You will see how everything changes..

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. -- William Blake

I just finished re-reading Le Petit Prince for about the 10th time. If you haven't read this book yet, you are seriously missing out.. its even better when its read in French! I didnt come across it until High School when my French teacher Mr. Joseph made us read it. It has been a favourite ever since. It offers a new perspective on life and how you think-- in some ways it is the true romance novel.
In one section of the book, le Petit Prince meets a fox but they can't be friends right away because the fox has not yet been tamed. The fox asks the Little Prince to tame him so that they can be friends and so that life can be more meaningful. He explains:
"To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."
"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."

I'm not going to lie, I pretty much just want to copy and paste the entire book for you to read!! I love this section though, there is a principal so amazing that if you make something special and spend time with it, it somehow becomes special for you. Foxes and flowers tend to look alike but when you make one important and different it will always be different and you will never be able to see it the same way again.

There is a tree in the arboretum that I love to sit and read in, or write or paint. Its strange to think that something like a tree can be important to you, a tree is a tree but somehow it has become my own. I've tamed it or maybe its tamed me. Its taken on lifelike qualities in my mind and has become a friend. I recently came across a journal entry of mine about it, "For centuries trees were dead, not known to be alive. It is not until one knows and accepts that it is alive, does it become so. My tree lives because I decided it was so. It lives for me, and I live for it. Somewhere out there in the world, there is a tree that lives for me. For now that is enough."
Reading this now it seems really prideful to suggest but I think it brings up the same idea that 'taming' something is how you make it special. Somehow that process makes you special as well because you are connected to it. Its hard to put in words and I'm not sure its completely understandable until it happens to you. Go out and find something that makes you special because you've made it special!

Clearly Ronald Reagan was an idiot! "A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at?"

"I know that you don't care but I want you to know.."

The best way to end a Birthday weekend is crammed between an iron fence and hundreds of people! Weezer being there didn't hurt either!
Seriously... seriously.. best band in the world!
I first fell in love with Weezer in public school when they came out with their green album (I realize this is dating me.. in a really young sort of way!). I couldnt get enough of the song Hash Pipe, which seems out of character right? .. As it turns out, I was unaware that they had radio edited the song to make it 'Half pipe' and this was during an 'I want to be a cool skateboarder' phase. So obviously I couldnt go wrong with an awesome song about skatebording ---"You've got your big g's, I've got my half pipe." My best friend bought me the Green cd for Christmas that year and I was hooked!.. even when I found out the truth that it was actually about drugs, which makes the rest of the song make so much more sense!
This weekend Weezer was the grand finale for the 2 week long concert series called Bluesfest. The greatest part-- can I even pick a greatest part? That makes me feel like I'm cheating on all of the amazing parts--- was that they played all of their best songs from each of their seven albums. I have had trouble getting into the last two albums, the red album and Raditude, mostly from laziness on my part, so it was perfect that they played their greatest hits.
We got their early and made it to the front row, we were close enough to see them sweat. Rivers came down from the stage a few times and we got soo close! Also I'm positive Patrick Wilson smiled at me-- I have a thing for drummers. I admit I was just a little starstruck!! Seriously though, thats like ten years of love packed into one night of awesomeness! <-- I should probably start using a thesaurus for these things... stupefying? wondrous? zero cool? ya I've never heard of that last one!
Anyways Weezer was everything I hoped for and more. Each song brought me back to different points of my life because in some ways I feel like I grew up with Weezer.

Okay these are kind of small and don't portray the absolute magnificence that was the concert but I thought I'd share some pics!



This picture I stole from Weezers website, but it gives you an idea of the crazy amount of people there! Fans go as far back as those white tents, it was insane! Also I was standing on the left hand side probably a little more left than the cymbal--- Such a good spot!





Rivers Cuomo!! Did I mention that he was ALL over the place? He was jumping all over the stage, he ran around seeing people in the crowd, he climbed up the scaffolding on the stage and down a rope ladder--- he is an amazing entertainer, so fun to watch!



Rivers coming down using the Rope ladder. This ladder was directly in front of us, so he was probably only a few feet away! I got pushed soo hard into the fence.. everyone wanted to get as close as possible!



PATRICK WILSON!! Don't let his age fool you, he is clearly still a charmer!! I'll never forget our moment!

Amazing night, perfect end to a perfect birthday week!!
-B

Then cried Max, "Let the Wild Rumpus Start!"....

As far as I can tell, there is no non-awkward way of starting a blog. There is something about the lack of precedence that is both terrifying and disheartening enough to make you not want to start about a thousand times over. My original plan was to create a blog cataloging things to do before I'm 22, however since that is now only a few days away that leaves me almost no time to do very many interesting things. Instead my plan is to embrace 22 and share this year with the world (aka my mom, who is probably the only one who will read this, if she can figure out how to access it).

My friend, I will call her Work Bestie gave me the idea of writing a blog about 'my firsts', essentially writing about the first time I experience something new. I think on top of that I will add other cool or random things I do, mostly as a way of journaling this year of my life. I just graduated university so this seems like the perfect year for 'things to happen' as they say and you blog world can be right there with me-- give or take a few days after the event, but still that ain't bad!

Even though there are still a few days before I am actually 22, I thought I would start early because tonight was my first Surprise Birthday Party! I was completely surprised given that my actual birthday is still a few days away. There were about 10 people there who surprised me with delicious pizza, a decorated room and a sweet fully stocked Cookie Monster pinata! Seriously you can't go wrong with that combination!! It was very sweet, despite the fact that they scared the crap out of me in the first place! I feel like my birthday has been extended an extra few days because it started so early, I'll have to inform my bosses that I need tomorrow off to celebrate some more. <--- I was recently told that I have a big head (aka ego) and I'm starting to wonder based on these comments if that is true!.. Then again I am blogging about myself so maybe its not such a secret!

Anyways this is only the beginning...
-B