Looking Back

Well it's the end of 2008. What a year. A lot's happened. And typically this would be the time when I would write a list of my favorite CDs that came out this year. The problem? I think I've listened to somewhere between one and three albums that were released in 2008. So that puts me in a tight spot. So what I'm going to do instead is write my top ten albums of all time. Now that's quite the feat for me. I have over 300 CDs. Choosing 10 is going to be a monster. But it should be done. Realize that this is subject to change at any given moment. And by the time I'm done it will probably be different haha. Oh well. Enjoy!

10. Weezer - Weezer (the Blue Album)
Now this CD is just a classic. I don't pull it out all that often but when I do it's just great. I enjoy every single song on it. And an album that so many people know and love has got to be great. For extra credit download the album Jay-zeezer. You won't be disappointed. I love it.

9. Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave
I don't care whoever says whatever about Fall Out Boy. This is a solid pop punk record. Yeah they seem to have slipped and lost their touch but I really like this music.

8. Motion City Soundtrack - Commit This To Memory
Motion City Soundtrack is an amazing band. They have the same beginnings as Fall Out Boy, from the same place around the same time. But the incorporation of a moog is amazing. In all honesty I'm not sure what to write about this album. It's just good. Shut up.

7. Ben Folds - Rockin' The Suburbs
Ben Folds is an amazing man. He has a solid control of that friggin piano. His lyrics are thoughtful, music can be light or depressing, and he covers a wide variety of themes. Sure he can be a bit weird, and his mouth can be a little iffy for those sensitive to language, but The Luckiest is the single greatest love song that Conor Oberst hasn't written.

6. Straylight Run - The Needles The Space
I'm actually listening to this CD right now. The first Straylight Run record was a very straightforward emoish rock blurb (albeit a good one) and this time they had such a huge departure they might as well have been a different band. This CD has a lot of indie elements and includes just about every instrument you've heard of and some you haven't. It took a while to get used to it but now that I have I strongly recommend.

5. Rascal Flatts - Melt
Alright now that you're all done laughing and moving on past the CD, I have to say that it's solid so you can all shut up. Mayberry is a great song. Rascal Flatts have really done a great job of merging the incredibly iffy country genre with some poppish rocky kind of stuff. I don't listen to this CD much but it plays me like a harp every time I do.

4. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
Go buy this CD right now. Seriously. Sure it has a girl singing but that's alright. She's dang good (you know the girl that sings in The Postal Service songs? Yeah this is her) and this band knows how to play. The lyrics are more like poetry and it's sung to some sweet acoustic and electric guitars with some awesome synths. Like I said. Go buy it. It's bright even when dealing with morose topics and is a great CD to play in the mornings.

3. Relient K - Mmhmm
Seriously do I have to explain? Great guys with great music. Sure three guitars is a little weird but they do it very well (unlike, say, Hawthorne Heights). This album is upbeat, quick, and even has a friggin banjo. Do I have to say any more? Matt Thiesen's voice is incredible and the four minute songs seem over too quickly.

2. Ace Enders and a Million Different People - The Secret War
The first time I heard this album I literally got chills. Sure it's only an eight track EP but it's solid as a rock. It works together as an album and I enjoy every track. When I first got the CD it was the only thing I listened to for two or three weeks straight. Yeah. It's that good. When I remembered this CD I started playing it just now haha. Ace is a musical genius with a great voice and his music is refreshingly slightly different from all that's out there. He definitely does his own thing and it definitely shows. I will burn you this CD. And I will do it with no regrets because he never sold it. It was just up for download haha. Anyway. This is a must have. Seriously. Get it. Any way you can.

1. Brand New - Deja Entendu
This CD is absolutely amazing. I love every song and it's never let me down. It's heavy on emotion through the lyrics and music without being pretentious or super emo. I can listen to it no matter what time of the day or what I'm thinking or feeling and it will have something that fits. It also played a big part of my life during college and before my mission. And I know someone who would literally not be alive if this album hadn't been made. So emotional ties plus amazing music equals great album.

Anyway these are my opinions that, like I said, are subject to change by the minute. What about any of you? Chandrew is probably the only other person who would do it and even then I think it's too big of a task for him haha. He would die from indicision. Anyway. This was great. I needed that. Hope all of you are having a great day.

And I'm still listening to Ace. Seriously go get it.

Millstone

I made this bed now I can't fall asleep in it
Take me out tonight
This ship of fools I'm on will sink
A millstone around my neck
Be my breath
There's nothing I wouldn't give

Intelligence

I just saw a little smudge on my computer and spent a good 15 seconds trying to wipe and scrape it off until I realized that it was part of my wallpaper.

You can see why I go to college.

Update soon.

Listen to: Rascal Flatts - Mayberry
Ben Folds - Landed
Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous

Prologue

Well the holidays are almost over. Actually they're not. Christmas is over though. And it was...pretty good. Nothing spectacular happened, nothing groundbreaking, but it was a very nice day. I fell asleep at about 2AM Christmas eve after just kind of hanging out on the computer and was rudely awakened by my sister with the words "Jameson wake up it's six!" Not the best way to start the day haha. But it was alright. We went and woke the parents and opened the presents and I came away with a pretty sweet year. Here's the detailsish:
-120 gig iPod classic (sweet! My first one)
-Two books (The Five People You Meet In Heaven and The Princess Bride, I'm super excited)
-Candy naturally
-Hoodie
-Shirts
-A Blanket from Vic
-A bunch of little things like memory cards, a backscratcher, body wash, etc
So I'm pretty pleased. Now I am not some materialistic person. I know the purpose of Christmas and my focus wasn't on presents. But they're fun to talk about. And have.

So I went over to Tommy's house later and got to talk to him for about five minutes and it was sweet. He's on his mission and Carly and I swung by to see his family and say hi. Not sure if that's legit. But it happened. Good kid. Doing pretty well.

Later I watched a bit of The Office and we had an amazing turkey dinner and had a bit of company over and then I went and watched August Rush at Carly's house. Oh. my. That movie is amazing. It's probably in my top 10 list now. And I fell asleep for what I thought was like 15 minutes but then I watched it again yesterday with Nik and it was like 5. So not bad at all. I was tired guys. Four hours of sleep doesn't cut it haha.

Well that was my day. I've also officially quit work. Yesterday was my last day. And it feels so good haha. I get to sleep in now.

To do list: Find a coat for Utah, Buy sweet shoelaces for my converse, ride the ferry with Carly, cash my check, find out what I need to download to put my DVDs on my iPod (suggestions?)

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Keep a smile. Just because the holidays are over doesn't mean you should be sad. Life is still good.

It's 9:00am and still pretty dark outside. Crazy.

Hearts.

Ska speaks

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
This Time Of Year

The bells, the bows, the flashing lights,
the mistletoes and the 'Silent Nights'
It's all for show, but that's all right.
That's not why I love this time of year.

This time of year,
It gets me, and never lets me
Act like I don't care.
This time of year,
Is my favorite time of year,
'Cause all of us are here together.

The stores are packed
With stuff for us to by.
The shelves are stacked
A mile high
But let's get back
To what I love about this time of year.

It gets me, and never lets me
Act like I don't care.
This time of year,
Is my favorite time of year
'Cause all of us are here together.

There's crap - it's true --
What can you do?
It's simply spending it with you
That keeps me looking forward to
Lookin' forward to this time of year

It gets me, and never lets me
Act like I don't care.
This time of year,
Is my favorite time of year
'Cause all of us are here together.

Comments

My sister just sneezed in the other room and muttered in a disturbed voice, "That's disgusting."

My day is made.

Influences

Well Chandrew asked a bit ago about the most influential song in my life. And that's something that I've never thought of but has been on my mind since he brought it up. And I can't say that I can narrow it down to just one song. So here are a couple of the most influential songs in my life...and just like him, note that these may or may not be my favorites. They just changed my outlook so it would never be the same.

1. Eve 6 - Inside Out - S/T
Well I stumbled on this song in 6th grade or so at my friend's house and fell in love with it. This song changed my outlook and really opened up music for me in general. Before, like some kids, I wasn't that big into music. I liked it, but listened to what was on Radio Disney or something or other I can't remember. When I heard an actual rock song by Eve 6, I was forever changed and have loved electric guitars ever since.

2. Seal - Kiss From A Rose - S/T
I still adore this song. I know this song was on the radio when I was fairly young and I thought it was funny. But in 9th grade when I was at a friend's home he had this song playing and it brought a whole new spectrum of music into my world. Before this moment I had been focused on the rock vein inspired by Eve 6. But after I burned this song from his library my horizons were broadened and now I still listen to music like Seal and Peter Gabriel.

3. Mest - What's the Dillio? - Wasting Time
The Ataris - I Remember You - N/A
The tie between the Ataris' cover of Skid Row and Mest is because of the time period. I was in high school and my friend would drive me to work every day and play Brand New, Mest, The Ataris, etc all the time. And it opened up my mind to punk rock, eventually leading me to the more indie style, and to this day those are both of my favorite genres.

4. Bright Eyes - First Day of My Life - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
There really can't be any explanation given for this song. But it will always be dear to me.

And there you have it. I'm sure I'm missing some, but those are milestones in my music lifetime. My music tastes are now very eclectic and my library includes everything from straight up metal to classical. Labels and genres suck.

Well, a milestone has happened. You have now just read the first post typed on my laptop! I haven't even had to get up today haha. Anyway I hope you're all doing well. And I'm going to continue my attempt to put all of my music onto my laptop. It's going to take a very very long time. Have a great day everyone...hope it doesn't snow me into work. That would suck. We're supposed to get 6-9 inches today.

Oh and I might be so bold as to recommend this activity. It provoked a lot of thought. Good times down memory lane. That road is unfortunately very dusty and grey, but hey. Any trip is good.

Love.

Boredom

Google search hits that yielded no results:

-Throwing tv's in lava
-Sacrificing bass guitars
-Dropping pennies on heads
-Dropping couches off of a cliff
-How to escape from a velociraptor
-Pterodactyl vs velociraptor
-Spearfighting babies

Search hits that I thought would be empty but actually came up with things:

-Fire extinguisher battles - 10 hits
-Lighting guitars on fire - 18 hits
-Flying babies - 42,000 hits
-Melting pennies - 574 hits (my friend actually taught me how to do this on a desk)
-Flaming golf clubs - 5 hits
-Raptor bombs - 8 hits. Apparently these are real things
-Children driving cars - 109 hits
-Babies driving cars - 21 hits

Highs and lows

So I had an amazing day yesterday. It was awesome. Carly came and helped put up our Christmas lights on my house...and that is no small feat haha. But good times. Afterwards we gathered up Nik and Zerr and went out to Seattle to go to a vegetarian Thai restaurant which was actually fairly good. It didn't floor me but I enjoyed it. Tofu is not something I can eat a lot of but otherwise was very flavorful. Afterwards we went to the mall for a bit and checked out Barnes and Noble which just made me realize how much I hate not having all the money I want. Man, if there are any stores that make me sad it's a CD store and a book store. Carly described it accurately: "it's like heaven...but I don't have the money to buy anything. So it's really like...hell..." haha. Well we watched a couple movies that night and then I came home...and the depression set in. I don't know why it happens. Just very random times. But I got home and got super depressed last night. I felt lonely and down, and I'm the kind of person that, when in that mood, seeks out things that are like the mood I'm in. That didn't really make sense. Example. I was listening to some Jason Mraz before when I was on my comp and then started feeling that way and had to turn it off because it was upbeat. I put on some Brand New album demos to depress me a little more. I'm weird that way I guess.

Well the mood carried over to today. I woke up sad, wrote a letter sad, and played guitar depressed. I went to church and people could tell that I wasn't myself. It's not like I can hide it. Anyway later on, just being around my friends for a while took it's toll and I turned myself around so I could have a great night.

I'm so confused as to why this happens. I find it a little immature...but I don't know how to fix it. I think it just started with something very simple. I wanted to cuddle last night and Vic was obviously not around. And that kind of just worked in me little by little and I didn't notice it being around people. But once I was alone it started to hit me and I overreact. I start to think that I'm just the kid that people keep around because they'd feel bad not to, and how proof of this is that I'm always the one to call people and hardly ever get calls to hang out from others, and so it goes. And I know it's irrational. But I don't know how to fix it. I'm not a depressed person, this just happens sometimes. Interesting.

Normally you wouldn't be reading this. This isn't something I would usually share with anyone. But because this is the only place to put this right now you're privy to my thoughts. Take with it what you will. But don't pity me for it. I'm still me. Pity is a terrible thing to have.

And I'm normal now. I don't know if you caught that or not.

E11

The Early November
Long Talks

All we know is change
In friends, faces, and names
That's why I'm falling apart and dangerous
I never know where to turn
I mean for all that I know
We're all on our own
We're leaning until we fall

But somebody's got to fall

And we're jumping to know the truth
But we're lying to say to you (Now we've got it)
We're so far from the words tonight
That could then break the wall we hide (Now we've got it)

I love to watch some people read
Just knowing you're learning everything (there is to know about life)
That's why I'm falling apart and dangerous
I never know where to turn
I mean for all that I know
We're all on our own
We're leaning until we fall

But somebody's got to fall

And you're jumping to know the truth
But we're lying to say to you (Now we've got it)
We're so far from the words tonight
That could then break the wall we hide (Now we've got it)

Anyway
Anyway

I want it anyway you know it
I want it anyway you know it

And we're jumping to know the truth
But we're lying to say to you (Now we've got it)
We're so far from the words tonight
That could then break the wall we hide (Now we've got it)

Insomnia

I will now be able to answer the question "what do you think is the most irritating thing ever?" Well, not that I've ever been asked that question, but it never hurts to be prepared. In case nobody knew, the answer is insomnia. Now I like staying up late. But when my body hates me and wakes me up at 8 or 9 every morning I start to have some issues with sleeping. Last night I got home at 12:30 and hopped on my computer for a bit to browse around. Then, deciding that 1:30 was a good time to go to sleep I went upstairs. And my brain decided to say "hey! I'm still here!" and worked at about 80 thoughts a second. After laying in bed for a half hour I decided to come back downstairs. Now I work today. 2:00-11:00pm. I would have been less irritated had I not worked today because this gives me no chance to take a nap. I promise you I will be dead for work, come home, and just collapse. Either that or I'll be semi-conscious during work and then come home and start the vicious cycle from the top. I tried everything to get to sleep last night. Well, not everything. I read scriptures, patriarchal blessing, listened to soft classical music, the works. And finally somewhere between 3 and 3:30am my brain decided that it was a good time to sleep. And of course, my mom being the way she is has company over at 8:00am and wakes me up with their laughing. And now I want to die. My brain is only half working, but once I wake up I can't go back to sleep for a while. Usually until the afternoon. So I'm listening to Billy Talent to try and kick start some sort of thought process. Not working. Hope you all have a great day, because mine is going to suuuuck.

Ramblenet

Thoughts on this past week:

Well my mood on Thanksgiving passed. People showed up and I spent some time with cousins and I was better. Thanksgiving was great. I was a little sad at first because I wasn't full to the brim but then we ate pie and I had too much and I didn't feel well for about an hour so I think I filled my Thanksgiving quota haha. The berry was just too good I couldn't resist. Anyway it was nice to have all of the family there and to see them all. It's been too long. Such great people. Of course by all the family I refer to one family of cousins, my brother, sister, grandma, and another cousin in the army who's stationed out here in Seattle somewhere.

It was great to have my bro and sis home for a while. It was the first time I had seen them since before my mission so it was awesome to finally say hi and see them. They haven't changed much in all honesty. Not that that's a bad thing. And I don't really have anything else to say about that. So...moving on.

I go to school in a month! I'm so excited! I'm going to miss a couple people here, but I get to move out and be in school again. It's so cool. I like living on my own. I mean, I love my family. But being out on my own is just awesome.

Black Friday was pretty crazy. I worked in the furniture section from 2:30pm-11pm. Now, I'm glad it wasn't the toys...that must have been pretty insane. But the furniture section is sometimes just as bad because almost all of our furniture is stored in the backroom. A lot of the stuff out on the floor is only on display. So I got a lot of people asking "do you have x in y color?" And I'd have to check and go to the backroom to get it. But it wasn't too bad. I bought The Office season 3 for 14 dollars. Sweet.

Um, and that's all I have to say. Nothing exciting. Just a couple thoughts. Mainly I just wanted to tell you not to still think that I was a weird emo kid for Thanksgiving. I was only for a little bit. So don't worry.

Anyway I'm out. Maybe later today or tomorrow I will tell you about my awesome day yesterday where Carly and I bought art! We're still excited about it haha. And today I'm going shopping for Vic's Christmas present. Well have a great day!