Yes, It's been a looong time since the Sack posted in these hallowed forums. But here I am.
Alright. This is an amalgam of advice and shameless self-promotion.
Our band (Of the Sun) is in a contest to receive free recording time, AND a laundry list of other nice things, including landing a gig at one the most notorious venues in our hometown of Austin, TX.
There's the shameless self-promotion.
Here's the advice.
I advise you to go to the link below and vote for us. Your support, bravery and kindness will be rewarded 1,000 fold in the realm of Valhalla, and you'll also up your indie cred for helping some unsigned musical miscreants on their creative journey.
Thanks everyone. I've missed you all ever so much.

VOTE FOR OF THE SUN

Done and done.

Edit:
Holy crap, man.. I don't think I'd heard your band's music before. Took a listen of the reverb nation stuff... I'm very impressed!
My vote turned out not just a friend vote!

Glad to see you posting again :yeah: Unfortunately I don't have a Facebook account so I can't vote for you guys. Good luck though, you guys totally deserve it.

REALLY liking Shoot The ****ing Television

Right on, duders. Thanks a lot. So what have I missed in my time away? Is the site still rife with 14-year-olds?

**** yes. But there are some who are actually incredibly mature like James. Basically people are plonkers no matter what their age. Welcome back Mr!

I'm going to check out your band and vote now.

Hell yeah! Thanks darlin'.

So, this may seem really light and totally random, but I need feedback.

Basically, I'm putting about $200 into savings from each cheque I receive from working. By June, I would have a nice wad of cash for my vacation. I expect to put even more than $200 per cheque in when I'm getting closer to June.

With that said, my little sister is absolutely obsessed with One Direction. Like, beyond words, obsessed. She wanted nothing more than tickets to one of their shows for Christmas, and didn't get them; instead my sister decided to get her Maroon 5 tickets, and she's not even all that into Maroon 5.

I'm not trying to one-up my sister or anything, and I know that One Direction aren't going to be her favorite group forever, but...when I was younger, I wanted to see The Spice Girls and Hanson in concert. My mom told me that I'd be glad I didn't go to see them, that I'd be embarrassed when I got older, but that wasn't the case. I still kind of regret not having the opportunity, because I know that they were so cool to me when I was a kid.

Those ****ing tickets are ridiculously expensive. I was thinking about buying her decent seats for the show in either Louisville or Columbus, just so she'd have the experience instead of never getting to see the group. But I really want to go to Los Angeles this year.

Should I give my little sister this awesome experience of getting to see her favorite group, which she could look on with nostalgia for years to come, or should I keep saving for LA, so I can scope it out for a potential move to the city in the next five years?

Since you're saving money for nothing more than a vacation (to a place that is going to rape you on taxes if you actually decide to live there), and not something more important like a house or a car that you may actually need in the more immediate future, I would say yes, you could reasonably afford to fund your sister's dream, assuming you consider her happiness at the very least as important as yours, since neither wish on either side is necessary to live productively. Plus, a concert ticket isn't going to derail long term plans as far as savings are concerned.

However, if you were saving for something more detrimental to your life and its prospects in the near-term, I would advise against spending absorbent amounts for gifts, unless you can reasonably expect to not set yourself back that far in the process.
If your life goal is to live in California, and it is more important than anything else, then go for that. You'll just have to pass up many other family opportunities in the process.

If you really want to give them to her I say do it.

When I was a kid of that age I was really into Adam & The Ants, they played one gig here and I really wanted to go but my mother couldn't afford the tickets and wasn't keen on me going to a gig at that age anyway, so I missed out and no matter what my taste in music it always disappointed me I never got to go.
Anyway fast forward 30 years and he's playing here again and this time my mother buys tickets for myself, her & my sister to go.

I don't see One Direction touring the U.S. in 30 years time, so I say do it now.
I don't think you ever really forget your first favourite band.

I would say if you're planning on moving away give her something special before you go. If you're not planning on moving there for another 5 years you can always hold off the trip for next year.