Part Two

Kind of upset right now. My heart completely goes out to those that are affected by the events that have happened over the weekend. I'm sure there are a million and two posts on the blogs across the internet, I just want to say a small piece and be on my way...

It's things like these that really put your life in perspective, you realize how small yet special you are in the scheme of things. You realize that all your little issues and bullshit are just that when you stack it up against the people that have endured what they have the past few days. I sort of feel bad for having the attitude of "well, you live there you deal with the fallout" that I've had for the past week. It's wrong, and I feel guilty for thinking that. It's not right. The poverty rate in New Orleans is pushing 40nd their homes are all they have...

I wish I could do more than just sit here

Politics, Knees and Aggro

Today was interesting to say the least. After the upside down day yesterday that is best forgotten (for the most part), even though it had it's issues, I'll take it. Work was basically normal, until someone decides to bring up current events. Usually it is quite civil and tame, however today everyone seemed to be against me. Before I'll start I'll call myself a mild complainer. I've really only whined to one person about the subject thus far, so there.

The gulf coast was brought up today which then proceed to spiral out of control to issues spanning from the war to me being a hippy. As far as joining a commune and tending to sheep, I'd say I'm a long ways off from that lifestyle. However, my colleagues were thinking the contrary. To make a long story short I decided to tie in some of the issues regarding the environment that a few policy makers have recently ignored. Thats all, nothing huge! Nowhere did I mention a president, a congressman(woman, if you like) or otherwise. Unfortunatly for me, no one bothered to realize this fact even after explaining it many times over. Also, no one seemed to by into the "global warming = radical shifts in weather" theory which has been proven countless times. Alas, no one subscribed to scientific fact today, and I was publicly scorned, a hippy. Not the first time I've been labeled this. I guess if I care about those types of issues and it makes me one, so be it. If caring about my great-grandchildrens future is wrong, change my name to wavy gravy and by me a Grateful Dead shirt, time to hippy up. By the way, is hippy "ppy" or "ppie?" Let me know...

Then I proceeded to take out my aggression on the treadmill, bike, and weight center at the fitness center where I work.

Kickball was great tonight, pounded the other team 23-9. One bad thing, I messed up my knee quite nicely. They were going for a force out on first and the girl decided she was going to stand in the baseline. Not that I mind or am that upset about it, it's rec league kickball, you don't have to know anything to play. I had an awkward stop on the bag but was safe (hurray!!). The next "at kick" as we'll call it, I kicked a double and tried to stop on second and my knee gave out and I almost slid to the outfield. Now, I have a mildly sprained knee and aggro in my shin. That stuff sucks to pick out of your skin, like I just spent the last 20 minutes doing. Oh yeah, soap on cuts sucks too, if you didn't already know.

But anywho, I'm still in a great mood, and am looking forward to my weekend, and especially next weekend.

And last but certainly by no stretch of the imagination least, I spent an incredible weekend in KC. Of course you should know what that is all about, and I'm not going to go into much detail, but it was very good.

Thanks for listening, and P.S. Go Sox!! 7-5 on the Devil Rays, they need to hurry up and close out the division on the Yankees.

Strange

So today was weird...

I was mean and grouchy most of the day because of one of my notorious headaches...I was sort of short with everyone today, including my girlfriend, my Mom, and my roommate. I really don't like being like that, however when I get one of these I can't even think. I've got some medical issues that cause them, at least I think that's what it was today. Anyway...

This is my way of apologizing to everyone

Jump right in...

Work is fast paced as ever...
Going to KC for the second time within two weeks...
Driving my Mom to a meeting for an investment deal in Mitchell (weird)...
Taking over running my kickball team from here on out...
Trying to catch up with some friends...
Deciding what to do when Steph comes up here in September...
Stressing about a new group I'm working with at the J-O-B...
Stressing from directly working with the Site Director on said project...

So anyway, today is sort of my time to have everything catch up with me. I'm not complaining though, everything mentioned above are things that I am really in to, some more than others obviously. Tonight is my usual night to go up and eat dinner with my Mom and hang out at the liquor store that she owns. It's nice for a kid who didn't have a relationship with his Mom for the past 10 years to have the ability to converse about the things that are going on in my life, and willingly take in some suggestion and some advice. It's strange, I've never been this into family for a very long time, if ever to be truthful.

Which leads me to the fact that I haven't talked to my Dad in about a month. My sister and him had a falling out (first one ever) last month and I kinda got caught in the middle, sometimes he can be weird.

But yeah, life is good right now at the moment (strange for me to say also). Actually life is great. I'm very happy with what I have, so I guess you could say I'm content.

Commentary

Ok, I'm like in the middle of 10 different things right now, however I feel like letting a little out, right now. Interesting people always make me think, I'm not sure why exactly. I used to hope that it wasn't because I couldn't spawn an interesting thought of my own, but now I'm old enough to understand that everyone draws inspiration from somewhere. I just finished reading an article in a major music publication (not Rolling Stone, get real) on a rock star that created one of the largest, and most important (in my opinion) bands in the 90's. I've always sort of taken what this individual had to say with a grain of salt, because of the flare for the pretentious. I've always been more of an earnest fella, however there is quite a difference in making earnest rock and being that way day to day. Read between the lines, you'll see what I mean. Case in point, one of my favorite bands U2. Not that their music has been anything of the sort since Rattle and Hum, or even before. Just for the record the film Rattle and Hum still makes me a little ill when I watch it. What does this have to do with anything that I'm saying?

Music has always held the keys to unlocking what I feel. That's an awefully cliched approach to my view of music, however sometimes the reason a statement or a sentiment is "cliched" is because there's a sort of universal truth behind it. Coming from a musician and (I hate saying this, never take myself seriously) fledgling scribe of music itself, it's easier to understand exactly what it can do, and the implications that come along with letting it take over. The music I've listened to over the years is autobiographical in a way. I can queue up an album from 1995 and remember what it felt like to watch my young life crumble from beneath me while my parents had a messy divorce, or to the fall of 2000 and recapture what I was feeling when my uncle/godfather/second father died right in front of my eyes at the age of 47 of lung cancer. It's not all sad, I can hear a certain piece of music and remember optimism, youth, innocence. I've learned to never understimate the vibrant undercurrents of a silly song making you smile now, because you may need to rely on that years down the road.

I've chronicled my life in the past 10 years with a series of 12 CD's. Almost sounds like something a former MTV VJ or Roger Daltrey should be selling you at 3:30 AM. I almost like to think of it as a "ask me where I've been and I'll tell you" type of a deal. The music itself? It spans from everything you know, to everything you wanted to know but didn't. I've always liked to think of myself as the keeper of fringe (and beyond) among friends. I always try to dig a little deeper to find that something that speaks to just me in my circle of friends. Sure it's easy to sit back and be a Radiohead fan (because they're a great band) and claim to be the cool hip individual of your group. And if that's your bag, well then I can't say anyone should hold you to a fault. My point is, is that good music is out there, all you have to do is open your eyes and look. Look beyond MTV or VH1, not that their is a lot of musical inspiration from either musical outlet. Not that I'm trying to give advice, I just like hearing the sound of my own voice in my head (hehe). We'll leave it at that as to why I am choosing to write about this.

Taking someone's art and trying to have it define or even run commentary over your life is always a tricky thing. There are some CD's and some Vinyl that sit my shelf that never get pulled out for the reason that they are somewhat tarnished. Somedays I envy the person that can flip on the radio and have it just be "in the background." However, most of the time I like to keep my madness the way it is, but whenever I need a smile I always tap into my collection of 90's Sweed pop to keep me happy Hey, it's good stuff.

8 1/2

Don't mind me and my title, just sort of counting...

So it's a dreary day in SF, however I have kickball tonight and that's always reason to celebrate. This week will be smoother than the last, or at least I sure hope so. This weekend is going to be fairly non-eventful by choice, the only thing I have to do is go to a wedding, and I'm fairly confident that I'm going to keep it that way. I have an incredible habbit of making no plans for myself that turn into massive amounts of plans. Not that I'm an important guy, I guess I just have a nose for things to do and people to see.

One of my favorite bands (311) released a CD this week, and I've been spending the last 24 hours trying it on. They don't venture too far away from their tried and true formula, however they always seem to add a new wrinkle every couple years to keep things interesting. I think it's funny in a way that I still listen to them, they are more of an adolescent/pot smokers band. I think the quality that endears me to them still is the amount of positive energy that they put into their music. I respect the fact that they are a mainstay to their style and what they believe, despite musical climate changes that happen as often as here in sunny/cloudy/rainy/snowy South Dakota. So I'm a huge fan, sue me. I also saw them live down in Kansas City last friday, which transitions beautifully into my next paragraph...

No, the reason to go to KC was not 311, however it was a nice bonus to a certain extent. For starters, Steph and I spent a lot of time in the rain, she spent a lot of time dodging people shoes and drugs. Not exactly the type of environment I imagined our first show to be in, however I should have expected that knowing how the usual suspects act in that setting. All in all, it was a fun time despite some of the drawbacks, it showed that she'd put up with a lot to make me happy, which a guy can really appreciate. I'm not really going to recap everything we did (but if you really want to know, I'm sure you can figure out how to get there), all I can say is that every minute was phenomenal and that I wanted to stretch each one to the fullest. It ended sooner than I would have liked, but the next visit is just around the bend. I couldn't be happier (well, I could but you know)...

So yeah, the weekend was great, the week at work is going well, and I'm signing off for now...

Good Evening

Well tonight was kickball and man was it eventful. Never a dull moment with people that are still have a fleeting notion that they are A) In Shape B) In shape enough to still be competitive (in a rec league no less!!) or C) All the above. I tell you what, if I get one my accounant that is 47 and has never watched a baseball game in his life explain to me a sport I've followed since I was knee high to a bat boy, I'm going to go Lou Pinella on their arse. So now that I'm at home finishing my Gatorade and listening to angry devil music to simmer down before my nightly phone call, I'd have to say that the recreation league of Sioux Falls kickball is anything but.

These people must sit in their offices every week planning and stratagizing on batting lineups, outfield positioning, when to bunt, when to pop up, when to run, when to tag up, when to yell at me. You name it, these people eat, drink, and whine kickball. This is going to be the last year I ever do this. I bet the actual competition league is way less stressful because everyone knows what's going on!!

Tonight (not that anyone may care) I had to take over as coach and play at the same time. I guess it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but a guy can only be pushed so far on hump day, you know?

I did this because I was convinced it would be fun. I didn't sign up to argue with every farmer tanned, visor wearing, breathing down the neck of applying for AARP, middle-age kickball know it all this side of the Mississippi. (Sorry for my Yosemite Sam Rant, sure love the Looney Tunes).

So anyway, now that I'm feeling a bit better, I'm puting down the bad music and I'm going to go and make a sandwich.

Blah!!

Okay, That Was Easy

So, here we go again.

"One Day Weekend"

Well, two posts, one week. Not too shabby for me when you get down to it. So tomorrow starts yet another week, which for the most part should be fairly normal. However, the normal week leads into the non-typical weekend when I get to spend time with my "girlfriend" (gotta love the quotes, we'll get used to it someday). It will be a blast, I have no reservations about that, so I guess I'm just saying that I'm really looking forward to it!

Rough times on the home front this weekend. Let's just leave it at the fact that Saturday was a sort of weird/surreal day for me. Too much confrontation and whatnot. Got into it with my room mate (for reasons I'll leave out) for the first time ever. Sort of odd, but it's over and done with and things are normal again. I went out with my brother, his fiance, and their work friends. Alcohol Stupid People = Drama. Never changes, never will.

So anyway, not much to do tomorrow other that go to work, the next few days will be filled up with the "usual" activities, but that's okay, since I seem to enjoy my life quite a bit these days.

Good evening

My First

I'm going to be in the process of transferring my old posts from my MySpace blog, as I'm shutting it down as soon as I've completed this daunting task. Maybe it won't take so long, we'll see.

"So Here I Am"

Apparently, I have no computer skills so we'll try this again...

As I explained 10 minutes ago to the blog entry that is now sailed off into the land of unsaved mistakes by myself (of which there are many) I was a little apprehensive to start anything public like this. I'm not sure if I will keep it this way, maybe some of the more personal ones will be under the banner of "friends only."

So my life is really quite normal for the most part. I have a great 9 to 5 job that I seem to think I'm really good at, and that I enjoy (except for today). I have a great relationship with my family and friends, and could really only ask for a few fences to be mended in that aspect of my life. On the other hand, my relationship couldn't be and more un-normal (making up words as I go) on the surface. Nothing like a little time and distance to raise all sorts of questions for peers. However, only a select few really know how good it actually is, and that we are making strides to someday (and soon) make the most of it. If I could see the future, I'd be counting the days I believe.

So anyway, thus begins my foray into the world of public broadcasting, to my friends (of which there are few) you'll be able to continue to read my thrilling adventures, haha. To those just passing by, happy trails...