And my own two arms will carry you tonight, tonight...

Today is the 1 year anniversary of my friend Samantha Berard's death...She passed away last summer in a drinking and driving accident. The poor girl,only 17, never made it home. Tonight, they're having a memorial walk from the accident site to her home. It's been a pretty rough day but I've managed without letting anyone see how upset I truly am. It's not just the fact that a friend of mine died, it's the whole driving under the influence thing...I mean just recently, three kids died cuz they were walking near the road and a drunk driver hit them. A taxi driver told me and my gf that some lady got crushed or something along the lines of that by some sort of heavy machinery because some idiot construction worker was not only drinking and driving, he was on the job, in a large bulldozer, drunk. The construction workers on the job with him? All drunk. Isn't that unreal? How irresponsible can people be...It makes me sick. People view organizations like M.A.D.D. or S.A.D.D. or anything like that as ridiculous and overdramatic. They think it's a joke. "Who's dumb enough to drink and drive" - obviously, a lot of people. "What's the big deal, nothing's ever happened to me, if you only drink a little bit, who cares. " I'm sure the friends and families of people who've gone through losing someone because something as stupid as driving under the influence care quite a bit. It doesn't matter if it's "just a bit". Good for you if nothing's ever happened yet. It doesn't make it more responsible, it doesn't justify the action as right. It drives me crazy that people don't see that. Am I a crazy Teen Against Drunk Driving? No. I have looked into such organizations so that I could find comfort in other people who understood what I was going through when Sam passed...but...I've never been part of any organizations. Am I just hypersensitive because I've been affected by it? Partially, but it's not like I thought it was a good idea to begin with, for someone to get into a car drunk. Any views on this subject? Let me know what you think about this. I'd like to hear it. Or even any relating subjects. Wanna vent? Go ahead. Always here to hear it.

R.I.P. Sam

Teacher leave those kids alone...

So, music is probably the most powerful thing in the universe. It contains so much energy, so much emotion and so much fucking radness, it's unbelievable. What's even more powerful is the energy that comes from a concert. The music booming in your ears, the people's excitement flowing high all around, the anticipation of your favorite band playing right in front of you, you stand, your legs going numb because even the ground is trembling in unison with the bass pounding and the guitar's melody carrying out everywhere. Plus the singer's always pumping you up, singing, screaming, shouting, urging you to do the same.

There's always that one concert that you can't ever get out of your head. My two most memorable so far being Billy Talent and Hedley. Billy Talent was a while back but I can still remember my legs feeling like they were gonna fall off after the concert was over for having spent hours on end standing and screaming and pounding my fist in the air. And with Hedley, it was just...I don't really know how to explain it, I've never felt so free in my life as when I went to the Hedley concert, as korny as that may sound. BUT. In a little over a week, the punk/pop melody of a band that's been around for over a decade (if you take away the hiatus) will be ringing in my ears. My ultimate favorite band for many years now, Blink-182, in Montreal. Oh yeah. And then at the end of the month, coming to Sudbury Summerfest 2009! Our Lady Peace!. August is always such a good month. So many concerts, so many bands, so much positive energy everywhere. I love it. For year, I've been going to these music festivals every summer. Since I was little, I used to go to the North BayHeritage Festival where I've seen the likes of Amanda Marshall, Treble Charger, David Usher, Honeymoon Suite, etc...and just last year they changed it to North Rocks The Bay where we saw Hedley and a bunch of local bands. Then I started going to the Sudbury Summerfest. Just last year, I saw Illscarlett, State of Shock, Finger Eleven ( watch the video ), Low Level Flight and unfortunately, Kardinal Offishall ( not a big fan of rap but it was that or country and my sister enjoyed it ). It's just so pleasant.

If anybody ever reads this, what are some of the bands you've seen live before that you enjoyed, whether they be famous or just locally known and how was the experience, what do you remember most about it? If you've never been to a concert, who would you like to go see and why?

I'll keep you posted as to how well the concerts go. I'll probably also post pictures of them as well as of the merch I get :).

Also, don't forget to watch the vid. It's Finger Eleven doing some Pink Floyd (Another Brick In The Wall) and getting back into Paralyzer before ending the concert. Enjoy :P.

Ground control to major tom...

Did you ever notice that some of the most amazing people have always been in some way odd?

Freddie Mercury and David Bowie. Think about it. Flamboyantly gay, but who can ever forget old Ziggy Stardust and his Space Oddity or get a Queen song out of their head in less than a week? Tim Burton and his dark creations, always hits.

But I'm not just talking celebrities here, think about your family...think about your friends...my best friends are probably the weirdest people I know but they're amazing. I say embrace being an oddball. Who wants to be normal anyway? I don't. Scares me to death to be honest. Why? Being normal, being...socially acceptable to the core...is worrisome. Society worries me.

So pull out your dorky habits, your weird clothes, unorthodox views and random-ass interests and flaunt 'em cuz no matter how messed up you may think or other people may think you are, there's probably something really special about you and you can only let it shine by being you. Wow that was corny. But you know I'm right.