yeah, i'm actually insane

It's 2 in the morning and I am still not finished. Not quite done studying for the world history exam, still four chapters behind in math, still have to prepare for the seminar. What have I been doing?? Watch the video and you tell me. And I still have to brush my teeth, shower, etc etc. I'll be lucky to get two hours of sleep tonight!

because i seem to be in a bizarre, obsessive spiral...❤

I'm so not kidding about him, you guys. I've just spent the last two hours watching this video over and over again. Precisely as I've done for the past several of days. I'm not getting ANY work done, or blogging, for that matter. And I've got a history exam, a lit seminar, and a holiday party to attend tomorrow. Not to mention I'm like four chapters behind in precalc, and have to write up an entire analysis paper by tonight. I hate school. Nevertheless, enjoy :) Be sure to watch til the very very end. My heart just about flew out of my chest :)

Definitions of Love: Both of Us

Together we stood
With that passionate vibe in the air
When I realized 

You are the song I was destined to sing.
Not only that but,
Just the thought of being with you tomorrow...
It gives me the strength
To put up with the rest of today.
I just want you to know
I need you to know
My world was all black and white
I never anticipated it before
But it was really like that
Until the day you walked in my door
And right into my heart.
They all said we couldn't
But the thing is,
We are
It's the idea that you came by
And never left my side.
So really,
It's when that question comes.
Are you really ready for this?
Am I?
It makes me think..
It makes me wonder...
How I'd live in this world
Without it.
Without love.
I don't know,
Maybe it's just that
Each time, each day,
Each hour, each minute,
Each second
That I spend with you:
The stars shine just a little bit brighter
The music sounds a little bit happier
I feel like living just a little longer
And I always laugh a little bit louder.
The desires for what I want
Are what I want
Which are all things that I'm not quite sure of
And yet when I'm with you
I know
I don't know how
Or why
I know
I just do.

An original poem composed by yours truly ❤

Um...I was looking through my old slushpile and came across this poetry "series" I made. Don't know what's more ridiculous, the poems themselves, or the fact that I about twelve when I wrote them.

Previous entries:
What We Want

some things i some times do in my free time ❤

❤ Chew on my cuticles ❤ Fantasize ❤ Imagine how I would look with a moustache ❤ Contemplate on the spelling of moustache mustache moustache ❤ Hum ❤ Bite my bottom lip ❤ Spontaneously giggle ❤ Talk to myself ❤ Blink ❤ Say fuckyeahjaredfollowill ❤ Disappear ❤ Reappear ❤ Speak a language I do not know how to speak ❤ Forget to remember ❤ Remember to forget ❤ Crack my knuckles ❤ Twirl my hair ❤ Ask Jeeves about Paul Walker -- every five minutes ❤ Eat grapefruit ❤ Eat blueberries ❤ Eat edadame ❤ Eat ice cream ❤

constant as the stars above❤

I know this is late for a Thanksgiving post, but the holidays were so busy for me (even without school, believe it or not), I never really got a chance to sit down and count my blessings. Sadly, my mother was away for Thanksgiving this year, but my dad, my little sister, and I still had an amazing time with our friends around us. We had a great yummy feast and then on Sunday, my best friend took me to Hershey where we went on all the awesome Chocolate World rides (note to self: do NOT go on the SooperDooperLooper right after downing a mug of Hershey's hot cocoa and an overpriced pretzel dog) and watched the magnificent Christmas-themed light show. Now I'm all excited for Christmas!

What I'm meaning to say is, though I don't say it enough, I am an extremely lucky girl living in the most beautiful, majestic world -- and that alone is better than anything I could possibly ask for.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving :)

Life is hard, I have come to realize. It isn't all rainbows and butterflies and compromise that we hope it to be, but that's really what makes it life. Everyday, I go making lists of how imperfect my life is, of what I want but don't have, and of what I have but don't want. What's the point then, really?

Thanksgiving is a time to say prayers. Not religiously nor for just one day, but perpetually, and with gratitude. It is a time to recognize not the things we don't have, but rather, the things we do.

During the stressful times of our lives, it may be hard to wade through the thick of all our flaws, and to really see what we are blessed to have. But once we actually realize what they are, they add up. To a lot.

We have families. We have friends. We have sturdy roofs over our heads, and comfortable shoes at the soles of our feet. We have warm meals to come home to every night, but more importantly, the people we come home to every night -- the ones with open arms and open eyes, who will see through to loving us no matter what happens.

We live in a world that is admittedly tough to live in. We live in the times of war, and of famine,

of strife, and of destruction. But once we look around, we see greater things, greater people, and greater ideas.

Contentment is something we try so hard to achieve and work so hard to attain. What is contentment? It is the satisfaction of watching the baby's chest move up and down with every breath taken. It is the ease of mind we receive as we see raindrops create ripples in the seemingly-perfect lake. It is the flicker of light in the nighttime, the shining of hope in the darkness.

The seasons have changed, and so have we. Hope everyone's Thanksgiving showed as many promises, premises, light, love, content, and optimism as mine did ❤

❤Music Review: Come Around Sundown by Kings of Leon

Come Around Sundown
Kings of Leon

Genre: Alternative Rock
Run Time: 47:27
Release Date: 15 October, 2010
Label: RCA Records (Sony Music Entertainment)
Source: Purchased

Limited deluxe two CD edition includes a bonus CD containing three additional tracks. 2010 release, the highly anticipated fifth album from the American Alt-Rock heroes. Come Around Sundown was recorded in New York at Avatar Studios and produced by Angelo Petraglia and Jacquire King. The album is the follow-up to the hugely successful Only By The Night, which sold over six million copies worldwide and garnered four Grammy Awards and two Brits, and is yet another bold and expansive statement by the Tennessee-based quartet.

Complete Track Listing

1. The End

2. Radioactive

3. Pyro

4. Mary

5. The Face

6. The Immortals

7. Back Down South

8. Beach Side

9. No Money

10. Pony Up

11. Birthday

12. Mi Amigo

13. Pickup Truck

Review

Most people wouldn't assume this about me, but I'm a rock junkie. People ask me what type of music I like. They expect me to say pop (which is not even a real genre, to begin with). Or Ke$ha. Maroon 5. Bruno Mars. The truth is, yes, I do enjoy all the mentioned artists but it's only because they're unavoidable—I listen to whatever's on the radio and they are always on the radio.

I may be a generation or two ahead of myself, but if you take a look through my CD collection, the majority of it consists of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Carpenters, Pink Floyd, The Smiths, John Butler, classics, classics. Most of my friends are like, "Yeah, the Beatles are fucking LEGENDS, but if you scroll through my iPod, I'm only gonna have one or two songs by them on it, not one or two hundred.... wait a second, who the hell's Pink Floyd?" 

What's sad is, only one of my friends knows about Come Around Sundown. And he's in a band. I fell in love with Kings of Leon after I first heard "Use Somebody" in the car. It's fortunate I wasn't driving, or else I would have stopped in the middle of the road to listen to (and memorize) the entire song right then and there.

Then came last month's issue of Spin magazine. Kings of Leon, front cover, inside spread. Yessir. I read every word of the interview, and I knew I had to get their newest release. And so I did.

Fans expecting Come Around Sundown to be the new album of "Sex on Fire"s will be disappointed. Sorely disappointed. It doesn't make this one any lesser than the one before, but it's definitely different. To me though, that just displays the amazing versatility in voice, rhythm, and passion these guys carry.

You'll be stunned by how big of a range Kings of Leon will perform. Most of the negative reviews for the new album came out of the despondency of what they've become. They've evolved from the off-key tone of Caleb Followill backed up by chilling chords and catchy drumbeats, to a more mainstream, lyrical group. The album featured some bouts of punk ("The Immortals"—one of my favorites), country from their Nashville roots ("Back Down South"), and even gospel ("Radioactive"—another one of my favorites!). 

Kings of Leon is no longer just a rock band. Come Around Sundown is not by any means, the newer version of their successful preceding album, Only By the Night, but it is this: it is the vice, the virtue of this insouciant, elusive band. It is the end of a successful musical career, and the beginning of a preeminent musical empire. It is an enigma—not completely predictable, but totally, wholly astounding, and it will alter the way you think about alternative rock.

Fans (or so-called fans) complain that Kings of Leon has changed, and they're absolutely right; Kings of Leon will never be the same.

Radical Rating: 10 hearts: I'm speechless; this book is an extraordinarily amazingly wonderfully fantastically marvelous masterpiece. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

p.s. Jared Followill (bassist) is a BABE. 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥: Living Life in the Zone by Kyle Rote Jr. and Dr. Joe Pettigrew

Living Life in the Zone
Kyle Rote Jr. and Dr. Joe Pettigrew

Page Count: 352
Release Date: 29 December, 2009
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Source: Complimentary copy provided by BookSneeze in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you!)

Power. Grace. Strength. Fearlessness. That's living life in The Zone. For many men, there's nothing more exciting than seeing an athlete elevate his game to another realm. Quarterbacks thread passes through impossibly tight creases. Golfers sink pressure-packed putts. Sluggers park baseballs ten rows deep in the cheap seats. Afterward, these athletes all say one thing: The dominance was easy. Everything came into focus. Against all reason, time slowed down.

If only we mortals were so lucky. Between the stresses of work and the pressures of parenthood and marriage, our time—our life—flies by faster than a major league heater. Can we hope to elevate our game and enter The Zone?

Living Life in The Zone is a 40-day spiritual journey for discovering abundant life. Filled with inspirational scriptures and real-life stories of playmakers such as Tony Dungy, Allan Houston, Kurt Warner, and John Wooden, this game plan will teach you what God has in store for men living In His Zone.

This is the book for men. Not just a book, but the book. Though I am not a man by any means, I was able to get through it and enjoy it immensely—I honestly cannot say I've ever read a book quite like it. It captures forty days of a man's life—your life—connecting one to both God and sports.

Starting from Day One, it accounts you to your spiritual and mental well-being. Included, are uplifting quotes and scriptures to help you through your own self-identity and self-preservation, and fantastic stories from athletes we all know and look up to. The connection to the celebrity sports figures is really want helped me realize the potential of the motive of this book: to discover "The Secret" for happiness in life, and to lead a successful one.

What I found difficult is some of the concepts used—naturally, I didn't completely comprehend the "male" aspects of the narrations. But the overall message was universal and it was this: You can be greater than you think you are; you can aspire and attain higher goals thank you think to be; and the world around you can be helped to achieve a higher degree of perfection.

Rote uses a combination of inspiring words and concepts that are easily related to, to advocate spending more time with God and finding connections within oneself in sports. The 40-day game plan is very step-by-step and self-explanatory; it doesn't feel like reading an overwhelming self-help book... it feels like reading your own journal. It is not one of those books where you can read it and voilà, your life is perfect; it's one of those books you read over and over again to tweak and orient your life as you know it until you achieve that satisfying perfection. Keep this one close to your heart because the more you read it, the more improvement you'll see. 

Radical Rating: 7 hearts: Not without flaws, but overall enjoyable. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥