The official Interlochen Story

July 16th. A day that will live in infamy. Erin Walker, Hannah Henry and I travelled to....

INTERLOCHEN!!!!

home to the Interlochen School for the arts. Home to children being tortured. Home to a school with a theme song and a marching theme song. Yes, they call them themes.

Home to their own Dairy stand filled with dairy treats. Home to a gift shop with countless boxes of cookies mass-produced in 1974. An arts school with a personal Motel.

Why would I leave a friend's younger brother there?

Interlochen is known for things other than music. Yes. They do theater.

Team Save Luke Henry left early that morning, starting a 5 hour trek towards the upper peninsula. After fueling up with hash browns from McDonald's and coffee, after navigating through the treacherous waters of the gay games, we were on the road. Born free. We were like cougars released into the wild, with only one thing on our minds...saving Luke Henry.

Once we reached the camp, we were forced to mingle with uniformed band leaders. All of them in uniform, all in shorts, all with white knee-socks. We were sent to the encampment for teen-boys where we were allowed to check Luke Henry out for the day, promising to return him at 9 and being given copies of the Interlochen Constitution. We promised, no drugs and no alcohol. Once these promises were made, we hopped back into the car, when we spotted this:

truly a sad day.

There is apparently nothing to do in some parts of Michigan. Being resourceful, we went to Olive Garden. After Erin directly mocked a hostess, winning the rest of the team over even more, Olive Garden was uneventful.

So what else is there to do in this situation? We went to the mall!!! We went directly to the Alpaca outlet where all things can be made covered in Alpaca. Breath taking. All this could only be matched by heading to dairy mart...we ate dairy and mocked locals.

We returned Luke and played Journey as he walked back to Camp. He will never stop believin'

Editor's notes:

Olive Garden and after happened in Cadillac, not Interlochen.

Also, one interesting thing did happen at Olive Garden. I learned that when being mocked, hissing is an acceptable response.

Ah yes, siblings reunited...

Yes, Ma! Erin will have some Blueberry Pie!

Freeing the Captive.

My team and I (this means Hannah, Erin and myself) will be taking to the road this weekend. Yes, for one glorious day we will be going to Interlochen, Michigan to bust Hannah's younger brother out of band camp. Music Nazis have taken over his life and it's up to us to keep him strange

So, in one day we will drive there and drive home, 5 hours each way. This is the way it must be with our schedules...

but when was the last time you saved anyone from the clutches of band camp?

At INTERLOCHEN.

none of my friend's brothers will turn out like Josh Groban, so help me god!

Thought #297

I don't believe in people being perfect for eachother anymore. I think for every person out there, there's a small group of people you can "make it work with". Of that small group, there's about 6 or so (arbitrary number, right? mmm...the arbitrariest!) who appear perfect for you. The problem with this is sometimes you meet one of these super sixers and it doesn't work out and then when you think you're over them, you're not at all.

And as much as you want to fix things, you're hoping they fall off the face of your earth so you don't have to deal with it.

And in the end, you're fairly certain that perfect doesn't exist and hey...if good relationships happen, they happen. But you don't really want to play that game anymore. But you will, I mean, you're human, so you must want to be loved.

It's just that feeling of being punched in the stomach you don't want...

I'm 21 and I'm already too tired.
bah. I give myself one night of uncontrollable sobbing, chick flick (I choose when harry met sally) and emotions. Then tomorrow, life again.
I am 21, tired but way too young to be down so long.

Incident of the dog

Okay, so I only had a dog for 24 hours.
THEY TOOK THE DOG BACK.
Reason? She has a bad husband and needs someone to love her, thus, 5 dogs are necessary and not just 4.

I'm serious.

I am tired.

I now have a dog. It follows me places and sleeps a the foot of my bed and listens to me....

today is the day they will try and take it back.

details later.

Mysteries?

Is it possible to develop an allergy overnight in your early 20's? I did a little bit of research and found out that it is, but they only talk about seasonal allergies and all that. I woke up a few days ago with a whole new allergy. Okay, so as allergies go, here are my enemies.

There are only two (other than pollen in the air and shit):

I'm actually allergic to all Crush sodas. Every single one of them. Our friend orange though, that little bugger kicks my ass. Like, throat-swells-can't-breathe-get-that-buddy-to-the-hospital.

Cheap Bubble Bath. Okay, so bargain soap in general. I think most people are allergic to this though. You shouldn't be rubbin unidentified shit in unmarked bottles (or bottles marked "soap!") on your body. But I stay away from bubble bath as much as possible.






3 days ago, I met a new enemy.

BANANAS!!!!

I like bananas. I do. Suddenly I'm allergic though so...Well, goodbye to them. They were in a lot of good banana-based breads and muffins...Okay, only banana nut, but that's a damn good bread.

Battle for the Dog

I want a dog. This is acceptable, I have lots of dog owning time and skills. The problem with dog ownage is that I have to select a dog. I thought this was taken care of when I interviewed Rusty.

So the lady who currently has Rusty (and 4 other dogs) has a son who is trying to renegotiate his deal with Rusty now that my offer is on the table. This son is in his twenties and I personally do not care whether or not he wants the dog. Being a son, he will most likely get the dog. I understand this. Where do I go from here for my house trained, fixed and generally good natured beast?

In walks Cody, the other dog this lady (nice lady, by the way) has up for grabs.
Is it sick that I don't want the number 2 dog? I want my dog to be a winner.


The picture is from nataliedee.com
go. laugh. love.

Illinois.

I've just moved back to the United States. I won't lie to you, I won't say that I'm getting down and culture shocked in suburban Illinois. The reality of it all is that I spent one year away and before that I spent 20 years running around this place...how the hell is it going to surprise me? Globalization does a mean one-two on Western Europe and I'd be a liar if I told you I never had a whopper. Did I have some McDonald's Gazpacho? you'd best believe. Granted, some people do take the anti-globalization route...


but hey, we travel, we internet, we televise...it's bound to get around. Everything is at our fingertips so how does this not spread?
But that doesn't mean that we can't still be surprised by the familiar.
It doesn't mean that though one thing might be in every country, that each country doesn't add their own touches, make it their own. The changes are already there and I don't think they are reversible.

I'm not pro globalization or pro giant fast food machines.
I'm okay with the cultures compromising and blending a bit, it's bound to happen.
It's the cancellation of a culture that I worry about.