I met Bryan in the center of town this morning to watch his uncle in a bike race, and it was a good time. When there were no riders, or just the shitty ones we read National Geographics, and I realized I need to resubscribe. Now. The afternoon consisted of a trip to the sanctuary, comet pond and alltogether it was a lovely day. I am having trouble these days choosing pictures of the day, as I have taken so many shots I like this week. Cross Country shout out '09 to Emglick who we all miss! I am going to go to the Sanctuary a lot more now. It is so picturesque in summer, like the rest of princeton right now. It is such a nice place to walk and mull things over with some ace friends. This blog is severly out of characer of my other blogs, but I can't really put words to how happy I was the whole day. El song de la day is Candy by the Raveonettes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQoPAXIvLyA

The sun shone down for a bit today, and the temperatures went up to about eighty. It felt like summer weather for the first time in a while. Enough about the flippin weather though. The car in these pictures is really old and has been parked near my house for over a week. The back is open and exposed to the elements, and there is a small pool of water in the back seat. Everyday I had walk by and wanted to take a picture, so today I did. Today wasn't very good. My best friend is leaving for the cape for a few weeks, and we got into an argument and fight. It has kind of been brewing for a while because we are drifting apart even though we both won't admit it, but friendships have their ebbs and flows, and that's just a reality of life. Hopefully we'll be fine again when he gets back, but I'm finding it harder and harder to relate to him on things. The best part of the day was doing backdives into a pool. I love the feeling of swimming under the water. The whole world seems distant and I pretend to be an otter. A little odd, I know. I've been listening to a lot of songs today and I have an unprecedented three songs of the day: Sleepless by the Decemberists, Warning Sign by Coldplay and The Prayer by Kid Cudi (on the radio and stuck in my head)
Last night I watched American Beauty at 2 am, and it made my whole day yesterday feel worthwhile.

Today was dull and dreary. I went on a run and after about a mile my lungs started to tighten, and my knees began to ache. I despise asthma. To settle down, I walked for a while and found a small bench to rest on. It was in the center of town, set far back a little. It was dedicated to a girl who died from cancer about ten years ago. The little plaque read, "Ali Pierce is the beauty in every radiant ray of sunlight". Around the bench were a lot of painted stones, that were slowly peeling. Something about the little bench made me sad at first because it looked completely forgotten and ignored. After sitting down I allowed my heart rate to slow down, and go back to normal. I sat there, deep in thought about a lot of things, until long after I had recovered.
Tonight I was looking for the book Into the Wild, and I couldn't find it anywhere! After rummaging through many boxes of books I came across my dads yearbook and it was hilarious, but also fascinating. My dad looked funny, as did many kids in his class, but looking at all the young, hopeful faces and imagining their futures is intriguing. The song of the day is No Cars Go by Arcade Fire
I forgot to add that I found out that Where the Wild Things Are is coming out a week after my birthday! Exciting.

Tonight was a cool little night. After a yummy yummy meal in woosta, we drove towards a statue of a little boy doing unspeakable things to a turtle. A skater kept asking me to take a picture of him doing a trick, and it was funny how awful he was. In the car we listened to Paul Simon, and the feeling his music gives you is so satisfying. The African beats in some of the songs lift you up. After a stint at Laurelwood Road we departed for Princeton. The first place we went was the Sanctuary, a place of many trails and trees. The only light was from the parking lot, and it projected a very eerie incandescent glow. We walked along a path, through a field, towards a small pond. Everything was so still, and the fog was full of small neon-emitting fireflies. These were the first fireflies I have seen this year, and they have always marked the beginning of summer for me ever since I was a little kid. We all sat on a bench looking out onto the water in front of a huge tree, with a fog-covered backdrop. It was almost unreal. Everything was magnified, and I found myself wondering why I don't go outside to sit at night more often. I also felt very connected with Emily Bryan and Emily on the bench. It's been muy bueno getting to know Bryan this week and it feels effortless hanging out with those people. Conversations and laughter seem to come very easily. Sitting down, things seemed to slow down, save the croaking of frogs.
After that, we headed to an ancient cemetery nearby, and it was surreal. The lights from the car shinning onto the graves and fog looked straight out of an old horror movie. Our dark silhouettes would appear extremely sinister to a passerby. The only thing missing was seeing a ghost! I took a lot of interesting pictures like the one above, and they will all be on fbook shortly. Overall, today=great success! Fittingly, the song of the day is: Is There a Ghost by Band of Horses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK716RqoUms
Play it!

The difficulty of blogging is finding a correct balance between retelling simple, day to day events, and finding deeper reflections from one's day. Since I last blogged I have done a lot of plain and typical things that just don't seem blog worthy. I did enjoy the last few days, but it just seems like they had nothing remarkably special to set them apart from any other time.
Yesterday two friends and I worked tirelessly to create a nice 'bro's pad' under a deck. It is complete with a mini fridge, massage chair, grill, lights, and music. This morning I had to be back at my house before 8, so I walked the two miles, just as the sun was poking through the fog. It's easy to forget how beautiful a peaceful silence punctuated only by birdsong, the rustling of trees, and the occasional car can be. As I was walking up a steep hill I saw a huge crow perched on a giant tree, preening itself. For some reason I was convinced it was smiling, and in any case it was the happiest looking crow I have come across. At the surprise party tonight there were some good parts, but I sometimes feel kind of awkward at parties where I am not close to some of the people. Awkward is not the word, but I guess sometimes I convince myself to feel a little out of place. It really bugged me how some guys keep bringing up the fact that I shoplifted stuff once. I felt ashamed and didn't know what to say or do other than go along with all of them. I hope Emily had a very pleasurable time though! This blog is slightly more rubbishy today than usual, and the song for now is All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix.

Tonight I went to Cafe Dolce. Earlier in the afternoon my parents and sister decided to abandon me. It was kind of unusual as they didn't even mention where they going or how long they would be gone (as of 11:53 they still aren't home). When they were gone I blasted music throughout the house and thoroughly cleaned my room, both satisfying tasks. In the evening Emily and Bryan came by to pick me up, and checked out my pad. At Dolce the waiter was really strange, but oddly comical at the same time. It cracked me up how he kept basically shitting on all the deserts even though he worked there. Sitting in the cafe and talking was good, but I enjoyed the car ride back just as much. I love car rides for some reason, especially when its dark outside. It felt like how a summer night should be to me, with the loud songs on the car's stereo, raindrops on the windshield, and the company of the two fine people I was with. For the next few hours I plan on reading Barack Obama's Dreams of My Father. I never make time to read during the school year, and its something I truly miss.
The song for the day, Music at Night by The Coral, sounds a bit cliché after writing this post, but its a brilliant song. Go find it in my playlist.

Long and hot summer days when you just sit at home and unwind are wondrous things. I hadn't been at my house since wednesday, and there is always a primordial feeling of comfort when you return home. I loved the thunderstorms of the afternoon, as I just sat on my porch and tried to take pictures of the rain. Tonight I have been working on (and just finished) a playlist, but it's a playlist with a twist. I tried thinking of as many bands that I like and I could only choose ONE song to represent them. It was really enjoyable actually, as it gave me an excuse to listen to music for the last three hours. http://songza.com/jhersh It's quite good I think.
This was my best day of summer so far, and ironically it was the day I've done the least. My mood can be summed up by the song Chicago by Sufjan Stevens. Now I am going to watch The Reader until late into the night.