I've been having trouble keeping track of who's playing at what fests and when, so I'm making a big list here. For some of the fests I'm not putting all the performers, just the ones I'm most excited about. I'll update it as needed, but in the meantime, here we go!

Chicago Gaelic Park Irish Festival
May 29th-May 30th
Scythian

Celtic Fling
June 25th-June 26th
Enter The Haggis

Great American Irish Festival
July 23rd-July 25th
The Elders
Enter The Haggis
Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
Leahy
Prodigals
Ceann
Glengarry Bhoys
The Mahones

Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival
July 23rd-July 25th
Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
Shindig
Brigid's Cross
Scythian
Screaming Orphans
The Kreelers
Homeland

Dayton Celtic Festival
July 30th-August 1st
The Elders
Gaelic Storm
Scythian
Teada

Dublin Irish Festival
August 6th-August 8th
Natalie MacMaster
Gaelic Storm
Solas
Lúnasa
Scythian
Enter The Haggis
Munnelly
The Tartan Terrors
Tommy Sands and his Irish Band
Barleyjuice
Celtic Spring

Iowa Irish Festival
August 6th-August 8th
Pogey

La Crosse Irish Festival
August 13th-15th
Pogey
Gaelic Storm
Celtic Spring
Scythian
Seamus Kennedy
Slide

Milwaukee Irish Festival
August 19th-August 22nd
Cape May Ceili Band
Different Drums of Ireland
Evans and Doherty
Gaelic Storm
Red Hot Chili Pipers
Scythian
Screaming Orphans
Slide
Young Dubliners

Buffalo Irish Festival
August 27th-August 29th
Enter The Haggis
Prodigals
Pogey

Kansas City Irish Festival
September 3rd-September 5th
Pogey
Cara
2Duos
The Guggenheim Grotto
Screaming Orphans
The Elders

Pittsburgh Irish Festival
September 10th-September 12th
No more info on this one yet

I had to write an essay titled "This I Believe" for one of my classes. Thought I'd share, 'cause I'm a little proud of it. Enjoy!

I believe in people, I believe in creativity, I believe in media, and I believe a shared human existence. I believe people have evolved (or been created, as you prefer) to be part of a larger community, whether it be a family unit, a geographical space, a belief system such as a religion, an artificial entity such as an internet group or educational institution, or a combination of any and all of these. It's been proven time and again that people left alone for long periods without interpersonal interaction suffer long term effects. Most adolescents cite social isolation as their primary fear, and children thrive on contact and encouragement from others. When one considers these facts, it becomes apparent that we are made to interact with and learn from each other.

When the internet first went mainstream, there was a lot of concern that people, specifically children and teens, would become isolated from the lack of interpersonal communication. People were cited as being "addicted" to the internet, unable or unwilling to leave their computers for long periods of time while their family and friends felt jilted in favor of an electronic box plugged into the wall. What people failed to realize in those initial years, and are even now still realizing, is that the internet is not an isolating entity. Rather, it connects you to every person in the world with internet access. Chat rooms, message boards, listservs, and now social networking sites and YouTube allow people to connect over long distances in an unprecedented way. Similar arguments have been made about video games, but most video games are now connected to the internet and allow players to interact in real time with people all over the world. When one considers these facts, it becomes apparent that the internet allows us to interact and learn from each other.

The internet and other related technologies have also sparked a kind of renaissance in creative endeavors. Digital cameras allow even the most inexperienced user to take pictures of their lives that can be instantly uploaded to photo sharing sites such as Flickr and Deviant Art and shared with the world. Blogs allow anyone to share their opinion or story with the world by signing up for free service with sites such as Blogger and LiveJournal, and YouTube has allowed millions to share original music, opinion, and artistic endeavors (as well as the occasional pet ferret on a trampoline). If we find creative material we like, we can tell our friends about it through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or even good old fashioned Email. When one considers these facts, it becomes apparent that the internet encourages us to be creative and allows us to share our creative endeavors with a broader demographic than any other medium.

According to Myers-Briggs, I am an INFJ. According to Wikipedia, INFJs are "conscientious and value-driven. They seek meaning in relationships, ideas, and events, with an eye toward better understanding themselves and others. Using their intuitive skills, they develop a clear vision, which they then execute decisively to better the lives of others." I agree with assessment the most when I consider how I use the internet. I share my opinions and ideals by joining internet groups of people with similar opinions and ideals, and through Facebook most of my friends can view what groups I support and thereby see what I believe. Most of my current communication with my family is completely internet based. I contribute to discussions and create new media through YouTube, message boards, and Twitter. I "seek meaning in relationships, ideas, and events" by looking at my friends's various profiles and figuring out what they believe in and support. When I have an idea, my first action typically is to put it on the internet in some form in order to begin working on it, as well as to receive input from my digital community. I also belong to several groups that regularly raise money for humanitarian aid (By the way, The Harry Potter Alliance is currently holding an online auction for Haiti!). When one considers these facts, it becomes apparent that 1. I am an internet junkie 2. Myers-Briggs are geniuses 3. the internet allows me, as an individual, to participate in communities and endeavors that I would otherwise have no access to.

As a future librarian, I believe that my familiarity with these resources will allow me to help those unfamiliar with or intimidated by the internet to become part of a larger community. I can help people begin creative endeavors and later share them with the world. I can show people how to locate accurate information consistently by distinguishing between credible internet based information providers and those that seek to destroy them. Lastly, I can help those that feel disconnected from the people around them (like myself) to find community with those that feel the same way and repair that disconnect by, well, connecting...to the internet. When one considers these facts, it becomes apparent that I have a passion for bringing people together with technology that will bring them back to people. This I Believe.

I got back into Ohio on Saturday, spent Sunday with Grandma and Papaw, and headed back to school on Monday. It really doesn't feel like Thursday, as in this is the 4th day I've been back, but at the same time it's like I've been here soooo long, almost like I never left. And I love it! My friend Dani came to meet me on Monday and we went over to our friends' apartment and just sat around and talked and laughed. It was fantastic. I went school shopping on Tuesday, but as soon as I got back Dani was calling me to hang out. I really, really missed my friends here and had forgotten how much I rely on them to keep me both grounded and entertained. Went to work yesterday and did 3.5 hours of data entry (w00t? er, no), but also got to meet the new intern who seems super cool and friendly. Then I had my first class last night, which was...torturous? It's from 6:05pm-9:55pm, which means I will be battling the dreaded sleep dragon all semester. Not only is the class long, but it's also...I don't want to say boring, because all classes are important and relevant in their own way, but this one just seems...repetitive and...uninteresting. Does that work? A little? Maybe? No? Ok... But we shall overcome!

I got some SUPER exciting new last night. Emily and I were approved to present at OCTELA in March! OCTELA is the Ohio Council for Teachers of English and Language Arts. They have a conference every spring in Columbus. Those of you that have been around for a while might remember me talking about this last year because I presented last year as well. This is different, though. Last year, I was presenting as part of a large group of student led by my professor. This year, it's just me and Emily. That actually makes me a little nervous now, but...it'll be sooooo awesome! On a similar thread, I'm going next week to talk about YALit for Boys to a class of future teachers at WSU. It's actually the same class and professor I took oh so long ago, the one that made me realize I wanted to be a librarian, so I'm REALLY excited about it. And nervous. I also have a laundry basket full of Boy's YA books next to me now, meaning my dirty laundry gets a pile on the floor...so cluttered? Yes, I feel cluttered. I would venture to guess I have roughly 150 books in my room right now. No, more, I just counted the little shelves over the desk and that alone is 73, and there at least that many in the basket, probably more, then there are my textbooks...yeah, lots of books. I really like it, though...books...

Completely unrelated, but I've become a big fan of Spring Awakening. I read about it because Lea Michelle (Rachel from Glee) was in it, and then I was just fascinated. I got the soundtrack yesterday and its AWESOME. Here, check out their performance at the Tony's a few year back:
 

 

Awesome, right? Love it. Seriously. Also in entertainment, I've started watching Dr. Who because I got sick of people talking about it and never knowing what they're talking about it. Because I'm OCD like that, I started at Season 1, episode 1. I have to say, I found the first couple episodes...cheesy. Really bad. But somewhere between the Zombies and the Aliens, I saw how cool it was. And I like it now. So I'm gonna keep watching. :D

I might have a job (that pays) later today, and am super excited. I'm going to meet with someone about it in a bit and am fairly anxious. I really want the job and kinda don't know what I'm gonna do if I have to go another semester without income. That sucked. Anyway, guess I'll sign off here and check you cats later. Ciao!

 I really like movie soundtracks. My mom collected them when she was young and passed the obsession on to me. It's always amazed me how some people brush movie soundtracks off as less-than music because they are written to accompany a movie rather than to stand alone, but I think a truly great soundtrack can stand as its own work of art. The argument could also be made that the film score has replaced the symphony in contemporary culture, but I don't wanna go there right now. What I want is to give you my Top Ten list of movie score, both instrumental and otherwise, with my reasons as to why they are spectacular. In countdown form, here we go!

10. Twilight Soundtrack
      This is a great example of using popular bands on a soundtrack to promote the movie, boost soundtrack sales, and simultaneously create a fantastic record. This one has several original tracks on it written by popular groups, such as Paramore, as well as older tracks by other bands, like Muse's Supermassive Black Hole, and a single original instrumental track. The tone of the record really reflects the tone of the movie using both songs that were in the movie and songs that weren't. Good soundtrack. 

9. Mamma Mia! Soundtrack
   Now, I will definitely agree that one must fulfill one of two requirements to enjoy this album: once must be open to enjoying either musicals, or ABBA. If you are obstinately opposed to both of these, feel free to proceed to the next album. For the rest of us, this album doubles as a best-of ABBA collection AND a fantastic Broadway-style musical score. The vocals are pretty awesome, especially newcomer Amanda Seyfried. Pierce Brosnan gives an honest go of it, but his tracks are more fun to laugh at than enjoy for their musical merit. Still, this album will take you up, down, and all around with a collection of amazing songs by an amazing band, now redone for film.

8. Where the Wild Things Are Soundtrack
  When I saw this movie in theaters, all I could think through the whole thing was "I REALLY need to get this soundtrack." It's a good album, but not as good as I thought it would be. A lot of its musical strength comes from being paired with the images in the film. A perfect axample is the track Worried Shoes. It is one of the most touching, emotional, beautiful moments in the film complete with a sad little boy, snow, and mood music. However, the track on it's own simply seems repetitive and long. Now, that's just my opinion, I've heard others say it's one of the most moving tracks they've ever heard...but this is my blog, so pooey on them! I really like the track All Is Love that was featured on the movie trailers, as well as the Wild Rumbus track itself. Fun album, as long as you don't go into it expecting too much.

7. Juno Soundtrack
    So many people I talk to about this one say "Woah, that music was weird".  Well, yeah, it is. That's why I like it. The article I read about this one said the director asked Ellen Page what kind of music she thought her character, Juno, listened to and the actress replied "Kimya Dawson". When they sent an inquiry to the artist, she responded with CDs of everything she had ever written and they went from there. There are other artists on the album as well, such as Antsy Pants and Velvet Underground, but anyone paying attention will realize these aren't exactly radio hits we're talking about here. I like the way the director used the music and soundtrack to expand on Juno's unique quirkiness. I mean, it's one thing for a girl to own a hamburger phone, but her cred as a unique individualistic teen goes out the window when Rhianna is playing in the background. The music is a fun, unique interpretation of the individualistic youth culture in America today that insists on rebelling against the radio-perfect norm and instead focuses on anything they are sure their parents won't get. Love it!

6. Star Trek Soundtrack
  Now, I should preclude this one by letting you know that I haven't actually gotten my hands on a copy of the albums itself yet, so this is all based on my viewing of the movie. But the music actually in the movie, and the way it was used, was really, REALLY good. It was obvious they worked to blend the older Star Trek standards into a new work that would simultaneously stand on its own as a great work, as well as respect the history the film was working to expand on. There were sweeping score moments that made me jump up and down in my seat, as well as touchy-feely moments that melt your heart. Awesome soundtrack, can't wait to find a copy of it!

5. Spiderman 2 Soundtrack
   This album maintains the tone of the movie while expanding on its more emotional moments. My favorite track is by Yellowcard, an original track for the album called Gifts and Curses that describes Peter Parker's feelings for Mary Jane and how his superhero actions are all for her. "I see your face with every punch I take, and every bone I break, it's all for you". So beautiful. Dashboard Confessional does the memorable first track Vindicated that was featured in most of the movie trailers. Like Twilight, this is a great example of a franchise making use of access to big names in music to up album sales, increase awareness of the movie, and build on the actual art of the piece itself. Awesome.

4. Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack
   I had never heard of a single artist on this CD prior to owning it, but am now so in awe of them all that I feel ashamed that there was a time when I was so ignorant. A.R. Rahman, the score composer, is a premiere composer in Bollywood and has done A LOT of REALLY big films over there. For this album, however, he teamed up with hip-hop artist M.I.A. to write some very unique, fun, beautiful tracks that do a fantastic job of giving western viewers a background musical way to experience the culture and activity that is urban India. My favorite track is the first, "O...Saya" which opens the film. It starts out with a solo voice singing what sounds like prayer chants, but is quickly taken over by urban beats combined with traditional drums, and then M.I.A. drops in with some killer rhymes that eventually blend together with everything else to give a musical expression of the city. Awesome. Fusion.

3. The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack
    This musical has become a cult classic with the goth-rock-and-roll-emo-"I watch cartoons" gang, which I guess sometimes includes me...anyway, the music is done by Danny Elfman, the same guy that does all of Tim Burton's films. He excels in big, dark, deep sounds that sound awesome in stereo headphones and tend to be coupled with the color black. This is a pretty traditional musical in terms of the music, but the lyrics go back and forth between being hilariously funny and I-cut-myself sad. From a music theory stand point, the score really is revolutionary and unique. It is also the sign of a truly great musical score when you can follow the story simply from the music, and it is definitely doable with this album. So, even if you haven't seen the film, check out the soundtrack.

2. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Soundtrack
   After the movies were completed, Howard Shore, the film's composer, wasn't quite ready to leave the project and composed a 6-Movement Symphony from the movie scores. I got to see it during its American premiere in Columbus, OH and it was amazing. The movie scores themselves are each unique while also holding a continuity between them that are needed in a project like Lord of the Rings. The final soundtrack, however, holds the advantage of being able to allude back to themes used in the previous films and albums, thus making it a stronger, more diverse score in itself. My favorite theme is that of the Ride of the Rohirrim which features a fantastic solo violin being supported by the entire strings section. There are also some great percussion runs for the battle sequences. All around great album.

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Soundtrack
    This is a traditional style movie soundtrack with huge instrumental pieces created by the master of film score himself, John Williams. This is the same man that brought us such works as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T., and the previous two Harry Potter scores. Unfortunately, this would be the last HP film he would score (in my opinion, the single greatest crime perpetuated by the franchise), but it was also the most awesome. This score was so amazing, that they continue to use pieces of it in the background of interviews and on the DVD menu screens. There are sweeping moments of huge, blasting, beautiful symphonic magnificence, quirky, hopping scene with piping woodwinds, as well as some fantastic kettle drum solos that make me tear up because I WANNA PLAY IT! It was all, in fact, recorded by the world famous London Symphony Orchestra, giving it even more cool points that it already has. If you wanna check it out and are of an iTunes disposition, check out track 20, the Finale, which revisits each of the major themes in the films. Thank me later, hehe.

So there you have it, the closest I've ever come to giving an actual CD review on my blog. Hope you liked the list and at least more informed, if not excited to go check out some new music. See ya! 

I have to that admit I cheat on my school work sometimes. Now, I don't mean I cheat on tests or copy homework or anything like that. If you don't believe me, look at my transcripts. No one cheating on tests or copying homework would get as many bad grades as I do. But less-than-average GPAs aside, I tend to take a lot of classes where I get to pick my own reading. Both in my undergrad, and now in Library school, I am often given a list or 20 and told to pick x number of books to read from each list and write an annotated bibliography. Honestly, this is my favorite type of assignment ever, except for that part where I pick the books. I love reading, I read constantly, and I usually read the kinds of books that I have to read for my classes. I'm going into Teen Library Services, so my classes have me reading Young Adult Literature...which I read on my own constantly. The problem is when I have to do these assignments and there's that line in the syllabus that says "In order to optimize your exposure to the literature, choose books that you have not read before." 

When I'm picking books to read, I have a few basic strategies:
1. Front-Facing- Bookstores and libraries tend to front-face books that are selling well or are particularly popular for one reason or another so that you see them first. I'll read these.
2. Author Works- When I find an author I like, I tend to read as much of their writing as possible, preferably all at once, so I can see how their writing changes from novel to novel. It is this strategy that allowed me to realize that Neal Shusterman's multi-narrator setup was choppy in Everlost because he tended to focus on single-narrator stories before that, but that it was much, much clearer in his following novel, Unwind.
3. Award Lists- I look at the award lists that ALA and other organizations release every year, as well as subscribe to various weekly newsletters that have lists and reviews on various genres.

It's the last strategy that causes me so much trouble in these classes. Perfect example: as soon as it was released, I read all of YALSA's Teens' Top Ten for 2009. For the class I have coming up, I have to read one of these books that  haven't read yet. Those of you following will realize that this is impossible. I've spent the last month working steadily through the Printz Award list and am having the same problem there. The professor gave a number of lists specific to genres (fantasy, biography, graphic novels, etc.) that I have to pick at least one of to read. Thing is, I've read all the good, notable books on the lists already! 

So what will I do? Well, for now, I'll cheat. I'll write up my info an some of the books I've already read and get ahold of as many of the good ones I haven't that I can. Then, after ALA's Mid-Winter meeting, I'll read the books from th 2010 lists and add them into the mix! Come on, ALA, mama needs some booklists!

 This is my first full day off since I got here. It's been nice having work to do, but also a little trying as I have less time with my brothers when I'm at the candy store. I'm also chronically sore in my legs/knees/feet from the concrete floors. Seriously, I try to get up in the morning and it'll take two or three tries. Bu anyway, I got today off and am hanging out with my brothers at the local hot spot/coffee place. They have one of their friends here too and they're playing RuneScape. There's a lady a few feet away that looks both confused and annoyed by their presence, so that's entertaining, lol! 

Christmas was pretty good. We did most of the normal Christmas stuff on Christmas eve (presents, dinner, etc.) because on Christmas Day we all went and volunteered at a local dinner for the less fortunate citizens of the area. Mom wrote a big thing on her blog about it, so here's a link to that if you're interested. There are bunch of pictures, including two of yours truly! Can you spot them? It was a pretty cool day, I got to run the Children's area and spent the day doing arts and crafts and rolling around on the floor with a bunch of little kids. Fun times!!

In other news, I got the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince 2-Disc DVD for Christmas and, after watching it, joined the MuggleNet RPG and researched ways for me to get to the new theme park this spring...yeah, fantastic. Nothing like watching a movie to renew a obsession and put all my summer plans in jeopardy.

I'm trying to decide if I want to get a coffee. I had a smoothie already...I just feel like I need a coffee...

We're going to see Sherlock Holmes after we get out of here. As an English Major, I'm a little nervous about this dangerous, dashing, sexy adaptation...but as a Jude Law fan, I say "Ooo, Watson!" So yeah, a bit conflicted. But the brothers wanna go see it, so off we go.

The coffee place we're in is also a bookstore and it's taking every ounce of strength for me to not go looking too close at books. 'Cause then I'll wanna buy one. And I told myself I wasn't gonna buy books up here like I did last year because they were a big pain to transport back. Bleargh.

Little bro just offered to pay for everyone's movie, then came to ask me if I really wanted to go because he doesn't have money for everyone. Genius! lmao, I think it's all worked out though...anyway!

I think I'm done. Can't think of anything else...which is weird 'cause this is a short post. Oh well, cya!

I've been obsessing over Glee for about the last month, so the title of today's post comes from the season finale's perfectly executed rendition of Don't Rain on My Parade, sung by the ever fantastic Lea Michele. Love it. I'm back in Alaska. I usually only come up here for the holidays, so it's a great kind of bookend to the year. I get to look at what I've done and how I've developed during the year because, let's face it, no on makes you own up to your faults like your family. I kinda wanna do a list, so here we go!

Cassie's Top Ten of 2009
1. Graduating from WSU after 6 years as an undergrad
2. Milwaukee/Dublin Irish Festival (they blend together at points, so I'm counting them as one occasion) Awesome. I want to do it again and again and again...
3. Getting accepted into the KSU School of Library and Information Science as a grad student. I'm constantly in awe over that. (What, me? REALLY??)
4. Becoming an active member of the Nerdfighter community. It was just around this time last year that I purchased Paper Towns and read the reference to the "Video Blogging project" on the back flap. Awesome.
5. Getting my first car in my name, title, insurance, and everything. It's weird...
6. Discovering Twitter and all it's awesome implications for work and play
7. Pittsburgh Irish Festival. Completely different experience from the above fests, much more grown-up, on my own kinda feel...which was cool...and weird...but cool, lmao!
8. Moving back into a dorm. It's had it's ups and downs, but I've made a few really good friends in there and gotten back into that solo-living thing I've been so out of for so long. Good experience...I guess
9. Going the entire year, including the solo time in the dorm, without owning a TV!
10. The 82+ books I've read this year! (82 being the number I posted on my GoogReads, the written list is in Ohio) Speaking of which...

I experienced Library Rage today. I've been going to the public library closest to school since I got here and have had a couple problems, like being hassled about the address for my card, or never once seeing anyone actually working anywhere in the library other that the checkout desk, or the fact that about half the books in the teen section are constantly misshelved. But I got over it...till tonight. After searching and searching, I found an employee and asked where the Graphic Novels were. Her response was...they didn't have any. At all. Because "the woman that orders the books doesn't like them."

Oh. My. God. Let's just push aside the fact that the 2007 Printz Award Winner was a graphic novel (American Born Chinese by Gene Lee Yang) and that graphic novels are used consistently by teachers and general literacy programs because of their accessibility to struggling readers, but isn't it against the library profession to withhold information or materials from the patrons? According to The American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights, "Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval." This page interprets this statement in relation to collection development, including being "inclusive, not exclusive", and also that "policies should not unjustly exclude materials and resources even if they are offensive to the librarian or the user." THIS INCLUDES GRAPHIC NOVELS!!

How can they possibly get away with this, especially with the state's only accredited School of Library and Information Science less than a mile away?

I'm planning on causing a fuss...so I'll keep you updated! Ciao!

Yeah, sorry for the temporary leave of absence, it was unintentional. I got a little overwhelmned with some stuff and I've been running back and forth to Dayton a bunch because Papaw had knee surgery right around Halloween. In fact, I'm there now. I hadn't realized how comfortable and familiar Kent had become until I got here the other night and felt completely disoriented sleeping in my old bed. It just felt foreign, like I'd never lived here at all. Weird how fast we can move on if we embrace the new. Anyway, away from all that deep, reflective junk and onto what's new and improved about me!

I'm still technically unemployed (fml), but I do have the internship at the record label to keep me busy. I've also been helping out with/learning about sound at a local venue and it ROCKS. Classes are going well, if slowly, but I have a really cool Children's Lit workshop coming up that I'm excited about.I love books...

Also, I should tell you all before you find out on Facebook and get all confused about why I don't talk about it...I met someone. And he's awesome. And we're going out. And I'm absolutely amazed at how uncomfortable it makes me to write about this on here, lol! I guess it's 'cause I tend to find the posts and updates on how wonderful significant others are a bit cheesy...and annoying. I mean, when it comes to this stuff, I tend to stay kinda private. I know, it's kind of unlike me. I mean, I write on here constantly, I update my FB and MySpace monthly, I Tweet, I DailyBooth...really, it isn't that hard to get a pretty close-to-complete picture of who I am as a person by being a resourceful internet citizen. But this isn't even about the internet. I mean, I'm private about it in real life too ("it" being relationships). I think it's 'cause I'm used to being single in a depressed and sullen way and when I'm in that state of mind and hear someone talking about their relationship, or read those annoying little Facebook updates about how the wonderful boyfriend remembered the anniversary, I get really sad, annoyed, and frustrated all at the same time. And I know I'm overly sensitive about it, I've been working on it. Really. But I still think like that a lot and don't want to cause any of my friends that same feeling. Am I nuts? I think so, but oh well. I mean, I changed my FB and Myspace status hoping it would get burried in the new Live Feed feature...but someone saw it and commented, and the someone else and someone else enough so that now I'm pretty sure it's showing up on the News Feed and every one of my 600 friends sees it as soon as they sign on...and I'm sorry, but that makes me uncomfortable. Everytime I see that someone else has commented on in, I just get nauseous. Damn. But he is awesome.

SUBJECT CHANGE!! I went to 2 Scythian shows this week and have 3 GB of pics and videos to post as soon as I get back to school. WOW boys areborrowing my laptop, so I'm using Papaw's computer and, honestly, I'm surprised it's supporting this editing program right now. So yeah, once I get back to Kent and the wonderfulness that is my PC, there will be a plethora of media resources available for your perusal. Hehe!

That's all you get for now. More to come soon. Good day!

Anyone that was on the internet in the late 90's remembers GeoCities. It used to be an independent free website hosting service that was later bought by Yahoo! on which individuals could make websites about stuff. Anything really. Little animated .gifs flourished on GeoCities and most of the sites also had those obnoxious looped Midi tracks playing in the background. But it was the 90's and we loved it. GeoCities, now owned by Yahoo!, was shut down this week. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that GeoCities, and the other services that were out there at the time, were a really big part of the way the internet evolved.

In school right now I've been learning a lot about Web 2.0. I had never really heard this term before grad school, but the more I learn about it the more I realize how spectacularly immersed in it I am. Web 2.0 is the idea that the internet connects people and is interactive. Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Twitter, Livejournal, these are all sites and services through the internet that encourage people to participate and connect with each other, as well as to create new content. People post pictures and talk about what they're doing with their lives and share their hobbies and interests...any of this sound familiar?

The majority of the pages on GeoCities were pages made by individuals that talked about what that person was interested in. There were fan pages for video games and movies, there were stories with illustrations, there were pages with information made by amateur scientists/dog breeders/truckers, really anything you could think of could be found on there, the page laid out in the most basic HTML code with the repeating tile background that makes the text near impossible to read. Parents made pages about their kids, my mom made a page about my little brother's illness, and I...well, I had a page that hosted a legion of little animated faeries, complete with a story I wrote about them and clickable images embedded and hidden throughout the site to take you to new parts of the story. Trust me, it was very sophisticated for a 12-year-old.

I would argue that the fan and personal pages on GeoCities were the grandmas of every social networking site you can think of today. They were simple, they were repetitive, they were annoying, but they asked people to contribute to the internet in a way nothing before them really had. And so, today, we mourn the death of Web 2.0's Grandma. We'll miss you, GeoCities! Rest in peace.

Twice this week I've signed online to be greeted by messages of "OMG, you're alive! Yes!" So yes, I'm alive, I survived the dreaded strep...and David's birthday party, but that's another story for another time. For now I wanna tell you about this thing my mom has gotten into. It's a program called Snowball Express that does program for kids of military personnel killed in action. She write a whole about it on her blog, so check it out, k?

Had a crazy time last week. In the midst of illness I was attacked by the homework beast and forced to perform amazing demonstrations of academic prowess in order to prove worthy of continuing in my program...yeah, that sounded more excited than the reality of me sitting at my computer typing for obnoxious amounts of time, but whatever. I read a lot, too. I finished Leviathan and it was awesome. Serious. I finished reading it and was immediately depressed that I had to wait so long for the next book to come out...so I read Extras from Mr. Westerfeld's other awesome series. Yeah, I had been putting that one off because I just couldn't imagine it being as good as the first three or making the world more awesome than it already was...but I was wrong. It was so cool to imagine this future not only in relation to the continent I'm currently on, but to also imagine how the other cultures of the world would interpret that future. Amazing. Too cool. I've started Silver is for Secrets by Laurie Faria Stolarz now, and it proves just as disturbing/exciting/readable as the previous two. Should be good.

Remember the paper mache tree I was talking about a few post ago? With the squirrel and the books? Well, it was for a competition. And it won. So yay MLIS! Yay for being good at crafts! Yay for the justification of the 12+ hours I spent working on it! Just yay!

I watched Transformers 2 again last night with some friends. I commented that one of my favorite things about the movie was the sound track and was surprised when I had to explain why, so I thought I'd put it on here. Most everyone, I'm sure, has heard the Linkin Park song from the movie, Great Divide. It's a great rock song, I like it. What people don't seem to notice/realize is that a majority of the music in the actual score of the movie is just an expansion of that song. It's really kinda cool to listen to. I noticed it right away the first time I saw it and got really excited, but it wasn't till last night that it dawned on me that not everyone is obsessed with film scores. (Thank, mom!) So yeah, think of that as your "Did you know?..." of the day and go watch the movies. It kicks, seriously.

I bought a little notebook a couple weeks back thinking I'd start a German journal...then I just didn't. I finally sat down yesterday and wrote out an entry and was really surprised/depressed at how long it took me to fill the page. Language is seriously like a muscle you have to exercise regularly...and my German muscle has severely atrophied.

Ok, I think that's enough for today. Gotta do something else...I think. Have a good day!

I got out of bed yesterday and took a shower...and then felt so sick I didn't want to move. I was sore all over and I had snot and gunk coming out of my nose and my head hurt and my throat hurt and I just couldn't get myself to move. I got to coughing so hard that the lady that cleans the bathrooms in the dorm actually came and knocked on my dorm to check that I wasn't choking or something (then gave me some antibacterial cleaning cloths). I eventually email my professor to say I couldn't come to class, took some Sudafed, and went back to bed...for 10 hours. When I woke up I realized I hadn't eaten anything, although I wasn't hungry, so I made myself eat some ramen...then went back to bed. I got a doctor's appointment this morning, which turned out to be a really good thing since I have strep throat and it wouldn't have gone away without antibiotics. So now I'm taking these massive horse pills and drinking lots of water. My throat is still hurting really bad, but I took some ibuprofen and now I can swallow and not cry. That's nice.

I uploaded a bunch of Sunflower Fest videos onto YouTube, so you should check them out. I really like this band that I'd never heard before that was there, Holy Ghost Tent Revival. They were a lot of fun and really spastic, so it was awesome, lol! Here's one of their vids I took:

I've kinda backed myself into a corner with some of my homework. Stuff I knew about is taking longer than I thought it would and stuff I didn't know about came up at the last minute...Anyway, yeah, it's been a little crazy. I think I've come up with a plan, though, and the fact that I'm basically quarantined till Friday when the antibiotics make me magically not-contagious anymore will really help me stay focused.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I've been pushing Pomplamoose a lot the last couple of days. I just love them SO MUCH! They're so AWESOME!! They did this cover last week and I can't stop listening to it, it's just soooo great!



So yeah, I know, two YouTube vids in one post, big no-no, but it needed to be done, hehe!

On a sidenote before I go, I'm thinking of someone and they don't know it, but I guess that's how life goes, right? Anyway, tschuss!

Damn LiveJournal ate my entry again. Grrrrrrrrrr...

I went to Scythian's Sunflower Fest this pas weekend and it was AWESOME...except  that I now feel like I've been hit by a truck. There as a lot off walking with hills and we camped and it was really cold and, whie none of those factors on it's own was really enough to slow me down, altogether they have left me very very sore and very very very tired. I can't move without some muscle or appendage screaming out. It kinda sucks, but we're suffering on!

I started a new class today (yes, in my pain riddled, sleep deprived state I did make it to class) and it's all kinds of technical stuff about cataloging. My other classes up to this point have been very laid back, focusing on big concepts and theories. This one requires me to memorize Library of Cogress call numbers. During the lecture the professor defintely described the card catalog as the Sacred Cow that was slaughtered when patrons removed the cards...yeah. It's intense, but at least in here I actually feel like I'm learning things instead of in my other classes where we're just chewing on big ideas without really deciding on anything.

This one is gonna be short because I'm typing it on my laptop and the keyboard is NOT reliable. I keep having to go back and re-type words that it just didn't send through. grrrr. There'll be another post soon with pics and vids from the fest. Ciao!

It's 4:20am and guess what? I'm awake!

For one of my classes I have to make a Wiki page on a topic related to Library Science. Sounds easy and broad, right? Well, it is. It's 25% of my grade and I'm pretty confident I could finish the entire thing in 2 days if I actually buckled down to it. We had a list of broad subjects that we could pick a sub-topic of, so I chose Censorship as my big topic and I'm doing a page on Censorship in Young Adult Literature. I had a ton of ideas when I first started and all these thoughts about how I'd organize the page...until I started seeing what other people were doing. We've all used Wikipedia, we know how it is an how it works...at least, I would assume we would as we spent half a class talking about it. But as I look at what other students are doing, I doubt my own ideas. We're supposed to have 5 pages we wrote linked to our main page, like you would on Wikipedia (Ohio's page with general info, then a page on government, a page on population, a page on education, etc.), but some of my classmates are just writing blog posts about their topics that aren't connected at all...and it's making me doubt myself. I mean, I know what I'm going to do, because it's what the assignment says and what the professor said to do, but it always makes me nervous when I think that maybe they're not the ones that are misunderstanding, I am. Bleargh, get it together! Grow a backbone!

Back in reality, I posted a bunch of flyers around campus saying that I could give English lessons to international students and I've gotten two responses. I'm supposed to meet with one girl this afternoon at the Starbuck's on campus, so that'll be something new and exciting to figure out.

I got all freaked out the other day because my car started smelling and smoking while I was driving it. I got it back to the dorm and called Papaw and he's pretty sure it's just my power steering fluid leaking on something hot and smoking...but he couldn't guarantee that the whole thing wouldn't just blow up sometime or other...so that's exciting! It's like taking my life in my hands to drive my car. Did I mention I'm going to Steubenville in a couple weeks? Fun times...

So I'm trying to get all involved in student clubs and stuff and joined the ALA student chapter on campus. I'm on the Social Committee. Our first thing of the year is the upcoming Homecoming...stuff. It's the school's Centennial year and they're doing all kinds of weird and fun stuff for it. One thing is the school is selling little statues of black squirrels (the schools "other" mascot) that clubs can buy and decorate, then enter them in a contest to be judged. I don't know if there's a prize or what, but eh. So we bought a squirrel and then spent an entire meeting trying to figure out how we were going to decorate it. Everyone had ideas and everyone was talking over one another and I just kept thinking about how much more organized my high school clubs were and that these were supposed to be adults. (Side note: I keep finding that adult students, like 35+, tend to be more disrespectful to fellow students and professors in classroom and club settings than the rest of us. Do they feel what they have to say is more important? Or have they forgotten how to be students? Or do they just not care? Someone please tell me because if that 40yo guy keeps trying to strike up conversations with me during class lectures, I just might punch him...) Everyone had these huge fantastical ideas and then finally someone was like "well, do you know how to do that?" and everyone realized that they had no idea how to do any of the stuff they had been suggesting. It came down there being 3 of us (yes, us) that had any idea of how to pull this stuff off, so we were given the squirrel and the club's blessing. Yes, I can handle paper mache, I was homeschooled.

I went to the mall yesterday for earrings. I usually just wear ball-capture hoops and had lost the ball of one, then the hoop. So I got the earrings and thought "Hey, I'm still looking for Silver is for Secrets by Stolarz, I wonder if they have it here..." So I went to the baby-Borders in the mall and, while they had Blue, White, and Red, they didn't have Silver. But one of the guys that worked there said there was a BIG DADDY-Borders about a block from the mall, so I jetted over there. Bad idea. I found Silver. And Bermudez Triangle by Johnson. And Geektastic. And Revelations by de la Cruz. I love bookstores...

Ooo, another book-related thing. So I went to get a library card for the local library the other day. Backstory: in the state of Ohio, anyone living anywhere within the state can have a card and membership for anywhere in the state. So when I lived in Dayton, I have a Dayton Metro card, a Greene County card, a Wilmington card, and a Springfield card. As long as my driver's license says Ohio, I'm good. So I went into the Kent Free Library to get my new card and was told (by this older, not so nice gentleman) that I needed to provide the address of where I was currently living with a piece of mail. Well, I'm not getting my mail at the dorm because they're making me share a mailbox, so I set up a box at the UPS Store. He said I couldn't use that, he needed proof that I had a physical address in Kent. Well, this is, um, kinda against the law. My driver's license says Ohio and I'm physically here now, that gives me the right to have a library card in this library. In the end he said I could use a computer upstairs to print off my dorm assignment from the Kent website, but I was pretty ticked. I met a real nice girl upstairs that had graduated from my Grad program and was now working there. She, too, was aware of the peculiarities of their system and had inquired as to its revision, only to be shot down repeatedly. I got a library card in the end, though, so I guess that's the important thing. But as a future library professional, I was angry.

Ok, that's all for now, LiveJournal keeps trying to kick me out and it's making me nervous. Tschuss!

hehe, I did something silly... Can you guess what it is? I'll give you a hint:


I got my eyebrow pierced!!!

Wanna hear how it went, 'cause it's a thrilling tale really! Not for the squeamish, so if you are skip to the next paragraph. I knew I wanted to have it done and a girl I know got a tattoo the other day and said the place she went to was great, so I asked one of the girls in my hall, our officially designated "I'll-hold-you-hand-while-they-stick-a-needle-in-you" girl, to come with me and, you know, hold my hand while they stuck needles in me. We got inside and I immediately started having second thoughts. I mean, this is CRAZY, right?! So I signed the paper saying I wouldn't sue them if they ended up gouging my eye out or anything, then followed the guy back into the little cubicle-esque space that had a table of what looked like torture instruments on it. The guy was all business and went into how to take care of it while he was opening the package with the brand new, shiny, thick, long needle in it. At this point I think Danielle sensed I was about to bolt because she grabbed my hand and was like "Ok, here we go!". The guy put the clampy thing on and I closed my eyes and...it wasn't that bad. Like, I know a lot of people are like "Yeah, you know, they had to cut off my finger without anesthesia, but it wasn't that bad..." but really, no joke. I felt the needle go in and felt him push a little more to get it come out the other side, but it wasn't that bad. It was a little wierd to feel him pull the ring through the now gaping wound in my face, but even that was as bad as having the cartilage in my ear pierced (that was pain...). So yeah, now I have new metal and it's cool. I have to clean it with Bactin, which you can only get as a spray, so I can to spray myself in the eye with anti-bacterial disinfectant a couple times a day. That's fun...

In other news, I got a new hair straightener and it has pretty much changed my life. It has cut the time it takes to fix my hair in half, and, get this, my hair actually stays straight ALL DAY! The only down side is I occasionally smell like burnt hair, but it wears off after a bit, lmao! So yeah, yay for styling success!

Not a whole lot else worth noting has been going on really. I'm starting to get into a rhythm here (finally) and, while I didn't go out and party or anything this past weekend, it was cool to be on campus and see people when they weren't jetting off to a class. My classes are going well. I finally got the textbook for that one class in the mail and was able to complete my assignments this week. Yay for being able to do homework!

I think that's it really. I'm hungry and I have class in a bit, so I kinda wanna go take care of that before. Ok, cya!

Yes, it's been a while. So, in classic Brotherhood 2.0 style, this post comes in 4 parts: Excuses, Music, School, and Pictures!

Ok, excuses. My last post was on Monday, August 31st. That night, after months in the hospital and nursing home, my Granny passed away. She went peacefully in her sleep after my family had brought her home to say goodbyes. She was very happy, I am told, and I believe it was probably the best possible way it could have happened. My mom wrote a wonderful piece on her blog about Granny, so if you are so inclined, you should go check it out. I went back to Dayton on Tuesday after my class and stayed until Thursday afternoon to visit with my family and be with my Papaw. So those are my excuses for the beginning of the absence, I think most would agree they're pretty good.

Part 2, Music! I left Dayton on Thursday afternoon and drove to Athens, OH to meet the wonderful Julie and see Scythian at Jackie O's! We were signed up to do merch that night and got to the venue early, then got to stand next to the bathroom during the whole show and have every female in the joint ask us at least once if we were in line. We never were. Other highlights of the evening included hanging out with Kirsten, the made-of-awesome Scythian merch/street team machine, and getting to taste Jackie O's self-brewed draft. Yummy!

Stayed in Athens with Julie and Kirsten that night, then the next morning Julie returned to Dayton while Kirsten and I caravan-ed our way to...Pittsburgh! That's right, the Pittsburgh Irish Festival was this past weekend! I was all set to sell merch for Pogey for this fest, so I didn't stay and admire my ridiculously nice hotel room for long (the Hilton? Really?!) before jetting over to the fest. It was smaller than I had thought, but it was still a nice layout with a good size A Stage. I didn't see the guys anywhere, so I sidled up to the side-stage merch table and inquired of the friendly volunteers there. Bombshell: Pogey was stuck in DC because of the weather. I was instructed to go talk to the main merch tent, as they would have more info. Yep, they were stuck, not gonna make their set tonight, should be in tomorrow, hopefully. So for the first time in about 4 years I was at a fest...for fun. I had no responsibilities, I had no one with me, I had nowhere I had to be. I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. I'm such a high-strung person, that kind of freedom is more frightening than freeing. I mean, what am I gonna do with all this excitement and energy if I'm not channeling it into selling stuff? I'm gonna get in trouble, that's what! lmao, I ended up meeting back up with Kirsten and her group and hanging out with them for a bit. I actually got to watch a Scythian show from start to finish and got a bunch of coolio videos, so that was cool.

So one of the things I didn't like about Pittsburgh was how little they actually announced about the fest. When I was trying to book the hotel, I had to call and leave messages on the fest's answering machine for a week before anyone got back to me to tell me what the hotel was, and that they did in fact have reduced rates for fest people. Isn't that something you wanna tell fest people? I guess not in Pittsburgh. They also never announced anywhere, to anyone, that there was an afterparty. But Scythian is awesome like that and announced it at their set, so we all headed en mass to a little pub downtown to the afterparty....AND BOB BANERJEE WAS THERE!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I've only gotten to watch Bob play in passing as I'm scurrying somewhere or other at whatever fest it was I saw him at, but I love the YouTube vids and then there he was RIGHT THERE!!! It was the first time I've been star struck in a long time, lol. But awesome show that night, really. He got the Scythian boys on stage towards the end and did an awesome jam with Drunken Sailor, then into some spastic Bollywood-style sets. Ridiculous! I love him...

But back to reality, Pogey did make it on Saturday and I had purpose in my life once more, lmao! Gaelic Storm was there as well on Saturday and I got to pull double duty between the two. I think the universe was trying to remind me to treasure free time, as I had so little on Saturday. All the same, it was super fun running around like a crazy person and breaking in to various band rigs in search of credit card machine tape and sharpies, hehe. (BTW, I bought 10 Sharpies for the fest, none of them made it home with me. Awesome points to who can guess who has them, because I know who took each one, hehe!) So yes, Saturday was wonderful. The girls and I did go to the afterparty again that evening, but it just wasn't as good. Sunday I didn't go to the fest. Gaelic Storm and Pogey had gone to Chicago and, while I did want t see Scythian again, their were closing the fest and I really didn't want to stay that late, so I just drove back to Kent.

And that leads us to Part 3, School! Those of you keeping track have probably realized that I really haven't been at school at all. I mean, I'm gone Friday-Sunday, stay for Monday and part of Tuesday, then leave again until the following Sunday. That's a lot of time gone. I didn't have class, though, because my only class right now only meets once a week, and I was already ahead on my schoolwork. So no harm really done there. The fact of the matter is, though, that I have yet to spend a weekend on campus, and most of the people I know on campus (all 3 of them) have other people they hang out with. You know, people that are actually living in the area instead of stopping in for temporary recharging. So I'm trying to fix that, I think I'll be spending the next 2 weekends on campus (missing the Celtic Classic Highland Games in Bethlehem, PA...)

But SCHOOL! I had one class that I needed the textbook for. The bookstore didn't order enough and they ran out. So they tried to order more and told us they couldn't 'cause the book was out of print. So we go to the internet and order the book. It's being shipped and then...the bookstore gets it in. Grrrr. Problem is, I still haven't gotten my copy in the mail. We have weekly quizzes on the reading and, while they're not that big a percentage of my grade, I've already missed one from not having the book and really REALLY hope I don't have to miss another. Grrrrrrrrrr. In other news, the school told me they'd be mailing my refund check to Jamestown ad it'd be there last week. It never came. So I get here with the intention of going to check on it when I check my mailbox on campus and see a pink slip. That means a package! MY BOOK! So I rush to the desk and she goes, oh, this isn't a package, it's a check! It was my refund check instead of my book. I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed. It was weird. Then I get an email from the school saying I still owe them $200 and would I please come pay it. So yesterday I go get the check cashed and deposit most of it except the $200 for the school. I go to the bursar's office to pay the bill and...the email was a mistake, I owed no money, all is well. So I went to the bookstore and bought myself a shiny new Microsoft Office 2007 that was on sale. Yay! So many ups and downs...I'm tired.

But wait! you say. Part 4! Pictures! WE WANT PICTURES!! Ok, Ok, chill out, here ya go!


The stage at Jackie-O's before the show. Stole this one from Julia because she's better than me at just about everything. :D


The bar was ridiculously small and so Nathan had to construct his own sound booth. I took this one on my phone, so it's not that great, but at the top of that tower, that's the sound board, and next to the light, that's his arm. He had to be all bent over like Quasimodo whenever he was up there, it was crazy.


Merch Girls! Hi, Julie!!!


More Merch Girls!! Hi, Kirsten!! (And Dante lurking in the background...)


Show time!


My view of Kirsten's car the whole way to Pittsburgh. That little white dot on the left, that's a Scythian sticker. That's how I found her most of the time.


Scythian Friday night in Pittsburgh!


And the leg kicks...oh yes

Had a few minutes on Saturday to watch Slide before Pogey got on stage. I love Slide...


Autograph table art!!!


And I stole this from Julie, it's actually from Sunday in Chicago, but I just love it! Rock Star Zach!!!!!!!

So yeah, that's what I've got. I hope you all are following my on Twitter because I'm kind of addicted and I went through today and was reading old tweets and you can definitely keep track of where I am and what I'm doing on there constantly. If you care. I care. But then, that's because it's me. (When I typed "I care", I had a total carebear moment...) Ok, ciao!

I've been telling myself I needed to do a post for the last 3 days and kept putting it off saying that I wanted it to be a photo post with pics of my dorm room and all. I've decided this is silly, why would I want the whole internet to see my dorm room? So sorry, but you might get some Scythian pics if I'm in a good mood when it comes to that point.

I've been moved in to my dorm at Kent for 5 days now and I've slept here 3 nights. It actually looks like a room that I've been in for a while, so that's nice. Everyone that comes to see it comments on how nice it is. I had meant to take before and after pictures and completely forgot to get a before shot in the insanity that was move-in. Joe and Casey drove up with me and it turned out to be a lifesaver. It took all three of us to loft my bed the way I wanted and it took us 4 trips to get all my stuff up. The dorm had brought out laundry carts for people to use, but seeing as how I didn't have an obnoxious parent there to duke it out for me, I never did get one. If fact, we didn't even get to take elevators most of the time. We just took the stairs. All 8 stories of stairs. It was a good workout. But yes, the dorm room in inhabitable. I was concerned about being in this particular dorm because of the high number of freshman the live in it, but it's turned out all right. Yes, I've been mistaken for a freshman more times than I'd like to share, but as my mommy keeps telling me I'll appreciate it later in life.

So I moved in Thursday, just kinda chilled around Friday, and then drove back to sweet ol' Dayton on Saturday to see Scythian! Of course they decide to come 3 days after I move out of town, but oh well, that's life. I met up with my awesome friend Julie and we hung out at the radio station while the guys were getting interviewed, then went to her place and watched Drumline while waiting for the show that evening. Good times were had by all!

The show itself had an interesting start. The guys started playing and it was awesome and everyone was getting excited and then!..they blew a circuit. So there was some sad noises as the guys set it all back up again and then they started playing again and it was even more exciting this time until!...they blew the circuit again. This time Mikey just kept playing and got a got riff going, but they ended up having to turn off the stage lights and use the track lighting for the rest of that set. They were able to rewire everything during the break and get it going good then, but it was a pretty awesome start to the evening. Here's some pics, but all were stolen from Julie 'cause mine were terrible.

You can see in this one where the stage lights the guys set up on the sides aren't working.

The track lights were really bright and shining right in Dan's eyes. They were able to turn them down a little so her could see, lol.
 

Me and Julie!!

Me and Brandi!

So yeah, fun times. Back to college stuff, I've made a few friends from around my dorm, but tonight I'm gonna (try to) go to a meeting for the school's chapter of ALA (American Library Association). They seem like a friendly enough bunch, so hopefully that'll work out. I wanted to buy all my books today with the lovely loan refund check the school gave me, but they bank would only release $100, so I got 1 book. Guess I'll go start on that. Have a good day, eh!