I'm Alive and Such

You guys might have noted that I've been quite lax about posting recently, so I'm here to let you all know: DON'T WORRY. I'M ALIVE. I'M NOT IN JAIL. YET. Now, I don't exactly know who I'm addressing here, since my blog has approximately zero readers (at least none that I'm aware of) but if you happen to be lurking this site once in a while, and if you've started wondering about my whereabouts, well, I'm here. I'm here, it's just that most of the time I usually post when something significant happens and, let's face it, nothing has happened in the past few weeks. At least nothing blog-worthy.

But if you've actually read up to this point, I might be able to gather some minor happenings for you. Such as:

1) I attended my grandma's 80th birthday and, though I'm not too keen on family gatherings, it went very well! Everyone was super nice and my cousin from Paris was there and I absolutely love her and I hadn't seen her in ages so yep, that was fun. Plus, delicious cake as always.

2) I drove on my own in the middle of a STORM!!! Yes, this happened about an hour ago and if you can't tell, I'm very proud.

3) I met up with a friend of a friend who is now a friend, and I bought a pink glittery skirt. Now, you should know that I don't wear pink, I don't wear skirts, and I rarely wear glitter. So I'm quite concerned, as it is, most probably as I don't know whether this is a perfectly normal style evolution, or whether I'm subconsciously transforming into one of my friends, which would, if you know the circumstances, make perfect sense. So I might call a style psychologist and consult with her on the issue. Style psychologists exist, right?*

4) I watched a documentary on Nat Geo about a cannibalistic serial killer and proceeded to have a really morbid nightmare about murdering someone and have a dog eat his head. Then I read this article written by a Penn Criminology professor and found it really intriguing (is this word even used nowadays?) and did I tell you yet that I want to double major in Film AND Criminology? BTW, I have morbid dreams on a daily basis, no need to worry. I'm just a bit paranoid and think way too much into certain things.

5) I wrote my Common App essay, and have a very good feeling about it. I've actually written three, and each one started out of the other, and each one morphed into an answer to a different prompt but yeah. My advice to Common App essay writers: don't stick with one prompt and consider the deal sealed. I've also worked on a couple of supplements and the Penn one is giving me nightmares. You know when you've got all the content, but just can't form it into a coherent text? Welp, that's happening.

6) I've studied some A-Level Sociology and have done some ACT prep, but clearly not enough. In fact, that's what I should be doing now.

So, that is all I can think of right now, and erm, I don't know. I'll let you all (I still don't know who I'm talking to) know when something less mundane happens. I've got two tickets for this big music festival next month, so I'll definitely write about that. Yep. I think I should get back to ACT Math.

Take care and such.

*I was hoping style psychology would be something I just made up, but no. It actually exists.

Arctic Monkeys Concert

Prior to attending this concert, I had the privilege of seeing one Arctic Monkeys T-shirt in person - mine. Now I don't know whether I can ever wear that shirt again without sacrificing the last shreds of my individuality. Especially since, thinking it would be completely original to wear a flower crown, I had to face the fact that about 80% of the girls present had the same marvelous idea. So. Many. Flower crowns. So. Many. Arctic Monkeys T-shirts. I mean, where did they even get them from? I had to order mine from Etsy, and for some mysterious reason it shipped from Bulgaria.

Anyway, the concert being discussed here took place at the Volt Festival, which is an annual music festival in Sopron, Hungary. I'm not much of a festival person myself (don't mind the festival, do mind the all drunk people), but, I mean, I'd been longing to see the Arctic Monkeys since SEVEN years, so I had to be there without question. I bought my ticket the first day it was available, and within the first hour. And so began this epic journey...

...which continued at 11 AM at the train station. Now, I was a bit worried about getting there, since I knew absolutely no directions or transfer options whatsoever, but all my worries evaporated when three kids about my age sat down next to me. From then on, the three hours spent on the train were a blast. We talked about the concert, about traveling to London, about not exactly liking our capital city, about how the Russians have a separate word for three-day sleep deprivation and so on... I didn't even get to continue reading my copy of On the Road, which I've been struggling with for a year precisely.

By the time I got to the venue, it was 4 PM and by the time I found my friends, it was 4:30 PM, since during the time I took the bus there, they were walking down to the station. What a perfectly coordinated meeting, right?

We still had a couple of hours to kill until the concert started, so we left the venue and were walking around town and, well, this is the part of the day that is better left censored... Erm, so, long story short, while the friends of my friends were eating shrooms and going psycho with seven other people in a one person tent, my friend and I went to see the opening act, which was The Strypes. And they were surprisingly good, really! I spent my time staring at the lead singer, who happens to be gorgeous, but it turned out that he's younger than me, so I transferred my affections to this random guy standing next to me. So it was perfect. Well, except for the tiny detail that I urgently needed to use the bathroom - which is a total mood killer. Oh, and that I couldn't change my camera's settings from B&W to color. And I couldn't find the flash either...

The first color photo I took - of The Strypes

By the time I got back from the bathroom, a huge crowd had gathered in front of the main stage and I couldn't find my friend. Nice. But after a couple of phone calls, raised hats and aggressive elbowing from my part, I did manage to find her, she dragged me into the great sea of Arctic Monkeys T-shirts, and before I noticed, we were already in the front rows. And we were pushed and kicked and jumped upon, but there we remained.

AND THEN IT WAS 9 PM AND THE CONCERT STARTED. And...they were there!! The four of them, they were there, in front of me, and suddenly I couldn't see because everyone was raising their hands and I couldn't hear because everyone was screaming and then they started playing Do I Wanna Know? and we were all singing along and my gosh, it was good! I mean, it wasn't 2007 Glastonbury good, but it was as good as it gets! Here's a video of it that I did not film (mine turned out to be OK, I just don't upload videos that much) but it's the best you can get!

So the concert lasted about one and half hours, and it was a blast. Really, all the reviews I've read since unanimously agree that it was boring and that they played lifelessly, but I couldn't disagree more. It was a decent concert. Apart from the ones in the UK, it was like every other Arctic Monkeys concert. I don't know what everyone was expecting and I'm sorry they didn't get what they hoped for, but personally, it was everything I wanted to see and hear and experience. The only thing I disliked was the setlist, which - apart from a few classics - was mainly from AM. Now, AM is my least favorite album of theirs, and not hearing much of their previous songs, especially When the Sun Goes Down, kind of broke my heart. I mean, they performed 505 which partly mended it, but still... Anyway, despite that, this was absolutely the best concert of my life. It was also my first proper concert (bad Hungarian bands and that arcane Patti Smith concert don't count), but it was the best.

Here are some photos:

Following the concert, we roamed the streets again, bought/stole posters, packed up, went dancing and before 3 AM, I was on the bus taking me to the station. 

The train was full of sleeping people, and I joined in.