This is...

This is us

not too far into our senior year

at a playground of an elementary school

that neither of us went to.

This is us

best friends

as the air begins to cool

and the the sky darkens.

This is us

and this is what we do

when it all becomes too much

or we just want to get away.

This is Chelsea

and this is me

as the wind blows through our hair

and music is playing as we glide through the air

laughing

smiling

talking

reminiscing

and wondering.

101 things about me

1. I’m not far from my 18th birthday.
2. I was born in Jefferson City.
3. I moved to Springfield when I was 3 to a town house.
4. I moved to the house I live in now when I was four.
5. I love the pool in my backyard.
6. I’m the middle child.
7. My brothers are 26 and 7 years old.
8. My favorite color is orange.
9. I play the piano and by that I mean I make it up as I go, and can only kind of read music.
10. I play the drums.
11. Music means everything to me.
12. Photography is my passion, it let’s me see everything from a new point of view.
13. I have a need to travel and to see the world.
14. I would like to take pictures for a magazine and travel around for my job.
15. I want to go to Oregon.
16. I have three best friends. Chelsea, Rachel, and Bethany.
17. My parents and I get along alright.
18. My brothers are the best siblings I could asked for.
19. My dad’s side of the family is focuses on who is the most successful a little too much.
20. My mom’s side of the family is rather large and no one cares how much money you make, just who is winning the current banana grams game.
21. I hate spiders, I will cry if I get too close them.
22. Snakes are alright.
23. I've had many pets besides dogs and cats including gerbils, birds, rabbits, chinchillas, and hermit crabs.
24. I work front desk at a hotel, sometimes people are nice, sometimes they are mean and sometimes, they’re logic is very questionable.
25. My first job was at a Martial Arts place, I was the child care provider.
26. My brother moved out when I was nine.
27. I have not seen most Disney movies, including The Lion King, I spent my childhood watching Scooby Doo instead.
28. My favorite show is Psych, my best friend Chelsea and I watch it together and could talk in complete sentences  with inside jokes from that show.
29. I believe that equality is a must, it shouldn't matter what your ethnicity is, your religion, your sexuality, what gender you are, or if you are transgender. Equality needs to be much more prominent in this world.
30. I don’t plan on living the rest of my life in Springfield.
31. My friends and I once drove to the Arkansas border with four green beans and took a picture next to the sign welcoming us.
32. I jumped off a 25 foot cliff into a lake and landed wrong making it to where I couldn’t move for a few minutes. I now have had back issues for almost five years because of that.
33. I am a very clumsy person and have broken many of my toes.
34. I love to swim.
35. The bottom of my pool at night with the pool light on is my favorite place to be.
36. Thunder scares me.
37. I like to stand outside right before a storm. The wind and the smell of rain with the dark clouds above me puts me in a state of peace. It has done this since I was young.
38. I love drawing and painting.  
39. Writing is how I express myself.
40. I tried to grow up much too fast.
41. I wish I could be a kid again.
42. I try to not let my fears hold me back.
43. I've only had one boyfriend. We broke up but still talk everyday.
44. I made many mistakes last summer.
45. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and change a few things.
46. Even though I made mistakes I still had the best summer of my life.
47. I think dinosaurs are probably the coolest things ever.
48. My parents are oblivious.
49. I crave summer nights
50. I believe everything happens for a reason and that fate is lovely yet cruel, cruel thing.
51. My grandfather died when I was 13, we went to the hospital to say goodbye and the doctor told us it could be a day or year, I didn't agree with him. My parents went home and I stayed with my aunt. I was right and the doctor was wrong. It was a few hours.
52. My grandmother passed away when I was 15. I did not have the chance to say goodbye.
53. I have around 60 cousins.
54. I flew on a plane by myself for the first time the summer I turned 16, it was from Atlanta to Kansas City. My cousin Sheila picked me up from the airport.
55. On my way home from Kansas City in the car were my cousins Sheila, Sam, Christina, and Claire. We had the music up loud and watched as fireworks began to go off behind as cars parked on the side of the road to watch. That will always be one of my favorite memories.
56. I did not know that I had any artistic ability until Mr. DeClue showed me I did my sophomore year. I will never be able to repay him for his faith in me. I will never be able to show how thankful I am for the teachers that have showed me that I have talent and didn't let me go unnoticed. I don’t know where I would be without them.
57. I graduate soon and I am very ready, but very scared.
58. I like to swing at Cowden Elementary School late at night with my friends. We run around and have fun, like when we were kids. Only now it’s four in the morning and we have too many people than there are seats in the car.
59. I wish I could go back to that night with the unsealed window.
60. I write down the absurd and funny things I hear whether it be from my friends or strangers. They decorate the walls of my bookshelves.
61. My favorite thing to photograph is nature, especially flowers and bugs with my macro lens.
62. I like exploring, and adventures.
63. Scary movies are the best.
64. I held my little brother as my mom super glued his forehead when he split it open on a brick wall. She’s a nurse.
65. I hand fed a lemur when I job shadowed at the Zoo sophomore year.
66. I helped pull my older brother out of some ice he fell through at the pond behind our house.
67. My cat tried to eat a baby rabbit but I got to it before she could kill it. It died a day later. That same night I pet a baby rabbit as it died from being attacked by my cat. I watched it take its last breath, I don’t like that memory.
68. I got to meet Nastia Liukin when I was 11.
69. I did gymnastics for many years.
70. I used to ride horses and show them in competitions.
71. I was pulled on stage at a concert once, I then crowd surfed.
72. I helped the drummer of my favorite band onto a platform during a concert.
73. twenty one pilots is my favorite band. I also like Bring Me The Horizon, Neck Deep, The Story So Far, Moose Blood, The Pigeon Detectives, and a million other bands.
74. When I was ten I pulled my five year old cousin out of a pool when she was drowning because no one else noticed.
75. My family left me and one of cousins in the Saint Louis City Museum after a wedding. It was one in the morning and our phones wouldn't work. We saw my cousin outside and went to get him only to find him gone and the door locked behind us. We were later found with a nice couple letting us use their phones. I’m glad they waited with us.
76. My family including me is very forgetful.
77. Many of my cousins have also been accidentally left places.
78. My mom made me bookshelves and a window seat, I love them.
79. I have many pineapple things, including a statue of one in my room.
80. My co workers make me laugh every time I’m at work. I’m thankful that I work with great people.
81. Once my dad and I found a box with dirty needles and spoons behind my house. We called the police.
82. I live about thirty seconds away from school. If that.
83. I have awful luck. I get frustrated when nothing works out, it happens so often you’d think I’d learn to not get my hopes up. But I always do.
84. I want a family one day.
85. Standing in the sunroof of my friend Chelsea’s car is one of my favorite feelings.
86. I can never save my money. I should probably learn to do that.
87. I like taking walks.
88. I cut my finger open on a pudding cup once. My mom though I was pulling a joke on her there was so much blood. It was not a joke.
89. I have a temper.
90. I seem quite to strangers but around my friends I am a different person.
91. I like to make people laugh.
92. My friends and family are some of the greatest people I've met.
93. My memories with them are something I will cherish forever.
94. Kathleen Turner stayed at the hotel I work at once. She told me I have cute sneeze.
95. Listening to music with my windows open and a paintbrush in my hand is something that I find peace in.
96. I shut my finger in a car door December 2014, three months later and it still does not look great.
97. I love food. Chocolate is the best.
98. I’m alright at cooking if I’m at my own house.
99. I can be bossy.
100. I want to have a spontaneous life.
101. I’m hopeful that it all turns out okay one day.

Song lyric poem

You're the cure, you're the pain,

you're the fear, I don't care.

Place your head on my beating heart,

take me away to the dark side,

kiss me under the light of a thousand stars.

It'll leave you breathless,

or with a nasty scar,

cause we're young and we're reckless.

Music poem

Loud Music can be heard.
Mainly classic rock,
along with
off key voices
followed by laughter.
The water splashes,
and beer bottles clink.
The adults yell over each other
in their loud,
"not drunk" voices,
teenagers laugh
and are entertained by the denial.
Little kids swim
while the smell of food fills the air.
And loud, classic rock can be heard
as the neighbors roll their eyes.

3D Art

The artist of this piece is named Christy Dunn, she created it recently and uses the clay to create action teapots. She makes teapots into something you wouldn't normally see as a teapot. In the case of this work she may have rolled out coils to put the dragons body together or she could have formed the body and then hollowed it out. She then created the other parts of the dragon’s body and connected them all. The next step would have been putting in the details of the dragon and making it more life like as lifelike as a dragon can get.

This teapot reminds me of when I was a kid and I really wanted dragons to be real. I had books on them and thought they were really cool. I also think that it’s a really cool concept and layout for a teapot and makes it much more interesting than most designs that you see.

Lyrics

Holding On To You by twenty one pilots

I'm taking over my body, back in control, no more shotty,

I bet a lot of me was lost, Ts uncrossed and Is undotted,

I fought it a lot and it seems a lot like flesh is all I got,

Not anymore, flesh out the door, swat,

I must've forgot, you can't trust me,

I'm open a moment and close when you show it,

Before you know it, I'm lost at sea,

And now that I write and think about it,

And the story unfolds,

You should take my life, you should take my soul.

You are surrounding all my surroundings,

Sounding down the mountain range of my left-side brain,

You are surrounding all my surroundings,

Twisting the kaleidoscope behind both of my eyes.

And I'll be holding on to you [2x]

Remember the moment you know exactly where you're going,

'Cause the next moment, before you know it,

Time is slowing and it's frozen still,

And the window sill looks really nice, right?

You think twice about your life, it probably happens at night,

Right? Fight it, take the pain, ignite it,

Tie a noose around your mind loose enough to breathe fine and tie it,

To a tree, tell it, "You belong to me,

This ain't a noose, this is a leash,

And I have news for you, you must obey me."

You are surrounding all my surroundings,

Sounding down the mountain range of my left-side brain,

You are surrounding all my surroundings,

Twisting the kaleidoscope behind both of my eyes.

Entertain my faith. [10x]

[4x]

Lean with it, rock with it,

When we gonna stop with it,

Lyrics that mean nothing, we were gifted with thought,

Is it time to move our feet to an introspective beat,

It ain't the speakers that bump hearts, it's our hearts that make the beat.

And I'll be holding on to you.

And I'll be holding on to you.

And I'll be holding on to you.

And I'll be holding on to you.

17 by Youth Lagoon

Roaming the campground up by the lake where we swam.

We were hunting for snakes,

but we couldn't find them.

Surrounded by nothing,

but the nothing's surrounded by us.

But it's just me in my room,

with my eyes shut.

When I was seventeen,

my mother said to me

"Don't stop imagining. The day that you do is the day that you die."

Now I pull a one ton carriage,

instead of the horses grazing the lawn.

And I was having fun.

We were all having fun.

My brain can think faster than I can,

I'm not fast enough.

Who is there to talk to

that won't lock me up?

At least God doesn't judge me by the thoughts that I find,

the snakes I couldn't find,

I don't want to find.

When I was seventeen,

my mother said to me

"Don't stop imagining. The day that you do is the day that you die."

Now I pull a one ton carriage,

instead of the horses grazing the lawn.

And I was having fun.

We were all having fun.

Over and Over by Neck Deep

Have you noticed me lately?

I know I’ve been vaguely twisting my words,

To protect myself from failure,

It’s just part of my nature to hide in my shell.

I’m so sick of rain in July,

And the fact that I’ll never get there on time.

If I could show you a sign,

And it fell straight from the sky,

Could you just see the best in me?

Or find the flaws you detest in me?

I always pictured myself as being someone you’d miss,

Somewhere along the line,

And I hope that you might think that I was,

Some sort of exception to your plans and your direction,

But I realized quite soon that who I am bares no reflection to the part of me you held so high.

I’ll kick the cans aside and dig in to my pockets,

Walk home another night,

And think this one over,

All over and over again.

I’ll just bide my time,

Sink into my thoughts to get away from here,

Eight weeks to take that drive,

And think this one over,

All over and over.

I always pictured myself as being someone you’d miss,

Somewhere along the line,

And I hope that you might think that I was,

Some sort of exception to your plans and your direction,

But I realized quite soon that who I am bares no reflection to the

Memories that fade, I can stand till my legs break

But you could smile and I fall down, walk away and shut me out

When I can't think of shit to say, I pull it out from in my brain

I always had a way with words but they just don't make sense to her

Cross my heart and hope for better days ahead,

Get out of this weather,

I’m not getting over it, just getting used to this,

Over and over and over and over.

Cross my heart and hope for better days ahead,

Get out of this weather,

I’m not getting over it, just getting used to this,

Over and over and over and over.

But I'm just a know it all and she just hates to be wrong

We'll laugh and fight until someone goes along and fucks this whole thing up again

But I'll enjoy the time we spent,

Playing with each others heads,

Under the premise that we're still friends

Can You Feel My Heart by Bring Me The Horizon

Can you hear the silence?

Can you see the dark?

Can you fix the broken?

Can you feel... can you feel my heart?

Can you help the hopeless?

Well, I'm begging on my knees,

Can you save my bastard soul?

Will you wait for me?

I'm sorry brothers,

So sorry lover,

Forgive me father,

I love you mother.

Can you hear the silence?

Can you see the dark?

Can you fix the broken?

Can you feel my heart? [3x]

[3x]

I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone.

I long for that feeling to not feel at all.

The higher I get, the lower I'll sink.

I can't drown my demons, they know how to swim.

Can you feel my heart?

Can you hear the silence?

Can you see the dark?

Can you fix the broken?

Can you feel... can you feel my heart?