thRowback thuRsday: Rage.

i forgot just how much i love to rock out to this song. feeling a little ready for a hardcore fall welcome and this hits the nail on the head for me.

bonus: rage against the machine's self-titled album was the first thing i ever shoplifted.

fill iN the blaNk fRiday: RaNdom

today's fill in the blank friday is filled with the randomness that is lauren's brain... works just fine for me! maybe one day i'll submit questions from interviews that i did in 9th grade for the school paper. poor mr. carson tried to answer me seriously and respectfully to questions like, "what kind of toothpaste would you be?" i showed no mercy.

on with the show:

1. the most adventurous thing i've ever done is...  really dependant on what one would consider "adventurous." is shoplifting adventurous? it's my first response, but i really just think that's because of the adrenaline rush that i got while stuffing ridiculous things like makeup and cd's into my pockets in jr. high. i only felt that way again when throwing rocks at passing trains (it's a federal offense!!!) behind a local restaurant. or perhaps it was sleep on the roof at a local school with my sister when she had nowhere to go. we were both so paranoid about getting caught that we had the most amazingly freaky (and similar) dreams and woke to the sounds of summer drama campers arriving and tried to figure how to get the heck out of there unnoticed... i guess by the technical definition of the word, the most adventurous i've ever been was going white water rafting for the first time on the arkansas river in colorado which included numerous class 6 rapids. we had an awesome guide and got through flawlessly! hmmm, that kind of pales in comparison, now...

2. if i were a pair of shoes i would be converse jack purcells. casual, a little unique... but quietly refined.

3. my preferred mode of digital communication is sadly, i think facebook. texting is cumbersome for long-winded me and email is too formal. i really love being able to check in with numerous people in just a couple of minutes. call it lazy, whatever... it works for me.

4. i feel happiest when driving around on back roads when the day (or night) is beautiful and balmy, listening to great music. my brain is a convertible car.

5. a little dream I have for my life is no big secret! i want to be my own boss. still haven't decided exactly what i want to do, but my love for fashion is pushing its way to the top right now!

6. the one modern convenience I could NOT do without is anything that lets me do things myself: pump my own gas (NJ, how do you stay in your cars!!??), withdrawal from my own bank account, check myself out at the grocery store... i love it all. being able to go about my business without talking to anyone? priceless.

7. music, movies, tv or books: if i could only choose one to enjoy i would pick music. it can really change / fix / affect my mood at any given time. everything else just helps you escape from what's in your head and it's still there for you to deal with when the movie/show/book is over, but music can simply change your mindset. that's some powerful shit there. books would be a close second, since you can learn and gain perspective from books, and this could also potentially lead to a new way of viewing the world. that and, who could really imagine their world without david sedaris narrating once in a while?


looking forward to an awesome weekend! going to see my morning jacket tonight. that's actually all that really matters.  :)

fill iN the blaNk fRiday: schoolgRRRl

i'm sure this is fully open for interpretation, so i'm filling in according to high school, because i barely remember my "college" days, more from working at least two jobs while i was there than any kind of partying, and because it wasn't really college, rather full-time business school. kind of takes the fun college experience part out of the whole scenario. so.

1. The best thing about being in school was: seeing my friends (almost) every day. and i would have to say that the worst part of "growing up" is NOT seeing them every day. i'm not exactly a social butterfly, but i do love me some fri-ends!

2. The worst thing about being in school was: teachers telling me what to do. i've never really dealt well with micromanagement, and this was my first understanding of that fact. i believe "fiercely independent" is what often comes out of my mouth when trying to explain myself. you'd never imagine the offense that was taken once when i used it to explain to my date (whom i had asked out) why i was going to, at the very least, go dutch on lunch. whoa - back to the question! my immediate memory of this feeling was a teacher yelling at me to put my shoes on while walking down the hallway. it was pretty freaking normal for me to not wear shoes, so why did it bother him that one time? doesn't matter; his threats were ineffective.

3. My favorite subject in school was: art. is art like gym, where people will argue that it's not a class? it sure was for me! the structure of our art room, being complete lack thereof, was much more akin to my taste, and i spent more time there than anywhere else, despite lacking any focus or drive in my projects. all i know is the peace i felt while throwing pots or getting my hands filthy with pastels or joking as my friends and i drew each other over and over and over again. peace, i tell you!

4. One subject I wish I could have mastered is: french. all is not lost! i may still give that one a shot. you'd think, after taking three years of it, that i'd have more than a vague recognition (no, not an understanding!) of words. 

5.  I could never get tired of studying: hmmm. i think i'm learning that i tire of just about everything... not so sure that there would be a subject i could stick with. we never had any type of mythology, sociology, or psychology class when i was in high school, but i'm pretty intrigued my the way people work - and think all of these subjects have something to do with that - and so i think that my curiosity could be quite satisfied with unlimited glimpses into these concepts.

6. The most memorable teacher I had was: i can't pick just one, but they were all science teachers. mr. hall had (still has) a crazy mustache, took us on a geology hike, and sold beer at the stadium in the summer. mr. pellis had red hair, a red face, and a loud voice, with which he yelled at me quite often, which i deserved, and loved him for even more.  mr. schreiber... ah, mr. schreiber. he was unbalanced, hilarious, occasionally violent (in a somehow funny way), and oh-so-easy to get off topic. mr. fredericks was our little chemistry teacher that we absolutely tortured but eventually won over. he's such a perfect dork that he has a comic strip about... maybe some chemistry stuff because it's so over my head but hilarious anyway! the problem with all of these great guys: i didn't learn a damn. thing.

7. If I could choose between going to school for the rest of my life or working for the rest of my life, I'd choose probably going to school. it's easier to change your mind, switch gears, and study something new than it is to change careers. that's my final answer.

coloR me oNce

i forgot all about this one!!

tee hee!

this makes me so happy.