I'll Tap the Break While You Crack the Window

The Carter residence. A place on a warm map where comfort and happiness are the only thing that matter. It's perfection this home. Perfection because of the people that call it home -- Murphy Carter makes more sense to me now. This home houses food that makes your heart melt, tissues that give your nose a hug, hearts on sleeves, comedy competition and quick wit, generous giving, genuine kindness. I do hope the 3 Carters are in my life for good.

Portrait Project Phase I

You think you know them. And you do. Or, at least, you feel as if you're grasping an idea of them. I returned here this January for another new semester but under completely different terms than the last time I came here for a new semester. I had friends this time, familiars -- what a vastly huge difference. And now, I am doing a photography project to mark my idea of the people I've come to know. I've attempted to capture how I view them at this moment. It might change as things do, but at least I'll have these ideas, images, moments recorded. Here is the first round...

Trenton

Murphy

Mary

Sadie

Luke

All Safe and Sound

Being indispensable. That, my tired and worn brothers and sisters, is what we're all worried about. Hot damn. No wonder we're all a mess with our mirrors and grades and socializing beyond human capacity. We want to be wanted and missed and needed. We want to know that if we were to disappear, it would matter.

Well. On that note, you should probably tell the people that are indispensable to you that they are indispensable to you. A lot of people don't know that about themselves. Isn't that sad?

Oh, and chances are, you're a lot more indispensable than you think.

Have a freakin' unforgettable day.

No One Does It Like You

It's an average summer afternoon. The temperature is the average much too hot, I'm an average amount of bored and my stomach is hurting at an average level due to the sickening piles of junk food I've been consuming at an ungodly rate.

Usually, at about this time, I open up my friends' blogs, thinking I'd read some average things. After reading about Molly's fancy-pants new job, Claire's witty tales of Europe, and Danika's creative art adventures (just to name a few), I smiled to myself as one of the greatest feelings came over me:

I'm so excited to have the coolest friends ever.

From When You Taught Abroad In Japan

My friend Annie came to mind today. She moved to Alaska at the start of the school year and I miss her. Annie is intelligent, unique and original; she brings perspective, laughter and new ideas. And I miss her.

This makes me think of her because I find she's always helpful when I pester her with college related questions.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2RJTpm/www.c4vct.com/kym/humor/mitlettr.htm

Love ya, Annie. Can't wait to see you again!

Grapes Just Want To Have Fun

Claire, me, Danika

There is nothing like doing something out of the ordinary and enjoying the heck out of it. This weekend, full of oddities, was definitely fantastic for that reason. On Saturday night, I celebrated sweet Al's 18th birthday by doing a few absurd things with the Five. Then, today, Dani, Claire and I participated in Challenge Nation, a huge suburban scavenger hunt race in downtown Houston. The race offers a few prizes for winners and of course, best costume. Hearing the call, we dressed up as the most delectable and ridiculous grapes you have ever seen.

Ahh, my fellow Headitors (and two of my best friends). Dashing, aren't they? I am so lucky to have these two as the people I work with so closely this year. They are hilarious, unique, inspirational and understanding. And I LOVE them!

The clues were.... not exactly easy, but we managed to get 6 of the 12 before giving up and giving in to hunger. Honestly, I only expected us to get like 2 or 3 so the fact that we got half gives us bragging rights without a doubt. We had a really great time just walking around downtown, messing with other teams (although not a certain mother of ours....), taking pictures and taking advantage of the beautiful weather.

Our first clue!

Claire Hogan Photography!

More Claire Hogan Photography!
Don't ask me what Dani and I are doing in this photo.

Popping the balloons was an adventure in itself. We happened upon a spiky plant and decided to use it as a tool. As it clearly shows in this picture, putting your face close to a balloon that's you're trying to pop has painful results. And Danika was entertained.

I invite you this week to do something out of the ordinary, something you'll look back at and smile upon. To Al, happy birthday; you are so dear to me. To Dani and Claire, I'm going to grape you in the mouth. To Hart, you've been graped. To everyone else, everyone's graping in the moonlight. Have a wonderful, exciting week!

Pictures Only Prove You Can't Convince

So, it turns out, I'm really weird and like taking close-up pictures of people's faces and pictures of feet and legs. Mk, cool. Why am I telling you this?! Because I'm going to jump on that bandwagon (this is not to make fun of photography blogs in the slightest. Those of you know that know me know exactly what I'm really poking fun at) and post some pictures that I've taken recently that I'm fond of. Are you rolling your eyes yet? If not, listen to this. I suck at photography so it's hilarious that I'm posting the only 3 or 4 pictures I've ever taken in my life that don't make me feel completely ashamed. So, now that I've made fun of myself, here is "Part 1 of The Picture Post." I know, isn't my alliteration to die for?

Rachel

Look at this little guy! His name is William and he holds my heart in his little hands. He is the son of Lauren, one of the most special people in my life, and he is amazing. I am obsessed with babies because the baby concept blows my mind. More on that later.

Kelly

Ahh, now for Part 2. In Photography, we worked on a photoshop project all last week and for it, we had to take our own pictures. Of course, upon hearing this, I wept for my grade and for the disappointment my parents would feel when they heard I failed Photography. But alas, I haven't failed yet and found the pictures I took of Rachel (my model) to be either neat or hilarious. Ha! And believe you me, they're neat only because of Rach, not because of my photography skills. In fact, the following pictures will be a true testament to where my skills lie on the picture-taking scale. Let's just say, Ms. Bottoms (my teacher) should be scared.

Cool, Rach. Who cut off your hand? Oh, wait. My bad.

Isn't she cool? This'll embarrass her a tad so if you see her around, tell her how awesome she is. Have a good weekend!

"In this way, Mr. K will challenge the world"

I have this habit of trying to fit myself into a "type." We all do it, I know. In fact, that's something we learned about in Psychology a few days ago... but that's a whole something else. Anyway, "Types." Right. Most of the time I trick myself into believing that I do fall into a category, that I do make sense as a person, but then, on occasion, reality comes for a visit and points it finger at me and says, "drop the charade, man. You're full of contradictions and absurdities." So, let's just think about that for a sec. We all don't fit into a stereotype. All human beings. That just sounds like chaos to me. In my mind, I see the 6 billion people of the earth all dancing and screaming and talking at the same time. Ha. Can you imagine? Anyway... Moving on. What I'm getting at is every time I realize (again) that I don't nor do I need to fit into a mold, I get a little happier because I can embrace what I actually love instead of forcing myself to try and love something my type would love. Get it? Whatever. Neither do I. Kind of.

To illustrate what the heck I'm talking about, I decided to include some of the wonderful contradictions that make up the mess you know as "Lana" or "Lama" or "that hot mess" or"who is that girl talking to herself?" Mk. Judge away.

What I watch.

What I listen to.

What I read.

What I eat.

Who I grace with my friendship.

(BAHA)

Recognize contradictions like these within yourself? We are all more alike then we let on.

Flip Side of Empty

I'm in the mood to make a list. A list without a title might I add because, let's be honest, this list will reflect the current state of my mind, filled to the brim with a whole lot of Random. I suppose I should give it some sort of theme though, no? How about this?

Thoughts of a Hot Mess with A.D.D. (Thanks, Harty. haha)

1. What is with mainstream music being so catchy lately? I can't get enough of "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry. Okay well to be honest I've always loved Katy Perry but this song is addictive.

2. Yearbook is actually going well. We had our 2347982735th editor meeting today and we've finally settled on a cover and a few other things that you wouldn't really care about. Our staff seems to be a good one and I really can't wait for this year to take off. Not that it hasn't... it's just, I want everyone to reach that point of comfort and routine that makes yearbook so fun. Ah well, "wanting it to take off" is a great problem to have.

3. Why does Houston weather blow so much? Today, Molly asked me if I ever go swimming in my pool and I thought to myself, "Why do I need to get in the pool? The humidity makes everyday a swim through the freaking OCEAN." NEVER MIND the 400 degree air temperature that makes everyone LOOK like they swam with the dolphins because we're all sweating so much.

4. Where is Sara Khan? I never see this girl anymore and it saddens me.

If you see this girl, let me know and tell her I miss her.

5. Being a senior is a wonderful thing. I walk around and see people in my grade and feel like I can say hi or stop and talk to about 90 percent of them. That's so special. My Econ teacher (who I'm sure is secretly Yoda because he's pretty dang wise) said something really interesting on the first day of school. He goes, "There's nothing like being in a classroom with the people you grew up with." And that's so true. There is comfort and fun and familiarity and security in that and I'm really enjoying the last year of it so far.

6. I see burnt orange in my future. More on that later. 

I'll be updating this as the night goes on... 

Mumford, SALT and Danika

Three things are on my mind today. I'm going to go over each one briefly (as briefly as I can that is) so I don't overwhelm you with 3 feet of copy to read. I'll consider myself thanked.

1) Earlier in the month, I mentioned a song called The Cave by Mumford & Sons. Well, recently I really looked at the lyrics and Music did that thing where it says, "Hey. I get it. I get it. Here's something to remind you that other's have been through this before."Oh, these lyrics. I often fall madly in love with songs and it's happened again. Here are some of my favorite sections of the lyrics-

"The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind."

"I'll know my name as it's called again."

"I know my call despite my faults
And despite my growing fears."

"And see the world hanging upside down."

"Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be."

"Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth
Which will refresh my broken mind."

2) Now that I'm a senior, I get to (yes, I consider it a privilege!) be a SALT leader at MDUMC. SALT is basically the senior leadership group at MDUMC. While at first this was no big deal to me, I've gotten really excited about it in the past week. We had a meeting on Tuesday night that coincidently came at a time when I really needed to hear about the stability, security and refuge that being a SALT leader would provide. The high school staff was very persistent about letting us know that SALT isn't a job or something that will cause us stress by putting pressure on us  with expectations and mandatory activities. It exists to remind us that "it's going to be alright" while we're stressing and freaking out next year as "big and bad" but, in reality, scared and overwhelmed seniors. It really hit me (although I've known this all along) that they genuinely love us and want to make our lives easier and more peaceful and when I realized that, I got so excited and I felt so much better about my year. They know me so well over there so I won't have any trouble walking in on days when I'm doing really great or especially on days when I'm doing really bad. I just hope that every senior next year has what I have, a place to go where I will always be welcome and a place that provides an escape from my to-be hectic life.


Shoot. That wasn't brief... My bad.

3) Danika! Let's just talk about my friend, Danika. (Or Dani as normal people call her.) I bring up Dani because she just made a really cool blog that shows off her great designing skills. Did I mention she's Design Editor? We'll be taking next year by storm (I hope.) and have been talking about this year's book for ages now. No really, since July 2009. It's kind of embarrassing. Anyway, I've been friends with Danika for a long time now and known her for even longer and I'm excited to be finishing this part of my life with her by my side.

Oh! Here's the link to her blog. Danika's blog!

Lolly

I've Been Everywhere With You

I decided to write a letter to Molly here because I miss her so and figured this would be more special than another e-mail. Inside this letter, you will find references to some great music, T.V. Shows and restaurants. Plus, for those of you who know Molly, this is a great time for you to bask in her cuteness. Bask on!

Hi, Molly. We are thousands of miles apart and have been all summer (except for one fateful July evening) and still, Molly, you have been a huge part of my summer. The e-mails alone have been a huge part of that! They mirror a typical conversation between us, some serious talk paired with the entertaining silly stuff... bia. And while that has been one way you have been a part of my summer, there is also the way you've been present in the music, the laughs and the even the sights.

The song “Home” (the song you showed me, the song for your alarm, the song that WAS Hart's baptism, and so many other moments) has been my theme song all summer and I play it whenever I get homesick and miss my life and friends.

Molly, you set the soundtrack for the road-trip with Claire! We listened to “California” the O.C. song, “I am Not A Robot” by Marina and the Diamonds, “Home”, and “17” by Sky Ferreira over and over again. Not to mention, I definitely wrote your name in a guest book in one the places we visited and put New York City as your city.

I, as you already know, have watched the O.C. obsessively all summer and even got Ryan and Al into it. Not to mention, Claire and I watched it in the car on the long car rides which definitely made them all the more fun.

I see things that make me think of you all the time! For example, most of the activities in the schools I'm visiting involve Wilderness-esque things and it makes me laugh every time 

I picture you ending up in one of these schools and being peer pressured into hiking up a frozen mountain. There's little things too like there was a restaurant in Hannover called Molly's and I insisted that we go there solely because it was your name. Silly, I know but fun none-the-less. It turned out to be a really good spot and I'm sure the restaurant really did have something to do with because the menu's were record sleeves of all different albums. It was so neat! Plus, the food was delicious.

The Molly's menu

Oh, and Molly, I'm in New York right now... (although it is the middle of nowhere countryside) New Yoooork! I look forward to visiting NYC and all the other wonderful places we will be traveling to together.

Al and I watched Kinglsey last night.

So, Molls, Lolly, Molly Bolly, I cannot wait to talk to you when you get back. While I still will not be in Houston, it will be an improvement from this e-mail every three days act. And, of course, I cannot wait to see you and fall back into the old familiar patterns of text Molly until I fall asleep, wake up at 3 a.m. to find messages on my phone from her and respond to find her still awake ooooorrrr wake up in the morning for school and respond, then finish conversation at school in R206 (and in the horrible case of junior year, Duke's classroom). So, until our Tiny's lunchdate, yearbook camp and some great walks, I miss you and I love you!