Introducing... Me!

The Internet allows people to have just about any identity they want. For me though, I’m super happy with the life I have and the person I am and I don’t see any reason to hide it. I realized today that it might be a little strange to read my opinions and thoughts on this blog without knowing anything about me, so I thought I’d take this post to kind of introduce myself. My name is Jamie, I’m 21, Aquarius, my favorite musician is Ben Folds, my favorite color is yellow, and while I could tell you more meaningless facts I think I’ll tell you something a little more interesting.

Someone once described my life as a crazy circus with a host of sideshow characters that float in and out of it. I have found that to be incredibly true. I was never a popular kid in school, which I think is an unspoken invitation to the universe to send a bunch of ridiculous people my way to keep things interesting. If anybody is coming home with a story at the end of the day, it’s usually me. Today for instance, I witnessed an attempted robbery on an outlet store that was debunked by a bunch of saleswomen right before it happened. There was a getaway car and everything. That’s just a normal day in my life though. 

I love to be surrounded and consumed by laughter. I have a very dry and sarcastic sense of humor so jokes that involve bodily functions or physical violence are not up my alley. I’m also the LAST person you want to play a prank on. I’m having trouble thinking of a single prank that I have ever found funny. If somebody pranks me, I have a hard time finding the ability to forgive. Haha, everyone reading this probably wants to toilet paper my house now. As long as you can keep up a conversation and know how to be honest and able to laugh until you cry, we’ll probably get along just fine!

One of my passions and probably what makes me the happiest, other than my beautiful 2-year-old niece, is traveling. So far I have been to England, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Mexico, and across most of the United States. In January I’ll be going to Australia to visit the friends I made during my semester abroad in Hatfield, UK. I’ve had hot chocolate on top of the Alps, seen my favorite musical in two countries, had a Big Mac in eight different countries and stood in the middle of four states at once. I can’t wait to travel more. I think southern Asia will probably be next on my list.

So that’s me in a very tiny package. I hope you’ll feel at least somewhat of a better understanding or connection to my posts now. If not, at least you can put a face with the words.

Bye for now, ya'll!

I Love My Uke!

I have been playing ukulele for almost three years now. I’ve always enjoyed singing and I really wanted to learn to play guitar but I could never build up the tolerance to deal with my fingers bleeding from the hard metal strings. After seeing a ukulele player named Julia Nunes perform at a Ben Folds concert, I knew I had finally found an instrument that seemed to be made just for me. It has truly been one of my favorite hobbies since then and I now have a soprano and a tenor ukulele in my collection.

I think that there is a stigma about this instrument that they only play little melodies that sound like hula music for a beach in Hawaii. The YouTube community completely blows that idea out of the water. New and incredible artists like Julia Nunes are everywhere online showing their skills and how modern and versatile the ukulele can be.

Now I’d like to share my absolute FAVORITE ukulele player and actually just one of my favorite artists in general. Danielle Ate the Sandwich does both covers of songs and her own original works. She is really quirky and funny which often seems in stark contast to her inspired, heartfelt and poetic lyrics. I’m going to add some videos below but her YouTube username is www.youtube.com/daniellesmagic if you want to see more!

One of my favorite covers she has done (mostly because it’s my favorite song to wake up to on my alarm clock, haha!):

This song is one of her beautiful originals (you’ll see what I mean by quirky in the video introduction):

Do you have any favorite artists on YouTube? Let me know in the comments! 

Happiness

“May happiness,

pursue you,

catch you

often, and,

should it

lose you,

be waiting

ahead, making

a clearing

for you.”

-A.R. Ammons

I read this poem by A.R. Ammons in a class last semester. Even though I’m an English major, I hate poetry. Sure, Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss are pretty decent but Shakespeare and I will probably never be on good terms. That’s why I was so incredibly shocked by Ammons’ words. They were so simple and yet everything that I wanted to hear. I was instantly comforted and changed.

True happiness comes to people from places we never expected.

The key word in that statement is “true.” I feel like a huge part of the lives we lead is based on the joy we search for. Some people go a negative route that focuses on the superficial and the material influences of the world to make them feel better for even just a small period of time, some find a form religion that eases their personal demons, and some become obsessed or overwhelmed by the concept of happiness and give up on the quest. I want to tell everyone that I do believe that the quest is worth the reward.

We have to keep moving forward no matter what. It gets better and there will always be something so great waiting for you down the road if you just keep going.