Love Letter to a Star

You step into the box
the doctor closes the door
behind you
I stand watching
for ten songs' time
following each recycled breath
with my own two lungs.

You bravely look forward
as tubes and technology
calculate your fate
but all I can do is stare
at my favorite flower
in a glass case
like a fairytale.

If only this were make-believe.

Truth is-
the moment that door closed
I learned what love is.

I knew I would Walk Through Hell
and fight Intergalactic wars
just to be Stuck in the Middle With You
where we could Build A Home
and sail Into the Mystic
under the Amber sun
gazing at a sky with No Rain
and always reminding me "Don't Panic"
like you knew it's Just What I Needed
because even when life is a Bittersweet Symphony
it's still the most incredible playlist I know
when we are together.

The doctor opens the door
smiling with a mouthful of good news
as we exhale days of fear
and inhale a lifetime of love
I realize-

the happiest I've ever been
is when I'm breathing with you. 

Happy New Year!

September is a month of metamorphosis. From fresh starts at school to new apartments to autumn leaves, change is self-evident. It’s presence can be felt through all five senses and transform life as we previously understood it to be.

.

So I propose a movement. A calendar shift of New Year’s Day from January 1^st to September 1^st, effective on this day in 2012. The traditions are similar, except New Year’s Eve is spent at a bonfire with the people that matter most to you, sharing memories and celebrating the past, future, and most importantly- the present. As the first to observe this revised holiday, I’ve created a list of resolutions. These are not your typical New Year’s resolutions, but rather a new guideline on how I plan to live. Cheers to transformation!

.

• Be real. Zero caddy, petty, or dramatic behavior (no exceptions).
• Be honest. No lies, exaggerations, or BS (for any reason).
• Love without conditions or expectations.
• No talking about the lives of celebrities (unless the conversation relates to a pep talk or constructive lesson about life).
• Less profanity.
• Make more eye contact and smile.
• Give at least one stranger a compliment every day.
• Be safe, but not scared. There is no room in my body for fear.
• Spend more time with children and animals.
• Be conscious, be present.
• Stay curious. Try something new every week (activity, food, location, music, etc).
• Let go. The only things I have the ability to control are my own thoughts, intentions, and actions.
• Don’t be negatively critical whatsoever. Instead be positive and encouraging in my words and actions (to others and to myself).
• Be patient and kind. The most wonderful things take time.
• Read 1-2 educational books a month.
• Interview motivated people and collect advice from different perspectives.
• Ask 10 people a week about songs and create 1 mixtape each week.
• Create 1 drawing, painting, or invention each week.
• Be active at least 30 minutes a day and exercise 1 hour 3 times a week.
• Rearrange my taste buds by reducing sugar and salt intake.
• Limit social media usage to 30 minutes daily.
• Make a budget plan and be precise with my finances.
• Floss everyday.
• Meditate at least 15 minutes every night.
• Be the change. Volunteer one weekend a month.
• Be with family. Visit home one weekend a month.
• Send love. Write and mail 1 letter to a friend each week.
• Speak less, listen more.
• Complete at least one thing on my bucket list by next September. 
• Dedicate good vibes to one person in the world each day.

Happy New Year everyone!

Perception Inception

I've been off for the past few weeks exploring new passions, meeting new people, and learning more than I ever thought possible. It has been a profound time in the history of my life. I wanted to find a way to illustrate it all outloud, but all I have right now are moleskin pages, random mail & messages, and other shorthanded thoughts scattered across technology & post-it notes. I’m tempted to call it a puzzle, but it’s more like a collage with no glue right now. What I’m going to do is try and elaborate on some of these ideas & theories in a stream of consciousness way, also known as the 'fuck the rules, go with the flow, see where you end up' method. Ready?
.

Print by Lee Anne Steers 

If you want to find someone that will love you for you, wouldn’t it make sense to be yourself? Everyday I observe people that act like other people. At work, at school, at the bar, at the store, on the phone, and even in the mirror. That’s right, we’ve all done it at some point in our lives. It's what happens when you spend time reading magazines, watching movies, tv shows, music videos, and scrolling through tumblr or twitter. We live in society that idolizes celebrities, entertained by them like the Truman Show. We adore who they are on a screen or 2d on glossy pages, and would like to also have their beauty/talent/wit/personality/style/etc. Problem is we’re so busy trying to embody somebody else, that we forget to appreciate our own beauty/talent/charm/wit/personality/style. “But I’m not like that.” Okay, say your wannabe days are over, they ended after the Lauryn Hill phase in high school. Awesome, congrats! Now when’s the last time you acted differently to try to impress someone? I see this specifically with relationships. People say things that they wouldn’t usually say (or vice versa), pretend to like things they don’t (or vice versa), exaggerate stories, dress differently, and overall don’t act like themselves. If any or all of those ever applied to a first date (or second or third or a whole relationship) of yours, then all I have to ask is- why? That’s like trying to find the love of your life at a Halloween Party. Then people complain they can’t trust anyone anymore! If a relationship is already rooted with misconceptions then chances are it won’t end up well.  If you want to be loved for who you are, then you need to be yourself. Sounds scary but it’s that simple.
.

I recently had a discussion with a group of people talking about the first year of the internet. It boggled my mind to hear them talk about how things were different in terms of business, travel, relationships, education, and everyday living. Then how shockingly fast it evolved and shifted society. Cool infographic about it (here). In future history books, I imagine them comparing this era to the industrial revolution. There’s been a stunning velocity of culture change. There have been countless breakthroughs and advances, but they don’t come without setbacks and byproducts. The balance of life makes it so. Yes we can talk to anyone we want from all over the world at any time (pending sleep status), but that kind of freedom also makes us more anxious and impatient.  If you text someone a question or email a job application or post something important to you online- most likely you’re going to want an answer or a response or affirmation as soon as possible (and technology makes “asap” pretty damn fast). We have digital cameras instead of film. We have messages instead of letters. We have @ tweets and facebook posts instead of phone calls. We have a world of information at our fingertips, but what we do with it says a lot. I watched this stand up comedian talking about the effects of google on our collective community and there’s a lot of truth to it.
.

Brings me to my 80’s film sequel idea… Breakfast Club 2012- (plot summary) six teenagers on their phones and barely saying a word to each other for an entire Saturday.  Spoiler alert- they’re not actually in detention, they are friends at a sleepover.

I know a lot of people that wish their feelings would disappear. Really? Wouldn't you rather wake up with a content mind & heart full of love? It all reminds me of this Cherokee legend I heard in middle school (right). You just have to nourish your good side and your soul will become intrinsically & outwardly radiant. I promise you this feeling is infinitely more fulfilling than feeling depressed, angry, or nothing at all. It takes practice, but you are fully capable and it’s totally worth the effort. Stop numbing yourself down and start your quest to happiness. 

I started reading a book on musical engineering and they have chapters about the anatomical process and psychological effects of listening to music. Do you know how a soundwave gets to your brain? There's a couple diagrams below, and the information is unreal. This book is completely changing the way I understand sound and how our musical tastebuds work.
.
I’ll be using whatever knowledge I soak up from this on my mixtape project this fall.
.

.

Music, Physics and Engineering - Harry F. Olson.
.
Final Thoughts

To get respect you need to give respect. To receive love, you need to give love. To meet people, you need to get out of bed. In order to be happy, you need to let go. Problem -> solution -> action.  Works for pretty much everything.

.
Sometimes being late and getting lost are blessings in plain sight.

.

Everyone makes mistakes. You & I included. So have patience with yourself and with others, we’re all trying to figure out this journey.

.

Niente accade per caso. Always. 
.
-KSB

Big Plane Theory

"Big Plane Theory" (paint & pastel on blue paper) - KSB (2012)

Master Minds

I’ve recently been observing how all of our senses can help us remember the past. 

Examples of sensory time travel:

-  Every blackberry that lands on your tongue reminds you of climbing the rock wall at age 7 with your homeschooled neighbors and picking all the berries for pancakes the next morning.

-  No Doubt’s “Just A Girl” brings you back to the Tweeter Center lawn where you watched your first concert with your parents at age 9. Gwen Stefani shouted “I’m just a motherfucking girl” on the last chorus & your mom told you never to repeat it again. Couldn’t help it.

-  The smell of fresh cut grass makes you think of your first job mowing lawns at 14, listening to Incubus & Lauren Hill on your CD player everyday, and finding 23 four-leaf clovers during summer break.

-  Feeling the texture of a sleeping bag reminds you of the time you were 21 and you took all your best friends to a monastery on the hillside to watch the meteor shower, eat peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, and discuss life.

-  Every time you see autumn leaves, you remember back to school shopping, picking out the perfect pumpkin, making apple pie, and watching the incredible cult-classic film “Halloween Tree” that only exists on VHS. No exact age, it’s (still) an annual occurrence. 

Five primary senses- sight, sound, taste, smell, and feel. I think two other useful things for memory are creation and observation. My best example for both of these is the process of writing your thoughts down (in a journal or on walls or through a blog). Yes, you are “feeling" the pencil/spraycan/keyboard, but it's your physical action of documenting your ideas that creates something unique. Observation is then the mental action that comes into play when you reread it. Yes, you’re “seeing” the words, but your brain is pulling them together and repainting the memory.

The Vitruvian Man (1487)- Leonardo da Vinci

Our minds are powerful tools- they can bridge hearing to listening, seeing to understanding, thinking to feeling. I’ve finally figured out what countless philosophers have been trying to say. The mind can be trained, just like the outer physical body. With the right amount of exercise and care, your mind will feel more like a gift than a weapon. Clarity, motivation, confidence, productivity, kindness, peace > confusion, lethargy, fear, anxiety, cruelty, indifference. Want a better life? All you have to do is start. Trust me, there's not a more perfect time than right now. 

Infinitely yours,

KSB

Songs not Seconds

Pick three songs that you feel most describe your life.
.
Not ones you like just because of the sound, but because of its essence. Songs that you can understand multiple layers of, possibly down to the rough draft. Songs that seem to understand you, probably more than any of your exes did. Songs that make you feel something, rather than just hear something. 
.
Well this is one of those songs for me.
.
Gnarls Barkley is a musical superteam made up of hiphop star Ceelo Green & DJ/producer Danger Mouse. This musical bromance has been on my radar since senior year of high school, when "Crazy" came out and brought some funky bass beats to the radio. Their first album, St. Elsewhere, was an avantgarde gem and changed the way I experienced music. 
.
Then "Going On" arrived from their sophomore album, The Odd Couple. I love everything about it- the architecture of sounds, the cool video, and most of all the lyrics. It's one of my favorite running songs, pre-game anthems, & everyday tracks (I've listened to it well over 1000 times). If I had to choose a song to best describe my life, this would be crowned the winner. 
.

.
So, my inquiring mind wants to know... what's your song?

Train Track Mixtapes

I’ve always wanted to conduct a social experiment.

I left the country for the first time during Summer 2010, flying solo to Krosno, Poland for a 2-week conference. My university sent me as a delegate to solidify an exchange student program with their college, but it wasn’t until I arrived that I realized I was the only American in a group of fifty international residents. It was the first experience I’ve ever had being exposed to several new cultures, languages, and lifestyles in the same place.

Krosno, Poland - Summer 2010

I fell in love that summer. I was captivated by passion for the world and the diversity of individuals within it… and I wanted to learn more. 

Since that summer, I have studied abroad in Spain, lived in Washington DC, and now I’ve somehow ended up in Boston.  I spent most of my high school years soaked with wanderlust and resented Massachusetts for making me feel stuck. But Boston is a whole other ballgame.  It feels nostalgically European, and everything feels real but picturesque at the same time. At least three times a day I stop to wonder if I’m living in a film.

Two years of observations and notes have altered my life brilliantly. But I have nothing tangible, no physical evidence of my mental productivity. AKA I’ve been lackadaisically living in Procrastinationtown. Until now.

I finally brainstormed and blueprinted my first solo project as a ‘real’ adult.

Three of my biggest passions are people, music, and trains. I ride the train/subway in Boston everyday and I’m always observing the people I see while I listen to my favorite music. The fundamental question I kept asking was “how do I make this a more interactive experience?” The obvious answer is conversation. I needed to blend another passion to propel this project forward. But what do we talk about?

A whole chandelier of light bulbs illuminated my mind when I found the answer.

Do you ever see someone nodding their head to a beat in their headphones and feel compelled to know what they’re listening to? Or see someone mouthing lyrics and wonder what song they’re trying to be the star of? As a music fiend and a people-person, I’ve always wanted to know. 

And we’re all about to find out. Every week I will be asking 10-20 people on the train what song they are listening to at that precise moment. Then I’ll be compiling a weekly mixtape of sorts, of all the music that Bostonians are listening to every week. I’ll write down descriptions of the people I talk to, any important conversation notes, and a short description of the track itself.

Saturday morning I put it to the test and talked to 5 people on the green/red line trains. I would say “I’m sorry for interrupting your music, but I’m writing an article on what people in Boston are listening to and I was wondering- what’s playing through your headphones right now?” Then all five of them gleefully responded with the name of the song. Each time they would even show me the screen of their mp3 player, without me asking to see any evidence at all. Four of the conversations were fairly brief, and another one went on for the duration of three songs.

It seems that’s how I’m keeping the time now. My life is being counted in songs, not seconds. I couldn’t be more happy. 

This week I’ll be working on a website and other logistics for the project, so stay tuned and I’ll clue you in on all the progress!

Infinitely yours,

KSB

Buena Vista Social Club

Right now I'm writing letters to the Spanish friends & family I met studying abroad. I haven't spoken to them in over a year because I haven't been brave enough to sit down and relearn the language. I haven't made the time I should have. Well, tonight... I'm going to right the wrongs and write these letters. And they will say everything that I would want to say in English, no generic bullshit because it's easier. This song is fueling the fireworks. BRB POURING MY HEART OUT TO SPANIARDS ON REAL STATIONARY xx 
.
"Nunca pasa un dia que no pienso en ti"

Words To Love By

                 































              Also applies to work, friendship, & pretty much everything in my life. 

Bittersweet Symphony

I heard this on the drive home tonight. Somehow I forgot how amazing it is (movie included). Classic xx

Yesterday We Were Strangers

your mouth is an amusement park

every word a prize
I didn't have to play for
every sentence a water slide
and I'm hanging on
to each letter like a life jacket
not out of fear
but so I can float
down your stream of consciousness
and experience all the extraordinary ideas
your mind keeps inside water molecules

"What's your story?"

your eyes lock onto mine
the gaze unlocks my mind
a Rube Goldberg machine
waiting for a domino push
from a question mark like yours

thoughts flow
down my cerebellum
and line up in my throat
eagerly awaiting
the ride on my roller coaster tongue

and there you are
taking in every excited word
with a down-to-earth
out-of-this-world smile

"I love the way your mind works"

what a coincidence

I love the way your mind works too
just like I love the way your mouth works
an amusement park I never want to leave

"I'm happy we met"

an adrenaline rush
the ultimate thrill

conversation never felt so good

-KSB

Why I Quit My Job Today

At age 5, I developed a superhero persona by the name of Kid-Kid. I aspired to be a cool kid on my own terms, by becoming someone that could improve the world with conversation and action. At age 13, I made a pact with my future self to never get stuck in a cube doing something I don't like for money I don't need. To always stay excited and never get jaded. To soak up every ounce of knowledge I can get my hands on. 
.
And here I am. Three months in and I'm feeling like Sisyphus in the underworld. And you know it's bad when you start relating your life to greek mythology. Don't get me wrong, I know my job is good. I get paid well to do an easy task. I can wear/say/be what I want. But I am not a person that can sit in a chair and do the same thing day after day after day. I can't go on staring at a computer, not meeting one new person or having one meaningful conversation IRL for 10/12 hours of my day... and since when do I give one single fuck about money? My inner superhero would be disappointed.
.
Until today. This past week has changed my life more than any other week I've ever experienced. I am fully engaged, fully inspired, and motivated to do more- to be more. So today I scheduled a meeting with my boss and told her I couldn't work there much longer. I wasn't happy doing this kind of work. She was bummed out because they wanted me full time to take on a Philadelphia project and said she really wanted to keep me in the company. She even suggested I shadow/research the other departments to see if I want a different kind of role. So I said I would get back to her with a decision. I spent all day thinking about it while on autopilot at my desk. Then I went to a few meetings and worked on something new. But it still wasn't it.
.
I went to see her at the end of the day and told her that I made the decision to leave the company as an employee. I was losing enthusiasm and I could see everyone else on the team feeling miserable. Sitting still at our desks, sitting still in our lives. People often fear taking risks for happiness because they feel too comfortable or too anxious to try. Or they settle because the money's good. I told her the story of Kid-Kid and the decade-long pact and the bucket list and also how meeting two dozen people in the past week has made me feel more confident/engaged/focused than I've been in years. I can't stay at a job just because it's a job, and this definitely isn't the industry for me. Ultimately, the work that you do takes up a third of your lifetime. Why would you waste it being frustrated and melancholy when there are so many opportunities out there?
.
Then I realized I was talking too much and remembered to listen. She congratulated and then thanked me. Not many people figure that out, especially so young, she says. I've been where you are right now. I completely understand where you're coming from. As a manager, this sucks, but I know you're making the right choice. And thank you for telling me now, the open communication is so helpful. We're going to miss you. And I will miss all the people there. 
.
I gave four weeks notice. Then I don't know my next step. Get my resume, take my bucket list, and hit the ground running. I am 100% positive I want to work in school administration, so I'll need to go back to school for that eventually. But I also still have a lot of growing to do. The second half of 2012 is going to be full of friend reunions, new connections, stories, music, and adventures. I have a whole list of things I want to try and see and do. My goals are in place and I'm ready for action. ¡Vamanos!
.

Infinitely yours,
Kid-Kid

The Art of a Mixtape

There's no doubt that summer has arrived.  
.

I started this weekend off with front row seats to face-melting fireworks in the city. Thousands of people were in the streets, and even though the spectrum of the crowd included all ages and cultures, everyone was connected by these explosions in the sky. Nothing but joy and happiness and neighborly love. Then I went to a house party with a college friend and life as I know it started to change. First, I walk in to see tanks & tanks of reptiles...
.

Then we ventured into the basement where I was introduced to 6 new people, all of whom would soon turn out to be game-changers. Jay was my first introduction, owner of the house. What an excellent guy- honest, hilarious, and cool as can be. Within two hours of meeting, we already had our own handshake. When we listened to old school rap he said it was perfect "pancake-making music." Obviously the man. Joe was next- thickest Boston accent I've ever heard in person and was rocking a black windsor cap like a boss. He took over my ipod to dj the party and later put on his own. I immediately knew I was going to get along with him, because I observed him listening to music like I do... like you're in love with it. I fell in love with the 100s+ vinyl collection right away and after we all clouded the room, they put on Led Zeppelin. It was my first LZ experience. Now I realize I've been missing out on a genre. 

Then we listened to more rock, hiphop, jazz and even Adele. Grown men, belting out the words to Melt My Heart To Stone. It was glorious, so much respect for that. Later, I heard a phenomenal rap track on rotation and liked everything about it (beat, rhymes, melody, genre fusion). When I asked which artist this song belonged to? Joe and his friends. They write and record rap music together... AND IT'S REALLY GOOD. I asked if they had these tracks online so people can hear more about them and was told that they are good at what they do but too lazy to promote themselves. 

Well that's about to change. People need to hear this music, and after writing my bucket list I felt really ambitious about making a documentary/story about people and the creation of songs (and the groups that write them). I told Joe to email the tracks & in my email this morning were 6 new songs to listen to. He told me I can come to the studio next time to meet everyone and listen in. In the meantime I'm going to be spending lots of free time developing a strategy to get these guys out there because they're really talented, we need more local artists, and I know for a fact other people are going to want this on their mp3 players. Project mixtape here I come. 

Some people just bring such a palpable presence to a room. Danica is such a person. When she walked downstairs, everyone could feel the positive vibes fill the space. The music carousel had the group on an awesome ride of genres, and she treated each song as a familiar friend. Singing, dancing, laughing so naturally that I couldn't help but wonder if that's how life is meant to be lived. Then when she turned down a cigarette saying she was trying to quit, the guys tried to give her a hard time about it. I told her "I don't usually say this to people I just met, but I really believe you can do it. I'm 100% sure you can quit smoking if you want to, mostly because I can sense you have a lot of strength in you. Don't listen to them you got this." She just looks at me and says "Wow. Thank you so much. No one has ever said that to me before." WHY?! Why do people not tell each other- hey, I believe in you and I want you to succeed in all that you desire to do. People need to know that. Later in the night she came up to me and said "did anyone ever tell you that you would make a great motivational speaker? because you would. and you should." Cool compliment, I'll take it. At the end of the night we did the typical handshake and she also said "thanks for dappin' me properly, people seem to have a rough time with that." Daps. 

Throughout the night I also met a man who looks just like Mac Miller (and wishes he could be a vocalist), a tattooed girl that was more chill than the sorbet in my freezer (it's Mango btw) and a guy with a stellar fro (and a love for underground hiphop). To top off the night beautifully, I also got to spend time with two of the best- Lisa & Nic. Nic recommended some amazing music for me (intrigued by a group called "Streetlight Manifesto", reviews TBD) and then had we had conversations on various topics of life. The best part about those conversations is that I gained fresh perspective through someone else's eyes. Listening skills have skyrocketed, and it definitely changes things.

The next day I spoke to an incredible woman who helps me see things in a different light. Instead of being bummed out that someone is no longer in my life, she told me the key is to accept that people come into our lives for "a reason, a season or a lifetime." It reminds me of this quote I found on the first blog I ever followed on the daily (RIP goodmorning&goodnight).

Some people come into our lives to shake things up, then you either evolve together or grow apart. I spent a long time talking to someone and learning an astronomical amount about the world, how people interact, and even more cool- I learned a lot about myself. Now I know more about what I want, what I don't want, my negative traits (working on them), my maturity levels (all about balance), my passion(s), and how to stay happy by letting go of attachment. So you could be upset by how a connection grows and then grows apart, or you could accept it for what it is and appreciate what it was. Non je ne regrette rien, oui? 

Then I took a train west to a small town cafe where I did some proactive career-planning. The delicious chai latte & blueberry muffin only amplified the excitement. During my morning there, I also overheard two coed sets of teenagers having conversations. One looked like brand new teens and the others were recent high school graduates. The interesting part to me was that the 13 year olds were having an epic intelligent conversation about science being applied to our everyday lives, and the 18 year olds were arguing about how awkward it would be if they all went to a beach house together because certain people in their group don't get along, yada yada. It was further confirmation for me that the "age is nothing but a number" theory is true. In the words of the late Amy Winehouse- "it's where you at, not where you been" (Help Yourself, 2003). Your wisdom and outlook on life has everything to do with your mindset/experiences and not how many candles you blew out on your last cake. I spent the rest of the day at a lake I stumbled upon and got in for free. I laid in the grass and started reading a section of a book called "Wanderlust, A History of Walking." Reading about the history & cultural implications of strolling around a city was one of the coolest things my brain has experienced in days. The analogies are amazing, I highly recommend it (both the book and metropolitan promenades in general).

Later that night I made dinner with my friends I met couchsurfing this past Spring and we went to another house party in Mission Park. It was a surprise party for a popular guy- complete with jungle juice, Ciroc jello shots, a piñata full of condoms, and a killer soundtrack. Doesn't get much more 'college party' than that. I had a wonderful string of conversations with new people and was again living in the moment. We went to a bar/club in downtown Boston afterwards where I finally got to dance, be an outgoing dork, and observe people. I spoke Spanish, got offered an indecent proposal, and ended up spending a lot of time with a really cool guy with excellent life stories. Overall the night was a win. 

Last night I went to the gated Coast Guard base with Lisa and we met some amazing international sailors. Uniform + accent = starstruck. They gave us a tour of their war ship (which was in Normandy on D-day) where I got to explore the entire blueprint and even sit in the Captain's chair (which is how I imagine Star Trek to be). 

We went to a pub to dance and I ran into the most handsome man I've ever met eyes with. Crisp white suit, subtle French accent, and looked like a royal. He smiled and asked me to dance. Now, again let me make it clear that I like to observe people. Spending most of my life surrounded by girls has given me a lot of insight on facial expressions and body language cues. Here jealousy was in the air. Girls in the club, girls on the street, all looking at me in a way that says 'what the hell is that girl doing with that guy, I would rip out her vocal cords to switch places, lucky bitch'. Ladies, he's just a guy. Yes he's a sexy foreign military man with an charming personality, but he's just a person like you or me. Jealousy isn't pretty, and please don't hurt my vocal cords. Although, they might have just wanted to wear the sailor hat... in which case I would totally understand. I'd be jealous of the hat too. Regardless, I had a good time. A royal midnight stroll on the waterfront was the finishing touch on another winning night. 

Today I went to Hampton Beach with an old friend from high school named Brandi. We met twice on the same day by complete accident and she's been one of my best friends ever since. Some of the craziest adventures I've ever had in my life have happened in Brandi's company and we trade music every time we hang out. Friendship ftw. Her and two teenage boys she works with came to pick me up and we road-tripped to the beach. We caught some waves, caught some rays, and basically people-watched all day long. Women's bodies were discussed almost all day because, well, they're teenage boys. But Brandi sure attracts some quality people, because these weren't your typical hoodlum high schoolers. These guys were clever and conscious and more mature than most of the guys I knew in college. Another example of age stereotypes shattered. They also told me I would make a great camp counselor which I liked more than any other compliment this weekend. We drove back during sunset & had an Italian-style picnic back in my neighborhood to finish off the day. What else could you ask for?

Now here I am, writing this ridiculously long weekend update that no one should ever be bored enough to read. Promise these won't be happening frequently. Doing this just helps me remember everything. It's a technique I picked up last year in Spain with Moleskin notebooks, but with my bad memory and fast typing time... it makes sense to have this blog. So here we are. I look forward to showing you some cool stuff in the future, and in the meantime- here's one of my favorite songs of all time.