very late at night, and in the morning light

my brother has been surprisingly agreeable these days.

new strings

I finally did it.

I re-stringed my guitar. All by myself.

It was a good thing too, because the previous strings have probably been there since I bought the guitar. Which was ehhh, 3 years, give or take a few years. Why did it take me so long? Well I guess the number one thing was that I was too scared. I thought I would either snap the strings and/or break the guitar. At last, I mustered up the courage to find a helpful website and do the deed (Ok, so the "finding a helpful website" didn't take that much bravery, it just required me to get off of Facebook, which is tougher than it sounds).

As soon as I snipped the strings and tuned them up, I began to play.

Wow.

I never really realized how beautiful my guitar could sound. I'd always blamed my less than stellar playing (hey, I only just re-picked it up a couple months ago), on the age of the strings, but I guess inside, I just thought I sucked.

Now there is hope for me. I do not sound nearly as bad as before, but you can still tell that I'm a beginner.

I feel like changing the strings is sort of a symbol to how this summer is going to be. I'm never going to know how wonderful these next few months will be until I try. I know it sounds unbelievably corny, but even sappy things can be true.

Hi! Welcome to Coldstone!

I finally found the time to sit down and memorize "1234" by Feist on the guitar. I will find a chance to tape it and share it with you guys since it is one of the few songs that I have skill enough to play ... plus it's in my very minimal vocal range.

So far working at Coldstone has been AMAZING. People have been telling me that I will get sick of it eventually and I know that that is a large possibility considering my attention span (can we even call it a "span?", about a speck?), but as of right now, I am having some serious fun. I mean, I get to sing at work for garsh's sake! And sample ice cream! (When the manager isn't looking of course) And I'm getting paid for this!

There has to be a catch.

Well, I guess that the visor I am required to wear isn't so great (the thing always slides down my forehead and over my eyes), but it's not even worth mentioning. The bottom line? I love my job! How many people do you know who can say that?

I took your Polaroid down from my wall...

I'm just sort of waiting around for one of my friends to come over. We're planning on taking out our guitars and singing some Kimya Dawson.

You might recognize her from the soundtrack for the movie Juno, but she's got a ton of other fabulous songs.

Anyways, lucky for me, her lyrics are crazy wack but the guitar parts are quite playable so I've been having fun with that.

Oh and everyone should cross their fingers for me; I've applied for jobs! I'm desperately in need of new clothes and with all the new spring floral dresses and strappy shoes out I'm practically drooling ... but alas, none of these things can be obtained without money.

So far I've tried Coldstone, Caribou Coffee, Barnes & Noble, Panera's, and Bruegger's Bagels. Caribou and Bruegger's are my top choices but I guess I'll just have to take whatever is offered to me. I've already planned out how I'm spending my paycheck, and I don't even have a job... how sad am I?

PS

If you have a Twitter, I want to know! My friends are all too wrapped up in Facebook to get one, and I'm only really following celebrities ... and they're not too interesting.

XXL Blog Post

I woke up this morning, and I just felt so energized! It's like I was plugged in and charging all night, next to my phone and iPod, and now I'm running on full juice.

It is a mystery as to why I am feeling this way. I didn't get that much sleep last night. In fact, I was up until almost one reading Sophie's Choice by William Styron (an absolutely splendid book, so far) and listening to some Elvis Costello and Kimya Dawson.

But instead of trying to figure out why I'm feeling this way, I am going to choose to embrace this wonderful feeling of awake-ness.

And that is why this is going to be the mother blog post of all blog posts.

You see, when I rose from my bed at 8 (which is early for a spring break day morning!) I not only woke up with energy, but my mind also dispelled some ideas for posts that it's obviously been holding back these last few weeks ... and so here they all are.

I'll put bold headings for each of the different ones so you don't have to read through the ones that don't sound interesting to you.

late night cleaning

I'm not sure if I'm the only person who feels this way, but I believe that the best time to clean my bedroom is anytime after 10 PM. I'm not the most organized person in the world, but I do get those sudden urges to just... rearrange!

Most of the time, it's one little thing that sets off this vaccum-like frenzy. Maybe a pair of jeans on the floor, or an overfilled trash can; before you know it, I'm in full maid mode.

There have been many times where I have meant to just organize my desk ... but this intention morphs into me arranging my underwear by color at 3 in the morning.

And the crazy thing about all of this?

I actually like this feeling! Maybe it's just that the moment I plug my iPod into the iHome and turn up the tunes, I'm invincible ... time means nothing to me.

It's like I'm Cinderella ... except for the evil stepmother... and stepsisters, and Prince Charming, and little enchanted animals... okay forget that entire analogy.

But in the end, falling asleep in a nicely made bed in a resplendent room makes up for it all.

intelligent texts?

Is it an oxymoron? It must be. In the past 1 hour, I have received around 45 text messages from 4 people and I could probably summarize them all for you: hey what's up/i'm bored/let's hang out/ugh i should do my homework.

I look back at all the time I've spent texting and it's daunting... to be honest, it's a huge waste of my time.

So why do I still do it?

I don't know, maybe I feel loved when people send me a 'hey, what's up?' or it's just a good time waster?

But here's an invitation to all my blog readers: Start up an intelligent text message conversation with me that is actually worthwhile. If you're ready to step up to the challenge, send an email to swedishfishnovels@gmail.com, maybe we can start a revolution against worthless messages.

Unfortunately, this offer is only for those who live in America ... and non creepy people (This is not unfortunate). So in your email message to me, you have to prove somehow that you are not creepy.

the new and improved Eura

This post is going to be pretty straightforward.

So basically I'm going through an awakening of sorts. I'm shedding the parts of myself that were stale and just basically there because of routine (for example, my t-shirts with sarcastic sayings).

Keep in mind, that I'm not doing this for anyone but myself. There's no clique that I want to join, and my parents aren't making me do this. This is my decision. I'm just ready for a change, and I'm sick of having pretty much the same wardrobe as I did two years ago.

There are 4 basic areas in which I have decided to improve myself on: books, clothing, music, and music (different area).
books
OLD: basically just reading what's been assigned in school. I've read two books in the last two months for fun (Fast Food Nation and To Kill a Mockingbird) but I want to start being more literary. I remember when I was little, I would borrow 25 books from the library and devour them all in a matter of weeks. But since I'm in high school now, it's been a lot more difficult to find time to just read.

Now, I'm shrugging that excuse off. I'll find time to read. Like time wasted on mindless Facebook, or whenever my orchestra teacher opens her mouth I'll just hide behind my cello and crack open a book, or anytime I have to wait in line anywhere. So basically, I've discovered all this lost time that could be spent reading, and it feels great.

Ever since this revelation, I've managed to read East of Eden and Of Mice and Men (I've really become a big fan of Steinbeck) and I'm currently about halfway through Sophie's Choice. Next up for me is Vanity Fair by William Makepeace (oh man, I love that) Thackeray and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (If you haven't noticed yet, I'm trying to read more literary classics too).

ACCOMPLISHMENT: more intelligent book reading.

clothing
My style before this wasn't too bad actually. In fact, I like most of the clothes in my closet. My wardrobe basically consists of jeans, various flowy skirts, big buckled belts, a few cardigans, and a variety of tops. You know, just simple.

I would usually wear outfits to school that color coordinated, not over the top... but like I usually wore a certain pair of shoes and a belt with this one shirt because they were the same hue... that sort of thing. Now I've just decided to throw that all out the window.

For example, yesterday: olive green army pants, navy blue American Eagle tank top, sky blue Lacoste polo, flip flops, and a bright pink hat someone knit (knitted? knat?) for me in 7th grade. Man, that's how I roll.

I've decided not to care about how it all fits together. If I want to wear flower print shorts with a striped shirt... I'm going to do it, goddammit!

ACCOMPLISHMENT: more enjoyment with wearing my clothes.

music

I'm like most teenagers out there with a soul. I really like music.

But lately, I've been too lazy to look up any new bands or songs and so my iPod became something that I just listened to on the bus.

Not anymore.

I've checked out some cds from the library, perused through iTunes, and asked friends for suggestions and now I'm completely re-fallen in love with music.

new finds (at least to me) include Be Your Own Pet, The Moldy Peaches, and Elvis Costello.

And you know what else?

I've decided to stop being so snobby towards some of the mainstream music out there. Before, I would turn my nose up to the Top 40 stations and instead turn to my Radiohead... I'm going to admit it, some of those songs really arent' that bad. Sure, I don't think that I'll ever be able to fully stomach a lot of the r&b/rap songs out there, but honestly... Taylor Swift is pretty decent! And there's nothing better to blast while you're cruising down the highway than 'Gives You Hell' by the All American Rejects, or 'My Life Would Suck Without You' by Kelly Clarkson.

ACCOMPLISHMENT: more tunes, and more open minded-ness to music!

the other music:

You may have read the post a few ways back about my re-pickup of the guitar. Well I just wanted to tell y'all that it's going great. I am now unable to honestly say I'm bored again because whenever a feeling of lethargy comes over me, I just hustle on over to the geetbox and life is exciting.

Sure I can only play simple songs (like Taylor Swift and Oasis) but that's okay with me.

Basically my goal in this area, is just to get better and continue having fun with it.

ACCOMPLISHMENT: re-learned the guitar, and found something that I hope to do for the rest of my life.

end
:)

Twang

Our school's annual variety show was held on Friday. I give kudos to my fellow classmates who risked total embarrassment to flaunt their skills in front of the entire student body.

Thankfully, this year's performance was a vast improvement over last year's.

I'm not saying that those previous show participants weren't talented, per se... it's just that some of their acts were cringe-worthy.

There was the boy who brought his guitar on stage and spilled his guts out in a angst-ridden song complete with passionate exhortations and vocalizations into the mike in a slightly tone deaf whine.

Or the girl with the powerful voice... but not the range required to sing the song (Think James Earl Jones attempting to vocalize one of Mariah Carey's impossibly high lines).

But anyways, 2009's show was everything a talent show should be. Full of talent.

There was one performance that really struck me (not including the violin duo in sunglasses who managed to play pretty much every hit played on the radio brilliantly): a senior girl who played the guitar and sung "One Sweet Love" by Sara Bareilles. She just walked onto the stage and she looked so cool.

It wasn't what she was wearing. In fact, her overly bohemian dress (long knit sweater, brown leggings, thick scarf, brown suede boots) was overkill.

It was her guitar.

And I was inspired to pick up my Fender at home later that day and start playing again.

I'd taken lessons a few years back, but I quit due to the fact that I had no time... and I was just getting bored with it.

Now I'm back, and I'm really enjoying it!

Maybe I'll have to put a video up of me playing some annoying-ly simple pop song... but when I get better.