For the story

I feel like I owe you all an explanation as to why it’s taken me so long to write a new blog post. A lot has been going on around here, at least, it seems that way. I started on a new blog post almost a month ago, that was going to be about the “Grown-Up Spring Break” that I had with my BFF in the middle of April. But as I kept writing, I realized that I was giving way too much info that most of you probably don’t care about. So I’ve decided to step back, rethink, and try again.

Like I said, a TON of stuff has been going on lately. For organization’s sake, I am going to resort to bullet pointing allllll the things that have been going on.

• Grown-Up Spring Break in Augusta and Atlanta with my BFF
• Moving out of my friends’ house and back into my parents’ house
• Jimmy Buffett concert in Atlanta with my grandmother and aunt
• 100^th anniversary of GFBC, the church I grew up in, i.e.: “family” reunion
• I got a ukulele! 
• Life 

I have decided to start living life for the story. I got the idea from the HBO show Girls. The main character, Hannah, is a writer and you can see in the show how she makes decisions based on the experience that she will potentially have and how that experience may or may not make for a good story. Well, I’ve decided to start living that way, not just so I can write about it, but so that I can have those experiences. Although I know that it didn’t always work in Hannah’s favor, those experiences that she had were hers. I’ve been wanting more experiences in my 20-something life. I want crazy stories to be able to tell, and to know that I did those things. So, I’m trying to live for the story, live a “yes” life. I know that it’s possible that some bad things could come of this, but I also know that some really awesome things could come of it too. And that’s life, taking the good with the bad and learning from it. 

Going on my Grown-Up Spring Break, I was able to sort of test out living for the story. We drank lots of wine, tie-dyed t-shirts, got lost in Augusta, sang along to the Sweeney Todd and Rent soundtracks at the top of our lungs, went to the Mall of Georgia, met up with a friend I haven’t seen since 6^th grade, went to the World of Coke, pretended to be British, sat in LOTS of traffic, went shopping, spent way too much money, and went to the Renaissance Festival. In addition to all of those things that I did with my BFF, I also went to my first rave in downtown Atlanta with another friend, did some things that I’d rather not reveal to the entire internet (let’s just say that it was on 4/20 and I had a really good time), and definitely lived for the story that night. All in all, it was a really great week. I wish I could have weeks like that one more often. 

Grown-Up Spring Break with the bff!

Yep, pomegranate wine.

Tie Dying. Photo cred: bff

World of Coke! We pretended to be British this day. She was Elizabeth "Liz" Evans and I was Michelle Roberts.

Atlanta traffic.

Renaissance Festival!

Ravin' it up!

Almost immediately after I got back from my spring break, I had to start packing up to move out of the house that I was living in. Earlier in April, my roommates informed me that their situation was changing, and they needed the bedroom that I had been living in for over a year. I discussed it with my parents and for the time being, they’re allowing me to live in their guest bedroom until I’m able to find somewhere else to live. It’s a kind of bittersweet situation. On one hand, I feel like I’m losing some of my freedom and independence, and I miss my roommates. On the other hand, I have my own bathroom and a fully stocked kitchen, and have really enjoyed being able to cook more often. There’s a house that I’m hoping to move into, but until it’s actually happening, I’m not really allowed to talk about it. So until then, Daisy and I are residing with my parents, brother, and two dogs who are not quite sure about sharing their space with a feline. 

Phil and Daisy fighting for attention

I think Daisy's adjusting well.

The week after I moved, I went to see Jimmy Buffett in Atlanta. If you know the kind of music that I like and don’t like, you might think, “why Jimmy Buffett?” But there’s actually kind of a neat story behind it. When I was five years old, my grandparents took me on a trip to the beach, and the whole time, we listened to a Jimmy Buffett cassette tape. My grandmother promised me then that one day we would go see Jimmy Buffett in concert. Over the years we’d tried getting tickets and they’d be sold out, or my grandmother wasn’t doing well, or something was going on. But this time, it seemed like the stars aligned and it all worked out. Back in February, right before my birthday, actually, I got a call from my grandmother inviting me to go to the concert. It was a pretty cool moment for me. After twenty years, she was finally able to fulfill that promise. So April 30^th, the day of the concert, rolled around, and I headed up to Macon, made a stop at my Alma Mater, Wesleyan College, and met my grandmother and aunt and together the three of us made our way to Atlanta for dinner and the show. It was pretty cool. Not quite as awesome as some of the other concerts I’ve been to, but still fun. And oh my god, there were so many drunk people! Like people wasted beyond belief! Twas a bit ridiculous. But we were able to survive it. And now the three of us can check that off our bucket lists.

Alma Mater

No road trip is complete without an Instagram selfie.

The Man.

20 years later, we finally made it! 

The weekend after the Buffett concert, my family and I had a trip planned to go to Atlanta. That Sunday was the 100^th anniversary celebration of the First Baptist Church of Grayson, Georgia, the church that my family went to for about 17 years. I was really excited about this trip because for me, it was like a homecoming. Although I don’t claim to be a Christian anymore, that church was where I grew up, the members of it were like my family. I was at that church every time the doors were open, and even when they weren’t open (because my mom had a key). That Sunday was a really awesome day. Although it started out rainy and cold, I have only warm memories of that day because of all the old friends and “family” that I got to see and reconnect with. It was such a lovely experience and I’m so grateful that I got to go.  

For my mom, this was a prime-time shopping trip (and an opportunity to show off, vocally). The shopping down here in Albany is not the best, there’s just not a great selection of stores. But up in Atlanta, the sky’s the limit! So of course, that Saturday, we went to the Mall of Georgia, but not before first going to Guitar Center. We went to Guitar Center, not only because both my dad and brother are guitarists, but because my mom had to return some stuff for work. Now, up until that day, I had been on a serious kick to try to come into possession of an accordion. I know that sounds kind of lame, but I’m already a pianist and I think it’d be a pretty easy crossover. Plus, Nora Kirkpatrick, of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, plays the accordion, and she’s pretty awesome. So of course I had to inquire as to whether or not the dudes at GC had any accordions. They did not. And my mom went on to say, “I’d be more likely to buy you a ukulele than an accordion,” and I said, “challenge accepted”. So I casually sauntered over to the ukuleles and picked up a $99 ukulele. My dad helped me figure out a couple of chords, I showed my mom that could play a little bit, whipped out the puppy eyes and trembling bottom lip, and within five minutes, my dad was pulling out the debit card (I’m their favorite child, obviously). I’ve had my uke for a week and a half now and I’ve been playing it nonstop. I’d be playing it right now if I weren’t typing. It’s such a cool instrument! I’ve tried my hand at guitar and bass guitar, but I never got too far with it. However, I’ve been able to pick ukulele up so quickly and easily, that it’s such a joy for me to play it. Practice doesn’t feel like practice, you know? The only downside to it is that I haven’t been able to feel my three middle fingertips on my left hand since that Saturday morning, but it’s worth it. The coolest thing I’ve done with my ukulele so far, other than getting to jam with my dad and brother on their guitars, is using it while teaching piano lessons. One of my students is getting ready to play a gig next week and he’s never performed for an audience like that, much less playing with anybody else (he’s going to have a band backing him up). So I got on my uke and played along with him on Fun.’s Some Nights and the Beatles’ Hey Jude and Let it Be. It was so much fun!

Ukulele!

As you’ve seen, it’s been a pretty crazy busy month or so, and I don’t foresee it slowing down anytime soon. I imagine that I am going to have many opportunities to live for the story in the coming months. Especially as I’m dealing with what step to take next in my young adult life. I’ve been putting in applications and my résumé at Disney World and Universal Studios, just to see what would happen. I’ve also been looking at grad schools again. I feel like there are so many paths that I could take, I just don’t know which one to take and how to get started. The itch I have to just take off on a cross country road trip has come up again, yet, there are so many logistics that go into trying to plan that kind of trip, that I just about fry my brain trying to figure it all out. I know that I’ll probably never actually get my life and my future all figured and planned out like I would want. So I’m just going to live, live for the story, and live to the fullest, taking in all the experiences I have and cherishing them, knowing that they are mine.