A more practical, it seems, detailing of my life

So what's up in my life? It's been awhile since i've gone back through it...

well, 'bout two months ago I decided to step away from working with the youth and playing in the band at church. I'd been working in both for a long, long time, and it had pretty much gotten to the point where I would go to the ministries with a big sigh of reluctance and it quite frankly stopped being anything close to fun or anything. It had gotten to the point, musically, that I had stopped playing my guitar for fun or on my own, and I was not cool with that. So i'm taking a break for awhile, and i'm loving the time off. and i'm enjoying simply enjoying my guitar.

Last week I applied for a center manager position in Berkeley, and I interviewed for it earlier this week. As i'd suspected after the interview and talking with the recruiter, they already had a candidate they'd pretty much decided on before the position was officially posted. It's a pretty common practice in our company, so i completely understand. So I didn't get it, but I had an excellent opportunity to practice my interviews, plus I put my name out officially and i'm known. Apparently, I did a pretty good interview, got some good feedback though so next time I'll be even better.


I've been going to the gym pretty regularly, between 3-6 times each depending on my schedule. It's crazy, i'm definately enjoying it. Well, i figure i must be because I don't have any trouble motivating myself to go do it (most days). I start each workout by running for 10 minutes (increasing the speed every few days), then I do a couple of sets of two different weights/exercises (i've got a semi-regular routine of a couple different ones i rotate through), and then I finish everything off by running for another 5 minutes. I'm probably going to change up, down the speed and up the time on my runs, working my speed back up again.

I was pretty excited. I set a goal for myself to do sets of 250 pounds for deadlifts by the end of October. Last monday (monday's my deadlift day) I was doing my sets at 255 pounds. Well, i'm on my final set when the song "Waitin' for Superman" by the Flaming Lips comes on my .mp3 player. Why is that amusing? Well, the chorus to that song simply goes..."Is it getting heavy? I thought it was already as heavy as can be."

Still reading a lot, but you can read about that in other posts.

There's, of course, somethign else going on in my life this month, but it's not really fully developed so I'm keeping the DL on it right now.

I am way excited to be going home to Kansas for thanksgiving. for more than one reason.

I got an xBox 360. Madden 09 is mjuch better than 08, but the real news is that i got Fallout 3. that game is pretty darn incredible so far. Tomb Raider comes out next month, and a bunch of other quality games.

And also in exciting news....75 days left 'till Peru! w00t!

It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have.

funny to think when you realize that you might be the bad guy, when you consider that you might be apart of the sort of thing you always swore you'd never do. funny how life works out that way.

NaNoWriMo

If i do, in fact, participate in National Novel Writing Month, it will be in large part inspired by the following quote from their website...

"Art for art's sake does wonderful things to you. It makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It makes you want to take naps and go places wearing funny pants. Doing something just for the hell of it is a wonderful antidote to all the chores and "must-dos" of daily life. Writing a novel in a month is both exhilarating and stupid, and we would all do well to invite a little more spontaneous stupidity into our lives."

I have in mind the novel I would try to write, well, at least I know where it starts and I know where it ends. The details in between are still a little fuzzy. I guess that'st he fun part, eh?

*shrug* we'll see. i'm pretty known for having big ideas and plans and generally not doing much of anything about it.

a little bit of patience...

that definately does not suck

Cholera

I just finished Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, and for the second time in as many books, he waited until the very final page to reveal the exact meaning of his title. Sure, cholera makes a few appearances elsewhere in the book, but it hardly at all makes sense until the final pages. very nice tho. That man is an impressive writer, I can definately see why he won the Nobel Prize, and I definately agree that he's qualified. I don't know if I can quite explain it, though, how to describe why he's so great. he's just a phenomenal storyteller, puts together such vibrant characters--even when they're sort of cliche--with such simple and accurate and beautiful writing that just sort of pulls you through the story. He writes very much in the style of Steven King (or vice versa, if you will) where the characters drive the story, with plot and events being driven by them rather than forcing a character into a specific set of events.

Suffice to say, impressive author. read Love in the Time of Cholera, of if you're in the mood for something a little more fantastic and less romantic, read 100 Years of Solitude, labeled as the first book since Genesis that should be required reading of the entire human race. not sure i disagree.

Here it is again...football stats...

We had a huge turnout yesterday for football, probably better than 30 people at the peak. Lots of new people, lots of fun. I had a pretty good game.

On offense, I played exclusively QB and offensive line, and had:
probably 5 of 12 passing for probably 85 yards with a touchdown. I had probably 3 rushes for about 15 yards. Unfortunately, I was sacked twice.

Defense, I played around. Little bit of linebacker, little bit of nickleback, and a fair spot of d-line. I had probably 6 tackles, including 1 for a big loss. I also had 2 sacks and probably 6-8 QB hurries.

Good times.

A lack of unsense here...hopefully...

I've been blessed with several good albums recently. It's sort of an issue...how do you choose which one to listen to?

the new Anberlin album is very spiffy. It's not quite as grandeur in it's last moments as Cities, but it's definately epic enough for me. It's a bit more poppy, en general, than Cities, sort of like it mixes the epic soaring emo anthems of Cities with the solid pop grooves of Blueprints for a Black Market. Definitely got some great christian undertones to it.

I picked up the Jason Mraz album, mostly to impress girls, if you must be honest, but also because "I'm Yours" is a phenomenal song and worth buying the whole album for by itself. Haven't gotten into the rest of it yet, but it might come. Do love the artwork.

I randomly ran across the Fratellis on "Live at Abbey Road" and thought they were good fun, so I'd picked up "Costello Music" (because of the pinup girls on the cover, maybe?) and absolutely enjoyed the hell out of that album (especially "Whistling for the Choir"). Just a good ol' fashion, run British rock'n'roll band. don't have enough of them. So i picked up their latest, "Here We Stand," and so far it's pretty spiffy. They lost a little bit of the Brit Bar Band feel, and moved over towards a bit more of the classic British Invasion pop rock album, but they do it well. They are fun, and would be a great show to see in a pub somewhere. do we even have pubs out here?

My most exciting pickup so far is the Subways "All or Nothing." Another band I discovered on Live at Abbey Road, I knew I had to have their disc when I heard that Butch Vig produced it. they are the most in-tune 3-piece band i've come across for awhile--they're so comfortable playing with each other that they are completely free to explore their instruments and have a lot of fun doing it. Good ol' punk album, not in the Green Day or anything like that, but more like the Donnas or the Ramones. For some reason, they remind me a lot of Abandoned Pools, but i think they're a little bit more grounded. And let me say...chic bass players like Charlotte Cooper...good golly that girl is hot.

Anyways, i've finally started to play the guitar again. It's been too long. I knew something was off when I just looked at my guitar and would have been just as happy with it in the case in the closet as playing it. It's nice to be annoyed when I have to leave for work 'cuz I'm still itching to finger some chords and play some tunes. Now if i can just get this "I haven't written a song in way too long" monkey off of my back, i'll be happy. I have some ideas. i hope they come together. that's the tricky part.

Just 'cuz I feel like it...
Nate's Top Ten Albums of All Time (in no particular order)(where everything could change tomorrow)
Garbage "Version 2.0"
Starflyer 59 "Everyone Makes Mistakes"
Damien Rice "O"
Jars of Clay "Jars of Clay"
Bright Eyes "I'm Wide Awake it's Morning"
Depeche Mode "Songs of Faith and Devotion"
Deftones "White Pony"
Moby "Play"
Erasure "Erasure"
Poe "Haunted"

I think listening to those albums would tell you a lot about me. but what do i know?

Funny how several of my all-time fav bands (The White Stripes, The Violet Burning) don't make that list.

Oh well.

That sucks.

We sing, we dance, we steal things

Well, now i'm done. I've done it and you know I felt it. Subtlety, eh? Tried to be chill, but I'm heavy-handed, too hot and I melted. Walked a delicate balance, but I fell right through the cracks...now I've got to try to get back. But while I try to be cool, it will take nothing short of God, divine intervention, to stop me from giving my best. I'll either pull it off and win some or learn some.

So hard to wait, sometimes you can't, and if you hesitate? No more, I'm...

You'll have to step back and think like me, open up your plans and damn you're free. You've just got to keep looking down, down into your heart. What will you find? Love listening to the music when people dance and sing, just like family, one big family that sometimes forget's it's God-given rights to be loved.

So i'm tired of waiting. No more. It doesn't have to be complicated, we don't really have time for that anyways. Is it fate? Who am I to say? I've spent way too much time checkin my reflection in the mirror, watching the words roll off of my tongue, bending over backwards to get a better look. If your breath is fogging up the glass, just draw another face and laugh.

I guess what i'm trying to say is there's just no better rhyme or reason to give up and go with the season--thats what I aim to do. Who we are, our name, is our only virtue.

Hesitate? No more. It can't wait any longer. Me? Your's is the choice to see like me, free plans and find the sky is your own, the only limit. It's not as complicated as we think, which is good because we never have enough time. That's destiny. I & mine. Yours.

Could've been a night like any other...

It could've been a scene straight out of a movie. Chances are you've seen it, probably more than once. They say that there are only three stories, told and retold with little variations. I'm not sure who they are or when or why they said such a thing, and that's sort of the problem with undefined pronouns. It's the way english is these days, though, undefined and vague. it's all a matter of context--if you know the details, the stories will fill themselves in. Without context I might as well just be another random blogger rambling through the wastes of the internet.

if it is, in fact, one of the three dominant stories, then we can begin to understand that it is told and retold because it is a true story, one that resonates with all of us on some level. Maybe it's a story we've all lived or seen someone else live, but we know that it is as it is because it is, somewhere, somehow it is telling out in the lives we witness firsthand.

It could be showing on a movie screen right now, but it certainly hasn't played itself out yet. Intermission? Is it just the subplot from a much bigger picture (maybe one who's finale has just passed and now winds down to conclusion), or is it the exposition building to something of it's own climax.

I always said it was the sort of thing i'd not be involved with. I've said such things in the past, never's and no's and not me's, and turned around to watch myself exactly where I thought not to be. Maybe I ought not draw lines, less I find myself pulled across by gravity, one who's laws you cannot contradict short of softening the inevitable blow.

I know this: this week, words flow through my fingers. My guitar sings each day now. Last week these did not happen, nor the week before and even the week before. Things now are different, late things, as if they now realize how they always should have been. I dont know if it is, in fact, how they will be, and I can begin to imagine a million could be's. Happy endings aren't always as they seem, because they very nature of overcoming conflict leaves one part overcome. the question at the heart of it all, the very question which every story sets out to tell, is which part will overcome and which will be overcome.

Close, tactile. Closer, each time. you know, I know. Which part is the make believe? Will it sieve through my hands? Spin one way first, the other way next, come back. Closest, or is it just closer still?

I can see what it could be's. Is simplicity best, or simply the easiest?

FYI already finished with my pulp fantasy. took me less than a week. I did enjoy it, no doubt. There was the added advantage of a four hours of flying time i spent reading on my trip, but i still spun it off in well better than half the time of the previous--probably closer to a quarter the time. 'Course, now I ramp up into another heavy one..."Love in the Time of Cholera" by Garcia-Marquez. oi. wish me luck.


thinking of trying to do that National Novel Writing month thing in november. we'll see. Not sure i have the fortitude for it.

I don't even know where to start re: my weekend.

boy.