definitions of interest

ponce: British : PIMP; also usually disparaging : a male homosexual

(i had just wondered for a while. this isn't relevant to anything.)



dudley is not a ponce

so after i assisted in helping everyone get last friday off, i was excited about the 4 day weekend. it was a pain to get that extra day though. sheesh. my company values a work a bit too much at times. when everyone else in the world is off and you arent, i dont know, it seems like you shouldn't have to choose between family and work at times like that. but everything worked out great.

we went and saw harry potter on the IMAX last monday. it was an awesome movie.

let's see, our first major holiday married went pretty well. we got to visit both our families (mine probably more, but i had my aunt and uncle in town whom i really like hanging out with (i think jess didnt mind too much)). obviously, the worst part for everyone was the feeling of this impending doom looming overheard because we just dont know what's going to happen with my parents. other than that though everything was great. we (some of us) got up and out the mall at 6 to hit some deals. i got a couple 1 GB flash drives for $20 and some 10 mile walkie talkies for $15. it was crowded though. i dont know why i ever even go into Best Buy. what a nightmare.

we got a washer and dryer the other day. i dont know if i mentioned that. it's a nice comfort. and for $175, it was totally worth it. it takes a lot of the "school" feel out of living (the bad part of school).


smug: highly self-satisfied; see DUDLEY

we got hit by a drunk driver (for the first time in my life) sunday morning about 1.0 am. we were just about to exit off 40W onto Briley Parkway when i saw the guy coming up on us real fast. i knew he wasnt going to be able to stop. so he ended up hitting the driver's side rear bumper and swerving back onto the interstate. so as i slammed on the brakes, i looked up in amazement as he drove off. well, i wasn't "okay" with that. so i threw it (the civic) in reverse, backed up onto the interstate, and pedal to the floor. it was a wierd feeling. it was like, i didn't care about anything except cathing up to this guy. and we did. i was flashing the lights and honking the horn and everything, but he just seemed totally oblivious to it. and i totally didnt even think he was drunk. i figured he was either handicapped or foreign or something. so i followed him until he finally pulled over... onto a 3 foot shoulder! idiot! i thought we were going to get killed trying to pull over onto this shoulder so i finally pulled around him (he still didnt seem to understand what was going on only furthering my thought that he was retarded) and got him to follow us to the nearest exit, which happened to be 212 Hermitage Ave (a very shady exit). but we found some street lights and pulled under those and waited for the cops. i was pretty nervoous when we finally pulled over. i didnt know if this guy was going to be violent, if he had a knife, gun, what. but i had been praying (and i know jess had too) so that (and my frustration and confusion and anger) overode my fear. it took me almost a minute to realize that he wasn't mentally handicapped but was in fact drunk. after that realization i felt better about the possibility of fighting. so i pretty much stalled him for 10 min while we waited for the cop to arrive (note: this is 20 min faster than the UT police ...on the UT campus!) drunk people tend to repeat themselves a lot when you just nod and say "yeah" a lot. he kept saying how "really, you guys got over and hit me!" and i was like, "yeah..." once the police arrived it didnt take him long to figure out he was drunk and arrest him. the cop was really nice. he was around my age i think. he was like, "how'd you get down here?" (after i told him where the accident had occured). "i followed him," i said with a hint of smugness. i think he smiled at that.

then we went home and slept. all things considered, this went as well as it could've. when you think about how badly it really could've gone it makes you really appreciate and see the things in life that truly are important. and it's kind of wierd because not many things in life are actually important at all. really, it seems to come down to your relationships. with God. with family and friends. in all honesty, what else matters?

see you next week.

G.O.B. moments

oh my gosh. these just crack me up...


from Amigos

Michael: So I thought you might want to read it seeing as how you are the President now, even though it’s just a title.

G.O.B.: Right... yes, Well, we should “circumverent union penalties.”




Michael: Circumvent.

G.O.B.: Circumverate...

Michael: “Circumvent.” It means “to go around.”

G.O.B.: The old “reach around.”


from Let Them Eat Cake

G.O.B.: What about hash browns?

Kitty: No, because hash browns are potatoes.

G.O.B.: So, you really can’t eat anything on this diet. Wow, I wonder how this is going to affect my honey business.

Kitty: G.O.B., I have seen you get passed over, time and time again by your family. You don’t deserve that, you’re smarter than them.




G.O.B.: What about macaroni... let me finish... salad?


from The Immaculate Election

Michael: What do you need the camera for?

G.O.B.: I’m making a magic video. I’m going to tape myself doing tricks around the office. I’m calling it Tricks... let me finish... Around the Office. I figured out a way to make money while I’m working.

i can't even write how happy i am

oh my gosh. this is incredible. my hard drive crashed last year taking many documents and pictures and everything else with it. well, i got most things back, however, amongst these recovered items my music (the actual written out copies in Cakewalk) were no where to be found. this was incredibly dissapointing to me because (and you can ask scott) i spent a lot of time writing these things out years ago because i enjoyed it so much. there were several that just meant a lot to me (so i put them on my website) and i didnt think i'd ever see them again. but! i just recently found the old Cakewalk Demo CD that i'd used back 5 years ago and installed it on my computer at work. i just called Hazel Hawn (i cant think of the link where i wrote about her) and was trying to find where i wrote about her when i thought i'd look at my music page i decided to download them all and listen to them when it occured to me that cakewalk can open up midi files. so i figured, "i don't know. what the heck?" and it brought up the sheet music! incredible! my lost music is back! i mean, i dont know if i'll ever play them again, but they mean so much to me. The Star Spangled Banner i wrote for Jordan's Eagle ceremony, Hymn to the Fallen we played on senior night. i mean, i'm just... so happy.

thank you, God. You're unbelievable.

what a day

man, i wish it was one day. at least it'd be over by now.

life isn't the most fun now. it's not that i cant find fun or that i'm not having any fun. it's just that... i'm not having fun. even as i write that i realize how many great things i have. but this stuff with my parents is just wearing me down (and i've only been truly in the midst of it for a week now. i knew about the situation in general for 6 months and it wasn't that i didn't want to help; i just didnt think it was my place to do more than listen and comfort.) like, i don't even want to stop doing anything because it'll give me time to think about it. i've been playing guitar and listening to music just non-stop to keep my mind occupied.

you think just graduating's hard? try graduating, getting married, working 50 hrs a week, and having your parents try and get divorced all in 6 months. not to mention the fact that jess and i are not living in Mt. Juliet or Knoxville for the first time in 5 years and we don't have a steady church yet. we have to drive 6 mi to go exercise and neither that nor internet is even close to being free.

i'm just glad i have jesse with me. this would not be fun without her.

and it's not that i'm truly worried about my place or what's going to happen with our lives because i know God has it and i'd much rather Him have it than me. even though i know all this, it still doesnt mean i'm having a good time. it's like, for the past 5 years i've had the overall goal of graduating and getting a job. well, i've done that, so now what do i do? where do i go from here? where do we go from here?

stuff.

100 Greatest Internet Moments

Blue Ball Machine (who has this much time??)

What the crap is going on in France??



for that fact, what's going on here?

...i can't even write about it.

the new 'stang

my dad got a new car this weekend. a brand new Mustang GT (2005 or 2006; i cant remember). and it is incredible. 300hp - 0 to 60 in 5.2 sec. it is a blast. you can probably hit almost 50 mph in 1st gear. as you can see, it's bright yellow and a convertible. the best convertible i've ever sat in. really comfortable and and an awesome exhaust sound. theres just something spectacular about driving around in a car that you know can take off like nothing you've ever seen at the drop of a hat. man, when you hit the gas, it responds. fast. your insides just shift to the back of your body. oh and talk about adrenaline rush.

(i think he needs to get some black stripes put on it.)








and you can change the LEDs behind the gauges to many different colors.

just thought this was funny

look how condescending he is!

"Seems like it always seems, where I go I want to leave"

that's a line from the Matt Pond PA song Halloween. i thought it was a interesting way of describing how i feel sometimes (fairly often?). i tell you, i'm not feelin' it today. i feel tired and rather down. i know why i'm tired, but not exactly why i'm down. i think it's the same old thing. i dont have enough time in the day to relax and accomplish the things i want and need to accomplish. am i the only one who has the monthly reoccuring thought of "is this what i'm supposed to be doing with my life"? i hope not.

dang. and our gig posters havent come in and it's been almost 2 weeks. i'm beginning to think they may have gotten lost. 2 out of the 3 were the last ones they had. man, this isn't making it any better.

okay, jess and i went to Memphis this past weekend. in your mind you think "well that's in TN so, i mean, it cant be that far away, right?" wrong, in reality it's only 35 miles closer than Atlanta. good night. anywho, it was a fun trip. like a tiny vacation. and it was cool to see the school it seems like scott's been going to for 5 yrs (in reality, of course, it's only his 2nd year). and i hadn't been to Memphis in a while. it's nicer than i remember. and the weather was just fantastic. and scott lives in a frat house, but it's really cool. he has the 3rd floor all to himself...




...which isn't necessarily good for his bursitis. but he makes it look easy (and i totally think he's faking it).


here's what part of his downstairs looks like...





here's the vietnamese restaurant where scott told us about Koreans eating live squid (here's a video) (ughhhhh gosh)...





look who's squintin' now. is it the guy with the blue blockers? i dont think so.





i think scott has about 3 cubic feet of freezer space lost to ice.





the official scott ToM (that's Tour of Memphis)...





Memphis... in BB-D! (that's Blue Blocker Dimension)




anywho, it was fun. but this weekend is the Octoberween party! it should be fun.

perhaps The Flying Saucer tonight? i dont know.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

this was the coolest musical performance i've ever been to (and paid for). i got these guys' CD back in June or so and have just thoroughly enjoyed their music ever since, so i was tremendously excited to see Nashville on their tour schedule. so i made sure to jesse plenty ahead of time (because she needs to know things like that) and that we wouldnt have anything else that friday. (i even made up a flyer with direction for her. she likes things like that.) well, it turned out my office as providing pizza and beer earlier that afternoon, but that only sweetened the friday deal. anyway, we got down there way ahead of time and sat around looking for garage sales in the paper (in which one we actually got our new dining room table; it's sweet). as soon as we walked in the place we realized what this was going to be like: close. you couldnt have fit more than 100 people in there, the stage was 6" off the ground, and you could stand close enough to the stage to... well, it was really close. but i just enjoyed it so much. until i went to Sufjan Stevens, i had never really been to a concert starring a band i really really liked. like we went to some back in high school, but i was mostly just going to go with the group. honestly, my ears are pretty sensitive to highs, so unless it's music i just love, i'd rather just sit in the back or listen to the cd. but i've come to realize why people actually enjoy concerts... because you get to hear the music you love played really loudly. but on top of that! if you can watch it up close it's WAY better. it's so cool to put a face to music. it totally changes the way you listen and see the music. when you see that an actual person plays and sings this music (and well), it's like opening your eyes when watching tv (i guess that's a pretty literal metaphor. ah who cares. it makes sense. maybe it wouldnt even be considered a metaphor. whatever.)




so after we were done rockin' (and it really was an awesome performance) i went around (after a bit of encouragement from jesse (you always think you'll be so calm and cool approaching someone in this nature, but i was a bit nervous. i have a natural fear people wanting to leave while i'm talking to them or something like that, and when you know that the person might be needing to do something else it makes it even worse. so i was sort of nervous)(uh, where was i?)(oh right) to get each of the band member's autographs on my cd cover. they were really nice and very happy to do it. and the coolest part was when i was getting the last guy's autograph (Lee) i was telling him how this was all i had left from my cd after it had gotten stolen in Costa Rica and he was like, "seriously? it was stolen?" and i said "yeah, from my rental car". so he said " well hang on a sec. let me see if i can get you another one." sweet!! and he did. it was awesome. i also got some posters and stuff (including a gig poster for $10 which i wouldve kicked myself big time had i not gotten it to accompany us in our abode)

man, i would've loved to have talked to them longer, but again, we get back to that wierd fear. i mean, honestly, i didnt know if they needed to put their stuff up and get on the road or what. plus jesse didnt feel so hot (and my stomach hurt too (but i wouldve stayed till they closed or cyhsy left)(but i'm very thankful jesse came to share in the occasion with me. she knew how excited i was and i appreciated her attendence very much)). but in the end i suppose they are just people and it is just music, so, not the end of the world. i just feel so lucky to have gotten to experience such an incredible band in such an intimate atmosphere and of course, to have had jess by my side. i really think that it was a bit of a once in a lifetime opportunity. i dont think i'll ever see them in that small of a concert again. i'm glad we were there.

in conclusion, ticketmaster sucks big time. i'm sorry, but $8 is not a very convenient fee. i can drive to Cookeville for $8. what kind of convenience are we paying $8 for?! (luckily, we didnt have to use ticketmaster for this)

this girl also went to the concert. her pictures are a bit better, but she was right in front of the band (as you can see). i think that would be a bit awkward at times. who knows. she's also a radio dj for WRVU, so her description of the event is a bit more professional; much fewer "( )".

oh, and here are my pictures

i loooove gig posters!

so i've really been into gig posters as of late. i've always thought they were neat, but recently i've just really been excited about getting some and putting them up. the only downsound to collecting them is that they're a bit expensive. but perhaps they're not. when you think of them in terms of "art" rather than "posters", i suppose $20 isn't that bad. and some of them just look so cool. and for a lot of them, they'll only make around 50 or so prints. so we got 3 (for now)...










we felt that they nicely represented both our musical tastes and our style. there were many many more that i would've loved to have gotten, but alas $70 will do for now.

and tonight! we're going to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! i'm so excited. i hope it works out and we get in. it's a really small place and there were no advance tickets so i'm sort of worried. but i think we'll get over to it in plenty of time to get in. i hope they're cool. i hate hearing awesome music only to find out that the band members dont represent things i value or do represent things i find offensive. that's so tough for me because i REALLY like music. like, i was telling jesse the other day, i'd rather not know anything about a band's religious belief's or lack there of than find out that they not only dont believe in God, but also make light of Him. does that make sense? for example, the new Wolf Parade CD. it's an incredible CD. just really great. but in one song they use God's name in vain in a way i found particularly displeasing. and that was all. no more mentions of it or anything. but that one little thing just really bugs me and wont stop. and i know it's not there job to please whoever and i'm not making any judgements or anything, it's just rubs me the wrong way when i hear stuff like that. like it was really cool to see Sufjan Stevens and enjoy the music and come away with the feeling that the band members are great people. anyway, i just hope CYHSY is cool.