Step 81: Go to a Festival

By the time I get this post written, the Atlanta Earth Festival will be done and over with, and you will have missed your chance at attending one of my favorite festivals. But fear not! It comes to town every year around this time as a harbinger of fall, and there are plenty of other festivals to hold you over until 2016.

Why even bother going to a festival? So many of the the stands are just filled with cheap knock-offs that break a day after you buy them, and they're always way too crowded. Sometimes you get excruciatingly hot weather, while other times it's raining. And you never know if you're actually getting a good deal or not.












I go to the Atlanta Festival every year because my family's there. That's what can make festivals so great--the chance to create a fun tradition for you and your loved ones. You may not be so lucky as me to have a house where you can relax and recharge after walking the streets for an hour, but you can still gather up the kids and adults and make a day out of it.











There are all kinds of neat products that you can buy, whether it's a new must-have metal sculpture or your favorite Native American jamming out on his pipes. You have your choice of only the finest of fair foods and drinks, and of course you've got your crazy loon trying to sell a baby wallaby.

 

But the best part of it all is seeing the kids have fun. They put on their best business faces and shout out "Tristan's Toy Store!" They try haggling, which is just so cute that buyer's can't help but give them two dollars when they only asked for one. Then the minute they have enough cash, they're off to buy another toy to replace the one they just sold.

 Of course, if they didn't get enough money to buy that one particular toy, they won't hesitate to use said toy to shoot you. :)

 

And for those who are experiencing the festival for the first time on their own two feet, sometimes the best part of all the excitement is found right on Mammaw's porch.

So my question to you is: What's your favorite festival to attend?
And my challenge to you: Try a hot apple dumpling at the next fair you go to. I didn't get a picture of mine because I ate it too fast, it was that delicious!

Step 80: This is Why I Write

What would they do if I stood up and shouted ENOUGH? I've had outbursts before where I've cursed out the computer because it wouldn't stream the video I wanted to watch, and I've complained for several hours about the stupidity of certain people when I'm with like minded company. But what would people do if I really spoke my mind instead of just nodding my head in passive agreement or making light of the situation with some feeble joke?

Sometimes I wish I could get up the courage to just let them have a piece of my actual mind. I can picture it in my head. A gallant speech with perfect word choices, common sense drilled into the minds of the temporarily insane, peace had by all because they see that what I've said is true--it's not that big of a deal, it's possible to let it go.

But my words never come out like that. On the few occasions where I've tried to step it up a notch and defend my point of view, the words come out all small and mixed up. What seemed logical in my head is quickly debunked by whoever I'm with, and even if it is actually logical, it quickly gets thrown away because when I say it, it's not strong enough to make a big enough impact.

That's why I write. I write because I can take the time to make my words really STAND OUT. I can take the time to research the situation and reflect on the information I've gathered, then put that knowledge into words that will make people listen. And if they don't quite come out right the first time, it's ok because I can go back and work on it some more. I write so that I can be heard and understood.

***

There is a lot of crap in the world. When you're a kid, you shouldn't notice it because you're too busy playing and imagining. I was lucky enough to be one of those kids until I went into the fifth grade. Then shit hit the fan and broke it

I can tell you exact moments when different fans in my life broke. The fan that spun around my dreams of flying off to Neverland and never growing up broke when I got my first period the fall of 2001. Not a terribly big deal. We all knew it was going to happen, and deep down I knew I'd never make it to Neverland. Peter Pan's sort of a dick anyways.

My naive view of the world broke on September 11, 2001. Not hard to guess what did that. When you feel bad about resenting your grandmother for turning the channel from cartoons to the news because a picture of burning and collapsing buildings comes onto the screen, you realize that you're old enough to realize that bad stuff actually does happen in the world.

My childhood completely broke down that Christmas. After blood and fire and death, you start to question the existence of Santa Clause. I took it in strides.

Probably the worst broken fan came a couple years later though, right when you think you're in the clear. The day my family broke. A lot changes when your cousin accidentally shoots himself. You're family never really heals from that. Some families can learn to live with it, but my family was not one of them. They just kept deteriorating. Some of us are doing ok, but it hurts to see the others still suffering.

That's why I write. I write because it's too painful to keep this crap locked away inside. You've got to let it out somehow, and when you're not good at letting it out through your mouth and your tears have all dried up, pen and paper come in real handy. I write so I can feel relief.

***

Sometimes I like to get lost in stories. It helps to distract from all the bad and boring stuff that happens. That's why I watch so many movies and tv shows; why I try to read books even though it takes me forever to finish one. I like to imagine that I'm the hero or sometimes the damsel in distress who gets her prince in the end. I like to make up my own sequels once the credits role or the last page is turned. I like to create my own heroes and damsels and get lost in a new, never-before-seen story.

That's why I write. I write because sometimes you need to escape from the real world. When you're focused on the problems of fictional characters, problems that seem infinitely more terrible and inescapable than your own, you can't focus on the miniscule problems that threaten to engulf your entire life. I write because fighting dragons is easier than dealing with emotions.

***

The real world's not always so terrible, though. Sometimes there are grand adventures to be had, new people to meet, and loved ones to be revisited. There can be laughter. Lots of laughter. And there can be smiles. Sometimes it's harder to see these good times through the bad, but they are there, like hidden gems that shine colorful light into your life if you unbury them.

I've traveled to 23 states and 9 countries with friends and family. I've ran into the Balearic Sea with all my close on, stolen binoculars from strangers in Yellowstone trying to get a peak at a wild wolf, snuck a camcorder into the Hogwarts Ride the year it opened, eaten so many Parisian sweats that I threw up, raced wild dolphins and almost won, and raced wild cross country runners in a blizzard and danced to keep from freezing to death at the start line.

I've had some of the best marathons ever. All three of the Lord of the Rings extended DVDs, complete with nightmare-inducing cherries. All the Harry Potter movies, including midnight showings that involved dressing up. All of the Very Potter musicals with the added bonus of a drinking game. All of the Star Wars once the third chronologically-speaking movie came to theaters. All kinds of horror movie extravaganzas for Halloween. An end-of-the-world, 2012 Dawn-of-the-Dead-turned-into-Road-to-Eldorado because we were wasted from taking a shot every time there was a head shot. All completed with the best of friends.

I've met some amazing people. Authors who have encouraged me to keep going with my writing. The spiritual leader of Western Buddhism. The best cover band this side of the Mississppi. Teachers that encouraged me to be my very best self. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. *fan girl sigh*

And I've met some crazy people. They know who they are. ;)

I've helped out in all kinds of ways. Picked up tires and mattresses and jars full of expired preserved jellies out of the wetlands near my school. Bought groceries for a complete stranger. Helped make better lives for stray dogs and cats. Helped make better lives for children, who surprisingly aren't any quieter than the stray dogs and cats. Raised money for Leukemia and wolves, and donated every time I saw the bell ringers around the Holidays. I've given rides to drunk girls who proceeded to pee in a trash can in the dorm hallway. I've given a ride to a kid who hopefully wasn't drunk and didn't proceed to pee in a trash can once he got home because it was only eleven o'clock in the morning and he was in high school.

I've gone crazy on the dance floor and slept until four in the afternoon. I've had a puppy that grew up to be my best friend. I've had kittens who've grown up to ignore me unless they want something. I've watched the same movie two days in a row. I've been a part of literary magazines and new websites. I've been in love. I've kissed a British guy. I've howled with wolves at sunset and with my teammates at race time.

This is why I write. I write because these true stories are just as fun to share as the made-up ones. Sometimes they're funny, and sometimes it's just nice to reminisce. Sometimes I'm the only one who cares, but someday I'll be old and forgetful, and these are memories that I never want to forget. I write because remembering the good is more important than worrying about the bad.

Step 79: Finish a Book

No, I'm not talking about Blogging for Dummies. That one will still take me a while to get through, though I am happy to report I've made some progress--I found out one of the major subject areas that bloggers cover is just every day life, so to those of you who are crazy enough to still be reading this blog, I hope you enjoy my diary!

The book that I'm actually talking about is Room by Emma Donoghue. I joined a book club this year, and it's the first novel that I've been able to 100% complete since our first meeting. It's not that the other books were bad (though some were). It's just that it's hard to find the time to read a whole novel, even if it's a really good story. What with work, babysitting, writing, walking the dog, petting the cat, and socializing, I barely have enough time to do the dishes, let alone not pass out while I read a page of one of the several books that has to be finished (or nearly finished) before any given deadline.

But Room was so good, that it reminded me how much fun I could have reading. Yeah, I could get lost in the stories of television and the big screen, but you don't get the same feeling of accomplishment after sitting through a four hour marathon of Rules of Engagement that you get after reading 400 pages of deep and emotional writing. So I'm going to try to do a better job of finishing books and not just flipping to the end to find out what happened. Be sure to check out my little bookshelf to the right to see if I'm reading anything interesting.

So my question to you is: What's your favorite book?
And my challenge to you: Read Room before it comes to theaters on October 16!

Step 78: Start Reading Blogging For Dummies

I'm not trying to be funny with that title. I am legit reading Blogging for Dummies, by Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley. My initial thoughts? Oh my god this book is huge!!!

I am an extremely slow reader, and on top of that, I like to complete things in chronological order. Chapter 1 must be read first, then two, then three. I had to wait 28 years before I could watch any of the Star Wars movies because George Lucas was dumb and didn't do them in order!

But, as Blogging for Dummies clearly says on the second page, "Go right to the information you need most and get to work." And just like freshman year Spanish when the teacher asked how many years of foreign language I'd already had and dang near had a heart attack when I told her five and she had to shoo me out of Spanish 1, I gotta shoo myself past the beginning chapters.

It'll be annoying at first, but after 17 years of faking it through boring textbooks, I've learned to live with skipping ahead. Hopefully this'll mean I'll start posting more than once a month. :)

So my question to you is: What's your favorite for Dummies book?
And my challenge to you: Pick up an old hobby and give it a whirl again.

Step 77: BWAHAHAHA!

Oh man! I'm hilarious! I actually thought back in June I'd get my act together and keep my blog updated. Obviously, after one legit post, that wasn't the case. :P So I say to myself, "Lauren, you need to set a specific day of the week to be your blog posting day. We'll start it the first full week of July...." Two weeks into July later...

So, obviously, gonna really REALLY try to post something every Monday. Would love it if I could get off my lazy butt and post more frequently (or would it be getting on my busy butt? 'Cause it's true, sometimes I'm just tired and don't want to write something, but that's usually because I've been hustling around doing this and that), but I'm not going to stress too much about it. Ha! I said another funny thing. Here's a laughing seal.

So my question to you is: What do you do to get back into a routine. Obviously I need help. ;)
And my challenge to you: Don't stress the petty things and don't pet the smelly things.

Step 76: Learn More About Raptors than you Ever Wanted to Know

Two of my friends and I went to the Indiana Raptor Center down near Brown County State Park this past weekend (don't ask it's exact location--that's classified information, and I'd have to kill you if I told you). After a bit of confusion as to where we were supposed to meet up with our escorts (I'm serious about the location thing--you have to meet up with a volunteer of the Center and then follow them deep into the forest. You can't just Google Map this stuff.) we finally made it to the wooden cabin that served as home base for the staff of InRC. Laura Edmunds (Vice President, Director of Education, and Curator) invited us to have a seat on the front porch while the volunteers who led us there finished bringing in some birds that had just been at a presentation.

Photo courtesy of Indiana Raptor Center

Once things had settled down a bit, Laura brought out an American Kestrel named Simon and sat down to chat with us on the porch. Simon sat with us for a good 20 minutes, being a perfect little demonstrator for all the interesting facts Laura had about raptors.



For the bird nerds out there, you might have known these facts already, but for this wolf girl, these points were quite interesting.

• Birds can see ultraviolet light. Specifically for Simon, he can see a trail of mouse urine and use that to track his prey.
• Some birds have a streak of black next to their eyes to help fight the glare from sunlight. Simon's got black and white because white is used to indicate to his babies that he's the daddy and not a predator (there are no predators of American Kestrels that have white on their faces).
• Some falcons can handle MAJOR Gs--like, we're talking double digits.

There was so much more that Laura told and showed us (see below for some of the pictures from our trip), but that would ruin the whole tour if I gave away everything! I highly recommend calling 812-988-8990 and setting up your own visit. It might seem a bit sketchy how you have to go about getting to the Center, but they do that so the birds don't get overwhelmed with people randomly stopping by to see them, and the hospitality of the people and beauty of the birds is just to great to pass up.

We got to see my favorite raptor, a golden eagle (and yes, they're my favorite because of Rescuers Down Under--don't judge!). My friend got to meet the bald eagle that he sponsored, Ben. Ben's the girl with a chunk of meat in her claws. Yes. Ben's a girl. And we saw a bunch of owls. One of the owls the staff has no idea where it came from. Someone just came onto the property and stuck him in their cage.

So my question to you is: What's your favorite bird of prey?
And my challenge to you: Go bird watching for an hour. We've got some pretty ones here in Indiana.

Step 75: Where Did I Go???

Haha, by now, you guys should know I go on long, unexpected writing hiatuses. But, starting this month (And look at that, I'm already behind! Hello June 2!) I'll try to be on my best behavior. Maybe I'll even write those blog posts about my Europe Trip. ;) But, for the time being, here are some pictures to show you what I've been up to lately!

The most legit thing I've been doing is writing for this new website--check it out! Lots of movie, tv, and video game reviews, but really, we talk about everything!

Reminiscing over my childhood by going to The City Museum to celebrate my friend's graduation from college and to ruin my knees

 

 

 

Continuing to reminisce over my childhood. I <3 TOTORO!

And one more reminiscent photo of me playing dress-up for the Avengers 2 premiere.

Finally getting that god damn PT cruiser completely out of my life!

Voting in a primary where it really didn't matter if I voted or not since I'm neither Democrat nor Republican.

Freakin' out.

Being such a fangirl that I end up in a Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press picture.

Getting really frustrated at my health insurance. Because, you know, once I got the car thing out of the way, I had to have someone send me annoying letters wanting money.

Speaking of annoying and only wanting your for your money and not your ideas... I totally haven't been freaking out over my alma mater going co-ed. Nope. See the smile on my face. See the not-flipping-off-my-school hand gesture.

Having too much fun on MS Paint. :)

Freaking out over Supernatural season finale.

Then wondering why I get a letter from my health insurance declaring me to be "medically frail."

I mean, doesn't this just SCREAM mentally sound?

Maybe it's just because I'm so lazy some days. Why dirty a pair of clean pants when you can just stay in your pjs?

Step 74 Part A: Go to Europe!

There's no way I could have kept this blog updated while I was traveling across Europe. I barely had time to post to Facebook! (Though, living in the 21st Century as I am, I of course made time for social media.) I did want to share with you all a bit of my adventures, though, so the next few posts will be dedicated to my trip. I hope you enjoy them!

Step 73: Prepare to Backpac Across Europe!

11:54 PM the night before I leave for an 18 day adventure around Europe and I am completely packed! I know a lot of times packing and preparing for a big trip can be pretty stressful, but I've found the best way to fight the freakouts is to have some epic music playing in the background while you cramming everything into your backpack. As for the worrying you experience as you're trying to fall asleep--I recommend drugs! :)

If you want to see what I see these next 18 days, be sure to check out either my Twitter account or my Facebook account. I won't be back here until April (though you guys are used to irregular blog posts ;) )!

So my last question to you for a while: Where would you most love to visit?
And my challenge to you: Go and visit that place no matter what the expenses or social upheaval or health concerns or any other problems you can use to convince yourself it's not the right time to go. If you work hard enough, it'll always be the right time to go!

Step 72: Get a New 'Do

I got my hair cut! That can only mean one of two things: (1) I'm going on a trip or (2) I'm playing a boy again in my school's spring production. Since I graduated a good two years ago, I doubt it's option number 2. Yup. New, easy to maintain hairdo means I'm going backpacking across Europe in March! That's been a big reason why I haven't been blogging as much lately--been stressing over preparing for my trip and making sure all my finances are in order before I leave. But there will be more about that in the next couple of weeks--this post is about hair!

Sometimes I really like my hair long. It looks pretty, and I can flick it in boys' faces when they tick me off. But most days I'm way too lazy to make it look nice, and I don't really hang out around that many boys, so it's usually up in a ponytail or a bun or going all crazy with static and waves. When I'm getting ready to travel, I definitely don't have the time or the patience to mess with it each morning, so I lop it off and choose the messy-hair style. This way I can almost roll out of bed and not have to touch my hair. Almost!

So my question to you is: How do you like to wear your hair?

And my challenge to you: Try something new! The first time I went to my hair stylist, my sister convinced me to let her dye my hair blonde. It was so crazy going through such a drastic change, but it was also loads of fun!

Step 71: Run Out of Time

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein." ~H. Jackson Brown

I absolutely hate this quote. I mean, I know it's true--we do have the same amount of time as everyone else (in fact, with today's longer life span, we probably have more), but we also have more things that we want to do. And more distractions.

There just isn't enough time to do everything that we want. We want to write the next Great American Novel, but we also want to visit with our friends and family. But to see the people we love, we need to be able to drive, and that's hard to do when our car's always breaking down, and we're spending time looking for a new one and trying to pay off the old one. And once a new car is bought we can go to all the doctor appointments we've missed out on, but not before we send the state every paycheck we've ever earned and wait for months for them to decide if we're still eligible for the best damn insurance we've ever had. After we're all caught up on our body and teeth and eyes and mind, we can buy that plane ticket, but not before we spend hours looking at all the violence going on in the world. Then we question whether we should really go or not, so we start thinking. And thinking takes up A LOT of time. And sometimes thinking is painful, so we decide to escape to the world of television and watch an entire season of a 90's cartoon in one day. And that's ok because we've been really busy running around lately, and it's nice to take a relaxation day and we really did want to see our favorite episode again. But now we're a day behind on everything so we're scrambling to catch up. But we've still got to go to work and pick up those extra shifts because we legitly want to help out our co-workers and friends, but we also have to admit the extra money is nice too. And when we get home from work, we could be productive, or we could scan through Facebook and watch funny cat videos. And we want to write a blog about all of this, but like I said before, there just isn't enough time to do everything that we want.

We have to pick and choose what we do with our time, and we've got to accept what we don't get around to while being happy about the things that we do accomplish.

So my question to you: What is your biggest time waster? I never had a problem scanning through Facebook until I got a smart phone. Now I understand how people could spend hours just scrolling through their news feed--its so easy and convenient on your phone.
And my challenge to you: If there's stuff you really want to get done on a certain day, make a schedule for yourself. You probably don't need to get as crazy detailed as I get, but having your plans written out for the day makes it easier for you to stay on track.

Step 70: Remember the Good Times

For 2014's New Years blog post, I mentioned that I was going to keep a Memory Jar. Filling this jar with all the fun, happy, and quirky memories of the year and then reading them on New Years Eve or New Years day is probably one of the best traditions I've ever started.

One thing I did realize, though, is that you shouldn't wait until the end of the year to look back on those memories. If I had taken just a few of them out during the rough patch I went through at the end of the year, they would have reminded me how awesome 2014 actually was, and I wouldn't have wasted time wishing for the "terrible" year to end so I could start fresh with 2015.

So, my New Year's Resolution: fill this year's jar with even more happy memories AND look back at them at least once a month, so I'll know that every month of 2015 is awesome.

So my question to you is: What did you do New Year's Eve? If you didn't go see Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press, you might want to make it your New Years resolution to be there at the end of 2015--they make a great first memory for your Memory Jar. :)
And my challenge to you: Focus on the good things that happen throughout this coming year, not the bad.