ModCloth is having a Thank-a-Thon contest. If you win, both you and the person you're thankful for get $100 gift certificates to their shop!

I intended to make a post like this closer to Thanksgiving anyway, but this is a nice incentive to get it out earlier.

There are a lot of times when I am hurt and disappointed by people, but I try not to let it get me down. There are so many things I have to be thankful for, despite having some flaky and fickle friends. I live a fairly privileged life: all of my needs are taken care of by my parents, I get to go to almost every event I want to go to (and always the events that I want to go to the most), and I have a supportive family.

No member of my family is more supportive than this guy right here:











My brother Scott.

He is my very best friend. We speak our own language, mostly comprised of TV or song quotes, winking and squid impressions. We get along so well and have so much in common. I think this is particularly impressive because of our age difference. He is eight years older than me. Now that I'm nineteen and he's twenty-seven, this isn't so strange, but we have been close since I was six and he was fourteen.

I have so many early memories of us getting along. One summer, his best friend let us borrow his trampoline while he was on vacation, and Scott and I would stay out late jumping around on the trampoline, pretending we were wrestlers or Power Rangers.

Scott and our other brother Justin used to have several friends over when they were in high school. Scott, Justin and all of their cool high school friends loved having me hang out with them, even though I was only six. We would stay up late watching movies from the 80s and eventually, I would always fall asleep in their room while watching the movies. When I woke up, I would be in my bed. Scott always carried me into my room and tucked me in after I fell asleep.

Since then, our friendship has grown. When he's living out of the house, we talk every night on the phone or online. When he's living at home, like he is now, we hang out every night. We go grocery shopping together, we go to concerts together, we go on mini weekend vacations together. We do everything together.

He has influenced me so much. From the time I was six, he's been sharing music with me. We now share many favorite bands: Iron Maiden, Bukethead, dredg, Canvas Solaris. The list keeps growing. We never have more fun at these concerts than when it's just the two of us together.

He always helps me put things into perspective. He gives me realistic, and thus helpful, advice even if it conflicts with what I want to do. He always makes me laugh. We are always laughing. He gives great, comforting hugs. He knows when to back off when I'm not in the mood for his craziness. He can always cheer me up.

He is just such a strong, wonderful force in my life. I am so thankful for the fact that he is my best friend as well as my brother. He's such a good person and such a sweetheart. He makes me happy every day of my life and I never, ever want to lose him.

I love my brother so very much and I'm grateful that he survived his brain surgery when he was seven. I would be a completely different person today if I never got the chance to know him.

Love you, broha. You're the very best. <3

I went downstairs this morning and found this on the counter with a post-it note that said "Have a gloomy day" in my mom's hand writing.

( what what what what what )

I now suddenly recall my mom saying on my birthday that I had another gift coming in the mail.

THE CRAZY WOMAN BOUGHT ME A GLOOMY BEAR, WHAT. My mom is so cute. My face is like :DDDDD right now. It's so cute of her because I've mentioned Glooym Bears to her like...four times ever? Mostly in passing. And she even got me a blue one! fkhfsdkjf.

He sent me flowers.

Buckethead.

October third.

In Vermont.


I'm exploding.

I have seen two movies in theaters this weekend. Last night I saw Iron Man and this afternoon I saw Prince Caspian.

I preferred Iron Man. The very end made me smile so much.
Prince Caspian just kind of annoyed me. The main characters are all so annoying and everything everyone does is so nonsensical.
Truth be told, however, I basically cried every time Aslan was on screen. I don't know why, but when ever I see him (in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe as well) I just lose it. He makes my heart swell. <33
And there was so awesome a bear, eehehehe. Oh God I love black bears, and this one was the best ever.

Nonetheless, I much preferred Iron Man. It made me want to be watching Transformers, but I really liked it. I wanted to see it with dad. Hopefully when it comes out on DVD we can.
Robert Downey Jr. is so attractive, not to mention Faran Tahir. Buhhhh, hotness.
And Shaun Toub and Sayed Badreya are so cute djhskafsdfds. Love.
I don't really want to say too much about it in case anyone doesn't want to read about it, but I just really liked it a lot.

( interest meme )

In July I went to a dog show with mom and Deb in Burlington. I met a bull terrier named Ellie May, pet her and took her picture.

Last night I was watching a dog show on tv and Ellie May was being shown. She ended up winning fourth place in the terrier group and I rolled around on the couch screaming because I knew her.

It will be organized as such: Date - Venue - City, backwards order
(headliner to first opening band)
bold bands are who I went to see, striked words are who I didn't see, underlined bands are who I liked but didn't go specifically to see.

( concerts I've been to )