User blog:Jeremiah Garland/Get to Know Jeremiah!!

Okay, well there's been a couple "About me" blogs, so I thought I would carry on the series. Just a little bit about me in real life. And no, my name is not Jeremiah Garland in real. I came up with that name out of the blue. "Jeremiah", because I just like the name and "Garland" because its the surname of a family deep in my family tree.

Background and Such
I was born in Glasgow, England, where I also spent the first ten years of my life. When I was ten, my family moved to America for my dad's work. Today, I'm 15 and living in Maine (not saying where in Maine you little stalkers out there). I have a dad, who is a doctor, and a mom, who's mostly a stay-at-home mom but also helps run a small general store owned by some friends. I also have an older sister, who's at college. Plus, I had a younger sister. That's right, had. When I was 8, still living in England, my little sister suddenly died of leukemia. This has saddened me to this day, but I no longer sob at the mere thought of her name; I am encouraged to do better for her.

Home Life and Hobbies
Most of my friends say I live in a "mansion", but I don't think its all that big. I'm alone most of the time, because, as I said above, my sister is at college, my dad is working at the hospital, and my mom is usually working at the shop. Ergo, I have a lot of down time. When I'm not on POTCO, I usually like to write short stories, write poetry, study history, politics, etc., take walks (like I said, I'm really alone), eat (I'm not fat though (fast metabolism)), sleep (:P), or drink tea (no joke xD). I tried getting into painting and art once, but that didn't go so well...

Music
I didn't mention this above, but music plays a huge part in my life, whether I'm the on making it or just listening. When I'm listening, some of my favourite genres include: classical, folk, rock, bluegrass, jazz (eh, sometimes), and blues. However, I cannot STAND the following genres: rap (ugh), modern pop, any pop, country, hip-hop, that weird dubstep crap, or anything else that requires the push of a button to make noise. Country just ticks me off the most probably. Not all is bad, but most modern pop-country is. Almost all of it is about some guy singing about "how he lost his baby and now he's driving down the road in his pickup truck with one arm out the window feeling lonely bla bla bla" crap. No wonder you lost your baby, look what you're bloody singing about! Anyhoo, to make a long story short, I really don't like that much modern day music, but there are a few exceptions. Some of my favourite musicians to listen to: When I'm not listening to music, I like to make my own music. I've never had a single music lesson in my life, but taught myself. I play drums, bass guitar, harmonica, little bit of guitar, and organ/piano. On my piano, I like to write classical movements, or just fool around. I also play organ/keyboards/piano and harmonica in a band, with three other of my friends from school. I sing lead about 33% of the songs we play, even though I don't really like to :P I also play bass sometimes, when our bassist is sick (he's sick a lot). For my school's jazz band, I play drums, which can be fun, but also very complicated. Sometimes when I write poems, I usually put them to a melody, add some chords and hooks, and have a song
 * Grateful Dead - Definitely an acquired taste. Most people don't give them a chance, but they have some amazing stuff. Popular during the late 60s and early 70s. Have a lot of jame sessions :P (I have a song by them on my iPod that's 47 minutes long)
 * Beatles - Who doesn't like them? They pretty much cover every genre of music, and there's usually a Beatles songs that expresses how I'm feeling. I've told many of you this, but I'm the world's biggest Beatles fan. I know every single lyric perfectly to all 412 of their songs, have all 13 studio albums, 5 lives albums, and 19 bootleg (illegal) albums
 * Rolling Stones - Another favourite good ol' British group. Only like their early stuff though... Good to listen to when you're feeling rebellious. And I feel rebellious a lot ;-)
 * Pyotr Tchaikovsky - One of my favourite classical composers. Great music to sip tea along to (hehe). Also good for when I'm feeling relaxed and doing homework or whatever. My favourite pieces by him are "1812 Overture" and of course the classic "Nutcracker Suite"
 * George Gershwin - Another composer, but a little more modern. Also good to listen to every once in a while. I usually set my alarm clock to wake me up to "An American in Paris" or "Rhapsody in Blue"
 * The Doors - A hardcore American band from the psychedelic 60s. Very rough, trippy music. Good for when I'm feeling angry (RAAAAAAAWR)
 * The Zombies - A lesser known British group. Topped some great hits during the 60s. Saw them in concernt not to long ago, still one of the best concerts I've ever seen.
 * The Chieftains - An Irish group! You ever get those cravings to listen to some nice Celtic bagpipe music? No? Well I do :P
 * Stan Rogers - A little-known Canadian folk artist with an amazing voice. Good to listen to when I go sailing sometimes :P died tragically :-(
 * Allman Brothers - I usually don't like southern rock, but they are an exception. Like the Grateful Dead, they go into a lot of jams, and have some pretty sweet riffs
 * John Lennon - Sadly, most people don't appreciate his work outside of the Beatles (one of my biggest pet peeves is when people call "Imagine" a Beatles song...). He's very outspoken and not afraid to share his beliefs. Like in "Imagine", he basically describes a Communist government, yet somehow I agree with his beliefs. Also love "Instant Karma", "Working Class Hero", and "God" by him
 * The Black Keys - One of the few modern groups I like. Sadly, not as popular as they should be. Very blues influenced rock group, just released a new album (which is awesome). For all of you out there who think only modern music is good, listen to these guys.
 * Cream - 60s British group. Also blues influenced. Favourite songs by them are "Tales of Brave Ulysses" and "Sunshine of Your Love". Besides, ya gotta love Eric Clapton ;-)
 * The Byrds - Great American 60s group who turned folk into rock. Favourites: "Turn Turn Turn" and "Eight Miles High"
 * Crosby, Stills, and Nash - Great harmonies. Lot of great songs when you're just feeling "mellow"
 * The Who - They just downright rock

Friends and Stuff
My three best friends are also the three friends in my band. There's Henry, who plays guitar and sings lead a lot, Rob, who plays drums, and David, who plays bass. As for our song selections we do at gigs, its mostly songs by the artists listed above. Sadly, Jeremiah does not have a girlfriend right now, but I'm looking buddy xD My last girlfriend was a new student from Italy, who was great because she had the best accent, but that relationship ended when she had to move back to Italy... The girlfriend before her was my first kiss which, as it turns out, isn't all that great (probably because her scarf got in the way, long story :P). One thing that annoys me the worst is the "teen stereotype" that's going around. How most adults assume teens like certain pop crap rap music or are obsessed with texting. As I said above, I hate all modern pop and rap and country, and I'm rarely seen in public with my cell phone on me, I actually live by the words "Its for emergencies only". Also, I don't have a facebook, because I've seen what Facebook does to people... turns them into zombies. I mean for pete's sake, if you want to tell your friend something ring 'em up on the phone or write a letter! Also, I don't dress like a normal teen. I usually wear collared, button down shirts with khaki pants and a belt, on any given day. Yeah, you could say I'm a bit of a nerd, but I hate (and I mean ABSOLUTELY HATE) math and science. On the contrary, I find my other school subjects such as history, Latin, and literature intriguing and can't get enough of the stuff. So, to sum everything up, let's just say while everybody from school is at a party, you could probably find me at home, sitting by a fireplace, listening to Tchaikovsky, sipping my favourite Earl Grey tea, reading up on my history of the Crimean War.

People I admire

 * George Orwell - "Animal Farm" and "1984" probably my favourite books ever
 * Leon Trotsky - Sure he was a Russian communist, but he was a free thinker nonetheless
 * John Lennon - "A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality
 * Winston Churchill - England today would not be the same without him
 * Mohandas Gandhi - Again, a free thinker, revolutionist, saw change needed to be and wasn't afraid to get it
 * John F. Kennedy - "Ask not what your nation can do for you, ask what you can do for your nation"
 * Octavius Caesar - Founder of the Roman Empire, "Found Rome brick, left it in marble"
 * Vladimir Lenin - Founder of Communism, which, despite what most think, isn't all that bad
 * Karl Marx - Also founder of Communism
 * Jim Morrison - America's best poet, in my opinion
 * Ernest Hemingway - Great writer; "Old Man and the Sea"
 * My grandfather - A native of Holland who, during WWII, fought in the European underground resistance. Captured and sent to a POW camp, and on Hitler's birthday, personally led a riot of the prisoners to break free of the camp. Is today a retired painter in his native Maastricht, Holland