Lauren Armistead

This is tough to write about. Lauren was a friend from Vanderbilt. An intelligent, driven, extremely caring and chill girlfriend of a very good friend, Chris Lloyd. I didn't stay in touch with her after Vandy, but I miss her anyway and feel much heartache over her family's loss.

Original Articles:
http://v1.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=123877§ion=localnews
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/525007.html

It makes me so sad to think about this, but I don't shy away from it. It should make me sad. It feels right being torn up when I see her smiling face. I guess I think it's honoring her and her family. I doubt there was ever a person that met Lauren and didn't like her. Thinking about her and they way she lived her life makes me want to smile more often. It makes me want to tell the people I love that I love them more often. It makes we want to be thankful for each day. It makes me want to be closer to my family.

This tragedy happened last year at this time. I'm writing about this now because Chris and Stephanie, one of Lauren's best friends, put a tribute video together and put it on youtube. Chris's email says the rest best:

In honor of Lauren’s birthday three days ago, I decided to put her slideshow on Youtube. The following is a four part compilation of photos put together by Stephanie Beatrous in tribute to the memory of everyone's friend Lauren Armistead. Steph really did a great job with this so a big shout out to her. The slideshow is in parts because Youtube has a 10 minute time limit and the total slideshow is about 30 minutes. Be sure to turn up the volume because the video has sound. I'm sure when you watch this you will notice Pete is nowhere in the slideshow. That's not a snub to Pete at all. When Steph flew up to Charleston to help Pete with Lauren's things, she asked if she could keep some pictures and he gave her every picture that wasn't of the two of them. Steph didn't know at the time she would make a slideshow so she didn't ask for any with that in mind. When she finally decided to make it, she just worked with what she had. I'm sure when you watch this, you'll see she had a lot to work with and did a fantastic job. The slideshow is great and I've watched it many times. As sad as I still am, I can't help but smile that I was lucky enough to know Lauren. She really was amazing.

Please forward this to anyone I left off the list or anyone that cared about Lauren. I’m sure they will appreciate the slideshow. Thanks again Steph!

The beginning of the slideshow has a picture and a quote that goes too fast for you to see it so I just thought I’d put the quote here before you begin the slideshow.

“The world is full of people who will go their whole lives and not actually live one day. She did not intend on being one of them.”

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8f55wPv1ec

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8stG51NB3es

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7WwlwvjrPQ

Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZJ-w5kuhg

Music

I love buying music on itunes. It's so frickin easy and fast. I just went through a recent wave of clicking the "buy" button on lot of stuff in rapid succession. You should try it. It's fun. Anyway, I thought I'd post what's new in my possession and if you'd like a listen, well, you just let me know.

Rufus Wainwright (man I love this guy's music) Recent Album Purchases:
~Release the Starts (2007)
~Alright, Already [Live In Montreal] (2005)
~Poses (2002)
~Want One (2003)
~Want Two (2004)

Spoon Recent Album Purchases:
~Girls Can Tell
~Kill the Moonlight

Billy Bragg & Wilco Recent Album Purchases:
~Mermaid Avenue
~Mermaid Avenue Vol. 2

Radiohead Recent Album Purchases:
~Rainbows

Arrested Development Recent Album Purchases:
~Since the Last Time

And 'yes', Arrested Development did put out a new album. It's decent. There are probably 3 songs I really like a lot. If I fall in love with a new song on an album I just bought, I tend to listen to it very frequently. A few such songs from these recent albums for me are:

~"Sanssouci" by Rufus Wainwright on Release the Stars
~"The Way We Get By" by Spoon on Kill the Moonlight
~"All I Need" by Radiohead on Rainbows

The Spoon purchases were brought on by watching Stranger Than Fiction last night. It's Will Ferrell's drama where someone is narrating his life. The movie was actually much much more than I expected. And I really enjoyed it. It might have even moved me. I actually had a Spoon album from a friend (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga). I've listened to it maybe 5 times. I liked it alright. But anyway, "The Way We Get By" was in the movie. So today I looked up the soundtrack. I also really enjoyed the song Will Ferrell played on the guitar in the movie. It was also a really sweet point in the movie, so that added to my interest. Turns out it's called "(I'd Go the) Whole Wide World." It's played and sung by Will Ferrell in the movie. The rendition on the soundtrack, though, is by Wreckless Eric, whoever the crap that is. I read a bit more and found that it's originally a song by The Monkees, so that's the version I bought.

From my four stellar years of studying French, I knew 'sans' means 'without', so I looked up what 'sanssouci" meant. It means carefree, if you didn't know already. Wikipedia taught me more in the process