Music

So today I have finally decided that I do, in all actuality, have a favorite band. And that band is none other than the great Motion City Soundtrack. If you've never heard of them they've been around since '95 or so and have become a staple to any Warped Tour or punk festival. Great band, great people. I just came on to highly recommend listening to a few songs of theirs. It's bright and sunny music most of the time, but deals with heavy subjects because he was a struggling alcoholic for years. I remembered how amazing they are today and listened to all three of their CD's in a row. And I suggest you at least listen to those songs up there.

As well, I've found one of my favorite albums for when I'm not in a bright and sunny mood. And that's The Glass Passenger by Jack's Mannequin. Their first CD was very poppy and this second is much more mature and a deeper sound. It's a thoughtful record, but still sounds hopeful and uplifting. A great combination.

Not that you care about my music escapades. But hey, I was pretty excited. So you can get lost.

Blah

I'm tired of weather. Just in general. I realized this today. It's kind of bipolar around now. It starts of cloudy and cold sometimes then gets super hot and sunny later. And I'm tired of both. I guess it could be because I'm outside working all the time. But it's irritating. I start off wearing a sweatshirt then i'm in a tshirt sweating my brains out. Right now I'm in my bed...really hot but my feet are icy cold. Naturally. My feet get cold easily. And my hands. It's a curse I suppose. Well anyway on Friday it was, again, really hot. And I'm out there digging holes and mixing and pouring cement and everything. So I figured I could get some sun because, hey, I'm getting married. So I take off my shirt and I'm working for a couple hours and I realize that my shoulders are getting really hot. And I realize that I, for the first time in three or four years, am sunburned. So I put my shirt back on and keep working and after a bit realize how bad it is. So before I go to bed I decide to try this "miracle cure" that I've heard about and put some vinegar on my sunburn. And I go to sleep. The next day I thought it must have worked; I wasn't feeling any pain or anything. Just a slight itching on one spot. That brings us to today. I now realize why I always remembered it was a bad thing to get sunburned. I rarely do so I never remember until it's too late. The itching. It's like hell has broken loose on quarter sized spots on my shoulders and back. Sigh.

I can't wait until it's over tomorrow.

At least my back has some color now though. I'm blessed with skin that is easy to tan. I feel bad for redheads sometimes.

Actually all the time. I don't want no fire crotch.

Gadzooks!

I have officially found the secret to happiness. Want to know what it is?



Gather close.



Closer.


Listen to this album. I promise if you are still upset at the end of it then there is something wrong with you. This CD is giddiness that is injected straight into your veins. I'm not kidding. Even just listening to Here (In Your Arms) is enough to make the biggest statue of a person (me...) have a desire to at least shake his butt. I promise you that you will enjoy yourself listening to this.


Trust me. It's the secret to happiness. Keeps you youthful. Now excuse me as I listen to Oh, It Is Love for the sixth time since yesterday.


If you don't try it, don't knock it.

It's not hard

Damien Rice
Cannonball

Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
Still a little hard to say what's going on

Still a little bit of your ghost your witness
Still a little bit of your face I haven't kissed
You step a little closer each day
Still I can't say what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball

Still a little bit of your song in my ear
Still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer to me
So close that I can't see what's going on

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannon

Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to cry
So come on courage
Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna scare her
It's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna lose
It's not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know

Wash

When everything gets crazy and stressful and everything I think of Serenity. And I think the best line ever.

Don't worry. I'm a leaf on the wind.

Frustration

I'm trying to find one of my favorite books. Called The Dragon And The George. It's in a box in the garage with my other stuff somewhere. I've been looking through the boxes and, so far, have been unsuccessful. Frustrating.

Naturally

Of course, if any of you expect anything other than a post a post about Becky the weekend that she visits you are crazy. And it just so happens that she visited this weekend. So...if you don't care, don't read it. Naturally...it's not like I'm going to force you somehow to read something you don't want to. It kind of goes without saying to any post that myself or anyone else writes on a blog. I probably just put that disclaimer each time to make myself feel better for the imminent cheesy moments. So now that I'm alright about it I'll go on.

Becky came! Every time she visits I'm always ridiculously late to pick her up from the airport. Through no fault of my own. I only need to spend less than 15 miles on the 405 from Belleview to the airport and you would think that it would take, well, 10 to 15 minutes. Right? Wrong. For some reason every time I go we're stopped half the time. On a Friday afternoon. At 3 or 4. Makes sense? Sure. It took me 45 minutes minimum to get through. Next time I think I'll learn and leave early. And of course that's the time when there will be no traffic and I'll actually get to the airport in a half hour instead of over an hour. C'est la vie.

So it was her shower this weekend. And so I get the opportunity *cough* to be videotaped for a quiz thingy for the shower. I was asked questions like when and where was our first kiss, what her favorite tv show is, who she would be if she was any character in a movie (I'm not an idiot I got that one right...any girl Heath Ledger has kissed) and things like that. It wasn't terrible. What was terrible was waiting while she was at said bridal shower. I figured that since they were doing their girly thing I should be a man. So I blew people's heads up. Yeah I played Gears Of War (quite terribly, I may add) and then showed up at the end for the manual labor. And let me tell you, these ladies are generous. We got a lot of very nice things and I am extremely grateful. Of course, we each have our favorite gifts. Becky's is the super nice blender and mine may or may not include black lace and all. Hahaha just kidding we don't have favorite gifts.

Maybe.

Anyway we spent every second we could together. We spent time in my hot tub on Friday and Saturday, watched Serenity, went to the mall and shopped around a bit, went out to eat both days, cuddled on the couch. Stuffed envelopes. You know, that kind of stuff. It was a very enjoyable weekend. Not much pressure except for the shower. Just some time to relax and reaffirm our love. It's funny. I would think that I would plateau at some point but I keep loving her more every time she gives me a look or I hold her in my arms. It's so good and so bad at the same time. Sigh. Being apart sucks. I love you forever Becky.

We read scriptures for the first time together this weekend too. We've been reading them together every night on the phone, but this is the first time we were physically in the same place. And it was very nice. To kneel afterwards and pray together is a great feeling. I'm looking forward to it. Every night. Of course the half asleep cuddling before and after isn't terrible either haha.

Honestly there isn't too much to cover this weekend. It was honestly very plain. But very special. Some things were left behind here on accident...I feel bad that Becky can't have them. But she'll live somehow. She gets to have memories of a great weekend with her fiance. That will sustain her. It's what's keeping me going now. Anyway. I love you Becky.

Have a good day everyone.

Today!

I am thankful for...

clean sheets
spelling clean right (I tried cleen four times)
peaches
my beautiful better half (that's you Becky!)
letters in the mail
singing along in the car
working cell phones
laughter
fixed misunderstandings
slight breezes
the brand new mix fiancee and I made (best mix ever!)
spending time with friends
comfortable beds

I thought today was a blah day around 3 or so. Looking back, though, it has been quite amazing. Now excuse me while I listen to our mix.

l i/o v e

Writing again

I used to write poems and songs all the time. They've never been any good but I would write them. And as I've been laying in bed alone for a while looking at what headphones I should buy (sigh. My phone and headphones broke the same day) I suddenly felt I should write. So here's the result...started at around 11:25 and ended at 11:36 PM. I never know what to name my stuff. But this is it. Hope you enjoy...at least a little bit. Hope you don't think it's too terrible. Have a great day!

The writers and the artists have a room that they share
There's fixtures on the ceiling but the walls are all bare
The passerbys get caught up in their magical snare
To a place they've never been
The colors are all twisted and the mic is on mute
Burning through the sun they seek the heaven sent truth
Pages after pages of a lost wasted youth
And a backpack of regrets

I've never wanted more than what I had before
Until my mind became alive with dancing flames
The pain

Rescued by a satellite of infinite strength
Dusted off my sneakers and I checked out her tank
Been running on the fumes and so we left for the bank
And the money rolled right in
The blessings of a power that I've never beheld
The world the poets carved was just a cheap dirty hell
These feelings never witnessed filled my heart's outer shell
And my brand new life began

I saw the outer rim; the flickered fire within
The soul that loved enough, others felt was too much
We brave the cave
We're saved

Pop

So you know the bubblegum pop? The stuff on the radio? Miley Cyrus and The Click Five and all that?

I just listened to my Depeche Mode. Good ol' 80's bubblegum pop.

My cousin's open house was today. She got married last week or two weeks ago or something. It was at my house. This week was pretty stressful as my mom was scrambling to get everything ready and I, as her employed slave, was busy doing whatever she needed haha. My first project? Painting my living room. It went from a white color to a sage green. It was pretty difficult...especially considering the 80-90 degree weather outside (and the resulting 90-100 degree heat indoors). I was sweating by 9:30. Fun times. haha but I got it all done and the room looks pretty nice if I do say so myself. Did yard work forever. Etc. And today was the culmination of the projects and I'm glad it's over. Of course now I have more jobs to do and all but hey. I'm done with this one. And it feels good. And I have a weekend to let the stress just leave. Take a couple naps, enjoy my time. That kind of stuff. Until I start on Monday all over again.

Still working on housing. It's coming slowly. We have an apartment complex that is holding a place for us until they can review our application which we're filling up. These forms are crazy in depth. And we finally figured out why: it's a project! We may be living in the provo projects haha. We'll just get a good lock.

Nothing else is happening. My life is work right now unfortunately. But it's good to keep a good perspective. For every day I work I earn enough to feed us for three weeks or so. Maybe less. Anyway. Just trying to keep good spirits. Hope you all are having an awesome life and enjoying yourselves! Have a good one.

The Second Best

So I've realized that my posts generally come in one of two styles. Flavors if you will. They include Becky (of which I only know the flavor thankyouverymuch) and music (which you can't ever taste but sometimes rattles your teeth when you play it too loud). I've noticed it kind of alternates too haha. Well, this one is about music. I've been employed by my parents to be the odd jobs guy around the house and do whatever they want for 10 an hour for 8 hours a day. I am so grateful because it's making me so I can live and buy food when I'm married. It is also giving me time to listen to lots of music. I've learned some things about my music. One of the most prominent lessons I can think of is this: 20 minutes of Coldplay? Good. Two hours of Coldplay? Most boring thing EVER. Except for the 6.8 hours of Dave Matthews I'm currently going through right now. Sigh.

Anyway.

Music. On to some of my points. First off, The Beatles Rock Band is coming out! That's right an entire Rock Band dedicated to Beatles songs. And I actually have mixed feelings about it. I mean, it's awesome that they're getting respect. They are an amazing band. But at the same time...I can't thikn of many of their songs being Rock Band friendly. Of course While My Guitar Gently Weeps would be amazing (for the guitarist) but I'm just thinking about it. And then there's the second issue: the drums. Whoever has the drum parts has the most boring job on the planet. Unless they make the drum parts harder on Rock Band than they were for Ringo in real life. If Ringo can do it, anyone can do it. Don't believe me? Let's go to the source:
Reporter: Is Ringo the best drummer in the world?
John Lennon: Ringo isn't even the best drummer in The Beatles!
Enough said. Listen to You've Got To Hide Your Love Away haha. They'll love that one.

Moving on.

Also listening I've come up with little categories in my head: wow this song has awesome drums, these guys have the best guitars, etc. And I decided to share that with you. Because, as we all know, I am the complete authority on any (good) music. It's like my own awards dealy. For the music that is only on my ipod. Sweet. Well here goes.

Best guitars: If you ask me which band has the best guitars, you'll quite possibly get the answer of "why it's Coheed and Cambria of course." Amazing. Claudio Sanchez, the singer, also gets the award of best hair. Look at those curls!

Best bass: You have to ask? Honestly? Fine. Here.

Best vocals: I actually don't know this one. It changes which I like almost daily. But Brandon Boyd from Incubus is absolutely amazing. I can't find a video where he really shines but you can check out their new single I guess. And that song that they did for Stealth. But I'd recommend picking up an album. Morning View is a great place to start.

Best lyrics: Bright Eyes. Hands down. Next.

Best piano: Well I say Ben Folds. But Muse has great stuff too (piano solo in the middle of the song).

Best drums: The obvious choice is Rush but I think they're a bit overrated. So I'm going to surprise everyone and say Yellowcard. Seriously that drummer is amazing. I've seen them twice live and he's done drum solos and even his normal playing is mindblowing. That is a friggin huge drumset he uses. Plus the dude is black and huge and could probably kill me. That wins points.

The worst literary interpretations of all time award goes to Taylor Swift. She says Romeo and Juliet was the greatest love story of all time and calls herself a scarlet letter, which is adultery. Thanks try again.

Wow that was a lot dumber than I thought it would be haha but I just put a lot of work into it so it's staying and getting put up. Too bad for you haha. Hope you're having a great day!

Music

Bright Eyes
"Four Winds"

Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe
There's people always dying trying to keep them alive
There's bodies decomposing in containers tonight
In an abandoned building where
Squatters made a mural of a Mexican girl
With fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirl
She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world
Four winds blowing through her hair

But when great Satan's gone... the Whore of Babylon...
She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed
She caves

The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an's mute
If you burned them all together you'd get close to the truth still
They're pouring over Sanskrit on the Ivy League moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun
Cast all the school and meditation built to soften the times
And hold us at the center while the spiral unwinds
It's knocking over fences crossing property lines
Four Winds, cry until it comes

And it's the Sum of Man slouching towards Bethlehem
A heart just can't contain all of that empty space
It breaks. It breaks. It breaks.

Well I went back by rented Cadillac and company jet
Like a newly orphaned refugee retracing my steps
All the way to Cassadaga to commune with the dead
They said, "You'd better look alive"
And I was off to old Dakota where a genocide sleeps
In the Black Hills, the Badlands, the calloused East
I buried my ballast. I made my peace.
Heard Four Winds, leveling the pines

But when great Satan's gone... the Whore of Babylon...
She just can't remain with all that outer space
She breaks. She breaks. She caves. She caves.