This is it.

17 years on this world and here I still exist. Has it been a fun ride? Well that's what we're here to examine. Who knows? I may come out of this feeling even better than I do now or maybe I'll realize that my life has been a waste of time and I could have done so much more, that I've lived through a lot of shit and it's just depressing, or any number of other negative things. I'm going to hypothesize that it'll be an overall good experience after the review.

So as a kid, my parents split up. I was 3 or so at the time, so that didn't really hit me as hard as it had the potential to have. Umm...overall, I think that was the best for my parents, but is never a really healthy thing for the kids. At most, it's less unhealthy than if they would have lived together and fought each other every day. So that I don't dread over. Not really that big of a deal in my life. Didn't have to move far off to another state or country or school and still see both of them regularly. Next topic.

Dinosaurs were awesome as a kid. You know what else was awesome? Trucks. Not like Ford and Chevy bullshit pickup trucks. I mean like fucking backhoes and fire trucks and the bigass shit that hardly can fit on an actual road. That didn't last long though, because dinosaurs are so much cooler and even more obnoxiously large. What's as big as a dinosaur but more modern? Godzilla. Godzilla took me to new heights, especially with the release of the newer Godzilla (the one just called "Godzilla," probably came out around '98 or something. Not to be confused with Godzilla 2000). What did dinosaurs and Godzilla do for me? Arguably, nothing. However, I think it exercised my creative mind and kept me out of sports at an early age. Thank you, Godzilla, for showing myself the nerd side.

So to further take over my nerd side, the N64 and Mario Kart 64 entered my life as a kid. Where did that take me? To new life. Video games. A nice alternative to the life of drugs in a rural area where nothing else happens. When you can't live an exciting life in the real world, live as Link and kick some Ganon ass. Fuck yeah. This has actually carried on to my current life as I still buy every new Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros, and major Mario release. Video games were cool and lead me to find some of the friends I still have today, who lead me to find the other friends I still have today and so on and so forth.

But enough with these memories that have brought out nicer sides of me. Let's get down to some serious shit.



Total number of girlfriends: 1 and a half...maybe two halves.


My first one I don't really count because, well, what was there to count other than we called each other boyfriend and girlfriend? I see no further substance. I give that a half.


My second was real. 100%. So that counts as one and as a very strong "one."


I had a sort of girlfriend for a while earlier this year. Kind of the opposite from the first one. Substance, but none of the boyfriend/girlfriend naming. Short-lived, too.


Cool.



Total number of girls kissed: 2

Umm...that's cool and uncool. I think it's cool. Most people probably think I'm a loser for it. Oh well, just because someone has to mean something to me before I get serious doesn't qualify me for being a loser, I don't think. Next.


Total number of women "slept with": 1

Same deal, I think it's cool. I'll go ahead and cover some other things while I'm here. Umm...so I had sex before I really thought a lot about sex. I had sex before ever smoking or drinking anything (which I still haven't done and will get to later) and also before I turned 16! So that's an array of interesting facts. Once again, I think it's cool and wouldn't have it to have gone any other way than what it did.


Total number of times to get drunk: 0

Not my thing, I'm assuming. I don't really want to find out if it is or not, either, because there is a history of alcoholism in the family that I don't want to check on the gene for on myself. Many might argue that I'm missing out, but even more tell me to keep it this way. I'm gonna go with the ladder.

Total number of times to smoke: 0

Also not something I want to get involved with. Bad family history for getting addicted to things, too, and I was brought up being told that it's all awful. No one that smokes has ever recommended starting to me, as well. I'm not curious, but I will admit that I think smoking makes you look cool and that the smell of cigarettes is no longer a bad smell to me.

Total number of times to get high: 1

Laughing gas is the way to go! Some might call me a pussy here, but I didn't really want to feel pain while they pulled out my teeth. Is that being high or drunk? I don't know, I was floating around the room, though. That's not sobriety, whatever it was. Other than that, I've not ever done any sort of drug other than like prescription medicine. I'm so boring.

Total albums recorded: 1

I wish I was more proud of our album than I am, but it kind of sounds like shit. I like maybe half of the songs on it, though, and when compared to NOFX's first album, it's gold. However, compared to Weezer's first album, it should be thrown in the trash. Optimism or pesimsim? I'll see it as a good thing. I'm also recording one right now. I think I'll be very proud of this one, because I'm not releasing it any other way.

Total number of concerts/shows performed: probably over 100

I have been fucking all over the place with all sorts of bands. Middle school band, Teal Steel, I Forget, high school marching band, high school jazz band, high school concert band, high school talent show. I know what it's like to play in front of people, basically. That's a significant number, I think. It'd help if it was a rational number.

Total number of instruments learned: 4 or 5 or 30

I sort of know the mandolin, so it kind of makes 5. I play the drums, guitar, bass, piano, and some mandolin. Drums could actually make it like knowing how to play 30+ instruments. I can play a lot of different kind of drums. Timbales, drum set, timpanis, claves, tambourines, marching snare, quads, marching bass, concert bass, concert snare, triangle, and a bunch of other fucking worthless things like finger cymbals. They're technically instruments, though, and I know how to play each of them.

Average grade in school thus far: 3.85?

Ehh...I'd say 3.85 GPA? I've gotten some B's in my life, a C, and one D. I keep it at mostly A's, though, so that's also significant. I like to consider myself academically successful and capable.

Total number of concerts/shows performed (by non-orchestral/marching bands and excluding ones that I played at): 10

Unless I'm forgetting something, I think it's 10. That's Green Day twice, two shows at the fire station in Cresaptown, once in Frostburg Eagles, the NOFX/D4/Flatliners show, going to The Storm Cellar (I think) twice, seeing Phase play at the fire station in Short Gap once, and one show we had to go to in Romney to support the bands, though I didn't pay much attention. There are also some jazz concerts I've seen before, but I don't feel like counting them because they're not like...bands with a name-name. I've played a lot of shows with a lot of bands that I've watched, too. So including those, I'd say I've seen maybe 25 shows all together or something like that.

Total number of things I'm certain about: maybe 3

This isn't one of them.




Okay, so to this point, I've gone through a lot of change. I've learned to accept many things like the concept of gays, the concept of different religions, the concept of different cliques and stereotypes, and the misconceptions of all of those things. I've dropped my religion and now believe what I believe, I've grown to be more open to more people, and I think I've just become a more tolerant person all around. I've been doing what I am passionate about for about 7 years now and that is playing the drums, learning new instruments, writing music, playing music, and listening to more and more music. I've discovered that I don't like reading in my free time (from what I've experienced), I like puzzles, I like mathematics, I love science, social studies is becoming more interesting (especially when not talking about US history), books on war interest me, and I love love. I'm still learning and still exploring and I'm still having fun for the most part. I'm still playing my music, still writing it, and still making plans for more and more of it in the future. I have no idea where I'm going to college or what I'm doing for college. I hate corporations. Multi-nationals especially. I hate greed, I hate gas prices, I hate control, and I hate the abuse of freedoms. I hate hate.



I've found a new love for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report (both start again tomorrow), I've decided that I hate television in general. I've decided that texting tears people apart from reality more often than it brings them to it. I've found a love for reading and writing blogs. And I've found a love for The Hives very recently. Go fucking listen to them.

I've discovered that some of my friends are assholes, that their girlfriends often annoy the shit out of me, and that finding people that love you for who you are is what is important.

I've discovered that I can be funny sometimes, if I have something to go off of. More importantly, I've found out that I'm not always funny...especially when there's nothing to go off of...like when writing blogs to myself. I've discovered that I think I'm easily influenced by the people I admire. If it weren't for influence, my hair would be short, I wouldn't play the drums, I wouldn't play music, I would strive to be a better person, and I wouldn't write this fucking blog. I've discovered that I really like myself. I've discovered just now that my hypothesis was correct and I've lived a pretty good life for these first 17 years.

love,
Kyle