Stalking is Too Easy

Mrs. Dunlap said this book is REALLY charming. I guess it is. The title is "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," and I put it in quotes because there is no underline option. These days, they think it can be mistaken for a link. Maybe I should have put it in italics. But I don't trust italics on Blogger because when I want specific things throughout a post to be italicized, things get messed up and never turn out the way I want them. And I am too lazy to mess with the HTML.
I went running with three people, including the Green Power Blogger today, but we mainly walked. I felt really tired and I did not have fun, but I am very glad that he invited me because it was very thoughtful, and if I wanted to get better at running, it would be awesome to do it with people I know. So, thanks again, big brother, but it does not interest me.
My family is getting up at 4:30am tomorrow to send two of us off to the airport. I won't tell you which two because it is dangerous to disclose that sort of information to the internet.
Also, since this is so obvious to stalkers out there, if you look me up, you could probably figure out my name. At least, the first one. From random sites online, you could figure out where I go to school, and then, it would be easy to stalk me somehow. Or at least know the area in which I most probably live. Well, that was a lot of vague information that could become precise.
Not that I am tempting you to try it out on people, or anything.
It is dinner time, so good-bye until next week.
-Kejing

Summer To-Do List

So to entertain you all (thank me for not using its more colloquial contraction), I decided that I would write about what I have/will be[en] working on this summer.

• Getting a job- well, since I don't have one yet, you can guess how well this is going.
• Building new bookshelves in the office- this one isn't mine, it's my dad's but since he yells at me to help him with every mundane step it's practically my project. It's going to be a long summer.
• Installing and running Ubuntu- I got it installed. Now let's try and coerce it into actually running.
• Learning like 4 new piano pieces- yeah, when I get the time, okay?
• New fandangled media center system in my room- this one is a vague fantasy of mine that I'm twiddling with in my spare time. It involves routing all my major electronics into an interface to control everything from my consoles to my iPod and the badass speakers I found. So far I harvested the screen off a digital picture frame and I want that to be the display for all the fun. Yeah, I've got a ways to go.
• Run an ethernet (cat 7 preferrably) line to my room- I'm sick of my shoddy wireless connection. So I want to run about 150' of ethernet cabling from the office, up into the attic, and down into my room where it will be greeted greedily by my computer and new router to give my room some actual WiFi.
• CoHost a Harry Potter and the Half Bood Prince viewing party the night of the midnight premier- yeah, if you haven't already RSVP'ed to the event on FaceBook, go do it now. I'm not kidding, I know where you live. I have a wand.

Okay, that's probably the bulk of it.

Have a good remaining month and a half of summer!

- Jonathan

Don't Tell Me

Don't tell me to stop
Tell the rain not to drop
Tell the wind not to blow
'Cause you said so, mmm

Tell the sun not to shine
Not to get up this time, no, no
Let it fall by the way
But don't leave me where I lay down

Tell me love isn't true
It's just something that we do
Tell me everything I'm not but
please don't tell me to stop

Tell the leaves not to turn
But don't ever tell me I'll learn, no, no
Take the black off a crow
But don't tell me I have to go

Tell the bed not to lay
Like the open mouth of a grave, yeah
Not to stare up at me
Like a calf down on its knees

Tell me love isn't true
It's just something that we do
Tell me everything I'm not but
don't ever tell me to stop

Don't you ever
Tell me love isn't true
It's just something that we do
Don't you ever
Tell me everything I'm not but
don't ever tell me to stop

Don't you ever
please don't, please don't,
please don't tell me to stop

Don't you ever tell me (don't you), ever
Don't ever tell me to stop

Tell the rain not to drop
Tell the bed not to lay
Like the open mouth of a grave, yeah
Not to stare up at me
Like a calf down on its knees

changes

It is Tuesday. What to write?

There are so many different people in this world. It kind of blows your mind. Some people are good and others are bad. Some people are happy and others are not. Some people are leaders and others are followers. And some people are givers while others are takers. What does that mean exactly. There are those of us who will go to great lengths to give people what they want. And there are those of us that will just take what the other people have to give. No one falls into one of these categories exclusively, but it does seem as though we have tendencies towards one or the other. It's all a balancing act. As long as it stays at equilibrium there is nothing to worry about.

There are so many different people in this world. And so, how does it work? Is there really one person out there for everyone? A very wise person once said, "Soul mates don't exist. There are many people who can be happywith a given person." And that makes sense. But then, are there some people that have no one? And why is it that way? It just doesn't seem fair. Then again, a very wise lion (Scar in The Lion King) once said, "Lifes not fair, is it?" That is the kind of thing my mother loves to say. And it is awful. Because it is true. But it doesn't seem right.

There are so many different people in this world. How many are happy? Truly happy. How do you get there? Is it really the little things in life? Or the relationships you have with other people? Or is it all about knowing and accepting yourself? Maybe religion brings some people happiness. That's got to be nice.

There are so many different people in this world. We all experience things differently. Love, hate, pain, sadness. How can we really compare? It is best not to try. We all show things differently. How can any one of us feel so above the rest, that they have the right to judge? There isn't a right or wrong. It is just different for everyone. And different isn't bad, it is more like unique.

There are so many different people in this world. You would think that we would be used to it by now. Experts. But we are all learning. And maybe that is how it will always be.

We rarely dwell on the good things

Towards the end of the year, Mrs. Clarke asked if anyone wanted to participate in a summer leadership program. Apparently our county sends one student there each year on full scholarship. I found out on Friday, that I was that student.

It's pretty intense stuff. You can get college credit for it and everything. They told me that I'll be sent a textbook. Though it sounds like hard work, I'm pretty excited. It seems focused on politics, which I recently have gotten into. By the way, do you think I'd make a good politician? I keep wondering, even though I'm appalled by many the practices of today's politicians.

On another note, this song had been running through my head alot. It's Radios in Heaven by The Plain White T's.


So, yeah. Hope everyone has a good week.

-Brianna

Dear Maria (Count Me In)

Hello there, Blue Powerblogger here!

So I am generally a very sheltered child. Sheltered in the sense that I always do what my parents tell me to, I don't know the meanings of half the words on Urban Dictionary, and I have never done anything totally rebellious because I didn't know how.

Until last night.

I went to a local bar to see a show that my friend's band was playing. I convinced my parents to let me catch a ride there with my friend and let us go alone. They seemed pretty ok with the plan, so I was like "awesome!" and didn't think much of it. We knew how to get to the bar, we had money for tickets, and we were set to just enjoy the night.

At 10:30 or so, there were still two more bands left to perform. My friend who I drove there with was insistent upon seeing the last band, "Stages and Stereo", because they are her favorite band ever. So I was like, "ok, well they should be done playing by 11:30 or so". My told my dad that and he was fine with it. By 11:30, Stages was still only setting up to play. I texted my dad saying that the last band was getting ready. He replied, "not good :(". I told him that policemen were staked outside and that two of the guys from our band would escort us to our car and he simply said "ok". I figured I was off the hook.

But then we had to take some other girl home and I had to get my car from my friend's house, so I didn't get back home until 12:45. My parents were pissed and had one of those stern lecture things with me.

I felt kinda proud of myself for being semi-rebellious. And I didn't even get grounded or anything.

So maybe this is the birth of some new, more independent side of me. I like it. This is what the music scene does to me.

Listen to "Dear Maria" by All Time Low! I don't really like the band because they cuss and write about sex and stuff in a lot of their songs, but Dear Maria is actually pretty good!

And I freaking love Garageband on Mac computers! The lead singer of Maradona (who you should also look up because they are amazing!) showed me how to use it to help my singing, and I think it's the coolest thing. I am such a nerd. This is my sheltered side speaking.

Until next week,

-Caroline

What a Morbid Week...

The controllers went "click click click" as buttons were pressed and triggers were pulled. June squeezed the right trigger and his soldier responded with a hail of bullets. After a few minutes, the round was over and June sat back and relaxed.
"It's been a pretty morbid week for me," said June.
Daniel, eyes never leaving the screen, responded, "Yeah, Phil's uncle died and I went to his funeral a few days ago.
June raised an eyebrow and replied, "You too?"
Brendon laughed and said, "It also made Daniel think he's immortal."
"What? How'd that happen?" asked June.
"Well... If it was an open casket then I wouldn't have thought I was immortal," said Daniel.
"Hah, yeah because if Daniel saw the dead body, he would have realized his mortality," laughed Brendon.
"True..." said Daniel.

If more than anything else, this week was the most saddening week in my life. He died, she died, and it kept on coming. I didn't need to see a dead body to realize my mortality. Along with death came a ton of inspiration for new songs but I kept that on hiatus out of respect. What I want to talk about is the idea we all asked ourselves at least once in our lives: "What if I died right now? People would start talking good about me and they would miss me." Now the only reason I start on this is because a friend of mine actually came up to me and asked me this.
"I'll die right now and you'll be sorry that you were ever mean to me!"
I didn't have a proper response because I hardly cared at the time and I was almost at my destination. She already gave me this lecture several times so I wasn't ignoring someone who was having serious thoughts of suicide. Seriously, I'm not that cold. But now I have an answer for her.

Life is but a vapor. You could die in a few years, weeks, months....weeks....days....hours....minutes....seconds.....now. I don't know about you but life is very precious. It's a chance, it's an opportunity, it's an influence. Now think about suicide; the easy way out. I bet all of you guys reading this had at least one time where you considered suicide. Don't deny it. "The world might be a better place without me." Is that really true?
I've grown way past that phase now. I met some awesome people that changed my life and helped me broaden my perspective on this matter.
I highly doubt anyone is thinking about the world when they think "the world would be a better place without me". More than likely, it's all about you. Let's look at what my friend said to me back then:
"What if I died right now? People would start talking good about me and they would miss me."
Me, me, me, me. So where's the world in all this? It's actually seems extremely selfish to me. Back in the day, the more I thought of this, the more I realized that I wouldn't make anything better, but rather make everything worse. Look at how many hearts that would break from your death, look at how much people value you alive, look at the sadness. There would be no joyfulness from a suicidal death. Even if it's your joy, you wouldn't even be around to enjoy it. At the cost of your life, you ruin someone else's life.

To the person who told me that death would bring you happiness, this is my response.

-June