For those of us with jet black bowl cuts: Rachael Gilbert

I, like all children living in the 21st century, went through my "awkward phase". It was terrible. And, I would argue that it was a lot worse than most people's because mine was an "awkward scene phase"....I know. I feel the silent judgement as I type.
I (thankfully) have no pictures left of those two years of my life because I have burned them all. But I'll provide a rough picture:
1.) My hair was black (I home dyed it actually, and to this day, 5 years later, some of my towels are still stained black)
2.) My nails were likewise black
3.) The black theme also translated to my clothing (my dog at the time had a predominately white coat, and I really didn't know how shedding worked so I'd go to school in all black, thinking I looked incredibly badass, and have white fur all over my black skinny jeans).
4.) I had a bowl cut
(Okay, the next story is going to deviate slightly from my intent for this blog post but whatevs) so in sixth grade I was a cursing virgin. I didn't even know that those words existed until like, 5th grade, so obviously being the incredibly cool emo I was, I wanted to curse.
And so I did. But, unfortunatley, I didn't really know which words went with which situation so...
The first time I cursed I was sitting next to Olivia Jennings in math class, I dropped my dinasour pencil case on the floor and subsequently said...
"Oh hell asshole"
Olivia Jennings gave me a look I will never forget. At the time, i believed she gave me this look because i had just commited a sin. So I apologized, saying
"Oh I'm so sorry, sometimes it just slips out. I curse all the time."
.......
......
....
I later learned she did not give me that look because her dainty ears had been singed by my fervent cursing but because I had no fucking idea how to curse.
5 years later and I'm glad we fixed that problem.

Anyway, back to the point, I decided today to make a tribute to this time in my life by creating the "perfect playlist for the awkward scene kid"

1.) "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance
This was the first song I listened to by MCR, a band that would destroy my sixth grade self. Nevermind that this song is complaining about teenagers (which let's remind ourselves, you are), it sounds awesome. It's also got the "explict" label at the mall which I thought was the epitome of cool at the time. "Teenagers" will also introduce you to the great passtime of feeling superior to all of your peers and seeing no need to interact with anyone ever. fun.

2.) "Weightless" by All Time Low
Do you understand the meaning of this song? No. No you do not. But he's obviously complaining about something, which is all you do, so it's a requirement to like this song. Also, this song should only ever be listened to at full volume with your headphones. Because that's obviously cool. Don't worry about destroying your eardrums or anything. Not being able to hear from "raging" too hard is also cool.

3.) "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" by Fall Out Not
You have no idea why all the vowels are gone or what this song is about, but I'm the plus side there is a lot of angry yelling about some girl who destroyed the hopes and dreams of the singer. Which you will relate to on a very personal level as you pine after the hottest kid in your grade who would never have anything to do with your awkward and hair dye filled existence.

4.) "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World
I actually still kinda like this song, but for very different reasons than I did in middle school. Middle school me listened to this during fits of existential crisis and used it to back up the fact that having no friends was cool since all of human existence was a posion on this earth. I kept a journal (black velvet of course) in sixth grade which I dug up for this occasion and I have a journal entry about this song (I also didn't understand how band names worked so I call the singer Jimmy...), here is an exerpt (it's from October 12th of 2010 btw)
"I hate everone today. I think Jimmy is the only one who understands me, he nows (*actual me here* yes, i did indeed not know the difference between "know" and "now" at the the time) that people are just stupid. Maddie is stupid. Lauren is stupid. Obama is stupid. (*me here again* no hate Obama, you pretty chill. Also, i haven't spoken to Maddie or Lauren since seventh grade and I'm sure they're decent people) I'm not stupid though. And neither is Jimmy."
I have no words for that journal entry.

5.) "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie
I think the band's name is enough explanation for why it makes this list.

6.) "Therapy" by All Time Low
This song romantizes mental illness which was the kind of shitty thing I was into in sixth grade. It was also generally kinda like "the world sucks and I'm better than everyone in it", a belief I firmly subscribed to for two and a half years. It's chorus is also really catchy...so there's that.