Friday, September 13, 2013

#6 - School Clubs

Despite the fact that I was so overwhelmed by everything in my last post (and I still am), I decided that I want to push my limits by joining all the school clubs that I'm interested in.

So far I've joined...seven. On top of that, I'm also taking a one segment course on FLVS that I have to work on outside of school. And then I've got IB homework, JLPT preparation, my brother's school plays, concerts, driving practice to get my license, PSAT preparation, articles/photos to try to have published (and time to write/take them), books to read, blogs to post, advanced studying to do (yes, even more than IB), French to re-learn, friends to make, and so on and so forth...

There is no better motto
Actually, I'm almost finished with my online class even though I literally started it 2 days ago. It's a very easy class, the only thing I'm missing is printer ink to print out my infographic to fill it out. That and my teacher's going away for 10 days on a teacher conference and didn't pick up my calls today. Oh well, the calls'll be the last thing to finish up when he gets back. (I have to be in this class for a minimum of 14 days anyway.)

For now, I'll focus on my JLPT and PSAT preparation. And everything else.


Also, it'll be a pain to have to catch up on all these e-mails:

I better get started right away!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

#5 - So many events, so little money...

I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a month, I really am! School was starting back up and I got into IB (yay!), so I've been trying to get back on track with that.

But now that I've finally settled in, I'm back...Except I have a problem.

Many bands I like either released albums this summer or are releasing them on Tuesday...and there's still more announcements coming. On top of that, some bands are coming here on tour soon!

Of course I'm going to give the shows priority over the CDs (I can buy the CDs when I have money, but who knows when the next tour will be?), but I'm not even going to be able to afford all of them! >_<




When life gets hard...your head asplode

Here's a complete list of recently released (or soon-to-be-released) albums that I am interested in (the ones I have are crossed out in red):
  1. Anarbor - "Burnout"
  2. Rise Against - "RPM10"
  3. Forever the Sickest Kids - "J.A.C.K"
  4. Skillet - "Rise" (updated - October)
  5. The Used - "The Ocean of the Sky"
  6. Tonight Alive - "The Other Side"
  7. Rise Against - "Long Forgotten Songs"
  8. Bowling for Soup  - "Lunch. Drunk. Love."
  9. All Time Low - "Don't Panic: It's Longer Now"
  10. You Me At Six - "Cavalier Youth"
  11. Avenged Sevenfold - "Hail to the King"
I wonder where I'll get that money from...
I want to get a job to pay for all that stuff, but I can't. I can't even drive anywhere to get a job. I live 5.5 miles from civilization.

I get home from school at 4:30, it takes an hour for me to bike 5.5 miles. Now it's 5:30. If I start my shift right away, I can work until 8:30, because I'm only allowed to work 3 hours per day on weekdays during the school year. At that point, it's too dark and abandoned to safely head back on my bike, and even if I did, it would be 9:30 when I got back. I'm pretty sure biking 11 miles every day after school won't be such a good idea either. Also, who's gonna do all my IB homework??? (My bedtime's at 10)

If only...

Sometimes I wonder if all the bands had an agreement to release all their albums in the same time frame. I have never seen such a massive amount of album releases from bands I like in such a short time frame.

Then again, I only got really into music 4 years ago, and the place I lived in didn't sell many English-language music CDs (other than classics like the Beatles), and Amazon shipping was more than 3 times the price of the product, and eBay wasn't even an option. Also, no English-language bands ever toured there.

I guess it is quite overwhelming, to say the least.

For the record, I can't drown. I can't even go underwater. I'm too light for that.
Also, I don't know why, but I am suddenly in love with this song:


See you next time!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

#4 - Library Anime Club

The day after I went to Warped Tour, I decided to show up at my library's anime club meeting, because I've liked anime for a long time and finally had a cosplay costume.

A discounted scooter skirt from Walmart and a Japanese schoolgirl jacket from a Chinese gas station. Good enough.
If only I could cosplay more often...*sigh*

We got there a bit early and had to wait for about 10 minutes before other people started showing up. Most of them were at least 2 years older than me.

We watched about 3 1/2 episodes of One Piece as a "preview" and it was pretty funny. I couldn't stop myself from laughing at the main character's name itself!
He certainly seems like a monkey with all that energy he has!
< SPOILER >
 
And that little pink haired kid...I can't believe he still wanted to join the marines before he knew they were being forced to behave the way they were behaving!
 
< / SPOILER >
 
The thing I liked most was that it was a small event, and they had sodas and sugary foods, especially pocky. In a library. Food in a library! Let that sink in for a minute.
 
I also ended up borrowing 4 YA novels that I have to finish in the next 11 days. On top of that, I have another to read for school, a grammar chapter to annotate, 22 pages of Spanish to finish, and an online course to get over with. All. In. 11. Freakin'. Days!
 
Oh, and a guitar to practice before my free Guitar God Club membership expires sometime in that time frame.
 
Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't be writing a blog right now! I should get off the internet and get on with my work!
 
Body, you need to understand we'll be pulling a lot of one-nighters, and as such, we need you to drink lots of coffee without getting hungover from it.
 

#3 - Vans Warped Tour 2013

This year, I went to the Warped Tour (Orlando) for the first time in my life, and while it was great, it didn't seem to be everything it was hyped up to be. I'm saying this even though this was my first concert where I got to go without my parents.

 
It didn't feel any different from the two other concerts I've been to, it just had more bands and more access to them. The parking line was long, but the entry line was not. There were signings at the "Vans tent" but guess what? There were about 10 Vans tents and I couldn't get to the right one in time because I wasted too much time trying to figure out which one it was.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I only got to see two sets because my dad was dead set on leaving at 5, but it wasn't really interesting enough for me to want to stay there and do nothing between sets for a long time.
 
I saw Forever The Sickest Kids and The Used. Their sets were very good. We even attempted to break the record for the most crowdsurfers during a set during FTSK's set! To be honest, I don't even know what the current record is, but we crossed 200!
 
One day, I will do that too.
I would've crowdsurfed if I wasn't with my brother, because I had to look after him and seeing me crowdsurf would've made him want to crowdsurf too, except I don't think that would've been a good idea at his first rock show. He doesn't even like rock shows!
 
My brother's attitude during the show
At least I ended up getting lots of free (and not so free) stuff, like stickers, bracelets and a sports-type water bottle. I also bought an I Love Boobies bracelet (for Keep A Breast, a breast cancer prevention organization) and an FTSK shirt as well as their new CD.
 
I also ended up subscribing to Alternative Press for 1 year to get a signed Tonight Alive poster. I mean, 12 magazines for $10 overall instead of $4.99 per issue, which would add up to around $60 a year! $50 savings is no small amount! And a poster on top of that! I'M IN FREAKIN' HEAVEN!
 
Yay!
I also would've bought shirts from The Used and even Anarbor if I hadn't already blown all my money, and Tonight Alive if only I could find their tent. Also, Billy Talent and Man Overboard. I'll admit that I'm obsessed with wearing my interests and hobbies on my shirts.
 
 
All in all, I would rate it as a 3/5 stars experience. Not too bad but nothing special. I'm glad I got to go though.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

#2 - Johnny had a heart attack

Hello everyone. This is my second official post on this blog! Unfortunately, it contains some bad news...very bad news...

Last Tuesday, July 15, the owner of my favorite guitar shop had a heart attack. The good news is that he's still alive.


 
It's a freakin' miracle!
I went there with my family that Thursday and went in to spend some money on new guitar stuff, simply because I had money that day. My parents waited in the car while I went inside with my brother. That's when we saw his wife in the shop instead of him and she told us what happened when we asked where Johnny was.

We decided to get him a card and give it to him on Saturday. I even added a guitar sticker and three music notes stickers to the front and wrote a message on the inside.



When we went to give it to him, my brother told Johnny's wife that we wanted to hear his reaction, even though we had no prior agreement to this. She then went to give him the card and came back 10 minutes later looking very happy.

She said he was very happy to see the card and that it was the first time he smiled in 2 days. I felt like I was in heaven because I made someone I care about so happy!


I just hope that he recovers soon, because the shop just isn't the same without him.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

#1 - Welcome to my Blog!

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions in this blog do not necessarily reflect anyone but the author. This blog is written by a socially inexperienced person and nothing should be taken seriously.

Pop culture reference counter: 1

Hello. I am Aki. I'm a 15 year old living in Florida. I like to play guitar and keyboards, and I want to be in a band someday.

I speak a ton of languages and am learning a lot more. Ex - English, Hindi, French, Spanish, Japanese, etc.

I didn't like my old blog so I deleted all the posts. Now I'm going to write better than I used to.




Pop culture reference counter: 4 (Midori Days, SpongeBob and the meme itself)

See? I even got the pictures lined up!

Now that I mention it, I actually tend to use lots of pictures, because I like it better that way.

Don't worry, I don't actually use memes much, even though I could spend hours looking at them if I didn't have better things to do, like writing this blog and finishing my summer homework so I don't get screwed over in the first week of school.

 
Pop culture reference counter: 5

In my new blog, I will be covering weird and crazy stuff that I do, and by that I don't mean streaking my hair and going to parties and getting high/drunk and making babies. No, not at all.

"Weird" and "crazy" can be anything from eating sausages in the bathtub to sneaking out (to the woods, store or marathon practice) to climbing trees for jackfruits to scratching painted rules off of walls to riding an open air rollercoaster even though I have a fear of heights.

OMGIMGONNADIEIMGONNADIEIMGONNADIE- WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Other than weird and crazy, I'm also going to cover interesting things, like the time I went to John Lennon's memorial in Central Park while visiting NYC.

I hope you enjoy my future posts. I've seen stores giving free stuff with every purchase before, so here you go!