Real chilled out..

Here are some songs that I like to just sit down and chill out too. I really wish there were more hip-hop songs like these..

Bad start to the day..but it got better

This morning I woke up at 5:30. Why you ask? Because we had a fire alarm go off. We didn't have an actual fire, so it was just a test. I was so mad. But I ended up falling back asleep so it was all good. But, being the smart person that I am, I forgot to turn on my alarm clock to wake me up for my 9:30 class so I overslept and was about 20 minutes late. Did I mention we had a quiz today too? Yeah. I go up and ask the teacher's aid about the 12 questions I missed and she let me answer them. That was a close one. I had to read a book for my Intro to Photo class called "The Great Picture Hunt 2" by photographer, and former professor at Western and to my own father, Dave LaBelle. We only had to read from page 8-25. But his words were so intriguing and informative I ended up reading to page 50. I get back to my dorm and get on Facebook just to see what my friends have been up to and my good friend Pat Flynn tells me that our favorite song that we always have to sing with each other and out loud, "Every Morning" by Sugar Ray, was one of the songs that was shuffled on his Ipod. So I felt the need to dedicate my status towards Pat and now I feel the need to share my happiness with my followers on here. No matter how bad of a mood I'm in if I listen to either of these songs I can instantly become happy. Enjoy.

Great Song to wake up to..

The Message...

Start of my new life

Today I start college. I'm kind of nervous, but very excited. I thought I would wake up later but I didn't I don't start my day of classes until 10:20 but I woke up at 7:30. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGGGGGG. I actually really like my schedule. I have three classes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but I don't go to them until 10:20 and I'm done with the day by 1:35. Tuesdays I have one class, Intro to Psychology, at 9:35-10:55 and then I'm done for the day. Then I have that same 9:35 class Thursday but I get a break and then go to an Intro to Photojournalism class at 2:20-5:05. I mean I don't like getting out that late for class on Thursday but I mean I have like a five hour break so I think I can handle that. But I was listening to my Pandora and this song came on that could possibly be my theme song for the day. Enjoy

Wow

Today is my last full day in St. Charles, Mo. I leave for college either later tonight or early tomorrow morning. It's kind of surreal really. I don't know what to feel. I think I'm doing the right thing as far as leaving the state to go to school, but a lot of people I'm close too, who are all conveniently now seniors in high school, still live here. Man. I just don't have any words to explain it. Today was also black and gold day up at my "old" high school. That's where all the fall sports teams get together and they basically have a parade and what-not. It was always fun when I went. I went up there today and as I said before it was just all so weird knowing that they were still going to that school and that I wasn't apart of it anymore. It was all pretty strange. As I made my rounds to everyone, saying 'goodbye' to them I didn't really feel sad or distraught. Some people would act like they were going to cry, some people would tell me good luck, I think one girl actually did cry. And during that whole time I just had on my smile and just laughed at them. But as I left the stadium and started to walk to my car, it was the first time in a while where I really felt alone. I basically was doing this by myself. going into a new world. To put it simply, I was scared. I drove home and all i could think about was how unreal everything was and that I could very well not talk to some of my friends for the rest of my life. But I found one song to kind of describe how I was feeling at the time and how I still feel. But overall, I would have to say that today was in fact a good day....

Got a new one..

So I found out today that my original roommate for college is either not going to Western anymore or switched dorms because I logged onto my account today and saw his name wasn't on there. It was a Zach fellow. I hope if I call him he'll call me back because the other one didn't and then turns out he's not my roommate anymore. Would have liked a warning at least. Well anyway this Zach guy seems to be from Kentucky because he has a Louisville area code. Hoping he's pretty cool. I'm going to go call him now....

My Start

You know it's funny where someone could call a place their home, and it not even be a house. Wednesday my dad went out of town for a NABJ convention in Tampa, Florida and Friday my mom went out of town to help my uncle with something he's trying to sell in Louisville, Kentucky. They don't get back until Sunday. So I'm by myself this whole weekend. Most of my friends are out of town so I couldn't hang with them. The girl that I mentioned about two blogs ago had her cousin come in that Friday so I didn't want to try and interrupt her time with her cousin just so we can hang. So basically I'm at my house all day, and all night. But today, Saturday, as the day started to get hot I thought it would be a good idea to go for a run. I first started to head up to school. As I got there there were a bunch of traffic cones in the parking lot from people restructuring the parking lot. SO I turned around and was headed to St. Charles High School (I don't know why I was headed there to run. It was just the first place I thought of for some reason). So as I was going there I got this idea of going to McNair Park, which is the place where I used to practice football at. As I got closer I started to remember the old practices with my teammates and how we would warm up on this hill that was there. We would start at the bottom of the hill and do high knees, backwards runs, and sprints up the hill to warm up and sometimes for our conditioning. Those were some of the best times of my life right there. Not necessarily running up the hill but being with those group of guys, I'll never forget. As I got to the parking lot of McNair Park I saw the hill we used to run up. The same hill that would make people throw up if they weren't conditioned right. I got out of the car and saw that there was a softball game going on. I didn't really pay them any mind because I was here to do one thing: run up that same hill that whipped me into shape to play high school football. I got to the bottom of it and stared up it. "It's shorter than I remember," I thought. But I was sure that once I started to run up it that it will somehow get bigger. I started and I was thinking to myself "This isn't so bad. I think I can do a couple more sprints." So I did and I did a bunch of other speed dynamic and footwork stuff going up the hill. By the end of it I was pretty tired. As I was leaving these two kids sitting under a tree that saw me running asked me if I played football or baseball, since there was a softball game going on. I told them that I used to play football up there when I was younger and just came up here to run. They said "Man, that's pretty cool." And I said, "Yeah. It is," and walked away. It didn't really hit me until I left that it was actually cool. The fact that I played there when I was 11, 12, and 13 years old and I was coming back to run on the same hill I ran on five years ago was pretty cool. If I could have it my way i would go back to my eighth grade year and never leave. That was the best time of my life. But I can't. For now I can just keep going to the same place that made me love and hate playing football. I think I might go at the same time the practice started too; 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Although I don't think I'll stay that late. But starting next week I'm going to go every day. And I can't wait for it..

One of the best sports stories I've ever seen..

Old Friends

Today my dad scheduled a little get together with my old football team at one of our coaches house. It's supposed to be like a barbecue thing so lots of eating. But right now there are two things wrong with today. One, it's raining. I really don't want to be rained on. Two, Lupe Fiasco just happens to be in town for a concert today. I knew about that probably two to three weeks ago. What's bad is that my dad asked me if this weekend was good for me and I said "yes" completely forgetting about one of my favorite rappers being in town. Man this sucks. Maybe I could get out a little early. But then I would look like a huge douche bag for leaving to go to a concert...Meow-no. We'll see what happens.

My Bad People....

Hey everyone. My bad I haven't been keeping up with this. So let me fill you in on things. Well first off there's this girl I'm talking to now. Her name is Kelsey and she's pretty cute. It was kinda funny how we actually met. Apparently her and her friend Randi, who plays on her select softball team, were going through people's Facebook profiles one night (Facebook stalking if you will) and I happened to either text Randi or write something on her wall and Randi proceeds to show Kelsey videos of me that I have on my profile, that my dad tagged me in, from when I was a baby. Well needless to say she was quite amused and thought I was adorable (who could blame her). Randi then told me to add her as a friend because she said she wanted to watch them whenever she wanted to because they were so cute. So I did and saw two girls on her profile. I didn't know which one was her so I asked Randi and she pointed her out and I told her that she was pretty cute (I told Randi this not Kelsey). So Randi was joking around and said that she was going to tell her and me feeling confident said "Go ahead." Well apparently she thought I was pretty cute too (ha ha) and we've been talking for about two and a half weeks. My timing might be off with that one. But I like her. Kinda bad timing on my part because I was born before she was so I'm going to be going off to school in about a month and she'll be in her senior year in high school. Oh well. Can't help timing I guess. : )

Music Opportunity

So my friend Glenn Wooten is really into music and I'm guessing that's what he's going to school for. I was recently informed that he made a CD to promote his musical stylings. I listened to it and after laughing (Glenn's one of my good friends so it was just weird hearing him rap) I kinda settled down and actually listened to it and I have to tell you, it's pretty good. I mean for an 18 year-old kid who wants to make it big in the music industry it was really well produced. Some of his lyrics were a bit mature for his age but still it was pretty good and I have to give him props on it. I texted him after I listened to it and said that I wanted to collaborate with him, jokingly, and he told me that if I was serious then he would work with me because he wanted to drop another album before school was over anyway. So i'm thinking what should I do? Hhhmmmmmm.....

One of my favorite Daft Punk songs..

This song is far from what they usually do but it's so mellow and it just blows my mind completely because it's something anyone can relate to. 

P.S. Sorry about the link. the embedding was taken off

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOS9aOIXPEk

Here some pictures for ya..

So I was watching tv right...

and I saw this commercial for this tv show called "I didn't know I was pregnant." Now I'm kinda wondering, how many times in a year does this actually happen? I mean I've heard a bunch of stories but I didn't know that there was enough of these incidents that can make a series of tv shows. So would it be like a bunch of stories from years ago? Or are they recent stories? Who knows? All I know is that I might watch one episode and will never watch another one. Suck on that TLC..

Just a little something to brighten up your day.

Crucial

Big money..

Yesterday for the day of independence for our country I went to a family reunion. It wasn't my family but a friend of the family. But then again her brother is married to my aunt so I guess she is part of the family...whatever. So my dad and I went there with our camera gear and our portable printer and we were going to take pictures and print them out for the family and sell them for $10 each. We started doing that and at first people were kind of "iffy" about them and once they saw it they started to buy them. But they would only buy one because they were $10 and were "too expensive" so my dad knocked them down to $5. Then there was just an ambush of people who wanted their picture taken or wanted a photo print. So what me and my dad did was tag team the whole thing and he took the pictures and I printed because we got backed up in orders. The final take on everything was that we made $400. My dad says he's going to take $100 and give me $100 but he's going to spend the other $200 on a new printer so the production could move a little faster. I have another family reunion some time in August and I think there'll be more people there then the last one so two printers would be an excellent idea. Got to love easy money man.

Summer Lovin', had me a blast..

Gettin' kinda close to the 4th of July. I might actually get to do something with my friends this year. Last year I had to go to my uncle's party because he was coming home from Iraq for a little bit. Now don't get me wrong, that was pretty cool seeing him for the first time in years, but with all of the stuff I had to do prior to that I would have rather stayed at home for a little bit. But I made a couple hundred dollars from his party so it kinda balances itself out. But I think this year my aunt and my mom's friend since she was little are coming up from Henderson, Kentucky to spend the holiday with us. Cool beans. Then if all goes well I might be going to a party at one of my friend's house. So it could be an eventful 4th of July for me. BOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

One that not a lot of people know that is another personal favorite of mine

Well first off I think I get the "Longest title for a blog" award. Second this is another MJ song that is a fav of mine. I didn't know there was a video to it until I searched for it on Youtube (oh the wonders of the internet). So here it is: "Who is it?"

It is a sad day indeed..

Yesterday my favorite artist, Michael Jackson, died from a heart attack I do believe. I was a huge fan of his music. You know even through all the scandals I still liked his music. But I'm not going to lie he made his best music when he was black. I mean I'm just saying..but anyway I would like to leave you with the video of my favorite song and favorite video of his

Here's the really long version of the video:





Or if you don't have time for that here's the t.v. friendly version (sorry it's just a link. They wouldn't let me embed the video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WjOn5TNjBM




And here is a live version:

So....

So I realized that delaying this post about my time in Daytona is going to just bug the crap out of me. I thought it was going to be this huge post about my trip and I decided that I wanted to give you just what happened one night. And here goes: some kid got caught with $500 worth of 'shrooms (mushrooms if you didn't know) and I think about $200 worth of weed on him. Where he got it I don't know but my sources say that he got it from a dealer who just happened to graduate two years ago and who just happened to be on this trip. Sweet right? So the police made everyone clean out their roms and searched all the rooms. Luckily I was rooming with good people and nothing was in our room. And that's about it. Oh trust me there are plenty of other stories but most of them I don't want in my blog. Wow. That was easy. Sorry about the wait people :)

Alright one more video...

Bear with me now...(is that the right type of "bear" to use?)

Now I know I said I would update everyone with what happened on my trip later yesterday but I'm trying to remember everything that happened (if that's a legitimate excuse ha ha). So as I did the last post I will give you a video to keep you entertained. This one is a music video by Gnarls Barkley called "Who's Gonna Save My Soul." Besides the fact that it's a pretty good song the video is over the top ballin'.

Fill in later..

Just got back from Daytona. I'm not going to say it was the best thing to ever happen in my entire life but it was pretty fun. Seeing as I just walked in my house from a 20 hour trip I am going to fall asleep any minute now while typing this. I think I will fill everyone in a little bit later. But in the mean time I'll give you a video that a friend told me to watch whenever I get home.

Holy Crap

Today, well technically yesterday, I graduated. I heard the "Pomp and Circumstance" song and surprisingly did not freak out like I thought I was. I got to see a lot of people that I haven't seen since freshman year or talked to in forever and a half. Pretty cool if you ask me. Towards the end when we were all supposed to throw up our caps, I threw mine up to late because I wanted to take my tassel off first so I ended up being one of the last people throwing up my cap. While I threw it up I didn't take notice of the guy in front of me and my cap ended up landing right on top of his head with the hard part first. My bad man if you ever happen to come across my blog and read this. But anyway the real fun began at the All Knighter which I have to say was probably one of the best experiences in my high school career. I don't think I was ever as excited to go to this thing than anything. There was food and games and dancing (my dad was the DJ by the way) it was just a blast. There was a hypnotist and I wanted to go up and be one of his volunteers but I was sitting too far back to get in the chair because it was more like a mad rush to the open spots. But I decided to do the hypnosis in my own seat and let me tell you, it was really weird. As he told us that we were getting into a deep relaxtion mode, I could slowly feel myself drifting off into that feeling right before you fall asleep. It was the weirdest thing and it was working, until I heard someone laugh which then broke my concentration and I woke up. But the weird thing was that I could barely move my arms and torso and could not move my legs at all. I had gone into such a relaxtion mode that I had to get my friend next to me to lift up my legs so I could move them. It was kind of ridiculous. We also had a raffle and I put two of my tickets in a bucket for an Ipod Touch. Now this is kind of weird because I just bought an Ipod on Thrusday so why would I need another Ipod? SO I can return that one, get my $180 back and keep the Touch. But to make a long story short I ended up winning the Touch. Completely caught me by surprise. It was pretty cool nonetheless.

And so it begins....

Today I graduate from high school. It's kind of a surreal feeling. I've been there for what felt like my whole life. And now I will never go back, to attend school at least. People have asked me if I'm sad. I replied with "I don't know." In one sense I'm sad that I'm leaving, but on the other hand I'm glad I'm going. I need to branch out and find new people to make friends. This will be the start of my journey towards the meaning of my life...

You know what really grinds my gears?

With graduation soon approaching, as in tomorrow, it is a certainty I will hear the ever famous "Pomp and Circumstance" and I could not tell you how annoying it is. I don't think I've ever been so irritated by one song in my entire life. I've heard it all year to symbolize the new journey I will be taking soon. I heard it in my classroom. I heard it all during graduation practice. I heard people humming it on the last day of school. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!! STOP!!!! I'm going to have to listen to it for graduation tomorrow. And don't even get me started on Vitamin C's "Graduation Song." So if you're anywhere near me the next 24 hours please DO NOT play, hum or even think about any sort of graduation song.

Tonto, jump on it....

Here are a few versions of one of my favorite dancing songs.

Here is the original, but it's not an actual music video. It's just a song:




Here's the video that actually started the dance from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air:




Here's one I found that's kinda creepy. Notice the piano player and how happy he is:





Here is the class of '07 doing their rendition:



Sir Mix-a-lot's version:









And finally here is an anime version of the Sir-Mix-a-lot version:

We used to roast Stay Puft Marshmellows by the fire in boys scouts..

Ahh Summer...

Man I actually have nothing to do this summer. Gonna start going up to school to help out with both football camps; high school and the JR. Knights. Went up there today and it seemed like the kids liked me. I gave some kids some nicknames i.e. Dolla Bill. This kid came to the camp in a t-shirt that had $100 bills on it. I don't know any of the kids names so I just gave them weird nicknames by either what they were wearing or other characteristics. Damn I'm gonna miss coming to camp and football in general...

I'm gone...

I honestly have no words for what's happening to me right now. I can now say that I feel absolutely nothing beating in my chest and I will be a lost soul wandering about the Earth. There are no words to describe this.....

This sucks..

Don't you hate it when you're wrong and you have to live with the dire consequences?

Masquerade

This is the end of the song called "Masquerade" by Canadian rapper K-os. He's pretty ballin'.  If you're reading this you should definitely check him out and listen to some of his stuff.

In this venture, nothing gained

I've only just touched the surface
Once nervous, when writing for a worthless purpose
It was once more than this, before the heart left the beat
The soul left the speech, I'm still trying to reach
My niche, and teach the love again
Inside the hate of a present day
Got stepped after, being genuine we're swept away
Before the importance of diamonds, bells
And a platinum place, fallen from grace
Not my campus with another trace
Of the same thing I came in, this thing is worth saving
Standing in the pockets holding tongues of what I'm saying
Blaming myself only for supporting what they're playing
I may peek through the storm, but now it's raining
Unchanging of late, it's hard to be creative
Although creating is native to me, I tried to be
Even patience couldn't save it, from the days of pages
They couldn't believe I would say this
No longer without wings, Kamau is what my name is
Too many undermind, what I underline
Placing my poetry underneath their making of rhymes
It was a creation of frustration
Brown bricks or blank slates
Subway trains and cardboard bound with masking tape
It was the sound of the evening, the way the day grew late
Words tumble from lungs over my tongue
And gave a new taste to my fate
It doesn't even matter how the chatter would paint us
With love on our side they could barely stand against us

Have this song stuck in my head..

I have this song stuck in my head. It's kinda catchy though...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZycgwkwLLo

Best Night

Prom was last night. I don't know what it was but it was nothing like any other dance I've ever been to. Maybe it was because it could be my last dance I go to (and I say could be for the fact that me and Fiona are going reeeeeally well). But I didn't think that this prom would stand out as much as the other two; one with a girl from church my sophomore year and my junior year with Danielle. Maybe it was because I actually had someone to go with and didn't have to really ask. People kept asking me how I was going to ask my own girlfriend to prom and I said I wasn't because that would be retarded. The music was great. The food was okay, partly because I got some hot sauce with my chicken otherwise it wouldn't have been up to par. I just can't put my finger on it. But Fiona had fun. I had fun. Her sister went with us and she had fun. WHAT WAS IT?!? After prom me and Fiona came back to my house and watched tv for a bit before she had to be back home. She fell asleep on me and I was stuck watching "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" by myself. I didn't really mind though. She woke up and it was about fifteen minutes before she had to be home. But I got her home on time. It wasn't bad. I was kinda mad all morning/day because my parents woke me up and I wanted to sleep. I didn't go to sleep until about 3:30 in the morning. Needless to say I was kind of tired. All day. But it's good. After church we came back home and I've been chillin' all day. Trying to find the meaning of life.....

Boy I need to do this more often....

Wow so here's a habit I really need to start doing: Updating my blog more often. It's almost been a whole month (it would have been a month tomorrow) that I haven't updated. That's kinda pathetic. But trust me my Hairlson Habit faithful, I will try my hardest to keep you on point with what's in my head or any other work I do for journalism. Which reminds me. Last Thursday we went to Mizzou (University of Missouri-Columbia if you didn't know) for Journalism Day. We sent in some stuff to try and win some awards and guess what? I won one! Actually I won two. One for a photo that I shot and the other for our school's podcast. I was pretty excited because that was the first award I've gotten for any of my work. Or at least cool award. I think My picture gets to be hung up on the wall in Manfull's room on the "Wall of Fame." That was kinda my goal was to have one of my things up there. I'm not sure if it will be but I'll have to check. And if you want to know what the picture looked like then follow this link : http://fhntoday.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=22670703&event=708414&CategoryID=47862. That should send you straight to the photo. Man I have a lot to do this week. Monday, today, I have to work. Tuesday, I have to work again, Wednesday I have to work YET AGAIN. Thursday I have to go to a track meet and depending on how I do at that track meet I have to go back for finals on Friday. And then Saturday is my last prom ever. Kinda sad when I think about it. I've been to three and they've all been great. I just hope this one top them all off because it's my senior prom. If you really wanted to know because I know you're just dying by now, I'm going with my girlfriend of two months (and some change). Her name is Fiona. Fiona Brooks. It's kind of weird because we've always been kind of close from summer track, then again in high school, and we were always really flirty with each other but we never really showed any real interest in a relationship type deal. Maybe it was because I didn't think she was "mature" enough yet. Maybe it was because she was really flirty. Or maybe it was because I was scared of what her mom would say. But in the end it kind of worked out fine because her mom knows I'm a pretty good kid and she's alright with me dating her. Now her dad on the other hand......well let's just say the first time I actually met him and introduced myself to him, I was not prepared. I was at a track meet (Friday Night Relays to be exact) and I didn't look the best. I had just gotten done warming up and it was kind of chilly that day so I had the sniffles and basically looked like what my mom would call "a hot mess." And she pointed me out to him. But needless to say I met him and his exact words after meeting me (directed towards my mom) were "He's alright." Nothing else. Just those two words shaped my future with Fiona and my being able to date her and her dad accepting me as her boyfriend. But at that time that's all I needed because prom is coming up and I'm going to need some type of acceptance to take her away for the "night of all nights." Why, just a couple of weeks ago Fiona told me that her dad said that I could come over to her house. I still couldn't come inside, but I can stay on the porch. Now you may not think that that's a big deal but to me that's a hell of an improvement from where I was at prior to the porch. At first learning about me he originally said I couldn't even come over. Then he said that I could come over but had to stay in the front lawn. And now the porch?!? I must be getting somewhere if I'm on the porch! Well in a couple of weeks I'll be standing in the front door. But that probably won't come until summer. But that's all for now. Hopefully I'll remember to update this more and I'm going to try my hardest to update it after prom in some reasonable manner of time. Stay tuned for the next episode.

Will Fiona's father let Andrew ever so closely to the inside of the house? Find out next time on HAIRLSON'S HABITS!!!!!!!!!!

2009 Frau Fest Slideshow

This is a slideshow that I did for my publications about a week ago. It's a concert type thing that German teacher Anne McPartland has held in the auditorium for four years and is still going strong.

I'm legal

Well it's official. I'm finally legal. I can go buy porn and cigarettes now. Oh joy. It just so happened that it started snowing Monday night and didn't really stop until either late last night or early this morning. So we had no school Tuesday or today (Wednesday). And for both days, I did absolutely nothing. And when I say absolutely nothing, I mean absolutely nothing. I've been stuck in my house for two whole days and haven't been anywhere. Not because I didn't want to, but because the roads were still bad. And when the snow plow guy finally came through, it's too late to really go anywhere. Oh well. I'm hoping I can get done with some stuff here pretty soon so I can go out and just see some friends. I'm about to go crazy sitting in my house by myself. Tomorrow will be a new day. I can't wait. It's a half day too. So we will have gone to school for only two and a half days. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

A miracle

Some time last week I was offered, by a girl on my newspaper staff, a job at the Suburban Journals which is pretty much a local version of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. For a long time I've been saying that I was going to get a job at Subway (hey it's better than McDonalds). Well just as I'm about to go to Subway to apply, I get the call. The girl said that i pretty much have the job, and so did the manager. I'm so happy that for my first job i don't have to ask someone if they want to make their sandwich a combo meal.

I ponder sometimes

I just kinda wonder what it is I really want to do in college. I know for a fact that I want to have a career in journalism, but I don't exactly know what. Do I want to be a photographer? Well I have such a great voice, why not a news broadcaster? But I'm a sneaky-good sports writer, so why not something in sports writing? Well what about education? There are so many options. Those options are becoming more prominent because I sit here, as i type this over due entry, looking for scholarships. I've already applied to a couple, but I have to wait for my report card to come out so I can just get some information off of there. What happens if I don't get any of those? Eh, I think I could get one. Hopefully a big one. That would make me so happy...