Experience Music Project

For those who don't know, the Experience Music Project (usually referred to as the EMP) is located in the Seattle Center with the Space Needle and the Monorail. It's the abstract mirrored building across from the "Ride the Duck" attraction. I've been to the EMP one other time a while ago with my mom, but this time my dad took me.

When I went the first time, I wasn't as much of a music appreciator as I am now. My knowledge of music has grown exponentially over the years and the genre no longer matters to me. I'm not a huge fan of grunge or rock and roll itself, but seeing all this stuff was really interesting anyway. The first thing you see when you walk up to the second floor of the building is this giant guitar structure. Those are really the only words I have to describe it... unless there's a real name for it. It's just how it looks; a bunch of guitars strategically placed around each other that goes from the ground of the second floor to the ceiling of the third. Such a novelty.



The EMP just added a Nirvana wing to their second floor and it is AMAZING. I've listened to a couple Nirvana songs but I wouldn't consider myself a "fan" in the least. I still thought it was really cool, mainly because I know Nirvana is from Seattle and that made it a lot more personal. There was a bunch of memorabilia including instruments, vinyls and clothing that Kurt Cobain actually wore. I just thought all of it was really cool, even though I'm not a huge fan of Nirvana's music.
The next leg of the tour was the Jimi Hendrix room. The look of the room
really caught my attention because it was retro and awesome. There was a TV playing one of his live concerts with a few purple couches in front of it. Behind that were four black and white blown up photos that represented him. I loved those because of my love for photography. On the wall next to that was a bunch of memorabilia from Jimi's musical career including photos, records, and little blurbs about his life. Just outside the Jimi Hendrix room was the orange and pink outfit he wore at Woodstock. The actual clothing that was on Jimi Hendrix's back..... SO COOL.



This is kind of off subject, but I remember hearing about Rogers High School's prom last year that took place at the EMP and while I was there, I found out the actual location of the dance floor. It was a wide open space with high ceilings and a HUGE TV. The TV was playing Jimi Hendrix's performance at Woodstock that I talked about earlier and in front of it were more chairs and couches. It made me feel like I was actually there watching him play and I loved it. It made me appreciate Jimi Hendrix, who is also from Seattle, so much more. Also on the second floor, the EMP had an Avatar exhibit. They change this section of the building out frequently so if you went back in a month or so, you would probably see something completely different. I thought the Avatar stuff was pretty cool though. There was a part of it where you could stand in front of a red screen and play the part of one of the characters in a certain scene. I didn't do it myself, but I watched someone do it and it made me realize how advanced we are in technology. Connected to that was a horror movie exhibit where they had a bunch of TVs playing old horror movies, random props from those movies, and a scream booth. I thought they spent way too much money on an exhibit that wasn't that interesting, as least to me. Upstairs was the Sound Lab. My favorite part of the whole thing. You could go into little booths with actual instruments and get a free guitar or drum lesson. They also had recording studios where you could go and jam out for 10 minutes at a time. I guess I'm more of a hands-on person which is why this has always been my favorite part. Also upstairs, they had a Battlestar Galactica exhibit with props and information about the show. I thought this was kind of random, seeing as how it's called the "Experience Music Project" and the only thing in that section related to music was a playlist from the show. All in all, I had a great time at the EMP and I hope to go back another time :)

Valentine's Day.

I've never personally been a fan of Valentine's Day but this year I actually had someone to spend it with so naturally, I decided to enjoy the holiday for the first time ;) I don't know if it was because I had a Valentine this year, but the cliché negative posts about the holiday really started to irritate me. People posting countless Facebook updates saying "Single Awareness Day!!!!" or "I have two valentines this year: Ben AND Jerry!!" SHUT UP. Valentine's Day is really just a holiday that card companies made up so they could make more money. Although it's fun to give and get gifts, it's completely commercialized and it shouldn't matter in the least if you're single or not. You're single every other day of the year, so it's just another normal day for you and if you really feel that bad about not having flowers or chocolate, go out and buy some for yourself! I'm really not that bitter but when people are annoying, I feel like calling them out on it. I made Mike a candy love letter, which you may have seen on Pinterest, but I got the idea a while ago when my mom received one from one of her coworkers. It's just a display board with a love letter on it but you substitute words for actual candy, and glue or tape the package onto the board. It's a really cute and unique idea so I went for it. I also got him a lady(love)bug pillow pet. Originally I got the bee and wrote "Bee Mine?" with red fabric paint but I accidentally set something on top of it while it was still drying and it got messed up so I went out and bought the ladybug instead. The pictures to the right are what he got me :))

Deciding What's Important

I've been wanting to lose weight for as long as I can remember, but the whole reason I've decided to actually start eating healthier and exercising started a few days ago when I noticed giant black circles under my eyes when I woke up one morning. I started googling ways to get rid of them, hoping some magic cream would come along and solve all my problems. I read that the reasons for under eye circles are: lack of sleep, poor diet, and dehydration. I was getting enough sleep, so that led me to the conclusion that I need to be eating healthier and drinking more water if I want the bags under my eyes to go away. I just felt so ugly when I looked in the mirror and I knew I had to change something if I wanted to look at myself and be happy again. Every day after that initial realization, I would see myself in reflections of windows or glass doors and hate how wide I looked from far away. When I look in my full-length mirror at home before I leave for school, I only see myself from about a foot away and never realize that it changes my perception of myself. When people see me from far away, they see the huge, wide angle of me, the one I don't see in the morning. But I've been looking at my reflection a lot more and noticing that I hate how big I look. Both of these things were what finally convinced me that I need to change something if I want to be happy with the way that I look.

However, eating healthier has been extremely hard for me. I've had numerous thoughts about just stopping at McDonald's or Taco Bell on the way home and pigging out to make myself feel better. Like I said in my last post, food has always been a comfort to me. It's the only thing I have when I'm sad. It's like the snowball effect; I get sad because I see myself in mirrors and absolutely hate the way I look, and then I get even sadder because I don't have food to cheer me up. I just have to keep asking myself, which is more important: the food or the perfect body?

More Change.

Something I'm trying to change about myself is my weight. I've struggled with this problem like more than half of America for my entire life. I used to be really self conscious about it in elementary school because I would get made fun of. I was always the biggest girl in the class and eventually, by my junior year of high school, I learned to deal with it. My junior year was the first year I ever had a boyfriend. It sounds sad, but having a boyfriend actually gave me confidence. It showed me that a boy actually liked the way I looked, even though I was fat. My self consciousness started going away, I was beginning to be more outgoing and I didn't let the way that I looked stop me from doing anything I wanted to do. I used to always tell myself that I don't deserve this body. I'm a good person, why do Ihave to get made fun of because of my weight? I played soccer for ten years before taking a year off and then starting up again this past fall. I've always enjoyed being active and exercising, as long as it doesn't involve running... But food was the thing I turned to when I felt like I didn't have anything else. It was, and still is, a comfort to me. Starting this month, I've been trying to cut down on unhealthy foods and start eating more fruits and vegetables. No more soda. No more processed chips or candy. Three years ago, I would've wanted to do this so a guy would like me. But now that I have the guy and the friends, I'm doing it for me.

Change.

I'M NOT A BLONDE ANYMORE! The last time I dyed my hair this dark was 8th grade so I was hesitant about doing it again for the sheer fact that I've changed a lot in 4 years. I stood in the hair color aisle at Walmart for a good 15 minutes trying to decide what color I wanted. I knew I wanted it to be dark, but I haven't had much luck with dye out of the box. It never seems to turn out how the box says it will. The same held true for this instance, but I'm surprisingly happy with the outcome.