all the small things...

I've been thinking about this blog for about two weeks now... Who thinks about writing a blog, I hear you ask? Me. I think about a lot of things. Often, unnecessarily. Often, without thinking about thinking. And, often, forgetting about them as soon as I've thought of them.

The idea for this blog came to me on the 14th July whilst walking through the two main parks in Boston city. I had already been thinking about how strange, and yet comforting, it is that so many things can remind me of people - seemingly random things. In fact, I'm fairly certain I've mentioned it before... Even now, my mind is thinking about writing this blog and how I seem to be formalising my grammatical style, whilst also reminscing about recent events; thinking about the fact that I will miss yet another concert by one of my favourite bands (the Cab are playing tomorrow night in Atlanta, for $10 no less); and getting more frustrated at the guy sitting next to me, who stinks like hell and is now playing an audio clip. Yes, I think about all those things at once, and still have space to analyse 'why?' and 'how?' and the reasoning etc etc you get the idea.

I digress...

All the small things. So, as I was walking over a footbridge over a pond in a park in Boston - a pond where you can pay someone to float you around in a swan-shaped boat for 10mins (please!) - there was a group of three teenage guys busking. Picture a Jonas Brothers-esque group - they sounded much the same but were all playing acoustic guitars, and not strumming in time (annoying). The song they were singing, as I recall it, was "All The Small Things" (of course, that may just be what I remember... I tend to 'hear' songs that remind me of places or people or events e.g. Yellowcard as I walked down Ocean Ave in Santa Monica, and The Academy Is as I drove past Barrington High in the Hills of LA)... I'm good at getting side-tracked... and this blog is quickly becoming the much longer, thought-out version of my hyperactive mind...

Let me quickly say what I need to say.

Tomorrow I begin to head home after four weeks of travelling North America. Many people have told me that I am brave and independent and even inspiring as I have travelled - I have met so many beautiful people. But, that is not how I see it. I do not see this trip about me (although, in all truth, I have learnt a lot about myself... or, at least, how others' see me). What has made this trip so memorable, so much fun and something I want to do again (soon!) is all the small things:
- iconic objects like red fire hydrants, yellow cabs, FedEx vans, fast food outlets...;
- people: the famous celebrities of Hollywood that I didn't meet; Jena and Noah in Ohio; everyone who was on the Cosmos tour with me (all 42 - plus John and France - of you); the 4 lovely ladies I met here in Atlanta that drove me to and from Warped and hung out with me; and the randoms on the streets, in the hotels and in the air;
- the sites - both the historic and the little places I found along the way;
- the weather, the flora and fauna... nature in general, including climate and geography;
- the things that I associate with people, places and events, both past and present.
... all the SMALL things!

And, yet again, I find it easier to quote the good boys of Fall Out Boy than say what I really think, word for word. So I leave you with these songs, which have been in my head of late:
Homesick At Spacecamp; and
Sending Postcards From a Place Crash (Wish You Were Here).

(They actually appear one-after-another on their album: Take This To Your Grave - my favourite FOB album.)


So, Sydney, I'll be seeing you and all your glory and wonderful people in approximately 2 days (or 3 days if you are where I am, currently... yay for time zones!)

After that, who knows, I may just return to the self I was a month ago, before all these small things happened in my life... I surely hope not...


xx bri