It's been a long time since I last blogged, I admit I've gotten slack. Though, to my credit my days have been filled with cla$$es and homework, not to mention two weeks with a bad case of a flu-like cold (thank goodness it wasn't H1N1). I hope everyone has been doing alright. It's hard to believe it's already November and closer still to Christmas. Life flies by so fast, which is funny, because some days seem to go by so slow. Anyway, a few updates, my friends.

This semester, I've been taking more cla$$es than last. I've got assisting in Science at 8:00, Interior Design at 9:00, World Literature at 10:00, Lunch, Knitting at 1:00, Study Hall at 2:00, and World History from 2:45 to 4:20. Not bad, just long. In case you're wondering, I had to get in extra electives this year. It's insane the requirements for college these days. Interior Design has been interesting. We recently learned how to re-upholster a chair, make a bulletin board, and how to design the layout of a room. Knitting, easy as it sounds, has been a challenge. My hands just don't want to work with me, they're extremely clutzy. After three months of practicing, I finally almost have it down. World History has also been a challenge. The teacher is very nice, but it's his first year of teaching and kind of doesn't have a clue. My grades are suffering, too. Sucks, but I have to have it to graduate.

On another note, I've recently re-discovered an old love, Starsky and Hutch. Am I crazy? Yes, but I adore it. See, my mom watched it growing up and when I was elementary age, they ran the re-runs on television, so she introduced it to me, and I at the time thought the speed chases, costumes, and jokes were just the greatest. Not to mention, I had a little crush on the blonde cop with the soft voice and mellow personality, Hutch. I can actually remember watching David Soul (Hutch) sing on the show and just being in total awe, then going around the house attempting to sing the lyrics (failing miserably by the way) and just thinking he was the coolest. I went so far as to even name my stuffed cow after one of David's characters on another show I used to love, that he had a guest appearence on. Silly, I know, but to a little girl your stuffed cow was a big deal and what you named it, an even bigger deal Anyway, just recently we found out about a site called Hulu, that allows you to watch some shows for free. Thus, we've been re-watching Starsky and Hutch once again. It's just one of those things that never gets old, plus it brings back memories for my mom of her youth and memories for me of watching with my mom when I was younger. Remembering my love for David's music when I was little, I looked it up once more and ended up ordering two of his records off of Ebay. What a treasure! and so worth it, too! His songs are very charming and cheery. I love them.

Speaking of music, anybody still following what's up with last season's American idol contestants? I am. In case you haven't heard, I thought that I would make a compilation of updates for y'all.

Season 8 winner, Kris Allen's new single "Live Like We're Dyin'" is now available on Itunes and Amazon. His self-titled debut album comes out November 17th. His first official music video, however, is already out. You can watch it, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WhcgTZE71E

Allison Iraheta, fourth place finisher (ahem-should have been third place instead of Gokey-ahem) on 'idol just came out with a brand new single, "Friday I'll Be Over You" and her album will be debuting in December. If you're an Alli fan, you may want to check out the exclusive information Entertainment Weekly has out about the upcoming album: http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/11/04/allison-iraheta-just-like-you-songwriting/?ew_packageID=20312226 You can hear the new song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGuYSqoOcII and purchase it on Itunes or Amazon.

Adam Lambert, runner up on 'idol and rockstar extrordinaire aka 'glittery alien from planet fierce,' has been working hard on his new album, For Your Entertainment, which will debut in stores on November 23rd. He's also expected to perform at the American Music Awards the 22nd. I cannot wait, I'm beside myself with excitement!

Well, I hope you guys are having a good week so far! I will try and get around to you guys' blogs soon

ETA for link to Adam Lambert's new single "For Your Entertainment," a fabulously fun new dance tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9wAFmfhpmU

First of all, I want to say that I am really sorry that I have not been on here much lately. I've been dropping by now and then to read everybody's blogs, it's just that I have not had a lot of time to do much in between school and helping around the house. But, I will definitely try harder to blog and comment more often ;-)

Anyway, I wanted to blog a little about something special that happened to me recently. I was able to go to the American idol tour when it came to my city! I set aside some of allowance, saved up for a while, and bought my own ticket. My best friend, Lulu and my brother went with me, as well.

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We all got ready around 3-ish in the afternoon, while waiting for my dad to arrive home from work, so that he could drive us. He had been in that area around the center before and offered to take us, since he knew it well. I put on the t-shirt I had decorated, it read: "ADAM LAMBERT ROCKS MY WORLD" on the front and "Birds flying high, you know how I feel - Sun in the sky, you know how I feel - When I hear Adam Lambert sing I FEEL GOOD!" on the back. The first two lines were from Nina Simone's "Feelin' Good." I slathered on some dark black eyeliner and blue shadow in his honor, painted my nails and I was ready to go! When we got to the center, there was almost an hour left before the concert started. As we headed in the doors, there was a blonde guy who saw my shirt and just gave me the hugest grin. It was the sweetest thing! :-) I stopped by the souvenir stand and picked up the tour book, a poster of Adam, and a t-shirt and then we headed to our seats. The seat were actually not that bad. I thought they would be further back, but they turned out perfect. We could see the stage pretty well.

Michael Sarver was up first and opened up his set with Gavin DeGraw's "In Love with a Girl." He sounded strong and looked like he was having a lot of fun, but I was not that impressed, honestly. I liked his second song a lot better. He closed his set with NeYo's "Closer." I knew the lyrics to this one and it was a blast singing along. Then, Megan Joy came out in a pretty pink dress, her blond tresses all curled and sang Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On." She sounded really good, just like the first time she performed it on the show. This was also a song I knew, so it was fun singing along and swaying to the music. She closed her set with a fabulous Amy Winehouse break-up tune, "Tears Dry on Their Own." Scott was the next one up on stage. He took on a song by Keane and Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Miles." His piani skills really are amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed them, the singing? Eh not so much. He made a joke in between songs about how mean Simon was. I thought that was a little unusual, despite the fact that it could be true. Lil tried her hand at Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Mary J. Blige next. She seems like a nice girl and she has a decent voice, but I felt like she was just a carbon copy of those singers without the actual talent. No offense. To make matters worse, they put the lyrics on the screen behind the stage, so that people could sing along. It really was karaoke. Seriously. Anyway, moving on. Anoop really surprised me. He opened up with Willie Nelson's "You're Always on My Mind" and totally blew me away. He is just dazzling in person. His voice is beautiful and perfect in tone and he has a way of really putting his heart and energy into his music. I hope he gets a contract. He sang another love song afterward, but I don't quite remember what it was. I just remember thinking it was really pretty and unique. He closed his set with Bobby Brown's "My Perogative" and rocked the house! Afterward, Matt attempted a Black Crowe's song. I know the band a little, but no so much the song. It sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure. It felt really rushed to me. I actually couldn't wait for it to be over.though. Then he sang the Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind." I was really disapointed. I expected a lot better from Matt. He added a lot of stuff to the song that he didn't do on the show, when he performed it during Hollywood Week and some falsetto that felt way off key. He ended his set with the Fray's "You Found Me", which was a bit more pleasant that the other two. But, needless to say I was happy when it was someone else's turn to perform. However, don't get me wrong - his piani playing was pretty awesome. Before the break, they all did a group song together. The girls sounded nice, but not so great together. The guys were pretty awesome when they harmonized.

After the break, it was Allison's turn and she killed it completely. To quote my best friend, Lulu - "That girl is made to be a rockstar." She jammed it, seriously. She sang Heart's "Barracuda" (which by the way is my all time favorite song of theirs) and did them proud, in my opinion. She was incredible! She went on to sing P!nk's "So What", while she goofed around on the stage and we had so much fun singing along again. She ended her set with Janis Joplin's beauty "Cry Cry Baby" and sounded stunning. I was really impressed. Danny was up next. He started off with Michael Jackson's gorgeous flirty "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)." To be totally honest, I hated that. I'm not that into his voice anyway, but it just felt so wrong. Nobody and I mean nobody does it like MJ. Anyway, he also performed Rascal Flatt's "My Wish" and "What Hurts the Most", as well as a song, I believe was called "Maria." He talked to the audience about following your dreams no-matter what, which was actually pretty nice, in between his Rascal Flatt's numbers and attempted a tango-like dance around "Maria." Then it was time for my man. My guy. ADAM LAMBERT! They started playing the background music to Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and I almost couldn't take it. My heart nearly beat right out of my chest. Not to mention that music was HOT! Seriously, the best rock I have ever heard live. And then there he was, in all his glory, clad in a gray leather jacket with blue splatters of paint and spikes allover, singing in that high falsetto that I love "You need coolin', baby I'm not foolin'." Seriously, Lulu looked over at me to see if I was okay more than once. Hearing him live, is almost too much. It's INCREDIBLE. When he was done with his first, he talked to us about how the next song he was going to sing a song called "Starlight", by one of his favorite bands, Muse. This was a really pretty song and his long notes really made it spectacular. He'd hit the lines "Our hopes and expectatiooooons, black holes and revolatioooooooons" and it just sounded gorgeous. I couldn't help but swoon when he sang the lyrics "I just wanted to hooooooold you in my arms", though ;-) Afterward, the music to "Mad World" started up as he pulled up a stool and a small pool of warm blue light circled his body on stage. He almost looked like an angel and his voice sounded lovely, really lovely. I could have cried. It was a beautiful moment. When he was done, Allison came out and they both sang "Slow Ride." It was just as amazing as it was on show. They both were so insync with each other and had a blast. Even hugged at the end. They really seem like brother and sister, I bet they'll miss each other a lot when the tour is over. After she'd left the stage, he began a David Bowie medley. Now, I gotta say David Bowie is the bomb, nobody does it like he does it, but Adam really made his songs his own. He started it with "Fame" and nearly blew the roof off the house. Not to mention, every woman in that room was sweating up a storm. THAT BOY CAN DANCE! NO LIE. "Let's Dance" was pretty awesome, too. A moment that really stuck out to me was when he sang the lines "Dance with me and I'll set you free." That's how you felt when you watched him perform - free, like life was okay and everything was good. Wonderful feeling. His "Life on Mars" was pretty great,too. Delicious ear candy, for sure. Definitely lovely to hear. He talked to us a little about how he loved each and every one of us and was really thankful for the votes and then left the stage for Kris to take. He opened up with "Heartless", which, don't kill me Kanye, actually sounded a lot better than the original. He definitely deserved to win. There could not have been a better top two. And even though, I had hoped with all my heart Adam would recieve his dream, I am happy for Kris. He also performed Matchbox Twenty's "Bright Lights" and the Killers' "Things I've Done", which sounded pretty cool. He closed with "Aint No Sunshine" (he is quite the stunner with the piano by the way) and my personal favorite, "Hey Jude." He asked everybody in the place to get out their cell phones and hold them high, while singing along. It was more fun than I could have ever asked for. The other contestants came out at the end and did a few group numbers, including Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." They had disco balls sparkling allover the place. It was hard to believe it was all almost over. I really didn't want to leave, but it ended and we had to go.

On the way out, we called my dad to pick us up. He surprised us by saying we could stay a little while to see about getting some autographs when the contestants headed outside. We waited about an hour and a half, when a few of them came by: Michael, Megan, and Danny. Megan was my other favorite artist, next to Adam and the lady in front of me was nice enough to hand my book to her security guard to hand to her to sign. She walked by a little ways and I yelled out to her a few times that I thought she rocked. She didn't hear me, so the lady next to me was (again!) nice enough to ask some people to move, so I could tell her. I said "Megan!" and she turned and looked at me. "You totally rocked!" and she looked at with the most amazing smile like she'd known me for years and said "THANK YOU!" She is truly beautiful in person, like a life-size barbie doll. I will be forever gratefull to her for being so kind. I was a bit surprised, because not many people seemed to care when she came by. They were more happy about Danny. You'd think the president of the United States was there! I got clobbered literally, while everyone was trying to get close to him. The other contestants came out a long time after. While, I desperatly wanted to meet Adam and tell him how much his music meant to me, he wanted to make sure everybody got an autograph down the line and it took a very long time. We had to leave, because it was getting close to midnight, by the time he was almost fairly close to us, and we had to drive a long ways back. Scott and his brother ran by and waved. I waved back, but the funny thing is, afterward I thought "I got to wave at Scott! And he saw me!" (I'm not a huge fan of Scott, but it was still nice), ironically though he really didn't see it. I had forgotten that he was blind. Oh well! It was the thought that counts. Kris ran by, as well, and smiled, but I wasn't able to get his autograph either, because it took so long for him to get to everybody. He has a beautiful smile, though.

All in all, it was a wonderful night and one I will never ever forget :-)

NOTE: If any of you all are interested in watching videos of some of the performances, I inserted links to some of the song titles for you guys to click. I tried hunting around for most of them, but in the end was only able to find a few videos. Hope you guys enjoy!

I've been working on this poem ever since MJ died. Today, I finished it. I wanted to post it here, on my blog, in memory of him.

Sometimes I feel as if this was not something you wanted to do,
it was something forced upon you, out of your control.
From dusk until dawn you worked, your mistakes, though you were young
were punished until you were black and blue,
and still the world was naive in knowing, we never knew the real "you."

"Little Michael" they called you, we had you as our own.
We played your records, sang your songs, and loved your pitch perfect high voice
and yet, we never saw that your work, your talent, your life, your day to day doings
were not your choice.

You asked for more, but was given less.
If you were in this, you wanted to be for sure.
You wanted to be the greatest this world had ever known.
When you were unable to stray on your own path and write your own tune,
they pulled you near, scolded you dear, and said to you "we still need you for our own."

When at last, you were given the chance to dance to your own beat,
you introduced us to the world of "the new songs", the ones you said you especially liked.
Your moves: they were special, they were almost unbelievable. . .
the way you glided across the floor, the way you sang those tunes and hummed the melody
were nothing like what we had ever seen before.

The years went by and you wowed us again and again
and yet we always remembered you as a celebrity, never as a human being.
People judged you, they took all of the rumors to be true
and still the world was naive in knowing, we never knew the real "you."

You gave us everything you had, you gave us butterflies, you gave us pearls, you showed us your world.
You took the crap and all the situations the best you possibly could.
You would smile and shrug, acting as if it was just part of the world,
but it wasn't.

We never understood, we never saw your heart.
We never caught the tears that would continually fall down, we broke you piece by piece a part.
Your soul was aching and torn, we caused you so much pain.
You see, we had forgotten that you were just like us.
You were not crazy, you were not insane.

You were so beautiful and so bright, so talented and so sweet.
You gave us every little thing we wanted, though this world seemed to lack everything you need.
You smiled and shrugged, acted as if it was just part of this world, the way it was meant to be,
but it wasn't, and we could not see,
that sometimes you were hurting, sometimes you would bleed.
You poured your body into the song, like precious water to a seed.
You gave us your life, you gave us your talent, you gave us your lyric,
but we were filled with greed.
We wanted everything, they wanted everything.

Sometimes you were barely getting by, sometimes you could hardly even breathe.
You found it difficult to go on, but you did it all for us, all for me.
I heard your words through your cover of your favorite song, "Smile even though your heart is aching"
and I knew it to be true.
You were the boy next door, a father, a son, a friend, a musician:
a human being just like everyone.

Still after all the attacks, all of the rotten ridiculous judgment, you were there for the children,
their opinion was the most important to you, you said.
You were there for them, your music mattered to them, you would hold their hand.
You were innocent and caring, a rarity in this world and yet the media chose to pick you a part
every little piece, killing your heart
slowly overtime.

Still you would laugh and occasionally you would grin, you had the most beautiful grin.
We meant everything to you, you loved us,
and yet rumor after rumor we believed to be true, no one cared, no one thought to ask themselves "is this really the truth?"
The media would cock their huge closed heads, laugh and point with their dirty fingers and haughtily declare "there he goes again."
"Wacko Jacko," they would call you.
Sticks and stones broke your bones and words, well they killed you.

glitter-graphics.com

The blogs are back in town...the blogs are back in toooooooown!

To say that I am excited would be an understatement right now. I am so freakin' happy I just might spontaneously combust

Just wanted to take a moment and say a few words about Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, who died today.

Farrah was a beautiful woman, fearless and an amazingly talented actress. I can remember watching her on "Charlie's Angels" when I was a little girl and wanting, longing to be just like her. She was my hero.

She fought a long strenuous battle with cancer, so she's isn't suffering anymore and hopefully she's in a much happier place.

Michael, is an incredible incredible musician and vocalist and I will never EVER forget him.

Both will live on in my memory and the world's forever. It will NEVER be the same without either of them.

R.I.P.