Oh, Glory

 After a mixture of bad internet service and forced family time, here's a blog entry.

A few things have happened in the past week or so, including (but not limited to):
- the loss of a boyfriend (by that I mean we broke up)
- some unexpected boy drama having nothing to do with my now ex-boyfriend
- some family visits
- one of the best concert experiences ever
- the appreciation that I have amazing friends and just because we don't all hang out 24/7 doesn't mean we aren't close

Since most of that is quite personal, I'm going to talk about the second to last bullet (the concert one).
On Tuesday, July 22nd, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Monumentour, which is Paramore and Fall Out Boy's current tour. Easily one of the best concerts I've ever been to.
The adventure started at 4:30 because I'd gotten an email from Paramore.com talking about a fan tailgate that was supposed to happen before the show. My sister and I got there and there was no tailgate to be found. Just the really long VIP Meet and Greet lines and some very early dedicated fans. Disappointed and sweaty, we proceeded to sit in front of the gate for the next hour and half. It ended up being worth it because we were the second people in our line. After we actually got into the venue we bought drinks, food, merch, and then found our seats and took some selfies.
The opening band was a group called New Politics, which I had known about previously and liked them a lot. My sister had never even remotely heard of them and thought they were weird. The lead singer sang and did some breakdancing, the guitarist hopped around stage, and the drummer was just fantastic. I think they had a pretty good command of the crowd for just an opening band.

Through out the concert there were these two girls sitting diagonally from us that definitely added to the entertainment. I'm pretty sure security talked to them about 5-7 times for various reasons. They weren't in their actual seats, they were standing on the railing, they snuck into the VIP box, etc. Every single time a security person would talk to them, one of the girls would just pat them on the shoulder and try to talk her way out of it. All while her friend filmed her on her phone. Then at a couple points, they would start hardcore making out and occasionally grind on each other. Fun stuff, right?

I went and met up with my friend, Justin, between New Politics and Paramore's set. Which was nice because I pretty much hadn't seen him all summer. He's one of the friends I had in mind when I wrote that last bullet point.
Then, Paramore came on and everything became a bazillion times more awesome.  

The lucky girl that got to go on stage and sing with Hayley

Paramore really enjoyed spraying confetti into the audience. They did it like, 3 times. Hayley Williams is easily my #1 girl crush in the universe, so needless to say I was flipping out and loosing my voice through their entire set. 

After getting more water, a well needed bathroom break, and quickly joining in a rendition of "Ain't it Fun." with a random cute boy, Fall Out Boy graced us with their presence. 

Pete came over to our section with a T-shirt gun and we made eye contact. It was magical.

All in all I believe Paramore were much better live performers than FOB, but both bands have been with me most of my life, so just seeing them in the flesh was an amazing thing. The crowd was beautiful as well. Half of the time, the band would stop singing and the audience would just keep going. It was great. 

After Fall Out boy did their encore and the lights went off for good, my sister and I made our way to the mess of a parking lot to attempt to find our parents. On our way there, I ran into my good friend Parker. We hugged and I introduced him to my sister and he informed me about the chicks he had scored that night (3 numbers in one night, congrats man). After that, we drove home and I proceeded to listen to nothing but the setlists for the next few days. 

I think I'll leave you with a quote from our local newspaper, who did an article on the tour.

"There were moments during Monumentour where the crowd takes over completely, delivering every word like churchgoers answering a pastors call. Salvation, you know?"  

Song(s) of the day // Ain't it Fun by Paramore & Grand Theft Autumn by Fall Out Boy 

Call me Cinderella

I had the pleasure of attending two very interesting parties back-to-back this weekend.

The first was on Friday night. I went with my friend Ryan to the house where the party was and spent about 20 to 30 minutes just standing there really awkwardly. Everyone there was a person that I'm not necessarily friends with, but still know well enough to be comfortable around. At least for the most part. Ryan and I sat in the shed and I watched her take a few shots of whatever alcohol was there, and we laughed and made jokes between each other. I took a few sips of beer while she was trying to shotgun a can of it and momentarily handed it to me. It was disgusting and I was quickly reminded of why I don't drink. Right after that, everyone came rushing into the shed where we were because Ryan had stolen a girl's weed in order to keep her from using it. Eventually she gave it back, but the girl never ended up smoking it. Basically, the rest of the party was made up of me sitting in the shed watching everyone else smoke and make out. I found it entertaining at the time, but now I look back on it and wonder what the hell was so entertaining about it. The two highlights were talking to my friend Austin (and the butt touch that came after) and when Ryan made out with one of the coolest girls in school. Sadly I missed the latter because I was hiding in the bathroom from a boy. Not because I was in any kind of danger, just because he was determined to follow me everywhere. That's definitely how to get a girl to make out with you. What a ladies man.
The rest of the night was spent having Ryan sleep over at my house. Which included listening to her talk on the phone all night.

The next party was on Saturday night. Ryan was going to that one too, so she stayed at my house the remainder of the day. I was looking forward to this party a lot more. It was my friend Ocean's disney princess themed birthday party. We went over around 4 because we had been assigned to dress up as two of the princesses. I was to be Cinderella, and Ryan was to be Merida. That didn't really work out since she refused to put her dress on, but her hair curled quite nicely. The party didn't actually start until around 7:30, but in the mean time I got to do my hair and makeup and meet everyone else. A lot of the costumes were really cool, as were the people in them.

The top half of my Cinderella outfit

Once the party started, we all went out into the backyard and ate food while we waited for everyone else to get there. I wish I had gotten pictures of everything. Fairy lights were draped across the few trees and the cookies had pastel colored frosting and read "eat me". Once the party got into full swing thing's started getting a lot more enjoyable. I sat on a picnic blanket and talked to friends I had either just met that night, or hadn't seen since school let out. Disney soundtracks played in the background and the sun started setting. Eventually we all ended up sitting in a circle around Ocean's fire pit. There was a slight attempt to get karaoke going, but not many people were for that. Everyone was a lot more comfortable socializing and smoking. I met a lot of really cool people around the fire.

There was Ursula (aka abby) who was completely kickass. She was the girl doing everyone's hair and makeup earlier. Her makeup was amazing and I wish I had a picture of it. I felt like her being Ursula was fitting, since she had a tattoo of some sort of ship on her arm.

There was Ariel (aka bre) who was just a very nice person. Ryan was good friends with her already, so that's who I met her through. We talked a lot during the party.

There was Snow White (aka hannah) who I didn't actually meet properly, but I thought she was interesting. Her Snow White costume was killer, mainly due to these big yellow heels she wore matched with frilly socks. To smoke, she brought one of those grandpa style pipes and puffed on it all night.

There was Marshall who was adorable. He made it very clear when he got there that he was gay and he was very polite about asking if he could smoke next to me. One of those guys that everyone feels at ease around.

Lastly, there was Alec. My friend Maggie and I started talking to him because we noticed his Welcome To Night Vale phone background. He got very excited that we knew what that was and the three of us sat around the fire and discussed WTNV, music, school, writing, weird movies, and quirks. He got very taken aback when he realized we were just about 4 years apart in age. Thankfully, he didn't seem to mind.

Ryan, me, and my friend Carlee as Belle

After sitting around the fire for a bit, I went inside to take my hair out of it's Cinderella bun. On my way back out, I ran into Ryan, Bre, Ocean and Alec sitting on the kitchen floor eating Fruit by the Foot. I sat down and joined them. A few seconds later, we were joined by my friend Pocahontas (aka Crystal) and Marshall. We talked and laughed and discussed Orange is the New Black. Alec had to leave the room for that, since he was only on the second episode of the series. Once he peeked through the window twice and got shouted at twice, he came back in. Marshall left after that, and we continued talking about things like sexuality, sharp objects, and parents.  After the kitchen floor discussions, I grabbed my shoes from outside and left. Kind of fitting, since I was Cinderella. I didn't leave before saying goodbye to a few people and getting a hug from Bre.
I was really upset that I had to leave, but tired mothers aren't to be tested.

I had an amazing time at that last one. There a lot of cool people I didn't even mention, but hopefully I'll see some of them again. Bre and Alec found me on Facebook that night, so I can at least keep in touch with them.

Moral of the story: if someone is having a Disney princess party you should definitely go. 

Also, I have two new playlists on my 8tracks and I would love it if you gave them a listen.

[Summer is Boring]

[Count them, Alice]

But I Try

My week has been a raging bore lately, so let's talk about things that aren't.

My entire social life has been pushed into three days of non-stop stuff (seeing the boyfriend, going to two parties, and one sleepover), so this weekend should be pretty cool. However, up until then all I've done is watch Netflix and listen to music and those things are definitely worth blogging about too.

One movie I've managed to watch this week was Frances Ha. I had passed it scrolling through my Netflix recommendation a few times, but never really thought about watching it. Then Rookie Mag put out a really good playlist based on the movie and I was dying of boredom, so I thought might as well give it a try. A very good decision on my part.
Basically, Frances Ha follows the everyday life of a girl (Frances) who is living in New York City and trying to make it as a modern dancer. It shows her progressing through her career, relationships with friends and family, and just life in general. The main premiss that keeps coming back into play, and to me is one of the major points of the movie, is her relationship with her best friend Sophie. It looked to me like their relationship was kind of a key factor in what was happening in Frances' life. If the two were on good terms, then life was going well. If they weren't on so good terms, then life wasn't ideal. When they had a falling out, then Frances' life would reach an all time low. The whole film is also shot in black and white, which I thought was really cool.
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and thought Frances was a really relatable and awesome character. I definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone. Especially if you enjoy scenes where people are dancing/running through city streets while David Bowie plays.

The next thing on my list of awesome is a band, that I love very dearly, called The Front Bottoms. A friend of mine recommended them to me back around October, I think. For some reason it always takes me a while to actually take people's music recommendations into consideration. But a few weeks ago I finally looked them up. After that I found my self watching their music videos, following them on Instagram, listening to their albums on a loop, etc. Two days ago I went to FYE and bought my favorite album by them called 'Talon of the Hawk'. I think the main reason I like them so much is their songs, to me, are like every bad or uncomfortable feeling I've ever had turned into song form. Instead of it being unpleasant, it's extremely comforting. The songs also get stuck in my head A LOT. They're style isn't for everyone, but I do highly recommend them.

Twin Sized Mattress by The Front Bottoms

Funny You Should Ask by The Front Bottoms

Skeleton by The Front Bottoms

That segue-ways into another awesome thing I found this week while I was out buying that Front Bottoms album. FYE got this new piece of technology that I am amazed with. It's basically this big tablet and you can burn your own CD with it. It's original purpose was so that people could still buy certain albums in the store even if they didn't have it in stock. However, apparently, they started getting radio DJ's and other people just straight up making random mixes on it. If that's not customer service at it's finest that I don't know what is.

Finally, the last thing I'd like to talk about is a movie that I watched just last night. It's called It's Kind of a Funny Story. It's based on the book of the same title by Ned Vizzini and stars Keir Gilchrist, Emma Roberts, and Zach Galifanakis. The main plot line is this 16 year old boy named Craig starts getting suicidal thoughts, so he checks himself into the hospital and gets admitted into the psychiatric wing. It sounds a bit depressing, but the movie is actually quite funny and uplifting. It deals a lot with the stress that school and social situations put on teens. I feel like it was actually a lot more upbeat than the book was. In fact it leaves out quite a bit of the book, but it worked. I really enjoyed this movie and might even go watch it again in a few minutes. My favorite part of the entire movie was this imagination sequence they did, where Craig imagines himself as Freddie Mercury and he sings 'Under Pressure'. It was so great.

Song of the day // Modern Love by David Bowie 

You know I feel Alright

It's gotten to the point, as it usually does over summer break, where I start to have trouble remembering what day it is.

Yesterday was the 4th of July. So, like any good American, I left my house to go watch giant lights explode in the sky. The festivities started out when I went in search of a decent hamburger, since my Dad is a vegetarian we couldn't just make them at home. So I went to Five Guys and got myself dinner, silently flirted with 'burger boy' (this cute blonde guy that works at the Five Guys near my house. Every time I see him he always bashfully stares at me from across the room), and then headed downtown. I walked down the main street the always set aside for special events. It was packed with local bands, tons of food carts, local business tents, and tons of people. I brushed hands with way too many strangers on accident. I made my way all the way down the strip and to the concert venue/amphitheater at the end of it. It too was packed full of people, but everyone was sitting down and enjoying the band. I found my two friends, Ellie and Justin, and sat with them on the grass. We sat and talked for a while, just enjoying the rare nice weather. Then, the fireworks started. I loved every minute of it. The fireworks were gorgeous this year. They had various classic rock songs playing and some of the fireworks were shaped like things. There were smiley faces, hearts, stars, and weird spiral things, along with the classic burst ones. Some of the gold colored ones fizzled and sparkled like pixie dust. The first song they played was Fortunate Son, which is my most favorite Creedence Clearwater Revival song ever. All in all, it was a beautiful display and I had a really good time.

Then Ellie invited me to sleepover at her place, so I followed her to her parents' Jeep and we literally sat there for 20 minutes waiting for traffic to clear so we could back out of our spot. It was really entertaining though because we had the top down. Ellie kept forgetting that and ended up yelling angry things at the people honking ("What are you hoping to accomplish?!?!"). Luckily, they had their tops on so they didn't hear us. Her parents also insisted on listening to the Top 40 station, so we danced and sang loudly along with 'Fancy' for quite some time. I like to think people were amused and not weirded out.
Once we got back to her place, we lit sparklers in her driveway and played with matches a bit. I've never been a big fan of playing, or being anywhere near, fire. Last night was the first time I actually held a sparklers myself and it was really fun. We did that past midnight, until her mom yelled at us and we came inside. After that we just ate, watched Adventure Time, and assisted a friend of mine with his girl problems. Pretty fun stuff.

Today was the 5th of July. Which means the Beatles movie, A Hard Days Night, was officially re-released in theaters. After a long day of doing absolutely nothing, I threw on my Beatles t-shirt and headed to the movie theater near my house. My parents came with me too of course. My dad saw the movie when it first came out, but he said he couldn't properly enjoy it because all the girls in the theater were screaming so loudly. I have to say, there were some pretty interesting people who came. Not many other people my age at all. There were two girls who looked to be in their early twenties and one of them was dressed in sort of a 60's mod kind of style, but still up to date at the same time. She was very stylish. There were a bunch of older people whom I overheard talking about when they first saw the movie, or when they actually saw the Beatles in concert, or just about the 60's in general. One much older lady had a Yellow Submarine shirt and the tips of her short, white hair was died bright blue. She seemed cool.

ign.com

themetropolistimes.com

clclt.com

The movie itself was perfect of course. The music, the boys, the humor, was all just perfect. The audience laughed and clapped at all the right times too. Plus the way it looked all restored and in high quality was brilliant. It's nice watching it for once and not having it be fuzzy or grainy. I hope you have a chance to go see it. If it's been released in a theater near you, I highly recommend going.

examiner.com

xmastime.blogspot.com

electricroulette.com

song of the day // I Should Have Known Better by The Beatles

Bouquet of clumsy words

I spent most of yesterday downtown.

A friend of mine who I'm not really that close with asked me to hang out and detecting her awesome person vibes I agreed to. I've hung out with her before, but we never got the chance to hang out one-on-one until yesterday.
The adventure started out with a trip to the IMAX theater to see the new Transformers movie. I haven't been to an IMAX theater since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 came out, and I had certainly never seen anything in IMAX and 3D, so I was kind of flipping out. It was so cool though, like 3D on another level. Definitely worth the $14 movie ticket (maybe). Anyways, the new Transformers movie was certainly an interesting watch. The acting pretty much sucked and the plot had plenty of holes, but I was so distracted by car chases and explosions and robot dinosaurs and adrenaline fueled awesomeness that I didn't realize any of that until I thought about it later. If you like action, then go see it. If not, don't bother. Or if you like staring at Mark Whalberg's biceps then definitely go see it. The entire time my friend and I were trying to figure out if Mark was hot, or like, dad hot. If that makes any sense. Tell me what you think on that matter.

After that, we got dinner at a restaurant near her apartment building and discussed things such as drama club/theater, boys, this soccer player with an afro, and other riveting topics. From there, we went back to her place and hung out on her balcony. She lives on the 27th floor of her building, so when you look outside you can feel this amazing breeze and see all the flickering lights of downtown. I wish I had gotten pictures, but wasn't in the mood to. I just wanted to enjoy it. We enjoyed it until we found two cockroaches near our shoes and then bailed.
She got me to watch Pulp Fiction with her, which I am now very happy about. I had been wanting to watch that movie for the longest time, but I'm always unsure about violence. Needless to say, that movie was hilarious and awesome. I will be watching it plenty more times in the future. After that there was talking, and bonding, and lots of yawning before we finally fell asleep. I really enjoyed her company. We have a lot more in common than I originally thought, which makes me happy. I always like getting to know very cool people.

This morning, we woke up and then watched St. Elmo's Fire. I liked St. Elmo's Fire, especially the male faces, but all the characters were just so incredibly frustrating. We were both yelling at the TV the entire time. I also couldn't get over the fact that more than half the Breakfast Club was in it. So, I might watch it again, then again I might not. I don't really know.

Lately, I've also become completely obsessed with Parks and Rec. That show is just comedy gold and never fails to put me in a better mood. I'm in love with every character, especially Ben. I have way too big of a crush on Adam Scott. I just finished the third season today and I'm just so excited about the fourth. I desperately need somebody to freak out over this show with....

*Parks and Rec pictures are from http://parksandreccaptioned.tumblr.com except the last two

all other pictures I just found on Google images

Song of the day // Going Away to College by Blink 182