Special Poem

I was walking down to my first period science class, and on the ground I spotted a crumpled up wad of paper. It looked too folded to be just a piece of trash, so I picked it up and unfolded it. (Yes, I will admit, I was hoping for some incriminating information, like someone's life secret or some school gossip I should know about.) I was surprised to find that the words written on it were a poem: "Silence" by Billy Collins.

Word Whiz Wednesday

Well, yeah, okay, I'm not so much of a word whiz. I just figured, hey guys, alliteration, and I don't have to be like "Wordless Wednesday" and then skimp on all the stuff I could be saying on this blog right now.

Whatever. I guess I don't actually have anything relevant to say, except that - if anyone's seen the blog posts from when I first started, back in mid-2011 - I don't dislike people that much anymore. Maybe I don't like how some people always have sneers or always have smiles, or how I can look at someone and feel a deep-down fear that started from nothing but my own biased assumptions. I don't dislike the guy I used to like - you probably wonder why I would even dislike him at all, but it's my way of "letting go" - I walk back down that path, retrace my steps, and go a ways in the opposite direction (hate recovery, if you want to be clearer, but I try not to use that word if I can help it). I don't dislike any of my teachers or any of my classmates.

Random and completely off-topic, but are there any Bob Dylan fans out there reading, and if so, are you all aware of his newest album, Tempest, coming out in September? There is a song off the album on npr.org, and it is absolutely great, GREAT, even though when I first heard it, I said to myself two things: "That sounds like jazz - how in the heck does my dad think he can get a hold of the stereo this early in the morning?" and "That cannot be Bob Dylan, I mean, that doesn't even sound like his style of music." But it is Dylan, it is great - it is called "Duquesne Whistle" (pronounced "doo - kayne", to anyone like me who saw that and was like "WHaaaaaa"), first song on his newest album. Kudos to anyone who's gonna go out there and retrieve it in any format when it comes out.

Thanks for reading. I ramble a lot.

Pic a Day - 8/20 to 8/26

Mon. Aug 20, on the highway

Tues. Aug 21, school work (at school)

Wed. Aug 22, early morning guitar playing

Thurs. Aug 23, the famed path at my school

Fri. Aug 24, music and reflections

Sat. Aug 25, my first time reading the actual Kindle

Sun. Aug 26, biker in Corrales

Instagram Uploads

Well, here are the photos I've uploaded to Instagram so far... Since I still haven't figured out if you can follow someone online or not...
And, on another note, I will be posting a pic a day this Sunday, so stay tuned.

this photo taken in the sepia setting

I actually used the app PicsArt for the effects on this photo

Pic a Day - 8/13 to 8/19

This is likely to be one of the last organized "Pic a Day" posts. Obviously with school my picture posts will be infrequent, and most likely I won't get a picture every day for the rest of the year. It's possible that winter break will be the restart for constant posts, but I don't know of any of that yet. Anyway, thanks for looking and enjoy this week's post.

Mon. Aug 13, obsessed with the cute band-aid smiley face I drew

Tues. Aug 14, bathroom photo shoots are the best

Wed. Aug 15, jumping jacks for the heck of it

Thurs. Aug 16, excited much?

Fri. Aug 17, homework already

Sat. Aug 18, this is what Pink Floyd does to you

Sun. Aug 19, listening to vinyl

I Say That I Play Five Instruments...

...and it's a complete lie. True, I play them, but I don't play those instruments well. I'm pretty sure that well is a minimum requirement to be able to say definitively that you play them. The only instrument I'm remotely close to playing well is the clarinet, and I'm hardly okay on that at times. The saxophone is a similar situation. The guitar is just based off my own compositions and YouTube lessons, similar with the piano and ukulele.

But really? When I say I play an instrument like the piano, it's more likely I'm talking about the Piano Perfect app on my Android than my keyboard I've had since I was one. It's not like I can play Beethoven symphonies or Mozart concertos, but I can play my own compositions. Pretty much the criteria for me being able to play any instrument at all is being able to write and play a song on it.

Anyhow. Piano Perfect. This song is titled "Tear Waltz", and I did in fact learn how to play it on an actual piano (though it came out sounding very amateur). Well, it's a song only good for a piano application, I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwz9XvJuckE

Pic a Day - 8/6 to 8/12

Mon. Aug 6, colors of clouds

Tues. Aug 7, me and my favorite sidekick

Wed. Aug 8, in the zone

Thurs. Aug 9, Stewart Lake

Fri. Aug 10, my internal monologue

Sat. Aug 11, so close and so far

Sun. Aug 12, I love technology. So. Freaking. Much.

Ex-Ed - The Cliffnotes

There is no way in heck I am writing every single little detail of what happened on my wonderful escapade away from civilization, so I'll just copy my Loser in the Wild TV episode pamphlet and add some nature photos. Draw your own conclusions. Think up your own endings. We're all writers, after all.

Loser in the Wild - Season 1 (8/8/12)
Ep. 1: Hood
Ep. 2: Rosalind
Ep. 3: Toyota Troubles
Ep. 4: A Long Car Ride
Ep. 5: "Balance Beam Finals in the Olympics"
Ep. 6: A LATE START/LONG HIKE
Ep. 7: Iodine Water/Apocalypse Now
Ep. 8: Tent Demonstration
Ep. 9: "Small Talk"
Ep. 10: Cannibal Crazy
Ep. 11: Shooting Star Dream
Ep. 12: "A Really Great Group"/Nightwriting

Loser in the Wild - Season 2 (8/9/12)
Ep. 1: Instant Oatmeal
Ep. 2: "Who Will Buy This Wonderful Cooking Pot?"/Spider Leg
Ep. 3: People Take Pictures
Ep. 4: Stewart Lake/A Few Good Men
Ep. 5: PB&J/Mistaken for a Cannibal
Ep. 6: Swimming in the Lake/"A Change of Heart"
Ep. 7: Cooking Jambalaya
Ep. 8: Fire Time
Ep. 9: "You're Gonna Make me Lonesome..."/"For Emily..."/"Don't Think Twice"

Loser in the Wild - Season 3 (8/10/12)
Ep. 1: 1:48; 4:40;6:30 wakeups
Ep. 2: Toothpaste-Finale
Ep. 3: Helping Hand
Ep. 4: Kudos, Bracelet
Ep. 5: Handy Hat
Ep. 6: Lake Katherine DeBurg/Chipmunk Agent
Ep. 7: Dinner at 5: Awesome Possum Pasta
Ep. 8: Torrez Fix'd-a-Pack
Ep. 9: Distancing Clouds/Bell Flowers
Ep. 10: First Camp, Last Camp
Ep. 11: Threat of Rain/A Sprinkle-Drizzle
Ep. 12: Connor Talk/If Ever You're Alone
Ep. 13: A Different Side of Rosalind

Loser in the Wild - Season 4 (8/11/12)
Ep. 1: 6:30 wakeup by Sandra
Ep. 2: Random Runner Guy Salute
Ep 3: Crushed PopTarts
Ep 4: Downhill Escapade
Ep. 5: If I Stand Still/Potato Peeling Hands
Ep. 6: Camera-Impressed
Ep. 7: The Taste of Closeness
Ep. 8: Happy Campers/Accordion Man
Ep. 9: Back to the Cars
Ep. 10: "Home is Where You Make It"