Fifteen Years

I’ve been watching the world for a thousand years,

Yet I was only so recently born.

In three weeks, I will be fifteen,

Though I feel about one-hundred-and-seven.

Any day now, I will drop dead,

Ripe with age,

Sick from the cycling thoughts in my head that spin

Round and round.

I vomit.

All of the trinkets I have collected:

Worthless items like shoes and sweatshirts and graded papers

Come up in a yellow-pink pile of bile.

The memories.

They wind up in the bowl, too.

The countless times where I have ridden in the backseat of my mother’s minivan

Driving over the mountain

Imagining my father behind the wheel, steering us through the hundreds of other cars

That look just like us,

That goes, too.

If only I could turn back the hands of time—

It’s a cliché, I’m aware—

I would take back the misused moments of perfection

Where we functioned like we weren’t broken,

Before this gaping hole sat in the fringe of my timeline.

In three weeks, I will be fifteen.

And I feel sick.

Sunday's Song of the Week; Week Whatever

This post should really be titled "Sunday's SongS of the Week"; songs should be plural. In general, I've just been listening to a lot of Ingrid Michaelson. I don't really know why. I guess her music is just so calming and "chill", that it puts me in a state of tranquility and warmth.  My current favorite is "Giving Up", and if you Youtube it (can "Youtube" be used as a verb?), you can find a bunch of awesome covers like this one (which is done with a ukulele!). So, because there's too much to chose from (and because I'm lazy), I will just tell you to look up this artist, and hope that you will. 

—Anaka

Hey. 

Things have been pretty chaotic around here, especially because exams are in a week or so, and I have SO MUCH WORK. Seriously, those teachers show no mercy. And homework, man, it is killing me. But on the Bright Side, the year is almost over. It seems like just yesterday I was walking into class for the first time as an official high schooler. Psh, who am I kidding? That was ages ago. Because it is the end of the year, though, my school had one of those concert/recital things. It went well, though we never quite learned "To Be Sung of a Summer Night on the Water". We sounded like a herd of dying cows trying to sing that song (and that's meant towards the assholes who said "altos can't clap" and that we have no rhythm). 

If you can't tell, I'm i kind of a pissy mood, so I really should not be blogging about The Bright Side. But, whatever, skip this post if you want to. 

Remember Sunday's Song of the Week from, er, another week? No? Its the one with the cute song about rich people. Well, I learned how to play it on guitar. I don't think that's really my instrument, though, so I'm thinking about learning to play something new. I was actually thinking ukulele. I know, I know. When I told Olivia and my brother, Scott, they both said that I was a hipster. I AM NOT A HIPSTER. The fact that they both said that, though, confirms my theory that they are soul-mates who don't know it yet. And I can say these things because neither of them read my blog. So, yeah, Olivia and Scott will eventually fall in love. Sorry, all of Scott's other lovers (he gets around, for a twelve-year-old). 

Guess what I just found?! Oh. It's a four-month-old sugar covered marshmallow left over from Valentine's Day.

It's still wrapped, though, so it may still be good to eat. I'm not taking any chances. 

So, yeah. That's all folks.

—Anaka

When in doubt, blog about the weather.

Spring is officially here! Well, I mean, it's been here for a while, but it was warm today. It's sunny too. While my happiness comes more with rain, I'm still not one to turn down a nice bright day. 

Pictures:

And a song to brighten my spirits even more:

So much sunlight. 

I am blind. 

—Anaka

Sunday's Song of the Week... I lost track of what week it is.

Apologizing for the lack of posts...

...And overcompensating with the most nauseatingly adorable song/video ever. I love it.  

I really like bananas.

Do extreme mood swings shown in the elderly prove to be a sign of deteriorating mental health? My grandmother may as well be mad at this point. She was exploding in an apoplectic fit of rage a moment ago, and now she is laughing. Like, REALLY laughing. 

Anyway... 

I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE WHEN YOU WALKED INNNNNNN..... Yes, friends, Taylor Swift is now in my head. I cannot escape her, no matter where I go. Despite common belief, I do actually like pop music. Sort of. I know who Ke$ha is, if that's a start. And even though I am disgusted when One Direction comes on the radio, I AM NOT A HIPSTER, SO GO FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO ANNOY. I am so sorry to disappoint you. 

Haiiiii cat. May I just say that you are adorable and that I would like to adopt you? You have pretty eyes... and paws.

EXTRA TOES!!! Could you possibly loan one or two to my grandmother's boyfriend? 

OH! OH! I got an "A" on my math test! The Bright Side prevails!

And for the record, eating loads of local honey does not improve seasonal allergies. Sorry, but that theory's been disproven. So, you can stick that in your juice box and suck it.

AND I'M LYING ON THE COLD, HARD GROUND.

New shoes make you jump higher. True story.

Remember those red shoes I showed you earlier?

BAM.

I know they're not the same ones. I'm convinced these are better. I actually like these more because I'm afraid that if I wore plain red shoes I'd look like Ronald McDonald.

There's something in new shoes that just makes me feel awesome, you know? Like, CONFIDENT. It's the red. I think it's advertised in the label. Anyway, I got them at Nordstrom's, which is in the mall, and when I saw someone from my school there, I wasn't even embarrassed that I was with my family! I swear, they might be magic. Except for the fact that they give me blisters.

--Anaka, Mighty and Powerful God

Such a busy week...

I know. I know. I missed a bunch of posts. Whatever. To catch up on where I left you hanging last time: 

• I had a great time with my friends. We did do face masks. Because they were from Lush, they SMELLED like you would not believe. And not in a good way. 
• We watched Scott Pilgrim VS the World. It was mind-blowing, as always. Caitlin loved it, and we spent the whole night listening to "Black Sheep" and "Garbage Truck". Truck truck truck. 
• We posted a new video on youtube. We have two now. The other is under THIS link. Both songs are written by yours truly, guitar part and all. 

I just realized how choppy-ish I am writing, so I will try to write longer sentences, like this one here, to keep you all satisfied. 

Or, I could just stop writing for now. 

I'm off to go do homework (ew), play music, and stalk the front door waiting for my brother to get home so I can stop being BORED OUT OF MY MIND. 

Ta ta! (did I really just say that?)

—Anaka

Has it been five days already?

Hello. It's me again. Did you miss me? I've been gone for five days, which isn't good, considering my goal is to post everyday (and we all know how that is going). Ooops. Nothing of importance has happened in regard to The Bright Side. Or anything else, for that matter. On The Dark Side, however, I think the world may be coming to an end. Humanity is turning on itself, if you haven't noticed. What's my plan of action? I suppose Run and Hide will be a good plan for the apocalypse. All of my friends have very detailed plans, and this makes me wonder what kind of dark stuff goes on inside their minds. I think I may be losing mine. 

I finished my book, though. Not that you would know what book that is anyway, as I haven't posted in FIVE DAYS. What can I say? I'm clingy to this blog. The book is titled Eve and Adam, and it's like a science-fiction-ish novel about creating people in test tubes and adventure and science and all that crap that I don't care about. I loved it. 

Really. 

As for the rest of the past week, everyday was basically an overload of homework, stress, school, writing songs, laying on my bedroom floor listening to Ingrid Michaelson's "Die Alone", and counting the pennies I am saving up for these shoes:

I probably won't post tomorrow, as I will be with Rachel and Caitlin doing Lush face masks, recording music, and possibly, fingers crossed, watching Scott Pilgrim VS the World. Can you believe Caitlin's never seen it? 

So, that's all for now. 

—Anaka

Sunday's Song of the Week; Week 8

This song makes me want to start a flash mob in a grocery store. 

—Anaka