Gentleman ♀

Ever Heard Of Irish Rock?

Hi,

Have you ever met someone you're just not sure if you like? As in, they match with one part of yourself perfectly but the other half of yourself finds them kinda annoying? Well, that's how I am with this kid Oliver in my PLTW class. He's a trans dude with purple chin-length hair, baggy clothes, and black glasses. He's also in 7th grade so a year younger than me. I first saw him in drama club last year and I thought he seemed cool but I wasn't going to, god forbid, SOCIALIZE because of it lol. Now he's in my class and we just so happened to sit next to each other. I also heard Gianna and the rest of those asshole neighbor kids making fun of him on the bus saying he had a "plastic dick" and other transphobic and just violating things behind his back.

He's actually really cool for the most part, my only problem is the fact that he's one of those "I'm a burnout gifted kid with anxiety, ADHD, and I'm an introvert" kinds of people who'll tell you about that one time they scratched their wrist with a butter knife as soon as they get the chance. Don't get me wrong, self harm is self harm no matter how you do it, I just don't think you should go parading it around in that way. It's okay to not cover up marks and scars and it's okay to share your story when it's relevant but don't just walk up to someone and he like "i CuT mY wRiSt OnCe" you know? He's also one of those kids who are literally 12 but are like "politicians are dumb and society is corrupt, the government is full of crazy old men and we're all doomed!" Like boy, calm down. I know we're not living in the best of times but we're not doomed. Plus, we're middle schoolers! The only recent political stuff we should know about is, what's the latest politically themed meme, who's president at the moment, and maybe Woman's reproductive rights 'cause child predators and whatnot. I guess that might just be me being insecure though. Politics makes me feel dumb for not knowing everything there is to know. EIther way, I'm still going to be friends with Oliver and I hope this year goes well enough!

Soooo it's been a few days and I have A LOT to update y'all on. First of all, I got a new Chromebook for school. I was soooooo sad that I had to give up my old one 'cause all the memories of staying up 'till 3am doing random shit. I unironically, ironically kissed it goodbye. take that as you will lol. This new one's not too bad though. The design looks sleeker from face value and the keys are nice and quiet but the texture of it feels like really worn-down sandpaper and figuring out what's the front and what's the back is near impossible. I want to get something to decorate it but I'm not sure what. Probably stickers but I don't want them to get all dirty and peeley. I don't know. We'll see I guess.

So you know my sister Hailey right? Little 10-year-old tomboy? Well, a few days ago we were playing truth or dare and she asked me if I had a crush as a truth. I said no and then I asked her if she had a crush as a truth. She said yes but when I asked her who she said my turn was up. When it came back to my turn I dared her to tell me who her crush was 'cause I'm smart like that. My mom overheard and came over all like "ooooooo Hailey's got a crushhhhhhh." She refused to flat out tell us but she brought out her year book and had us guess. We went over the entirety of her grade twice and she was just like "I lied, you already guessed them." After that I was a bit annoyed but in a joking way. We ended up running to my parents room where we locked the door and she gave me three options to chose from. Some funky boy, a special needs boy, and a girl. Dun dun dunnnnnnn! After eliminating the funky boy we were left with two options, the boy and the girl. We went back and forth for a while but she eventually told me she had a crush on a girlllllll! And she told me first! AAAAAAAA! Also, I totally called it. She took the clothes off of our old Elsa doll one too many times... Kinda sus lol. But yeah, she even told me "I like girls and boys." It was the cutest thing I've ever seen and I was so happy she told me. We messed around for a bit longer then we had to go to bed. I had to ask her the next day to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I counted my fingers and pinched myself. Surreal honestly. I told her that I liked girls and boys too btw. She promised not to tell.

Last weekend was Burlifest. Chances are, nobody reading this except myself will know what the hell that is so I'll let you know. It's "the greatest glorified house party on earth" hosted by the singer of my dad's band Craic. They have lots of bands and musicians playing on this home-built stage in this guy's huge backyard. There's a food truck and raffles and lots of entertaining drunk people doing dumb things. It's a fun place because everyone knows everyone. Of course, I know nobody, but it's a friends invite their friends who invite their friends who invite their friends kinda thing. Everyone's a friend of a friend. it's kinda funny 'cause before we even got out of the car I saw a drunk guy passed out in the bed of his truck and made eye contact with another drunk guy peeing in the middle of an open field. Probably not the best environment for a child but I honestly love it. It feels like home in a weird sorta way.

It was a bit boring at first but Hailey and I ended up getting some really good homemade fries and a soda and we sat and listened to some scruffy voiced guy play guitar, sing, and play harmonica all by himself. it was pretty good actually. He went on like a 10 minute rant about cannolis though. It started with him saying he liked them and ended with him starting a song he's "sing in jail after robbing a bank for cannolis." Drunk people are funny.

When it was my dad's band's turn to go on stage I was really excited. They were the main event, the host's band, the reason everyone was here. I'll admit, they weren't that good since they'd barely practiced before this, but everyone was either too drunk to notice or too busy jumping around to care. It was really fun! They started playing and I went up and started swaying to the music with Hailey, trying to keep us far enough from any unstable drunk people. Just behind the mosh pit we swayed along 'till a song I knew by heart came on. I started singing along and trying to get Hailey to dance too and it was really fun. We danced and jumped and I had her on my back and we even got glow sticks but eventually, she got tired. She laid down and I took off my hoodie to reveal a funky white tanktop. I looked like a real teen lol. glow sticks in hand, white tank top and wide-legged pants. I knew I looked like some hippie at a rave but I didn't care. My favorite song came on and I jumped 'till my legs hurt. I sang 'till my voice gave out. It was the most fun I'd had in soooo long. I danced with my mom and hugged my dad once it was over. It was literally the best. If you're wanting to listen to any of his songs btw I'll put a link here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPXRmYppuGdpau912_VTZeg
I recommend Irish Banshee, Hold The Penny, Drunken Sailor, and Dirty Old Town. They're Irish rock and I love it so much! It might be an acquired taste but if you're anything like me you'll fall in love with their funky music just as quickly as I did. I think I'm gonna end this here. Goodnight and I really do hope you listen to the music and let me know what you think.

~ Gentleman