Day 11: Boca Bound

I was on Alligator Alley driving back to Boca and I decided to take a last minute detour at exit 80 into Everglades City. I'd never been back there, but one of the highlights on the exit sign was "Todd's Store" so it seemed like an amazing place to have a little side-adventure. Something to spice up the always boring drive between Fort Myers and home.

Well I ended up going about half an hour out of my way. As soon as you get off the interstate, you turn onto a road, the ONLY road. The speed limit is 60 miles and there's like NOWHERE to turn around, and only one lane for each direction of traffic. I snapped this picture out of the window of my car, so I think that officially makes this the most dangerous photo I've taken so far.

I was really hoping to see one of the panthers, but no dice. Maybe if I get another chance I'll drive up and down this road all day until I see one. There was also another sign that simply said "Hidden Entrance". I need to go back and find that entrance because it sounds freaking awesome.

Through fire you've walked, tears of acid you've tasted
Is that still not enough to prove you are strong?

Song: I couldn't find the song that I wanted to post today on grooveshark or youtube or anything, so I guess I'll save it for another day when I figure out how to share it. In the meantime, listen to "One Day" by Matisyahu, super chill song. Reggae/ hip-hop with a great beat and message.

Day 10: Four Become Three

I can't wait for tomorrow, because it means I get to rock out on this guitar with my jam partner. I'm heading to Boca for the weekend immediately after I check out of the dorms, and one of the first things I'm gonna do when I get there is have an extended jam sesh with Bryan Dubno. So pumped.

But I'm also kind of dreading tomorrow. It marks the official end of the school year, and I'll be saying goodbye to a lot of people that have been a huge part of my life here. Plus I have to do a crapton of moving tomorrow, which is never fun. Speaking of which, I don't know if I'll really get a chance to put the blog up/ take a picture tomorrow since it's pretty packed from start to finish, so wish me luck! If I don't get it up tomorrow, it will be up as soon as humanly possible.

Cling to hopefulness
It suits you.
Turn in your sadness and your sorrow
Don't let the panic bring you down.

Song: "You're Only Young Once" by Amber Pacific. Pop punk.

Day 9: Flip Flop and Chick Nug

We cleaned the dorm today and found all the pairs of sunglasses that we had lost over the year. As you can see, they came in handy.

Panama Jack:
You have impacted my life so much
I just wish
I would stop losing
Your sunglasses so often.

Song: "When You Sleep" by Long-View. Catchy indie rock.

Day 8: The Age of Dumpster Diving

It's the Coastal-mobile! This was the first of hopefully only two trips from the dorms to the new apartment. Dana and I crammed as much unneeded junk as we could fit in her car. We still need to make one more trip to move in the rest of the stuff, but after that we should be good to go.

And I signed the papers for the place today. I don't think I've written my initials/signature so many times in one sitting. There were three pages on the internet connectivity agreement alone. Intense stuff.

Also, the Age of Dumpster Diving has begun! There was a nice recliner chair out by the dumpster today. I took a moment to chillax in it and wave to the people who drove by, who were obviously all totally jealous.

Within you is a flame
And a purpose and a passion
And a meaning beyond words
You are the windfall.

Song: "How I Go" by Yellowcard. Acoustic/ alternative rock. The female backing vocals really add a nice touch to the song. And the fantastical lyrics are based on the movie Big Fish, an excellent film that I highly recommend as well.

Day 7: Trailer Park Blues

Oh my gosh the blog is so late today. Oops! I was having internet difficulties or I would have tried to get this up before I went to sleep. I'm just gonna pretend like I wrote this on time :p

I'm officially one week into the project. Only 51 more weeks to go! I'm starting to realize that this will be even more difficult than I thought. But I think it's worth it. I want to hold on to all these memories.

Tonight I went out to Buffalo Chips for their 50 cent wing special. It's a tiny little restaurant in Bonita Springs, and there's a legit trailer park in the parking lot. But the food's good and they have live entertainment. I have no idea what this guy's name is, but he was beastly on the guitar. He kept us entertained for the entire hour or so that we were at the restaurant. His rendition of "When I Come Around" was ten times better than Green Day's. And when he played Hey Jude, everybody in the restaurant chimed in with the na na na's. It was a good time.

And I apologize for the pic not being too stellar, I didn't have the greatest view and I didn't wanna be a creeper snapping pictures the entire time. The waitresses were giving me funny looks. I'm still not totally comfortable taking my camera everywhere I go lol. I'm sure eventually over the course of this project I'll get used to being shameless with it.

Breathe more slowly
Live a little
You won't be left behind.
Try to remember
There's more for you to find.

Song: "Second Chance" by Shinedown. Rock/southern/grunge kind of sound.

Day 6: Hunting

I went hunting today. For both photos and jobs. Things are looking good on the job front, I'm expecting a few calls within the week, and I'm pretty confident that at least one of those calls will lead to employment. Which is good because I definitely need the money.

I've been wanting to do a solo pic since I don't have one in the project yet (yesterday was the first time I'd even been in one of the pictures), so I went scouting for a good spot. I settled on this location right behind one of the laundromats on campus. I'd actually never been over that way before; turns out it's a really nice and relaxing spot. Who knew? I think I'll try to make sure I'm in at least one picture every week.

The daily poems are proving pretty challenging. I want them to be about a specific person that impacted my life, because that's the idea of the challenge, but I also want it to be kind of ambiguous and vague. And then there's the 20 word limit. I'm basically making them up on the spot each day, with only an idea of the person in mind, but today I tried to put a little more effort into it.

Do you not feel younger?
As sadness hits your eyes, do you find a way to hide?
Open. Close. Goodbye.

Song: "Knocked Up" by Kings of Leon. Sprawling alternative rock, complimented by Caleb's signature whiny vocals that somehow make the song work.

Day 5: On the Rocks

We took our Rock Band rock band on the road. We're gonna be HUGE someday.

I realized today that I didn't have too many pictures with just me and my roommates. Since the semester is wrapping up, it was the perfect opportunity to go out, have fun, and make some memories. I'm gonna miss these guys over the summer. It's been a great year.

Someone asked me a question today: If you had three wishes, what would you wish for? It's such a simple question and it gets asked a lot. But I never really gave it much thought until today. I took some time to really think about it, what's really wrong, what I really want. Some things can change without magical wishes. I need to work on making that become a reality.

Speak softly
Be gentle.

Say anything
Mean everything
Regret nothing.

Don't hold back
Don't fall behind
Hold steady
Fall together.

Song: "Meet Virginia" by Train. It's an old song but my friend reminded me of it a few weeks ago and I've been digging it since then. Alternative/ rock.

Day 4: Repose

I was able to catch my breath today. Always good. I love days where every possible minute is packed with things to do and places to go, but those days need to be set against days where I can set my own pace. Today was a good mix of the two extremes.

It's also days like this that allow me to explore taking different kinds of photos. I'm not limited to just the places, events, and people that impacted me during the day, but I can capture virtually anything I find that looks interesting or that I think could make a good picture. Part of the project is to become a better photographer, so I enjoy days that force me to be a little more creative with the camera.

The semester is coming to an end, I can feel everything changing. The tone shifts and summer begins to hint at its existence...

You hide your existence
It makes you feel secure
You wondered if you'd win
But my, how you have lost.

Song: "Old White Lincoln" by The Gaslight Anthem. Indie punk with a sick Jersey Shore sound. No, not like the TV show. Like Bruce Springsteen. They've got a new CD coming out this summer, you should definitely check them out.

Day 3: We Live Half at Night

This is Randi Lynn with a bunch of random stuff on her head.

The blog post is a little late tonight. I've had a busy day and I'm super tired but I wanted to make sure I got this up before I went to bed. Today was my last day in Novella Writing class. It's been an incredible experience this semester, and I'll miss everyone in the class. I feel like we all had this huge bond as writers that really brought us together and made for a great time every week. I don't think any class has challenged me as much as this one has. And no class has ever been so rewarding. Professor Cornelius brought in cupcakes today. She's awesome.

I also checked out the apartment I'll be renting over the summer. It seems like a great place and I'm excited to move in. I noticed a huge aquarium right as I walked in, as well as an empty dog cage, which I assume belongs to a dog. If I ever find the dog that it belongs to, I'm sure a picture of it will find its way into this project.

Today was also Earth Day so I went with some friends to see the new nature documentary "Oceans". I highly recommend this movie. Especially if you like Pierce Brosnan or NARWHALS. After that we headed to Wal-Mart for an adventure and picked up one of the trillion copies of Avatar that they had stocked.

Hopefully tomorrow isn't as busy! It's been nonstop these past two or three days.

A sound falls to the ground
Ripples disperse from the source.
The sound will find a home
In my thoughts.

Song: "VCR" by the xx. Electronic-ish, minimalist music. Great to just chill out to.

Day 2: Seven Guys

Jake and I went to Coconut Point today. The main objective was to find Jake a job. The secondary objective was to find Josh some food. And a new memory card for the camera. If I'm going to do this 365 thing, I'm going to be taking LOTS of pictures every day, even if I only publish one of them. My old memory card has been full for a while, but I've just been deleting pictures every once in a while knowing they're backed up on my laptop. But I don't really like deleting pictures. So I bought a new one. Let's see how long it takes me to fill it up!

After grabbing a few job applications we headed over to Five Guys, which without a doubt has the best burgers of any fastfood burger joint. I wasn't able to finish the fries, sadface.

Also, I got a haircut today. I'm sure eventually I'll put up a few pics of myself for this project, and I can't be looking shaggy! I'm not very photogenic as it is, but bad hair just makes it so much worse.

When you are gone
There are holes.
But you fill them.
In dreams, in visions
In memories
You fill them.

Song: "Your Ghost" by Greg Laswell. Acoustic, singer-songwriter. Kristin Hersh cover.

Day 1: Ground Zero

I never thought I'd be blogging! But I'm really excited for this project, and I'm stoked to have this outlet to express myself.

I'll keep today's short since I'm just getting started and I'm still learning the ropes. Today's picture isn't anything special. I'm not very good at artistic photography, or photography in general, and I don't have the greatest camera. No nifty special features on this bad boy: quite literally, what you see is what you get. That works for me though. As I go along in this project I'll try to become more creative and expressive with my photos, but I think this is a good start.

This is a shot of North Lake Village, where I live at school in Fort Myers. That's my building in the left of the shot, Building Q. But the picture was taken from the balcony of another building: the one I'll be living in next year, Building N (I know right?? Such creative dorm names). I've grown pretty attached to Q in the year that I've been here, but at least I can take comfort in the fact that N isn't very far away!

The poem for today can be applied to a specific person, as is the object of the project, but it's also a more broad musing on the concept of friendship in general. It's pretty straightforward and I wrote it in about two minutes lol, so I don't think it needs much explanation.

It is a simple thing, friendship
But so greatly desired
And so greatly misused.
May it never be lost again.

It'll be tough to keep all of those poems to 20 words. But I look forward to the challenge.

Song for today is "Life is Beautiful" by Sixx:A.M. It's an awesome jam of a song. Recommended if you like hard rock music with a killer chorus. Hope you enjoy!