No More San Francisco

Last night, I went to see Craig Owens at the Triple Rock Social club in Minneapolis. I had no idea who he was until about two weeks ago when someone suggested I listen to the song "No More San Francisco" (you should all listen to it too!). I loved it. Then I learned that he was in a band called Chiodos. I gave some of their music a listen as well, but it wasn't quite my style. A little too hard core for me. But when someone asked me to go to Craig Owens' acoustic show, I felt that I couldn't say no.

So Ben and I ventured through Cedar-Riverside to get to this place around 6 pm last night. Even though it was only 6, it was super dark out and super sketchy, but we made it there alive. The concert was amazing. And afterwards he said that he wanted to meet everyone there so of course we got in line!! I was freaking out as we got closer and closer. I texted my sister asking her what I should say. This was her response "Casually mention the fact that you're not wearing underwear and then wink". Haha, right... Anyways, it was finally my turn and I couldn't get the right words out!

Me "It's so nice to meet you" *Awkwardly shakes hand. WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE STRANGE HANDSHAKES??*

Him "Thank you" *At this point my ears have shut off and I'm not really listening to what he's saying"

Me "I really enjoyed your show"

Him "Thank you"

Me "Can we take a picture?"

Him "Of course" *Takes picture* "Be safe tonight!"

Me "Thanks, you too!"

And then I left. I was SO STARSTRUCK. It was so amazing.

Me and the wonderful Craig Owens

And here's the song I was talking about.

No More San Francisco 

Still on cloud nine 12 hours later. Best day of my life.

Why You Should Vote No

So I have a paper due in about two hours. But I feel like this is more important.

Voting "no" doesn't mean that you support gay marriage, it doesn't mean that you're abandoning your religious views. Voting "no" means that you understand that our Constitution is there for a reason and that reason is to protect our rights as American Citizens. It means that you understand that these things are done to protect minorities. Voting "no" isn't going to make gay marriage legal, but it will prevent our rights from being abused.*

Would you vote to make interracial couples illegal? Would you vote to make large age differences in couples illegal? Would you vote to make divorce and remarriage illegal? No. I don't think the majority of you would. The same thing goes for gay marriage. So many times, I've heard people say "If you don't want to marry someone of the same sex, then don't do it" and this is so true. By voting for the marriage amendment, not only are you making something that's already illegal even more illegal, but you're looking down on your peers and telling them that they aren't as good as you because of their sexual orientation.

I've heard a lot of arguments for the amendment based on religious beliefs. In fact, I heard someone say that in a perfect world "government should not be involved at all with marriage, churches would handle it". I'm glad you feel strong enough to voice you opinion on that matter, but America celebrates freedom of religion. Do you feel that atheists can't get married because they don't believe in God? What about Buddhists? I don't think the government should be able to limit marriage rights, but I don't think marriage should be left to the church. That's not what America stands for.

There's also been talk of a biological argument. I find this hilarious because the majority of the people that make this argument are the religious fellows. They say that allowing gay marriage will affect the progress of the human race because they won't be able to reproduce. It sounds to me like they're talking about evolution. Hmmm. Interesting stuff, because the majority of people making this argument are advocates of intelligent design. There are over 1500 species of animals that display homosexual tendencies. They seem to be doing just fine on an evolutionary basis. Also, if you think gay marriage will halt our evolutionary process, have you looked at modern medical technology lately? I feel like that has halted our evolution more so than gay marriage ever would.

That being said, if this amendment fails, it will not legalize gay marriage! If this amendment fails it will show that we, as Minnesotans, care about the rights of our fellow citizens. Don't make this harder than it needs to be. Vote no and show your love and support for your neighbors, coworkers, friends and families. Don't limit the freedom to marry even more than it already is. We will never stop fighting. Everyone deserves the right to marry the person they love.

Please, vote no.



*The first paragraph was pretty much taken from Annie Peckskamp, you worded things so eloquently! Thanks girl!

Growing Up Goes Slow

This post differs from my typical awkwardness. Sorry Ryder, your post is going to have to wait.

Yesterday, I was walking down the sidewalk, and I came across a poem that was stamped into the ground. It read:

Not Like Fire

Nothing flaming
or even
potentially
aflame.
Nothing
caught up
with danger.
Nothing racing to take
control
or possessions or
no prisoners.

No, our love
was never
like that.


Pretty deep, huh? I feel like that fire is something that a lot of people strive for. That passion, which is all consuming, consumes them. The relationships that we make through out our lives can shape the way we think and feel about pretty much anything. They can be the most important things about how we live, they can be the difference between happiness and severe depressions. Sometimes they cause that happiness, but sometimes they can cause that depression as well. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about religion. I was raised in a very religious family, and I had a decently strong faith, but this friend of mine labeled himself as an agnostic atheist, or at least, that's what I think he said. We talked a lot about what there is to live for is there isn't a God or a place to go after death. He told me that he lives for the relationships that he makes with others. Now that's passion right there. That's the flame we're all searching for. Throughout my time here at the U, I feel like I've made a lot of good friends, but I don't think that any of these relationships have that same fire, that same passion that is all consuming. I want to feel that passion for life. I want to strive to love deeper and feel more, something. I guess just to feel more in general. I think I have a hard time allowing myself to feel that.

Also, trying to accept the fact that I can't make everyone happy. That's been something I've struggled with since day 1. I have no idea where this post is going, but I wish I was back in fourth grade, playing 1, 2, 3, kick up at recess with Matt Eull.

I hope that the memories never fade, I hope that there's never a reason that they have to.

Here's the sidewalk poetry, instagrammed, of course. 

Social Media Purge

Okay, so this post isn't really about anything awkward in my life, I'm just going through social media withdrawal. This past weekend, Ben and I decided that we were going to do a social media cleanse, so basically, no Twitter and no Facebook. I AM GOING CRAZY. We didn't list blogging and instagram as social media sites, even though they are, I feel like that would have been too difficult. Here's a list of things that I've done today instead of going on Twitter:

• Bought a new phone case! (it's from Etsy and it has a giraffe on it!!)
• Checked the tracking information on my latest Victoria's Secret purchase 17 times
• Read every single article on yahoo news
• Watched cat videos on youtube for 45 minutes
• Ate a shit ton of Subway
• Wrote a note
• Shopped for a birthday present for a friend
• Edited some photos
• Reloaded Instagram continuously for awhile (I didn't keep track of the time for this one)
• Drew a picture of a whale
• Looked up tour dates for NeverShoutNever and realized that they were going to be in St. Paul on Black Friday
• Tried to figure out how I can get out of working on Black Friday (so far, I've been unsuccessful with this endeavor) 
• Written this blog post
• Checked my email 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 times
• Drew up a tattoo design
• Texted almost all of my phone contacts

And all this was done in like the last two hours. I swear, I'm going crazy. I SERIOUSLY have a problem so I guess it's a good thing that I'm doing this. Hmmm. Yeah.

Do these jeans make my butt look big?

The other night, when I was waiting in line for my chicken wrap, and fresh cranberry juice, I was approached by a man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. This is a transcript of our conversation:

Creepy Man: "Can I ask you a question? Do you think these pants go with this shirt?"
(he was wearing light blue jeans with a shirt that was almost exactly the same color)

Me: "Um, yeah, it looks fine"

CM: "What about these pants?"
(he pulls a pair of darker jeans out of a shopping bag)

Me: "Yeah, I like those better"

CM: "What kind of shoes would you wear with them?"

Me: "I don't know, maybe nicer dress shoes?"

CM: "So you wouldn't wear like sketchers or something like that?"

Me: "No, I'd wear something nicer, I feel like tennis shoes are too boring"

CM: "What about the shoes I'm wearing right now?"
(we was wearing black tennis shoes)

Me: "No, I would wear brown shoes"

CM: "And what would you say if you were going dancing? What kind of shoes would you wear? More dressy or more casual?"

Me: "I say go big or go home, if you're going out, wear the nice shoes"
(at this point I flashed my engagement ring, hoping that he wasn't about to ask me dancing)

CM: "Alright, well, thank you for your advice!"

And then he walked away. I got my sandwich and went to work.

T-Rex Sighting: And You Thought They Were EXTINCT!

This video needs no explanation. Well... I was trying to do physics. That should explain everything. I do hope the quality is okay. It was taken on a phone.

#TREXSIGHTINGS

Worse Than Nicholas Cage

So, as promised guys, here's the post from Ben. When he emailed this to me, the subject line was "LOLCATS" I hope that gives you an idea of what you're in for. So, from one of my greatest friends, here's a situation that's "Worse Than Nicholas Cage".


"It was mild fall day and I woke up like any other day, dazed and still erect from the fantasy of a dream my mind had construed the prior night. I showered and slapped on the nearest pair of blue jeans my arms could reach, tossed on a questionably clean Hanes t-shirt, and threw on the same pair of smelly Toms I wear every day. For the most part this day seemed like any other day, this seemingly normal day would prove to be one of the most violating experiences in recent memory. I slipped into class several minutes late and to my dismay I was left sitting next to a rather hefty fella and on the other side was a kid that looked as if sleep was his last priority (foreshadowing). Class went on like any other day and as the time passed I noticed the young sleepless gent inhabiting the quarters to my near left start to doze off. Another twenty minutes of class passed by and the carbon, oxygen and hydrogen composition started moving, ever so slowly. The direction in which his unconscious head started moving was towards my shoulder; I quickly noticed this and realized what ghastly act was in my near future. As his head crept closer and closer, I braced myself for impact, it was inevitable…This young man was sleeping on my shoulder, out cold and down for the count. I quickly tried to lunge forward in my chair in hopes that he would awaken, but my feeble attempts were unsuccessful and only seemed to rock him to into a deeper coma; I also tried quietly shouting in his ear, but I didn’t want to risk disrupting lecture and certainly didn’t want to risk the attractive girl in front of me seeing another man sleeping peacefully on my shoulder. This was a horrible dilemma to be caught up in. How would I wake him without humiliating him and more importantly myself?

This is part of the story where you think I came up with something genius and perfect to wake
the sleeping giant from his slumber. If you were thinking the aforementioned, you are horribly mistaken. I did nothing. I let the kid sit there the entire remaining minutes of the lecture and when the hustle and the bustle of the rest of class finally awoke him, he looked at me and all he uttered was, “Sorry, I am very sleepy” I thought to myself, that does not nearly justify the stark and utter horror that had just befallen on me. After several minutes of packing my things up and trying to grasp what had just happened to me, I glanced at my shoulder and immediately my gag reflex was triggered, as I felt the moist patch on my shirt seep through the cloth and trickle onto my beautiful porcelain…It was a drool mark on my fucking shirt. I went home, stripped off my clothes carefully avoiding the soiled sleeve of my shirt and hopped into the shower, I scrubbed and scrubbed hoping that would be the remedy to the parasitic saliva that covered my shoulder, but even after all that, it was still impressed in my mind... This traumatic event has ruined me as a person and ever since the day that this incident happened I have not been the same. My life will never return to its prior unsoiled sleeve glory. Never."