twenty twelve, the end.

this year went by ridiculously fast. it's insane!

these are some of my best times from this year...

saw one of my favorite bands, new empire.

road tripped it to vegas for spring break.

recorded my own album.

got a puppy.

went to lake powell for the first time.

campaigned for mitt in vegas.

went to san fran for fall break.

went to my first real fancy dress up party.

 i also learned to slalum ski, did lots of boating (starting in april... freeeezing), threw some pretty great parties, went to some more great concerts, and performed a few times at my school.
cheers to 2012.

gramma

Yesterday the Jenkins clan went up to Grandma Pete's rest home and played some Christmas tunes for her and her friends.

 

Lin played her uke, I played the guitar, and we all played the piano.

They loved it. Grandma was so excited when Mom asked everyone to sing Silent Night.

They said come back anytime and we said okay!

Aunt Nette. Carlee. Kate. Grandma. Me. Lin. Mom.

erica

A few weeks ago, one of my high school best friends, Erica, got married. In high school, we ate lunch together, played at our school talent show, played and went to concerts and Denny's on the weekends. We had jazz band together and since there were so many guitarists and bassists, we got to go in a side room and just jam and talk the whole time with a bunch of people.

She was in my high school band, TeliFone Pole, as the bassist. Her bass was stellar, had a wood top. We (Megan, Erica, and I) were best of friends and band buddies and we hung out all the time. (One time we played a show in my basement and a few other bands came. They played so loud some of the pictures fell off the walls!)
We did things like... 

take Valentines pictures and post them on our friends Myspace walls as a Valentines card.

 

Boys Bathroom Madness.

 

Wore matching shoes to stake dances.

 

Had pie parties.

 

And jammed. All the time. And sometimes played shows.

I guess you could say we were a little weird. But whatevs, we had fun.

Anyway, this girl got married and now Megan and her are both Swensons. So I'll know when I've found the right man when his last name is Swenson.

 

You go, guuurl.

record.

i just finished recording my first ever album! 

it's only 7 songs, but, you know, it's good enough for me.

here's a few of the songs, if ya wanna hear.

it's funny, the songs i was most excited to record are the ones that i like the least.

and the songs i almost didn't record because i didn't really like them, 

are the ones that i love how they turned out.

high school days

 

Megan, Erica, me (2010)

We were the best of friends back in the high school days. 

We even had a band, TeliFone Pole.

This was our first real show. 

There's so much wrong with this picture. 

What were we, especially me, thinking? I actually do remember what i was thinking.  I just wanted to wear all sorts of weird stuff, because I thought it was cool. 

We played this show at a venue called The Circuit.

Megan's friend, Nate, or Oreo as we called him hooked us up and we opened for his band. We sold roughly 30 tickets and made a little cash. I had a crush on Oreo, because he was a really fine black man (half white, half black). When his band was on, I stood right in front of him, below the stage, and stared at his face. I would have married him, but when him and his friend asked Megan and me on a date, we couldn't go because of EFY. After EFY we rarely spoke, me and Oreo. It was just so sad. I often think back and wonder what that date would have been like. Except for I really don't.

Anyways, 

We played at my high school battle of the bands. Yeah, we didn't win, but we did make the school paper because no one expected girls to be... good.

They were like, 'Psh... a bunch of girls think they can rock?'

And we were like,

Then we played a song and they were like, 

We went on to play lots of house shows and open mics with friends.

Always ending with Denny's.

That is why I liked high school.

abc's

my friend, jake, brought a whole new light to the alphabet song.

also, i'm having bloggers block. 

hence the lack of blogging.

but whatevs.

oooo

just found this.

and i love it.

perform

on wednesday, i performed for a lots of peoples. my friend, kelsie, was setting up a little concert/dance party for her friend, chase, who was running for some student office on campus. she asked me to play, so i opened up the show with a few of my originals, and the song 'you don't see me' by safetysuit. it's a really nice song. my roommates came, which was so nice of them. i have the best roommates. my sister katie, my old roommate katie, aleisha, and lizzie also came.

i got up to the stage and did my thang. my thang includes one foot shaking tremendously in spouts. it also includes my voice being quite shaky and not hitting notes how i should hit them. it's very annoying, especially cause once i'm up there, i'm really not nervous. it's my subconscious. it wants me to fail. after the first two songs i started relaxing a bit and getting notes right. and by the last song i was doin pretty good. of course, i forgot the words to my own song. but i guess that gives it some character.

on friday i got a call from mr. chase. he's throwing another party to thank everyone who helped him win (cause, btw, he won). he asked me if i would play. i said but of course! i asked if the other 4 bands were playing. he said, 'no, just you. i think people enjoyed you the most.'

what?!

i guess i'm not that bad, sometimes.

the maine

One day, when I was like a senior in high school, The Maine played a show at Avalon Theater with Family Force Five. I had found The Maine a while earlier while browsing Purevolume, and seeing them featured on the main page. I saw the picture of them that looked much like this:

John is in the front and I kind of fell in love with him when I saw this picture. So what did I do? Looked them up and loved their music! My best friend, Megan, started loving them too. So when they decided to visit Salt Lake we were quite pleased.

We went to the Avalon excited as ever. When we got in we waited. Then we waited. Then the opening band came on. Then we waited. The the peeps started setting up for The Maine. And behold, I saw John sticking his head out through a window above the stage. That's when Megan and I started freaking out. It was John! From The Maine!

Can you blame me for being in love with this man? If you can, then you've got terrible style in men. Which, I guess is okay.
So they came on in all their glory and daaang it was good. They didn't swear, they played well.


This is the moment when I noticed Kennedy, the guitarist...

I could have dare said there weren't many men more attractive than this one. There he was, playing his guitar and looking fine.

They played my six favorite songs from their album The Way We Talk, because, that was their only album. And there was only six songs on that album.A fter their rather intriguing performance they slowly trickled out into the crowd while Family Force Five set up. Pat came out first and Megan went up to him and said, "Pat!" and he gave her a hug. We both talked to him, took a picture with him, and got his autograph. Then came Kennedy. When I asked for a picture with him, we posed and he rubbed my back. It was so exciting!

Megan got a hug from Patrick and I got a back rub from Kennedy!

Then we talked to Jared, and best of all, John. Oh John. He was gorgeous. And tall.

Kennedy, Megan, John, me

We couldn't find Garrett, the bassist, and we need him to complete our autographed cd's and get a picture. John said he'd text him, and it worked! He wasn't as friendly as the others, but after seeing John and Kennedy, I didn't really care.

Upon our completion of meeting every member of The Maine we walked outside while the lady at the front told us, "No reentry". And we said, "Heck if we care!" (Back then, I didn't know Family Force Five or I would have stayed).

We were just so excited about meeting The Maine that we ran out to my car, got in, and started screaming and laughing and squealing for about 5 minutes. We were FREAKING out. It was hilarious and a bit weird. Basically, it was the best concert ever. And it's really held that Top 1 for a while now, even though I don't like them very much anymore. It was really just the most exciting concert I've ever been to. Until recently, New Empire stole the prize. It only took that long because it takes a lot for me to giggle and squeal like a little girl who just found out the cute boy in the class has a crush on her.

Yep. I loved The Maine. But they broke my heart by adding gross words to their songs and shows. They started swearing up the wazoo and it really cheesed me off. Their fame got to them, and their music went a little bit shizzy. I am so sad.

Anyways, I think I might do some more reminiscing of my high school and early collegehood days. Because it's fun. And I was so different then. But also kind of the same. In ways.

talent?

Who's got talent?

I hope you exclaimed, "I do!"

Cause if you didn't, then you need to start getting talents. Or just realizing the ones you have.

A Monday night or two ago, I thought I had talent. Enough to share with the whole ward. My friend, Jason, thought he had talent too. So we combined our so called talents, and played in something called a talent show.

It was fun.

Jason and I, we sound as good as we look. So if you think we're ugly, then you'd probably think we suck, too. However, if you think we're kinda pretty, then you'd probably think we have some musical talents.

You decide.



















We played 8 songs.

I know. It took up most of the talent show. Except for it really didn't because we mushed 8 songs into one. Including:

In My Head (Jason Derulo)
We Found Love (Rihanna)
Opposite of Adults (Chiddy Bang)
Eenie Meenie (Sean Kingston + Biebs)
Where Them Girls (I dunno)
Dynamite (Taio Cruz)
Love Story (T Swift)
Baby (Biebs)

The only people that got sick of it were the ones that hate Biebs. And since my voice sounds exactly like his, they hated it.

I'm sure you can see the resemblance, even though I have longer bangs.

I like performing. I really do. My body, however, doesn't love it.

It's funny. My mind wasn't nervous at all. But once we started playing my voice got a bit shaky and even my hands. My favorite thing that happens when I perform is my right leg that holds up my guitar starts shaking like mad. It's cause I just have my toes on the ground to make my guitar higher. That leg goes crazy and has a spasm every darn time I perform. Why does my body do that when my mind isn't even nervous?!

Maybe I should take yoga?

the best

night ever.
i shall tell you what it entailed.

we drove down to slc from logan in 1 hr 15 min because aleisha drives with the wind. waited in aleisha's car when all of a sudden, two fine lads park, get their guitars out, and walk in to the building while i freak out. and by freak out i mean squeal and scream like a little girl. walked to maverick to pee. went into a bar where i have to have id for my first time evs. sat down in the bar waiting for jeremy and kyle to go on stage. watched them set up and got all excited again. sat in front of everyone, and had the best view of the two men. recorded every song they played on my ipod and had a private concert on the way home. met jeremy afterwards.

who are these fine lads?
jeremy and kyle. from new empire. indeed, they are quite the band.
they're from australia and i've waited almost 3 years for them to come play in the united states. they finally did. and somehow i happened to find out. thank heavens.

i wish last night could come again. it can, but only on my ipod. which isn't as good.
but, my memories will stand the test of time. and so will the videos above and below.


if you check them out, 'staircase', 'tightrope', and 'one heart million voices' are my favorites.
also, funnily enough, my friend bethany totes saw my pictures and she checked them out of their hotel! crazy!

final final

Tomorrow is the day.

I had five big ones this semester. The final final is chemistry, oh chemistry. As in, Oh-ganic chemistry. Just the thought of it makes my nose itch. But the thought of being done makes my belly roar. I'm hungry for the end.

I'll finally (haha get it?) be able to get in Christmas mode.

Now let me tell you what is so great about that particular mode. It's joyous!

When you're feeling joyous, you don't do crappy things like homework! You do things like drink bubbly. Or have sleepovers with your sisters. Or eat a whole roll of toll house cookie dough with them as fast as you can and maybe even hold hands.

My favorite holiday memory is when I was a young chitlin with a mushroom haircut. I was carefree with no worries but what my siblings got for Christmas that I didn't get. Well one year my sister got a remote control race car track. I wasn't jealous. I just wanted it for myself. How could I get it? I thought, I'd have to trade one of my gifts. I had a nice big teddy bear, a piano songbook, and... an orange. I showed her the orange and all the cool tricks I could do with it: throw it in the air, watch it fall back down, roll it around the floor. She thought that was stupid. So, I gave up.


I was a great example of humility that day. I gave up what I wanted for someone else's happiness. I just never thought it would be so hard.


Anyways, I'm really, really essited. Here's a Christmas video to spread the joy.

someone like you

good.

parachute

I just saw these guys for the first time ever.

And daaaaaaannnnnngggggg.

They were freaking good.

Also, nice to look at.

At this particular concert, there were a bunch of drunk girls yelling stupid things and embarrassing themselves.

Also, a girl got cheesed at me for pushing her. If people would just learn that when you're in a crowd of a billion people at a concert, you'll probably get touched and pushed around, then things would just be a lot more chipper.

These are my two favorite songs from Parachute's new album.



The second one is one of those songs that gives me chills. And the end of the first one.
Now that's rare.

let's go

My current favs.

Yes, I am turning into a rap girl, a little bit. Don't hate.

It's partly cause I've been in the mood to dance party for weeks. 

My Fiesta started this urge.

Plus when I walk on campus and listen to 'I Can Transform Ya' I have an extra bounce in my step.

I'm branching out in other ways, too. Weird music like Regina Spektor's type is becoming more appealing to me. What the?

I dare you to sample them all.

mr kingston

Also known as Sean.

He is a black majesty.

I would know. I saw him Friday night free of charge at my school. Well, unless you count the thousands spent on tuition. If you do, then this was the most expensive concert I've ever been to.

The action started at 3:00 with locals bands playing till 8:00. The Fictionist and Allred were the highlights of that portion.





Another highlight was a gay cross dresser dancing seductively. His name was Peter. And still is.
Well, I was dared to ask to get a picture with Peter. And in return I would receive $4.50. So I went up to him and said, "Can I get a picture with you? You dance so majestically." And in as gay of a voice as he could muster, he said, "Sure."



Oh, and everyone stared as we posed.

At 8 o'clock it was time for Black Majesty to perform. But his DJ decided to take the spotlight for like 20 minutes before Sean came out.
Finally the moment came. But his performance was kind of lame cause he just sang along to his recorded songs. This is why rock concerts are so much better.

Three best things about Sean:

1. How incredibly big he is.
2. That he actually wore bling. (Huge diamond necklace and a diamond watch).
3. His Jamaican accent.

Three worst things about Sean:

1. He's pretty cocky for a fat guy.
2. He doesn't care about his fans. He just likes his fame and moneyz.
3. His best songs are Duets, which he obviously couldn't do alone.

I didn't get any pictures of him because I didn't bring my camera. Dang. I was in the middle of the crowd where there is no room for cameras. There was hardly even room for me!

Well, I'm feeling like I'm letting go.
Peace.

wakey!wakey!

I was recently introduced to this band. And I love them.

talent show

My ward talent show was last week.
Lizzie and I played 'The Best Of Me' by The Starting Line.
And here it is:

this century

dang. these guys are awesome.


on saturday, lizzie, this kid, dustin, and i went to salt lake to see forever the sickest kids. also playing was this century and good charlotte. this century was awesome. i've been listening to their music nonstop since sunday. good charlotte, as always... not so good. they're super cocky and they played for 2 hours! sheesh. forever the sickest kids was awesome. lizzie and i tried to mosh but we were in the frontish so everyone was so crowded. some girls got cheesed at us for running into them, but that's what you get for being in the front! ya know!?


anywayz, i really love this century. so i say, if you have any sense, go check them out. i especially love their mia cover. it's swell.

part 2

i did this a while ago. but I wanna do it again. so here's some songs i've been listening to lately and what i think of when i hear them.

the way we talk (the maine)
high school. summer. driving in the car with megan. i was in love with the maine.

dutty love (sean kingston)
it all started in the fall riding down to the jazz game with matt and bruce. i picked it on the ipod 2 or 3 times till matt got sick of it. next time was driving to cafe with lizzie, matt, and jake. and every time we drove somewhere for the next few weeks. so now every time I hear this song i think of matt and lizzie.

just a dream (nelly)
after dutty love got old, we moved onto this one. and you know the rest.

speak to me gently (future of forestry)
one of the first times i jammed with jake caleb came too. the three of us took turns playing a song. caleb played this one. so this song reminds me of jake and caleb.

my immortal (evanescence)
i always wanted to be in a talent show when I was younger. i learned this song on the piano around 7th grade. i tried out for the school talent show and i sure didn't make it. i was pretty bummed. especially cause a lot of the acts weren't super. but maybe mine wasn't either? anywho,
i was pretty terrified to tryout. and this song always reminds me of middle school because of this.

strawberry swing (coldplay)
my brother, andrew, is kinda weird sometimes. he would do this retarded walk to this song. never fails to make me laugh. and that's what this song reminds me of. thank you, andrew.