The Wild July Adventure Day 11

So I must have done something yesterday morning but I don't remember what it was. This is because it was quickly washed from my mind by Wrock Around the Rock!!!! That's right I was on a boat! It was incredible! There were performances by House of Black, The Whomping Willows, Ministry of Magic, and the Remus Lupins. Not to mention that I got to hang out with a ton of friends; new and old, and dance till my legs didn't work. I also met StarKidPotter (you must know them) and Chris Rankin (who I didn't recognize at first). It was one of those occasions that is too awesome for text. Describing it requires lots of squees and much waving of the arms. Since neither of those things translate well to a blog I will just have to post a lot of pictures. Enjoy!









Yes, that pizza place is real. Sadly I did not eat there. Also the picture of the pier was taken on fireworks setting so just chase those thoughts out of your head.

Till I next fail at failure.

The Wile July Adventure Day 10

As you know yesterday morning we arrived in San Francisco. We watched the sun come up, the fog roll out, and traffic appear, all long before we could check into our hotel. This wait left us with only a few options, so we decided to walk the streets. We saw crammed houses of every color, countless fire escapes, and more than a few plant collections. Oh and you can't forget all of the "trash" on street. Among so called trash we found a nice office chair and a coat hanger shaped like a tie. Sadly it was determined that these were not transportable items (although I was really gunning for the tie coat rack). Still, this is San Francisco and there was still much more to discover! My two favorite things are what follows.

Seriously who can honestly say they've never wanted a Transformer as their car? Wait, you can? Then why are you reading my blog? Honestly I took one look at this car (this is the hood) and thought Why haven't I done that? So Suze, Jenny, Earl, and I geeked out over the car, but our fun wasn't over yet, because just around the next block we ran into this....
Who knew that Whomping Willow lived on the west coast? And who knew that he and Jenny had such an interesting relationship. I suppose that's between her and the tree. There was an entire row of these trees and as soon as we saw them we all started yelling. It's a good thing that it was 6am or someone might have noticed the crazies and chased us away with "trash".

Eventually the hotel opened and Suze got her room. She and I chilled and wandered more commercial parts of San Fran while we waited for people to arrive. Eventually the hotel filled with Potter people and registration opened for us to get our HBP not midnight release tickets. Shortly after that I got a text from Anna. At the time we had never met but I was buying Ravenclaw robes from her. I went up to her room and spent the rest of the afternoon with Anna, Lena, and Erin. We had a complete blast just talking and being silly. Then we all got dressed up and went to see HBP again. Aren't Anna and Lena adorable?


As far as the movie goes I liked it just as much the second time around, but as I had done most of the driving I was exhausted. I found myself drifting so I will definitely be seeing the movie again.

Till I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 9

It's 6:35am and I'm sitting in a Peet's in San Francisco. I wish that I had pictures of the city, but it was only 5am as we drove in and so the dark is just lifting and the fog hasn't cleared yet. I will be here for seven days though so there will be pictures.

Yesterday consisted of only two activities; exploring Jenny's house and driving twelve hours from Phoenix to San Fran. In the interest of making sense let's take this adventure chronologically. I woke up in a real bed this morning (love sac I will NOT miss you), packed up, and ran around Jenny's house taking pictures. Here are some highlights.

Yes there is a pool in her backyard, and a hot tub, and a guest house, and possibly a miniature golf course; you will never know. I'm told that this things are all to common in Phoenix, but I an Iowa small town girl I reserve the right to be amazed. Sadly I must confess that no swimming took place, I chose to see HBP at midnight instead, and it was absolutely the right choice.Course there was more to the house than the backyard.

There was also a giant, huge, very large cactus in front of the house. For the sake of scale I should point out that I am 5'10"/11" tall. It was a big cactus. I was informed that these are also very common, but I once again played the Iowa card, and was permitted to take pictures and run around just as excited as I pleased. Sadly the one thing that Jenny's house was lacking was a pet armadillo, we'll have to talk about that.

Jenny's house was a blast but it was only part of the trip. At about 4pm we piled into a van, which took us to the car, which took us to CVS, where we bought energy drinks. Then it was off onto the road, where we drove through lots of pretty desert. I enjoyed the scenery and we sang along to Taylor Swift, John Mellencamp, and the Pokemon soundtrack. All was going well and we (Jenny, Suze, and I) were sure that this trip was going to be a blast. Then we ran out of gas.

Ok, ok, that might have been a slight exaggeration, but only slight. The reality was the gas light came on and all that surrounded us was desert. It was just like being in the movies! We started brainstorming ways to siphon gas from Earl, who had filled up in Phoenix (brilliant man that one), without a hose. Just as we were devising a brilliant plan involving hooking together every single straw that we could find and filling empty red bull cans with gas, I spotted something on the horizon. No, it couldn't be. Gas stations don't just appear out of the middle of nowhere when you wish for them. It must be a mirage. I wonder if Earl sees it too. Wait I see pumps, there are vehicles there. Mirages don't have moving vehicles. Really? Truly? Yes! Yes! Transported to the middle of the desert solely for our use (the clerks were very confused as they had just been in Minnesota) was a beautiful wonderful gas station. I have never been so happy to see those pumps and the rolling numbers that slowly tick to broke.

So now we have gas, we're ready to go. We drove, and drove, and drove, and made sure to watch the gas tank constantly. When after about 2 hours the gauge was still above full we decided that either the miracle gas station had given us magical gas (a good deal for $50) or the car could not be trusted. We bet on the second since magical gas is becoming exceedingly rare. Still the car could go a few more miles, but our stomachs really couldn't. We crossed into California and began looking for a place to fill our stomachs. The food became less important however when we spotted; you guessed it (did you really cause that's impressive) DINOSAURS!!!

There was a museum just off the highway with life size concrete dinosaurs. There were also robotic dinosaurs, and mechanical ones that you could ride. Sadly due to the late hour these wonders were forbidden to us, but the T-Rex was more than willing to pose for picture after picture. Suze and I were the first to conquer the T-Rex. Which if you consider his size really was quite a feat. We managed to get out without being eaten, which was a plus, and we also got something to eat. It was a very effective stop.

After we left the dinosaurs it was my turn to drive. I spent the next 6ish hours staring at headlights and taillights. Suze took the last stretch and we made it into San Francisco. We watched the sun rise (yes I failed at the picture taking) and then searched for the thing we needed most; caffeine.

Until I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 7

I think that the story of today can be told entirely in pictures. First I woke up, showered, and used a blow drier on my hair, something I haven't done in years. This was the result.

Then it was time to adventure outside where Hoth in July, a week long event here at UAT, was kicking off with free snow cones and some water fun. In this picture you can see one of the kiddie pools and the two lane slip and slide. Kim and I played in the water for a couple of hours, but she still wasn't able to make it all the way down the slip and slide, not enough velocity.


Honestly the most exciting thing that happened yesterday actually happened at 4am this morning. Kim's huge TV fell on my head while I was sleeping. It should be mentioned that on top of this TV were two small cacti that also fell on me. So I was covered in spines and lots and lots and lots of sandy dirt. I honestly can figure out where all the dirt came from. The pots were only the size of my fist but managed to cover me, the comforter, the entire love sac, and a large amount of the floor in dirt. For those of you who might be worried; I am fine. No concussion, not even a bump to show for it.


Until I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 6

Basically yesterday was composed entirely of two things. The first was reading Fruits Basket, which I want to finish since it's all out in the US now. The second was getting my hair done. There was a visit to Atomic Comics and Coldstone in there too, but those are really unimportant.

So this is what my hair used to look like. This is also how it has looked for the past 10 years. It has varied in length over that time, because I cut it regularly for locks of love, but it has never been above my shoulders.
So yesterday I set out to change it drastically. The first step of course was to cut off enough to donate, because if I couldn't do that then there was no reason to cut my hair anyway. After that there was a look of deciding how short and what to do about color. I had decided that I wanted my hair to be colored. Then she began cutting and coloring and I avoided the mirror and waited to see how everything would turn out. This was the result.


I love it more than I thought I would. The color is admittedly a little bright for me, which means I'll wash normally so it fades a bit. I would say it was a success.

Until I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 5

Yesterday was perhaps the least busy day since I got here. I slept in until 11 and then went to breakfast with Kim. At the cafeteria there was a Mythbusters marathon on so breakfast lasted for about 2 hours. I left Kim there and she didn't come back until almost 5.

Alissa, Andrew, and I spent the afternoon at the Tempe Marketplace. It's basically a mall, but instead of having hallways it has alleyways. Basically the stores are inside but the hallways are outside. The entire place is covered with misters too. I really enjoyed spending time there. Alissa and I tried on some hats in Target.

I'm really thinking about buying that one as a Ravenclaw hat! After the wild shopping spree it was back to the dorm for late night D&D. Mostly they played and I read Fruits Basket. All in all not a very exciting day, but I still loved it. Sometimes slow is nice.

Until I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 4

Apparently my thing is going to be posting the day after (which is ok cause I still post everyday). This has a little to do with falling asleep and a lot to do with staying out well past midnight.

Yesterday was fantastic; which is quickly becoming the norm at UAT. I got to sleep all morning and then spend my time reading Fruits Basket and playing Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, which is an awesome game. Then we to lunch at Taharu, a local sushi place. I'm a big fan of sushi, and this was one of the neatest places I've been. They have a sushi bar (a moving conveyor belt with plates of sushi) that runs along the bar. The plates cost $1, $1.50, or $2. I got my entire meal for $10, where at other sushi places it would have cost $30. I really want to go back.

After sushi the afternoon was spent watching America's Got Talent, and then it was off for a Friday night UAT tradition, Nerf Wars. The basic idea behind the game is that you take Nerf guns (altered to shoot farther), split into red and blue teams, and run around the main building and shoot each other. It was AWESOME! I really had an incredible time, despite the fact that running around shooting people isn't really my thing. There was also a zombie round, where after you're killed you wait 30 seconds and come back as a weaponless zombie. Then it is your job to touch people (without getting shot) in order to turn them into zombies. If you're shot you respawn in 30 seconds so it's an unwritten rule that zombies always win. I went with Kim, and here's a fantastic shot of us looking totally badass.
Until I next fail at failure.

Short Rant

This is not a normal July Adventure blog this is a necessary explosion. I just finished reading this article and I couldn't keep myself quiet.

I know from experience that it would be useless to try to comment on the article itself. This website is a seriously conservative site and as such are probably very set in their ways. Still articles like this make me incredibly angry. I'm a Harry Potter fan, and I know the books aren't real. Still I think that lessons can be learned from them. The article claims it's terrible to base our life around a book, but the Bible is a book. More importantly the parables are made up stories that we are supposed to base our lives around. The conservatives have no problem using those stories to dictate how they should live their lives, but shame on us for doing the same because our made up story wasn't made up by Jesus. *Screams in frustration*

Sometimes I just want to shake these people. I may not agree with everything Andrew Slack says but I do recognize the good he is doing. Are you, Warner, telling me that it is bad to try and stop genocide, no matter what your inspiration? That simply because I draw comparisons to fiction I shouldn't worry about racism? That I live in a fantasy world because I want to create social change? Don't even get me started on the gay issue. Rowling admitted Dumbledore was gay because she was asked she wasn't trying to get in with the community, or sell more books, she doesn't need to do either of those things. I could care less what you actually think about the gay issue, but you need to do your research and not jump to conclusions. Obviously this revelation made her extremely unpopular with you, so what makes you think she chose to do that arbitrarily. I need to go relax with a book.

Until I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 3

First thing that must be said is I have a follower! Hello SlytherinSweetie. I suppose I will have to do a better job at blogging now that I have someone to be accountable to.

I spent most of the day in the dorm. I caught up on the internet and read a lot of Fruits Basket (a fantastic manga). Andrew, Alissa, and Kim went to classes, but they didn't have a class I could go to. Still I had a lot of fun. I uploaded pictures of the Wrock concert in Kansas City, watched youtube videos, and generally wasted the day away. Then when they came back in the afternoon I filmed my collaborative video. So in case you wanted to get a better idea of who these people are that I talk about all the time.


After the video filming and editing I got a chance to go to the common area with Alissa while she worked on a 3D modeling project. The commons at UAT is a huge room of computers that would make any techie drool.

Alissa modeled and I edited my video. We made a QT run at midnight which involved a very healthy combination of hotpockets, milkshakes, and donuts. I finally got Kim to watch part of HP The Musical, and when I left at 1am the place was just starting to get busy.

Since I've been here for a few days I figure it's about time I gave you all a tour. I'm just going to do pictures of the buildings for now, a video tour might come later.

Here is the dorm.



And here is the only other building. It has the classrooms, library, bookstore, commons, and cafeteria. Did I mention this campus is small?



Until I next fail at failure.

The Wild July Adventure Day 2

So there is no wonderful reason why I didn't do this blog yesterday, but there is a perfectly normal reason; youtube. Being with new people always opens up all sorts of youtube doors, and I get to share some of my favorites. I spent all of last night showing Kim (Alissa's roommate and a redhead who says lol which makes me laugh) all my favorites vlogbrothers vids. She knows John Green cause she has read his books (and you should too), but was totally new to the Nerdfighters. Tonight we plan to watch some of the HP musical and I promise to blog after that.

The day itself was a lot of fun. I woke up at 7:30am cause my stupid brain is still on Iowa time, but that was ok. I got to go to a gaming store where I bought pretty blue dice I don't need and a set of Pokemon cards for my brother. (He's 18 but it seems to be regression time). We went to the Asian food market, where I got a lot of delicious stuff, but I also got a lot of weird looks. I'm not the kind of person who gets uncomfortable, but I felt a little awkward there.

In the afternoon I went to Alissa's photoshop class where I helped (and by helped I mean pointed and suggested while she did all the work) her make this picture.
Which I think is totally awesome. After that Andrew made a delicious dinner at their condo and then it was back to the dorm for the youtube craziness that I mentioned earlier.

I'm still loving Phoenix and I only see it getting better. Being with Andrew and Alissa has made me realize how much I really do miss them. I wish that they had more time to be home, and I'm going to make a hug effort to spend more time with them through the internet when I am at home. Leaving here is going to be really hard, but I still have at least four days of fun in the sun before that has to happen.

Until I next fail at failure.

Distracted By Music and the Wild July Adventure

I was supposed to write a story on Wednesday and I have been planning blog posts all week, but then something happened; HP The Musical. There I was happily wasting time reading Twitter when suddenly everyone started updating the same link. HP The Musical was online! I had heard a lot about this from Steph of Tonks and the Aurors, and as the quotes started pouring into Twitter I couldn't wait for work to end so that I could go home and watch. Finally 5pm came and I did watch; at length. Once I had finished I had to get my brother to watch. He enjoyed it as much as I did. Now I plan to force my father to watch as well.

There is so much that can be said about how awesome the musical is, but I really don't want to spoil it. What I will say is that I spent much of it pausing for fits of uncontrollable laughter. It is quite possible that prolonged exposure to Draco Malfoy can kill you. I also left with a desire for Voldemort/Quirrell fanfiction and a head full of catchy tunes. I really hope they release a sound track, because I want to be able to hear the lyrics the stage garbled (as if I need something else to be addicted to). Now lets get to the next part of this blog. Floo Powder Power.Floo Powder Power. Floo Powder Power. Floo Powder Power.

That last bit was written quite awhile ago, but I couldn't bring myself to just delete it and start over, or post two blogs today. Obviously my blog title is proving itself accurate yet again. While there hasn't been much for you to see here in the outside world my life has been quite busy. In the two weeks since my last post I have watched almost all of Babylon 5 with my father (I love this show!), worked about 60 hours, announced a local 4th of July parade, driven to Kansas City to see Potterces, The Whomping Willows, and the Remus Lupins with my brother, and flown to Phoenix to see friends. I'm writing this blog from Alissa's dorm at UAT (University of Advancing Technology) while her roommate Kim plays on the computer and Andrew plays some game on the DS.

This is my first time in Arizona but I can already tell it won't be my last. I know people complain about the crazy heat here, but for someone who comes from a town where the temperature can be in the 90's and the humidity can be 100% the dry 105 degree heat of Arizona feels just pleasantly toasty. Not that I probably want to stay in it long, but I can manage. I also love everything about UAT. This school makes me wish I was rich and talented enough to attend. The entire campus consists of 2 buildings (one is the dorm) and there are probably only 1200 students total. Normally this would not be my cup of tea. I would run out of new people to meet within a week, but the entire school is made of Nerdfighters! Everyone plays computer games, reads like crazy, makes videos, plays D&D, draws, listens to Jonathon Coulton, or some combination of the above. I feel totally at home with everyone I've met. It's almost like the feeling I get at Potter Conferences, but not quite. In short UAT is made of awesome.

I'm going to make it a goal to blog everyday while I'm on the Wild July Adventure, but due to internet availability there may not be a post everyday. I will post when I get internet, and I promise that all added up there will be a post everyday. Some will be flash stories, some will be blogs, and if I feel inspired I might start that novel thing. It remains to be seen.

Until I next fail at failure.

My Blog My Life

So I know that I promised two flash fiction pieces today but I just can't seem to deliver. I don't even really care that much for the one that I did write, but I figured I had to post it. So instead of a second story you get a little of me.

My life as of late has been a blur of boring days at the office followed by much watching of Babylon 5. Throw in a dash of youtube, a sprinkling of facebook, and just enough Twitter to give the taste of #iranelection and you have a pretty good idea. Because of this I haven't felt that I have much to talk about.

Of course generally I have no idea why people would want me to talk about anything anyway. I find my life to be quite uninteresting. On the other hand I follow blogs and vlogs where other people just talk about their lives quite often. I like learning about people, but I'm not sure they want to learn about me.

But then again maybe you do want to hear about my life. Maybe you've been waiting all day at the computer just praying that I would make this post so that you could find out what I've been up to. (Nothing to be ashamed of. I've been there. We have our own club.) Well in that case I really can't disappoint you.

Today started out as a basic Friday. I went to work, got my paycheck, and then sat and prayed for 5pm. About 3:30 God took pity on me. He did this in the only way he knows how; by sending one heck of a storm. Winds of more than 70 mph, 1-2 inches of rain a minute, and don't forget the tornado or two he created just in case the rest wasn't enough. I got completely soaked, but I also got out of work almost an hour early and I couldn't have been happier. Had getting struck by lightening not been a very real threat this blog might have included a video of me doing a happy dance in the rain.

At my house a big storm can only mean one thing; movie night. My parents and I (the brother was with his girlfriend) planted ourselves in front of the TV and watched He's Just Not That Into You (which I enjoyed despite the bad reviews) and The Man Who Came Back (which you should NEVER EVER watch). All in all it was a decent night. Tomorrow promises sunshine and I plan to head out and soak some up.

Until I next fail at failure.

Told You The Name Was Well Chosen

For those hundreds of invisible people who are following my blog it's obvious that this blog has lived up to it's name. Honestly I don't know what happened yesterday. Mostly I just spaced on the entire flash fiction thing. As I crawled into bed at 11pm I thought; oh yeah I was supposed to write a story. I considered trying to fix that by writing one today, but today is a video day for me, which means no time to write, and barely anytime for the video itself. Which reminds me I've decided to post my Thursday videos; so here it is. They can also be found a www.youtube.com/WADADropouts



In other news I have discovered that I despise anonymous comments. I find that they are often used to rip at people and say terrible things. I am of the opinion that if you're not willing to put your name on it then you shouldn't even be saying it. I recently spent some time reading an article that caused a lot of debate. I thought that the writer of the piece didn't intend to be mean but that her words could have been chosen better. Overall the debate that followed was civilized although not entirely without emotion. When people get upset they respond, but from where I stood everyone was very polite. The problems stemmed from bad word choice and incorrect interpretations. Then there was the anonymous comment. This person tore into some people that I consider friends and left no doubt what they meant. The negativity in the comment blew me away and the vileness made me kind of sick. Above all it made me very angry, but I kept my emotions in check. I saved the rant for here. Perhaps it's better that the person didn't include their name because I might have been tempted to hunt them down. I have always cared little about what people think or say of me but start to speak badly of my friends and I become a different person entirely. However, if you are willing to say it to their face, or at least willing to tell them who you are, you will get more respect from me. The courage to stand behind your opinions makes all the difference. I try never to be a hater, but when I am, believe me, that person knows.

So while my anger simmers I should explain how I am going to fix my mistake. Tomorrow I will write two stories to make up for the one that I missed. I am also expecting to post the first part of my novel this Sunday. Until next time remember to put your name on all your comments.

The Plan

So I have made a decision. I have to have some sort of structure to this if I'm ever going to make any progress. So here's the plan. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I will post a piece of flash fiction (less than 1000 words) based on a story starter or basically whatever pops into my head at the time. Tuesdays and Thursdays (when I feel the desire) I will do other blog posts (news, advice, rants, etc). Also every other weekend (Saturday or Sunday depending) I will post some of my ongoing novel. At least 1000 words hopefully a whole chapter. This work will not be polished like my flash, because I just need to get it all out there. Hopefully having a set time to do it will help.

So that's the plan. I hope you all enjoy. Next post will be today's flash piece.

What I do with Boredom

People totally failed to tell me that this blogging thing was addictive. I find myself constantly formulating blogs in my head during work. Course that could be because my job is kinda boring. My total projects for the day added up to 1)manually feeding 300 sheets of cardstock one at a time into a printer, 2)scanning 42 pages into PDF's, and 3)entering roughly 100 businesses into an spreadsheet. Doesn't it just scream stimulating excitement?

But I'm not here to whine and complain. I actually am an eternal optimist. The manually feeding of paper and scanning of documents allows me time to read books I enjoy. Entering business info means I get to look at cool websites and learn about local digs to visit, like a cool local hotel that does mystery dinners. All in all there is something good in every situation.

However although this blog is definitely half full it appears to be half full of nothing. I'm not sure what I set out to talk about, which generally leads to me talking about nothing. I usually would blog about the concerts I went to and wonderful people I met, but I do that on facebook where people can be tagged. Which leaves me with the option of saying things I wouldn't on facebook or just blogging about non concert life, but we all know non concert life is boring.

Since it is unlikely anyone will ever read this blog (mostly cause I'm not promoting it) I feel that I can pretty much gush or complain about anything. Since I'm an optimist let's go with gushing. I think Lauren and Matt are the most adorable couple ever (if you don't know who they are think Wrock, if that word made no sense to you, what are you doing in my blog?). Really I know that they sometimes gross people out but I think they're fantastic. First off they are two of the nicest people I've met. (I've since forgiven Matt for the depression video introduction). Second it's obvious when you're around them that they really truly like each other. They don't hide themselves, it's obvious that they are open and honest, and that they genuinely care for each other. Seriously being around them can make anyone insanely happy (also insanely jealous but that's a topic for another time). I've wanted to talk about them for awhile but didn't know where. Yeah for blogs that are never read.

I suppose more will be added as I think about it. I should go find some prompts somewhere. I'm thinking about doing a series of flash stories based on prompts as part of this blog. What do you invisible nonexistent readers think? It's a good idea? That's what I thought you'd say.

Lets Talk About People

I’m fearless…at least when it comes to anything living. Nonliving things; cars, fire, growing up, those things terrify me. But that’s a story for another time because today I’m focusing on the fearless part.

People have been asking me, and by people I mean voices in my head, how it is that I end up with so many videos/pictures/signatures of “famous” people. The simple answer is this; I ask for them. I walk up to people and say “will you take a picture with me?” I have discovered two simple human truths. One; people usually agree to what you ask and two; people like to be flattered. A compliment followed by a request is a sure way to approach any situation. You’ve been doing it with your parents for years even if you didn’t realize it. Honestly wouldn’t you be more agreeable to taking a picture after someone told you how beautiful/handsome/attractive you are?

This is not to say that I’m trying to take advantage of the people I meet. Compliment, request, leave, repeat aren’t exactly instructions for lasting friendships. It’s a way to get noticed though. This works especially well if included somewhere in the compliment request cycle is a handshake and introduction. You say your name to a person enough times and eventually they will remember it. Once they recognize you then it’s time for the next step.

I would recommend that the next step be connection. Find something that you have in common. This needs to be something beyond the obvious, so not Harry Potter with a Wrockstar, politics with a Representative, or reading with an author. Concentrate on finding something off the beaten path. Talking to a politician about a rugby team you both like, an author about a shared interest in fencing, or a Wrockstar about a secret obsession with Pogs, are more along the lines of what you are looking for.

Naturally this will be something that you have to work towards; since unless you’re a stalker you probably don’t know the off the wall interests of the person in question. Still you can start small. At a concert instead of gushing about the performance (which they know you loved anyway) say something quick about how good it was and then ask a question. People pay more attention when they talk than when they just listen. The nature of the question isn’t really important but you should be able to be more creative than “so what about the weather.” Let them know you’re more than a crazy fan; that you want to know the person.

Obviously this advice isn’t fool proof. Some people are harder to approach than others. Some people really are "stuck up famous", or at the very least too jaded to let down their barriers. I would also recommend looking around you. If you focus all your energy on the stars you miss what’s happening nearer to the earth. That boy you see at all the book signings is actually the publisher’s son. That girl who seems to be in the front row of every concert has known the drummer since they were five. Then there’s that girl who hangs in the back. She doesn’t know anyone but she can play a mean guitar. Everyone has talents; don’t ever forget that. If you start to think too highly of yourself and ignore the “normal” fans (of which you are one by the way) then you will miss out on more than you can know. Think about how desperately you want to be noticed by those “famous” people. Maybe someone is waiting to be noticed by you.

I use this advice, and also my blatant disregard for embarrassment, on a daily basis. I make friends the easiest way I know how. I walk up, shake their hand, give my name, and offer friendship. It’s simple, virtually painless, and there is much more to be gained than can possibly be lost. I live by a simple philosophy; there are no such things as strangers, only friends I haven’t met yet.

So, now what?

I really have no idea how to start a blog. I've never really been one to write about myself. I think that's because I don't find my life interesting at all. However I find other people's lives to be fascinating. So this year I started a vlog collab channel and I figured why not blog too. I like to write after all. So I'm hoping to post here at least once a week. It will be a mix of life stories, advice, rants, self pity sessions, and more than a little fantasy writing.

My first post is going to be an explanation. If you're here you probably noticed that the name of my blog is "And Thus Failure Was Born" I named it this because I have a terrible habit. I never finish writings that I start. Unless it's a very short story I have a terrrible habit of getting distracted by new ideas. I fear that that might be the fate of this blog, and because of that I decided to use the title as a warning.

I guess that is probably all for now. I have a post I wrote at work that I will put up in the morning. After that I will probably do some story posts, since I have a novel that I really should work on. Comment even if it's just to tell me you read this. I'm curious to see if anyone ever does.