How Linkin Park Changed My Life

You're a great person Derek, and I'm glad you made it through - not only because without you this website wouldn't exist, but above all because I wouldn't have gotten to know one of my best friends. You're strong and you can be truely proud of what you accomplished.

Funny enough I have not the slightest idea how I got to know Linkin Park. I know it was in 2007 or 2008 but I really have no clue why or how or what caused me to get addicted to them. I guess in the end it doesn't matter (haha, I know.)
I struggle to express what Linkin Park changed in my life, because in my head it all seems like a huge chaos. Most important for sure is that I found in their lyrics something that is able to keep me on my feet even on the darkest days - I just lately got one of their quotes tattooed (Don't ignore who it's for at the end of th e night) and as silly as it might sound, that helps me immensly when I feel bad.

Linkin Park gave me a feeling of being at home and having something that gives me the impression to belong to. I got to know amazing people from ireland, the us, some few from germany. Some of them turned out as assholes (You know who you are), but some of them really helped me to become who I am today. For years and years I got taught I wouldn't be worth shit, so to get to know these people who I can call my friends by now helped my self confidence a lot and helped me to believe that it's possible to be friends with me.

Usually, when listening to depressing songs, I get depressive as well - but although I'm sure everyone can agree that Linkin Parks old songs aren't exactly filled with happiness, they always make me feel incredibly much better. It's just something that helps me when everything else seems to crash
I'm not quite sure what else to say - the main aspects are really how they strongened my self confidence, gave me people I love by now as well as something that makes me feel welcome. My "Reallife-friends" don't really like their new music, they aren't too keen on them at all by now, but for me they are just a huge part of my life by now. I was lucky to be able to meet them several times by now, I got the chance to be one of the first 20 people in the world to listen to A thousand suns and to talk to Mike and Phoenix about it right afterwards, and that really gave me memories that make life easier a lot of times. They inspire me and make me feel better about myself, and that's more I ever expected from a band.

 

Holy Shit. Thats a very touching story Derek.

Never realised Linkin Park could have such a big effect on someone like that.

You definitely deserve all the achievements you've gained through the LPA.

 

Hi Derek.

I was listening to No Roads Left while reading the first part of your story, which made the whole thing more dramatic. I must say, that despite the fact that you are a random person for me, I feel good for you. I am glad that you made it and you can finally live a normal life, although I know that there are wounds that will never heal. I wish you all the best for the rest of your life. I also want to share how LP changed my life. Or actually how LP are involved in my life. I started listening to Linkin Park in mid-2007. Since then the phenomenon called 'Music' became one of the most important things in my life. I lost my sister when i was 5. My actual life started with losing a family member. She is involved in every single of my first memories. Her last days. And I was so young that I wasn't realising what the fuck was going on. On 14th November, 2010 I was home alone for few hours and I found her pictures and broke down in tears. Later in the night I updated my facebook status with Valentine's Day' lyrics "A black wind took you away from sight / Another darkness over day that night .." and so on.. you know the lyrics. The next day my father passed away. That black wind decided to take away another member of my family. The actual moment when my cousin told me that he is dead was a minute after I arrived in the hospital. You all think that when this kind of thing happen to anybody, he/she will immediately start crying/screaming. Well that didn't happen to me. I just sat down, starring, and in my mind 'Blackbirds' started playing. That was the moment that I realised how important Linkin Park is to me. I have some fun memories with my dad, LP-related. When I bought 'The Catalyst (Single CD)' (about a month or two before his death" he told me to play it. Well, after 2 minutes he went out of the room. He didn't like it. When we were renovating our apartment I played HT in full and on OSC he said "Shut up, Shut up, what the hell is this?" You probably don't find it funny but it was to me. Also he thought that Numb is their best song. Well, he hasn't heard of "The Little Things Give You Away". My favourite song by LP is Burning in the Skies, because I can relate it to him the most. Now me & my mom are alone, but I am smiling, because I know that in the sky, there are two angels that keep our hope alive.

Don't lose faith, Derek. I know I won't lose mine.

And last but not least. LINKIN PARK FOR LIFE!

 

Thanks for sharing these stories guys!

Personally, the music has impacted me rather than the lyrics. This isn't true now, but when I first listened to music I never really listened to the lyrics anyways. I just remember hearing In the End and thinking it was the coolest thing I've ever heard. Then I kept finding more songs that I loved and since then I've expanded my musical tastest to other bands/genres.

 

@feelthless: very sad, I kind of experienced something similar. So I know how tough that is. My story relates to Derek's as well. This is hard but here we go lol. There will be "Offensive language but I obviously have no intent to offend.

Ok, When I was 3 years old my bio dad killed himself, although I was probably better without because he was a drunk and had a really bad history and that was pretty rough. And then my step dad moved in and was highly abusive although he eventually moved out. My mother was very neglectful and often verbally abusive. I am a very . . . effeminate person, and all my friends were girls, So I would come with my nails polished or whatever and she would tell me "Don't do that, thats what fags do." or "You're not a faggot are you." Thats one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with. Having something about me attacked by my own mother.It didn't help that I would go to school and bullied and teased, once while I was being beaten by three kids I can remember seeing a teacher cheer it on (at least until a superior cane along). In that stretch I attempted suicide 4 times. But the biggest issue I dealt with (and still deal with) is my sexuality and gender identity.I can't believe I'm telling this to a bunch of strangers but I am transgendered. And theres a constant struggle between personalities . And through all of this Lp has been my best friend. The one thing I found relate-able. It often kept me alive. And now we've evolved in the same way. Matured in the same way. The music always finds a way to connect with me on the deepest level. Its like they know me personally lol. And while I still find it hard to get myself out of the mindset that suicide is the only option for me because it was the only thing I knew for so long. But for the first time I can look at my future. I can see that other things are possible for me. And Lp Has been there every step of the way. So whether I'm in a really dark place or need reminding of how far I've come and how I can't let myself regress, it doesn't really matter. Lp is always there. Always listening. Always saying what I couldn't say for me. So for that I have to thank them.

Holy shit that was intense lol

 

I have always found comfort in music, its very therapeutic for me. Linkin Park is no exception to that, but things in my life have changed so much because of them and the friends that I have gained as a result of the LPU and the fan sites that I frequent. For those of you here that have known me for a while, you know how incredibly difficult the last three years have been, and why. I honestly believe that without some of you I wouldn't have survived it all. I owe Andrea, Derek, Anthony (Astat) and a few others so much more than I can possibly ever give back. I love that I have gained some wonderful friends, and a sense that I am not alone, even if everyone that I have connected with lives incredibly far away from me. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

Very good read Derek...I enjoyed reading that. I think I'll post how LP changed my life as well:

The first time that I ever listened to Linkin Park was in 2000 or 2001, I can't quite remember. I remember my best friend at the time had bought the CD, and he brought it over to my house one time and showed me some songs, I remember hearing 'Papercut', 'Crawling', 'Runaway, 'In The End' and 'Cure For The Itch' that day. I liked it a lot and went out and had my Mother buy me the CD. I was 10 or 11 at the time, keep in mind. I listened to it a lot, but I wasn't yet obsessed with the band. I remember I used to play my PS2 a lot when it first came out, and I had this game, I think it was some ''X-Games'' video game, and the intro to the game was 'A Place For My Head'. Strangely, I didn't really listen to all of Hybrid Theory after I bought it. This was one of the songs that I barely ever listened to, but for some reason, I fell in absolute love with this song when I heard it on this games soundtrack. Then in about 2001/2002, I went through some rough times, despite only being 11/12 years old. I had just graduated 5th grade and my parents were getting a divorce. It got pretty bad...I used to be deathly afraid of my Father back then, he was drinking a lot and he would sometimes abuse my Mother in front of me and there was always yelling going on, no matter what. It was either me or my Mom getting yelled at. Eventually, my Dad moved out, and one night, I was at my friend's graduation party and I had to leave to go to my Dad's mothers house. It was weird because I didn't understand what was going on at the time and it was hard for me to be away from my Mom.. Eventually I started getting used to it, but I was so stressed out that I had to go to the hospital because I was so skinny and malnourished, my body was destroying itself. I wouldn't eat, I could see my ribs, and it just wasn't good. Around middle school, all this started turning into anger for me.

I wasn't listening to music for some odd years, but in about 2004, when I started high school, I found out about Meteora, Live In Texas, and Reanimation from someone I had met at school, who had since become my best friend. This is when I got absolutely obsessed with LP. The songs on Meteora really helped me out emotionally with my anger and depression problems, it was like therapy to me. I then started buying tons of LP merch, bought all there CDs up to that point, joined the LPU, etc. I didn't attend Projekt Revolution 2004 because my family wouldn't drive me and thought I shouldn't go for some reason, really sucks.. Anyways, LP continued to help me in 2005 and early 2006.

2006, that was a hard year for me. I was 16 that year, and I went through some rough times again. For some reason I was just really depressed at that time. I couldn't find a girlfriend, and I was infatuated with this girl who did not care for me at all despite everything I did for her.. that really fucked with me. It was bad for me because I was focusing on how all my friends and everyone at school had a girlfriend, and I didn't. I felt like I didn't belong, I had some friends, but not a lot. I felt distant from everyone and my family. I just felt like I belonged somewhere else. I never went to parties or anything because I was so shy. I then got my first job in late 2006, and life started to get a lot better. LP helped me so much through that time.

2007 was a weird year for me, it was the year I had changed the most. I had a job where I made some decent money, despite only being 16. I was in 11th grade and everything was going awesome, MTM was coming out and I was excited. My grandparents (my grandfather has since passed...), took me to LA on vacation, and we went to the Laurel Canyon house, the house LP had recorded MTM in. It was really awesome and one of the best experiences of my life up to this point.. When I got back from vacation, I would be attending two proms that year, and I finally had got my first girlfriend. I then saw LP live for my first time, at Bamboozle 2007 and it was one of the highlights of my life, I had waited so long to see LP live and it was absolutely stunning. MTM was released a month after I got back and I fell in love with LP even more, MTM is still my favorite LP album. I remember my first kiss, it was in a best buy. HAHA. Good times.. Anyways, the summer of 2007 came, and me and my girlfriend broke up...I did a pretty shitty thing, and broke up with her at the prom that I brought her to. I danced with someone else at my prom and I know it broke her heart, I haven't talked to since. I see her around sometimes but she never even will look at me. Anyways, this is where it gets interesting. I stopped talking to my Father altogether and just completely up and left his house one day and started staying at my Mom's permanently. It was better for me at the time, he was still an asshole to be back then. I then attended three Projekt Revolution 2007 shows that summer and it was amazing. I went back to school in September of 2007, it was the start of my senior year. The girl that I had danced with at the prom over the summer started talking to me a lot at school. Then in October, life couldn't have been any better for me, I was extremely happy at that time for some reason. I had asked her to be my girlfriend, and it lasted for nearly 2 years. Things got crazy quickly. I lost my virginity to her within the first few weeks of dating her. I loved it, of coarse. This is where it gets crazier. I moved in with her at her house, and lived with her for what would be the next two years. Keep in mind I was only 16 at the time. It felt weird not seeing my family.

Our relationship went well through 2008, I saw LP live again for my 5th time in New Hampshire on the 2008 winter tour, went to Canada for my high school graduation present for Edgefest to see LP, and attended two Projekt Revolution 2008 shows that summer. Life was great....and then, a week after my PR shows, my Grandfather passed away. This was extremely devastating for me, he was like a father to me. I had practically lived with him my whole life and I loved him to death. I sat beside his dead body and hugged him and cried, I left him a note that read ''RIP Grandpa, I love you and I am sorry for being a bad grandson (even though I wasn't really)''. My life got bad again then, I was really depressed and a lot of MTM songs had helped me through it, especially songs like 'Shadow Of The Day', 'LOATR' and "Valentine's Day'. In late 2008, around November, my relationship started falling apart. She started hanging out with people and guys that I disliked. I was alone a lot. Around December and early January of 2009, it got to be the worst. I had pretty much stopped living with her and was living at my friends houses, I didn't have a home or clothes. We then broke up in February and it was the hardest thing in my life. I struggled with it for many, many months. I was really depressed, I wanted to kill myself. It hurt me so badly to see her with other guys and hearing stories about her. I started talking to this girl and she helped me a lot, we hung out nearly everyday and just drove around or went to her house, and there were always lots of people there.

I liked being around people, I didn't like being alone. In the summer of 2009, I started getting over her completely. Life was good again. LP had once again helped me greatly through this time. New Divide came out and I fell in love with it. Then fall of 2009 came. I started attending college courses, even though I didn't want to go to college. I moved back in my grandparents house. DBS came out and I fell in absolute love with it, I had been waiting since 2005 for it, and Let Down was a song that helped me the most through the break up in earl 2009, the REAct now version. I went and saw DBS live twice, in NYC and in Maryland, it was amazing. I then fell for this girl who had just broke up with her boyfriend. We started living together as friends at my friends house, the one that helped me with my break up. We slept in the same bed because there was only one bed for us. One night we started kissing and we had sex, and I fell in love again... stupid me. I then asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes, but I could tell something wasn't right. About a month later, and she dumped me and left me to fend for myself at 3 in the morning for her ex-boyfriend. I became really depressed again, and this is where LP has helped me the most, from this point on. Unfortunately, I started drinking heavily and doing a lot of drugs, something I have never done in my life up until this point. I had hit rock bottom. I dropped out of college. I was always depressed, or really angry and I was an asshole to pretty much everyone. I was bitter. I felt like no woman would ever love me. I was 19 and still learning. Anyways, I then had sex with the girl whos house I was staying at one night. I didn't love her, but she loved me, a lot. I felt really bad the next day because I didn't want her to feel like I was going to ask her out or that I fell for her... I viewed her as a really good friend and sort of my therapist.. She got mad and got depressed, and I had caused it. I continued staying at her house for a while, until one day, I had received a call on my cell phone, it was the girl who had left me for her ex-boyfriend that used to live with me.

She told me she was pregnant and I had to bring her to get a pregnancy test. I went to the store with her and bought one, and it came back positive. She told me it was my baby, so I completely freaked out. I had no job, no house, and she didn't love me. I kept drinking and drinking and went into a darker spiral until January of 2010, she asked me if she could move back with me, since her boyfriend had left her again. This time, however, we had to move to my moms house, a house I had not lived in since 2007. She stayed for about a month or two, leading me on. Turns out, the baby was never mine, but her exes. We grew apart and she moved out in mid February. I was alone again, this time in a house I had barely ever lived in. I then started illegally going to bars and drinking a lot. Then valentine's day 2010 came. I went to a movie with a girl I had liked for years, and went to dinner with her as well. We then went back to her place, and made passionate love. It was my best sexual experience ever. I completely and utterly fell in love again. I asked her out a month later, and she said yes, and we have been together ever since. I practically lived with her. We have had our ups and downs throughout the rest of that year, but mostly it was good. ATS got released and I saw LP live at the best buy theater in September. On the other hand though, I was still drinking a lot, and started doing A LOT of drugs late in that year, despite being happy.

2011 started and things were going good. I saw LP live twice in February in Boston and NYC and it was awesome, great shows. Then, another shitty time came. I got kicked out of my Grandmother's house (where I stayed a good majority of 2009/2010/early 2011) because she thought I stole 200 dollars from her. My life went back to a darker spiral... I had no choice to move back with my Mom, and I slept on her couch, i didn't want to sleep in my room there because it brought back bad memories. We started fighting a lot and I fucked up a few times, talking and flirting with other girls. A few months later, around May, I got a job, but got fired a month later. My relationship got back on track. Ever since, we have been going good, I moved back into my Grandmother's recently and we are talking about getting an apartment together and getting married. This has been my longest relationship to date and I hope it lasts forever. I have also since rekindled my relationship with my Father and my Grandparents on his side, and it's going really well. I grew up A LOT, and LP has been there for me the whole time.

Anyways, the point of that was to show how much LP has helped me. I owe my life to them. I would have committed suicide throughout all those bad times if it were not for LP's music and lyrics, and just the band members in general. Chester has become my role model, I have copied a lot of his tattoos (stupid I know), but I did it because I want to remember Chester and LP for the rest of my life, even when LP breaks up someday and I grow older, maybe not listening to music as much. I can look at my skin when I am 70 and remember Linkin Park and what they were to me, and why I am alive. I fucking love you Linkin Park and always will.

 

I'm very sure I shared how I managed to listen to LP for the first time, but I never really explained how much they changed my life and turned it around for me, even though at the time I'd STILL be depressed out of my mind, but at the same time feel at calm peace just listening to them.

When I was 14, I had my first taste of depression in the last weekend of July, after ironically enough one of the greatest days of my life. That night, I thought about hating for no reason and I didn't want to (I'm a massive overthinker, so it always hurts to think negative thoughts, which I tend to do by accident), which led me to fight my head, which then brought my mind to some weird realization that no one liked me. The sad part was, at that time, it seemed, according to me, like EVERYONE but my family didn't like me over my life, and that really depressed me, because despite my family's love, I would've love some friends to actually stay close and be with (I also moved to Vegas when I was 12 and from this time to right now, Las Vegas is the worst place to live. Ever. I was majorly homesick.) In fact, I also thought for a long time that even my own family didn't love me despite that later on I would find out that they always love me no matter what. Suddenly I felt suicidal. Suddenly I was endangering my family. Suddenly I felt like this world would be such a better place without me. My dad almost got into a crash going to work because he thought about my well-being, which made me cry my eyes out. That's what I would always do every night, cry my eyes out in the sole comfort of my room or a corner. Even though I never smoke, drink, take drugs, or cut myself, I looked like a young man about to lose control at the very brink of life. Life...it wanted me gone, I thought.

Then, while I was listening to my iPod, I found the first Linkin Park album I ever bought. Minutes to Midnight.

To this day, I don't understand why people would always bash the daylights out of "Minutes to Midnight", because it wasn't just an album to me, but it was also my daily medicine. I felt it was what God was using to get to me (being a strong Catholic, I thank God for Linkin Park.). Linkin Park not only became even MORE of my favorite band ever, but suddenly they were these 6 people I called my best friends. That's why "Leave Out All the Rest" was my favorite song of all-time (at the time before "Iridescent" came out) especially; I would reflect upon Chester's bridge/outro verse with major goosebumps and emotion in my body and mental being all the time:

Forgetting all the hurt inside you've learned to hide so well
Pretending someone else can come and save me for myself
I can't be who you are

Of course, I vented out my frustrations on "Given Up", "Bleed It Out", and "No More Sorrow" like no tomorrow. But then there were the softies, like "Valentine's Day" (I never knew what it was like to be alone...") and "What I've Done" that brought me back down to Earth a bit ("Hands Held High" not really counting lol ). And then there was "The Little Things Give You Away". Sure, that song was about Katrina and also about a hypocrite who wants attention and gets it WHEN people suddenly look up to him "6 feet under water", but those last few minutes and seconds of Chester/Mike/Dave(?) always get to me. Hard.

Long story short, Minutes to Midnight then saved my life, as later I tried to follow the messages the songs preached, and at times they really worked. Despite me trying, I noticed my depression going away, my smile coming back more genuinely, and most importantly, myself coming back to life. I had myself a girlfriend ever since (we're no longer dating), a strong family and strong friendships with my classmates and now my youth group, and plus I now have the reputation of "Cool Filipino Kid Who Loves Linkin Park and God to Death". And to think, had it not been for MTM, I would've never be typing this right now; I'd be just a forgotten soul who might've taken his own life. But no. Chester, Mike, Dave, Joe, Brad, and Rob, if you're reading this because you decided to be on the LPA as "Anonymous", thank you guys forever. I owe so much of my life to your music, and as a Catholic Linkin Park fan, I pray that God always bless you guys.

 

Derek.....that is a great story. :')

 

Thank you . This is such an emotional moment, I might cry XD

 

Derek, your story has touched me deeply. I think I can really connect with your experience, seeing that I was badly bullied back when I was younger. Even people who I thought were my friends would join in at times, just so they could avoid being bullied themselves. It really sucked but at the time I was just happy I had people I could talk with.

I remember when I had first heard In The End and just connecting with it on a very personal level. The rest was history...

One other experiance, that I have shared on LPA a few times, was the untimely passing of my 6 month old daughter who passed away on June 6th, 2008. It was a very hard time in my life and really showed me what true pain was like. I took the song "Shadow Of The Day" as a way I could deal with her loss and still play it in her memory.

I really can't express my love for this community of people you brought together after some crazy idea of starting a fan site for your favorite band. Thank you Derek for creating this site and for sharing your story with us. Also big thanks to the whole LPA community and all the people here I consider my friends.

 

This 100% is me also.

 

Thanks a lot Derek, I'm very sorry about your sister. It was a very a hard time and I am very thankful that I had an outlet thourgh Linkin Park's music that could help me deal with the hardship at the time. When I think of my daughter I always find comfort in these lyrics...

"And the sun will set for you
The sun will set for you
And the shadow of the day
Will embrace the world in grey
And the sun will set for you"​

​

But, on a happier note, Linkin Park's "The Messenger" always brings a smile to my face when I hear it. The song always gives me hope for the future of my other 3 children whom I love very deeply. I always want them too know that I will always love them and that I will always be there for them when they need me.

"Remember you're loved
And you always will be
This melody will bring you right
Back home

When life leaves us blind
Love keeps us kind
When life leaves us blind
Love keeps us kind"​

​

I guess I may sound a little sappy when I say that Linkin Park's music has done a lot for me in my life... Well then let me be sappy.

 

The Linkin Park community is full of some of the most amazing people

Circa-early 2001-02 school year

Seventh grade at Perry Junior High. The time when all the sixth graders from the three elementary schools the year before start a new school year, together. It's also the first time you experience having classes with kids from different grades.

Together...Especially in gym class.

All the eventful things always happen in the locker rooms at the end of class. Some kids would exchange homework questions, others would talk about their plans for the day or the week, whatever.

Me? It usually varied between getting harassed by the 9th graders or teased by my fellow 7th graders, who taunted me because I needed an aid to follow me from class to class and take notes, or help me with my class work, etc. (but that's another story). The 9th graders were the thing I feared the most at that time. It started with an occasional shove into a gym locker or wall. A couple times I've had my notebooks or binders torn apart or my gym clothes or wristwatch stolen from my locker.

Then there was lunch, which, at most times, had very minimal supervision. At that time I would sit with the same three kids everyday. Kids there, almost daily, would come over and pick at my lunch, or throw it across the room or on the floor. Then I'd sometimes get my head forced onto the table or something.

A couple times a week, usually, I would have scheduled meetings with the school's counselor to update where I was in my school work, and to address anything that I felt was needed. At first I was a little skeptical with speaking out, thinking all she could do was tell me what to do next. Instead, she took action in telling the gym teachers what was going on, and over time, they increased their supervision in the locker room.

---

On my Christmas list that year, one thing I remember was asking for a "mix CD that had Limp Bizkit's "My Way" and Linkin Park's "In The End" on it, among other things. Instead, I received Hybrid Theory and, naturally, the first few weeks were spent listening to In The End, and occasionally One Step Closer and Crawling.

One day, in the middle of January '02, I had the HT booklet open and on my bed. I started reading through some of the lyrics to some of the other songs. As I was reading, I started putting myself in the words I was reading.

I then just decided to listen to the whole thing, cover to cover. Then I'd listen through it again. And again.

This was amazing. It was like Linkin Park had known all along who I was and what I was going through, and knew just how to help me through it. It was one thing that really kept me going and looking at things more positively.

Having not been a /huge/ LP fan at the time, I bought Reanimation in the middle of August later in the year. After that, Meteora was released and I had paid my mom the money (who was working at home at the time) to go out and pick up a special edition of the album for me the day it came out, so I could experience it when I got home from school that day. That was a day I won't forget. Having watched the making of Meteora, then my very first listen to it solidified me as a hardcore fan. This was an album that I could let more of my built-up anger with. Especially with Chester's face-melting screams in Faint, From The Inside and Figure.09. And then my parents had told me that I was going to see them live. In concert.

It was April Fool's Day when they told me, so, at first I thought they were pulling one on me. It was scheduled to be the first show of that year's Projekt Revolution tour with X-Zibit, Blindside and Mudvayne. The night before the show, the whole state was pounded with a snow/ice storm and the show ended up rescheduling, and they came back on an off day from Summer Sanitarium with Mudvayne, Cold and Jurassic 5. It was there that I could scream along with my idols, and get out everything I had in me, for one night, with thousands of others. Their live show, for me at that time, was like nothing I'd ever seen, and made me want to see again. So I went back to Projekt Revolution, in 2004.

At the time Minutes To Midnight was released, I, like many others, had grown out of the nü metal era and was experiencing all other kinds of music, from classic rock bands to heavy metal bands, I was into it all. MTM fit right into that era, with a new, redefined sound, it made me glad to feel like Linkin Park, in a sense, was growing up with me. Especially with lyrics like

I'll face myself
To cross out what I've become
Erase myself
And let go of what I've done​

After seeing them live at 2007's Projekt Revolution, I started getting more involved in the online community, namely, the Linkin Park message boards. Soon I found myself spending a lot of time, and nearly my whole day on the boards. In between classes at community college, or here, at home. It was a couple months later that I bough Best Buy's LPUnderground7 pack.

Joining the LPU was one of the best things that could have happened to me (outside of that year's CD which had edited versions of recordings I had already downloaded). I was meeting more people who were just like me, with similar, and interesting, stories. Going into the chat room on a regular basis (and still do to this day), and interacting with some people who I've considered best friends over the years, which also led to a group of us meeting up at the Revolution Stage of Projekt Revolution 2008 in Hartford (unrelated, but my happy birthday sign for Chris Cornell at this show landed me in an episode of LPTV).

Linkin Park inspires me and keeps me going everyday and meeting them in Boston on the A Thousand Suns world tour was one moment I know I'll never forget. The only thing I really regret from that experience is that we didn't have enough time to interact, or to show them my tattoo (which was inspired by my life experiences).

If I ever get the chance at another meet and greet, if nothing else, I would want the time to thank them for all they've done for me. I'd also like Chester to hand-write one of my favorite lyrics to be inked on my back (as well as their "autograms")

No matter how far we've come
I can't wait to see tomorrow​

 

I wonder if Mike ever roams these boards. If not, someone should post this topic on his blog to pass along to the rest of the band