No Pain No Gain

There's nothing like the ring in your ears, the pain in your heels, and the ache in your back right after an amazing show. Seattle ftw (all the bands love us).

Maybe I'm Just a Pacifist

I really don't like seeing violence. As in, actual violence. It's actually a little ironic because when it comes to books and movies, the more action, blood, and death the better. But when it come to ACTUALLY being violent, with bodies or words, I have serious issues with watching it. There's been several examples recently that come to mind, one being last night when I went to my friends first show (band called TONNULL, seriously good stuff) at a local venue (not even a venue, it's a place where teenagers go so they don't get into mischief) and a mosh pit got started. Their music isn't that hard, it's like bluesy punk. Moshing to music that was meant to be moshed to would make sense. Starting unnecessary violence for the hell of it is not ok. I didn't get there to get pushed around and thrown to the ground or anything. If it was hard music, I wouldn't have thought anything of it, that's what happens at like Children of Bodom, Slipknot, and probably even Hollywood Undead concerts. But NOT the music that was playing that night. Let's not kill each other for no reason. I was honestly horrified and repulsed by the whole thing (it didn't help that my boyfriend was the most violent person in there >_< ).

Verbal violence is different, though. Verbal violence is the worst kind because it can spark hatred in everyone that hears, perhaps even bringing them to physical violence. I'm talking about the spread of hatred. Bullying. Verbal abuse. And I can't tell you how much I HATE it when I have to bare witness to this atrocity. I'm not a hater, I'm a lover. I've had too many people hurt me with their words to EVER consider doing it to someone. Some people think that if they're not saying it directly to the person, then they're not doing anything wrong. If EVERYONE is saying the same thing, it couldn't POSSIBLY be bad, right? Wrong. Words are powerful things that need to be used wisely and responsibly. Words start wars, words start suicides, homicides, genocides.

What really got me thinking about this was all the hype around Rebecca Black's video "Friday" which has so many views which increases in the thousands daily that it's pointless to say how many the video is at currently (also I'm too lazy to look). But people are saying that it is the worst song ever. Now, ok. When I first heard this song, I couldn't stop laughing. It was pretty bad. I actually thought it was a parody at first. The funniest thing was just the ridiculousness. "Which seat can I take?" Really? Because there's only one seat open "Yesterday was Thursday, today it is Friday, Tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterward" These are actually the lyrics. But that's slightly off topic. Yes, this song is ridiculous. It was written for a 13-year-old. This girl is barely into puberty and she already has a good part of the country that hate her for all the wrong reasons. She didn't do anything wrong and her voice isn't even THAT bad (believe, I've heard worse. Hell, *I* am worse). This whole thing was extremely amusing at first, all the parody videos and hilarious facebook groups like "The awkward moment when Rebecca Black doesn't know which seat to take" but this has turned into something far worse. The country's youth are turning on this poor child like she's the spawn of Satan, like she DESERVES this. She doesn't. This is a poor middle schooler (and believe me, middle school sucks enough as it is) who didn't ask for this. Her parents paid for a cool little music video for their daughter by a little obscure music production group (Ark Music Factory, now known as the people that try to produce the worst singers of the next generation). And through all of this, this poor girl is incredibly strong. In an interview, a reporter read some of the mean comments and she just smiled and shrugged. When *I* was 13 I would've burst into tears then and there. That is a STRONG person and as much as I dislike her music, I admire her attitude and spirit. So this is just me saying to everyone to stop the hate. On Rebecca Black and everyone else. No one deserves such cruelty (ok, maybe some people, but certainly not poor children). Let's all just try to get along and not be bastards.

Ah, College

Well, it's that time of year for me. As a junior in high school and one that is extremely concerned with my future (*cough college cough*), now is the time for the stress of it all to begin. I'm taking the SAT in May (FEAR!!!) and I'll be starting to fill out my applications and write my essays this summer so when senior year starts I'm ready to go. What I'm incredibly disappointed in is my high school. I have had zero help with my counselor and the administration. I didn't even know how much the SAT cost until I was PAYING for it! *I* am the one urging my friends to sign up for the SAT now while they can and I know I'll be the one pushing applications in their faces all summer. Why do I have to do this? Because our high school isn't. It seems to me that the high schools one and only concern is to keep us in school from 7:30 until 1:50 where they shove us out the doors (staff actually stands around in the hallways and pesters and sometimes physically pushes students out the door a few minutes after school has ended). Sometimes they inform us on graduation requirements right before they're due so I guess they're kinda sorta helpful about getting us out of the high school permanently. But they are not helpful in the SLIGHTEST about college. We have a Career Center where students can come in the find out information on volunteer and job opportunities and scholarship options and even find out things about potential higher education possibilities. That is, if you want to dig around for it. And when I say dig, I mean *dig*. Maybe it's because the Career Center counselor is new (the last one just had a baby) or maybe she just fell into the job but she hasn't been able to answer a SINGLE question I've come in with and if I had a nickle for every time I've been in there, I'd be rich. Not only that, but the majority of the school probably doesn't even know that we HAVE a Career Center, let alone where it is or what it's there for. This is just another example of reasons why the school system has GOT to be reformed. Helping students is the whole point of a school, how about they try it sometime?

Apparently I'm Even More Boring Than I Thought

So today I went to a travel seminar on how to efficiently pack your luggage because in late June I'm going to Europe for 16 days (France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, in case you were wondering). I'm *insanely* excited for this trip; going to Europe has been my dream since I could comprehend what a dream was. I've never been off the continent before, mainly just visiting different states. I've been to Disney World in Florida, Disneyland is California, Arizona to visit family and a day trip to Mexico (while we were in Arizona we just hopped the border into Mexico for a few hours). So, as you can see, I've never been anywhere that exciting or different so this trip is something I'm REALLY looking forward too. Since I've never been out of the country before, I thought it'd be a good idea to talk to some of my friends that have for advice. "Don't wear short shorts in Europe, don't wear cotton because you'll be washing your own clothes, don't overestimate the size of your hotel room because it WILL be smaller than what you think, and make sure you have an adapter" were the most frequent pieces of advice. What surprised me the most was the incredibly large amount of people I know that have been to Europe before. I mean, me and my friends are only 17! How are they such experienced travelers already? Is my life really THAT boring that I'm the only one I know that is that separate from the world where I just sit in my same old room in my same old house in my same old hometown never to leave or do anything exciting? I guess so.

Well, I Guess I'll Start at the Beginning

So, I've heard about this "blog" thing before but I never really considered trying it out. I actually can't say with finality what it was that brought me to this website and push the "create account" button and I *certainly* don't know what made me fill out everything and then create this here post. I don't really have anything to say about anything at the moment and if I did, who would be listening? I've always kind of thought about blogs as extremely good tools for narcissists, and hey, that's fine, they gotta get their ego out SOMEhow. I've never really thought of myself as the blog type, though. I don't lead an extremely interesting life, and I don't pretend that I do. I don't write stories or poems a whole lot and when I do I know they're not very good so I don't really share them with anyone. I'm not that funny, or a genius, or someone with really great ideas that the world just needs to hear. I'm just an average high schooler, complete with the drama of teenage life, the new feeling of partial freedom, and the anticipation and excitement for the future while regretting none of my past. I guess I'll just say things and hope people will eventually care? We'll see how this goes.