Bringing the Drama

my friend dawn says that my blog has a lot of drama to it. i really laughed at a comment like that up until the other day. i type the blog, and its kind of a journal to myself and friends who i consider close enough to read my thoughts that are most of the time meant to draw laughs, sometimes to really be open. obviously most of the people who read this i’ve met on the internet, but when i share it with someone i know in ‘real life’, that’s a pretty big step considering sometimes i laugh about my secret internet life. i don’t share the address with everyone i know for a reason. i don’t want someone finding out this much information about me without me finding out a relatively equal amount about them. so when someone i know googles to find the blog, while it may be jumping the gun on trust, i can accept that. when they read it then pass it on to a non mutual friend who then proceeds to insult me and not respond at all to an email, that goes over the line. like joey said on friends, “you’re so far over the line, you can’t see the line. the line is a dot to you!” anyway, enough of that…

i talked with my friend chris the other day and made plans to visit him up in chicago. that’ll be my big trip of the summer. i’ve never been there before, so there will be plenty to do. we’ll visit all the sites, take in a cubs game, and i’m pretty sure i’ll try to make a white stripes show while i’m there. so it’ll be pretty jam packed.

i realized the other day also that i need to know more famous people. i have a friend who’s a singer, but he hasn’t made it big yet. i’m basically a phone call or two away from talking with relatively famous people, all of whom i enjoy their music. so maybe if my friend hunter can get famous, then i can parlay that into meeting the famous people that my friends know. this was just an observation i noticed the other day.

an era ended tonight as my friend andy took apart his pool table. many good times were had around that pool table the past three years, and now he’s taken it apart so he can stretch the carpet. ‘why is that sad?’ you may ask, well, he is selling the pool table. in happier table game news, i do plan on getting a foosball table very soon.

tomorrow’s the super cool bible study. and this weekend’s shaping up to be full of golf, grilling out, and hanging with friends. should be pretty fun i hope. maybe even a game of ultimate frisbee for good measure. so there is much excitement on the horizon.

and finally, congratulations to my friend joy (and her husband) for having a little girl the other day. its funny to think back when you met people after they accomplish some kind of major life change (like having a baby!). i met joy way back in the summer of aught one at a coffeehouse (actually more of a pizza parlor) show in clemson for some singer who i remember was wearing horn rimmed glasses. man, that was a LONG time ago! so yeah, NEW LIFE! woo hoo!

what a week! okay, for those interested i called claire wednesday night and we’re going the friends route. so i’m glad that’s over and done with. where i go from there, i don’t know. work was incredibly boring this week, but its been cool becoming better friends with people from work. i actually ate in the cafeteria a couple of times this past week, which is not something i have done twice in about the past 3 months. a lot of the younger people at work just i don’t know, bother me. they moved to new orleans cause of the party city rep so they like to go out all the time, they all live in the city…just not stuff i’m interested in. however, i think i’ve found my niche with a few people from work who i like hanging out with. in fact, these people came to the party my boss threw at his house yesterday. i had been there one time before with andy, but yesterday was a department wide party slash surprise wedding shower for both thomas and laurin. they are each getting married, but not to each other. anyway, it was fun to be out near the river he lives on drinking beer, eating lots, and talking with friends. i think my boss is pretty cool. now if he could give me some work to do!

i’m now two chapters into blue like jazz and i really like it. speaking of other things i’m discovering to like, i feel somewhat vindicated by a kelly clarkson song. yes, her new song ‘behind these hazel eyes’ is so great because finally those of us with hazel eyes have a song to call our own. no thanks to the who (behind blue eyes) or van morrison (brown eyed girl). and its pretty defiant, so i really like it. i don’t know what this does to my music taste rep, but i figure i have some leeway to play with. i also listened to some of the new reliant k record and i was impressed. its emo/rock, but it has a point and is not whiny.

in other news, i was very happy to read a story related to one of the all time best sports movies, ‘field of dreams’. the character in the movie, moonlight graham, was a real person. everything about him from the time he played in one game but never had an at-bat, to the part about him being a doctor for kids back in minnesota. i thought the story was great. and it would have been fantastic had you taken out the bonds quote. seriously, the general public pretty much dislike the guy, and he’s not even playing this year, so why even quote him in an article like that? sad.

also, my movie pantheon has one rule…no movie can be added within 3 months of having first seen the movie. my favorite movie to watch over and over again is ‘swingers‘ and my favorite dramatic movie is ‘garden state’. i saw a trailer yesterday for cameron crowe’s new movie, ‘elizabethtown‘ and i think it may take the spot as the top overall dramatic movie. its repeatability is yet to be seen. it comes out in october.

today was a great day. the new pastors at church are pretty cool. the sermon was about finding out God’s calling in your life and going for it. i sat there thinking about what my calling is. i don’t even know. i look at so much as temporary. my house, not somewhere i’ll live forever, my job, not something i want to stay at long term….what am i doing? maybe i need to skip blue like jazz and go straight to searching for God knows what. i will try to read blue like jazz before thursday, or at least a good portion of it. (sound good jacob?) you know that part in saving private ryan, where priv. ryan turns around to his wife and says “tell me i’ve lived a good life…tell me i’m a good man”, that’s all i really want. am i supposed to want more?

last night thomas had some people over to his house for some grilling out, beers, and xbox. it was a great night. although finding out claire knew thomas and his fiancee already continued the weirdness. alright, how many times when you’re dating someone does the person already know some people you know? yeah, that’s okay for one or two people, but its getting bad. she knows FIVE people that previously had no connection other than they are from work or my friends. its like the six degress thing, but with claire its one degree. so she came, and it was cool, but i still have been giving it a lot of thought and prayer. i was thinking last night when i got home that i want someone passionate, someone competitive. all that non negotiable stuff, that’s not really that important, at least not the particulars anyway. i just want someone to share my life with who would understand where i’m coming from. i’m passionate about clemson, music, movies, etc. none of that will change. i’m competitive to a fault sometimes. i mean sure, i’m not as good as thomas in halo or DDR, but am i enjoying losing? good thing i had a few shiner bocks in me. i was listening to ‘the scientist‘ earlier tonight. it wasn’t making me cry or anything, unlike some people i know (you know who you are!), and i couldn’t help to think of relationships i’ve messed up in the past. the last couple i’ve had, none of the intensity of past relationships even comes into play. they’ve just been “eh, yeah, its okay”. and through all of this, the lyrics from ‘table for two‘ give me comfort. as hard as it is, the words to that song are true. and hopefully one day soon i’ll look back and think “damn, that song used to get me everytime.”

so i went to the show, and ryan had a meltdown. or as marika said “he had a diva night”. but it was awesome! i’m glad i ended up having to go by myself, because on my drive home i thought of all the people that might have gone with me, and just about all of them would have been all mad that ryan walked off the stage early because of the crowd noise. i loved it. the music was awesome, the bassist was hot, and we got a really cool story about recording ‘love is hell‘ in new orleans. i’m going to work on a review tomorrow at work, maybe to combat some media reviews maybe bashing the show for what happened. anyway, i’m excited to go see him again when i get the chance. too bad i can’t drive up to birmingham on sunday to go. maybe i’ll finally go to NYC to visit christina and see him if he plays NY anytime soon. i kick myself when i think i could have gone to see him last october. never again! anyway, to clarify, he played over 2 hours, so its not like we were cheated out of a whole lot. just the song lotto, of which i had put in for ‘nuclear‘ and ‘english girls approximately‘. i talked to the official band video archiver outside in line before the show. apparently he films every show….so maybe a dvd is in the works? he said whatever the band wanted to do with the video they could do, dvd or not. cool. the show definitely cemented ryan as a non negotiable.

i’ve been thinking a lot about dating claire…not sure how much longer that’s going to last. i’ll just leave it at that for now.

my two weeks straight of work is almost up. i’m looking forward to the weekend and not having to be somewhere or do something. i plan on cutting the grass. i might go up to jackson to see derek webb. might have to make a couple of calls about that. dw’s not in that ‘go by myself’ echelon nor the ‘drive 3 hours without meeting a bunch of people’ either. so we’ll see if i actually go. i’ve felt like i’ve been living in my car the past two weeks with all the driving, and that may play a role.

so i went and saw keane tonight. it was good, but maybe i was expecting more? i don’t know. claire said she thought it was really good, but i thought it was just okay. one thing about tonight that i must tell you, one of the openers was this band called louis XIV. some british rock band, and they were awesome. i thought the lyrics were pretty funny, and they reminded me of the darkness. anyway, keane was good, they did all the good songs, closed with a tremendous rendition of ‘bedshaped’, but i guess i just wasn’t focusing on the show tonight. of course, it may be because i am looking forward to tomorrow night. i’ve written about it here and here, and now i’m writing about it AGAIN. its after midnight, so today is the day! i’m going to try not to be all fanboy so i can write a decent review. i might see if i can get it posted on relevant since circle six already got my cold roses review.

i went into work again today and worked some OT. it wasn’t too bad. i asked my boss if i could come in late tuesday. i’m already planning ahead. i got the OK so i’m good. not sure if a montecristo will be had after the show, but i have cleared the way just in case. jacob’s friend micah is coming, who came with us to see macrosick a while back. apparently micah has a connection to some of the people who produced gold. yes, you read that correctly. i’m sincerely hoping for a good show, nobody in the audience being a dumbass. i’m so freakin excited. and now its time for bed.

btw, i think i just set a record for links per sentence in a post or something.

so tonight i was supposed to go see bloc party with jacob. as of last night i was going to be his photographer as he did the interview for circle six. however, the plan quickly fell apart thanks to devo (jacob’s dog) destorying a pipe in the bathroom and me having to work tomorrow. so actually, no one went to the show. the show wasn’t going to start till 10, there were two openers, so i knew if i went i wouldn’t actually get home till maybe 2 or 3. so what was going to be a cool night became a night of playing xbox and falling asleep on the couch. and that’s why i’m up at 3:30 in the morning typing on my blog.

i had an interview for the leadership program at work on thursday. i think it went pretty well, so i’m confident i’ll get picked. i think they were doing the interviews to see who actually wanted to do it. so when i said in 5 years i want to be in some kind of management position, i figure that told them i wanted to do it. plus i told them i’d be cool with rotating to different locations too. so looks like i won’t be moving right now, but i’m not going to count on it yet, so i’m still keeping that july 19th date. and actually, i realized laurin’s wedding is on the 16th, but i don’t feel like moving the date up. and if i said that on the blog that i would change the date, well scratch that.

i’ve been listening to the new coldplay and white stripes this week. mostly the new coldplay. i like both of them. ’speed of sound’ was in my head a lot today. i don’t think its as good as the last album, but it is very good. i wish i didn’t feel like on a couple of songs they were trying to sound like u2. also, after seeing a friend start sobbing to the performance of ‘the scientist’ on storytellers the other night, i started to think of what songs have made me cry. the only time i remember a song making me cry was lifehouse’s ‘everything’. but that was a rough weekend back in ‘02, and the song really just gave me comfort. i can’t believe i left that out of my top 5 songs ever list. ‘everything’ is one of the best songs i’ve ever heard, i just forgot about it. its a shame the radio played lifehouse 24/7 a couple of years ago because my sister now hates them. i’ve told her to stop listening to the radio, but obviously for some people its like crack. and really, the radio is like an illegal substance, you think its good for you, but really, its destroying your taste in good music by feeding you with bad music, repeatedly.

now if i can get back to sleep, i need to meet laurin at the nissan place tomorrow then go in for half a day of work. at least i’m getting paid for the OT. maybe i’ll make it home before all the rain hits from arlene. IF we get any that is.

so i watched game 7 tonight between the heat and pistons. i was so much of a fan of the pistons last year, and then this year, i hate them. what a shame for shaq not to win a title in his first year away from the new GM of the lakers. i mean, dwayne wade getting injured really hurt obviously, but i thought they could have pulled it out. oh well, at least i won’t be wasting time watching boring basketball in the finals.

saturday night i went to the 2nd wedding of the summer i’ll be going to. it was a lot of fun. we did get in an official wedding picture, so that was cool. i tried to get in another picture with my friend megan’s husband, but i’m not sure if the picture came out with us being ‘those guys’. sad. it was a night wedding, so i wore my suit, and i’m glad to say it still fits. i hadn’t worn it in 3 years.

len is back in town and i’m happy about that. to join the carpool team though he’s going to need to get a carpool team compliant motor car. his two seater firebird is not going to cut it. he’ll be starting back to work next month, and he’s getting his old desk back. course, that’s also next to donna, so i’m sure he’ll enjoy getting to know her. speaking of work though, looks like i’ll be having to work non stop until the end of next week. there’s not much i can do about it though, so i guess just grin and bear it and collect my OT money this weekend. still though, i’m not looking forward to it. most of my cynicism towards my job started when i had to work two weeks without a day off last year. at least this time i know its coming, and i have a bit more responsibility now. but nothing, i mean, NOTHING will come between me and the concerts this weekend, esp monday’s show!

today in the gym today was the first time the entire carpool team was able to go together in about 2 months. we noticed a couple of the new interns working out on the stationary bikes or something…then a couple of minutes later, we see this guy walk in. he’s not dressed to workout or anything, he just walks in with his work clothes on and proceeds to start talking to the two girls on the bikes. such a shame, i mean, the least he could have done was go work out knowing they were going to be there, then say “hey, i didn’t think you’d be here”. but no, he shows up in his olive baggy pants and polo shirt, talks for 20 minutes, then leaves. way to look desparate man!

oh, and i got another review published for circle six, my audioslave review. i apparently beat out two other guys for the publishing, so i’m pretty excited about that. they might hate the fact that it only took me two days write and edit, and i think one of them had his version sent back to him for edits. haha.

so i ended up getting the musical baton AGAIN, this time from adriene. you may remember that i did already run with it via jacob, but this new one seems more descriptive, i figure i’ll do it again.

Amount of Music On My Computer:

still around 4 gb even with the new additions added

Currently Listening To:

the clemson baseball game, they are about to take it to the super regional. wait, that’s not music enough, okay, i listened to a DW solo version of ’somewhere north’ with a backing band and found it quite amazing.

Five Songs that Mean a Lot to Me:

this list is actually good for only today and could change say if you ask me next week…

caedmon’s call ’somewhere north’
i just love this song, its my favorite song of all time. i can’t really say why, i just like the lyrics and the music. apparently they performed this song at the first concert i went to in 1999, but i didn’t really know many of the songs back then so i don’t remember it. i never saw them do it again, and i went to two guild weekends.

u2 ‘where the streets have no name’
every time i hear this song, i get chills. the intro and then knowing what’s coming, its just stellar.

caedmon’s call ‘table for two’
this song has helped me through some tough times.

johnny cash ‘a boy named sue’
i really like johnny cash. this is my favorite song of his. i don’t think any rock band could write a song like this now and not get away with sounding like morons. i know cash didn’t write it, but he sang it like he did, and like he was the boy named sue. its awesome.

outkast ‘wheelz of steel’
smoothest song ever. i just went to my friend brooks’ wedding last weekend, and he and i used to blast this song rolling down the road in his ’stang 5.0. summer of ‘01, and i remember when i first heard this song, riding to an arena football game in greenville.

Top Five Albums:

1. caedmon’s call – 40 acres
well i mean, two of my all time top 5 appear on this cd, so why wouldn’t it be my #1? i like the lyrics on the other songs “like a coin hiding in the corner trying not to be swept/i was trying not to be swept”. its good stuff.

2. ryan adams – gold
i love this album, its good through and through. and yes, i know in one week and one day i will be seeing him live. i’m very anxious.

3. jay-z – unplugged
in my opinion, the perfect hip hop/rap album. the roots are his backing band, i just think it has a great great groove and i love it.

4. pearl jam – yield
i don’t listen to pj much anymore, but this is probably my favorite album of theirs. ‘in hiding’ is one of my favorite songs, probably THE favorite, but a close second to songs like ‘present tense’ and ‘corduroy’. however, yield has other songs that push it to the top.

5. coldplay – a rush of blood to the head
if jacob’s any good, this may get replaced on tuesday. from what i’ve heard of the new album, it may pass this one soon. i remember when marika told me about ‘the scientist’, its beautiful. my favorite song is probably ‘warning sign’…i hope to go see them live in the fall, but its not looking likely.

Last Album Bought:

ryan adams – cold roses

Recent Discoveries:

bloc party
macrosick

i probably should check out some new bands, but i just don’t feel like it right now.

Passing it On….

jacob
scott
chad
adam
david

of course, a couple of people like marika and robbi took the baton the first time i had it, so if they would like to enlighten us on some of their all time favorites (i’m hoping so) i pass them the baton also.

this past week my opinion of things and myself have gone from one side of the spectrum to the other. i went to the wedding in nashville for my friend brooks. it was awesome. i loved being in a wedding since i didn’t have to stand up and turn around when the bride walked in. i also got to play golf with my friends and participate in some groom hazing the night before. we actually duct taped brooks’ wrists and ankles and carried him out into the elevator. when that didn’t work, we wrote on his chest with sharpie then did the duct tape thing again. neither worked exactly as we planned, but it was fun and i have pictures. no they will not be posted here. i didn’t get to walk in with the hot bridesmaid (HB), but i did talk to her and dance with her. i came home thinking i wanted to date her, but after a couple of days of thinking about it and how i was acting around her, i realized i was being stupid. i dated this triathlete girl last summer. she was super hot, but when i was around her i kept feeling like i had to impress her. this is what i was feeling with HB. of course that’s not good, and i thought about how i feel when i’m around claire and i don’t feel i have to impress her. in fact, i don’t even try, and it hasn’t hurt me yet.

i went out with her tonight actually and it was really cool. i had to skip bible study, which i didn’t like having to do, but hey, it was important i find out if she’s worth taking to the keane show in a couple of weeks. concerts are important to me, and in fact, i’ve never taken a date to a show. ever. i know that’s hard to believe, but its true. so taking claire to keane is going to be a first. i’m not taking her to the ryan adams show the next night though. i’ll keep the superfan hidden for the time being.

i’ve mentioned before how i think almost famous is one of my favorite movies ever. so tonight after we ate and got coffee, we went back to claire’s and watched the movie. it was important to gauge her reaction to it because its in my top 5 movies of all time and to see that movie and how it treats music and relationships really gives insight on me a bit. i have the director’s cut version and we watched it. it was actually longer than i thought, and it had been a while since i had seen it. she actually enjoyed it, but kept saying it was ‘random’. but that’s okay, she did go on record saying she liked it, which is good enough for me.

and finally, i completed another album review. this time as a late fill in for my friend jacob for the new audioslave album. i thought it came out better than my cold roses review, and yet you may have noticed in the comments section in my last entry, jacob says it may get trumped for his coldplay review. what, can they not run TWO album reviews in the same week?

one more thing, i only need two more referrals for my free ipod. thanks so much to the three people already signed up.