Katie

My best friend Katie has been in NYC for too long. Actually, it's only been about two weeks, but it feels like it's been longer! Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for her, but I miss having my best friend around. Haha hurry up and come back Katie! It's no fun making fun of Elizabeth and Cameron without you there. Or, if you really wanted to I could just go see my "grandma" and somehow come up there. Haha...have fun over there. And update your blog!

Owl City

I love music. I'm not in love with it like some people, but I love blasting a song through my headphones as I shoot some baskets through my barely-clinging-on hoop in my backyard. I'll listen to a variety of music, but there's one artist whose music I can't stop listening to. And I don't want to.

First, Owl City. Like everyone else, I'd heard "Fireflies" on the radio, and I liked its funky beat. However, it wasn't a song I was particularly interested in. Owl City even made a stop at KSU back in January, and my sister Elizabeth was dying to go, but me, I didn't really care. I'd only heard that one song, so I wasn't going to go to a concert that I wasn't sure I'd enjoy.

Then, in newspaper class one day, Jessica kindly allowed me to listen to her iPod, and she happened to have Owl City's entire album on it. Curious, I clicked on a song called "Hello Seattle", and let's just say the rest is history.

After I listened to "Hello Seattle" a good twenty times, "The Saltwater Room" was next. Then "Vanilla Twilight". Then "Dental Care". It just kept going on to the point where I was obsessed with this guy's music! The sound and lyrics are so unique, and the entire time you're listening to his album it's like you're on some whismical ride. Read into the quirky lyrics and you'll find sentimental love stories, as well as other things just about anybody could relate to. Now that I'm a full-fledged Owl City fan, I look back to January and regret I wasn't as enthusiastic about going to his concert as I should've been.

By the way, you should know I just got his CD, "Ocean Eyes", on Thursday (Thanks, Jessica!). But I can't even listen to it because my CD player has been dead for about six months now.

Luckily I've got the entire album pretty much memorized.

"Hello Seattle, I am a mountaineer..."

I'm Rollin'

So in the past few weeks I've been on a roll as far as reading goes. Just a few minutes ago I finally finished CHELSEA CHELSEA BANG BANG by Chelsea Handler. This is something I'm excited about because I started the book when it first came out in March and am finishing it now...in July. That's pretty sad, considering the book is only slightly over 240 pages and I'm known for plowing through books twice as long as that. But I do have a good excuse!

You see, I'd been very focused on working on my own book for a while. That was my number one priority, and then I had schoolwork, and then my OTHER job at Papa Murphy's. I was forced to give up reading because I just had no time for it. The only reading I did was required reading for my Honors English class (there were some good books I read that way, however). Summer came and I was still working on my book, and I began reading the Twilight novella, which I quickly lost interest in about halfway through. However, I brought the book THIRTEEN REASONS WHY by Jay Asher on my vacation at the beginning of the month and I just...kept...reading. I'd met the author, so I think that was a big reason why I was set on finishing it. And behold, I got around to finishing it near the end of the vacation! With the draft of my book done, I had time to catch up with my reading. I read the rest of the Twilight novella, and finished up the rest of Chelsea's book. All in the matter of 3 weeks!

Now I'm on a roll, and I'm set on finishing up one book I stopped reading halfway at the start of summer before the inevitable start of school, bringing with it the inevitable homework that will include the required reading for my AP Language class. Hopefully I can finish it!

By the way, Chelsea's book was pretty freakin' funny. If you were curious.

One Month

Today makes it official: exactly one month until school begins again. In one month I will be heading into my junior year, the second half of my high school career. In one month my sister will be starting her senior year of high school. In one month my brother will begin his final year of elementary school.

As of yet, I'm unsure how I feel about this. Nothing really awesome or spectacular has happened this summer (except that one thing I'm not telling anybody until I know for sure if it's awesome or spectacular), so part of me feels ready for that one month to zoom on by. School is still...school, but at least something will be happening. Another good thing about the school year starting? The return of T.V. shows! Yes, I'm talking to you, "Grey's Anatomy".

However, there's another part of me that wants this last month to move at glacial pace. I'll miss sleeping in and hanging out come August, and I know for a fact I'll feel that gnawing nostalgia for the previous year that I always feel at the start of a new school year. Only this year it'll be much worse. My sophomore year was probably one of the best years of school I've had. I had a lot of laugh and a lot of life changes, and I'm certain I'll want to feel it all again. People who I was close with won't be coming back, and I'll miss them. It'll be a rocky first few weeks.

But despite all that, I'm gonna go in positive. I have a good feeling about what's ahead for me in this next month. In a month things could be totally different. I'm acutally HOPING things will be totally different. Hopefully I'll have a (good) update on that awesome or spectacular thing I'm dying to tell people about.

Bring it on, August 17th. By then, in one month's time, I think I'll be ready for you.

Michelle Hodkin Giveaway

I was wandering around blogger and came across Michelle Hodkin's blog. She's an up-and-coming author who is giving some books away! She's giving away THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff (out September 21st) and THE DUFF by Kody Keplinger (out Sept. 7th). To enter you have to recommend a 'dark and haunting' read in her comments. Here's the link where you can find out more! Good luck!

http://michellehodkin.blogspot.com/

First

Hey other bloggers, it's Dustin. This is my first-ever blog post so I'm not really sure what I'm doing yet. I'll post more soon!