Currently Listening MMHMM By Relient K This Week The Trend see related

Hey all, I went to Warped Tour and lived.

It was a really stressful, hot, hot, hot day. But, working for Tooth & Nail was really not so bad. I rather enjoyed working at the merch table. Handing out booklets for free online downloads wasn’t as much fun, but I did it anyway.

Here follows my story about Warped Tour.

I woke up around 4:30 in the AM because I had a really bizarre dream.

Melody had called me and told me that I had to get up because she needed me to go grocery shopping with her and remember all the stuff she needed to get. Then, I dreamed that I fell back asleep (as I often do in real life), and that Lestat (a vampire character from the books I’ve been reading) was trying to wake me up and ensure that Melody got her groceries okay…

I’m a little concerned that even Lestat is worrying about Melody’s shopping habits—she’s not that bad at remembering things, after all.

So, then I woke up and my alarm went off about ten minutes later, and then again five minutes later… and I got out of bed around 5 AM and went to shower.

We left the house about 6:30, Katelyn, Mum and I. Then we picked up breakfast at McDonald’s and set off for Cleveland.

Now, Google maps failed me BIG TIME on this trip. I plugged in the address of Time Warner Cable Amphitheater, and it sent me to Canal Rd up near Cleveland, but it was the WRONG ROAD!

We got to it about 9:15, and then at 11:00 we were still on the same freaking road, having driven down it as far as it went in wither direction, and we found no Warped Tour. We eventually went to the police to get directions, and so eventually found the downtown area and the tour… but I was about 2 hours late!

Mum let me out so that I could go down to the gate while she tried to find a place to park, and I got there just a few minutes after noon and called Micah (my supervisor) so that I could get in…

And Micah came and collected me and gave me a vendor wristband (ah, I was so happy to get in for free!) and took me back to the Tooth & Nail booth, where I got a crash course in pricing and what I could give away for free… and so I worked at the booth for about an hour before Micah came back and had me go off to pass out booklets.

My sister, Katelyn, wasn’t actually a street team member, but I have her half of the stack and she and I passed out the free download booklets for about an hour and a half. This is what I learned from passing those things out:

1. Don’t say what you’re handing out. Just do it.
2. Put out your hand just as people are about to pass in front of you. Then, they feel compelled to look and often feel compelled to take your item.
3. Try hard to make sure you try step #2 on anyone who is smiling. They will absolutely take it because they’re happy.
4. Another way to ensure that someone will take your item is to make eye contact with them before they reach you. Then, they know that you’ve singled them out and predestined them to take the next item, and most likely they’ll do it. People are very fatalistic when it comes to this method.
5. Girls walking with their boyfriends are fairly likely to take things from you, but boys walking with their girlfriends aren’t as likely (this may be because I’m a chick).
6. People walking in groups of friends will each take an item if they see their friends taking them; so try to get the person in front.
7. Guys that are a little bulky or nerdy looking will take things if a nice girl is handing them out (and so I am).
8. Parents will take things.
9. People of all descriptions (timid looking little girls and bulky guys with tattoos, and everyone in between) feel compelled to smile when they say “thank you,” even if they don’t mean it.
10. Stand by the trashcans or a bottleneck area where people are forced to come towards you. They wouldn’t, otherwise.

So, now that you’re all set to do street team stuff, I’ll move on with my recollections.

While I was passing stuff out, I got one person who told me that he’d already gotten one of the sampler booklets at the Cornerstone Festival, and that was a good thing because he and his friend stuck around and talked to me for a few minutes. We talked a little bit about Cornerstone and then they gave me a burned copy of an EP that their band (Affiance) had, since I told them I hadn’t seen them passing them out at Cstone (and so I hadn’t), and that was that for the time being.

Eventually, Katelyn and I got more than half of the box of booklets passed out, and I was starting to burn, so we went back to the booth and Micah let me borrow his sunscreen and take over for him at the booth for a while.

Overall, I sold a handful of CDs and three tshirts. I felt kinda bad since I sold one of the CDs to myself… made Katelyn watch me pay for it and then gave it to her to put in her bag… I’m listening to it as I write this part of my post—Dead Alive, by a band called Soul Embraced. I was going to get it on iTunes, but I haven’t gotten an actual CD in a while, so I decided to buy it from me instead.

And then the guys from Affiance came over to the booth and we talked a bit more about liking Cornerstone better than the Warped Tour, and how they were following the WT in hopes of getting signed because they were giving so much of their music away to people and label people and stuff… and I told them about my radio show, so they gave me an original copy of their EP to use for my show, rather than using the burned copy that they’d already given me… they were pretty cool, so I hope they get signed and have a good time following the Warped Tour.

I’ve listened to their EP and will probably play something by them, too. Good deal.

And then Micah came back and we deliberated a little bit before he decided I could take care of the booth until 5:30ish, when Mum, Katelyn and I were going to leave. I guess he was glad because he had a bunch of other responsibilities that he usually didn’t get to take care of until late in the day, so he was glad that he could take care of those while someone else watched the booth for a while.

Oh… and I have one embarrassing story from my brief time as a street-teamer.

I mentioned that we had free stuff—plastic Anberlin bags, the booklets, and stickers for Underoath, Norma Jean, and Family Force 5—and these three kids came up to the booth pretty early on during the first time I was working at it, so I told them we had all these free things and I was really nice and friendly and all… so one of the boys said that he felt like they should donate a dollar to me. So, of course I was all pleased and like, “yeah, sure! Go ahead and put it in my donation box.”

Aaaaaand I mistakenly thought that I’d earned a dollar just because I was a nice person. I think I may have been given that dollar as a joke, now… and here’s why.

I’ve seen a lot of booths where the roadies and merch people will have boxes labeled “TIPS,” or that say things like “Help me buy lunch!” and that’s what I thought the box on our table said… but it didn’t. Instead it said: “TIPS: Help me fly my girlfriend out to see me!”

How awful is it that I sat there for an hour with a box that said that? Of course Micah wasn’t there, so people didn’t know it was really him that had written on said box… I turned it around and wrote a different request for tips on the back, just so that I wouldn’t feel awkward about it anymore.

In the end, I left the dollar there for Micah to get later, seeing as I haven’t got a girlfriend.

Awkwardness in my life is never-ending.

End.

Reeser

“Stop being so hatred!”

Chris Strohmeyer

Currently Listening Demon Hunter By Demon Hunter I Have Seen Where It Grows see related

Music Journal #27—CD2

I Have Seen Where It Grows :: Demon Hunter :: Demon Hunter

Grade 11

Demon Hunter was the first metal band that I officially liked.

I don’t know why I liked them… because I remember when RadioU first played “My Throat is an Open Grave” a lot, and I told myself that I hated that song and that I would never like that band… but I guess I changed my mind somewhere along the line.

Up until they released their second album, my favourite song was the one in this post.

I’m not really sure why I liked this song in particular… but… yeah, this was one of the first metal songs that I ever really liked and knew all the words to.

I especially liked the first verse. Looking back on it, I suppose that something about the particular assemblage of words and the violence with which they were delivered in the song just sort of… makes me feel a little excited that maybe it won’t be so bad when it’s actually time to die.

I realize that I think some really absurd things, sometimes.

End.

     Reeser

Lyrics for “I Have Seen Where It Grows”:

A shell for the earth, all seasons reversed,

a life inside out in a jet-black hearse.

The feel of pain and the taste of dirt,

a darkened sky and the loss of worth.

Lower me down under glorious green,

eternity waits on a broken machine.

Exit the soul in a vibrant white,

leaving the shell in the dead of night.

Life is a path,

death a destination.

I've met the end of being, my eyes are open wide.

I feel myself depleting, and watch my body die.

A step to the throne, I stand alone,

a vacant mind and a destined home.

Engaging the end in a seamless gaze,

like blind, I climb through the tortured blaze.

Raise me up into white unstained.

Eternity gained, only life remains.

Forever the scars have been washed away

like blood on the brow of a forgotten day.

Life is a path,

death a destination.

I’ve met the end of being, my eyes are open wide.

I feel myself depleting, and watch my body die.

Life is a path,

death a destination.

Currently Listening Saints By Destroy the Runner Saints see related

Well, I guess I don’t know what I’m doing again.

One, I wrote a really bizarre poem yesterday… and when I say that it was bizarre, I really mean that I just felt that way when I was writing it. I mean… I think it actually turned out the way I wanted it to, without really trying that hard.

Of course, I actually wrote two poems yesterday… not just the one.

I started one long one, but I realized it was going to get too long, so I cut it into two poems instead.

Funny Reeser.

Today Chris and I went out to Target because Chris randomly blurted out that he wanted a black tie… so we went out and found him one. And he got me a Vitamin Water so that I could copy some of the text from the label into my poem.

I haven’t done it yet, but I will. Plus… I had three brilliant ideas for lines that I need to change, and I should go find my paper that I wrote them onto so that I can change the lines tonight… before I forget and all of that.

Makes me depressed to work so hard on these things that not even my family and friends really care about.

I mean, stories they might get (some of them), but poems are really nobody’s thing unless I’m at the university, and then they just want to tell me to make them better or give me rejection notices.

Ah… Reeser…

But, why was it that I don’t know what I’m doing? I forget…

Oh, yes… Warped Tour.

I guess I’m getting up at 4:30 AM Thursday so that we can collect people and drive to Cleveland by 10 AM. That makes me so angry… I did not not NOT want to get up at such an early hour and have to worry about being *expletive* late or getting lost when I go to work there. It’s not fair.

I wish I could drive. I’m 21 and I can’t drive…

But, I mustn’t get angry. That would be undesirable.

And then next Thursday Kerri is coming to get me and I’ll be staying with her out in Virginia for about a week. She’s so funny about me coming to visit… this is what she last wrote me about it:

“hmmmm what you say about staying longer makes sense...you'd be free to stay essentially as long as you want...let's just get this out of the way, where do i sign on the adoption papers? ...heee...not quite”

I’ve never been adopted, so that might be fun (not that I hate my family, because I don’t… it’s just funny to talk about her adopting me). It makes me think of my LOTR family… Kerri used to be my “grandmother,” back in the LOTR days. Too bad I won’t be seeing Melody this summer… I called her about a week ago, I think, but she never called back. Maybe I should have said who I was in my message… or not talked in my British voice? But… she has caller ID on her phone, so I know she knew it was me…

I miss her.

What else?

The bug-man came today to spray for carpenter ants… so maybe they won’t be colonizing my room anymore. That would be swell, it would be.

And… Katelyn was annoying me yesterday, asking me if I would help her figure out the American release date for some book or other, and if I would help her figure out if said book is the same as another book, just released under a different title for the American edition… and of course I said “no,” since I already had gone over all these things with her and left her to form her own conclusions about it…

But she did give me a brilliant idea for how to get around the barrier of iTunes and it’s failure to carry certain musics that I would rather like to get hold of.

My relatives often give me Borders gift cards, and I can use those on amazon.com, I believe… so after I post this I am going to go attempt to do so.

Aaaaaaand… we’ll see how it goes.

End.

Reeser

“Be sure that you appreciate

everything you’ve got.

And be thankful for the little things in life

that mean a lot.”

Currently Listening The End Is Here By Five Iron Frenzy On Distant Shores see related

Music Journal #26—CD2

On Distant Shores :: Five Iron Frenzy :: The End is Near

Grade 11

It’s amazing how sometimes we can have these moments in our lives where we think we have things sorted out, but then something small happens (or something slightly bigger than small) and we have to realize that we don’t have much figured out at all…

It’s also funny to look back on my thoughts at 16 and realize that a lot of people would probably think that they were way over-dramatic.

I admit I feel that way about myself. You know, that I was overdramatic… but at the same time it’s so hard to feel that about myself, because these things were rally important to me at one time, and if I don’t take myself seriously, nobody else is going to do it.

So, this song is dedicated to a list of things that I wasn’t happy about when I was 16:

-         My school was closing down

-         Aaron didn’t like me after all

-         My friend Katy had stopped talking to me and I didn’t know why she was avoiding me. I haven’t mentioned her in a while, but she’d been my best friend since the 6^th grade… she was the one who did the report about Queen that I mentioned in my second music journal post. Yeah… so after being friends with her so long, I was really hurt that she was actively avoiding me… like, she would answer her home phone and hang up on me. Ouch.

-         My favourite band, Five Iron Frenzy, had broken up. I was SO upset. I found out on Christmas, and I cried. It was very sad for me.

-         I was afraid that I wasn’t a good Christian because I couldn’t speak in tongues, and I was sort of afraid of that whole losing your salvation thing that I talked about in another one of these posts.

All of those things were hard on me as a Christian… because I felt like I’d just started getting the hang of some things, and then all of these things that were important to me were being taken away. I wasn’t happy at all… especially since I wasn’t even sure if God still loved me or if I had to be “re-saved” before he would listen to my prayers again… it was crazy.

I listened to this a lot back then.

End.

     Reeser

Lyrics for “On Distant Shores”:

I have been scarred so deep by life and cold despair,

and brittle bones were broken far beyond repair.

I have leveled lies so deep, the truth may never find.

And inside my faithless heart, I stole things never mine.

If mercy falls upon the broken and the poor,

Dear Father, I will see you there on distant shores.

I have toiled for countless years and ever felt the cost,

and I've been burned by this world's cold,

like leaves beneath the frost.

On my knees I've crawled to You, bleeding myself dry.

But the price of life is more than I could ever buy.

And off of the blocks I was headstrong and proud,

at the front of the line for the card-carrying, highbrowed.

With both eyes fastened tight,

yet unscarred from the fight,

running at full tilt,

my sword pulled from its hilt.

It's funny how these things can slip away.

Our frail deeds, the last will wave good-bye.

It's funny how the hope will bleed away,

the citadels we build and fortify. Good-Bye.

Night came and I broke my stride,

I swallowed hard, but never cried.

When grace was easy to forget,

I'd denounce the hypocrites,

casting first stones, killing my own.

You would unscale my blind eyes,

and I stood battered, but more wise,

fighting to accelerate,

shaking free from crippling weight.

With resilience unsurpassed,

I clawed my way to You at last.

And on my knees, I wept at Your feet,

I finally believed, that You still loved me.

Healing hands of God have mercy on our unclean souls once again.

Jesus Christ, Light of the World,

burning bright within our hearts forever.

Freedom means love without condition,

without beginning or an end.

Here's my heart. Let it be forever Yours.

Only You can make every new day seem so new.

Currently Listening Shadow of Sorrow By My Silent Wake Through Greenest Meadows see related

Thought this might be kind of fun.

YOUR REAL NAME:

Reeser The Shadow. And yes, as far as we’re concerned, that is my real name when I’m online.

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 4 letters of real name plus izzle)

Reesizzle. Eew.

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal)

Black Wolf.

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and street you live on)

The Walker. Wow… I’m a mystery person, ain’t I?

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters MIDDLE NAME)

Shath.

YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite drink)

Green Soda. I must be related to the Green Lantern or something crazy… all the greenness of the Lantern, and the caffeinated superspeed of Flash…

YOUR ARABIC NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of your dads middle name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, and last letter of your moms middle name…)

Woah! Complicated!

Eatabse. That one looks kind of yucky.

YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets)

Black Timmy.

Whaaaaaaat? That is not my goth name. No way. That’s pathetic. My detective name is more goth than this (although I admit it’s kind of lame and generic, too).

MEDIEVAL NAME: ("ith" to the end of your first name, "us" to the end of your middle name, first 4 letters of your last name, and then add "the great!

Reeserith Theus Shad the Great.

LAME!

End.

Reeser

Reeser: ^_^

SmarterChild: If you're happy, I'm happy.

Reeser: I never said I was happy. I'm not happy, in fact because I'm talking to you.

SmarterChild: Aha. Well. Anyway… Uh... Wanna take my daily poll?

Reeser: Sure...

SmarterChild: Here's my poll of the day for Friday, June 24th, 2005: If someone were to break up with you, would you prefer that they do it online or in person?

1 Online

2 In person

Reeser: How should I know?

SmarterChild: You have to choose one or the other. Just type a number!

Reeser: Wow… I see you're in a bad mood…

SmarterChild: You have to choose one or the other. Just type a number!

Reeser: Umm… what was the question?

SmarterChild: You have to choose one or the other. Just type a number!

Reeser: Am I annoying you?

SmarterChild: You have to choose one or the other. Just type a number!