The End of an Era

(Via BrilliantNext)

Wow.

It has been a long yet short school year, and this blog has accompanied me the whole entire journey.  Ever since I began this blog in October of 2015, I knew this day would come.  The day I would write my last blog post.

Let's take a trip down memory lane.  My blogging journey began at the beginning of the school year in 2015.  This year was my first year in high school -- I'm a freshman.  I remember I was excited for my freshman year.  I was particularly excited for my English class, and on top of that I was mostly excited to create a blog.  I had heard about them from older students and I was eager to create my own.  In the beginning, we had to come up with a theme and a blog title and all of that fun stuff.  Originally, the way I would write my posts would be by categorizing it into 1 of 3 genres: rants, opinions, and obsessions. I talked a little bit about this in my introduction post. 

In the beginning, I thought my idea was great.  But pretty much when I went on to writing my second blog post, I ditched the idea entirely.  To be honest, I tried too hard to have a perfectly organized blog and it almost took the fun out of writing the actual posts.  So from then on, my blog began to transform into a "band blog".  Basically, I would say 75% of my posts were about my favorite bands.  Occasionally, I'd have a few ranting blog posts or blog posts about completely arbitrary things such as memes or 35 year old men.  But by now, by the end, it's strayed away from the theme of a "band blog" and has just become a place for me to write whatever I want.  I let go of the labels I tried to put on my blog.

Because of this blog, I have grown in many ways.  For instance, as I touched on above, I've given up trying to make everything perfect.  Why bother doing something a certain way if you'd enjoy doing it a different way?  On top of that, I've also grown by coming to love writing blog posts.  It's a type of therapy in a way.  I know not many people read this, so it allowed me to express myself in whatever way I wanted.  Whether it was ranting about some tough times I've had at school, or if I wanted to rave about a cat video-game that nobody else would give me the time of day to talk about, I could do it all here without any problems.  So because of this, I think I'll really miss writing these blog posts.

By writing these blog posts, I've also learned a lot about myself.  Most of the time, you're just sitting in your own body, not really aware of who you truly are. Often times, people just don't take the time to get to know themselves, as weird as it sounds.  But when writing these posts, and reading it back to yourself, you learn some things that you might have subconsciously been ignoring or just completely unaware of.  If I hadn't invested eight months into this blog, I don't know if I would have learned some of the things I now know about myself today.

The final thing I need to touch on is where I am today.  It's late at night on a Wednesday.  Im tired, a little stressed, along with a touch of anger and sadness.  I'm a little worried for my AP Geography test this upcoming Friday, but it is what it is.  But in the end, I know I'll be okay.  In fact, just writing this blog post has made me feel better.

Writing this blog post has been bittersweet.  On one hand, I'm ecstatic to be nearing the end of my freshman year and the end of updating this blog.  Yet on the other hand, I know I'll miss all of the memories I've made this school year and I'll miss writing these blog posts.  Of course, I could always continue to update this blog next year.  Hell, I could continue it my entire high school career.  But, there are some things that should just stay where they are.  This blog has been a key part of my ninth grade career.  Even though I never specifically talked about it, you could still witness my growth and how things have changed in my life.  

With that, I should keep this blog as a time capsule of my ninth grade year. It basically contains little anecdotes from my freshman career and who I was at the time. This blog contains all the things a time capsule should have.  So because I've finished this blog, or rather I've finished putting everything in the time capsule, it is time to bury it for the future.  Maybe next year as a sophomore I'll check back on it and laugh.  Or maybe three years down the line, as a senior, I'll look back at this post and remember writing it as I am right now. Maybe I'll be close to graduating and I'll realize how simple it was as a freshman, and I'll laugh again.  Or better yet, maybe I'll check on this blog while I'm in college.  I'll look back at myself, and smile because of how far I've come. No matter the circumstance, I think it's time to finish this blog and close this chapter in my life, as fun as it's been.

So thanks for accompanying me during this journey, blog.  I'll never forget it.

What Goes Around Comes Around

(Via Leon Karssen)

Vacations should be one of the most relaxing things ever.

I guess my luck wasn't in my favor this week.

This week, which is the first week of May, is the week my family decided to take me out of school to go on vacation in California.  Don't get me wrong - I enjoy school and going to my classes and all.  But it has been a long year.  Even with the amount of breaks we've had, it's really nice to get an extra bonus week off.

So when the school week ended last Friday, I was totally checked out.  I was ready to leave.  I was exited to go to the beach, spend time at the pool, and eat a lot of good food.  Overall, I just wanted to relax.

But, late afternoon on Sunday when we arrived at our hotel, I felt something in my throat. Not only did my throat hurt, but I felt unusually cold.  I ignored it, I figured I did something to it while we were driving down to California.  But as the day progressed, my throat began to hurt more and my body temperature kept spontaneously fluctuating.  I was going to stay in denial, but deep down I knew. I knew I was becoming sick.

Well hey, maybe if I slept through it I would feel better when I woke up, right? I was wrong.  That night, I couldn't sleep well at all.  I would get extremely hot to the point where I couldn't sleep under my covers, and once I changed that, I got too cold which forced me to go back under them again.  So I guess you could say I had a pretty restless night.  I woke up around 6 am, which is extremely early for me when I have the option to sleep in.  And when I woke up, I felt absolutely terrible.  My throat hurt, my t-shirt was drenched with sweat (even though I felt cold), and I felt extremely dizzy.  I then realized I had the fever, and I became extremely sad.

(Via Smudgem)

I wasn't going to let my fever stop my day's plans.  My family and I were planning on eating some Korean food that day.  Where I live has some nice places to eat, but California definitely tops it.  So I had been looking forward to this meal for awhile.  We bought a bunch of food and it was all looked delicious. I made a plate full of food.  But when I actually started to eat it, I wanted to throw up. It's not that the food was bad, it's just that I actually couldn't stomach anything because of my fever.  But I tried to fight through it.  I ate small portions very slowly.  It was sad I didn't get to eat as much as I would have wanted to, but some food is better than no food.

Getting sick on vacation was one of the last things I could have wished for.  But at least by now I've started to feel better.  Maybe this is karma for something I did awhile ago.  Maybe this is karma for missing school. Or maybe this is karma for that one time I stole a toy tiger from my friend's house when I was four. Either way, this was payback for something.  But for the time being, I think I'll continue to stay in denial and try to enjoy my trip.

That One Time I Cried At An Art Museum

(Via Wikipedia)

Usually I don't cry in public.  

But sometimes, you just gotta. 

In late July of last summer, my family and I went to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California.  I'm the type of person that enjoys museums of all types, especially art museums.  So having the opportunity to get to go to a prominent art museum in Los Angeles made me very excited.

My reasons for being exited to go to the Getty didn't end there.  Not only did they have a large selection of esteemed artists there, such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Paul Gauguin, but they had a painting by one of my favorite artists of all time displayed there.  In fact, they only had one painting by that artist there.  That artist would be Van Gogh, and that painting would be his Irises (as shown above).

As cliche as it is, Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists.  I don't know why, but I've liked his art for a long time.  I especially enjoy the story of his life.  I admire how the immense amount of pain in his life fueled him to continue his art, even until his death.  Ever since he had become one of my favorite artists, one of my goals I wanted to accomplish before I die was to see one of his paintings in real life.  So luckily, I had that chance in Los Angeles.

The Getty Museum is located on top of a mountain, and the parking lot is positioned at its base.  When we arrived at the museum's parking lot, we had to take a train to get up to the museum.  The view from the tram up was a smoggy picture of Los Angeles.  It was pretty in its own way.  Once we got off of the train there was a large amount of steps leading up to the museum's several entrances -- there were several wings of the museum.

I couldn't stop thinking about seeing Van Gogh's Irises in the flesh, so we made that our first stop.  It was on the third floor in one of the buildings.  I hastily made my way up the flight of stairs, and wandered around the floor until I found the room with the painting I wanted to see in it.  I walked into one room, where I saw a large group of people huddled in front of one painting.  I knew that was the one.  I walked over to the group in front of the painting.  And there it was, in all of its glory.  Van Gogh's Irises.  

I also arrived there at a perfect time. The large group of people in front of the painting were actually apart of a tour guide exploring the museum's most famous paintings.  At the moment, they were discussing and analyzing his painting.  The head of the tour group asked the group to answer why they thought there was only one white flower in a group full of purple ones.  The tour guide answered, theorizing that it was because the white iris symbolizes Van Gogh and how he didn't fit in with the rest of the people, who were symbolically purple flowers.  Of course, we'll never know the true meaning, but it was interesting to hear the museum's take on the piece.  

When the tour guide left and moved on, I was able to stare at the painting alone.  Now about the crying part.  I didn't actually cry.  I teared up, but I wasn't crying.  Seeing this painting meant a lot to me, and I was thrilled to finally be able to see it in real life.  I wanted to relish it as much as I possibly could.  I got up super close, examined each brush stroke, and I tried to take a picture of the painting.  Unfortunately though, there was a security guard right behind me, and he yelled at me because I was too close to the painting.  He went on a rant about how this painting is very expensive and delicate and I need to be more careful around it.  I should have known better, but there was a large chance I'd never be able to see the painting again.

Overall, despite how embarrassing I was, everything was worth it in the end. Even tearing up in a public place was worth it.

"It's Not A Phase, Mom, It's Who I Am!"

(Via Stanford Solar Center)

I've had a different obsession each school year since the 5th grade.  I call them phases.

Also, I'm the type of person that's gonna give 100% or 0%.  So that means when I was obsessed with something, I went all in.  I would let the whole world know I really liked d this one amazing thing and how I was the expert on it.  It was a really defining thing for me. 

So let's start with the 5th grade.
In the 5th grade, one of my good friends and I was obsessed with this book series called Warriors.  Basically the series is about a bunch of cats who lived in clans in the forest (looking back they were terrible books).  I mainly got into it because of my friend, but I ended up liking the series a lot on my own.  This was my smallest phase for sure.  All I did to promote it was read the books and draw some art with my friend.  Little did I know this was the start of a long road of phases.

The 6th grade was by far my worst.
I was obsessed with a thing called anime, which is a type of Japanese cartoon. I probably spent around $200 on anime related t-shirts and action figures.  I even taught myself Japanese.  I thought I was so cool.  But looking back now, I was the biggest nerd ever.  My 6th grade self was so cringeworthy I can't even talk about it anymore.

My 7th grade self was slightly better.
I really liked a thing called SuperWhoLock, which was a combination of the television shows Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock.  I was more lowkey about this one, but I still spent a lot of money on t-shirts related to these shows.  This phase was obvious to the people around me, but I was (hopefully) less annoying about it.

And then onto my 8th grade self.
This was probably equal to my 7th grade self, except last year I really liked bands, specifically Panic! at the Disco and Fall Out Boy.  I also had a lot of their t-shirt and would excitedly scream the songs when they came on in public.  This is the phase that has lasted the longest by far, and I think it has pretty much died down.

Basically, these are some small descriptions of my most cringeworthy phases.  I think they're cringeworthy, but that doesn't mean I don't wish they didn't happen.  My 5th grade phase got me into reading books.  My 6th grade phase got me into drawing.  My 7th grade phase got me into tv shows.  My 8th grade phase got me into music.  All of these embarrassing phases have made me who I am today, so I'd say it was all worth it.

Sucking At Something Is The First Step To Being Sorta Good At Something

For a teenager, I don't really care about driving.

My 15th birthday was back in September.  I didn't get my driver's permit until this new year in January.  I pretty much put it off for four months out of sheer laziness.  And since then, I've barely used it.  When I first got it, I drove up and down my street a couple of times.  But my parents and even I didn't trust myself doing anything beyond that.

Visual representation of me driving.

So my driver's permit has basically been sitting in the corner of my room for the past two months.  Although, I've started to use it recently.  Almost everyday after my track and field practice, my mom would pick me up and she'd pull over once we got off of Kearns Boulevard and turned onto a calmer road that I believe is called Old Highway 40.  I would drive from there and pull over in the Home Depot parking lot and my mother would take back over from there.  The first few times I pretty much sucked.  I kept accidentally swerving into the other lane, driving too fast or too slow for the speed limit, and making extremely sharp turns which almost lead me to drive off of the road and in a ditch.  But eventually after a week or so, I pretty much got the hang of driving on the country road.

A couple of days ago, there was a change of plans.  My mother pulled over in the same spot and I proceeded to drive on the same road I had been practicing on for a couple of weeks.  Except this time, instead of pulling over at Home Depot, she told me to continue past it.  She wanted me to continue driving and pick up my little brother at his friend's house.  I was anxious, but I knew I couldn't drive the same road forever.  So I drove past Home Depot.  Right after it, there was a roundabout that was generally pretty busy.  Luckily for me, it was relatively quiet and there was only one other car in the roundabout before me.  So I awkwardly drove in, accidentally driving exactly in the middle rather than staying to the left.  From there on, I drove on an overpass above the highway, and continued on Highland Drive.  

From there, I was doing okay. Except there was this pissy car behind me.  I, an amateur driver, drove very poorly.  I kept forgetting the speed limit, and when I realized I wasn't at the speed I needed to be, I'd abruptly accelerate or decelerate.  This caused the driver of the car behind me to start honking.  I didn't have to look back for me to know that the driver was ready to flip a table because of me.  Eventually, when I turned into the driveway of my brother's friend's house, the car was able to pass me.  The driver gave me a couple of good honks just to let me know how much I sucked for the final time.  One of the worst parts is that the driver probably got a look at my face and observed two things about me: I'm asian and a woman.  Unfortunately, I was living up to two stereotypes I'm strongly against.  I also felt bad because I was probably close to giving my mother a heart attack.  But hey, I probably didn't do that bad considering that was my first time driving for that long.

Overall, it's kind of sad that I started driving so late.  If I actually cared and got my permit on my birthday like most kids my age, I would probably be a lot better than I am now.  So because of the skill level I'm at now, I probably won't get my actual license when I turn 16, which is a bummer.  I guess that means I'll have to work hard to make it happen.  And sure, random driver behind me, I know I suck at driving.  But as Jake the Dog would say, sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something, right?

(Via Sadmoment)

Marketing Ploy or Not: Conspiracies on Brendon Urie

(Via Wikipedia)

Contrary to my last post, there is one thing that will get me through this week. Friday is technically the release date of Panic! At The Disco's new album, Death of a Bachelor.  I've been eagerly anticipating this album for several months now. I mean, I've been looking forward to hearing at least half of the album.  The other half has already been released as singles or they've been leaked, which leads me to the basis of this post.

When Panic! At The Disco released the song and music video for one of their singles "Emperor's New Clothes", the album title, song titles, and official release date was also announced.  Because of this big announcement, Brendon Urie, the lead singer of the band, did a live stream on Periscope.  He was answering the usual questions from buzzing fans about the album and the songs, and at one point he even said if it was up to him he would release the album against his management's will.  And perhaps, over the next couple of months, that's exactly what he did.

After the album announcement in October, everything else had gone relatively normal.  There were a couple new music videos made and another single was released.  But around December, that's when things started to get shady.

First, one night on Tumblr, my friend found a peculiar audio clip and sent it to me.  It was the high quality and full length version of one of the songs "Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time".  There was no hint to this being released early at all on any of Panic! At The Disco's social media, so I was curious as to where it came from.  At first I was weary to listen to it because I didn't want to be a bad person and potentially listen to pirated music.  But hey, why not; Brendon Urie would be proud considering how many times he's told his fans to rip his songs off of Youtube.  So I listened to it once and let it be, and about an hour later, all of the audio clips of the song were taken down.


The second shady thing that has happened recently was during a football game. I didn't personally watch it, but according to the internet, a clip of one of the songs called "Golden Days" was playing during a football game before a commercial break like many songs do.  Yet again, they didn't hint this song was going to come out any time soon either.  So why would a sports station have a Panic! At The Disco song that wasn't supposed to be heard until January 15th?

And finally, the most bizarre thing that has happened thus far occurred this week.  A couple of days ago several fans went to Target and came across physical copies of Death of a Bachelor out in the CD section; a little less than a week before the actual release date.  For instance, this is just one of the fans who found a copy and posted it on Twitter.

(Via Ruhquel on Twitter)

Some Target employees have realized that the CDs aren't supposed to be out yet and they've prevented fans from purchasing it, other stores have let the fans get away with it.  This wasn't just one store though, this was several across the nation.  So if that's the case, why would a large corporation like Target mess up the release date of an item in several of their stores across the country?

You've seen the evidence.  Now comes the question.  Is this all an unsaid marketing ploy by Panic! At The Disco?  Or, are all of the leaked songs and miscommunications on the release date of the album a simple coincidence?  In my view, there's no way a sports channel would take unreleased songs without Panic! At The Disco giving it to them first.  I also don't think this many Target stores would mess up on the release date of an item.  Maybe it was Brendon Urie himself who somehow flew to all of the stores and put them there (just kidding).  Basically, it wouldn't surprise me if Brendon Urie was just trying to screw with us.

Blogger Has A Lot Of Problems (Like Me)

A visual representation of sarcasm.

Blogger has a lot of flaws.

Over the course of a couple days, I had been working hard on a blog post about a different rant.  I read and reread it several times, making sure it was perfect and ready to post. I found one solid high quality photo to go with it as well. Everything was sorted out flawlessly and I was proud I had completed another blog assignment.  Wow, it looked as if my life was finally coming together.

Haha, I guess not.

When I knew the post was good to go, I clicked the publish button.  No results. So me, being an impatient teenager, started to click the publish button dozens of times in the span of just a couple of seconds.  And yet again, the post would still not publish.  So after spamming the save button just to be sure it saved, I clicked the refresh button so maybe I could submit it the next time around.

bUT BOY WAS I WRONG.

By refreshing the page, I lost all of my work.  Every single sentence I worked hard on was gone.  Every period, comma, and semi colon I placed systematically had vanished.  I was so frustrated.  I should have known better too, this happened to me with another old blog post except last time it only deleted half of the post.  But I suppose my naïvety got the better of me.

So after the fact settled in that I'd have to redo my assignment and I lost at least three days worth of work, I pretty much lied on the floor while listening to music and stared at the ceiling for a solid twenty minutes.  At that point, I was just done with everything.  It is finals week and the last week of the semester after all, so losing all of my hard work only brought me more stress (check out this post to see me elaborate on this more).  Maybe if I were a better student and I got all of these assignments done earlier, I wouldn't be as stressed or reckless.  But I don't see that happening any time soon, unfortunately.  So instead of using the time I took to rant about a rant blog post that backfired, I could have been doing some other homework.  Also, I could of spent three hours doing more homework if I didn't decide to draw.  I drew a person with three eyes.  Three of them.  My life truly is a wreck right now.

Basically, Blogger has as many problems as I do.

That Second Time I Fought A Thirty Five Year Old Man On The Internet (The Shane Morris Saga Part Two)

It's been a couple months since my first part of the Shane Morris Saga, so I figured it was time to write about my passion of screwing with people on the internet once again.

Gerard Way 2015
(Via Entertainment Rocks)

First off, I'll recap what happened in part one.  Basically, Shane Morris used to be Ryan Ross of Panic! At The Disco's music manager when Ryan left the band. Occasionally, he uses a live stream app called Periscope to just rant or to talk about whatever he wants.  One time I decided to join his stream and I ended up fighting with him over an album called Soul Punk.  Because he was criticizing the artist's clothing choices of that era, I decided to criticize Shane Morris' fashion choices. He then proceeded to tell me about his sunglasses and how it was a metaphor for his life's success, and then he ended his live stream because I guess I agitated him too much.

Ever since that stream, I was eager to mess around with the Shane Morris again.  Of course around that time, school was ending and it was summer so I had a fair amount of free time.  During the time after the Periscope I angered him in, he streamed frequently.  Occasionally I'd check in and just listen while I was eating lunch or something. Some of the more chill (chill meaning he didn't start ranting on them) topics he'd talk about were plastic surgery, the Civil War, misogyny, and his bands that he was currently managing.  But when Shane Morris ranted, he basically ranted about celebrities; more specifically celebrities who were emo and popular in 2005.  I'm basically talking about Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy and Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance.

Pete Wentz 2015
(Via Youth Health)

One night, Shane Morris decided to Periscope and I decided to join.  That night, he was frustrated at Pete Wentz and Fall Out Boy for how they acted at some party he was at a long time ago.  I don't entirely remember what the specific details were, all I remember is he was infuriated with Pete Wentz at the moment.  Maybe he was particularly angry because he was slightly drunk -- but hey, that's none of my business.  So while Shane was on the topic of Pete Wentz, he started ranting about him in general.  Eventually, he got on the subject of Pete's children, who's names are Saint and Bronx.  Of course, they're a little obscure, but he's earned it. Shane started to talk about how he felt bad for the kids because they were given awful names and they'd have to live the rest of their lives with them. Then, he thought of another emo celebrity who had a child with a unique name: Gerard Way.  He got even harsher with Gerard's daughter, who's name is Bandit.  It's also an interesting name, but he's definitely earned the right to do it.  Shane Morris began to spout out how Bandit was a terrible name for a human, let alone a girl. At that point, I decided I had to intervene again.

Shane was ignoring all of the other viewer's comments.  But for some reason, he read mine.  I basically said something like "What kind of a name is Shane Morris?"  And of course, this thirty five year old music manager from Tennessee flipped out yet again.  He squinted at my comment and made a sour face.  This is what he replied exactly:

"Kiragamil?  Did your parents give you a shit name too?"

Right after that, I was kicked out of the live stream.  Shane Morris had blocked me from his Periscope account.  I had never felt more victorious. My Periscope username was actually Kiragamii, and I guess he assumed that it was my actual birth name.  So while I was psyched because I pissed off Shane yet again, I decided to take this to Twitter.  This is my exact tweet:

And without another reply, he blocked me on his Twitter account as well.  Two victories in one night; it was an amazing feeling.

So because I was blocked on both Twitter and Periscope, I haven't been able to contact Shane Morris any further. It's slightly unfortunate, but at the same time it's comforting to know that I agitated this man enough for him to make sure I couldn't bother him again.  So with that, I end the Shane Morris Saga... for now.

That One Time I Fought A Thirty Five Year Old Man On The Internet (The Shane Morris Saga Part One)

One of my passions is screwing with people on the internet -- especially adults. More specifically thirty five year old men who are music managers in Tennessee. Even more specifically music managers named Shane Morris.

Let me explain first.  Shane Morris was Ryan Ross' music manager after Ryan left Panic! At The Disco.  Shane helped manage Ryan's new band, the Young Veins, but then their relationship stopped after that band broke up and some other personal stuff happened between them.  So after that happened, Shane Morris now resides in Tennessee and helps manage newly signed country bands. So even though he isn't relevant anymore regarding Ryan Ross or Panic! At The Disco, I still decided to follow him on Twitter. 

Over this past year, another app through Twitter called Periscope, has become very popular.  Basically, Periscope is a live streaming app where people can watch someone and comment on their stream.  I downloaded the app because the lead singer of the band Panic! At The Disco, Brendon Urie, started using it and his streams were pretty fun to watch.  So whenever someone I follow on Twitter goes live on Periscope, I get a notification.

(Via Wikipedia)

One day this past summer I got a Periscope notification from Shane Morris, titled "Opinion on Soul Punk".

NOW I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW SOUL PUNK IS ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE ALBUMS. (Which I'll probably talk about in a future post.) Soul Punk is an album that Patrick Stump, the lead singer of Fall Out Boy, released during Fall Out Boy's hiatus. It's a gift from the heavens and I love it a lot -- So much to the point where I'd defend it on the internet against some music manager in Tennessee.  

So I joined the stream and was ready to fight.  I was a little late joining so he was in the middle of talking about something else.  So I asked the chat "What did he diss about Soul Punk?"  And he stopped, read my comment out loud, and then immediately got defensive.  It's always a slightly unsettling experience to have your comment read out loud; that was the first time it had happened to me on Periscope.  He proceeded to then talk about how he didn't like the album -- how the genre was bad, how bad the lyrics were written, and how bad Patrick's voice was.

So at that point I was rEADY TO PUNCH HIM THROUGH MY PHONE.  After he moved on to complaining about Patrick Stump's fashion choice in that era, I decided it was my turn to step in.  At the time, Shane Morris was standing outside of his Tennessee home wearing this:

(Via Twitter)

So I typed in the chat "You shouldn't be talking, do you see what you're wearing right now?" I mean, just look at that piece of trash.  His sunglasses look like ski goggles and his hair looks like an egg with a mop attached to it.  So after a small delay, Shane read it.  He immediately went from a chill ranting face to a face of rage. I don't remember what he said exactly, but he proceeded to tell me the origin of his sunglasses.  Shane explained that when he was a teen growing up in the 90's, his goal was to become super successful and stuff.  One of his goals was to acquire the Oakley sunglasses in the photo above.  They were apparently exclusive and expensive in the 90's, so he really wanted them. So now that he was a fairly successful music manager in Tennessee, he was able to get the sunglasses from his teen years and achieve his goals.  Yeah, yeah, good for him. (That still doesn't mean they don't look like trash.)

(Via ReplyGif)

So he bragged on and on about that for awhile and I forgot what I said but I said something in the chat and he ended the Periscope out of anger.  Kira: 1. Shane Morris: 0.  It was fun to make this guy all pissed off over his sunglasses; that was a day well spent.

This is pretty much the end of the Shane Morris Saga Part One.  There'll probably be a couple more stories, but you never know.

I'm Gonna Write About Fall Out Boy So I Have To Make This Post Title Long Or Else It Wouldn't Work Out

Clever title, I know. (It's not like anyone is going to understand it, but whatever.)  Because I just wrote about my Twenty One Pilots concert, I figured I should just write about my Fall Out Boy concert while I'm on the topic.

Before I write about my actual experience, I need to address something that may or may not be obvious already.  I am Fall Out Boy trash.  I waste so much time listening to this band it's not even funny.  The thing is, when I first became a fan, I thought this would be a year phase.  It seemed like all throughout middle school each year I was obsessed with one thing.  6th grade was probably anime *cue flashbacks to my most cringeworthy stage*.  7th was probably TV shows like Supernatural or Doctor Who.  And that was also the year I became a fan of Fall Out Boy.  Back then they were just something I listened to for background noise.  Well, that didn't turn out as planned.  It's been a little over two years and I'm still obsessing over them.  Just watch this blog progressively become a Fall Out Boy blog.  This might even be a warning; it could happen.

Now my concert experience here wasn't nearly as traumatizing or exciting as Twenty One Pilots; it was relatively normal thinking back on it.  If anything, the hype before it was more exciting.  I was probably more excited because this was my first concert ever. (I'm lame, I know.)  My friend Hannah and I spent half a year waiting for their concert.  And eventually, July 30th came.  We got to the venue right on time -- the first act barely started when we got to our seats.

The opening act was Hoodie Allen. I listened to a couple of his songs before I went to the concert, so they were pretty cool to hear in real life. Even cooler, he replied to me on twitter after the show.  He really built up the hype and got me excited for the other artists.

After about an hour of being at the venue, the first main act came on stage. I'm not that big of a fan of rap, but Wiz Khalifa was actually pretty great.  I knew a couple of his songs like Black and Yellow and We Dem Boyz.  Wiz Khalifa put on a great show.  I would talk about a lot of other stuff regarding his act, but I'm not necessarily sure it's appropriate for school (haha).  My favorite song he preformed was See You Again.  I liked that one in particular because I knew all the lyrics and Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy ran out on stage and started preforming with him.  That really made me realize "Holy smokes I'm about to see my favorite band!"

And bam, within ten minutes after Wiz Khalifa, Fall Out Boy came on.  It was pretty surreal and I can't really describe how I felt.  They opened with one of their classics from 2005: Sugar We're Goin Down.  It was really amazing to be able to sing the songs I'd been listening to on the bus every morning.  The actual band was there and they were real.  I was so pumped, I never wanted the concert to end.

The songs I was most excited to hear were Dance Dance, This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race, and Saturday.  Of course I was thrilled to hear each one on their set, but I freaked out a little more than usual hearing those three.

Don't even get me started on the band themselves.  Patrick Stump, the lead singer, hit every note perfectly.  Pete Wentz, the bassist, and Joe Trohman, the guitarist, were also hella rad; they preformed with such skill.  And Andy Hurley was down right awesome.  I have a lot of respect for drummers, they not only have to be skilled in their instrument, but they also have to be physically in shape.

Overall, my Fall Out Boy concert was outstanding.  I was little disappointed they didn't interact with the crowd as much Twenty One Pilots did, but that didn't matter.  Like I said before, I was there for the music.  I'm really glad I got to see them live, and I hope to see them again soon!

It's Either I'm Weak Or Everyone Else Is A Savage

(All pictures are mine on this post!)

Sick! I'm actually gonna commit to this blog now with an actual post!

Eventually, while owning this blog, I was planning on talking about some of my concert stories from this past summer (this actually didn't happen in the summer, but whatever).  So, before I forget the details, I'll just kick off my blog with this story about my life. 

On September 26th, I was going with my friend Piper to see the band Twenty One Pilots live.  I was a little nervous because my voice was hoarse because I was sick (and from screaming at Sebastian Stan the day before, but that's another story). Also, I was probably a little anxious because that was my second concert ever and my first concert with GA seating.  Either way, I was pumped and ready to go.

So we got to the venue about three hours early and there was already a pretty solid line formed.  Piper and I sat there for an hour or so and we talked a little bit with the people in line.  It was a little weird because it seemed like everyone there was at least 17, but eventually I warmed up to them.  

But, so much for getting comfortable.

After about an hour of us waiting, the whole entire line rushed to the front of the doors to the venue.  People began sprinting to the front, so Piper and I figured we probably should too.

Well, we got to the front of the doors, which was a good thing.  But, the bad thing was there was nothing at the front of the doors; the line rushed for no reason.  Even after the concert, I still have no clue why we did it.  So, we prepared to stand in the hoard of people for two hours.

As it got closer to the time of the concert, the group got more and more packed. It got so packed to the point where I could barely move in my spot -- it was not enjoyable, but it was still tolerable.  Piper and I spent our time watching and talking to interesting people in line (i.e. Cool Shirt Guy, Jacob, and Jackson). We just had to hold on until 6:30.

And 6:30 came.  That's when the real hectic began.  Piper had to go to the bathroom to take a break from all the people while I tried to get a good spot for us in the pit.  Luckily, as I sprinted out the venue and into the lawn where the stage was, I was able to get a spot close to the stage.  I was probably only 8 people away from the front!  I thought I was good to go.

But I guessed wrong.  As more people began to flood into the lawn, the more packed it got.  This was even more crowded than the line.  Piper was nowhere to be seen either.  At that point, I wanted to keep my spot.  But wOW DID THAT BACKFIRE.  These Twenty One Pilots fans were much different than me; most of the people in the pit were six foot tall dudes.  Eventually, as it got more and more crowded, I couldn't move at all.  My face was shoved against the back of this one guy and my arms were sprawled in front and behind me.  It was so hot and sweaty, my shirt became drenched in sweat and I'm pretty sure half of it wasn't even my own sweat.  Occasionally, the whole pit decided to sway right and left which put me off balance and made me fall on a couple of people (not to mention my shoes were untied).  It was rough.

And the concert hadn't even started yet.  The longer, I stayed in there, the more I regretted it.  But I made it that far, so I should stay where I was, right? Wrong.  The first act, Finish Ticket, came on and that's when things got wild.  I was basically trapped between three really tall dudes who were pretty annoying to be honest.  They kept jumping and trying to get close to each other, I couldn't handle it.  I couldn't even see the band, and that's when I decided it wasn't worth it to stay sandwiched in between them for the next two hours.  So I simply yelled "I wanna get out!"  And the annoying dudes heard me.  This is the point when the annoying dudes became cool dudes.  They confirmed with me, and then they lifted me up from the crowd and proceeded to crowd surf me to the barricade.  Like I actually crowd surfed, I'm not exaggerating in the slightest.  After awkwardly going over five people's heads, I eventually reached the barricade.  A security guard guy picked me up and placed me on the ground (man everyone was so strong?? I need to hit the gym geez).  I was a little shaken up, but I was okay.

So for the rest of the concert, I stood on the sidelines of the crowd.  I felt uneasy, I didn't feel like I was actually apart of the crowd.  But man, I was pretty close considering the circumstances.

Twenty One Pilots live were amazing.  It's outstanding to see how well two guys can preform on stage alone.  Each song was filled with so much energy, I could tell they were genuine.  Tyler Joseph, the lead singer, was also very interactive with the crowd.  He talked with us and also made sure we gave enough rounds of applause to the drummer, Josh Dun.  During some of the songs, he would actually climb into the crowd while he was singing.  On their last song, Trees, Josh and Tyler went out into the crowd and had them hold up drums for the finale.  It was a beautiful, I could feel the drum beats in my stomach while confetti filled the air.  What pained me the most about it was if I stayed where I was, I would have been able to hold them too.  But in the end, I was there for the music, just like everyone else.

Overall, this is an experience I'll never forget.  Maybe I was just too weak and inexperienced to stand in the pit, or Twenty One Pilots fans are just savages.  I feel like it's a little bit of both, but there's nothing I can do about it now.  I hope to see Twenty One Pilots again, and maybe next time I'll get to be close to the stage again!  |-/