Quality vs. Quantity and People Named Kelsey

So my adventure into writing every day did not last. I wrote every day for about a week, then realized it wasn't working for me. While I enjoy journalling and writing these blog posts, the fact is, they're easy for me. I kept using those as a cop out, and instead of trying to write a really good short story I would write a whiny journal entry about some aspect of my life. So, at the end of the week I ended up with 2 blogs about nothing in particular, 1 poem about asparagus, and a handful of journal entries. 

I would like to switch my goal, yet again. Instead of popping out one half-assed piece of writing a day, I'm going to try to write one quality bit a week. This does not include blog posts, but I am going to try to continue blogging more frequently.

I guess that concludes all I had to say on Quality vs. Quantity, I thought I had more, guess I was wrong. 

Now on to Kelseys: 

As I mentioned before, I will journeying to the magical land of cheese, I mean Milwaukee next month to celebrate the marriage of one of the important Kelseys in my life, Kelsey Lyn Aicher. When discussing plans for the weekend with her, I was informed that there is a circus museum just a few hours away where I can ride an elephant! Since we'll be there through Tuesday (Cards play Brewers that Monday), and have Sunday to kill, I believe that's what we'll do. Killing two birds with one stone again, whoo!

The second Kelsey is one of my very best friends Kelsey Greaves (here's her blog). It's her birthday today! She's turning the boring old age of the two poos (22, double deuce, get it?), but we're celebrating like she's turning.... Some eventful, exciting age. Anyway: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SMELS! I LOVE YOU! YOU ARE THE GREATEST! 

The last Kelsey is none other than Kelsey Schutz (here's her blog). I don't really have anything specific to say to her, but I didn't want her to be left out since she is also an important Kelsey in my life. I was just reminded by her blog today that she'll be home in a month! That's pretty exciting. If you don't already, you should definitely read her blog. This girl lives an exciting life and is an excellent writer, always worth the read.

-Shannon!

A Poem for Asparagus

When I was in high school I used to write these silly little poems. I would make insulting ones about my friends, or ridiculously gushy ones to inanimate objects. Seeing as it's already 2am and I'm starting to feel tired, I thought one of these would be a nice little exercise. Since I ate asparagus two different times today, and I couldn't come up with much else, I thought it would be excellent subject matter. So without further ado, the aptly named "A Poem For Asparagus":

Dearest Dearest Asparagus

Smothered in butter with Parmesan cheese

You fill me with wonder lust

And make it smell when I pee

I could eat you always

You taste oh so great

But that odor sways

Me into a hate

But it does not end there

For there is love, too

I will sit in my chair

And eat all of you

Then I shall ask for seconds

Perhaps even thirds

Until something else beckons

I’ll eat, with no words.

I’ll sit and I’ll chew

I’ll chew and I’ll sit

Leftover, will be few

No chance that I’ll spit

I’ll eat you for lunch

And eat you for dinner

Cooked right, you’ve got a punch

You’re really a winner

This poems getting silly

It’s quite out of hand

It’s gotten willy-nilly

I’m taking a stand

I love you Asparagus

I hate you some, too

Why do I keep trying to rhyme Asparagus?

I’m getting on ModCloth and looking for shoes

-Shannon

Hey, how about an update?

I'm going to skip the boring, here's a check in ones and just skip to the exciting stuff.

In March after a slight delay, I made the journey to South Carolina to visit my good friend Sam. A 10-day trip turned into a long weekend, but it was still a good time. Not only did I get to go to the beach, but I also won a spider ring, what more can a girl ask for? Trip one out of three - check. A month or so later my mother, her boyfriend, one of my sister's best friends, and myself loaded up into my mom's tiny car and made the journey down to Newnan, Georgia to visit none other than my sister herself. Since she wasn't going to be in the country for her birthday, we celebrated her American Birthday. We had frozen yogurt, got pedicures, and ate some delicious South African food. AND my sister and I didn't even fight a single time! I'm calling it a complete success. Trip two out of three - check. For my third (and hopefully not final) trip, I plan on travelling to the magically land of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Where I plan on buying some cheese, celebrating the nuptials of Kelsey (my college roommate) and Garret, and watching the Cardinals kick some Brewers tail. So as of July 13, I should be able to mark another resolution off the list.

On the fair day of May 11, I accomplished two separate resolutions. The first of which, and possibly the most important, was: I got a year older. Yes, even though I claimed the entire month of May as my birthday, the resolution wasn't actually achieved until the day I was born. I turned twenty-four and couldn't think of a better way to celebrate it than by gathering up three of my closest friends and jumping out of plane. Which brings me to my next achieved goal: do something dangerous.

Skydiving was spectacular. Stephen, Dewalin, and Deric all accompanied me on this little adventure, and not one of us regretted it. Stephen took his first ever plane ride, before exiting it at 12,000 ft with some dude and a parachute strapped to his back. Dewalin had done it before and was the least nervous. Deric faced his fear of heights, even though he said it didn't really count since it was just "stupid high". And I screamed like a banshee as I lost contact with the plane. In my defense, I had just watched one of my best friends fall out of said plane just moments before.

Here is a picture of all of us before anyone had jumped. I'm wearing what Dewalin dubbed my "Amelia Earhart Special Needs Helmet" and my "Reese's Pieces" flight suit.

Two of us got to go up in the plane at once. First up it was Deric and myself. Watching him jump was probably the worst part for me. None of the others got pictures, but Deric got to make an appearance in quite a few of mine.

This is how high up we were right before I jumped out... I don't think it's so unfathomable that I screamed as soon as I became completely airborne. 

Here's free-falling with Jaco, my instructor. Dewalin became best friends with this guy when they jumped together.

I seriously couldn't be more glad I went. And I'm even happier my dear sweet mother not only talked me into, but also provided the funds to buy, the pictures/video. It was definitely a birthday I'll never forget. Side note - before leaving home for Taylorville, I did write my mom an "in case I die" letter. I may have been silly enough to jump out of a plane, but at least I was prepared for the worst.

Now, I suppose it's time to fess up. I failed at the school related resolution. I'm not going to expand on it, however, just that it was pretty well thought out, and I still stand by my decision.

So far I've done good with my new and improved writing resolution (replacing number 9 on the original list, for anyone keeping track). On the 7th, I wrote my Ode To Ray Bradbury. The 8th I wrote a journal entry (which may or may not make it to the blog sometime). The 9th I wrote this blog (though, it's not getting published until the 10th, after I have time to edit it). I'm hoping to do some fiction for tomorrow(the 10th)'s bit of writing, after all that's what resolution 9 has always been about.

I counted my resolutions and I have 16 left. Five of which are ongoing and can't be finished until the end of the year. That's just 11 more. I think the next one I'm going to try for is number 10 - Ride an Elephant.

-Shan Out

One Of The Greats

It's not often I get upset about a celebrity dying. After all, I'm very self-centered and their disappearance from the world will not affect my life whatsoever, especially retired celebrities. I know a lot of people got really upset when Heath Ledger died. When I saw The Dark Knight, I was like, dangit, he could've done so much more, that sucks. But I wouldn't say I was legitimately sad. When Patrick Swayze died, I had a friend who cried (*cough cough* Stephen *cough cough*).  When Michael Jackson died, everyone got up in a tizzy about it, and yes, I love his music, but whether he is alive or dead doesn't affect me, because he's not producing anything new anyway. Whatever, I'm a jerk. 

As you may or may not know, yesterday Ray Bradbury died. Or at least I found out about it yesterday. A quick google search could confirm when it actually happened, but that's irrelevant. Even though he was, in fact, a retired celebrity, I got a little sad.

For nearly a decade of my life Ray Bradbury was without a doubt my favorite author. Really he probably still is, but a lot of times I forget about him because OMG HARRY POTTER JK ROWLING OMG! However, while Harry Potter was an instant classic, I've been reading them since the 90s, and I've read each book at least a dozen times (with the exception of book 7 which I've only read thrice), it just hasn't affected me like anything by Ray Bradbury. 

When I was in Junior High I had a teacher assign the book Something Wicked This Way Comes (Thanks, Mr. Caldwell). This book was my first Bradbury. I'm fairly certain we read the book around Halloween (because, really when else would you read it). And I've read it just about every Halloween since. As I've grown older, which character I identify with the most changes, but every year, I identify with one character or another very strongly. I think that in and of itself is a testament to his writing. Every single time I've read the Harry Potter series I've only ever identified with the Weasley twins and Hermione, and those are only to a certain degree, never as strongly as Jim, Will, Will's dad, or the various carnival workers/ townspeople. 

My second Bradbury book was Farenheit 451, which I also read at Mr. Caldwell's suggestion. This book spoke to me very deeply as the vehement book nerd I was. It's probably a lot of the reason why I continue to talk myself out of that iPad or Kindle Fire I've been lusting after. There's just a certain thing about books: the feel of them, the smell of them, the look of them. It's a love affair I've been having since I was very very young, and will win out with me through this age of technology.

After I read those two books, I was hooked. I was a Bradbury fan for life. I mean, look at my myspace page (which I haven't touched for probably four or five years), the very first person under "People I'd Like To Meet": Ray Bradbury. Being the nerd I was, I started finding more out about him. Not just what books he wrote but about him: where he lived, how he was educated, his writing process. Keep in mind this was in the late nineties and the internet had not yet come knocking at my door. I had to find magazines with articles, and do crazy things like read Forewords. It was taxing. Of all the things I learned, the majority had come from the same teacher who had got me hooked in the first place.

Learning about him and how he came to his success was one of the first moments I thought I could make it as an author. For as long as I can remember writing professionally has been a dream of mine, but I never actually thought that I could pursue it, until I learned more about Bradbury. He was from a small town in Illinois, he mostly succeeded just because he worked really hard at it, and he truly loved what he did. Although these aren't all true, this was my view of him as a young impressionable Junior High girl. It was that view that inspired me. And if just learning about him could inspire so much, what would meeting him be like? I could only wander.

I continued my Bradbury obsession through High School, reading every book by him Ms. Newingham (the English teacher) and the school library had to offer. I read a lot of his works (the majority was, sadly, from Ms. Newingham, and not our understocked library). And the love affair never ceased. It’s been cut down a bit in recent years, having run out of new stuff of his available for me to read.  But he’s always remained an active voice in the back of my mind. Anytime I think of the hopefulness and the wildness of summer, or the adventure sneaking around the routines of fall, I think of him. Anytime I think of how I still dream and sometimes even believe I could have one of my works published, I think of him.

I'm a little devastated my dream of meeting him can never be. I always held on hope, and of all the famous people I've ever wanted to meet, he was the most likely. He's an author, so it's not like he has fangirls throwing their panties at him, so he's probably not anti-fan. And HE LIVES IN ILLINOIS. The same place I have lived my entire life. 5 hours or less away in any direction. There's got to be a book signing or something somewhere. Yet now it's too late. I'll never meet him, but it's not the end of the world. I just need to take what I've learned from him and how I've been inspired by him and use it in my day-to-day life. Write more, and write for love, don’t be held back by your roots, strive for greatness. Lessons I’ve learned, not by his writings, necessarily, but from his life as well.

Something Ray Bradbury was most well known for was the fact that he wrote every day. I think (midyear) I may change one of my resolutions to that. Instead of finishing a short story or script, I think my goal should be to write every day. Whether it be a blog, a journal entry (Yes, the two are very different), a short story, part of a longer tale, part of a script, all of a short, or anything else, I should try and come up with some piece of writing at least once a day. I guess here's mine for June 7, let's see what I can come up with for the 8th.

-Shannon

Welcome!

(Keep in mind I started writing this a week ago, and then finished it up today, so things might not be the most coherent.)


So here's the progress report:

My dear friend Valerie talked me into fueling her addiction on Friday the 13th and I got to knock out my first real resolution. I went to a Macy's.

Like I said in my original resolution list, this was kind of a silly one. We actually did some real shopping (two pairs of jeans, what what!). Then we went to the old lady section. Up until that point it was pretty much the same as shopping anywhere else. I'm glad Val was the one who went with me, since she was always close to Mawmaw. I shared a few stories about my grandma and her shopping habits, I even found a shirt that I'm pretty sure she used to have.

It was good reminiscing about my grandma, while doing something we used to do together so often.

I'm still taking classes at SIUE.

I'm signed up for eight credit hours, and I think I have a very good chance of completing eight credit hours, but that could just be the beginning of the semester lying-haze floating about my brain. My classes are Computer Science 240 and Calculus 2. I am actually writing this from campus, waiting for my next class to start in 45 minutes.

Sunday (the 8th probably) I had the morning off, so I decided to make good on one of my resolutions and got my butt ready and headed to good ole All Saints Church and did me some worshippin'. Check.

My January book was George R. R. Martin's Clash of Kings, which is sort of a cop out, since I was about halfway done with it when January started. I have yet to start my next book, which just so happens to be the next in the series A Storm of Swords. I borrowed these books from my boss, Dewalin, and he has been giving me a lot of grief about how long it has taken me to read each one. I politely told him to deal with himself. Anyway, check.

I got paid the 15th and tucked a bit of that away into my savings account. Check.

You'll also notice I have three pictures in this post, I think that's already more than I did all last year, so that's off to a good start, too. Sort of. I've been reading my college roommate Brennan's blog and recently she's been posting photos she has taken with a disposable camera. I really like this idea. So many pictures (or rather picture taking experiences) are ruined these days because you have to take the same thing 8,000 times because one person is blinking. With a disposable camera you eliminate this, if someone is blinking you don't find out until you get it developed and that person just has to deal with themselves. Though, doing this, the pictures probably will never make it to the internet. I'm thinking of trying to go through one disposable camera a month, getting the pictures developed immediately, and putting them in an album or scrapbook if not on the internet. I'll let you know what I decide on this.

I've started looking at skydiving. Dewalin and my friend Deric have both agreed to do it with me, and I talked to Evan today and she said she might. There's a company in St. Louis that has it for $190 that I found online. But I wanted to talk to Dewalin about it, since he's gone before and find out where he went, whom it was through, and how much it cost.

Until next time.
-Shano

SOPA/PIPA Awareness

I have had a draft of a new blog sitting just waiting to be finished for about a week now, but before I finished that, I wanted to write one about SOPA and PIPA.


I only heard of SOPA and PIPA on Saturday. Saturday night there was a nice little shindig to send my friend Kelsey (read about her travels here) off to Dubai. My good buddy Ben accompanied me to said party and while dropping me off he asked me if I knew anything about SOPA, when I told him no, he explained it to me. How Ben explained it to me was, it's a bill that blocks any site on the internet that hosts or links to copyrighted material being infringed upon.


Here is Reddit's more detailed explanation.
I feel like this is and important portion and pretty well sums up how they feel about it:

"SOPA and PROTECT IP contain no provisions to actually remove copyrighted content, but rather focus on the censorship of links to entire domains.

...

This legislation is aimed at requiring private U.S. entities to enforce restrictions against foreign [offending] sites but does nothing against the infringement itself.

...

When the dust settles, piracy will still exist, and the internet in the U.S. will have entered the realm of federal regulation and censorship."

So what can you do? Conveniently Google has made a petition. Just click that link and put in your email address and zip code.

-Shannon

PS - The aforementioned partially written blog will go up sometime before the end of the week.

First Resolutions Achieved!

I got to mark Resolution 1 and 2 off the list, WHOO!

Yes, this post was dumb and pointless. Get used to it.

-Shan Out.

Resolutions 2012

I decided this year was going to be the year I came up with a New Year's Resolution. Up until this point, I hadn't ever made a single serious Resolution, so I figured I would make up for lost time as well. I decided this year, 2012, I would come up with not only one New Year's Resolution, but 23 of them, for each year I missed in the past. And really I'm posting this the 5th instead of the 1st because I didn't come up with the idea until the 2nd, and couldn't come with all of the Resolutions until today. I can't really say what made me decide that this year would be the year for Resolutions, maybe it's just my way of dealing with a quarter life crisis, maybe it's because this is the year the world ends, or maybe it's because every once in awhile I get a wild idea in my head and decide to just run with it. Most likely, it's the last option.

It has also been pointed out to me that my list of Resolutions doesn't contain resolutions so much as a to do list, or a bucket list. I personally prefer the Resolutions option, but whatever.

So here they are, my items I would like to accomplish by the end of the year in form of a list:

(See, Resolutions List had such a better ring)

1) Come up with 23 Resolutions.

-Yes, the very first item on my list is a total and complete cop out, but hey, at least I know I accomplished one thing! In addition to that, I would like to remind you all that this list took me two days to make... It wasn't nearly as easy as you would think.

2) Start a blog.

-You may think this is also a cop out, since the Resolutions and the blog go hand in hand. The whole reason I wanted to start a blog was to chronicle my journey of achieving these Resolutions, and yet here sitting at spot two is the Resolution to start a blog. However, I have started many a blog and never kept one current, it's always something I want to do, and also something I inevitably give up on (usually after only one or two posts). Not only is this blog a fulfillment of one of my Resolutions, and a means to read about them, but it also serves as motivation, publicly broadcasting that I have these goals and mean to achieve them, and letting you read as I complete them causes me to be held accountable for them. They are here and in the open, and I must strive to succeed!

3) Sing loudly and completely seriously in front of 2 or more people who aren't related to me.

-Singing is something I really like to do. I like to make up songs and sing in silly voices to entertain anyone who might overhear me. I also like to sing along to the radio. However, something I try to avoid is singing where people cannot only hear me, but also know I am singing seriously. What I mean by singing seriously is using my Absolute Best Sunday Choir Voice, and not just goofing off. I think I steer clear of this for the same reason most people do, what if my best isn't good enough? What if my best actually sucks? It's hard thinking you are somewhat decent at something just to find out you suck. But it's better to live with the truth than a lie. Hopefully my grandma wasn't suffering from My Grandchild Is The Greatest No Matter What Syndrome, and I am not awful at singing, because this year, I'm finding out. I'm thinking Karaoke.

4) Drink at the Movies.

-This is something I never even thought of doing. Seriously, it had never crossed my mind. It's true I didn't have a sip of alcohol until I was 21, and I never even finished a glass of anything until a year and a half later; but that doesn't mean I hadn't thought about drinking (See Resolution 14). But still, I didn't know people did this until I read Julia Wertz's autobiographical comic called Drinking At The Movies. She didn't really mention the movies or drinking at them throughout most of the book, but nevertheless something stuck with me about it. Maybe it's just a cool sounding phrase, or maybe it's because it caught me unawares, whatever it is it caused this Resolution to come to fruition.

5) Shop At Macy's.

-I can understand why you might have questions about this one. It is a bit odd for a Resolution, and many people probably do this on a semi-regular basis. This is a very personal Resolution and a very important one. Resolutions are all about moving on, doing away with the old and pushing forward to the new. I haven't been to a Macy's in over three years. When my grandma was alive, Macy's was her favorite store. Most Thursdays, which were Aunt Sharon's day off, the three of us ladies (my grandma, my aunt, and myself), would head out on the town for some lunch, errands, and whatever the day held for us. Usually what the day held for us was shopping, and a lot of the time it was at Macy's. It's been three long years, and even though I still miss my grandma as much as I always have, it's time to move past this block I've had. My grandma wasn't one to hold off from something she liked, so I'll follow her lead, no more holding back.

6) Go to a concert *I* choose.

-I've been to many a concert, most of which were local shows put on by my buddy Scott. But the few big concerts I've been to I was invited by someone else and just tagged along, usually my good friend Ben (actually all of them but warped tour one year have been with him). Though they were all bands on my iTunes, and even iPod, none of them were really shows that I would have picked for myself. So this year, I am going to find a concert, for a band, that *I* want to go to. Hopefully I can find someone who will go with me, either to tag along, or because they really truly want to go, either will do.

7) Beat Pokemon Yellow from Pallet Town to the Unknown Dungeon.

-Yes, I've beaten Pokemon Yellow before. Yes, I've beaten several other Pokemon games since then. Yes, this is a silly Resolution. Pokemon Yellow was the very first Pokemon game I ever played, but I never owned it, until now. Growing up my little brother Justin owned Pokemon Yellow and I owned a Gameboy Color, since we needed both to play, we figured out a way to share (until I bought Pokemon Blue and he permanently borrowed our cousin's Gameboy). That being said, I never owned it, and always loved it. This Christmas my dear sweet friend Jessica, who has been to many a used game shop with me on my continuous search for Pokemon Yellow, was kind enough to purchase this Grail of Games for me for Christmas. So since I have it and I *just* got it... I should play it until I beat it, right? Right.

8) Run a 10K or longer race.

-Last spring several of my friends and my sister brainwashed me into thinking running is fun, and I decided to do a 5K. While training for that my sister tricked me into planning on doing a half marathon, however the half marathon was in Portland and on 4th of July weekend, and I could not get the time off work to go there. I still trained for my 5K and then ran and completed it when the day came, but sadly after that my motivation to run dwindled and I stopped doing it. This year, I'm going to up the ante. I want to run at least a 10K, maybe even a half marathon. As long as I train for it, I'm sure I can do it.

9) Start and Finish writing a short story or film.

-For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be a writer. I've written several things throughout my years, but with the exceptions of assignments, journals, and non-assignment essays I've never (or at least hardly ever) completed* anything. I've started probably literally thousands of stories, hundreds at least, but this year, I'm going to finish one. It doesn't have to be the greatest and it doesn't have to be that long, but I'm going to write something for fun and I'm going to finish it.

*Come to think of it, I have written several short films, but they were kind of dumb and before I really knew how, so they don't count... So hopefully in a few years I don't think the same of this one.

10) Ride an elephant.

-Elephants are awesome. They are the third most awesomest animal (Unicorn and Shark being before it). I want to ride one. Apparently children do it all the time at circuses. I want to be those children. Well, not really, being a children isn't all it's cracked up to be, but I do want to ride an elephant.

11) Volunteer two times this year.

-I'm selfish. I know I'm selfish. I'm selfish and if you aren't someone I care about, I probably don't want to and won't help you. Maybe if I volunteer to feed some people or something I will stop being such a jerk and I will care about people other than myself, my friends, and my family.

12) Do or learn something new.

-This is a little vague. I think I did that on purpose because it was one of the last ones I came up with and I was having one heck of a time thinking of Resolutions. I think I also left it vague because how it is it's a twofer. I can do something on the list that I've never done before and get two for one. I'm the queen of the cop out. Anyway ideas I had for this one were: learn to cook a new dish/type of food (maybe sushi which I've wanted to learn how to make for awhile now), learn a new language, climb a rock wall, or take a pottery class.

13) Do something dangerous.

-Another vague one. This one is vague because I have very specific ideas but I'm not sure which will come to the foreground. Here's what I'm thinking: skydiving, which is my first choice, and I even have two of my friends who say they would go with me; white water rafting, which I did once with my siblings, my cousin Tommy, and a few others; or bungee jumping, which I haven't yet mentioned to anyone, any takers?

14) Drink Absinthe.

-Every since the early 00s, when I first saw Moulin Rouge I have been entranced by the green fairy. I want to capture her and try her in her natural green liquid form. I would prefer it to be REAL Absinthe, too, like illegal in America absinthe. Not sure how plausible leaving the country is, but it works well with Resolution 15.

15) Go on at least three trips.

-Every year I go on at least one trip, usually to visit my sister in Georgia. This year I want to go on at least three. I've been planning one over Spring Break with my friend Jackie to visit our other friend Sam. Not to mention I have plane tickets that expire in a month that I can use to go anywhere. So that's two trips down, just one more to go. Luckily, I have, not only Resolution 14, but also Resolution 22.

16) Save a little bit of money from EACH paycheck.

-I like doing things, most of the things I like to do costs money. While I'm not necessarily bad at saving money, I'm not very consistent with it either. In order to save money to do the things I like, I am going to try, this year, to save some money from every single paycheck, most likely to go towards paying for one of my other Resolutions. Hey, this Resolution is more like a real Resolution. Weird.

17) No Dropping Classes.

-I'm a notorious class dropper. This year I'm going to try not to drop any. If that means signing up for less, so be it. I can do this.

18) No Unofficial Withdrawals from Classes.

-Uh, so maybe I don't always let the teacher/adviser/school know I've dropped the class... Maybe that's what's wrecked my GPA... Whatever. This probably should be included in the previous one, but I'd hate it if I used it as a loophole. Here's to a successful school year!

19) Go To Church Once A Month.

-Everyone who knows me knows God plays a big part in my life (or at least I hope they do). However, no matter how important God is to me, I've never really felt the same about church. I need to make a conscious effort, or else I'm not going to go. Well, here it is. Once a month. Easier than every week. Harder than just Christmas and Easter.

20) Read One Book A Month.

-Really, this is just read 12 books this year, if I read two one month and zero the next, that's ok. Last year I only read maybe 5 books and that's very sad for me. Reading is one of my favorite pastimes and I need to make more time in my life for it.

21) Take More Pictures and Do Something With Them Other than Just Leaving Them On My Phone's Hard Drive.

-Ask Valerie; I'm really bad at putting pictures up on facebook or putting them anywhere for the public to see.

22) New York City for New Year's Eve.

-Yes, I realize New Year's Eve usually sucks. Yes, I realize that with all those drunken people that it will probably suck even worse. I don't care. I think it's mostly one of those bragging rights things, I'll always be able to say, hey I saw the ball drop one year at Times Square. I think this might be my most unrealistic goal. My mom has already told me she doesn't want me to do it. It still made the list. I'm still going to try. NYC for NYE 12/13.

23) Get A Year Older.

-For many years this has been my only New Year's Resolution. Simple, achievable, and if I don't succeed, it really doesn't matter I won't know the difference.

So here they are, I hope you enjoy joining me over this year as I attempt to succeed in my New Years Resolutions, fulfill my bucket list, or mark items off my to do list, whatever you want to call it, I'm going to do it. (Hopefully).

-Shan Out.