The Life And Freakin' Times

Well, after being jipped of my All Time Low concert and taken to freakin' Disney World, this just had to happen. The time some decent bands come to Sioux Falls for an event not related to LifeLight, the only band I go to see cancels. I don't blame The Cab. They haven't said anything as far as I know, but bands only cancel if something bad happens, such as an illness, injury or van breakdown, etc. How would they make money otherwise? It's not their fault, it's just my luck.

Life is not looking up, especially after this little incident. After missing a week of school, my grades are suffering. I only have A's in Spanish and Psychology, my easy classes. Everything else is not good. B's in Geometry and English, a D in Chemistry and I am failing Modern Civilization. Seeing as I usually keep straight A's, this is not a good ordeal. My parents get pissed if I have B's, and midterms are coming home this week. Chemistry I completely don't understand, I wouldn't be surprised if that grade just sank lower and lower. Mr. Bechard is frustrating, and he doesn't really teach ANYTHING. We have a multitude of homework today, that I haven't completed due to my lack of understanding of ANY of it. Modern Civ, I'm not worried about, which sound odd. But, I just missed a test and Mr. Pooley entered the grade and mine is listed as missing. I intend to make that up tomorrow afternoon, and then I will have at least a B. I'm fine in that category. After the stupid English project is over, I won't be so stressed over that. There's no hope for Chemistry, but all I can do is pray that I understand it eventually.

We're studying stress in Psych these days, and I can't help but think of myself. Mr. Aukerman even found some stress tests specifically for me. I didn't take them, but the message was clear. It's not just me feeling I'm stressed out. It's obviously noticable. I don't seem to sleep enough every night, I always feel exhausted and brain-dead during school. That mindless feeling does not help me concentrate in the least bit, and I wonder why I'm bombing things and getting bad grades in classes.

Oh, yeah. I missed a freakin' week for the Happiest Place On Earth. Looking back, it wasn't magical. It only caused pain now.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: The Unwinding Cable Car - Anberlin
P.S. I'll post some Disney World pics on Facebook eventually. After I get out of this hellhole.
P.S.S. 3 days

Do You Have Something To Confess?

Hmm...what a task at hand. Blogging. Life is bleak these days, much like the weather.

But, I went to another Remedy Drive concert! Numero cuatro! I knew there was a reason I've never skipped most of their songs. Not to mention the fact that they take up several spots on my list of most played songs...

Media from the concert, for your enjoyment.

There...a little something for everyone. Maybe a video too...

NEVER MIND

Oh I don't know...what else is there to talk about other than an awesome concert? Not much, that's the answer. How about school? Join the crowd, everyone's doing it.

Geometry's going great. Everyone loves a good scalene triangle (but what is it congruent to? What postulate proves that?). We have a student teacher for this unit. She's pretty much a horrible teacher. I understand that she's a STUDENT teacher, but really. Just let Mr. Foss teach. I'm passing with flying colors...by the way. Espanol. Always fun. I can almost speak sentences fluently. That is, only if I want to know what time you have lunch. (A la ahora tiene el almuerzo? [I think...]). Oh, chemistry...today we burned things. Like soap. And sugar. It was smelly. That's about all you need to know about chemistry, other than it is the only class I have a B in (*fumes* It's destroying my spotless GPA). Psychology is always the highlight of my day. Everyone should take it, especially if they want their faces to be melted off by the sheer amazingness. Today Mr. Aukerman made another Edward Norton reference. It's really starting to freak me out. It's like he knows... Following the highlight of my purgatory in hell, I meet the devil herself. Klawonn. Most people don't refer her as Mrs, either. Trust me, it's not just me... We've been assigned a cute little one month project this week, which is lovely. I'd rather not rant about that now, since there will probably be many more in the future. I have an A though! And to finish the day, I have Modern Civilization. Everyone needs a little history once and awhile, right? Plus I have another cool teacher, so that makes life easier.

Well that was a great little paragraph, huh? I feel quite accomplished, actually. But for something more interesting...



Fall Out Boy's new album Folie à Deux has been POSTPONED! TO DECEMBER! What a horrible thing, right? The three released songs, I Don't Care, Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet, and What A Catch, Donnie are amazing. I suggest everyone gets them from wherever they buy/illegally download mp3's. Also, iTunes was doing a fancy-schmancy little "Countdown to Folie à Deux" where they release something new almost every week until the old release date, which was November 4 (that's why they postponed it, because they decided they didn't want to release it on Election Day). Hopefully, those smarties at Apple won't notice and will continue to release things until everyone just has the whole album. By the way, it is now being released on December 16, 2008. How nice of them to release it two days before my birthday...

RAZIA'S SHADOW! Always on the fringes of my brain waves. I just got an e-mail today, saying it is preparing to be shipped, which is very exciting. 11 days to wait!

Twilight (the movie) is ever so quickly approaching now, as well. 35 days. Not that I'm counting. But I've had enough rants about vampire books for my own good, so I'll keep this one simple. The soundtrack also comes out soon. November 4, ironically. They're not afraid of politics, it seems. Vampires could kill 'em all...

Well, it seems I've run out of things to talk about, and my video hasn't even begun uploading. Forget that then.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: Breaking - Anberlin

"Pull those traveling pants out of your bottom drawer and come join the sisterhood."

I need to have a pack stain remover pens on my person at all times.

Last night, Jordynn and I went and saw Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street the musical at the Washington Pavilion, and it was there that I had a little incident during intermission...Red wine is awfully...red... So there was this guy who had a full glass of red wine in his hand, and for whatever reason I wasn't looking where I was walking and ran straight into him. Nonetheless, I'm glad I wear more black than I should. This guy certainly wasn't as emo as I though, for his nice WHITE button-up shirt lost the battle with the red wine. He was NOT happy. He didn't use his indoor voice... Oh well, there were a lot of richie-riches at this shindig, so he can just go buy a new $95 shirt and $15 glass of wine and get over himself. I still feel bad though, I was just waiting for him to come rampaging through the Great Hall, mass-murdering his way to get to me. My paranoia was not helped by the fact that we were at SWEENEY TODD. Which was great, by the way.

In non-Melanie-accident-related news, and in the light of another musical, Forgive Durden continues to blow my mind. They (or I should say Thomas Dutton, since everyone else walked out of the band), have a new album (but it's not really an album at all), coming out at the end of this month. It's called Razia's Shadow: A Musical. Several singers from other bands play characters in the plot:

• O The Scientist - Casey Crescenzo (The Dear Hunter)
• Bawaba Brothers - John Baldwin Gourley (Portugal. The Man), Kris Anaya (An Angle)
• Narrator - Aaron Weiss (mewithoutYou)
• Gargul The Oracle - Danny Stevens (The Audition)
• Toba the Tura - Chris Conley (Saves The Day)
• Sangara - Daniel Young (This Providence)
• Barayas The Spider - Max Bemis (Say Anything)
• Princess Anhura - Greta Salpeter (The Hush Sound)
• Pallis - Brendon Urie (Panic At The Disco)
• King Malka - Nic Newsham (Gatsbys American Dream)
• Doctor Dumaya - Shawn Harris (The Matches)
• Nidria - Lizzie Huffman (Man in the Blue Van)
• Adakias - Thomas Dutton (Forgive Durden)
• Ahrima - Thomas Dutton (Forgive Durden)

Everyone should go check it out at the ALBUM WEBSITE. There, you can see illustrations of the characters and hear clips of their parts. It's really quite amazing. Also, you can pre-order Razia's Shadow for only $12 at the Fueled By Ramen Store and you get the special edition, with the script in everything. I've pre-ordered mine, and I'm very excited. The first single, Life Is Looking Up, is also available wherever you get music from. It's really cool, and I may or may not be listening to it right now...

Well, I think I've advertised that enough for one day, so onto something else.

I hope I don't fail my Literary Analysis for English...I turned it in at Turnitin and it said I plagerized 8% of it without quotes from To Kill A Mockingbird. I didn't plagerize though, so this worries me. And since the school district only accepts a maximum of 3%...

School gets me down, so forget that.

Uh...REMEDY DRIVE. They're coming again! I'm pumped! October 15th, I'll see you there! Also, in much bigger news, the Plain White T's are coming to the Expo Building on the 18th of November with Meg & Dia and The Cab. IT'S HUGE! Bands suddenly like our humble, lifeless town!

More advertising. Wow. I should look into being a telemarketer...

What is Melanie listening to right now?: Belong With You - Remedy Drive
P.S. Anberlin's new album, New Surrender rocks!

...So He Picked Up the Cow and Flipped It Over

Lots of excitement this week/weekend. My ears are shot, I'm exhausted and have a ton 'o homework. Not really, but I do need to finish my speech, find an Oral Interp. piece. Maybe get started on that stupid catapault thing. So really, more homework than I want.

But back to the excitement, 'cause there's really nothing more lacking in excitement than homework... On Thursday night, Maddy, Alissa and I trooped down to the local college to see a concert of the LifeLight kind. Bands included were: Bread of Stone, Remedy Drive, and Building 429. If you enjoy any of those, you were probably there...or went/are going to one of the other dates. It was great, though. I made a new "friend" with the drummer of Bread of Stone, but I won't go into the details here. Remedy Drive was amazing (we went there to see them), and Building 429 made Alissa want to have a child. Ask if you want, it's not as bad as it sounds. We left the concert with tons of merch (all Remedy Drive too, they don't lack in merch...), pictures with band members, and posters signed. All around, Thursday was a highlight of my week.

Last night, me and my dad went to the Blue Man Group at the arena. They were very...blue. And entergetic, exciting, fun. If that's not an oxymoron... The Blue Men and band were great. The music was amazing, and they played Baba O'Reilly. I was going to be disappointed if they didn't, but they didn't let me down. I can't even explain how fun and funny it was, so just go see a Blue Man Group show. Scroll down for pictures...

The Blue Men

The Blue Men and Band

Alissa, Paul (Remedy Drive Guitarist), Me

Remedy Drive Bassist, Philip

I've got like, two folders of pictures from the concerts, but I'm not gonna post them. I'll think you'll all live. I've been lacking in Favorite Songs of the Weeks. I'll post one for this week, and we can all say that I've posted one every week.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: The Feel Good Drag - Anberlin

Jump The Gun

Sorry for the lack of posting. I've been a little swamped with procrastination, the occasional homework assignment and disease.

GUESS WHO CAN GET HER LEARNER'S PERMIT?!?!? It only took two tries...but I'm SO GLAD DRIVER'S ED IS OVER! I can't even express it in words. Now we move onto the driving portion. I can only think of one thing more frightening than me on the road...me on the INTERSTATE going +65 mph. At least once I get my Learner's I can practice driving legally with a person over 18 years of age between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. (see, Melanie WAS listening during DE...)

I also got over the fact that Elizabethan England sucked and finished my project last night. It's pretty good for being written in under two hours with no experience prior. Now I need to work on that presentation...

How much do the new Schedule Regulations suck, people? I think we should picket! Gather the wood and paint my fellow freshman! I've already taken a semester of P.E. and I'm taking Hellth. And now we hear one has been a waste of time? PICKET!

On a lighter note, here's a few bands you should all listen to and enjoy:
- Daphne Loves Derby
- Edsion Glass
- Driving East
- Number One Gun
- Flight 409
- FM Static
- Haste the Day
- Kill Paradise
- Sullivan
- The Send
- Test Your Reflex

Also, one person we haven't heard about recently, my Sweater Guy, likes to run into people. He ran into me today and afterschool basically bowled down Zoey. We won't mention what happened after that event...including Rich dramatically falling to the floor in front of Crushing Barbie Chick. Which was funny. At least my Sweater Guy hasn't DISAPPEARED OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET. Remind Alissa to find a new one.

I'd like to finish with a quote from Jack Handey I came across today: "If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason." And if that doesn't make you laugh, go put a "Kick Me" sign on your FACE.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: Dismantle.Repair. - Anberlin
P.S. Yes, the Rice Krispie wrappers ARE different.

A Beautiful Lie Facts

(courtesy of http://www.rocksound.tv/articles/867/30-Seconds-To-Mars-A-Beautiful-Lie.html)

The crew refused to set foot on the glacier because it was deemed too dangerous

The weather was so cold that taking your hood off for a minute could result in frostbite. Their hoods were off for the entire video.

39 hours of film were shot. 5 minutes of slow motion were used, all and all about 1:59 of footage.

It was filmed from a helicopter by amatures, because of the dangerous conditions on the actual iceburg

The black lines you see in the video are huge slits in the ice. Thousands of others are unseen. The glaciers were literally breaking under their feet.

If you look closely during part of the video you can see pools in the glaciers. These are water pools from the glacier melting.

At one point (Though edited out) Jared slips and starts to fall down the slippery hill. He saves himself about 20 feet from falling off the cliff.

It took almost a year to plan, took a week to film, and 6 months to edit.

Jared directed, (partially) paid for, and edited the video himself. He edited it on 3 different countries while filming his new movie Mr. Nobody.

The original idea was to film in Antarctica, and the crew wanted it filmed on a green screen. Jared refused to back down and Greenland was eventually chosen for the video (And no green screen was ever used)

The idea of the video was to show the world what we're losing by not caring about the environment. These beautiful glaciers are melting, and aren't only effecting those who live by.

The band had to carry all of their own equiptment on and off of the helicopter. In the scene with the flags, the helicopter caused so much wind that Shannon's drum set would go flying 30 feet away.

192 kinds of insurance were required to shoot the video.

It was so dangerous that the helicopter crew said if not returned to the chopper at a certain time, they would leave without them and the band would have to sleep on the glacier.

When Jared got the tapes to edit, the company gave him the wrong playback machine. He had to pay thousands of his own dollars to rent the correct machine.

For every pound of carbon emissions, they purchase green tags to offset the environmental damage.

And the most honorable thing of all, after shoveling barels of his own money into this video, EVERY DIME FROM THE PROCEEDS OF THIS VIDEO GO TO THE NRDC (natural resources defense council)

What is Melanie listening to right now?: A Heavy-Hearted Work of Staggering Genius - Anberlin
P.S. I could possibly be starting a new concept of the blog. A "Favorite Song of the Week" or something. To entertain your thoughts when I have nothing to blog about. Thanks to Alissa!!!

From End To Beginning

JANUARY 29, 2007!!

The BIG DAY has finally arrived! An official release of music from the mysterious, availing Panic At the Disco has hit the earth at approximately NINE, IN THE AFTERNOON. I suggest you all go listen to this amazing piece of artistry at the cost of the universe collapsing in around you otherwise.

But enough about them. This is MY blog, is it not? And besides, it's not like most of my friends won't post page-long descriptions of every note in the freaking 3:13 minute piece of music on their blogs, anyway. Maybe...

Though I want to post something about myself, I have, despite myself, nothing for my periodical readers... One Act started yesterday (YAY RICH!) and I'll be seeing 1st and 7th period tomorrow in school. It better be good. But at least I have pencils to shove into my ears if it isn't. Hellth continues to inflict physical pain on me. Today we got to do the Heimlich Maneuver on each other, so the physical pain can be translated literally. I'm glad that if someone starts turning a nice shade of cerulean on me, I can save their life by doing chest thrusts. As if that's not dirty...

Things That Exist to Smite Me:

• Algebra
• 5B Study/Lunch
• All My Children
• Walls that jump out and run my face into their cement selves
• Colds. The nose kind.
• Cold. The 'effin chilly kind...like the outdoors.
• Comedy Central (why would you edit out things from Vicious Circle?!@?)
• iTunes that refuses to update

What is Melanie listening to right now?: Addiction and Her Name - There For Tomorrow
P.S. On top of buying 9ITA, you should all make yourselves own Never Take Friendship Personal by Anberlin. It's a heavy-hearted work of staggering genius. *wink*
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE COMES OUT FEBRUARY 5!!!

New Poll!

Yes, I know it is kind of an eyesore, but it was too big to put anywhere else. Hopefully we'll have more votes with this one, the last poll was a bit of a downer. If any of the lyrics really speak to you, I have posted all the info about them, just for you. See how nice I am? Oh, and congratulations to 30 Seconds to Mars for winning Fuse's Best of 2007! I voted for you!

Song #1: The Beach // All Time Low // So Wrong, It's Right

Song #2: Shameless // All Time Low // So Wrong, It's Right

Song #3: You're Ever So Inviting // Underoath // Define the Great Line

Song #4: Everything We Had // The Academy Is... // Santi

Song #5: Bulls In Brooklyn // The Academy Is... // Santi

Song #6: Time To Dance // Panic! at the Disco // A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

Song #7: The Unwinding Cable Car // Anberlin // Cities

Song #8: (*Fin) // Anberlin // Cities

Song #9: Disenchanted // My Chemical Romance // The Black Parade

Song #10: Sleep // My Chemical Romance // The Black Parade

Song #11: R-Evolve // 30 Seconds to Mars // A Beautiful Lie

Don't choose your answer based on your favorite band, please.

What is Melanie listening to right now?: The Tale of the Dragon's Defeat - Wavorly

Eyes Shine Suicide

My birthday has come and gone, so I can stop that godforsaken countdown. I've also stopped counting my presents, so we can just be done with all that... But back to my birthday. On Tuesday (the day of), most of our family here in town came to our house. I got a nice chunk of cash from them, and intend to spend it on whatever I don't get that I wanted for Jon. But that requires waiting. *sigh* They all encouraged me to drink. As in drink alcohol. But not even those fancy and (as I would only assume), tasty fruit wine coolers, or even beer. Tequila shots (don't ask where that came from; something about Yolanda and an oven). The whole salt/tequila/lemon thing. Bunch of alcoholics... I also got my Andrew pants (you'd understand if you knew), and an Anberlin t-shirt which I happen to LOVE. I think I love the pants more. They also look nice together. My grandma in Arizona sent me a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card that will be no more after this evening when me and Alissa go to B&N, (watch out Kevin, here we come!).

Semester tests started on Wednesday (except for my gym one), and thank god they're done now. I just checked ParentView, and this is what it says I got:

Accelerated English I: A, 98.4% or 120/122 (This brought my grade up to an A. YAY!)
Web Page Design: -not on ParentView-
Algebra I: A, 95.5% or 64/67 (Yay! Melanie didn't fail Algebra, unlike her father...)
Individual/Dual Sports: C, 82.9% or 20/25 on Cario Test and 48/57 on Written (These scores were combined.)
Physical Science: A, 98.6% or 90/93
Play Productions I: A, 96.0% or 480/500 (This was my model. Thank GOD. I thought I did horrible.)

So I passed every class this semester. Hooray! Wow, and I actually passed with straight A's. I'm sure my mother is proud...

There'll be more to come after my party w/ the friends tomorrow. Merry Jon break!

What is Melanie listening to right now?: The Kill (Bury Me) [Acoustic] - 30 Seconds to Mars
P.S. Christmas letters suck and pictures of all these things will be posted once I get the pix uploaded.

Just Lost Causes

I'm sure not very good at updating this thing everyday. I suppose that's a good thing though, seeing as nothing happens in my life. All last week, since my previous update, I've been semi-busy, though I completely ignored my model. I got some more measurements for that on Friday, but I forgot one, so it'll be a little tough to do it now as well.

Today (which is Saturday), I got to wake up 4 a.m. to sub for a friend's paper route...And I thought it was cold during the day. I was wearing several layers and I was still very cold. I learned while doing this said paper route that we live near a Joe Anderson (YAY! ACROSS THE UNIVERSE), Rich's grandma, and *shudder* Mrs. Wallenberg, a.k.a. Satan. We got done and I went back to bed and slept 'till 10:45, which is nice. I also slept through St. Lucia. OOPS! Oh well. It gets old. I was also supposed to babysit the dogs as mentioned before, but that went down the drain. So we went shopping instead. Here's several highlights of that trip:

• I got my Christmas/Hanukkah present from Zoey at Aeropostale. I still need to get the second half of her present for her.
• We met Rich at the mall. (Sorry about my father.)
• We saw Alissa's Sweater Guy in Old Navy. Probably made my day.
• We also saw Andrew the Guy In Girl's Pants at Old Navy. Good times...
• The fact that I was shopping instead of doing my model was a highlight as well.

There really isn't anything else interesting that happened recently. Wish me luck at entertaining myself tonight! ANSWER THE FREAKING PHONE, ALISSA!

Countdown to my birthday: 10 days
Number of presents for Melanie under the Jon tree: 4, soon to be 5

What is Melanie listening to right now?: (*Fin) - Anberlin