Maddison's Musings

First and foremost, lakes/large bodies of water kind of terrify me. I think it's mainly because I'm worried that something such as a giant shark or something will eat me, but it's also just the whole open water thing in general. I can't even touch the bottom of a lake without freaking out over the sand. Also, I'm always scared that while I'm swimming, my foot will touch something, whether it be a sunken boat, a branch, or simply a piece of seaweed.

I don't know where these fears originated (although it most likely involves my grandpa making up stories about lake creatures and the fact that sunken ships in general are terrifying), but I can tell you real quick that they're highly annoying. But, thanks to Google, after a quick search, I found out that I'm not the only one with this strange fear. In fact, it's actually pretty common. It's actually a classified phobia: Thalassophobia- the fear of the sea.

That brings me to the title of this post. This weekend, we're up at a nice lake, and yesterday I decided to face my fears in swim in it. I wasn't going to spend four to five hours in a car ride and just swim in the pool, I want to swim in the lake. I decided to just jump in, figuratively and literally. It was freezing (yet refreshing) and terrifying, but I can say that I did it, and I actually had fun. I just didn't touch the bottom or look down, but I don't do that in pools either, so it's all good. At the lake, there's a dock that's floating out in the water, probably 150 feet out(but don't quote me on that I have no idea), and it's attached to the ground so it stays. It's at least 30-40 feet to the bottom already at the dock, so it's highly terrifying to swim out to it. But yesterday, within an hour of arriving here, my family and I swam out to the lake. I did it. It was awful and my heart was beating a thousand miles an hour, but I did it, and it felt nice doing it. Will I do it again? Probably not, but maybe.

After swimming out there, the lake did become a bit more fun. I swam in it all day yesterday, staying mostly in the area by our condo thing we're in, but that still got to at least 10 feet deep. I can't tell if the fact that this lake is super clear so you can see the bottom, even out by the dock, helps or not, but it's better than not being able to see the bottom so I guess it helps a little.

Although it's terrifying at the time, facing your fears can be super rewarding. And it allows you to feel like a badass for a bit, so that's another plus. I think I'm going to swim for a little bit now, but I just thought I'd update you. Go do something that scares you.

~Maddison

June 6, 2015. I don't know about you, but to me, that's a very important date. Why? Well, On the sixth of June at 6:26 pm, I was hugging none other than Tyler Oakley. It was such an amazing night and I'm sure I'll remember it for the rest of my life (hopefully).

My mom, brother, and I were in the car and heading to Seattle around 10:30 in the morning on June 6th, getting ready to explore the city a little and then be plenty early for Tyler's tour. We got to the city fairly early and drove around to figure out where we were, where the theater was, and where we could park close to the theater. After all of that, we had plenty of time to spare, so we went down to the pier.

On the pier, we walked around a bit, but there really wasn't much to do. After some mindless walking around, we found our way to the ferris wheel (Seattle Great Wheel). My mom and little brother were hesitant to go on it, but I was nearly skipping to the line. We bought are tickets and then headed to the line to wait. The line was relatively short, and soon enough we were in one of the little pod things. The ride goes pretty slow, but not excruciatingly so. When you reach the top, you feel like you're at the top of the world. It was a really nice day last Saturday, so we could see everything from Mt. Rainier to the Space Needle. It was super picturesque and lovely. I also wanted to take a selfie a the top, so I did and that was fun as well.

After the ferris wheel, we ate lunch and then headed towards the Moore Theater so that we could be early enough. We were plenty early, so we walked down the street to the Starbucks and chilled out for a while. Soon enough, it was time to start heading back to the theater to enjoy the best night of my life.

We arrived at the theater around 4:20 pm, and got into line. The VIP meet and greet was supposed to start at 5 pm, but due to delays it didn't start until later (5:45/6 if my memory serves correctly). Since it was a nice day out (around 80/85F), the wait in the line was excruciating. We were in direct sunlight with the heat bouncing around us, but hey I got a little tan so I'm not going to complain. While waiting in line, everyone in our group DM on Twitter was going crazy with excitement. I actually got to meet two of my internet friends in line, which was super exciting. We took a really cute selfie together and sent it to our other friend who lives in a different state. I would have met the others in the group chat, but we were all far too excited and scattered to meet up properly, maybe some other time.

When the line finally started moving, everyone started getting more and more excited- this was finally happening! Each person was checked in at the door to make sure that they actually had VIP tickets. I was the only one in my family that did, but my mom just asked if she could come back with me, and the lady let them through since they had show tickets. She just gave me the VIP lanyard, and the three of us were off.

The meet and greet was down in the bar area, but it worked. They put us into line, gave us the rundown of how things were going to work, and then we were left to wait for Tyler to come out. When he came, everyone started screaming and got all fangirly. I don't think it finally hit me that I was going to meet him until I was next in line and about to walk up and hug him.

I handed my phone to the guy taking the pictures and took a shaky breath, walking over to Tyler and hugging him. He gives the best hugs omg. He's the perfect mixture of soft and cuddly, but also nice and firm. He was super sweet and adorable. I actually wrote down our entire conversation so I wouldn't forget, so here it is:

Ty: Hi!
Me: omg hi
Ty: I like your shirt wait it's so cute I haven't really looked at them yet
Me: *shows shirt* yeah it's so cute and my mom *points* was so happy that it wasn't black so good job
Ty: wait is that your mom? Hi *waves to my mom*
*hugs and takes pictures*
Ty: Thank you for coming
Me: omg of course thank you so much
Ty: *waves goodbye* wait I love your hair and thank you for donating
Me: of course thank you

I think it's safe to say that I died. I'm still dead. He's just so sweet and he loved my hair. Also, since it's a "slumber party" tour, everyone was dressed in pj's. He was wearing a sloth onesie, and I was wearing my Trevor Project shirt that I got from donating from his birthday fundraiser. Those were the best 30-60 seconds of my life and I was so shaky after I couldn't even take my picture with Korey.

After walking away from Tyler, I walked to his best friend Korey who also is on tour with him. We got a cute selfie and he's so tall he had to shrink like twelve feet (or like a foot, same difference) to get on my level. Here's my conversation with Korey:

Me: omg hi you're so cute and colorful
K: thank you
*hands phone*
Me: wait okay you take the selfie you're taller and less shaky
K: okay here I'll shrink and get down on your level
*takes selfie*
*hugs again*

This was honestly the best night of my life and I never want to forget it. After the meet and greet, we were led to the main part of the theater where we bought bought water and I bought some tour merch. We waited for a bit before they opened the doors for the show, and then we went in and found our seats. The show was hands down one of the funniest things I've ever experienced. I filmed (and my mom) most of it until my camera battery died, and put it up on YouTube, so if you want to watch that, it will be right here. 

~Maddison