Good stuff coming to you soon-- but first, an update!

Well, hello there!

It has been over a month since I last posted. My apologies. I'm not going to produce a grocery list of excuses, but rather, I had other things to get done besides blog. But hey, here I am now with loads to share with you!

First off, let me just announce that I have finished my first year of college! It has been a rollercoaster of a year, but it finally ended. I will be spending the next month taking a May-mester class which will end in early June, so technically I am not completely on summer break. 

Last time I blogged was during my spring break where I recalled a spring memory. We have got a little over a month left of spring before we transition into summer. I'm just ready for some pool time! 

Since spring break, things have been very eventful. Before I share the details with you, I am leaving these fun photos from spring break here for you to see. I got to hang out with Jackson, Anna, and Carson. 

Posing with Carson - Photo by Anna

Posing with Jackson and Carson - Photo by Anna

Aren't they adorable? Anna & Jackson

A week later, I attended Shrek the Musical at my old high school. Let me just say, that was the best performance I have ever seen at my high school, and it is sad that the show wasn't put on while I was still in school! It was spectacular. The acting, the set... everything. Kudos to the wonderful cast and crew for presenting a hilarious show!

Took a selfie with Seth, a.k.a. Shrek!

A couple weeks after spring break, Panic! at the Disco played a concert at my college! Needless to say, I was very thrilled, considering what happened at the last show where the floor broke at the Tabernacle. 

The concert wasn't to begin until 7 p.m., but since they were playing at my college, this was a wonderful opportunity to possibly meet the band! My friend saw them a couple nights before at another college, and had the pleasure of meeting the band, so we kept in touch all morning until I got there to keep tabs on what the band was doing. Sadly, after waiting many long hours, we never got to see Panic! at the Disco before the show. On the plus side, I got a spot on the barricade with friends, and met some new people! The show opened with two rappers from GSU, and then Panic! at the Disco took the stage. It was awesome. It was not a full length show; just shy of an hour. It did, however, make up for the two-song show I saw in February. After P!ATD played, rapper B.o.B. performed, with a guest appearance from rapper T.I. I would say it was a pretty good night. 

Brendon Urie, lead singer of
Panic! at the Disco

B.o.B.

T.I. making a guest appearance.

The following Wednesday, I went to a Braves game which was a lot of fun. I went with some of my new friends whom I've gotten to know since February. It was got intense toward the last couple innings of the game, where the Braves had been in the lead by 4 runs... and the New York Mets caught up. Luckily after changing pitchers, the Braves saved the game from overtime and we won. 

A few days after the game, over the weekend, I was at home visiting. Late that Saturday night, there was a tragedy in my town. A house caught fire down the road from me, killing two, and one badly burned. The father and son survived; the mother and daughter did not. I had the pleasure of knowing the little girl from many summers at the pool. I am still in disbelief that it happened. It is amazing how my small town has come together in support of this family, and I am happy to know that there have been generous donors contributing to this family's recovery through donations on GoFundMe. If you would like to make a donation to help the family, please visit this link.

Also during that weekend, I began to experience crippling pain in my calf muscles, nearly enabling me to walk. It was bad timing too, seeing as how I had a crew position in my college's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. I saw a doctor about the leg pain as soon as I returned to campus, only to be told there was a slight chance I had blood clots. Needless to say, that frightened me. The doctor ordered bed rest until the swelling and pain dissipated, and to keep ice on my calves whilst staying in bed. It was a difficult few days, but I was asked to return to the doctor on two days after my initial visit. I had to see another doctor, because the one I saw wasn't in. This new doctor examined me again, only to conclude that I definitely had tendonitis, and she rolled her eyes at my near-misdiagnosis. With a sigh of relief and an anti-inflammatory prescription, I was able to carry on. I struggled that week to catch up on missed work all while preparing for the shows that week. I can't tell you how happy I was for Saturday to arrive, where I celebrated my 19th birthday with good company. 

My birthday was on Easter, so I decided to celebrate a day early so I could have my friends around. A few came back home for Easter and also attended my celebration, which was exciting. We went to Johnny Rockets for dinner, where we heard good music and shared many laughs. The fun continued when we all drove back to my house for cupcakes, photos, other junk food, and more laughs. I think we smashed more cupcakes in each others' faces than we did eat them. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. 

The cupcakes

The ladies!... and Andrew photobombing over to the left.

About to get smacked in the face with another cupcake!

The aftermath... photo by Marissa

After a late night, I woke up early anyway to attend a beautiful church service. We enjoyed punch on the lawn after service and took pictures with friends by the cross full of flowers. It turned out to be a fabulous weekend. 

Me posing with Matt & Nat

When I returned to school on Monday, I stopped by the Student Center after class to get in line to meet two cast members from the television show New Girl-- Jake Johnson (Nick) and Damon Wayans Jr. (Coach). It was pretty awesome. 

Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr.

As many of you know, April is usually the month of prom for many high schools, so I had the pleasure of photographing two of my best friends before they went off for a fun night. Just look at that adorable couple! (Pictures below.)

Jackson and Anna

After another stressful week of shows, A Midsummer Night's Dream concluded and we did a set strike. We really tore up the set, and it took us three hours to get it all cleaned up. The next day I sat in a speaker series featuring Jack Hanna, from Animal Planet. I received a an autographed photo from him and even got to pose in a photo of him which I will soon receive from my school. I am really enjoying these meet and greet opportunities my school has offered to students. More items may be crossed off my bucket list!

It was a hard week of finals, but I made it and now I am taking in this free week as best as I can before I start class again... and once my May-mester class is over, I begin working at a summer camp. It is going to be a long, busy summer, but I will find time for fun and taking care of me. 

When finals ended, I got to get away to North Carolina for a long weekend for my cousin's wedding. It was a lovely wedding and a lot of fun. Check out some highlights through the pictures below. 

Me posing with my cousins and brother. Photo by Ulyana

Cousins and brother... and yes, me in color.
Shocker, I know.

The wedding cake!

Posing with the bride.

Posing with the groom.

My cousins, posing for an impromptu photoshoot.

Seeing the bride and groom off after the wedding.

That's all I really have to update-- I have a couple of good posts in the works! 
Until next time,


Kelsey

If you need help, just ask. (& stepping out of your comfort zone)

Hey ya'll!

It's been about two weeks since I last updated. Things have been crazy, but productive nonetheless. I'm about to enter an even harder week than the last two, since we're approaching the midpoint in the semester. This means I'm just halfway there to my summer break, and 3/4 complete with my first year of college. 

**If you want to skip ahead to get to the main purpose of this blog post, you'll find that just after the concert photography.

So, where have I been? Well, a lot has been going on! First let me share with you a couple photographs I took on my walks to class. 

Hurt Plaza

You know you're in the ATL when...

Gotta love Atlanta (sometimes)!

The week following Snowpocalypse II, my friend Edith and I started going to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We haven't actually gone to the gym together since then, but I hope she will soon join me once we get through the next couple "hell weeks" before spring break. Getting back into the routine of attending a gym has been a challenge, since injuring my knee after graduation from biking (a little background on that-- I biked a mile a day after graduating, and one day felt a little too ambitious and decided to bike over 5 miles... whilst screwing up my right knee... I was out for MONTHS of doing anything other than walking. Yes, that included skating!). What I like about attending the gym with a friend is that it helps alleviate some anxiety I have about going. For someone who used to be pretty athletic, at times I find walking in there intimidating. Seeing people run around the track, swim laps continuously, or just tearin' it up on the elliptical-- I'm not ready for that like I once was. It has been saddening. It feels like I've had to start over, but it is harder than I remember it. I have set a goal to get back into skating this year and practice my skills... by the end of the year I hope to master the 25 laps in 5 minutes! While I played junior roller derby in high school, I could do only 23 laps in 5 minutes. What if I tried now? I probably wouldn't make it to 20. 

Yesterday, I was hoping Edith would go to the gym with me again since it had been a couple weeks. Sadly, she could not because of her workload. Disappointed, I thought about staying in bumming around about it, but then I remembered the discussion I had earlier that day with the nutritionist. My nutritionist had a graduate student join us in our appointment together and they wanted me to readjust my goals which I had set last time. What I like about seeing the nutritionist is that she doesn't come off as judgemental by any means, and she encourages me to set little goals rather than set a huge one that would take some time to accomplish. Anyway, one of the goals we set yesterday was to go to the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays, regardless of whether or not Edith would be able to join me. With that in my head, I threw on my gym clothes and laced up my tennis shoes and boarded the bus to the fitness center. As silly as it sounds, it was a huge step out of my comfort zone. I managed to get 5 miles in on the stationary bike in just over 30  minutes. I am feeling pretty accomplished... and very sore! 

Taking a selfie break after jogging a bit! Yes, that's Edith.

At the end of the week, I hopped on Marta to head to my home church to talk about the importance of mission trips in our youth group. I'll post more about that later in this post. For now, here are some pictures of my presentation:

Photo by Les Cook

Photo by Les Cook

While doing some grocery shopping recently (after eating everything during the Snowpocalypse due to cabin fever), I made some new discoveries. Delicious discoveries. I think the pictures below should sum it up for you without me telling you:

Why yes, those ARE birthday
cake M&M's!

Taken from my Instagram
Cookie Dough Oreos taste great, especially with milk.
They have a mocha flavor to them, too.
Subway Flatizza? About as good as their pizza!

I bought some graph paper recently and finally started getting back into one of my hobbies-- interior design. Back in 9th grade I was certain I would make that my major in college, but things have changed and I don't feel as destined for interior design as I do in film. Aside from that, I still enjoy sketching floor plans, typically plans which would be the foundation of my dream house. When I'm older, and hopefully a well-off film director, I would like to have a house which contains a retro diner kitchen and a mini movie theatre. Yeah, yeah, dream big, Kelsey.

Drawing the plans for my retro diner! :-)

Lastly, before I proceed to the main topic of this post, I just wanted to throw out there that I went to a really awesome concert at the Masquerade the other night! No, we didn't break the floor. :-P The concert was located in the upper level of the Masquerade ("Heaven"). I was a bit nervous being up there mainly due to the experience I had at the last concert where the floor cracked. I was hoping the concert would be held int he lower level of the Masquerade ("Hell") but alas, it was not. The Fratellis put on a great show! I'm a sucker for Scottish music, and they are one of my favorite indie rock groups, followed by Franz Ferdinand. 

Outside of the Masquerade

Jon Fratelli

Barry and Mince Fratelli

Moving on...

This blog post is going to be different from the others I have posted. What I mean by different is that I am going to be taking a look at the simplicity of asking for help when you need it. 

Back in the summer of 2013, a few weeks after the Montreat Youth Conference, I went with my youth group to Heifer International's ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. Let me tell you-- that place was in the middle of nowhere... and I'm not kidding. The town had two dollar stores, a Sonic, and a Mexican restaurant. That's it. Grocery store? Oh, that burned down some years ago... 

Anyway, the trip to Heifer was for our annual mission trip. This was my first mission trip experience, as I had never been on one in the past. I didn't originally plan on going, but one of my friends convinced me to go last minute. 

We endured the first 4-5 hours of the trip on the rental bus on the first day (early July, just after Independence Day). We stopped in Tupelo, Mississippi, home to the late Elvis Presley. We stayed in a church in Tupelo overnight, attended their service in the morning, and spent another 5 hours on the bus to get to Perryville.

Elvis statue in Tupelo, MS

When we finally arrived we were introduced to our leaders for the week: Keely and Maddie. They were there to guide us throughout the week and educate us on Heifer's mission and purpose. Heifer International works with communities to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. With that in mind, we really got a better understanding of what that meant after our week on the ranch.

Beautiful...

The village was just behind those trees in the front

To summarize our week on the ranch, we spent a couple days working in the fields, caring for the animals, and doing maintenance. A couple other days we learned how to make tortillas and were educated on composting, and even made our own pizzas completely from scratch using resources they had on the ranch (yes, goat cheese and tomato sauce made from the tomatoes in the garden). We did team building exercises which would help us prepare for our experience in the Global Village in which we stayed for one night (Tuesday). Those team building exercises really stuck with me, aside from what I learned that night in the Village. 

Camel time!

Dinner time in the Urban Slums of the Global Village

One of the things I've carried with me since the mission trip was "if you need help, just ask." It is such a simple phrase, but asking for help may not seem so simple at first. I have always been a bit stubborn about asking others for help. Part of that is my pride, because I feel like I can do things on my own. I learned this year that sometimes you can't do everything all on your own. More often than not, we need someone to help us out along the way. 

Since 2011 I have been struggling with grief over the loss of my maternal grandfather. He and I were very close throughout my life, so when he passed it tore my heart at the seams, as it did many people in the family. At the time I was busy holding myself together so my sadness wouldn't affect my family around me, so I guess you could say I was the one trying to keep the strength. Well, not talking about it has led to my grief getting progressively worse, and I miss him now more than ever. I found it easy to just shake it off and tell others "I'm fine." But I needed help. I needed someone to talk to. Someone to help me find coping mechanisms which would help me move forward. Not only that, but I also let my health go a bit, especially this year in college. My motivation declined due to grief and stress, so I would snack a lot and bum around, not keeping active. I needed someone to help get me back on the right track to a healthier, happier lifestyle. 

So exactly how does this relate to what I learned on the mission trip? I'm getting to that.

On our last day at the ranch, we did an interesting sort of team building exercise. We were blindfolded and taken to a maze. We had to pair up with a couple other people and work together to find the end of the rope while holding on to it. All our chaperones and leaders wandered the course to say, "if you need help, just ask." All of us communicated with one another, still blindfolded, trying to find the end. When we thought we were close, we were still on it. People were talking around us, trying to figure it out themselves. I could hear some of my friends ask for help, but me and my group were still too stubborn to ask because we were confident we would find the end soon. As things got quiet, and as time elapsed, I grew tired of trying to find the end, so I asked one of our chaperones for help. He came over to me and removed my blindfold, told me to be quiet, and to join the others from our group. When I sat down with my friends who made it out of the course, I realized something... there was no end to the rope task. I mean literally no end-- the rope was wrapped around several trees so we were basically going in circles! The purpose was to get us to ask for help. Let go of your pride for just a moment if you find you are unable to solve the problem yourself. It is perfectly okay to ask for help. It just takes three simple words and one simple, four-letter question: I need help. Can you help me?

Heading to the rope task, blindfolded.

So that's what I did. When I started my second semester of college, after settling in to my dorm on campus, I visited the counseling center to see who I could talk to who would help me to get to feeling better. Seeing a counselor has helped a lot. While it doesn't fix things, it allows me to release what is on my mind and having someone to just listen and offer advice at my request. The nutritionist has been awesome too, by helping me with my goal setting. 

If you find yourself struggling with an assignment, a loss, or any other situation you are in, ask somebody for help, whether it be a friend, classmate, family member, or a professional. Asking help is just another step toward moving forward, no matter what your situation is. 

Another thing which was implied in our experience at Heifer was stepping out of your comfort zone, or for some, "sitting on the hat brim, and dangling your feet into your comfort zone" (quoted by our chaperone, Becky). That is what we all did when spending the night in the Global Village. The purpose of the Village is to simulate what it is like to live without the luxuries many of us who are well-off have here in the United States. We did not have the luxury of a surplus of food, a toilet, comfortable beds and couches, nor electricity. Each house was different in some way-- the way they were built, the size of the house, and the flooring. Some of us had to sleep on dirt, others on wood. We were required to bring a water bottle, but everything else was optional. I decided to get the most out of the experience as I felt comfortable and brought my backpack with bug spray, long pants, and my camera (to document everything I could). Not all of us had food, so we applied our team building skills and worked together to enjoy a meal of rice and vegetables. Needless to say, we missed our burgers and cookies! Sleeping was the worst part, though. I missed my bed, but the experience made me very grateful for the luxuries I'm able to have at home that others around the world may not have. 

Urban Slums - the ranch's Global Village

Stepping out of your comfort zone is important because it can educate you or make you more aware of things and even make you more aware of yourself.

I've done a lot of things pertaining to stepping out of my comfort zone. The first one is obvious-- asking for help. I'm usually not comfortable asking for help, but I did. 

More recently, I stepped out of my comfort zone to publicly talk about my grief through slam poetry/spoken word. A few weeks ago I began writing a poem about the day my grandfather passed. When I heard my church's annual variety show lacked talent acts, I decided to finish up my poem (mind you, in a hurry) the night before the variety show. Discussing this loss wasn't something I had really done in public, but through the medium of poetry, I moved the people at my church more than I had anticipated. I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to share such a personal aspect of my life with one of my dearest communities. 

As I wrap up this post, I just wanted to say, if you are in a position like mine or something different, step out of or dangle your feet into you comfort zone, and don't hesitate to ask for help. It is one of the best things you can do for yourself.


Until next time,

Kelsey

When I literally Panicked! at the Disco...

Hello, all!

I must warn you, most content in this blog post will pertain to the concert I recently attended at the Tabernacle, and how it ended in an evacuation. If you're willing to endure a long post about first-hand details of what exactly happened, then keep reading. 

On Friday, February 7th, 2014, Panic! at the Disco was headlining at the Tabernacle music hall. Junior Prom and The Colourist were the opening acts at the show. Hanna and I had been looking forward to this concert for months, as I am a big fan of P!ATD. I got Hanna into them last January, and now she is officially hooked. I was looking forward to it the most though, not only because I'm such a big fan, but also because I'd just had a rough week and needed something to get me smiling.

from Panic! at the Disco's Facebook page:
Fans camped out at the entrance to the show.

Hanna and I met up at my dorm to have an early dinner consisting of pizza and caffeinated soda. After stuffing ourselves enough to where we wouldn't get hungry whilst stuck in the mosh pit at the concert, we headed for the Tabernacle. I was dressed in my P!ATD shirt from their last headlining tour from 2011, and was armed with cash to buy some more merch from the "Too Weird tour." 

We arrived 3 hours before the concert was set to begin. When we got there, we managed to get a parking spot right next to the venue and the ferris wheel ("Skyview"). We walked toward the entrance to check out the line to get in. We kept walking and reached the corner, turning as we walked. The line was enormous. We got to the next corner and walked. By the time we reached the end of the line, we realized we could've walked directly from the car across the way rather than walk around the block. Oh well... EXERCISE!!!

The line in front of us.

Though we had awhile before they could let us in, we passed the time away talking and eventually found ourselves feet away from the entrance. We presented our tickets and darted straight to the merch line. Glad we got in line when we did, because it wrapped all the way around the room! I bought a winter hat and scarf with the band's name printed on it, and a t-shirt. Hanna and I went back upstairs and worked our way toward the stage, entering from the left side. We managed to work our way in and didn't have a lot of trouble seeing the stage as we were lucky not to have too many tall people in the way. 

Success.

Rocking my new winter hat :)

After about fifteen minutes of waiting in the mosh pit, Junior Prom went on and played for a short time. Then, the Colourist went onstage and played. Their drummer was amazing and she had the sweetest voice! They just released an EP last summer and said we should expect a new album this spring. 

Junior Prom

The Colourist

Anticipation was building up inside as Hanna and I waited anxiously for P!ATD to go on. The last time I saw them live was when they opened up for another pop punk band, Fall Out Boy, in September 2013, but since they have released a new album, I've been looking forward to seeing them headlining a show. 

Once the stage was set, Panic! at the Disco ran out on stage and opened us up with Vegas Lights. A short clip can be found on my Instagram here. Everyone was jumping up and down to the music. Once Vegas Lights ended, they went straight into Time to Dance. 

Lead singer Brendon Urie singing Time to Dance

The jumping started and you could feel the floor shake. When I was last at the Tabernacle for P!ATD in 2011, the floor felt the same with all the jumping, but I didn't think much of it. Well, at the end of Time to Dance, the stage manager walked out to talk to Brendon, where Brendon walked to the front of the stage and said, "you guys are breaking the actual building." Now, I thought he was being humorous because perhaps he was impressed by our energy in response to their music. But that wasn't the case. The crowd cheered, probably thinking the same thing Hanna and I were thinking, that it was a joke. The stage manager kept feeding information to Brendon, and he too was surprised-- "we have to stop... the floor is cracked apparently." He asked the stage manager if they could come back, and looked at the audience to say, "okay, give us a second to duct tape the floor, and uh, we'll be right back." Sadly, it was going to take more than duct tape to fix the problem. We were soon given instructions to evacuate the building. 

Stage manager talking to Brendon Urie

The crowd that filed out of the Tabernacle

Fans sobbed or complained as they filed into the street, blocking cars which were trying to drive down Luckie Street. People had their phones out, sending snapchats and posting to Instagram or Facebook, showing the social networking users the crowd of people standing outside the Tabernacle. We waited in the cold to hear an update on what was to happen. We soon learned that the concert was over, and cancelled, and that we would probably get a refund and P!ATD would be coming back in the summer (according to tweets and other social networking posts made by the band). Hanna and I, disappointed, walked next door to Skyview Atlanta, had our picture taken, and rode the enclosed ferris wheel. The skyline looked beautiful. The last time I rode Skyview was in September, during the daytime. 

The wheel is incredible at night!

Bokeh

View of Skyline... kinda.

I couldn't resist.

When we got off, we went back to the car and drove all the way to Steak n' Shake for a midnight meal. On the way there, we listened to P!ATD's third album, sang along, cried, and complained like any typical "fan girl" would. 

Midnight at Steak n' Shake

When we finished eating, Hanna took me back to my dorm and then she left for home. I stayed up to look at all the news reports that were released, since we noticed all the news teams parked outside the Tabernacle. As I watched a video from 11Alive news, I spotted Hanna and me in the crowd of one of the photos shared by another concert attendee. 

11Alive News... see us?

Now you should be able to spot us.

On one article I read that the fire marshal said, "We'd have a story either way-- an evacuation or collapse." I'm glad they chose the evacuation.

Just when I thought my week was going to turn around, the fun ended abruptly. Here's to hoping for a better week! On the bright side, The Walking Dead returns tonight! I'm looking forward to watching the rest of Season 4 this semester. Now that I'm on campus, I'll get to watch with friends! In a few hours I'll head next door to see the premiere. 

I just wanted to say I am thankful the staff at the Tabernacle caught the problem before it became a disaster. Hopefully they will repair the 100-year-old facility soon so that other upcoming performances won't be hindered. 

Have a great Sunday evening!

Until next time,

Kelsey