Random Life Experience: After graduating, my mother and I departed from Pittsburgh on our way home via airplane. What was supposed to be a routine trip turned into a nightmare and ultimately led to the bizarrest adventure I've ever had while traveling.......and that's saying something since I've traveled in foreign countries by myself without knowing a lick of the local language and never had any huge mishaps. Put on standby in Chicago, My mother and I along with two random gentlemen were forced to deplane once we touched down in Branson, Missouri.
You're probably thinking Branson, Missouri?!?! Where the heck is that?!...honestly had I not been forced off a plane in the middle of this destitute city I'd be asking the same thing (no offense to anyone from here). Sadly, I can't give you geographic specifics due to being in a state of shock at the time of this event, but I can tell you under better circumstances, I would've probably enjoyed the peace and quiet of the city and the rustic landscape. Hiwever, I can only offer you the general observation that it had houses that looked like the set from Disney's High School Musical when they showed Troy's house.
After being deplaned, we were all given instructions to make our OWN way to Tulsa, Oklahoma if we wanted to get a flight home since the Branson Airport had no flights in or out for TWO WHOLE DAYS........insert seriously pissed face here......When we all found this out, you can only imagine how we felt. At this point, things got really interesting.
Disclaimer: Growing up, my parents often taught my siblings and I the golden rules of interacting with strangers. These rules included a) Never talking to strangers b) Never eat anything from them and c) NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES GET INTO A CAR WITH THEM. Looking at these rules you can only guess how scary and surreal it was for me to actually have to get in the car with two men that I didn't know (Even though my mom was there with me) and riding for about 3+ hours from Branson to Tulsa. While both the men were gentlemen and we were all united in our anger at the airline, I sort of had a what the flip moment where I had to question my mother's sanity doing the beginning of this imprmptu road trip.
Thankfully, we made it to Tulsa and got a new flight home the next morning and arrived all in one piece. The most amazing thing out of the whole trip was the fact that we were literally just miles away from where the tornado in Oklahoma hit. The four of us were literally joking about getting hit by some type of storm as we drove through the countryside and watched the sky turn from clear blue to steel gray before our eyes. At this time none of us imagined that there was an actual tornado reeking havoc so you can only imagine how my mother and I felt seeing the aftermath of devastation throughout Oklahoma. All I can say is I am BEYOND grateful that God let us make it home safely.
Favorite Album: As usual, I am tardy to the party and just got my copy of the 2011 masterpiece that is Megalithic Symphony, which is AWOLNATION's first studio album. Thanks to Amazon having it's bi-weekly sale on mp3 albums, I was able to get this album for a mere $5. I love the sound of this band. Unlike last month's favorite album (i.e., Fall Out Boy's Save Rock And Roll) AWOLNATION's sound gives off more of a rock vibe than a pop one. This album has minimum screaming and is perfect for us pseudo-rockers who are master's of the air guitar. Some song's like "Kill Your Heros" and "Sail" are a bit explicit in the deliverance of their messages, but overall the album is a conglomerate of upbeat non-threatening songs. I would definitely recommend this album to anybody who enjoys a good guitar solo.
Favorite Book: I finally got to crack open Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier, which is one of the books from my Birthday Book Haul. This book is a part of the fantasy genre of young adult fiction. The main aspect of the book deals with time traveling and a long ago foretold prophecy. When I tell you that this book is amazing, I mean that it is literally knock your socks off, laugh out loud ah-maz-ing.This book was so good that I had to scrounge together money to buy the sequel, Sapphire Blue for my Kindle at the crack of dawn just because I didn't want the feeling of reading this series to end. I plan to post a review of tthese two books soon however, I wanted to share this as my absolute favorite book for May. Gier's book is brimming with freshness, crazy plot twist, witty humor, and unbelievable characters. It's a must for all YA lovers.Personal Challenge: I have recently decided that I need to gain more knowledge about African and African-American Literature (i.e. my chosen area of graduate study). Therefore, I have deemed that this summer I will try my best to read at least one African or African-American themed book a week. To start off my reading, during the last week of May I read the play, A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and watched the 1961 movie adaptation. Also, I was able to finish So Long A Letter by Mariama Ba. I will be posting a movie and play review for Hansberry's book however, I didn't have much to say for Ba's book so I won't bore you all with a review for that one. If you would like to here my general thought's for Ba's book, you can look at my goodread review.
Once again, I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and reading some good books. Please feel free to post your TBR piles int he comment section.
Cheers!
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