Salmon and clothing.

Gahhh.

I just finished watching Jo Rowling's interview on Oprah. I need to meet her, someday, just so I can be one of the thousands of people to tell her how much she's changed my life. It's one of those things that probably wouldn't mean much to her in the grand scheme of things, but saying those words to her would mean everything to me.

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I wrote that on Friday and never got around to writing anything else about it to make a complete post, so I figured I would leave it at that.

I've been walking around all week with a proverbial red countdown timer over my head, ticking away the minutes until I leave for tour. I leave in twelve hours and my suitcase is only half packed, my to-do list is long, and I've spent more time organizing my shoes and Magic cards than figuring out what I really need to bring on a 3 week trip.

You would think, after traveling as much as I have, going on trips pretty much every months for the better part of the last three years, that I would be awesome at packing by now - but I am just not. I mean, I rarely forget anything, I know the essentials that n00bs leave behind (shaver, deodorant, tweezers, the right amount of stuff to do on the plane) but that frantic last minute scramble to make sure you have everything ready before you leave? It never goes away. Ever. In fact, I almost feel like it gets worse with each passing trip.

And packing for fall tour is so much harder than summer. It was easy, in July. A whole duffel full of shorts, tan ktops, and sandals. Done. But with temperatures ranging from 50 to 70 degrees, chances of rain nearly everywhere - the amount of boots and sweaters I find myself packing is outrageous.

But the good news is, I have the bag with ALL CAPS merch packed and ready to go by my door. That was easy. :)


I've been talking about packing now for well past the accepted limit of interesting-ness, so I am going to switch gears here. Aside from working on the new ALL CAPS album and filming our launch day music videos, I have had a tiny bit of time for good old fashioned recreational fun.

On Saturday I drove out to my home town to see my little brother play trumpet in marching band for the last time (as he is a Senior in high school this year). My parents were feeling a little nostalgic about it, since for the past ten years they've bundled up and dragged their lawn chairs to see either myself or Nick playing our instruments in the parade. It's weird to think they don't need to go anymore, or that if we do go, we'll have no one to clap for (or embarrass, in my case. I think I've yelled "NICK HORNER IS SO CUUUUTE" as he goes by every year he's marched xD).

I didn't stay at the fair very long afterwards, but I did stay long enough to eat a chicken teriyaki skewer, an ear of roasted corn, a scone with raspberry jam AND hum bao. Don't judge me. I walked around with my parents for about an hour and then met up with my friend Austin (whom I went to school with but only really got to know each other lately because of YouTube, haha) and his friend Danielle, and I hung out with them for a little while.

It's funny, but my town is really big on Salmon. We were required to learn about the Salmon cycle in school (I think I've drawn pictures of the egg/alevin/fry/smolt/adult/spawning circle at least 3 times in my life as homework). We call our annual fair "Salmon Days" and we have a Salmon hatchery right in town where you can watch the fish returning up the streams to spawn. We spent a good twenty minutes over at the fish ladders, cheering with the rest of the crowds every time a salmon would make the leap up to another level of the ladder. I also learned that Salmon don't feel pain the way humans do, which I thought was quite interesting. They can have half their face ripped off (which happens often, since they fight against the current for miles) and it only feels like pressure. It also never heals. Poor fish.

Yesterday Ariana and I went shopping for tour and bought a bunch of cute clothes that I am very excited to wear (including a silver sequined fedora that was an impulse buy if I ever saw one). I feel like I can briefly return to the topic of clothes because my entire last paragraph was about Salmon. Right?

I should get back to packing. Here's to tour, and to the new ALL CAPS acoustic album coming out today!

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