Ladies and gentlemen, today I began the official blog of the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society. I figured it would draw interest and support for the organization, and it would keep me engaged. So HERE IT IS, the Blog you've all been waiting for. Come join the fun.
Interesting evening. I've really enjoyed myself. I got back in from College Station, and I went to church, then caught a flick with the Bush.
Love is patient
After much debate, and the smuggling of a bagel by Yours Truly, the Bush and I made it to the 10:15 showing of "The Terminal." I didn't know how I would like it; Seth said it was good, but I read a review that gave it a "C."
Well, Seth and Clint have both taken their turns at praising the aforementioned film ... so I'll follow suit. I loved it. Loved it. It was brilliant. Of all the things to extol, I think I liked the pacing best of all. I mean, this was a movie about a guy who sleeps in a terminal - but I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. The anticipation was just right.
Hanks was great, too. I was worried for a bit, that the accent would start to get corny - but it didn't. Hanks is an amazing catt. I think he might make my list of "cool people to have lunch with." And I was also pretty pumped that Pagoda had a significant part. I like that guy.
Waiting for direction
Another random event this evening. Church ... tonight, we had our Bible study / discussion time with the high school group. As a response to a video, we started discussing "mission statements" and having purposes for our lives.
I'm normally one to zone out at any mention of "purpose," being unsure of my career and future. But the context for the discussion this evening made me think a bit harder. I had to tie together a long list of passions and interests with a single, common characteristic.
The tie I found was one of revelation. I began to contemplate my passions, skills and interests, and I realized that they all deal with a sort of "storytelling" or "journaling." I think my desire is to use art and literature to discern and bring light to truth.
Songwriting - bringing light to situations, emotions ... Journalism - bringing light to the world around us ... Photography - using imagery to bring light to the things and people in our lives. All these are forms of documentation - ways to organize and present the truth to a society who overlooks so much. I think it's my job to show reality to others ... to reveal hurt and joy and love and triumph ... That's the vision I got this evening.
Stuff to ponder... If you had a mission, a purpose, what would it be?
This has been a crazy, but an amazingly enjoyable week. After bowling with the FBC Waco youth on Sunday evening, I trucked it up to MacTown to greet the family.
Falling in love
Creativity has a way of sneaking up on me. While at home on Monday and Tuesday, totally veggin' out - I get the ideas I needed to finish two songs I was working on. I'm pretty satisfied with both. Remember last week, when I said I was tired of music? Nope. Not anymore. I fell in love with music again this week.
To add to the above, I began my "tour" this week. I played four shows - two in Waco, one in Ft. Worth and one in McKinney. I had an amazing time. It's easy to be disgusted with something when you're not in the middle of it. Well I got back in the middle of music, and it's better than I left it a month ago.
I've said it before, but I'm serious about it this time - music is it for me. I vowed this week to give it all I've got and see what happens.
What else?
I also decided today to visit Washington DC for the 4th of July. My friends are all doing these amazing things... living in amazing places... And today I talked to Nikki, who is going to work with orphans in Africa. I decided I need to live a little, while I can. So, East Coast, here I come.
Other than that? Just jammin' to Paul Simon. Crap. I didn't realize how sweet this week has been until I started blogging about it. Aiight peace.
Wow. I bought the "Kill Bill" DVD today, and I couldn't be happier with my decision. i watched it tonight for the first time - it's brilliant. I loved it.
But Brian, where do you get all this money to buy DVDs? I thought you were broke...?
Hastings. I sold back a few old CDs in return for a pretty good mound of store credit. I walked out of the store with a handful of "previously viewed" DVDs, which were on sale for $7.50 each (though some were even cheaper).
M'boy Jared is here for the weekend. Tomorrow we will jump off a cliff and eat Bush's chicken. Goodnight.
News to me.
News flash: The above title has nothing to do with this post. Actually, nothing has anything to do with this post.
I'm on a media binge. But, believe it or not, I got tired of music in general while driving in the car today. I may have overdosed on Ryan Adams - I bought the "Love is Hell" album at the Virgin Megastore today. I needed some music to think about, and I think I listened to it for too long, 'cause I got suicidal after a while. Very interesting album ... It needs to be taken in small doses.
But anyways, since I got that DVD player, I've been buying DVDs and going to see movies like a freak. I bought "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" today at Target. It was on sale, and - hey - I like that movie, regardless of what anyone says. So, yeah, movies are the flavah of the week for me. I'm sure I'll be on pottery next week.
As is my custom, I've switched interests again - to making movies. I've been shopping for 16mm cameras on Ebay. Why? Because I'm a loser with way too much time to dream.
I need to start a support group for people who have too many ambitions - not ambitions that are too big - just too many ambitions.
Quite an interesting weekend. I went to a wedding in Oklahoma City. Drove up on Friday afternoon, came back Saturday evening. I sang some songs and got to see old friends.
But it's kinda creepy when your friends get married. I mean, I spent all of last summer playing with LEGOs. People my age are getting married. Yikes. Not ready for that yet. So, needless to say, that wedding made me a bit nervous. But all in all, it was beautifully done ... a joyous time was had by all.
On the way home yesterday, I took a short detour to see the legendary Turner Falls. The landscape was magnificant. I drove up a few miles, through remarkably steep hills, to see the falls from a distant overlook atop the Arbuckle mountains. It seems that Oklahoma, though covered in monotonous farmlands, is home to some hidden treasures. 'Twas a 15 minutes well-spent.
Speaking of time well-spent, I saw two worthwhile movies this past week: Shrek 2 and the newest Harry Potter. Now, we all knew Shrek would be great so I'll only mention that I saw it twice and find it even more clever than the first. But I've never had much of a taste for Harry Potter. I saw the second movie - well, somewhat - I slept through it. But this newest movie is amazing. I loved it when I saw it, but I grew even more intrigued the more I thought about it.
More driving tomorrow. After Wednesday, I'll have driven 1,000 miles in a week. Catch ya' on the flipside.
Sunday morning, I helped my parents teach their second grade Sunday school class. After the lesson about friendship, all the students made "autograph books."
Picture this: Two tables. Six boys at one, eight girls at another. I'm helping the boys assemble their autograph books. Strangely, none of them have any autographs in the books. I point out this fact, and the boys find someone to trade with. I then propose a challenge. "See that table of girls over there?" "Yeah." "A real man would get one of those girls to sign his book."
I single out David, this short blonde kid with a great personality. "David," I say, "Be a man. Get a girl to sign your book." David found himself torn between fear and the desire to meet the challenge, and he let fear win. I told him he was a chicken.
Item #2: The girls. I walk over to the girls' table, and explain the situation. I ask "Which one of you will be brave and get those boys to sign your book?" One girl leaps excitedly from her seat and raises her hand. "Go for it," I told her.
She went for it, too. The girl walked right over and got a couple of signatures.
Other girls began to follow the example of their friend. When six of the girls had boys' signatures in their books, I went back to the boys' table. I discovered that they still had no girls' autographs. No good, gentlemen. I jumped on David again, and this time, he did it - he marched right over and got two signatures.
Then it got fun. I started taunting the other boys. "David got two autographs - he's a real man." Competition is beautiful. At this point, almost all the boys tried to "one up" each other, and soon, their books were filled with ladies' names.
I was proud.
Howdy, kids. I'm here, I swear. Life's just been really busy - but in a cool way. Do I have a job? No, not really. I just discovered that I'll probably be leading music for a Tuesday night college Bible study in McKinney every week in June. That's kind of a job. And I start at FBC Waco tomorrow night. This makes for lots of driving. Hmmm.
So besides being kind-of not employed, what else have I been up to? Glad you asked. I bought a two-man inflatable boat last Wednesday, and Stephen Bush and I set sail down the North Bosque river for a (really) 3-hour tour. 'Twas exciting. And tiresome.
My brother graduated on Saturday, so the whole day was an exhausting mix of ceremonies and parties - for like 500 hours. That was nuts. Then he left for camp on Sunday morning.
I broke down and bought a TV/DVDplayer this past weekend. I don't know what drove me to do it - boredom, I suppose. I also bought 3 DVDs - Romeo+Juliet, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Mask of Zorro, all of which are phenomenal. I guess I was just in a swordfight-y kind of mood one day.
Got some sweet fabric for curtain material - to cover my large window in Waco. The fabric is cranberry red, but it looks worn ... like an old stage curtain. I thought the red would spur creativity. I'll report back on that later.
Yesterday was memorial day. What does that mean? Go to the lake. Jared came out to the house, and he, my dad and myself all went out and tried waterskiing. None of us had accomplished this feat before, but by the end of the day I could stay up for a pretty long time. Waterskiing sure uses some strange muscles - muscles I never knew I had. I'm paying for my fun today with soreness and sunburn.
Must run errands. Will continue later, I promise.
