Dreams Come True

On November 17th, 2019, I was blessed enough to witness The Queen. Not the Queen of England, but the Queen herself, Lizzy Grant, or better known as Lana Del Rey.

It was actually quite the process. I have been obsessed with her since the 10th grade and have followed and listened to her discography since. However, throughout the years of being a young high schooler and broke college student, going to a concert of hers was out of the question. HOWEVER, now as a working girl, I could go!

The hype of the release of her album, the best one yet in my opinion, Norman Fucking Rockwell, I was waiting and waiting for the release playing LFL on repeat until the day the album released. Shockingly enough, when Lana announced her tour dates, she was only going to the west coast, which broke my sad girl heart.

However, near the end of the first leg of her tour, she announced a second leg--one where she would sing to the Midwest where I read "OKC" in small print and OF COURSE I HAD TO GO. Tickets didn't go on sale until October 11th at 10am in which I would be at work. At that moment, I booked a hotel not knowing whether or not I would get a ticket.

As soon as I got to work that day, early at 7:45am, I went and waited on the website and watched until the clock ticked to 9:59am, I kid you not, I literally watched the clock. Luckily, I wasn't with any students so I wasn't disturbed. As soon as it was 10, I purchased the tickets and it took a total of 3 minutes to get them. I bought two since I was paying for my sisters tickets and myself separate. I went off to reload the site to buy my ticket, AND I WAS IN LINE BEHIND 2000 PEOPLE. It was only 10:04am and then the tickets were sold out. Sad day because we were one ticket short and my younger sister couldn't go anymore.

Tickets were general admission ($49, I think) and VIP ($175, I think) and people were reselling them for twice as much! It was insane that I even got tickets.

Fast forward to the day of, I ventured off to Oklahoma City and people were already camped out. Now, I wanted to stand in line at 3pm, but my sister didn't want to go until AN HOUR before the show. I don't think so. We went about two hours before the show and we were still about a block down from the venue, so it wasn't too bad. Doors didn't open for anyone until 7:30pm and we got in about 7:45ish and waited for the opener which was Robert Ellis aka The Texan Piano Man, who had a wonderful voice and skill on both guitar and piano, yet terrible a terrible craft at song writing.

Lana didn't go on until nearly 9:15 where I nearly lost my shit. I feel like I've only been to shows where it is such a big arena and I end up watching the screen the entire night instead of the actual person, so seeing her didn't even feel real.

She opened with Norman Fucking Rockwell. And she sounded even better live, contrary to popular belief.

I am trying to upload all of my videos on youtube. 

I am a little bit sad that she only played a couple of songs from NFR. She did a lot of her oldies, a ton from the UV era and BTD, which I love, but NFR is by far my favorite out of all of them (it's hard to put the albums on a scale). Ugh, but it was the most perfect night, ever.

Updates on post-grad life...

I got an email the other day stating that I need to start making payments to my school loans...joy. Too bad, what they don't know is that I am going back to school.

Maybe if you are a believer in the fates and destiny or God--perhaps all of the stars aligned for once in my life. I was accepted into the graduate school that I applied to, my first choice. I applied truly on a whim in the middle of the night during an existential crisis that was keeping me up. I would like to believe I got in with my own merit though, give me a little bit of credit. Grad schools are tough to get into. 

The very same night that I found out I got in, I applied for housing. The school I applied for has housing for graduate students, so I sent in my application for a two-bedroom apartment that is on the edge of campus. I must say, I enjoy living on campus as nerdy or dorky as that sounds. I lived on campus all four years of undergrad, and I enjoyed it. I think I am just a nerd and I like the academic atmosphere that it provides. Plus, living on campus provides easier access for all things especially when your college is in a small atypical college town. The campus for grad school has more of a suburban setting and I am so freaking excited--there is a Target around the corner. No more going all the way to Little Rock for decent shopping centers. 

Speaking of Little Rock and Arkansas in general, I suppose I could have applied to grad school where I received my undergrad, but I decided against it. For one, I like change and I feel like I am in constant need of it. As much as I loved Arkansas, I wanted something different and a little more urbanized. Second, it's a little closer to home. When I was applying for undergrad schools, I was looked at schools at least 300 miles away from home. Far, but close enough. This time school is only an hour and thirty minutes away compared to three hours away. 

I am both excited and terrified at my decision for the impending stress that awaits me for the next two years of my life, but I feel like it is the most logical and correct step for me to take as I have no idea what else to do. So, in January, prepare to hear me complain!

Today, I did look at the graduate course catalog... and oh my god, there are so many classes to choose from. I want to take them all. I think I keep forgetting that I my program isn't under the English department, but the humanities department, which is its own entity. I've narrowed down my class choices to:

• Rome: Scandals and Saints (required class for curriculum)
• Advanced Film Criticism (not sure what the content is, but this class is required for curriculum.)

But now I am trying to decide between an elective... History of the English Language or Chaucer, both of which sound equally amazing. However, I did take Chaucer as an undergrad course, I would like to take it again as a graduate course, but I am not sure if I want to put myself through the torture again, even though I love the Canterbury Tales. UGH. Decisions, nerdy decisions. 

On more important life events in my post grad life...

• I finally purchased my dream car. 
• Work is in full swing, as the semester is in full swing. I have very busy days helping a range or smart and clueless college students
• Today, I am going back to work at another job, just to make some extra cash to save for school

The idea of continuing my education is such a daunting decision and I am scared for my life. However, it feels like the most realistic, natural, and right choice for myself right now.