My Evening with Relient k

One of my favorite things to do is go to concerts. The anticipation for the day is heightened as you think about what you're going to wear, wonder what the venue's going to be like, remember how awesome it was last time, etc, etc, etc. Then you wait in line forever in order to get the prime spot in the concert hall. Immediately, the heat hits you and you have to give in to the sweat. There's no way to get away from the sweat. Yours and everyone's around you. Then there's suddenly that first chord hit by the bass, resounding to the point when you think that your sternum is going to snap. It's only uphill from there. Sure, whether or not you have personal space is not your choice anymore, but everyone else is in the same boat, so you go with it. This is kind of a downside to concerts. I got elbowed in the gut by this impatient lady who was trying so hard to keep her large group of girls together. In a room that small with that many people, good luck mean lady. Me and the other people behind her were getting the blame for the tons of people shoving us into her. Oh well, I had fun nonetheless, I can take a hit ha.
The opening bands are good, but you've been waiting for so long that you just want to get to the main attraction already. I really liked the first band, The Classic Crime, but the second band was a bit too techno/pop-y for me.
Then there's the set change between the opening acts and the main attraction. The anticipation grows as the stage crew goes on and off the stage.
There's that moment when you know it's them and not the crew and the energy just expands in the room. I thought it was so funny how they announced their entrance with the theme from "Rocky". They played about 10 songs, with "Deathbed" as the perfect encore. They played some new songs from the album that they're working on and I'm super excited to get it. I think that they are so good live--it's always awesome going to their shows.
Afterwards, drenched like I sat in a sauna for a few hours, we waited for the band to come out. Spencer was so excited when he met Matthew Theissen. We both got his autograph and a picture with him (the rest of the band hadn't shown up). Basically, we got the whole experience and it was so much fun going with my brother. I would go to a concert every weekend if I could. My ears were ringing and my legs were sore and I discovered that somehow I got ketchup on my shoes, but it was completely worth it.
Here are some favorites from the night:

The Classic Crime

The guitarist on the right looks like a Jonas Brother

Matthew Theissen

my hair was straight when I walked in the door...

yessss....

Country Life

While helping my brother with a photo class project, I took some shots on my own. It was actually really cool. I've always wanted to shoot this road that I drive on frequently and so I suggested it to Spencer. There's this huge pasture with some cows and horses and so we decided to try taking picts of the animals. At first, we were worried about them being too far away, but the minute we walked up to the fence, they all started walking over!! It was so awesome and made for easier picts. I feel kinda bad because I think that they thought that we were going to feed them or something. But it was fun.

Summers To Come

While I was uploading the previous pictures onto my blog, the Coldplay song "Clocks" came on Pandora. Suddenly, I was thrown into a spiral of memories came into my head and I couldn't help but smile to myself. The stages of my life are categorized by songs. Each song is part of a different part of life. For example, the freedoms of summer and the adventures that followed. I think the combination of the beautiful sunny skies today and "Clocks" made me realize how influential music has been in my summers. Last summer, I was confined to an indoor, full-time job all summer, saving money for college in the fall. They always played 101.3 PM or whatever that slow rock station is. They played the same songs at the same time everyday, like Elton John's "Rocket Man" around 5:30 or so and the Paul McCartney "Silly Love Songs" sometime in the afternoon. Almost every day. So now whenever I hear those songs now I think of my days working as a receptionist in a medical clinic. Whenever I hear certain songs by Relient K or Switchfoot, I can't help but think about the summer before, which I spent mostly with my first boyfriend. This summer I predict that I'll remember by "Right Round" by Flo Rida, "How Do You Sleep?" by Jesse McCartney, or "Poker Face" by Lady GaGa because that's all that's on the radio.
When I hear these songs I think about how awesome my summers were and how this summer better pick up pace in order to compete. I'd HATE to waste a summer when I've had 18 other great ones. I think about my friend Seth and how close we got last summer because all we had was work and each other. I think about EFY, Girls' Camp, and all of the people I met that I'm still close to today. I think about how I was worried about finishing my stupid summer reading for the next year of school. I remember the 4th of July's in the Cul-De-Sac with the neighbors, making sure the boys didn't blow each other up and how we tried to avoid the cops coming to make us throw away our Washington fireworks. I remember getting into pools at apartment complexes by knowing people in my ward. I remember only caring about the present and whether or not I was going to get any more tan-er that day. That was the life.
This summer, a best friend that I met at Girls' Camp is getting married. Job hunting isn't as easy. I'm doing adult things like shopping for cars, signing up for classes at college, cooking with my mom. I'm more focused on the future and how I could utilize this summer: should I take online classes and take a step forward in my education, or should I just relax since this is probably my last "free" summer for the rest of my life?

We'll see where this summer will take me.

Springtime

Provo Shots

abby~karah~liz~kayla










Oregon Shots



sisters

Oregon Coast

I've lived in Oregon for a good chunk of my life and I absolutely love it here. One of my favorite places is the coast. Sure, it's cold, but it's pretty!


Rain=Oregon

this used to be a road way back--Hug Point

Ominous

Issues of a Displaced College Student

I'm back! So far, so good. Hopefully this blog will somewhat force me to go out and take pictures again.
Anyways, my issues. Number one: job. This whole recession thing hasn't been easy for us college students. I'm half relieved that we BYU students don't have a spring break so that we can get out earlier for the jobs at home, so that I have a head start on those OSU and UO kiddos. (I'm also half not, because either way I'd have a hard time finding a job AND I'd get a much-needed spring break, but that's besides the point). Let's tally it up...I've applied to about 11 places and have asked if they're employing at several other places. Let me tell ya, it's frustrating. I think my resume is decent and I honestly try to work my hardest whereever I work. But the older people who need to support their families are taking the jobs that usually younger college students and high school students take, putting us out of luck.
Number two: car. OK, so I'm being pretty picky with this one, but it's my first car and I'm paying for it myself, so I think I have the right to be picky. I'm looking for a 1999-2001 Subaru Outback or Forester that runs well, low miles, manual transmission, newer tires, new head gaskets and timing belts, non-smoker, and with no other problems. oh, and in my price range. This has proved to be difficult. At least it's been nice having a dad that knows what he's doing--that'll save me lots and lots of money and problems.
If you are still reading this, I'm sorry that I'm ranting and that this is a boring rant. Usually my rants are funnier and more entertaining because I'm a pretty opinionated person, so maybe you in the blogworld will be able to hear that side of me. You in the blogworld also are probably going through the same issues I'm going through, and I'm sorry that you are. We Americans deserve more than this, like the agencies and programs that Reagan provided. We need a comeback like that, not a bailut package. That "solution" actually causes more problems for my generation's future. Either way, we're in a pickle. And we're paying for it.
On a happier note, today was Mother's Day and I think it was pretty successful. I get a little stressed about it, because I'm a people pleaser and I try to make Mom happy. It turned out well, I think.
I also discovered today that I'm happier when I have things to do. Some people love to relax to make them happier, but I have to constantly be going to be satisfied with life. I have to be creating or working on something. I have to have something to think about in the back of my mind. I have to be active and involved, not on the sidelines, letting things happen to me. This has also prove to be hard since I've been home and I'm jobless. At school, I was going and going and going and going, but within a week I went from EVERYTHING to NOTHING to do.
What does the blogworld think? Am I weird because I thrive on stress? How do you thrive?

Hawaii

Waimea Canyon


USS Missouri


We found this beach where there were signs everywhere about death, basically.


these roosters were everywhere


brothers at the Laie LDS Temple


Laie Hawaii Temple

Miscellaneous Shots

Now I'm just trying to get some of my shots up--they're pretty random, but here they are!

play me a song, you piano man


while I was lost in a corn maze


Crater Lake, Oregon

Old Black and Whites

I did these during my junior year of high school.

Swing Set


radioactive mouth


my beautiful sister


I didn't intentionally make them do the same face--double-exposure


a little bright in exposure, but I knda like it that way...


Annie, the human Christmas tree


it "spoke" to me


my very first black and white print

turning into a big fat blog

Alright. I've done it. I've officially entered the world of blogging. I like to write and I like to take pictures, so I have lovingly meshed the two together into a mass of marvelous blog. For the record, I also love music and traveling. And "The Office".
Since art is taking your heart, thoughts and soul and exposing them, I should introduce myself a bit before I start, well, exposing. As afore mentioned, I love music. I've actually turned it into an educational pursuit recently by becoming a music minor. I was originally a music major, but I love music too much to put myself through that. My spanking new major is pre-business management. I hope this sticks.
The reason that I hope this sticks is because I've labeled myself as a planner. I've always had a plan. Always. I usually either write it down in my head or on paper, but it's there. I planned what classes I would take in high school my freshman year for the rest of my career. I planned on getting into Brigham Young University and to graduate with superb grades. I planned growing up and marrying a successful and amazingly attractive man. Since I was 14, I planned on taking on my own interior design company and making people's houses pretty. This morning, before I even opened my eyes, I planned my day: running, movie with the family, sewing, how I would do my hair, what I would wear. You get the point. That's why I was so distraught when my plans worked up until I got to BYU. I had reached a point of my life where I was saying: Now what?! I'm stuck. I didn't know what classes to take, what I wanted to major in, where I was going to live the next year. I was mentally freaking out, staring at the list in my head plastered with a big question mark. That's why I want this plan to stick: that question mark was scary. Don't get me wrong, I'm flexible, but it would be nice to know what my plans would change to once they changed.
Something else about me, particularly about my writing, is that I'm kinda scatter-brained. I get this great idea in my head while writing or talking about something else and then transition in a not-so-smooth way. I didn't realize how much of a problem this was until I turned in my first college level English paper. Whew I was hurtin in the organization area. So I hope y'all can follow.
Who's y'all anyways? I know I'm new to the whole blogging thing, but who will actually read this? Is this for the blogger's satisfaction of getting their thoughts out there in the open, a sort of theraputical thing? Or is it to let people know how it really is in their head? Is it open for approval or to become controversial? I guess it's different for everyone. I think for me it's theraputical, but also a way to let the world know how Michelle thinks.


Here it goes!