Sunday, October 31, 2010

160

Post 160!

It's Halloween, and I woke up this morning with "Don't fear the Reaper" stuck in my head. Appropriate, I thought.

New layout to the blog too, pretty cool I think. Freshened it up, motivated me to keep it up a bit more. I like how I could use my own pictures for the background too, it was taken
<-- Here. This blog was boring, read the one below, much more entertaining. For that matter... read ALL the ones below, I've got at least 159 of them

Also, Sir Elton John!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Texts

Tony: You can't get your heart broke if you fall in love every 20 minutes...
Jon: Haha, broken hearts are overrated... romanticized by musicians and poets :(
Tony: The assholes... like I needed another reason to drink
Jon: We'll get back at them... someday, somehow
Tony: Write our own songs. Ballads of Brotherhood, poems of passionate victory
Jon: Limericks of Life!
Tony: Sonnets of strength!
Jon: Haikus of heraldry!
Tony: Verdent Frendship in Free Verse!
Jon: Iambic Pentameters of idyllic persons!
Tony: Odes to originality!
Jon: Quatrains of courage!
Tony: Epics of excitement!
Jon: Couplets of charisma!
Tony:I'm all out. Good show
Jon: Phew, that was the last of my artillary.. haha I didn't know what I would follow the next one with. You began though, so we'll call it a draw
Tony: War is tough... almost like a chorus of companionship
Jon: Haha bravo. That was sneaky... like stanza.


Tony: I swear this class just wants to kill me. It's sentient an' vicious
Jon: Those are the worst... those and gnomes
Tony: Ugh. Your telling me. Dylan is actually playing one in our current campaign. Un-fucking-believable
Jon: hahah fantastic placement of an explicative
Tony: Thank you, I can do but try... Gnomes have that effect on me
Jon: It's butterflies for me... they think they are so great..
Tony: Don't worry. Bottom of the food chain an' incredibly short life span. They're made to look pretty pretty for us on warm spring days. Then they die.
Jon: You say the most beautiful things
Tony: I have my suspicion we have the same purpose for trees. That's why I support clear cutting.

SONG! (Sort of...?)

Sunday, October 17, 2010

That was good.

Today was one of those days.
Let me specify...

One of those amazing days. Nothing in particular happened, there was no great revelation, no big event, no long anticipated result, just... good.

The sun was out, work was satisfying, lunch was smaller than usual, (but that was my own fault), air was crisp, didn't get much studying done (disappointing), forgot my lock at work so I needed to go back and grab it (Inconvenient), had coffee, saw friends, went to church, also watched the end of "Sherlock" this morning (no specific order in this list, my bad)

It was a day in the life, it was just.... good. As I drove home in the dark from the University/Church I just... got high haha. A complete and utter happiness, fantastic. Perhaps it was the new Joshua Radin CD that inspired me and put me in this place, maybe it was good friends, good church, good God! But I'm just happy, and wanted to express that in textish form.

It's a hard to explain feeling, but it was a genuine acknowledgment that I wouldn't change anything about how life is going right now, at this very moment. With all the stress, all the school, all the friends, all the work. I've even started playing guitar daily, which centers me even more. I want to laugh. I am laughing.

Life is just.... good. And I don't mean that "things are going well for me at the moment", I mean life is good. It's good being alive. I am happy I am alive.

"You're not dead, and in my books? That's a damn good reason to be happy". I am. Both.

I could delve into a deeper, philosophical post, theological even, but no. I just wanted to proclaim how great it is to be alive, and to be able to experience the beauty that is this world, this life and all the people in it. That means you! (Which in the most likely case for you reader(s?), I can also throw in a heartfelt "I miss you" and I would love to laugh over a pint, someday).

As I mentioned, new Josh Radin, I can't figure out my favorite song, so here are 3!

The Ones With the Light

You're not as Young as you Once were

Finally, "Road to Ride on"


Which one should be my favorite? haha.



(I miss my long hair too I've just realized)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Something in the Water

The last post was long, and there weren't any pictures of music. For this, I apologize, and hope that this peace offering will earn some forgiveness.

--> A Great song

And a picture I took a few years ago (look at that, archived oldie)




Interestingly, the picture is in colour. Cool.

Monday, October 11, 2010

As I hope to show

This blog post is against my better judgment in light of week 1 of the "Midterm wave", however the risk of becoming the "worst blog poster ever" as Mike so elegantly puts it, motivates me to at least pour something fresh in here.

But what...

This past week was fantastic, quite eventful and at the moment the highlight of this fall. Specifically it was a trip down to Vancouver to see As I Lay Dying/Unearth with Mike, followed by a sitting in the LSAT exam a day later... too much driving. School is school, as mentioned earlier midterms are on the immediate horizon, but I can make up for this lost time tomorrow (what else are birthdays for than hard work?). Thanksgiving yesterday, twas good. Also, Nicole moved out today, so that's noteworthy as well, living in Fernie for the next few months at least.

So that's that on the "current events" side of things... Unfortunately, as eventful as my life truly is, I'm not very good at frequent updates in this chronicling effort... Twitter is over on the side there... I can update that with my phone, so it gets a bit more attention. (However, that's definitely not a chronicle of my life... or at least I hope not).
Wouldn't it be something to become accomplished enough to have a biography written after you? Autobiographies don't seem to have the same flair... more accurate yes, but someone else wasn't so intrigued by your life that they felt the need to put it on paper. Meh... My life is somewhat written in a series of 1's and 0's that if Blogger ceases to be will be lost forever.

On another note, as I mentioned, I went to As I Lay Dying the other day, and it was fantastic. I love the fact that I can have these musicians to admire not only for their music, but on another note for their personal convictions and message. Listening to some of their convicting lyrics is a fresh dose of "examine your own life" that I know I so desperately need... My biggest concern of late is that I keep forgetting to surrender my own sense of entitlement. Unfortunately it's too easy to get caught up in the day to day, comings and goings of a busy life, so much so that my own schedule, my own immediate desires come to the forefront too often. I act and speak before listening too often... This I recognize, and too often excuse with the idea that my own little kingdom that is "life" should be run this way. Thankfully, this recent kick of AILD's lyrics have been the little kick that I needed to remind me of efforts to humble myself.

Humility, that's the word I need to remember. I once (not recently unfortunately) had someone say that I was "too humble", which I took as being the greatest compliment. There is a C.S. Lewis quote I read the other day that went something along the lines of "Love is unselfishly choosing for another persons good", which to me is humility in action. The effort to put aside ones own sense of entitlement, perhaps in my case an overinflated sense of self-worth, and instead focus on this love. Servitude to the interests of those around me, those affected by my life both directly and indirectly. Too often am I focused on the serving myself, and then on a more faith based perspective, is that exemplifying the teachings of Christ? An exemplification that should be on the forefront of my day to day actions. It's an effort to set myself apart from the world that we live in... be against the grain from so many things that I know I should be. I would hope that humility towards my own convictions will keep me on the path I want to tread, without any compromise that I justify by this sense of ownership and entitlement to my own comfort and desires.
Sometimes this train of thought leads me to let myself be taken to an extreme where I entertain ideas of dropping it all to go care for those in need, inspired by those who laid it all down to care for orphans, for widows. I wonder if these ideas are fueled by a sense of "capitalist guilt", or whether the guilt that I feel for not fulfilling them is fueled by something more...
Perhaps guilt isn't the right response at all... appropriately I should be motivated, acting on ideas in an attempt to inspire others. Nevertheless, I feel like I need to do more.
Serve more.
Love more.


I am a walking contradiction that's found consistency
Consuming everything, all without producing sustenance.

In the parallels we struggle to upkeep, there is a better way for us to be set free.
From all it is we crave, there must be more to life than to simply stay alive


We are not the same as I hope to show. There is a better way if we just let go