Life's coming too fast

Recently, I joined the club of book-reading people but other than them, I don't read certain vampire books or books on which are TV shows based on. And the book I'm reading, currently, is the one that animated me to write this blog post.

Years ago, when I was an isolated 8th-grader, I would go to the school's library once a week and look for either English books or books about domestic abuse. I read old English books back then, classic books like Bram Stoker's Dracula or Agatha Christie. English has always been my favorite language and perhaps, that's why I prefer to read English books. Maybe it's also the reason why I was one of the best in my whole grade in English. Later, I bought some English books for reading at home. I've never really gotten around to read them; either I got bored of them right in the beginning or I had no interest in reading.

One of these books is the one I'm currently reading. It's called Catch me when I fall by Nicci French (A/N: Two authors who combined their names). I started reading it recently and since I only read every once in a while, I'm still not done with it. But I just reached a point in the book where it gets really, really interesting. I love this book. It's so realistic and the emotions and things that happen aren't far-fetched as in many books I've read so far. But before I start telling how much I like it, here's a little description on the story:

A successful, self-confident woman named Holly Krauss lives her life fast and dangerous. She runs her own little company with her best friend, is married to an illustrator and is like a magnet to danger and trouble.

In the beginning of the book, she's in a bar with her best friend and another friend. There she gets to know some other people with whom she spends the evening, drinking, clubbing, drinking and ending up in bed with one of them. That's basically where the problems start: She tries to forget about the cheating on her husband as much as possible. But things get messed up and the guy from that night stalks her. Also, in her company, she runs into big trouble: One of your employees does a lousy job and Holly decides to fire her what ends in a disaster; the fired employee threatens her. Things get out of hand, the stalker, the ex-employee and her husband who is obviously frustrated because of his job.

Holly tries her best to keep on track, to help her husband and try to lead her company (and herself) out of the misery. But it fails and she ends up having insomnia, several times she feels so exhausted that she's unable to move. She's not herself anymore, can't make out the limits of herself or change her behavior. When life finally seems to calm down a bit, she runs into the next big trouble and causes more damage on her life and the people around her than before.

That's how far I am. Actually, it's better to read the book. There are so many little details to which I can relate to, that you couldn't just post here. For example:

Her husband, Charlie, is an illustrator and works at home. When she met him, Holly thought being an illustrator meant that people want you and call you for a job. She thought it would be easy to work in that field but when she got to know him better, he and his job, she found out that it wasn't as glamorous and awesome as she'd thought before. It's about running around, handing your portfolio to people, work your ass of to have a chance for a job. You can lose everything as fast as you gained it because new, fresh illustrator finish university every year.

First, he convinces her that he'll get a job, so they could pay the mortgage. But later in the book, he reveals that being an illustrator isn't as enjoyable anymore. It's not what he loves to do anymore, it's just work. Drawing, creating things is nothing more than earning money. He lost his passion, his love for art. One other reason is that he wanted to publish a book with illustrations of him but the company denied it for being... crap. It ruined all his self-confidence and made his drawings worthless to him.

I know how that feels, I just so know it. It's not that I can't handle criticism but when the person whose opinion is the one that decides whether you made a good job or not, when this person doesn't like your work, it just takes all of your respect, self-esteem, love, passion, etc. from you. It kills a big part of you, and makes you stop walking, sit down and watch life pass by. You have this one thing, this one talent and you love doing it, when that is denied, what else can you do then?

Another thing that someone in the book says, is that if you really, really love something, it's sometimes better to keep it as a hobby instead of doing it for money. And I agree on that. I am stuck with art but if I'd do it for a living... who gives me the guarantee that I won't start to hate it? It doesn't have to be like this but what if it would? I don't want to risk it and so I'll keep it as my hobby. Maybe it will grow to something bigger someday but if then, it would be my destiny and not forced.

And I think that it doesn't matter what kind of job I'll get someday. As long as I like it and get paid well for it. Since I need to feed a family, and I want my family to enjoy life and not worry about money. ´

I always thought that I need the most perfect job to become happy. Therefore, I didn't want to do any job that's actually just a quite nice one. I wanted to do things people could look up to, I wanted people to say, "Wow, she really made it." But who says you gotta have a matching, perfect, amazing job to be happy? In the past few days, I changed my mind about it. I don't the most perfect job in the world, I don't need to work my ass of to get people attention. Maybe I would end up with a lot of money but money's not what makes me happy.

In my (new) opinion, it doesn't matter what impression your job has on others. It doesn't matter what people think about your achievements, as long as you have something that makes you happy. Something constant in your life. And I came to the conclusion that there's nothing in the world I want more than a family. My very own family. I would accept any job just to feed my family and satisfy their desires. It would be all that could make me happy. A family would make the past years worth fighting, it would be my paradise.

Since my fiancée and I already talk about it, I started to make plans for the next year. I don't want things to happen to fast; I'd rather wait for things to be perfect than hurry up for a mess. The bare thought of what's about to come makes me so happy, it increases my optimism and self-confidence so much. After things have ended in a disaster, this was truly unexpected but it makes it all up.

Life's coming too fast, kind of. Faster than I've expected but if the result would match my wishes, I'm totally fine with it!

Currently listening to: Paramore - That's what you get

Got so far

This post's going to be very long and personal. I got inspired to write it last night when I was lying in bed and remembered my first steps as LP fan. Perhaps this will change your mind about me, you'll think that I'm crazy and obsessed. The following will explain many things, hopefully; maybe it will clear up some things and justify some of my actions.

If not... hell, I don't care. Read it, ignore it, comment, call me names (that's not an invitation for you, Kathrin!).

Recently, a friend and I talked about a girl from twitter and my conversation with her. This girl agreed with me that fans who are only with the band for their looks, aren't real fans and aren't really a part of our community. Usually, when you have a conversation on this topic, you get curious about the fan being of the other. In this case, I asked her when she started calling herself a fan of LP. Her answer made me cry - for laughter. I think so did my friend when I told her about it. Actually, I expected that girl to say "for about one year" which would be okay. I know many fans who started listening to LP like a year ago. But this girl still has to reach that mark.

Our fan community is very friendly, actually. We're very supportive and we're pretty much like a very big family. I think many fellows agree with me on that ;). But when it comes to newbies, most of us (particularly the older fans, old as in being a fan) become a bit rude. Let's call it defensive. I think we're sometimes just too proud. We're very careful; like with new neighbors: you try to find out more about them, weight it out and maybe build a fence to protect your territory. We can be really mean to newbies. And that's why we laughed about her. She's a fan for about half a year now, and doesn't know anything. My friend's a fan for about 4 years now, I think, and I am for 6 and a half years. As I put it: "We're one with the band after such a long time."

I remember how it was with me, about 6 years ago. I was twelve and just joined a German message board. My first step into a fan community and I wasn't aware about its hierarchy. Back then, I was naive, to some grade I was like the cliché fangirlie; I had a big crush on Mike. The difference between my twelve-year-old ego and a normal teenie booper: When I became a fan, it really was because of their music. Shinoda was one of the last persons of the band who I really noticed. So, I was new, I was naive, I was unexperienced. The perfect victim. They played jokes on me, they laughed at me for my opinion. I still can remember someone's words (actually, one of the few people who were nice to me): "We can have the "die-hard fan" conversation again, when you're 4 years older." Right then, I felt rejected and I was disappointed. Sad and hurt because I thought that I'd finally found friends. Simultaneously, I couldn't believe in those words. I didn't get how they could reject me, when the guys themselves love all their fans - no matter how young they are.

After being a fan for one year, I decided to put all my energy, all my passion and love on this new family of mine. I wanted to become a member of it, one that people wouldn't reject, one they would accept and respect. LP was all I had back then, all my friends left me during that time, my mum wouldn't talk to me neither be supportive. And I wanted to become someone I could be proud of someday and back then, that was the only way to achieve this goal.

I had a plan; to become a Street Soldier someday, join LPU, meet the band and see them live in concert. I worked for it as hard as possible, there was nothing about the band I wouldn't know, I wouldn't see. At age 14, I think, I could've written a book about them with all details. The LP community (yup, LPC as we called it back then) was my home. It was where I was someone. Where people paid attention to me, loved me for just being me. And sharing something important with them.

In 2007, things changed. The goals on my list were not only simple goals; it was my way to force me to stay alive. It was like, "Don't leave before you visited your first LP concert". Maybe because I knew that it would change my mind and even give me new energy. So, two years ago, I achieved almost all goals on my list, one year later, the rest followed. Already after my first concert, things changed. It wasn't important anymore to be up-to-date. It wasn't important to know everything... I kinda let it float. And after my first M&G, I was close to quitting. There was nothing for me anymore to work for; I achieved everything I wanted.

About one year later, today, I'm proud of the kind of fan I've become. I'm exactly the fan I wanted to become and I'm really proud of it. I've experienced so much and I still love LP. They almost like friends but more important: they've become a part of me. A part that changes with me and that I'm proud of.

I'm pretty sure that it didn't make any sense. :[

Currently listening to Linkin Park - In the end