Day 42: Exigency

I totally creeped on these people in front of me. They have no idea that their feet are on a blog!

My mom came for a spontaneous visit today. She hasn't been over to the gulf coast since early last fall, so it was cool to have her over this way again. I was really glad to be able to see her. We went to dinner, caught up a little, and then caught a showing of Prince of Persia. A good movie, if not a little long. On three separate occasions I was like "Okay! This is the end!" And then it wasn't. But I recommend it anyway.

Here's the crux of it: the blessing
The lift from depravity
To confidence and peace
We all need the strength.

Song: "Astraea" by Oh! The Story. I couldn't find this anywhere on the internet so I had to enlist the help of Bryan Dubno to find a way to upload and share the song myself. It's pop rock. The drums really make the song: it starts out with a driving drum beat before reaching a climax with the crashing cymbals.

Day 41: Catch 22

Bacchus loves his rope and he wants everybody else to love it just as much as he does. He's a sore loser though so if you start winning he gets really upset. But you can't stop playing with him... that upsets him too.

So Dana came up with the incredible solution of putting the rope on his nose. Okay, I'm not sure that was a solution to anything, but it was pretty funny anyways.

I'm gonna try to get the blog back on a regular schedule, I feel bad that I've posted the last two days' entries a little late.

Cabins and textures
And oath-bound protectors.
And words of the knowing,
This insight you're showing,
All says
We are growing.

Song: "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado. Urban pop.

Day 40: Euphrates

I love the campus at FGCU, especially during the summer. Last night there wasn't a soul on campus, not even a stray car. When everything is quiet, the forest really comes alive. I went on a late night walk through there with a friend and we saw two deer, an army of toads, a pair of armadillos that may or may not have been procreating, and some of the largest fish I've ever seen in the ponds by Whitaker Hall. That was without even venturing into the nature trails or the forest proper. There's bears in there.

There's something inspiring about nature, especially when it's been untouched by civilization. It's a living testament to the fact that, as much as we would try to argue otherwise, the world doesn't need humanity in order to survive. Nature's done a fine job of flourishing without us. Life goes on.

Here now comes the last resort
The desperate trespass
The invented grin
It makes your wildest dreams
Turn into dust.

Song: "Boston" by Augustana. A piano pop/rock ballad highlighted by falsetto vocals and a soaring chorus.

Day 39: Snack Shack

When I moved in, there was an extra mattress on my bed for some reason. I chose to leave it. The way I figure, it makes it twice as comfy.

And I have more pillows than I know what to do with. I threw a few on my bed but there's still a crapton of them in my closet. My roommate in the dorms decided he didn't want all the little pillows he had put out in the living room on the couch and such, but we wanted to save them for next semester. So I got stuck holding onto them in the interim. I guess they could be useful: for instance, I should have thrown one at Bacchus so he would have gotten out of the way of my picture.

There are still boxes under my bed. They're mostly empty but I'll need them for when I move again. One of them is my snack box though. I've got pop tarts and fruit snacks in there and stuff.

God I love fruit snacks.

In other news, I had to drive up to exit 170 today to rescue my stranded roommate. He lost the keys to his motorcycle, and his car was stuck somewhere in a mechanic's shop, and he needed to buy sheets, or something. It's a long and convoluted story but the gist of it is I spent three and a half hours on another random adventure in my car. Good times.

But if you never change your mind
Well then I hope that you can find
Everything, everything you're looking for

Song: "Into the Fire" by Thirteen Senses. Piano-led indie rock, really mesmerizing and atmospheric.

Day 38: The Puzzle

A few days ago I planned to start a series of pictures to show what my apartment looked like. And then I got sidetracked because I took pictures of other stuff. I wanted to do this because some of my friends were curious to know what the apartment looked like, and I thought this project could be a cool way to show them. Nothing artistic or particularly meaningful, but I'm gonna do it nonetheless.

The Day 35 picture is what it looks like right outside my apartment, you can see the lake and fountain as well as some of the other buildings in Coastal Village. Today's picture is just my desk area. It's in the far right corner of my room, right by the window. The desk is built into the room so I'd have a difficult time rearranging the furniture. That printer in the corner doesn't work, by the way. No idea what's up with that. Oh and you might be able to make out the huge bag of pistachios that I've had on my desk for a few weeks. There's not that many pistachios left. =(

The other thing I wanted to mention was that I started putting labels on each of my posts that relate to the picture of the day. This probably doesn't matter to anyone but me but I think it's a cool feature and I wanted to try to utilize it. This way, I can start to see what themes I'm developing over the course of my 365 photos. I don't have many yet, just a few like "people", "nature", and "objects", as well as an "edited" label to show which pictures I've heavily changed, like the car and street from Day 32. Just a cool way to keep track of what patterns are forming. And it also give me ideas for themes I may want to develop in the future. For instance, when thinking about the labels I decided that I wanted to get a few pictures that featured water in them. So that's one of my goals going forward.

Like I said, it probably doesn't even apply to anyone but me, and that's ok :P

Every once in a while I catch a scent of you
And for a brief moment it leaves me breathless

Song: "Four Score and Seven" by Titus Andronicus. Not for everyone. Loud, abrasive, indie punk rock with Irish folk undertones. So yeah.

Day 37: Up and Down

Every once in a while there comes a day where I find myself possessing a new sense of purpose, or determination; a new resolve. Unsurprisingly, these days usually come after the ones where everything seems to be going downhill and everything is working against me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't let the discouragement get to me sometimes. But I have to limit the power that it has over me, and I have to find ways to overcome it and regain my strength. That's what today was all about.

The best part of days like this is that I'm allowed to feel good about myself when it's all said and done. I get to go to sleep knowing that I did my best and tried my hardest. That's all I can really ask of myself.

And the best part of my blog is that, when someday I start to feel discouraged about something again, I can look back at today's post and realize that I'll always have the strength to overcome it.

As the promises wash away
And the shelters become caves
You remain the dauntless one
The pillar, rock and shield

Song: "Better Days" by Goo Goo Dolls. Tonight's the night the world begins again.

Day 36: Clouded Vision

My car battery died today. For real this time. The battery was from June 2007 so it lasted a pretty long time, which is cool I guess. I probably should have had it replaced a while ago.

I had gone down to Gulf Coast Town Center to get some new wiper blades for the car, because when it rains my windshield turns into one big distorted streak. All I can see are water smudges. Considering it's the rainy season now, I figured I'd get them replaced. I had no problem getting to town center - I had been driving my car around all day - but as soon as I wanted to leave, it wouldn't start. Then it started making some weird beeping sounds. Eventually I figured out that the beeping was my car's alarm system that prevented the car from fully starting after the battery died. And with no discernible way to turn the alarm system off, this was a huge impediment toward getting my car out of park. Even after trying to jumpstart it.

But after about an hour of toying around with it, it magically started working. So that was cool. My car is a mystical object, capable of random and powerful deeds. Anyways, then I had to drive it to Wal-Mart to get the battery replaced for serious. Can't wait to replace it again in 2013.

Oh and on the way to Wal-Mart it started raining. Still have to put those new windshield wipers on.

Hey! It's not alright -
You knew that now,
You knew that then -
To be downtrodden,
To be oppressed -
Keep going,

Song: "Headlights" by The Classic Crime. A melodic pop/rock psuedo-ballad.

Day 35: The Road Less Traveled, Now That Psychotic Bicyclists Use It

I'm on Corkscrew Road with some friends in the middle of the afternoon, when all of a sudden this guy on a bicycle comes barreling across the lanes of the road. He's still a good distance in front of us and there's not a whole lot of traffic, so we're not worried about hitting him or anything. But in his trek across the road he finally gets to our lane, when he all of a sudden stops, gets off his bike, and THROWS it onto the ground. In the middle of the lane. Then he walks away. We get to the bike and slow down, move into the next lane, and we leave the strangeness behind. As we drive away I turn my head to watch what he does next. He goes back to the bike, picks it up, and starts pedaling again, like nothing had ever happened.

It was the most random thing I've seen in a really long time.

It also made me sad because I didn't have my camera on me at the time, and it would have been hilarious and awesome to snap a photo of that lonely bike lying in the middle of the road while the guy stood a few lanes to the side looking clueless as ever. Serves me right, I should know by now that I need to be carrying that camera with me at all times. Lesson learned.

I always find myself lost in ways to find myself
Glad you've got enough figured out for both of us

Song: "Uprising" by Muse. Progressive rock. Rousing chorus led by ethereal synths and deep guitars. Pretty catchy for a progressive rock tune.

Day 34: It Only Ends Once

LOST ended. And I honestly don't think it could have gone out on a better note.

Six years and now
The answers left untold
Will forever lie in shadow
Of the story left behind
By you

Song: "There's No Place Like Home" by Michael Giacchino. Orchestral music from the soundtrack of LOST.

Day 33: Warmth

It's a quiet summer night, I'm sitting outside on the patio, enjoying the soft sounds of nature and the subtle warmth of the night sky.

Right now, I don't want to be anywhere else.

You keep everything safe
And sound and still
The quiet in the midst of storms
The shelter from the pain

Song: "The Thief" by Brooke Fraser. Quiet acoustic love song, perfect for the summer nights I just described.

Day 32: The Middle Voice

You can see I'm pretty limited in my photo manipulation skills. These edited pictures are fun to do every once in a while given the right subject matter. I'll probably do a few more before the 365 ends.

Lately I've been trying to get back to what inspires me as a writer. I've been trying to look at things that I would usually take for granted or not even give a second glance. And I had a little epiphany when I realized that there's a story in literally everything we see. I saw someone at the bookstore the other day who had brought the wrong coupon and couldn't get the discount on her purchase that she was expecting. It may not have been a big deal, but even from afar I could tell that it had upset and inconvenienced her. She had come into the store expecting to get 30% off or whatever, and when she finally got to the register, she found out it wasn't going to happen that way. For those few moments it was the saddest thing ever. I don't know why. But there's a story there. And for that entire day, all I wanted to do was capture that moment on paper somehow.

Summons the muse
Makes it dance
Lights its fire
Spreads its wings:
The voice of one
Much wiser than this

Song: "The Birth and Death of the Day" by Explosions in the Sky. Post-rock instrumental. There's a beauty in the shrieking guitars and crashing percussion that makes it completely unnecessary to even have vocals in the song.

Day 31: Bake

It's always good to catch up with friends you haven't seen in a while. Today was the start of that trend, a trend that is hopefully going to carry into the rest of the weekend.

Also, I'm putting this here for my own reference, it isn't relevant to anyone else: Everglades Salt.

Sorry for the short (and kinda late) blog today.

Jealousy and misery
They seem to go together
Lose the first,
Second surely follows.
Or do you not want peace?

Song: "Let Go" by Frou Frou. Alternative electronic music with really expressive female vocals.

Day 30: Restless Retrospect

On the creepy side of Alico there's a few dirt roads that lead to a big gate that has a STOP sign attached to the front of it. I parked at that gate and then continued walking. So I guess I trespassed. But it was worth it. It's so quiet out there, save for the occasional birds. There were these flying grasshoppers that blended in with the sandy ground so well that even if I saw them land, I couldn't find them until they jumped back into the air. There was a massive antpile behind some rocks.

There was also a small pile of trash and assorted items. Beach chairs, a stereo, a cooler, a rug, a couple of trash cans and some wood. And a lot of stuffed animals. Either a homeless person is using it as a campsite, or someone dumped out a bunch of trash from their truck and no one's been around to come pick it up.

But what really intrigued me was the desert-style rock formations that I saw from a distance. I left my car behind and trekked through the sandy dirt. The sound of the gravel being crushed underneath my feet was the only thing I could hear. After about a ten minute walk I made it to the rock mountains. They were man made of course, but you really couldn't tell from a distance. But as I tried to get a grip on the ledges, they fell apart in my hands. The sand looked like it was packed in tight but in some places it just gave way. Still I managed to find some ledges where I was able to grab onto it, and I made my way to the top. It was really an incredible sight and I think I'll go back there again sometime if I want to risk the trespassing violation again. I was completely alone, able to just relax and sit in contemplation. Could be a great place to think about stories and poems.

Never wanted you to go
Never needed that goodbye
But people change, leave, grow
And I won't always know why

Song: "Heron Blue" by Sun Kil Moon. Singer/songwriter, just a guy and his guitar, kind folky. The guitar and weary, slow vocals really make for a great introspective atmosphere in this song. Props to Jake Musto for sharing this song with me a few months ago.

Day 29: How to Fix a Clog

My shower has had draining issues ever since I moved in. Finally I said, enough is enough!

I also got a haircut today. One of the hidden advantages to this project is that I can keep track of how often I get haircuts. The last one I got was on Day 2. So almost a month. That's about how long it takes before my hair starts getting weird. I guess I'll get another one around Day 60 or so.

Tonight was the second to last episode of LOST. Okay, I've tried not to blog about my love for this show, but it's ending soon, so I feel like it's okay to vent about it a little bit. I can't believe that this show is almost over. I was watching the episode tonight and I was like "...I can't believe this is the end." There's so much they have to wrap up in the finale. It's not gonna happen. There's no way to avoid this disappointment. I'm already bracing myself for it.

Okay, I'm done. :p

Unravel the symptoms
That lead to the question -
There's no mystery to being lonely.
Only an emptiness you cannot fill

Song: "For Real" by Okkervil River. Indie folk rock. Really anthemic in some parts, mellow and moody in others.

Day 28: Elephants

Need a shave and a haircut.

I really really like it when people are able to talk about what's bothering them. Remove all the elephants from the room and just talk about what really matters. No beating around the bush. Lay it on me. I can take it. I want to hear it. Even if it's ugly, or wrong, or sick, if it's what you're thinking and it's affecting you, me, or both of us... then just say it.

It's amazing how clearing the air can take such a weight off your back. The stress melts away and leaves only peace and understanding.

Communication is our greatest tool. Let's use it.

Say it doesn't matter
Say it's nothing at all
But you lie to yourself
And you're lying to me too.

Song: "Come Right Out and Say It" by Relient K. Pop punk/ alternative rock.

Oh! And I've made it 28 days into the project, which means it's been 4 weeks! Here's a compiled list of all the songs I've posted in the first 4 weeks, in case you missed them at the time and want to check them out now. I replaced Day 22's joke song with a real song that I wanted to use earlier in the project but couldn't find on Grooveshark or anywhere else. So... here's 365, Volume I.

1. Life is Beautiful - Sixx A.M.
2. Your Ghost - Greg Laswell
3. VCR - the xx
4. Old White Lincoln - The Gaslight Anthem
5. Meet Virginia - Train
6. Knocked Up - Kings of Leon
7. Second Chance - Shinedown
8. How I Go - Yellowcard
9. When You Sleep - Long-View
10. You're Only Young Once - Amber Pacific
11. One Day - Matisyahu
12. Savior - Rise Against
13. Strawberry Swing - Coldplay
14. Stand Too Close - Motion City Soundtrack
15. Eet - Regina Spektor
16. Airplanes - B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams
17. Falling Down - Atreyu
18. Dark - Terminal
19. Ain't No Rest for the Wicked - Cage the Elephant
20. You Left Me - The Maine
21. Those to Come - The Shins
22. Beautiful Drive - Tara Leigh Cobble
23. Fallin' For You - Colbie Caillat
24. Tale of the Runaways - Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
25. Grey Skies Turn Blue (acoustic) - MxPx
26. Pretty Buildings - People in Planes
27. Make Yourself at Home - The Starting Line
28. Come Right Out and Say It - Relient K

I might add links later, but the links are also in the individual posts if you want to listen to a specific song.

Day 27: Cruise Control

That's the end of Pet Week! :P I happened to notice my odometer today at exactly the right time and took a picture of it. 150,000 miles. Geez.

I'm surprised my car even works still. Although I guess it could be argued that it doesn't really work, it just gets by. Which is good enough for me right now, let's be honest.

Send everything my way
As you leave and I stay.
For the price of my pay
You give it away.

Song: "Make Yourself at Home" by The Starting Line. Acoustic emo rock, recommended if you like The Early November or other bands like that.

Day 26: Little Pacific

Continuing with Pet Week, these are some of the fish in my roommate's saltwater aquarium. The clownfish are pretty spiffy, they're almost always together and they live inside a big conch shell. The fish at the bottom of the picture is a sand eater. He eats sand. And then it comes back out of his gills. He filters it and finds these microscopic creatures in the sand and eats them. It's kinda fun to watch.

Last weekend my roommates went on vacation so they asked Dana and I to watch the fish. No big deal. The first night they were gone, the tank's lights turned off, all the plant life started drooping, everything looked freaking dead. I panicked. I didn't want to be responsible for killing all this stuff. So I gave him a call at like 1 in the morning all like "YOUR FISH ARE DYING YOUR FISH ARE DYING". But apparently it was normal for the lights to go off and the plants to go into a coma.

I honestly spend way too much time just staring at this tank waiting for all the fish to do something crazy.

It's hard to hear
When everyone's talking
A symphony of noise
But I can feel the quiet in your eyes

Song: "Pretty Buildings" by People in Planes. The song starts off quietly enough with a piano intro, before building to its loud and rousing climax.

Day 25: Two-fer

Two blog posts in one day! And I guess this is Pet Week or something. Here's Achilles and Bacchus! They're star-crossed lovers. Usually whenever you hold Achilles, Bacchus will be sitting right there waiting for the snake to get close enough so that he can... I dunno lick it or something. But then Bacchus gives up and Achilles goes out of his way to taunt the poor guy.

Whenever he gets on your hand he kind of wraps around it at first, and then slowly uncoils himself. He flexes the muscles in his body to tighten himself around your skin and that's how he gets around. If you put him on the bed it's not long before he goes exploring under the covers. He loves tunnels.

Achilles has it made, by the way. He lives in the most gangsta of cages. He's got a waterfall in there, and a little pool, and tunnels made from hollowed out tree trunks. And his entire cage is illuminated by these blood red lights. He's a pimp.

Stop.
Bring forth.
Engage.
Illuminate.
Everything around you is alive
Open the doors beneath
Cast one last glance behind.
Go.

Song: The acoustic version of "Grey Skies Turn Blue" by MxPx. Pop punk in a more relaxed, natural setting sounds surprisingly good. Definitely better than the original, faster version of the song. Really catchy, and this is one song that always reminds me of summertime.

Day 24: To Move

Meet Mick the Tortoise. He's, like, two inches long, but I'm told that in fifteen years or so when he's a rebellious teenaged tortoise, he'll be huuuuuge and you'll be able to ride him around and he'll eat entire forests of lettuce. He crawled around the carpet and was generally adorable.

Sorry for not getting the blog up yesterday. The pic was taken yesterday, so technically I still did what I was supposed to. But early in the day some maintenance guy came around the apartment and switched out the air filter, and when he did so he managed to murder the internet. By the time it was finally fixed I wasn't around to get everything uploaded, and this if the first chance I've had to do so.

Just in time
You wandered into my life
Made me realize
It's never simple.
I don't always have to leave.

Song: "Tale of the Runaways" by Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. It's a modern, southern rock ballad and a retelling of the legend of Ma Barker and her wayward sons.

Day 23: The Waiting Game

Bacchus wanted to get in his cage, but someone was already in there! Bacchus is curled up on the couch right now. He's been so chill ever since he went to the dog beach yesterday.

We got fined for trash today. It was out there for around an hour. I didn't even leave it out there, one of the other roommates did. But we all got fined for a total of 45 bucks. That's ridiculous.

Oh well. No more of that.

I've been told that my poems recently have been pretty dark lol. I wouldn't consider them dark, but I guess people can impact you in different ways and I have to express that. Even if it's the effect of something negative, it can impact you for the better. My poems come out of how I'm feeling at the time, or who I'm thinking about at the time. I think my more recent ones might be more moody but a few in the beginning of the blog had a more hopeful tone to them. Anyways, that's all to say that I'll try to be more thoughtful about mixing up the poems a bit :P

Just a little longer now
And then you'll be free
Hold on to your hope
Soon now you will see

Song: "Fallin For You" by Colbie Caillat. Sunny SoCal pop.

Day 22: Kip Drordy

Hopefully someone will get the South Park reference. I guess I kinda cheated today. My computer took the picture, not me. :P But this is literally all I've done today, since I've been sick, so I don't have pictures of anything else.

Cartman

You've been a pirate, wrestler, and superhero
Created the funniest joke in the world
And you're only in 4th grade

Song: "Poker Face" as made famous by Lady Gaga, covered here by Eric Cartman.

Sorry that today's blog is such a joke :P I'll probably regret not taking today more seriously, but for now I'm just not feeling good enough to do much.

Day 21: Down With the Sickness

So last night I started to feel pretty sick, and this morning it was even worse. I took an hour shower and then headed over to the waterfront to soak in some cosmic rays and try to get my groove back. The lake was nice but I'm still feeling pretty under the weather. And now I'm a little sunburned.

But the waterfront was a ghost town. There was rarely a soul there, not even a lifeguard. So I headed up to the lifeguard chair and made it my own. For some reason there was a can opener up there. Most random thing I've seen in a while.

I hope I start feeling better soon, I'm expecting some calls to set up job interviews and I don't want my first impression to include coughing, wheezing, and hiding under a blanket.

Neither of us were strong
We fell.
Sometimes you don't know how dark it is
Until you see the light

Song: "Those to Come" by The Shins. Acoustic indie music.

Day 20: Intervals

Another sweaty summer day in southwest Florida! I'm starting to sense a pattern. I think even my camera was sweating today.

Minutes turn to hours,
To days and years
Before I see, before I remember
All the time we spent together

Song: "You Left Me" by The Maine. Pop/rock.

Day 19: Hunting, Part II

And so it goes.

Left without a scar or stain
But still it haunts you.
It bites through your skin
And tears you apart.

Song: "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" by Cage the Elephant. Bluesy rock.

Day 18: All the Cool Hang Out Spots

Apparently there's a park on Corkscrew Road and apparently it is fantastic. There's spider web jungle gyms, rock walls, and zip-lines. None of us had ever been there before so we thought we'd check it out. It's not fair that little kids get all the cool hang out spots! There's also a dog park connected to the playground. I want to take Bacchus there some day.

I'm starting to regret my decision to do the daily blog. It's not a huge amount of work, but finding time to do it everyday is starting to get a bit exhausting, especially the poems. I'm surprised I've kept it up this long to be honest, and I hope I can make it the full year. But if I can't, no harm done right?

It doesn't help that there's three people in the room telling me to finish blogging so I can go hang out with them. :p

All of the ways
That you saved my life
Could never be weighed
Could never be erased
It all remains.

Song: "Dark" by Terminal. Alternative rock... ish.

Day 17: Minutes to Midnight

This is from the midnight premiere of Iron Man 2, but since this was taken while we waited in (the ridiculously long) line for the movie, it counts for today's picture! We found someone who was just as excited about the movie as we were, so naturally I had to ask for a pic.

There was an actual theater employee walking around in an Iron Man suit as well, but it just didn't seem as legit.

Movie rocked, by the way.

Weren't you the one who said
You'd be there til the end?
Why do you decide when it's the end?

Song: "Falling Down" by Atreyu. Alternative melodic metal.

Day 16: Vinyl

Had to go to the dollar store to find a lint roller. Didn't find it. Found a slinky instead. Eventually found the lint roller at Target.

That about sums up my day.

Reasons to be on your side:
Trust, love and I care.
Reasons to leave you behind:
You never felt anything.

Song: "Airplanes" by B.o.B. Pop and hip-hop.

Day 15: Nothing Ends the Same

This is Bacchus, and he is awesome. Named after the Roman god of wine and intoxication, he is the happiest dog I've ever met. I don't know where he gets all his energy from, but he seriously never stops. He can open closed doors like the raptors in Jurassic Park. He jumps up on beds and pretends he's a lap dog. He eats underwear.

I've never really had a dog before. The one time I did, I got a Welsh Corgi from the humane society. I lived in a second floor apartment at the time, and the dog's feet were so tiny that I had to pick him up to get him up the stairs. It turns out corgis are herding dogs, so he started herding the cat around the house, which the cat didn't like all that much. 48 hours later we had to give him back.

So I'm psyched to live with Bacchus, because he's psyched to live with me. And he likes having his picture taken.

I saw you
Once
And two hours later you were gone.
It was enough to know
Nothing ends the same.

Song: "Eet" by Regina Spektor. Singer-songwriter, folk, piano music.

Day 14: 200 Degrees

Leaving Boca behind.

I need to do something about my car's air conditioning. IT DOESN'T WORK. Which is fine unless it's summertime and 200 degrees out, like it was today, and I have to drive for about two hours. From now on, all long distance trips will be done at night! For real.

I didn't get as many opportunities to snap pictures today as I usually do, which made me sad. The only time I really had to take any photos was the two-hour sweatfest in my car. Hopefully tomorrow is more photogenic than today!

I will gather all the lonelies
But still you set yourselves apart
Can I love the loveless as they leave?

Song: "Stand Too Close" by Motion City Soundtrack. Acoustic-y pop punk. Hand claps and good times.

Day 13: Strawberries

I went down with the fam to Bedner's Farm Market in Boynton Beach today. It's a really fun place and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. You get there and you take a ride in a little trolley hitched to the back of a John Deere tractor. Then they let you out and you run around picking strawberries to your heart's content. When you're done you go in and pay 99 cents per pound, and then they're yours. A nice relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

A world so brightly colored
And dense as forests deep
A beauty fully realized
And the wonders never sleep.

Forever.

Song: "Strawberry Swing" by Coldplay. Light and airy alternative rock.

Day 12: The Big Tree

It's amazing how easy it is to pick up right where you left off. I hadn't seen some of my hometown friends in over two months, and others I hadn't seen in almost half a year. But when we all got together to head down to the Sunfest music festival in West Palm Beach, it was like we had never been apart. I love that.

We got to the festival at around 4:30, and we were able to catch Sister Hazel perform before sneaking off to a private hotel balcony to eat our Dominoes pizza. Then we headed back to the main stage and fooled around until Shinedown performed at 9:30, for what we were promised would be "the greatest concert of our lives!!!" It was a lot of fun, but I dunno. :P

After equipping ourselves with McFlurries we then took the scenic tour of West Palm, which includes The Big Tree. The Big Tree is exactly that. I don't think I've seen anything like this in a very long time. It's a great photo spot and I'm sure some of the pictures of it will surface on my facebook page eventually. It's truly an incredible thing. I only wish there had been more light when we were there so some of the pictures would have come out better.

Then we played tag and pretended to be zombies. Sometimes I miss being a naive little kid.

Years from now, when all's said and done
You'll still be you
The you I always wanted you to be

Song: "Savior" by Rise Against. They were at Sunfest today but we didn't make it there in time to see them. Punk/ alternative.