met up with all of the families and close friends outside and waited for B-South to bring the guys out under the guise of an interviewer wanting to tape outside (or something). The guys came out, were weirded out we were all out there, and unveiled their star. It was especially great because the line already waiting to get in witnessed it as well, and cheered when it happened. It was a fun moment. The guys completely deserve it, and they have worked so hard for the honor.

After the star, I headed across the street with Justin's family for drinks and dinner for a few hours. We all bonded, and I love all of them so very much. What great conversations and times had.

Then Heather and Lydia arrived and so I went to meet them. We got our passes, and went up to the VIP section where we sat with Nels. All the family and friends fit into the VIP section by the end of the night including Tommy, Kari, Josh, Jim, Shane, Sing it Loud boys, Raven (girl from the Disappear video) and her parents, and so many others. We were able to score seats right by the railing over the stage--so we had the perfect view of the guys and the audience. WHAT AN AUDIENCE. They sang every word to every song--even the brand new ones. It was incredible. The guys were flawless. It felt so, so good. I visited Justin backstage, and boy were the guys on their "game" that night. Dancing? Check it out.


After the show us girls waited for Justin to get finished with talking to everyone. Once that happened we went over to Luce. I brought Justin home to finish packing. And then I brought him to his bus. Sad panda face...

Friend Time!:

Since Justin leaving I have kept busy with my lovely friends! Last week I went to dinner with Larissa (who just finished her latest theatre show), Heather, and Lydia. We had some margs and some Mexican. In the midst of this noise, we ended up with a video treatment for the next MCS video. I don't know how it happened, why it happened, or what we came up with. But I have included the video for your viewing pleasure. Please don't judge us too harshly.

On Thursday I put out an emergency call for "girl's night"! It had been a very long week, and I needed some socialization if I were to survive another night. Luckily my friends are quick with responses and tweets. We all met up at the ugly mug for some drinks, some Lady Gaga, and some passionate conversations. GOD I love my girlfriends. Included in the picture below is Laura, Lydia, Heather, and Kristin. Not included is my cousin Casey, who left early.

Anxieties, Fears, and "Other":

Tonight I hope to hang out with Daniel, Amy, and Jojo. Tomorrow is Tiffany's baby shower and coffee with Sarah.

Everyone around me is starting to morph into a vegetarian. I am not one, and am not saying I would never be one, but now I am feeling guilty while eating meat. Not because I am against killing animals for food, but because I fear that everybody else is being a better human being than I am! We will see how this turns out...

At the end of the year I may possibly be losing my job because of district cuts, because I was the last full-time employee hired. Understandable. But now I am fearing for my life. What will I do? Who will I be? Where will I live? Help. I am having a mental breakdown of sorts.

Today I cleaned out my life. Threw away all of the junk I own, went through my closet and drawers for donations to give, dusted, vacuumed, etc... I feel alive!

Good luck to you my little one.
The world is fierce,
But lots of fun.
Try not to lose yourself t o o d e e p
In worries, fears, and lack of sleep.
Most likely you’ll be beaten up,
Be left for dead, get drunk, and stuff.
But hopefully one ugly day
You’ll spill your guts and proudly say,
I’m sick of all this fucked up shit!
You’ll change your life
and you’ll get used to it.

-Excerpt from the My Dinosaur Life album booklet

i deserve a gold star today.

Hop over to borangutan.com to read my article and interview for Motion City Soundtrack's new album, My Dinosaur Life!

leave my sensitive homeboys alone.

• justin left today. it just reminds me of how he will be gone several months after his show in minneapolis on the 23rd (which i am VERY excited to dance and sing my little heart out at). what will i do without him to watch movies and be lazy with on the weekends with? my heart hurts, but i am very excited for everyone else to get him and the rest of the guys--so that they can enjoy the new music at the shows. and i have been ridiculously spoiled with him home so very much this past year or so.
  
• remember: on the 19th my dinosaur life comes out. i am so proud of motion city. this record is honest-to-god amazing. i know i am biased, but i am so blown away by their talent and how they have grown with this album.
• on that note: tomorrow my "review" will be posted on borangutan.com of the new cd, and a short interview with justin will accompany it. i will link it--but just don't judge me too badly. it was hard trying to do it justice, while trying not to seem obviously biased, but wanting everyone to love it as much as i do.
• i am pumped to get my MDL deluxe set in the mail this week. my name is in the credits for it, as justin generously allowed me to have my first "real" editing credit.
  
• last night we all went out to celebrate heather dagger's birthday! she turned 25, which generally means death--but she is too badass for death. me, heather, justin, lydia, laura, and mike went to sushi tango. i wish all the best for my heather this 25th year!
• after dinner justin and i went to the movie "up in the air." i absolutely adored it. i thought all of the actors were perfect, and the story had just enough to be liked by the masses but appreciated by the independent crowd. i really recommend it.
• i'm also looking forward to going to coffee with a lovely lady who i never thought i would be going to coffee with in my lifetime. should be good.
• i am donating two huge bags of clothes to the haiti efforts. it is a good excuse to de-clutter and be a good human.
• this week i will be starting the book lolita, as i have always wanted to read it, and i just watched the movie with justin.
• i am so grateful for the recent outpouring of people reaching out on my blog and twitter. i love the new friends and acquaintances met through the excitement for the new MCS record. MCS fans are the greatest group of people ever!
  

A question and a promotion!

I'm pretty good too! I really like reading your blog. You're a rather interesting individual! So, heres a question: What is your FAVORITE song off of My Dinosaur life?

Aw, thanks! I am glad I have readers. It gets lonely in the blogging world, and it is fun to know people think something I have to say or post is worth their time. :D

So what is my FAVORITE song off of the new album??? Stand to Close!!! I absolutely love that song! I am a known sucker for hand claps and finger snaps, but the lyrics also ring really true for me. Makes my heart happy. I remember loving it the instant I heard the demo. Fell in love.

Close runners up? @!#?@!, Pulp Fiction, and Delirium.

The music is SO good, and when I read the lyrics--I noticed how intricately the songs are written.

On that note, everyone should go check out Motion City Soundtrack's My Dinosaur Life right now! It is streaming on their myspace. Yum!

What is your favorite song???

MCS Video!

Her Words Destroyed my Planet - Motion City Soundtrack

(It was too big to fit onto my blog).

The Tundra update #2.

So, after the coffee house we traveled back to our little cabin on the north shore. After this point, all of the days mush into one--it seems.

Justin did a lot of work on writing songs, and man is he good at what he does. I tried to write, although I did not get as much as I had wanted done.

We slept in until 11 every day. Upon waking up, Justin would make some of his deadly coffee for us, we did some creative work, and then Justin would make a raging fire and we would continue watching the Twin Peaks television series. That series, by David Lynch, is Justin's favorite. It is creepy, cheesy, and altogether great. The only problem with watching it straight for four days, was that the series takes place in a small town where the woods have something very evil lurking in there. Where were we? In an isolated cabin in the woods. Things started to get creepy by the end of the week. Eventually we could not go anywhere at night without the other near by. The cabin would make sounds in the wind, and we would freak out. Not good. Hard to sleep.

On top of that, our little houseguest, Walter, was pooping up a storm at night. He was cute, yes. But we were looking forward to civilization where we didn't have to wash our dishes three times before we ate off of them, and where Walter did not crawl up my leg in the middle of the night. Justin knew there were probably more than one "Walter" in the cabin. I decided to remain ignorant of that fact until we left.

Other than that, we went out to eat twice (yum). We snacked a lot. And, well, we were just generally lazy.

Perfection.

The last day we were ready to get back into our own rooms, but we could have spent more time on vacation for sure. We never grew tired of each other (good sign), and I think the vacation was wonderful.

We are already planning for another vacation in the near future. I cannot wait. I cannot get enough of that guy. And it was great to spend so very much quality time with him before he leaves for tour this year. I got my fix.

because i'm a sheep...

i will post the answers on my blog as well.

happy hunting!