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The random musings of a college girl who enjoys just about everything. I enjoy talking and reviewing, so please, feel free to stay a while, sit down, enjoy a coffee. While attempting to find a way to live forever I have come to at least recognize the truth so universal (though I can't say I've given up my quest). So this is my attempt at taking the most from life with the time I have. After all, forever is not so long.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Something to NOT Do: Catch Your Car On Fire

Hi everyone.

I had a very interesting weekend. Actually, it was pretty normal until about 10 PM last night.

You see, this is what happened: My friend and I were off to another friend’s house with the goal of watching movies and making silly videos all night. It was dark and incredible snowy, and I had a car that was not very well suited to the weather conditions. Needless to say, the two of us got stuck on a hill and ended up overheating my engine. After getting off of said hill, I noticed we were low on gas, so, luckily, my friend new someone who lived nearby and thought they might have some gas we could borrow to make it to the next town. As soon as we got out of the car, I noticed the hood was billowing smoke. I also noticed something that made my stomach drop: what looked like an ember from a fire was on my car. When I went to pull it off, I noticed that the hood of my car was melting.

What subsequently followed was, naturally, calling 911. The woman whose drive way we pulled into was on it, while their neighbor brought over a fire extinguisher to try and control the flames burning from the hood of my car. I called my family, and my friend grabbed what he could from the car. The flames kept growing stronger and stronger though, and the man had to give up the fight against the fire with the extinguisher. For the next ten minutes until the fire department got there, I watched my car become engulfed in flames.

Luckily, we are both okay and there was nothing terribly valuable in the car. It was still a terrifying experience that I would never recommend for anyone. I’m still stressed about it, but I’m sure that will fade in time. What I did take out of this though, is that it’s a really good time to be thankful and to just tell everyone I love how much I do love them, because near death experiences tend to make you see the brighter side of things more often than not.

I know I’ve complained about my more frequent than not car troubles on here before, and I have to say I am officially done with cars for a while. They stress me out.

I’m glad to be here still.

I’m glad you’re here.

Uħibbak, all of you.

Sarah.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

To Write Love On Her Arms

Hi again!

Tonight I’d like to share with you another charity related tidbit; my personal favorite nonprofit, actually. To Write Love On Her Arms is its name, and it is dedicated to finding help and providing support for those who are suffering from depression, suicidal thoughts, self harm, and addiction. While these things may be rather foreign to some people, they are definitely very real and not very foreign to me. I have known many, many people and had many friends go through at least one- if not more- of the things To Write Love On Her Arms (abbreviated TWLOHA) fights against. Because it has affected me the most personally, it is probably the charity that I am most passionate about. But more about that later.

I would sit here and try to tell you all about what TWLOHA is about, but I would like them to tell you their vision in their own beautiful written words: http://www.twloha.com/vision/. I plead you visit that site and at least give it a look over.

I’ve known about them for a while, and I can’t even quite remember how I came to first hear about TWLOHA. I think it was either through one of their shirts that I saw someone wearing, or possibly from seeing others participate in To Write Love On Her Arms day, which is a fan created day in which everyone writes love on their arms for a day in support of the charity. However so, it has become a part of my life that I can’t help but brag about. Not only does the group have their own day, but they also have their own conferences, called MOVE conferences, in which anyone can attend to learn about their vision, how to help themselves, and how to help others. I can only imagine that To Write Love On Her Arms has saved hundreds of lives through these, and also the stands that they keep open at various concerts throughout the year by sponsoring bands.

To Write Love On Her Arms also has a fancorp community, a street team that they wouldn’t be able to do much without. This street team is there to not only support TWLOHA , promote it, and gain new supporters, but also to help complete TWLOHA’s vision by completing outreach projects. The street team can give support by doing everything from sharing TWLOHA on various social networking sites to wearing a TWLOHA shirt while volunteering somewhere. The team also gives support to the community in little ways: one of the orders that I have done recently involved writing something encouraging on a post it note and leaving it in a public place. Whatever the thing is, big or small, the biggest reward comes in the form of the feeling that you are helping others, and maybe even actually helping someone out by volunteering or referring them to the organization. They also hand out reward points which you can spend to get merchandise from their store, but nothing compares to how awesome it is to support the charity.

I would suggest you at least check their main page out, and if you’re interested, just keep exploring the site to find out more. If you’re really into it then I definitely suggest you join the street team and become active. Whatever you do, I’d also like you to share your personal favorite charities with me below. I’d be really interested to see what everyone is passionate about.

Until next time,

Sarah.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Volunteering & New York City

Hi again.

I’d just like to share with you a little bit about an amazing opportunity that came to me. A few weeks ago a friend of mine got me in touch with a guy who was leading a mission trip of sorts to New York City. Namely what we would be doing there would be helping the homeless. I love doing things like that, so I was all over it and ready to go, even if it did mean I was going with a bunch of people I’ve never met before. That’s the fun of it though, going out and trying new things in sometimes scary situations. I wasn’t intimidated really, but it was definitely an out of comfort zone experience.

Anyway, it was one of the most amazing weekends of my life. If you’ve never done any kind of volunteer work, I would highly recommend it. Even if it doesn’t seem like something you’d like, try it anyway. Almost always I’ve found people come out of volunteer experiences feeling good about themselves and with a happier attitude about life, which I think is something we all need. It definitely doesn’t have to be as out there as going to New York City to hand out blankets and sandwiches to homeless people in bus stations at one in the morning; it could just be going to your nearby Animal Shelter or even a retirement home. Just anything to get you out there helping somebody or something for the better good.

The people who I went with were amazing as well. I’m not sure I’ve ever been around a more welcoming, kind group of people in my life. I’ve decided that I like going places with random people that I’ve never met before; it presents a great opportunity to get to know people who you haven’t known for forever. Growing up in a small town it’s hard to find people within a fifty mile radius who I don’t at least know by word of mouth, so it was nice to get out there with some people who I’d never met or even heard of before.

So that’s my little you should volunteer schpiel. But honestly, it’s definitely an experience, and even if you don’t enjoy helping others (though I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t) at least you’d take something away from it. It’d be good for anyone, guaranteed. And it’s always nice to make our world a little bit of a better place.

So get out there and do something that will change your life and someone else’s!

Sarah.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Raving About: Skrillex

Hello all.

For you today, I don’t have much, just something short and sweet. I’d like to rant to you about one of my favorite musicians, and though I’m a little late on reviewing his rise to fame (quite a few years late), I still think he deserves to be talked about, just in case some of you don’t know who he is. That musician’s name is Skrillex, and if you haven’t heard of him, please, I beg you, go look him up and take a look at his music.

Skrillex is just the stage name for this guy Sonny Moore, who is probably one of the greatest musicians of our time, in my opinion. Not only can this guy create amazing dubstep, which is an off genre of techno, but what most people don’t know is he was also the lead singer a while ago for a band called From First To Last. He can sing and play guitar. Pretty good too. Basically, he’s got every area of music covered pretty well, and he’s only twenty four. He started in From First to Last when he was just fifteen years old.

This guy basically made an entire genre famous almost overnight by music standards. I’ve been listening to Skrillex for a while, but one day I woke up and it seemed like the entire world was suddenly obsessed with his music. He hasn’t stopped there. With his recent new EP, Bangarang, Skrill has only climbed the rungs of success even more. He has quickly become one of my favorite musicians ever, and I can’t help but brag about his talent. So I would really enjoy it if you  checked him out. He won’t waste your time, I promise.

Ich liebe dich,

Sarah. 

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Why You Should Play An Instrument

Hello everyone.

Again, I have not been holding true to my word and I have been a slacker. Please forgive me.

My first report is that my juggling has been going… fairly well. We’ll leave it at that. I am a very uncoordinated person, so the fact that I can keep three balls in the air for even a couple of seconds is pretty impressive. I’ve also decided to try and add yoga to my daily schedule. Which is pretty busy to begin with. I think I might as well train myself to become an insomniac, because that seems the way my life is going. I actually like staying up pretty late. I feel like I get a lot more accomplished. Well, at least at night. The next morning my body is not so sure of that.

But there is also something that I’ve been meaning to post about: why you should learn to play a musical instrument as soon as possible, if you don’t already. Obviously there are several benefits to doing so.

Firstly, it gives you a sense of accomplishment. I know better than most that it’s hard to learn instruments at first, given that I play quite a few of them, but once you stick to it, there is nothing more gratifying that saying you can play that instrument and being able to learn whatever song you want on your chosen instrument. Granted, some are easier than other (bongos vs. clarinet) but they are all worth it in the end, because the learning never stops. Music is a constant process, and I think that’s part of what makes it so wonderful. You can always learn new songs or tunes on your instrument and keep feeling that same sense of accomplishment every time.

Secondly, the social aspect of it. I have been to so many parties, gatherings, social events, even places like a park where there are just people wandering around where either myself or someone else has broken out a guitar, and people just gravitate towards it. Guitar is the easiest to make friends using, but when you’re with others and you have your instrument, you can just pick it up and bam, almost always instant admiration. I have met countless people and made friends out of those I’d never even spoken to before just because someone or myself had a guitar out and was strumming it. It’s such a great way to break the ice. Another great way to meet others is to play a weird instrument that not many people can claim they play. I play ukulele, which usually results in people coming over and commenting on it. My friend plays the didgeridoo and will carry it around with him while we are out, and you wouldn’t believe how many people he meets just by having it on his back. It’s amazing.

Thirdly, and a mix of the first two, is the places playing an instrument will take you. Now not everyone makes money off of playing music, and it requires one to be really good at their chosen instrument to do so, but hey, if it becomes your passion, go for it! If all you ever even do is strum on your guitar alone in your room, there is still a certain gratification that you get from it that you can’t get anywhere else. The fun things you can do with an instrument and the people you meet are bonuses, but nothing ever holds a candle to how it feels to strum that first chord or learn your first song or play in front of your first crowd. It’s a different kind of experience that everyone should get.

That’s all I have for you tonight. I promise to start posting more often again.

Je T’aime,

Sarah.