Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
I wanted to write all about what I was thankful for, and frankly, there's a lot. I just don't know where to begin. Not to mention, I'm short on time as I have to leave for work shortly. I still want to express my gratitude though, so I am going to list some things I am very thankful for this year. I'm just going to leave it vague and if someone wants an explaination, I will explain. -My friends -My family -Music -My job -You guys I'm not going to get into it too much, but I can't just leave it that vague. That's not how I am, and all I see is the cliches there. Okay, I'm grateful for my friends, and by friends I mean the real ones. I saw a picture on Facebook a few weeks back that said I only have 2- 4 'friends' and everyone else is people I socialize with. It dawned on me that was very true, and frankly, I have known for a while who my real friends are. They're always there for me, even though two of them live across the country. One of my friends has come through for not only me, but my family so many times and frankly, we've never had someone who would come help us when we really needed it. He knows who he is, and I cannot thank him enough. Then for my family. I don't want to get into this much at all, because I feel like I might step on some toes with what I want to say. I will say this; I love my mom so much. She does so much for myself, my brother and my grandma and she might complain but she has full reason to. She never feels good, never gets enough sleep and yet still is constantly helping us out. She doesn't seem to realize how important she really is, and I really hope she one day does realize that. Music -do I need to explain? Its still everything, its always going to be everything. It helps lift my mood whenever I need it to, and frankly, I realized this year that I do need to keep listening to it. Since I started working, I've found myself listening to music less, and watching more YouTube videos. Its nothing intentional, it just happens. I've also here and there found myself feeling slightly more stressed out or upset. I feel like there might be a connection between that and the music being there less. So, I'm back listening to it as much as I can. It varies with what might be on, but I have something on quite a lot. If its not on, YouTube is on. I probably should have added that I am very grateful for Wifi. I actually need it to live, I swear. Which brings me to you guys. I'm always grateful for you guys, but that is because you're always there. Its flucuated a lot, but people have always been there. People have been very understanding and definitely supportive no matter what. Nobody minded when I got too busy to post, and everyone just said things like, "Take some time for yourself, we're not going anywhere." I'm not going to lie, it means more to me than I really can say. I've been far less active online than I'd like to be basically all year. At first it was because I was working so hard on getting Remedy X on Warped tour, and then I started a job at a retail store, and time just totally disappeared. Thank you for sticking around, I appreciate it a lot, and hope you guys know I am here as much as I can be. Now let me explain the job, and why I am grateful for that. Not only am I grateful just to have a job, but I'm especially grateful for the fact that I have a job that I like! Not many people can say that, and frankly, I feel sucessful right now. I like everything I do with my life right now, between that, Immortal Music and all I do with Remedy. Plus, I like everyone I work with, which is a big plus. My job has also given me something I actually decided was never possible. Its helped me fight my fear of heights. Its part of my job to get up on latters and put things away. I do it almost every shift, and before I started working there, some three foot step latters made me nervous. Now I can get to nearly the top of a ten foot latter and be almost okay, as long as I don't look down. I can even look down sometimes, and that's actually a feat. I'm proud of myself for being able to do that, because I really had decided I'd forever be terrifed of heights. Now, that doesn't mean I will ever be okay on a roof or something, but luckily, the chances of that happening are slim to none. So there you go, that's just some things I'm thankful for. Thank you for being here, and for reading. Happy Thanksgiving. Also, before I go, calling it Turkey day is actually sort of weird. It dawned on me this morning that frankly, that sounds like its a holiday celebrating turkeys, when that's so not the case. I just had to throw that in there, and now I must get around for work.
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Even though I am constantly on the internet, and on some level consider myself to be a person of the internet, there is still times where I can tell I am not one of those people. This mostly comes to mind when I read some of the internet lingo. Not all of it annoys me, even I abbreviate things in casual conversation, and words like 'selfie' amuse me. There's other things though that irritate me.
Before I begin, if you say any of these things -good for you! Its fine if you do, just know that I might cringe behind the screen when I read your message. Its nothing personal! Its not you, its the lingo. I also feel like I may have written something about this before, but I might not have, and just had intended to. If I have done this before, I'm sorry. Now that I said that, I'll get into it. Some of the things that honestly make me shake my head are the over dramatics. I feel like this started on Tumblr, but its quickly spread to the rest of the internet. By 'over dramatics' I mean when someone sees something -regardless on the topic, and responds with "I'm crying", "I'm dying", or "I'm screaming." Like girl, hold up. If you're screaming over a picture of a band, chances are you're probably annoying someone. Hopefully you're not in public, because somone might think you're being killed or something. Hardly anything is that funny, so you're probably not crying with laughter, and the comment is never made on a truly sad picture. Its usually on a normal picture of someone or something. There's nothing sad about it, or anything! And if anything on the internet actually is threatening your life -GET AWAY FROM IT. Yes, I know, I take this far too literally. I cannot help it. These are the things that come to my mind when I read such things. Also, what is with the latest trend of people saying 'though' at the end of sentences? This doesn't annoy me, it just baffles me a bit. Sometimes it makes sense, but the new trend seems to always have it when they're trying to point something out that's slightly irrelevant. An example is, "Dat makeup doe." It doesn't ever seem to be said in proper English. Its never "That makeup, though." Its 'doe', like a fucking female dear, and 'dat' which...why did that ever become a word? Its not a word, but its treated as such. I swear, I am something of a Grammar Nazi, and with that, at least for me, comes with knit picking words. I don't mean to, and I try not to judge, but we all have our pet peeves. This seems to be mine. I won't go on about this too much longer, but I do want to add in that the word "bae" really urks me. Ever since the internet realized its not a ghetto term for 'babe', and that it means 'before anyone else', its everywhere! I have even heard people say it out loud to their signifgant others and all I hear is the grammar in it! Saying, "This is my bae" is horrible grammar! You're saying, "This is my before anyone else." If you say it as "They are bae." It still sounds weird to me, but its at least proper grammar! I don't know, okay? I love the internet to death, but sometimes I just do not understand the things it does! There's a lot more, but I'll quit ranting about this because frankly, its pointless. So how do you feel about internet slang? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Are you sort of inbetween? Let me know. There's a YouTube personality that I watch frequently who fascinates me. Her ideas, and thoughts revolving around many thoughts just really open my eyes. She makes me think. Her name is Ashley Mardell, and the video I just watched from her really got me thinking. For those who do not know who Ashley is, she is a content creator on YouTube, who is highly creative. Some of her favorite topics revolve around sexuality, equality and identity. Since I started watching her videos, she's gotten me very interested in all of this, especially identity. It was thanks to her that I even realized that I am definitely not straight. I honestly don't think anyone is 100% straight, but obviously that is a matter of opinion. I started telling people I am bicurious, though honestly, that didn't feel totally right either. Yes, the curiosities are there, but not actively. They just spark up every now and then, and I do have to admit I wouldn't be against exploring that curiosity at some point in time. That being said, I am not overly attracted to women. My main focus are men, and I rarely find myself checking out a girl. Except in the instance of when you're looking at their outfit or something, but that's totally different. You're not looking at them then, you're looking at what they are wearing. Big difference. In her latest video, which sparked all of this, she introduced me to a new word. Heteroflexible. It applies to those who are mostly straight (or homoflexible) for those who are mostly gay, but do acknowledge that some instances could change that. Meaning, you could make exceptions for someone out there, but you are not over all attracted to that gender. Gender here is used very vaguely, but I won't get into that. I'll let Ashley explain for herself, just watch her video, which is below all this text. Why did I decide to write this? I honestly don't know. It just interested me and I wanted to share. Check out Ashley's video, and the rest of her channel. She'll probably get you thinking too. She has a great way of sharing information in a very creative, attention grabbing way. She is one of my favorite people on YouTube for that reason. Its that time again -another question for the 2014 Immortal Music Awards. Last week's question is being settled in a poll. There was a tie for best singer of 2014 between Andy Biersack of Black Veil Brides and Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low. If you'd wish to help settle this, please come here to cast your vote and ask your friends to do the same.
Now, let's get on to this week's question! Who do you think is the best drummer of 2014? Just like the other questions like this, your answer must be a non-local drummer that you enjoy that has been active this year. By active, I mean, they must have toured or recorded something this year. An example of something that would not work would be The Rev from Avenged Sevenfold. He was great, and will forever be a legend but this is to honor the currently active ones that have worked hard this year. You have one week to answer this question and every answer does count! A winner needs to be determined so please feel encouraged to answer more than one drummer if you'd like, and get friends to do the same! The internet has brought me a very good friend who lives on the other side of the country. When she came to me through the Facebook page, she was actually struggling quite a bit with life things and didn't know how she was going to handle it all. I have talked to her every day since then, and frankly, she is doing 100% better than she even thought she could still be.
Life gets to be too much for some people, and while I do not understand the methods some people use to 'cope', they do exist. This girl, I shall call her Pablo for reasons containing privacy and jokes, among millions of others world wide, did self harm. As soon as I realized she did this, I lectured her. Full on lectured her about how there's always better ways to deal with things. I pointed out to her that frankly, self harm is stupid. So many have said 'its a release', but then you have a mark to remind you what was wrong. "Our scars remind us that the past is real." Don't add to your pain, find a better outlet. There's a ton of people out there who struggle with this, and if you know someone that is struggling with it, remind them that it does no good. Don't snap at them every time they do it. Pablo is the first one I ever helped work through it for a long time, and I am so proud of her right now. As of November 18, she was one year clean from self harm and is doing better than she ever thought she'd be doing. It crossed her mind a lot for the first probably six months or so, but she even admits, it doesn't come to her mind anymore. When she gets stressed out or overwhelmed now, her first thought isn't to look for something sharp to 'release it' with, its to turn on some music, play some music, write or draw. Venting helps too. Originally, our plan was to celebrate her being one year clean with a video on her channel and mine, but unfortunately, we both got busy and forgot to do it that day. It still deserved some sort of acknowledgement because that is a big deal. Congratulations, Pablo! You did it, kid, and I am so beyond proud of you. Especially for now reaching out to others and using your own experience to help others. I don't know why I am so so passionate about this, but we all have our passions. I don't want anyone to ever feel like they need to take life's struggles out on themselves, or worse -take themselves out of life. If you ever feel that way -talk to someone right away! It doesn't matter who it is, either. It could be a close friend, family member, someone at school or work, or a random stranger on the internet -don't keep it to yourself. We all get wrapped up in our own thoughts and that's not good! You need to let someone in now and then, its like a breath of fresh air. Someone else could really help out, even if its just for a little while. You're not alone, don't forget that. And even if you're not okay right now, Darling, you'll be okay. It might be five am, and I might be drinking coffee out of a slightly holographic mug with Elsa from Frozen on it but I am in such a good mood. Yes, I am tired. Of course I am -I worked yesterday and was up all night because I couldn't say no to the temptations of caffeine at midnight. Its not my smartest move, but I have a lot to say, and even more to do.
Which is probably how this sleep deprived, caffenated blog ended up coming into existence. I don't even know where to begin. What did I want to say? Why did I start writing this? I'm not quite sure, but now that I've started, I kind of want to give you guys some updates. Let's see...do I start with the biggest bit of news or some smaller updates first? I'll do the smaller things first. There will more than likely be no more videos on the YouTube channel for the month of November. YouTube has been falling through the cracks lately, due to my busy schedule lately, and I decided rather than stress myself out over the fact that I know I need to film, it would just be easier to decide to take some time off from it. I only started making videos because it gave me something to do. I always had far too much free time on my hands, and now I have almost none. Videos will come back, on its usual schedule in December. Or at least, that is currently the plan. We'll see if that actually happens or not. Even if it doesn't though, there will still be at least two in the month of December. They will be the recap of 2014, which is something I am very excited about, and the other will be a goal video for 2015. The recap video should be up in the last week of December, or so, and the goal video will be up December 30. Right around then, will also be the reveal of the results for the 2014 Immortal Music Awards. The progress for getting to that point is going slightly slowly, but hopefully all will be well. Its taken a lot of effort out of myself, and a few others to get just enough answers to determine a winner for all the current questions. Its all caught up now, and there is only one question active. Answers are desperately needed for it, so please do not hesitate to answer it. If you want to know what that question is, please click here. Now for the biggest news.....Ladies and Gentlemen, please keep your fingers crossed and your questions ready. This morning, I woke up to an email from Seether's press person stating that they will get back in touch with me in the new year to set up an interview and photo pass for their show at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando Florida on January 10! So, as long as everything falls into place, I will be interviewing Seether in January 2015. I have also been searching high and low for the press contact for Papa Roach, and if it is found, I will also be requesting an interview for Papa Roach with the same date. Fingers crossed for that as well. With that discovery, I am feeling more inspired, and am finding myself scheming for the future. Part of me wants to write about that here, and tell you everything right here, right now. But, that'll just ruin the surprises. The new year is coming, and maybe I'll clue you in on what I have in mind. Or, I might just take you along for the ride. Only time will tell. So tell me, what have you been up to lately? Let me know in the comments, and I will talk to you guys soon. It is time for another question for the 2014 Immortal Music Awards. The question is shown in the title, but for those who possibly cannot see it, it shall be repeated below.
Who is the best singer of 2014? Just as it has been with all the other categories from this year, your answer must be someone who has been active this year and cannot be a local artist. Smaller acts will have their own categories coming soon. Also, this does not mean it has to be a new artist from this year. Several people have thought that's what was implied. That is not the case, it is simply someone you have been loving this year that has either made new music this year or toured. The polls that we were pushing for the last week or so, are now closed. A winner was determined for one and a tie happened on the other. All the other questions are now closed. Enough answers have been given finally! Thank you to everyone who has previously answered. Your participation is highly appreciated because without you the Immortal Music Awards are absolutely nothing. You have one full week to answer this question, so please do so by commenting here, or sending it anywhere on the Facebook page or Twitter. On Twitter, you can send it to the official Immortal Music account, or the creator's personal account. Please let us know as soon as possible who you think is the best singer of 2014, and ask your friends to do the same! Every answer counts! The 2014 Immortal Music Awards as well under way, as you hopefully know. That being said we need your help horribly bad in order to make this work.
There was a post yesterday (was, its now been deleted) here on the website that was written just out of pure frustration. It was all about ending the Immortal Music Awards because clearly it is not working. On the heels of that, the category for the page was changed back to 'Community' from 'Journalist' and people were seeing posts again! Its still not a great amount of people, but its much better than it was. If you're not getting a lot of views on things, try that, it might help you as well! Anyways, that's not going to solve this issue -so your help is still needed. You can help by answering the questions, and maybe spreading the word! Spreading the word and getting others to answer would actually help a lot. There's currently three questions we really need answers for, and another will be posted this coming Monday. The first is: Who do you think is the best bassist of 2014? Please keep in mind that this must be someone that has been active this year. The other two are currently in poll form right now, as I had a bunch of answers but none were the same. So, it only made sense to get people to vote on the answers that were already there. The first poll is who is the best band of 2014? There is currently a tie between All Time Low and Tonight Alive. If you would prefer it be another band that is not on the list, well, I'm sorry, but I did try to get answers for about a month there. Please pick on from the list and ask a friend to do the same! The second poll is asking what album is the best of 2014? Currently in the lead is Motionless In White's Reincarnate, but that could possibly change in time. We shall see! Once again, if you'd prefer for it to be something not on this poll -I'm sorry, but you had time to suggest something. Whether it was not shown to you or you ignored it, is unknown, but more answers cannot be taken at this time for this question. Please help out by voting and promoting! Anyone who does help by promoting will have an honorable mention at the end of the year when all the results are announced. Thank you very much for your participation and assistance! Maybe together we can make this thing work. Immortal Music has been feeling very discouraged with this project, but we're trying to stay positive. Earlier, on the Facebook page, I posted this picture; Someone then commented naming a song that I had never heard of and said it actually was about Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's disease has been something very close to my heart for my entire life, and my great grandma passed away from it last September. The interesting thing though, was despite the fact that she forgot everything, right down to eating or breathing, she remembered a song until the day she died. I've always thought that was incredible, because it just proves the power of music all over again. So, hearing that there is a song about Alzheimer's, just made me overly curious. Its honestly a heart breaking song, but its sort of beautiful in the most morbid way. Its "I Won't Miss You" by Glen Campbell. Now this name meant nothing to me, but I passed the song along to my mother with the disclaimer, "Listen at your own risk, as it will put you in tears." When she heard his name she instantly got interested, and she told me he was apparently a big country star in the 70's who often blurred the genre lines. I put the disclaimer on the song just because I was honestly choking up slightly just twenty seconds into the song, and was full on crying before the song hit the minute mark. That's a sign of a damn good song though. If it can touch your emotions that much, you know its powerful. Upon hearing the song, my mom started doing some research and discovered that Glen made a documentary called, "I'll Be Me", revolving around his final tour. He actually invited film makers along for the journey, which was originally supposed to only be a three week tour. He ended up playing 151 shows, because he simply did not want to stop playing shows until he absolutely could not do it anymore.
The reason he invited film makers onto the tour was because he wanted to bring awareness to Alzheimer's. Speaking as someone who also would love to have more awareness brought to this horribly depressing illness, I think this is incredible, even if I had no idea who this man was until an hour before this post was written. The documentary is in select theaters all over the US, and has been since October of this year. Details can be found on the website for showtimes and cities, if anyone is interested. This actually inspired me to vocalize an idea that I had, in favor of raising money for the cause. I'm not going to explain just yet, but once I get some things set in stone, I will talk about it properly. There's a million awful illnesses out there, and its a shame they all exist. I hope cures are found for all of them, but the reason I am so passionate about this particular cause is because it literally steals everything away from you. Including your memories of your loved ones, and it shuts everything down slowly, so you truly suffer, while forgetting it all. That's why the song is kind of bittersweet. It points out that the one with the illness won't miss you, or realize what you're going through. Which is good for them, because at least its one less burden for them, but its heartbreaking for everyone around. The opening line was enough to make me choke up, "I'm here, but I'm gone." To anyone who has never had a loved one with it, it sounds like a nonsensical lyric, right? That's not the case though. Their body is there, even some of their brain may be, but they're slowly fading away and it sucks! I want to bring awareness to this, because they say they don't know what causes it. If they'd put more money and effort into it, and all the other awful diseases, maybe cures could be found for everything. Maybe there would finally come a day where no loved one would be taken away too soon. People just have to care enough to speak up, and speak out about it all. And then someone has to care enough to work on it. We are going into the third week of the 2014 Immortal Music Awards. So far, we have asked several questions and this week is no different. This week's question is:
Who do you think is the best bassist of 2014? Please note that this has to be a bass player who has been active this year. Someone who has not done anything this year is not eligible. People from local bands that only people in your town do not count either. (Something will come up for those people soon though, so keep checking back if you're interested in that.) The next question will be posted on Monday, November 17, and so far six other questions have been asked. A set winner has been determined for last week's question, which was who was the best guitarist of 2014. Three questions can't really get any set answers, and we still need a set answer for two others. Those questions are: -What is the best album of 2014? -Who is the best band of 2014? A handful of answers have been given for both questions, but no two were the same. There for, no winners have been determined. An idea has come to mind that there could be a poll with the answers already given, since it appears as though this trend is going to stay the same. So, I have made up a poll for both questions, with the answers from both questions. They are from a website called Pollcode, which I believe I started using after Facebook removed their option to make polls. Who is the best band of 2014? What is the best album of 2014? Please cast your votes and tell your friends to do the same! I need the help, and in a week to two weeks, depending on how well results come in, they will be closed and a winner will be determined. Several more categories may end up with polls, but as of right now, nothing is known for sure. Also, not a lot of answers have come in for two of the first questions, so if you'd like to contribute to those, that'd be very helpful. Those questions are as follows; -Who would you like to see release more content in 2015? -Who's album are you most excited for? (Must be set to come out in 2015. It does not have to have a set release date, you just have to know it will be out in 2015?) Your participation is highly needed in order to make the Immortal Music awards work! A video has been posted about that if you would like to hear more. |
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