The 1975

The 1975

I love music, plain and simple, I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have it.  I love making music, listening to it, finding new artists and musicians and going to concerts and everything else in between.  I have been to so many concerts I can’t even count how many I have been to.  I remember my first concert like it was yesterday; it was to a Green Day concert when I was only in forth grade, it was really funny because my friend and I were the only kids there.  And the most recent concert being The 1975 and I even have tickets bought for future concerts.

The 1975 are a little known alternative rock/ indie group from Manchester, England.  The group consists of Matthew Healy (vocals, guitar), Adam Hann (guitar), George Daniel (drums), and Ross MacDonald (bass).  Before releasing their debut album, which was released on September 2, 2013, they have tour with some of the biggest names in music some including The Rolling Stones, Artic Monkey’s, Muse, and The Neighbourhood and are on the rise themselves.

I first heard of the band when they had played earlier this year on Conan, they had played one of their biggest hits on the show.  The song they played was their first single from their album, Chocolate.  When I first heard them play I instantly fell in love with their music.  It was vey different than anything I have heard.  They had very smooth vocals and a very mellow, stripped down style which I really like compared to most musicians attention-grabbing production.  Also all of their music videos are in black in white, which I really like because it makes it more about the music instead of their appearance or anything else.

As soon as I heard they were coming to Milwaukee I knew I had to go.  I had purchased tickets online and the tickets were only thirteen dollars because they are not well known yet.  The concert was held in Milwaukee on October 20, 2013 at The Rave/ Eagles Club.  I invited a friend to come along who had never heard of them before.  As soon as we got to the venue we headed inside and made sure to get a good spot and to do this we squeezed our way to the front because there are no seats and we ended up getting front row.  The opening band came on to the stage first and played for about forty-five minutes.  They were really good they are also a little known group who The 1975 had picked to play with them on their tour.  Their name was Linus. Young.  They were really good they play similar music to The 1975, alternative rock.  Next there was an intermission that way all the instruments could be switched out and the stage could be changed.

Then after about fifteen minutes The 1975 came out and played for about an hour and play some of there songs including Chocolate, The City, Girls, Heart Out and Settle Down just to name a few.  They played a great show but its really funny when they sing because normally when someone from the England for example sings they get rid of their accent but in their case you can really hear their accent, its almost harder to understand them when they sing, they defiantly have a unique and distinctive voice.  I know when anyone first hears their music they have no idea what they are saying.  It does take some getting used to but overall it was a great concert and one that I will not forgot and I hope they come back around here because I would love to see them again in the future.

Non Fiction

When I write I prefer to write non fiction something based on facts, real events, and real people, such as biographies or history or something based on experiences.  Rather than fiction which is written solely based on imagination.  So naturally when I first read my options for our blog assignments I wasn’t too pleased.  As you can tell from my blog I do not write much fiction, I have only written one fiction piece.

I also feel the same way about reading.  I love to read but only if it is a good book and the right type of book.  Sure there is some fiction that I like, for example the Harry Potter franchise is one of my favorite series; I have loved the books ever since I was a child and still to this day I love the books.  I also like pretty much anything from Stephen King, he is one of my favorite authors.  Some of my favorite work from him includes The Shining, The Mist and Misery.  My favorite type of fiction books to read are fantasy, mystery and horror.  Sure all of those books are entertaining and fun to read, but I feel that when I read fiction, I don’t take much away from it.  I don’t really learn anything from it and that is kind of disappointing.  I want to be able to take something away and learn something.

Non fiction are my favorite type of books to read.  Some of my favorite non fiction books include The Devil In The White City , In Cold Blood, Stiff: The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers, Helter Skelter and different biographies just to name a few.  I enjoy reading non-fiction because I enjoy hearing about real people, doing real things in real places.  Often times the truth is more compelling than fiction and the truth really is stranger than fiction.  In general I just like to be able to learn something and taking something away and I when I read non fiction I can do that more often then when I read fiction.

Another type of books that I like to read over fiction would be historical fiction.  Historical fiction is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical characters, but the main characters tend to be fictional or I really like books that seem like they could be true but actually aren’t.  Like I said before I like to be able to read a book and learn something and take something away and with historical fiction I can do that.  I can learn something along with enjoying a good story.

As you can see this blog entry was not based on one of the options you gave us but I thought I would write about why I prefer to write and read non fiction compared to fiction which both blog options you gave us were fiction.

Tremblay’s Sweet Shop

When it comes to food i’m not a picky eater what so ever.  I will eat pretty much anything whether it is oysters, caviar, brussels sprouts, anything except the one thing I will not eat is black licorice.  Black licorice is one of those food that you either love or hate and I hate it.  I find black licorice absolutely disgusting.

Every year when I was younger my grandparents would rent a cabin up north in Hayward on the lake and we would spend a week or so up there with the family.  We would go up there and go fishing, swimming, sightseeing and shopping; which was my favorite part.  We would go into town a couple of the days when we were up there and I remember we would always go into an old time candy shop it was called Tremblay’s Sweet Shop and it is located on main street.  They had so much candy; salt water taffy, brittle, toffee, fudge and much more.  I don’t think I could chose a favorite but I loved being able to to see the fudge being made and tasting it when it was finished.  We would always buy so much candy but the candy didn’t last long.

When we would go to this old time candy shop everyone had a favorite candy that they would always look forward to.  Mine was the fudge, Dads was the peanut butter balls, Grandmas was the old fashion hard candy, and Grandpas was the licorice but not just any licorice, black licorice.  When we would go up there he would always buy a ton of it.  He would also buy black licorice pipes by the boxes, he would buy four of them so it could last him till next year when we came again.

One year when we went up to Hayward and went into Tremblay’s Sweet Shop I had already bought some fudge and was waiting for everyone else and Grandpa was talking to me about the black licorice and black licorice pipes and I told him that I’ve never had black licorice and he looked at me like I was crazy.  He made sure that before we left that old time candy shop I tried it.   I was hesitant at first to try it because I thought licorice was suppose to be red not black but I tried it anyway.

It was one of the most repulsive things I think I have ever tried and I have tried many things but nothing like that.  It was absolutely disgusting I wanted to spit it out right in the middle of the shop but that would of been rude so I sucked it up and swallowed it.  I remember telling my Grandpa that black licorice should not be someones favorite candy or even come close to a favorite.  Still to this day I will not eat black licorice but its still my Grandpas favorite.  

The Island

I now pronounce you husband and wife you may now kiss the bride.  As we entered the wedding reception everyone was clapping and cheering for us.  Our reception was suppose to last all night but I was bugging Jeff because I wanted to know where we were going for our honeymoon because he still hadn’t told me; he wanted it to be a surprise and I hate surprises.  As we were dancing Jeff leaned in and whispered into my ear that the limo was here to take us to the airport so we left early.  We finally arrived at the airport still not knowing where we were going we boarded our flight, the doors closed and the flight attendants did there normal speech letting us know where the exits were and how to put on the oxygen masks.  Then the pilot came over the intercom and said that we were departing for our sixteen hour flight to Fiji.  As soon as I heard we were going to Fiji I was so excited.  I turned to Jeff and gave him a big kiss and said I loved him and thank you and that I have always wanted to go there and that he couldn’t have pick a better place for our honeymoon.  As our flight ended we grabbed our bags and stepped off the plane.  Jeff rented a car from the airport and loaded all of our bags.  On our way to our hotel we stopped at a little connivence store to pick up some water, snacks and I needed some sunscreen because I didn’t want to burn.  I also pick up a new swimming suit because I wasn’t told to pack one.  As Jeff and I walked up to the counter to check out there was a man standing in the corner and asked me if I was pregnant.  I thought this was a really weird question because I was but I still wasn’t showing.  But I told him that I wasn’t and asked why he would ask me that, he told me that he could sense it and that I shouldn’t lie and asked me if I have ever heard stories about the island.  The lady at the counter told me not listen to him.  We paid for our stuff and left.  As we got to our hotel we checked in and went up to our room to sleep because we were so tired from our wedding and the long flight.

The next day finally came and we slept almost the entire day away it was already five o’clock in the afternoon.  Since we missed our scuba diving lesson we decided to go to the beach and go swimming for a little bit.  After we went swimming we went for a long walk along the beach and we wandered into the woods.  We came across a cave, as we started to walk into it there was a really creepy man who came out of it.  He told us to leave and as we walked away he grabbing my arm and asked if I was pregnant.  I tried pulling my arm away but he had a really tight grip of it.  Jeff told him to let go, he still didn’t so Jeff had to push him away and Jeff had to even punch him, as the man was laying on the ground we started to walk away but I needed to know why he asked and why he wasn’t the only one.  He told me he asked because he wanted to know why a pregnant woman would come to an island like Fiji.  I told him it was our honeymoon he then said that he hopes nothing bad will happen.  I looked to Jeff and said that I wanted to go home.  He said that the guy was just creepy and that he didn’t know what he was talking about.  We finally got back to the hotel and just in time for our dinner reservations.  I told Jeff that I was going to go up to our hotel room to clean up before dinner.  I went to the room not to clean up but to use the computer that was up there, I tried googling why pregnant woman shouldn’t go to Fiji a lot of stuff came up.  Things having to do with cannibalism of children and torture of pregnant woman.  I started to freak out and crying and started to pack our bags.  Jeff came up to the room to see me freaking out.  I explained to him what I had read and that I was leaving.  Some how he convinced me to stay, telling me that all of that was done a long time ago and that no one does that anymore.  Jeff tried calming me done and held me till I fell asleep.

It was finally the next and we had a full day ahead of us.  Jeff told me that on todays agenda we were going hiking.  He told me that there was a trail that you could follow by ourselves so we wouldn’t have to go with others or a tour guide and that at the end of the trail there was a small camping site so we could go camping; which I’m not a big fan of but I was still looking forward to spending time with him.  We each packed a backpack and left our hotel, making our way to the trail.  At the start of the trail there were workers there to greet us and make sure we had everything we needed.  We had everything apart from a tent and sleeping bags, which we decided to rent.  We started to walk along the twists and turns of the trail.  It took us the whole day to finish it, at the end we found the camping site.  We set up our tent and made a fire, ate our dinner we had packed and we roasted marshmallows.  As we sat by the fire sometime at dusk we saw a man come out from the hidden interiors of the island in the distance.  It was really late so we couldn’t tell exactly what he was doing so we went into our tent and fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning expecting Jeff to be by my side but he wasn’t there.  I got up and went out of the tent looking for him and he wasn’t anywhere to be found I was yelling for him, after a few minutes of yelling his name he came out the woods.  I asked him where he was and he said he took a walk to explore and that he found a water fall that we needed to check out.  We packed all of our stuff up and went to find the waterfall.  We finally came up to it, Jeff dropped all of his stuff and jumped in.  He yell for me and told me to join him.  I then dropped all of my stuff and followed him in.  We were in the water for a while maybe and hour or so just laughing and having a good time.  After we were done swimming, we dried off and continued with the hike trying to find our way back to the trail.  We came across the cave again,we wandered into it wanting to know what was in there, we saw the man again we never knew who the man was from before or what he did until that very moment.  I screamed as soon as we got into the cave because what I saw was beyond anything I could of imagined the stories were true.  Jeff just stood there not knowing what do or say he was speechless.  The man in the back of the cave looked at us and said this is why pregnant woman or children shouldn’t come to this island.

After a few seconds of us just standing there in shock not knowing what to do, Jeff grabbed my arm and we ran as fast as we could.  I could hear someone from behind us running after us trying to keep up, I looked back to see who it was, it was a man, the creepy one from before.  I turned back around to watch were I was going and I saw a tree.  The next thing I remember was waking up in the cave I must have ran into the tree and knocked myself out because everything after that was a blur.  I woke up on a metal table strapped down to it with a horrible headache.  I looked up and could see Jeff strapped to a chair at the end of the table, he looked to still be knocked out I looked around and saw blood and bodies everywhere.  I started yelling for Jeff, yelling for help and screaming hoping someone, anyone could hear me.  Someone did hear me but not who I had wanted.  I asked whoever this man was what he wanted, I told him if he need money, I could get it for him, he told me he wanted me but we had to wait till Jeff woke up to start.  I started to cry and realize that the stories were real and that this whole trip was a mistake.  I noticed Jeff starting to wake up and he started screaming and freaking out not knowing what was going on.  I told him that he should of listened to me and left when we had the chance and that everything I had read was true.  All the stories of cannibalism and people eating children and torturing pregnant woman was true because they believed that human consumption would bring you good luck and make you immortal.  The man came up to the table and looked at me and Jeff and said that to bad your not going to make through this because this would make a great story one day.  The man then held up the scalpel to my stomach but before he could cut me open Jeff yelled telling him to stop and asked him what was going to be done with him.  The man said that I can’t just let you go because of what you have seen so I figured you can just watch until she dies, then I will just kill you.  The man then looked back down at me and put the scalpel to my stomach and was going to cut my future child out of me and make my husband watch.  I looked at Jeff and told him that I loved him but before I could even finish my sentence he said that he was so sorry for this, for everything, for taking me here, not leaving when I wanted to and then he told me that loved me.  I started to cry and scream as the scalpel dug into my skin, it hurt even more watching Jeff being strapped down forced to watch me being treated like this.  I continued to cry and scream until I couldn’t any longer and everything else just faded away like nothing even mattered anymore.

The Summer Of 1922

“New York, 1922, the tempo of the city had changed sharply.  The buildings were higher, the parties were bigger, the morals were looser, and the ban on alcohol had backfired, making the liquor cheaper.  The restlessness approached hysteria.”  The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The 1920’s or often referred to as the Roaring Twenties because during that era there was lots of excitement or the Jazz Age because that is when jazz music and dance became popular.  The first world war had just ended and the troops had been dismissed and those who had survived the influenza now had time to waste.  The 1920’s were known for things such as speak easies which were illegal bars that sold alcohol.  And when alcohol was illegal it was called prohibition.  Speak easies attracted people who involved themselves in illegal acts such as prostitution and gambling.  The 1920’s was also known for the booming stock market and the stock market crash known as Black Tuesday.  Overall the 1920’s was known for drastic changes.

Fashion in the twenties had changed drastically from the previous years.  The dresses were much shorter and showed much more skin then ever before.  Fashion designers such as Coco Chanel experimented with colors, textures and patterns to create a totally new style.  Evening dresses, coats and jackets were often trimmed with fur.  Flappers, were also very popular they were short dresses with a straight loose silhouette that came to the knee.  Shoes and stockings were now visible because of the shorter dresses so now woman owned silk stockings in all colors and in all different patterns.  The new style of dresses with the low cut necklines and shorter sleeves gave the opportunity to display jewelry unlike before.  Costume jewelry became very popular.  Flappers, were often draped with large strings of pearls.  In pervious years woman had kept their hair long but when the twenties came around woman started to shorten their hair to chin length and it became known as the bob and hairstyles such as finger waving became popular.  Makeup also become very popular, in pervious years woman did not wear makeup because it was associated with prostitution.  New products such as hair dye, lipstick, mascara and eyebrow pencils were used to create their dramatic makeup looks including dark eyes, red lips, rosy cheeks, dramatic brows and even red nail polish became popular.  Overall fashion from the 1920’s had drastically changed from the pervious years and has even inspired fashion today.

The music in the 1920’s was know as the Jazz Age, because that is when jazz music had become popular even though older generations had not liked it.  Some popular artist from the 1920’s included Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and Kid Ory.  Some popular song from the 1920’s included West End Blues, Rhapsody In Blues and Swanee.  Dance music became the most popular form of music and dance clubs became very popular.  People in the 1920’s loved to dance and some of the most popular dance crazes from were the Charleston, Breakaway and the Black Bottom.  The music and dance from the 1920’s has even influenced the music and dance today.  It seemed as if the partying and good times would never end.

Have you ever read a book or watched a movie and instantly fell in love with the era and would have loved to be around in that time.  Thats how I am when it comes to the 1920’s.  I have always admired the 1920’s even as a child from all of the fashion, to music and much more.  But what had convinced me that the 1920’s was the best era was when I read The Great Gatsby for an AP english class I had in high school and had seen the movie and have loved it ever sense.  I think it would have been the best era to live in because of many reasons but the biggest reason being that I would have experienced all of the changes that happened.  In the 1920’s women’s appearance had changed completely along with society’s view of them.  Society now accepted that women could be independent and make their own choices unlike before.  Women could now smoke and drink in public and even vote.  Also new technologies like radios, refrigerators and penicillin were created.  Overall I think the 1920’s would have been a great era to experience.

National Grandparents Day

Dear Grandparents,

I know I haven’t talked to you since my dad had passed away about six years ago but I thought I would write a letter to you letting you know how I have been doing and what I have been up to.  I know you are never going to read this but why not.  A lot has happened in six years, I mean six years is a long time to go without talking to someone especially a relative, so there is a lot to tell you.  Where do I even start, I suppose i’ll start after we stopped talking which would have been almost my freshman year in high school, so I guess i’ll start at high school.

For high school I went to Harborside Academy, I really liked it there.  It was a little different than I would of expected high school to go but overall it was a good experience.  I guess i’ll talk about all the academics first to get that out of the way.  There were some classes that I really did good in and there were some classes that I did not do so good in.  I would say that any history class I had I really excelled in.  I find history really interesting and it has always been my favorite class whether it was American history or World history I especially loved learning about politics.  I love politics, I always follow every political debate and everything of that sort.  Nowonto a class I never did good in, math.  I never have been good at math, whatever it was geometry, algebra, trigonometry any of it.  I could never seem to understand it, I always struggled with it, its a miracle that I actually passed all of my math classes.  Now onto things other than classes.  I met a lot of great people at Harborside, some that I have been friends with since freshman year and some that I met my senior year but at Harborside it was really nice that since the school was really small I got to know everyone like family.  Every year at the beginning  of the school year our whole grade would go camping, it would always bring us closer together but I really didn’t like all the bugs that came along with the camping though.  It really was a great experience going to Harborside and it’s one I will never forget.

I guess the next thing I will tell you about is summer 2013, one of the greatest summers I have ever had.  The first thing that happened over the summer was I got my first car, it’s a silver Jeep Liberty Sport; now I still don’t have my license but i’m working on it.  Hopefully i’ll get it soon, I am scheduling my driving test for the beginning of October so cross your fingers because I need all the luck I can get because i’m not the best driver but as I said I am working on it.  The next big thing that had happened over the summer was I got my first tattoo on my eighteenth birthday.  It’s actually a tattoo that is dedicated to my dad.  It is on the top middle of my back and it says “The ones we love never truly leave us”.  And getting the tattoo was an experience alright.  I was absolutely terrified to get it done because it’s something that can’t be undone and if something went wrong I would be stuck with it for life but I went along with it and i’m extremely happy I did, it turned out amazing and it means a lot to me and I know it would mean a lot to him too.  Since my eighteenth birthday and my high school graduation were so close together I had one party for the both of them; that would be the next big thing of the summer.  The party was great, I had my entire family and friends over.  I had the party Sunday June 30 at my house.  The party lasted all night we ate, had cake and ice cream.  I also renteda helium tank and blew up so many balloons, there must have been hundreds of them.  We played volleyball in my backyard, roasted marshmallows and made s’mores all night long.  I also got many great gifts some included, $500 my parents gave me, I got my first Tiffany & Co necklace from my aunt and uncle and a trip to Mall Of America.  The Mall Of America trip would be the next big thing that happened over the summer.  I have always wanted to go there; probably because I love shopping, over five hundred stores, I couldn’t do that much damage, could I.  I had saved up a ton of money to go, I saved all of the money I got for my birthday and all of the money I got from graduation and I even saved up some money from my job at Calvin Klein.  I bought a lot from Mall Of America, I didn’t think I could do so much damage but boy was I wrong,  I would say my favorite purchase would have to be my first Michael Kors purse with a matching wallet.  Thenext thing that happened over the summer which was probably my favorite thing was going to a One Direction concert on July 13.  I was looking forward to this concert forever, the tickets to this concert had to be purchased a year in advanced because it was One Direction’s Take Me Home World Tour, so I bought the tickets around last May if i’m not mistaken.  I remember being so excited when I got tickets because I was so surprised I actually got tickets, tickets sold out for the tour in a matter of minutes.  When the day for the concert finally came I was so excited and I mean so excited.  One of my best friends as well as my little sister and I all went to the concert.  We left our house at around 3:00 so we could get there at around 5:00 because that is when parking started, doors opened at 6:00 and once we were in there it was so crowed, it was a sold out show of twenty eight thousand people.  Next we all had to buy a concert t-shirt and we got something to eat and drink, we then made our way to our seats to wait for the show to start at 7:30.  7:30 finally came, first the opening band played, I had never heard of them before but they were really good and are now one of my favorite bands, they were 5 Seconds Of Summer.  They had played until about 8:30, which then there was a intermission so the stage and everything could be switched.  One Direction finally came on at almost 9:00 I know i’m eighteen years old but I was just like a kid in a candy store when they came out onto the stage it wasgreat, I really don’t know how else to describe it.  They had sung twenty one songs plus they did a few outfit changes, answered some twitter questions, a few skits and just goofed around onstage.  One Direction played until about 11:00 and after that we all went home, I think we all got home at around 2:00 it sucked it was over so soon but it was definitely one of the best concerts I have ever been to and it’s one I will always remember.  The next thing that happened over the summer was I got Lasik.  I got it at the end of August, I was really scared to get it at first because it’s my eyes and imagine if something went wrong.  It was definitely a scary experience because during the procedure I could see everything that they were doing but the whole procedure went by really quick.  I don’t think I should have watched a video of how it was done on the internet before I got it done but I am extremely happy I got it done.  Overall this summer was amazing, and I got to cross off a ton of things that were on my bucket list.  I know most people think that i’m to young to have one but I should know more than anyone that you don’t know how long you have left or how long a loved one has left so you need to make the most out of everything and i’m so glad I did all of that and more over the summer and I could do it with the people I love most.

The next thing I would like to tell you about would be that I started college this fall.  I’m studying at Gateway Technical College.  Right now I am only taking three different classes and taking nine credits.  I wanted to start off slow so I could get the swing of things and learn how things are done in college because this is going to be very different than how high school was.  At Gateway i’m only taking my general education classes because the program I need is not offered there so after i’m done taking all of my classes here, i’m going to transfer to Milwaukee Area Technical College or MATC that way I can study mortuary science there and become a mortician.  And before you even ask I actually don’t know why I want to do it, it is just something that I have always wanted to do.  I recently have met with a funeral director/ mortician to go over college options and much more but he asked me why I wanted to do it and I told him that I really didn’t have a reason and that I didn’t know why.  He told me that, that meansi’m meant to do it; so who knows maybe I was meant to do it.  Since school just started I really don’t have anything else to say about it, but I do hope everything goes well and that I can become a mortician someday and hopefully own my own funeral home.

Like I said six years is a long time not to talk to someone especially someone who I was so close to.  I know I have written a lot I wish I could have wrote more but I just needed to tell you how everything has been going and what I have been up to.  Overall it has been a great passed six years.  I just can’t help wonder how would things be different if we kept in touch all these years.  I have also included a picture that I have found, it was from my elementary school graduation.  It was the most recent picture I could find of all of us.

Love, Kristina