Hidedontseek's Journals

The Graduate

Corey Warning - Vocals

Tim Moore - Drums

Matt Kennedy - Guitar/Keys

Max Sauer - Guitar

Jared Wuestenberg - Bass

When you think of The Graduate, you may think of the 1967 movie in which a young college grad has an affair with an older woman, Mrs. Robinson, and later falls in love with her daughter. They may not be as well known as the movie but The Graduate is a band you really should get to know. The music these five guys create has the ability to seduce/attrack a crowd.

The Graduate is an indie rock band from Springfield, Illinois. The band was formed in late 2005 after two other bands, J.A.C.K. and Best of Winter, broke up. The Graduate is best known for their live performances (which I can attest to) and the way they interact with their fans. They are always warmhearted and very welcoming and thankful towards their fans. In 2006, they release their first EP entitled Horror Show which contains six tracks. I have yet to get my hands on this album so unfortunately I can't really tell you much about it. What I do know is that a few of the tracks have been updated and can be heard on their first real album Anhedonia. Anhedonia was release by ICON MES records in April 2007. In November of that same year The Evergreen EP was release. It contained a cover of Elvis Presley's Blue Christmas. You can download a free and legal copy of the EP if you like by clicking here and scrolling down to 'Billboard.' The only song you will not find on the free version of Evergreen is Blue Christmas.

The band has seen some really hard times as of late, that's not to say that things where great to begin with. As of October of 2008 The Graduate has been without a label. ICON MES records was another fatality the music industry suffered due to the current economic downturn. The band had plained to release a deluxe version of Anhedonia but those plans where quickly scrapped after ICON MES was forced to close up shop.

As of late 2008, the band has been working on a follow up album to Anhedonia. Since they do not have a label and they don't have a record deal, the members have been paying for everything that goes along with making a record. That includes paying rent on a very small house in the middle of no where and the very seldom concert (most of which have been in St. Louis, Missouri and occasionally Chicago). They are taking donations to help fund their work. They even auctioned off a few signed items just to help pay their for their efforts at making a new record which they hope to release sometime in the near future.

The future may be very unknown and unpredictable for this band as of right now, but I expect them to pull through. In my eyes, this band is an underdog story but I expect them to be the underdog that makes a complete turn-around and becomes everyones winner.

Here are some tracks you really should check out:

The City That Reads

This is an acoustic version of the song that caused me to fall in love with this band. Sorry, I couldn't find a better quality video of this song.

Interlude 2.0

It's completely instrumental but really shows off their skills.

(The begining of this video was shot at Subterranean (a club in Chicago, Illinois). They where headlining a show buzznet hosted. I was there taking photos.)

I Survived

I believe this is a version of The Formula which is on the Horror Show EP.

Care to check out a live performance? Well, you should anyways. This was also shot at Subterranean the night I was there. At 2:03 Corey sets up a little water drumming battle with his bandmate Matt. It was pretty sick in my opinion. I was in the balcony and got a bit wet. It was a terrific way to end a terrific performance.

Madina Lake

Madina Lake is a punk rock band hailing from Chicago, Illinois. Two of the members, twin brothers Matthew (Bass) and Nathan (Vocals), were once part of a band called The Blank Theory. The other two members, Mateo Camaro (Guitar) and Dan Torelli (Drums), were members of a band called Reforma. In 2005, after appearing on a twin edition of Fear Factor and winning fifty thousand dollars, the twins went on to create their own band called Madina Lake.

Warning: If you have a weak stomache, DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO.

Here is a video of Matthew and Nathan appearing on Fear Factor.

Because I really can't say this any better myself, I'm going to just quote this from the bands website:

"In Madina Lake’s earliest beginnings, the band set out to release three albums which would congruently tell the story of Madina Lake, a small town of their own creation, which would serve as the canvass for a much larger message. The first chapter focused on the town socialite, who goes missing, and the reaction the town’s inhabitants have. “We wanted to make three installments of this sort of grandiose statement we wanted to make,” Matthew said. “The first [album] was a statement about celebrity obsession.”

The bands first album is entitled From Them, Through Us, To You. It was release in 2007 by Roadrunner records. The album tells the story of a girl named Adalia who goes missing. Hidden within some of the tracks are clues to help the listener solve the mysterious disappearance of Adalia. Until recently, you could attempt to solve the mystery by going to the bands website and playing puzzles or talking to other fans about the album. With the bands latest release, the website went through some changes.

The bands second album is entitled Attics To Eden. It was release earlier this year. It is a continuation of the mysteries of Madina Lake. To quote Nathan, “This one goes completely surreal…like universal. There’s elements of spiritual escape, and almost science fiction elements to it that we went with on this one, but at the end of the day, we’re sticking very closely to our main objective with the whole story, which is good vs. evil."

If I might be so bold as to add that this band is really fun to see live. I have seen them perform twice now and each time the band has been more than amazing to the crowd. They really know how to get a crowd going crazy.

If you happen to be going to Warped Tour any time soon, be sure to check these guys out.

Here are a few tracks you can check out:

House of Cards (From Them, Through Us, To You)

Here I Stand (From Them, Through Us, To You)

This song gives you a glimps in to the disapperance of Adalia. It also gives you some clues to put together to find out what happened to Adalia.

Never Take Us Alive (Attics To Eden)

A Fall Out Boy Concert of EPIC Proportions: Dancing Bears, Fire, and Strobe Lights

Wondering what went down when Fall Out Boy took the stage at The Chicago Theater on Tuesday, December 2nd? Well, I've got the inside scoop before this special concert hits Fuse TV! Let's just say this was a concert of EPIC proportions. Come gather around and get a helping of what the boys cooked up for their hometown fans and Fuse watchers. [cut=You know you want to...]

Before my friend Niki and I were able to take a seat, we had to figure out a little situation with our box seats. A manager gave us "better seats" on the main floor. While we were trying to get the situation cleared up with our tickets, I caught a quick glimpse of what was to come. I guess you could say that this concert was going to turn out to be like a hometown reunion of sorts, with appearances from the old Fall Out Boy crew. But who did I catch a glimpse of? Who was on stage opening for Fall Out Boy? It was none other than William Beckett performing an acoustic set. And you must be wondering what songs he performed. Well, here is a nice list:

Winters Passing
The Test
A cover of Alkaline Trio's Radio
Classifieds
About A Girl

William was his jolly self while performing. It was a nice surprise to see him on stage.

After William left the stage, the Fall Out Boy crew put the finishing touches on the equipment and the stage. People were continuing to fill in to the theater. The place was packed before the guys hit the stage.

Contrary to what people may have been thinking, not all of the songs Fall Out Boy played were from Folie A Deux. As Mr. Patrick Vaughn Stump stated in his latest blog post on his website, FOB performed a wide array of songs from their repertoire. The set list includes (I may be missing a few) in the order played:

Thnks fr th mmrs
Thriller
A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me"
The Take Over, The Breaks Over
Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner

A quick intermission of sorts with a video. The video included this little message -- anyone remember this? I know I do.

"what iF this is ALL over fOr Us?
will They Be OkaY?
is thIS the end or JUST the BEGINNING?"
FALL OUT BOY IS JUST BEGINNING.

You read that right. FOB is alive and kicking ass. I have a feeling Folie A Deux will top their last albums (I'm not saying their last albums weren't great. What I'm saying is that they have grown a hell of a lot as artists). Mark my words.

Anyways, getting back to the set list... yes, there are more songs! I did say this was a concert of EPIC proportions! Fall Out Boy went on to perform:

I Don't Care
Chicago Is So Two Years Ago
I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You)
This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race
Grand Theft Autumn (Where Is Your Boy) with William Beckett performing back-up vocals towards the end of the song
I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me

The curtain fell while the guys took a quick break as the set was being changed. When the curtain came back up, the set was filled with candelabras and cut-outs painted with bizarre creatures. I believe the cut-outs where painted by an artist that Pete likes but I couldn't find a reference to the artist on any of Pete's journals. The characteristics of the art on the cut-out look very familiar. This is where the Dancing Bears came in. Yes, that's right. Dancing bears. There were dancers dressed in bear costumes doing a choreographed dance during the next song...

Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet (One of my favorites, so far, from Folie A Deux. Check out the title of my buzznet page if you don't believe me) And they thought no one would know the lyrics. Ha! I proved them wrong. :-P
Americaâ�™s Suitehearts
Beat It.
Patrick sang a small portion of a cover of Estelle's American Boy
Sugar We're Going Down
Dance Dance
Yule Shoot Your Eye Out
Saturday.

You know they had to play Saturday. Pete invited everyone in the crowd to get closer to the stage. Before he could finish what he was saying, I ran halfway down the aisle. Charlie, Jim, and Drea (I'm sure I'm forgetting someone) joined Fall Out Boy on stage for the last song of the night. Seeing Charlie and Jim made me think that maybe Dirty would make an appearance, but alas, he did not. It was really great to see some old and new faces from the Fall Out Boy crew. The concert was about an hour and twenty minutes long.

The pyrotechnics where INSANE! It would've made any pyromaniac weep with joy. At one point, the flames were so hot I could feel the heat from where we were standing -- which was in front of the boom arm that was shooting from behind the crowd.

Confetti was sprinkled all over the crowd during one of the songs. It was in the shape of little bears and it seemed to glow as it fell. I'll post a photo the confetti, along with a few other things, very soon.

Did I happen to mention that the guys used their strobe light guitars/bass? Well, they did. It was nuts. A set of strobe lights where set up all along the back to the stage and used during one of the songs the entire stage was glowing in strobe lights. I started to get a little worried about whether or not I was going to have a seizure because the strobe lights continued for at least 1-2 minutes. It was rather annoying to be honest.

I did happen to get photos but they're on my best friend Niki's camera. I'm not sure when I will get the photos from her but when I do get them, they'll need a lot of editing. I'm so short that most of the pictures contain a large portion of the people standing in front of me and Niki. Hey, what's a 5 foot tall girl gotta to do to get a decent shot? I guess I'm going to have to buy a pair of stilts or something like that. Or maybe a pair of platform shoes. That might help. Haha. Anyways, as soon as I have the photos and they are edited, I will try and post them.

And don't forget to mark your calendar and catch this spectacular live performance by Fall Out Boy on Fuse, Tuesday, December 16th at 9pm Eastern. If you want even more information on the concert, Check out this nifty page Fuse has set up. It contains links to a tag page that was set up so that Flickr users could post and share photos from the concert. The Fuse page also contains a live feed of responses from twitter users who tagged their tweets with a specific tag. There are a few other things on that page so just go check it out. You won't be disappointed.

Special thanks goes out to a lot of people for helping making that wonderful night happen. You know who you are. ;)
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Sparks And A Realization.

It has come to my attention that I am doing it all wrong. My work, that is. It's all wrong. I've lost my train (a series of parts or elements that together constitute a system for producing a result) of thought. Somehow, that train has been or always was derailed. Not sure where it derailed but I do know that it is time to fix that problem.

You see, I realized what had happened after reading this quote from Patrick Stump:

"I got into this fight over the course of making this record, and it dawned on me, 'Why make a record? Why do you have to make records still?' Why do we make records? Because we want to say something. Why are you in art? Because you want to say something. The second you don't have anything to say, you stop making art â�” you might start making product. And I'm interested in being an artist." Source

After reading that, I felt as though a light bulb turned on in my brain and the cobwebs and dust cleared out.

My work has been mostly rainbows, puppy dogs, smiles, and everything ordinary or already shot a countless number of times. Most of my work does not contain real sustenance/a message. That is disappointing. Everything I have learned, thus far, seems to have been thrown to the wind; forgotten but not quite lost entirely. I mean, at least I have realized what I have done and not become ignorant to the fact of what has happened.

There is still hope. Now I just need to turn this train around and start heading in the right direction and keep this train on its tracks.

Here are some photos that I think are not half bad. Most of them convey some idea, message, meaning, feeling...

PS: I've got a great idea for a photo. All I need is a lot of spare time, items, and knowledge to go about making this idea a reality.

Afternoon update

Well, I got little sleep last night. My mouth is killing me!!!!!!!

As of right now, I am trying to stuff a bowl of lucky charms down my throat before I go to class. The last thing I want to do is pass out during class. How bad would that look? Scratch that, I don't want to know how bad that would look. I would probably die from the embarrasment of it all. That's not good.

Today, in Digital manipulation, we are printing out our photos and window matting them. I have 6 photos to choose from. We only needed 3. So I got a little caught up in the dazzleness of photoshop. So shoot me. Yeah, I'm an overachiever in that class. :-P Whatever. I'm going to try and upload my photos tonight. Hopefully. If everything goes smoothly today.

Oh, Update on Oliver: He is doing great. We recieved information from the vet saying that they do not know what caused Oliver to loose his sight. Even after testing the eye that was removed. How shitty is that? I really wanted them to figure out what happened.

Well, that is all for now. Hope you all have a great day.

PS: F**K YOU, SEPTEMBER! F**K YOU! You are not going to kick my ass this year! *Shakes an angry fist at... nothing... or... maybe... invisible September?* Whatever.

I am delirious. Please pardon my craziness. 3 hours of sleep will do that to a person. *headdesk*

Buzznet Emerging Artists at Subterranean in Chicago: A Night of Grads, Thieves, Team Work, Parades and Shouts.

The show was freaken phenomenal! That is saying the very least.

To being my super awesome adventure, I met up with my new found friend, Angela. We headed to the Train station where we departed the crap hole town of Elgin at 3:55. While heading to Chicago, Angela and I talked about all sorts of things. It seems like we have a lot of common interests.

We arrived a Union Station a little after 5. We walked a few blocks where we tried to find a place to eat at. Most of the places around Union where closed. Weird. Anyways, since the concert started at 6, we decided to head to the L train. I swear, I am horrible at directions because it took me about 3 minuets to get through the stupid turnstiles just so that we could catch the train. Yes, I am that stupid. lol. Anyways, the train wasn't to bad. We got to our stop at Damen at 5:53 or so. The train platform lead us strait to the corner that Subterranean is on. The line to get into Subterranean was around the corner. Angela and I stood in line listening to god awful teenies talk about anything and everything. I really hope I wasn't as bad of a teenager as those kids were.

Side note: If I ever go to hell, part of my punishment will be to watch every soap opera ever created while strapped to a chair in a room full of teenies who won't stop talking as the worst music ever created is played in the background.

Angela and I got inside Subterranean at 6:35. The doors opened at 6 and the concert started at 6:30. We really couldn't see the stage that well so we made our way upstairs where we found a great view of the stage. The bands were amazing! The night started with Team work (whos drummer looks a lot like my cousin...weird), Thieves and Villains (whos lead singer reminded me of John... don't ask. lol!), Holiday Parade, NeverShoutNever, and lastly The Graduate.

A few songs into Thieves and Villains set, Angela and I were asked if we wanted our photo taken for buzznet. I told the girl that I was on buzznet. So, me and Angela had our picture taken together for buzznet.

During Holiday Parade set, John called me and we met. It was great to meet John, who is super tall! lol. Don't deny it, John. You are tall.... and I am short. lol! It was kinda weird because I wasn't really surprised or anything. It was like I have been talking to him for a while so it just seemed like I was meeting him just like any of my other off-line friends. It just seemed natural and there was nothing awkward about the meeting. If you want to check out Johns photos: John with the band Team Work and me and John and John with Andi and Rhianna. It was also great meeting Rhianna (blackparadegirl. You can check out her photos and review of the show here.) and Andi (fingersxcrossed. You can view one of her photos from the concert here.) Both girls were super sweet and super cute.

After a little while, John and the girls left to get some merch. We didn't see much of them after that but John and the girls did come back to get photos. John had to leave before The Graduate set so that he could be back at his dorm on time. I think John gave me a zillion hugs before he left. It was so great to meet him.

My camera died while trying to shoot photos of The Graduate. I have tons of photos of the first 3 bands, 5 photos of NeverShoutNever, and maybe 10 of The Graduate. I'm bummed because I really wanted to take tons of photos of The Graduate. I also have a picture of me and John! Squee!

I noticed that NeverShoutNever had a ton of girls going absolutely nuts of this kid. Not even kidding. I think most of the hearing loss I suffered that night was from the incessant screaming of young girls. OUCH! Fortunately, most of the kids left after NeverShoutNever finished his set. Thank god! Those kids missed out on a killer performance by The Graduate who performed right after NeverShoutNever. Unfortunately, a lot of girls noticed that the guy of NeverShoutNever was headed upstairs, where me and Angela where. These girls where pushing on me and Angela against the railing of the balcony. Major OUCH! The guy of NeverShoutNever didn't stand a chance once the girls caught wind that he was heading to the VIP section which was upstairs and just feet way from where Angela and I stood. The guy was pretty much mobbed! lol!

Anyways, things soon died down and Angela and I got to enjoy a much less crowded balcony. The only thing I was disapointed in The Graduate set was that we could barely hear Corey's wonderful vocals. Did I mention they played my favorite song? Oh yeah! Check out their song entitled, The City That Reads. I absolutely love that song!

Let's see... After the show, which got out at 10:30 or so, Angela and I headed strait for the L train. Once on the L, we talked about the concert and everything that happened that night. While on the train, we seen a very inebriated guy almost sit on a super cute guy who was wearing a very nice suite and looked as though he had a very stressful and sad day. For a moment, I thought that these guys were going to duke it out. Thankfully they didn't.

Once we got off at Grand (at least I think it was Grand), Angela and I walked to Union Station. That only took us 10 to 15 minuets of walking to get there. The last train to Elgin was at 12:40 (we missed the 10:40 train of course) so we walked around Union in search of food and drink. As we searched for food, we both noticed yet another very inebriated man. Only, this guy was super old and was being dragged through the station. That was rather sad. Anyways, McDonalds was the only shop open so we bought something to eat and talked for a while. I noticed that there were quite a few people that had come from different concerts. One of the people waiting in line to order food had mentioned that she and her friends had just come from a concert for a band called Comasoft. I think that is how it is spelt. She was describing to someone else in line what the band sounded like. It didn't sound like something I would be interested in. So, Angela and I sat at McDonalds for almost 2 hours. We chit-chatted for a while about how the concert was, what we did and didn't like about it (the good outweighed the bad by a huge margin). We pretty much tried to keep each other awake. We left McDonalds and boarded the train home. It was actually really crowded. I got home at about 2:30 in the morning and didn't hit the hay until about 3 am. All in all it was a super fantastic and unforgettable night.

I won't be able to post any pictures of the concert until sometime late Monday afternoon/evening. I have to download the photos from the camera I borrowed from school on to one of the computers at school so that I can bring the photos home and post them here.

Also, I want to thank Buzznet for putting on such an amazing concert in Chicago! I hope Buzznet decides to do this more often in the near future.

Oliver update.

If you couldn't figure it out from the photo I just posted, Oliver had surgery today (isn't that a cute little bandage!?). I didn't know about it until I was just about to leave for class this morning. It took a lot of strength not to cry before I left Oliver this morning. I knew that he would never look the same again and it could be the last time he actually sees me. I just feel so bad. I can't image what he is going through.

The surgery went very well but there was a complication of sorts. You see, the doctor checked Olivers good eye and noticed that it was bleeding internally. Not a good sign. He is now completely blind but we are going to continue medicating his "good eye" to try and get his eyesight back. It's unlikely that he will regain any form of sight but it's worth a try.

The eye that was removed is going to be sent to a specialist who will biopsy it. Hopefully, this will give us the answers we need in order to treat Oliver and maybe restore some of his vision. As of right now, the doctor has never seen a case like Olivers. Just 2 years ago (in September, oddly enough) Oliver lost site in the eye that was removed today.

Anyways, I'm sorry I keep making these photos into an emo blog. Sheesh!

Well, on a happier note, I think I made a really nice friend after today. I met up with the girl whos mom works in the same building as my mom. She is pretty cool and I think this could be the beginning of a good friendship.

Drawing class went well. The class did a fun little project of sorts. We were given a theme and had to draw using this theme. The theme was ducks and police. Each student took a piece of paper and folded it into three parts. The top part was where we drew the head of our "police duck." We handed over our papers to the instructor who redistribute them to someone else to work on making the torso of our police duck drawing. We were not allowed to see what was drawn on the first portion of the paper. Then the drawing was passed to someone else to finish and they could not see what was drawn before they got the paper. The results were absolutely hilarious not to mention some of the drawings look mutated! When I get my drawing back on Tuesday, I'll try and post it. It is so funny.

Well, that has been my day off the interwebz. I hope everyone else had a wonderful day.

Anywho, I will try and get around to everyones page and comment. My internet has been acting up tonight. I just hope it is ok tomorrow. I can watch Oliver and use my Dad's laptop tomorrow. Anywho, I hope you all have had a great week.

Clusterfuck week and buzznet.

It has been a very long and argues week here (you could probably tell from following my twitter messages). I am not really sure how to describe it but I do know that this semester seems to just feel like even more work even though I don't think it will be as hard as previous semesters.

To start my week, I headed to the photo lab located in the Fine Arts Department. On my way to the lab, I ended up being the victim of some dumbass guys comment about my chest size then being looked at like I was a piece of meet. Well, this certainly isn't my first time being sexually harassed. It's happened 2 other times that I can think of. I just gave the guy a nasty glare and kept walking. I was surprised that I would be picked on. I mean, I'm not that pretty and I wasn't showing cleavage like most girls that were near by. Why me? I'm nothing fancy or special. So, why me? Of course, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. Just last year the campus had a girl beaten up after she was almost kidnapped while walking to her car, during the day, on campus. Another person was almost kidnapped from campus just a few days after the first incident. So, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this happened to me. After all was said and done, I went to class and had a great time. Turns out that I am the only young girl in the Digital Manipulations class. There are 2 older women that have to be close to 50 or 60 years old. There are 3 younger guys that are close to my age and then there is an older man who is in his 50's. So, I guess I'm the young gun in the class. Oh, and I am the on with the least amount of experienced with cameras. Kinda makes me feel awkward.

Tuesday, was ok. Drawing class was interesting. We got out of class early. I spent a few hours running my butt off just to trying to find all of my art supplies. That was a pain in the neck. To make it all better, I purchased the very last copy of The Academy Is new album. haha! Oh, and I also found a CD from Warped tour 2008 for $7.99. Get this! It contains 50 songs! 50! FIVE-ZERO! How awesome is that! I mean, you can't beat the that price for 50 songs. Granted, I didn't love every song on both CD's that were included but it was well worth the money. So much good music! Ahhh! Anywho, I had to go back to school to attend my English class (which should be my last time taking any English classes). I am pretty intimidated by this class because the teacher mentioned that most people have to take the class a couple of time before the actually passed. Oh great. With my learning disability, this is going to take even longer for me to pass. I will be asking for help for this class. I just really want to pass the first time.

Wednesday, Claire (instructor for Digital Manipulations course) showed use how to do some pretty fun things with Photoshop. It was pretty interesting.

After class, I bought a few more books that I needed and I picked up Photoshop since the college had a deal going.

Thursday was boring. I really suck at drawing and it really shows how much I suck. The teacher for Drawing had to show me how to draw properly. I really suck! We where just doing warm up type of drawings for 2 hours. I got a little better by the end of class but I really suck at drawing. Well, I guess that is what the class is for, right? I mean, I have to learn at some point and I can't be great at everything before I take the course.

As far as buzznet goes, this place has become really.... How do I put it nicely? crappy? Sad to say but that really had to be said. I am just getting really annoyed with people. I come to buzznet to have some fun after a long day of being at school (AKA: the shit hole) and dealing with assholes. But the moment I get on buzznet, I get this vibe of grumpy, pushy, shittyness. I wish I could figure out what the heck is going on so that I could fix the problem and everyone could be happy. Realistically, that is not going to happen. There is no way I could figure it out and fix the problem.

Quick shout out to: Bizarreland, Annier, Kiastar, Vero, Alexher123, and Theshadowboxer (because he is the master at taking photos of Chicago. *bows down to his greatness* Getting a comment from him on any of my Chicago pics is like... um.... getting to shake the hand of a celeb or something. Yeah, bad analogy. Couldn't think of anything better). Much thanks to you guys for commenting and/or just being your awesome self. I appreciate you. You guys never let buzznet drama get to you. You guys keep me coming back. So, Thank you very much for being awesome!

Well, I am super tired now. Thankfully, I have off tomorrow. Score! haha. So, I plan on sleeping in and eating food to make up for all the sleep and food I was deprived off this week.

PS: No I did not proof read this. I am to tired and lazy to do that right now. Sorry for my horrible grammar and punctuation.

Better as a Memory.

Tonight, I happened to come across a concert, on TV, featuring one of my all time favorite country music artists, Kenny Chesney. This guy just seems to have a way of making music for the young and the young at heart to be able to relate to. I mean, who hasn't thought about their summer love, a relationships gone bad, looking forward to what the future has in store, or just trying to find that special someone to settle down and spend forever with? If you have thought about any of those, you can easily relate to any/all of Kenny Chesney's songs. Kenny is also a class act and a total swooner.

So, this song happened to start playing. I haven't been able to buy Kenny's latest album so this song was completely new to me but it struck a cord. There is just so much about this song that caught my attention. It describes a lot of what I've been thinking. So, I thought it would be cool to share it with all of you.

Better As A Memory.

I move on like a sinners prayer

I let 'em go like a levee breaks
walk away as if I don't care
learn to shoulder my mistakes
I'm built to fade like your favorite song
get reckless when there's no need
laugh as your stories ramble on
break my heart but it won't bleed
my only friends are pirates, it's just who I am
I'm better as a memory than as your man.

I'm never sure when the truth won't do
I'm pretty good on a lonely night
I move on the way a storm blows through
I never stay, but then again, I might
I struggle sometimes to find the words
always sure until I doubt
walk a line until it blurs
build walls too high to climb out
but I'm honest to a fault, it's just who I am
I'm better as a memory than as your man

I see you leanin', you're about to fall
I don't wanna be that mistake
I'm just a dreamer, n' nothing more
you should know it before it gets too late

cause goodbyes are like a roulette wheel
you never know where they're gonna land
first you're spinning, then you're standing still
left holding a losin' hand
one day you're gonna find someone
right away, you'll know it's true
that all of your seeking is done
Its just a part of the passing through
right there in that moment
you'll finally understand
that I was better as a memory than as your man
better as a memory than as your man

Song by Kenny Chesney.

So, I hope you enjoyed it.

Oh, and don't knock country music until you've listened to Kenny Chesney.

Just an update. Nothing fancy.

Sorry to anyone who has gotten the same comment twice from me or hasn't gotten a comment from me at all lately. My internet connect has been acting up, logging me off every half hour or so, or not loading pages fast enough (if at all). Since Monday night, when we had that really nasty storm here, my internet connection has been acting funny. I'm thinking the lightning strikes we had close to our house may be the culprit... maybe. Or it is just my computers way of telling me that it hates me. Either way.

Oliver went to the vet on Monday. We took him to an eye specialist for animals. The vet told us that the cornea, in his good eye, was torn but not completely so there is hope that he will regain his site. She said that he may be able to see just a slight bit. She drew Olivers blood to see if he had an immune deficiency or if something else could be found that made Oliver just loose his eye site. It's not normal for a dog to just loose his eyesight for no apparent reason. We were going to have the vet do a more strict test on Olivers blood but the test would have been over $600.00. That test was out of the question. We did get the results back on Olivers blood work. It came back clean which means he probably doesn't have a tumor (otherwise his blood count would have been abnormal for either or both (I'm not sure) white and/or red blood cells) or anything else that may have caused him to lose his eyesight. So, as of right now, we have no clue why Oliver lost his eyesight. The past few days, Oliver has been pretty low key. He does get around the house pretty well for being blind but he does bump into things sometimes. Today, Oliver was a complete ball of energy and was even running in the yard! Although, he does seem to have very little eyesight. So, on Monday, Oliver will be visiting the vet again to see if the medication is doing anything to help him regain sight in his "good" eye if you can even call it a "good" eye.

As far as school goes, it's been pretty crazy around here. On Tuesday morning, my photography teacher called me to let me know that she was no longer the instructor for the digital manipulation course that I had signed up for. I wanted to make sure I was in her class because I really like the way she teaches and she is such a nice teacher and is very helpful, unlike most teachers I have encountered. Since our internet was completely nonexistent on Tuesday, I spent most of my day freaking out because I could not get online and fix my schedule. I have to have 13 credit hours in order to stay on my parents insurance otherwise I do not have insurance and that is not a good thing. Finally, on Wednesday, I was able to get online and fix things but I ran into another problem. I needed permission, from my photography teacher, in order to get into her afternoon course. I also noticed that I had been dropped from the night course I had been signed up for and no one told be it had been canceled! That just caused me to freak out even more. I spent a large portion of my night hoping that my internet connection wouldn't fail while I tried to figure out my schedule. I was able to figure out my schedule but I still needed permission to join that digital manipulations course. So, Today I brought my previous permission slip for the course that had ultimately been canceled, with me as proof that I had permission to join this new course. I was approved and I know have a schedule. Thank god! Oh, did I mention I didn't get a phone call about that class being canceled until this morning? Yeah, they even apologized for not contacting me sooner. How pathetic is that? Now do you see why I hate the way my school is run? The college screws with classes and who will teach them two weeks before school starts. Isn't that stupid?

Anyways, I just want to apologize to everyone for not commenting more. I'm sure I'm not getting comments because I haven't really been able to go to anyone else and comment as much as I would like because my computer either won't load a page or it logs me off of the internet. So, it's all pretty understandable. I just hope this internet thing gets fixed so that I can go crazy commenting things. I'm kind of afraid to even try talking on yahoo because I have to have AOL going in order for yahoo chat to work but AOL keeps logging me off. I know, it is all rather confusing. lol. Heck, half of the time I'm confused by it all. lol.

I hope everyone has had a great week and I hope you all have a great weekend. :-D

**Edit: As I stated in my previous journal, about Oliver having an infection in his "bad eye." It turns out that Oliver didn't have an infection but he does have Ulcers? I think? I can't remember now. Maybe it was cataracts in his bad eye. Ah well. I think you guys get the idea.