The 30-Day Challenge: Day Fourteen

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Fourteen - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

This is now the fourth prompt expecting me to begin gushing about someone in my life. That's obnoxious to the nth degree--or the fourth degree... yeah!? Do you see what I did there?? Sorry. I mean, once made sense; twice was mildly frustrating enough. And I feel like another prompt was basically asking the same question, in a converse manner. Either way, the moral of this story is that I don't like gushing about people in my life. You can draw whatever assumptions you'd like from that. I wasn't loved enough as a child. I have a debilitating disorder that limits the amount of friends who will put up with me. Because of abuse as a child, I lack the ability to articulate any emotions other than hatred, with a side of ignorance.

Anywho, rant and inappropriate jokes aside, there are quite a few people I couldn't imagine living without because they have been an impact on my life; they have changed me in ways I could never actually understand. Above is a picture of Meigan and I. She's pretty much wonderful in every way. She's meant the world to me, and been such a huge part of my life for the last year. I'm kind of crazy about her. I just wish I wasn't wearing sweatpants in the picture.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Thirteen

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Thirteen - A picture of your favourite band or artist.

This is actually a topic that's been on my mind a lot about lately. In making some new friends lately, and with one in particular, we have had lengthy conversations about our favourite music, and in sharing music, there was one band that was first on my list.

The Matches. Period. Hands down my favourite band. The photo above is from 3 April, 2008, when I saw the Matches in Chicago at the House of Blues. After their set, All Time Low disgraced the stage, and I bailed to use the toilet. Upon exiting the bathroom, I saw Shawn Harris standing by their merch table. I walked over, and when he was finished talking to whomever was there before me, I greeted him and preceded to have the most star-struck conversation of my life (to this day, I've only bested it once).

In hindsight, I wish I would have held my composure better so I could have better articulated how much I adore the Matches. At the emergence of the pop-punk machine, lead by the likes of Fall Out Boy, I honestly feel like the Matches were doing it better; they were doing it with class and flair. In an age where being "unique" had become another music cliche, they did something genuinely one-of-a-kind. The music was catchy, but with depth; the lyrics were thoughtful and meaningful, yet they also had the perfect amount of clever snark. The first time I heard the Matches' album Decomposer, it was a moment of anagnorisis. I have never listened to music the same way again.

When they played "Salty Eyes" at the concert that night, Shawn asked everyone to sing along, even if they didn't know the words, because he didn't know the words when he wrote the song. I put a link to that song specifically on the title of the song (there's a really awesome "making of" video here, if you're interested). If you don't listen to any other song, listen to that one. It's the second most beautiful song ever written, because--and this is a quote from Shawn himself--everyone agrees "Hallelujah" is the most beautiful; Shawn just said he was trying to write something to rival it.

Okay, so this has become a bit gushy, and I'm sorry for that. There's just no amount of hyperbole I could ever use to describe how remarkable of a band they were. Unfortunately, that is in the past tense. They've gone on "hiatus", with no foreseeable chance of reuniting. Since, Shawn has been making music with a new group; they call themselves Maniac. But I'll save them for another blog...

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Twelve

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Twelve - A picture of something you love.

I love quite a lot of things and people. I've been told before that I throw that word around with too high a frequency. Choosing just one thing of which I love to upload a photo was rather daunting. This photo represents one of my most intimate loves--comedy. I love comedy. I love laughing; I love making people laugh. Improv has always been an obsession of mine, currently rekindled by the new improv group started in Lafayette. Outside of the realm of improv, stand-up is my other passion. I try to consume stand-up comedy by the boatload. The picture above was my first foray into stand-up comedy. After four years meeting comedians, working with my university's activities board, I'd gotten the itch, and it was severe. With the help of a friend, I took part in a "home-grown" comedy show, where a few students did comedy sets.

I thought my set went really well. I had a blast, and it seemed like people laughed. In the aftermath, it was obvious that I offended some people with some of my jokes. Alas, it made me laugh, and I'm proud of what I did. I hope that I'll get a chance to perform comedy like that again. I've intermittently written some jokes since then, but nothing overly outstanding.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Eleven

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Eleven - A picture of something you hate.

I'm sorry for such an obscene picture--I really am. However, I hate fat people. I realise if I don't write this delicately, I'm just going to see a hatemonger. I'm not saying that everyone should seek the other end of the spectrum, but I just read an article on CNN about mothers being in denial about their obesity, and it makes me uncomfortable. I realise that I'm no poster child for a healthy weight and body image. I'm underweight. However, it seemed that the purpose of the study is the illustrate the denial obese and overweight mothers are in, and their willingness to let their children follow in their over-sized footsteps.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Ten

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Ten - A picture of someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future.

Words cannot describe the frustration I went through trying to figure out what kind of photo to use for Day Ten. The prompt is just something I don't consider; it is not on my radar at all. I'm not at a point in my life where I'm considering a serious and settled down kind of lifestyle.

However, my brother and I have had conversations about where we see ourselves and each other five, ten and twenty years down the road. Now that we've grown up quite a bit (and we no longer have to live in the same room every day), we get along really well--although, until there's a DNA test, I'm still claiming he's adopted. So, I do hope he and I can both find happiness and fulfillment in our lives, and manage to do so within a close geographical proximity to each other. He's a pretty rad dude.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Nine

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Nine - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.

Not that I'm trying to be overly nit picky, but I feel like today's prompt should probably be the same as another day. However, instead of posting the same, or a similar, photo and gushing hyperbole, I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk about a couple other of my dear friends, who have always been there for me, through good times, bad times and Kodak moments like these. Heather Madden and Matt Harmon have been wonderful friends of mine throughout my college years. One of my biggest regrets is because of my application for service with the Peace Corps, I will not be able to be a groomsman in his wedding next fall.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Eight

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Eight - A picture that makes you laugh.

Had I planned ahead, I probably would have saved yesterday's photo for today. Instead, this classic from back in 2007. My brother Tim and the Concord Marching Band marched in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The trip turned into a "family vacation" for us, so I went along as a "chaperone". It was organised through a travel agency, so one of the NYC stops was at the New York Madame Tussauds wax museum. Tim and I decided we wanted to spice up the visit by taking more entertaining photos than the usual stand-and-pose-awkwardly.

There are quite a few gems from the afternoon. I'm throwing up gang signs with John Paul II; Tim and I play the two missing Spice Girls; Tim and I showing off our grillz with Hilary Clinton. (That reference is the greatest rap song ever written--"Grillz" by Nelly, if you didn't know). However, this photo is by far the greatest--the pose, the face--everything is perfect. There was an Indian family following Tim and I, laughing at us uncomfortably the whole time.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Seven

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Seven - A picture that shows your true self.

I'll let everyone in on a little secret... I don't know a whole lot about my true self. Instead, I just thought I would show people as much as I could without having to charge a subscription fee. That's truly horrifying, and truly a lot of me. So, I assume that's totally what I was supposed to portray with this photo.

This photo was taken, as the sign says, at the boundary of a nudist beach in Brighton, England. A group of us joked about taking a photo along these lines, and when push came to shove, I was the only one with a Yes-Man philosophy. I'm glad I did it, though, because it still makes me laugh when I look at it, and nothing I've done has generated more feedback on facebook, so I consider it a win.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Six

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Six - A picture of somewhere you've been.

This was a difficult picture to choose. Mostly because (and please understand, I say this without an ounce of hubris) I have been so many places that I'm quite proud to say I have visited. I could put any photo up from my semester abroad and it would be phenomenal. I mentioned London yesterday, which is where I lived for the semester. Then, my second choice was something from Cairo, but my "profile" picture for blogger is me in front of the Pyramids. I thought another fun photo was this one taken in Paris. I spent a four-day weekend in Paris, and I had such a wonderful time. We saw a provocative photograph of a short-skirted woman bending over with the Eiffel Tower between her legs, and decided this would be our version, as I wasn't wearing a short skirt.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Five

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Five - A picture of your favourite memory.

That is my dear friend, Andy McGuire, expressing a fraction of his excitement for what ended up being our final evening in London. With a prompt as vague as "favourite memory", I was worried I wouldn't know what kind of photo to use. However, I started looking at my photos from my semester abroad and decided it had to be something from that time in my life. Then I knew.

The tickets Andy is holding are for Waiting for Godot, starring Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan (if you follow the link to the show, Stewart is no longer playing Vladimir). We woke up and stood in line because they sell tickets every morning for that day's show, and the seats were the in the front row. I actually wrote a sizable post about this after it happened, so if you'd like the detailed version of the events, read that. The short version, it was the most amazing theatre I will ever see in my life, and after the show, I went to the stage door AND MET BOTH OF THEM. THEY BOTH HAD SHORT CONVERSATIONS WITH ME AND SIGNED THE POSTER OF THE SHOW I PURCHASED. And I proved that in my old age, I can still be as flustered as a twelve-year-old girl meeting Justin Bieber.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Four

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Four - A picture of your night.

From left to right: me, Kevin Wesley, Mike Peters and Ben Domonkos. Well, this isn't my usual night, but it was a great one from the summer. Fire hooping is a delightful pastime to have, even if it's a bit more unusual. It's a former tradition from the Order of the Arrow--the Boy Scouts' honour society. My usual nights are spent working on my laptop or wasting away watching television. However, I didn't think that would be a worthwhile photo to post for people to see...

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Three

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Three - A picture of the cast from your favourite show.

From left to right: Me, Matt Harmon, Kevin Mackowicz, Mary-Katherine Hawk, Jordan Leising, Bailey Snider, Allie Hillman, Sarah Wright and Joe Stewart. Hopefully no one will accuse me of cheating, but The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was the first thing I thought of when I read "cast from your favourite show". Everyone else I've seen participate appears to have googled promotional photos of television programmes. That's legit. Had I done that, it probably would have been of Supernatural, as that is the only show I've committed myself to watching this year. However, when I see "cast" and "show", I think about theatre.

I got the marvelous opportunity to play Vice Principal Doug Panch. It was an improv-filled role, which was beautiful to do in a scripted theatre setting. I had so much fun, and another reason it was my favourite was because of the cast. I couldn't have asked for a better cast with whom to share the stage. Our cast was outstanding, and the show itself is just hilarious. I would never turn down an opportunity to see this show.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day Two

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day Two - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

From left to right: Phil Bontrager, Tim Koscielny and myself. Phil has been my friend since we were Tiger Cubs back in the first grade. He's easily my closest friend. Tim has been my brother as long as he has been alive, and while we've not always been friends, we get along swimmingly now that we don't have to share a room. This photo was taken in the summer of 2008, the year the three of us went to Warped Tour. This photo was taken right after we were at the barrier during Say Anything. It was pretty crazy.

The 30-Day Challenge: Day One

So, I've tossed around the idea of playing along with this facebook trend for sometime. But I've never really enjoyed following trends. However, my apparent narcissism keeps bringing me back to it.

That being said, I'm going to participate, but I'm going to do it here, instead of on facebook. (The goal is to satisfy my narcissism, as well as motivate me to start using my blog again.) Enjoy!

Day One - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.

One--I chose this photo because I used to have long hair, and I was always particularly fond if it. Two--I have a freckle on my nipple. Three--I have two Bachelor's degrees: one in mathematics and another in English. Four--I used to run frequently, and I miss it dearly. Five--I'm particularly pretentious when it comes to my taste in music. Six--I think it's of the utmost importance to dress in a presentable manner. Seven--Comedy is my favourite. Eight--I'm an Eagle Scout, and very proud of that fact. Nine--Hippie jokes aside, I've always been particularly fond of tie-dye shirts. Ten--My favourite board game is a toss-up between two of the notoriously geeky: Scrabble and Chess. Eleven--I like to spell out numbers. Twelve--I do not enjoy using the Oxford comma when I write. Thirteen--I sincerely dislike ignorance, and I try desperately never to be. Fourteen--I would put Nutella on anything and eat it. Fifteen--I am more scared about joining the Peace Corps than I let on.