An Excuse to Be Loud and Obnoxious

That's really all karaoke is. The music blares, and the audience sings over the people who kind of suck. But there aren't many places where you can sing at the top of your lungs without people looking at you like you're crazy. And tonight I needed some time to be obnoxious. To let loose. To have some fun without worrying about how what I said affected someone else or whether or not so-and-so is interested in me.

I tore it up with "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree," my all-time favorite karaoke song. Why is it my favorite? Because I'm good at it. (Nope, that's not very humble, but this is one of the only situations in which you'll hear me sound so confident, so I'm taking it.) I love any song that gives me an excuse to put some gravel in my voice.

Ahh, karaoke, my dear friend. I forgot just how much fun you are.

Blah

Days like today are the worst. I have no motivation to do anything. FHE is right now, and I should go, but none of my roommates are home and I seriously don't feel like being social by myself. My face is pimply, my hair looks like crap, and I feel like I weigh a bazillion pounds. This is not a time when being the only girl at FHE (because I know I would be) sounds appealing.

I hate blah days. I think I'm just going to go watch "Little Miss Sunshine" and then go to bed. Sounds good to me.

They say it's your birthday

Olive Garden + Paul McCartney + family + kabobs + presents + friends + cupcakes + cheesecake + crepes + signs + a date = the best birthday EVER. Thanks to everyone who helped make it so awesome.

23 is going to be a good year—I can feel it.

Bloody Brilliant

I'm not going to even try to write about the concert and do it justice. I tried that last night while writing in my journal, and I ended up writing for two hours. I'm not spending two hours chronicling the awesomeness that was Tuesday night because a) I don't want to spend that much time on a blog post and b) no one wants to read that.

Suffice it to say, the concert was absolutely AMAZING. Paul McCartney is bloody brilliant. I teared up a few times, as did my parents, but it wasn't some adolescent screaming for some celebrity I'm in love with. I was listening to music that is so familiar that it feels like it's a part of me, and I was listening to it being performed by the man who created it. It was overwhelming. Even as I was staring at the man himself, I still couldn't believe I was there hearing Paul McCartney live. He played "I've Just Seen a Face," which is a song I remember making up dances to when I was four. It was so cool.

The Beatles' music is like the soundtrack to my life. I've liked different sections of their career at different points in my life, and some songs have significant meaning and hold significant memories for me. So when I heard Paul McCartney play songs like "Blackbird," "Hey, Jude," and "Let It Be," you better believe I teared up. He also played "Paperback Writer," which is the very first Beatles song my dad heard on his very first transistor radio on his eighth birthday, which started his love of the Beatles and therefore mine, and I heard it straight from the man who started it all. I'm still in awe. I just want to go back to Tuesday night and relive it over and over and over.

Thank you, Paul, for coming to Utah and giving me such a ridiculously awesome opportunity to see you live. And thanks, Mom and Dad, for giving me the best birthday present ever and for letting me go with you so I had someone to experience it with. It was the most amazing night ever.

Everybody's gonna dance around tonight

It is here. The day has arrived. I am seeing this man live, in person, tonight.

I can't believe I'm actually going. Even though I've had 49 days to digest the idea. I never thought I would see any of the Beatles live. It just didn't seem like it would ever happen. I didn't even think to wish for it. And yet it's happening. The day has arrived. In seven hours I will be anxiously waiting for Sir Paul McCartney to step on stage and play his ridiculously awesome songs that I have been listening to my whole life.

Tonight is going to be bloody awesome.

Blues Dancing = Awesome

Wednesday night, I was online when Laura started chatting with me and asked me if I wanted to go blues dancing with her and some other people on Thursday night. My first inclination was to say no. I've never gone blues dancing before, or really any dancing, except an occasional institute dance. I was positive I'd be bad at it, and I didn't want to make a fool of myself.

But as I was about to say that I didn't want to go, I thought about all of the nights I spend doing nothing in my apartment. Sure, reading and watching TV and movies is cool, but it gets boring when you do it night after night. I also thought about how I've wanted to meet new people and get out of myself and be more outgoing. So instead of doing what is natural for me and being introverted, I said yes.

And boy am I glad I did.

Turns out, I'm not too shabby at blues dancing. Don't get me wrong—I'm not amazing or anything. But I can follow decently enough (though when guys started throwing in a lot of turns and spins I got rather confused) to have a good time. There were times when I felt a little dumb, and when I wished I had let go a little bit more than I did, but there is blues dancing at Ozz every Thursday night, so I've got plenty of time to get better.

I also met quite a few really cool people. I went to Denny's after the dancing ended with the regulars, I guess you could call them, and simply enjoyed myself. Which is something I don't do enough. I even let myself stop worrying about the fact that I had work in the morning—though when I was trying to get out of bed after only five hours of sleep, I did second guess myself a little bit.

Basically, last night was awesome for me for multiple reasons: 1) Like I told Laura, I did something new, which is something I don't do enough. 2) I forced myself out of my comfort zone—dancing is not something I do very often, especially not dancing really close like I did last night (nobody on the floor would have passed the triple combination test). 3) I was social and talked to a ton of new people—also something I'm not always comfortable with.

I think I just might have found something to do to fill my usually empty Thursday nights. You better believe I'm going back next week.