Leaning on This Broken Fence...

So I've had this Weakerthans song stuck in my head for the past week... It just won't leave. I guess the bonus is that the song is really good.

It's about time that I started to read all of the books that I have been accumulating. Which means that I'm just starting David Dark's Everyday Apocalypse. I've also hit up the comics of late, reading the individual issues of Fables that are out so far, (Patrick has them), and I've just recently picked up and read the first two trades of 100 Bullets. Fables is, has been, and will forever be amazing. 100 Bullets took a little time to get into for me. The first trade moved slowly, a decent enough set of stories, but it wasn't until the end of the first trade that you could start to see something cohesive. Needless to say I was skeptical going into the second trade. The second blew me away. I still have very little idea what is going on, but links are showing, an idea of what characters will not simply be one shot deals is coming to mind, and what is actually going on is rapidly unraveling. I have no idea what is happening but I am definitely enjoying the trip.

In other news I finally get out to some concerts, huzzah! The first of which was a show with Cursive, Against Me!, and Mastodon. Cursive blew me away. When they first took the stage I realized that the cellist was conspicuously absent... and that got me entirely too nervous. How would they play anything off of The Ugly Organ? I guess replacing the cello with a couple of horns does the trick because it was amazingly tight. Against Me! came out next and immediately got into the stomp of Pints of Guinness, and if you ask me there isn't a better opener. They stopped playing an hour later... no literally... they played straight through the entire set uninterrupted save when Tom decided that during the intro of the next song he'd thank the other bands. The only phrase that I've been able to come up with that aptly describes what I witnessed was "sonic juggernaut". Take it as you will. And Mastodon... well I'm not a huge metalhead but they were good enough, not too mention that their guitarist was sporting quite the faux-hawk into mullet. Next on the docket was a show down at the KC hall with the loved ones. Their lead singer was on his game with witty banter being the currency of the night. The one thing that still shocks me is how short he was... I mean, I would be surprised if he cracked the five foot barrier. Definitely well worth the price of admission. The last concert I saw was down at the Abbey Pub last weekend. The headliner was Sundowner, but each one of the three openers put on a great show. Smoke or Fire had a fairly gritty punk sound and absolutely killed the set. Next came The Forecast, out of good ole' Peoria, and what I can't figure out is why they don't play more shows out in the city. The crowd was really into them and they put on a great show... although I will say their chick bass player / vocalist kinda looked like a dude at first. Just an observation. Limbeck played a... I don't want to say country, but definitely a heavily country influenced pop-rock set. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Finally Sundowner played and a great time was had by all. (Sundowner is Chris from The Lawrence Arms acoustic side project). He definitely has a sound that is way too enjoyable for me to listen too these days.

I was looking around today while being frustrated with the bluetooth functionality of my Verizon Razr phone and I finally found out the hack that I would have to use to re-enable everything that they disabled. Now if I can do it the legal way through Verizon and it isn't too expensive, maybe I'll just do it that way. Not to mention the fact that if I mess up in the seed editing, my phone may no longer work. From what I hear it is fairly easy to accomplish though. Decisions, decisions.

This weekend I'm heading out to Mammoth Cave National Park. I'm pumped.

Currently Reading - David Dark - Everyday Apocalypse

Happenings

A bunch of things have come up recently. Let me share.

Rachel and I now have a family plan with Verizon. What does this mean? It means that we get fifteen percent off the monthly bill, no activation fee, and a couple of free razr phones thanks to the fact that Rachel works at Raymond James. This is great for me, because the bill will be less a month and a good majority of the people I talk to anyways have verizon and free mobile to mobile will make me happy. Oh and don't worry about getting in contact with me; the phone number is the same.

As far as work goes, I'm finally done with training and should have a computer up and running for me this week, which will be great as I'm anxious to start doing real work. I'm thinking that while I probably won't want to keep this job past the winter it's not going to be nearly as bad as I thought at first. I think that's mainly due to the fact that what I'm doing is actually beneficial to people. Directly that is. I will be making sure that people get the money that sends them to college, and while it may get mind numbing having that in the back of my head will definitely make it better.

If you check out the side of the old blogger here you'll see that I have rediscovered the ole' last.fm account. Thanks to it, I will no longer put at the bottom of the page whatever it is that I'm listening to... because it will be constantly updated to the side of the page with a fun little picture of Elliott Smith watching over what I play. Hopefully it won't be too buggy and it'll update real nice like. If you don't like it or think that it isn't working well let me know.

So, to repeat... work is okay, new playlist on the site, and a phone that will actually have reception if you call!

Also before I forget, a thank you, plug, and nod of admiration to Lillian Calles Barger. I don't care if it was merely a plug for her new book, but the fact that she stopped by and commented on the blog about my reading of her book is great. I admire her ethic to reach her audience and the writing that she does.

Currently reading... Eve's Revenge
The Benedictine Handbook

The Working World

Well, I broke down. I'm now working a temp job. They like to think of it as something that is parlayed into a career, i.e. it goes perm after 3 months. I like to think that it's a stopgap to earn a few bucks. Of course I can't rightly tell them that. Why don't I feel bad about strictly using this as a temp job when it is clear that they are looking for something more than that? I think that it's because have no reason to. They benefit from me because I'm damn good at what I do, and I benefit from them because I'm making a few dollars. If they want me to stay, and I enjoy it there, I'm sure that they can find a way to make that happen. And if they aren't willing to do that, then I don't want to be working there anyways. That's my thoughts on that.

Now it's really too early to make a call on this job, as I've only had it for two weeks now, but I will say that there is one thing that I hate about it. Brace yourself... "Casual Friday". Now if there is something that chills me to the core about this job, it's that. I know what you're thinking. That's it? That's his big complaint? Yes, yes it is. But it goes so much deeper than that, or at least I like to think that it does. "Casual Friday", it's one of those gimmicks that companies like to use because they think that it boosts morale. How could it possibly do that? And if it actually does, why isn't that your dress code to begin with if your workers work better and more productively under those conditions. It's one of those things that has never made sense to me. Also, I feel like a massive tool working at a place that has "Casual Fridays". Don't ask me why, because I'm not entirely sure.

Next issue, the work seems like it's going to be pretty mindless. That's how it seems to me so far. There are certain things that you just memorize and do over and over and over again. Now during the training period that we've had so far, it ends halfway through this week, the instructors like to make it seem as though we will be having to use all these calculations and different things, but here's the deal. All these calculations are done once, because you're only working with one school. So you have all of your abbreviated formulas that you plug one number into and you get your answer. I feel like even though they require their workers to have a college degree, I could be doing all of this with the knowledge that I gained from high school alone. Not only that but in the classes that we have they give us all these problems to work through and I'll finish the problem in ten minutes max and sit around waiting twenty minutes for everyone else to figure it out. And not only that but when I check my answer with the instructors, (one in particular at least), what usually happens is that she says, "I think that your answer is right but now I have to recalculate mine because I think I did it wrong". You're an instructor, your student who is brand new to this shouldn't be able to do it better than you after a weeks worth of powerpoints.

Outside of the job things are slow. I don't do anything. I come home watch some television sit around and go to sleep. Shower, rinse, and repeat. I don't feel particularly proud of myself right now. I'm sure that I'll get out of the rut though.

The more and more I work, the more and more I just want to say screw it and go to grad school for either an MBA or a doctorate in economics. If I had to guess right now, I would say that by this time next year I'll be doing one of those two things.

Currently Listening to... The Lawrence Arms - Oh! Calcutta!
Currently Reading... Eve's Revenge - Lillian Calles Barger
The Benedictine Handbook

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Well, I'm back from a much enjoyed extended vacation. I really wish that I could take trips like that more often, but they are way to rough on the non-existent bankroll. So, they will have to continue to be infrequent.

The Faith and Music Festival at Calvin was a blast. In particular, the Sufjan concert was ridiculous. He ended up playing for a little over two hours, and cutting into the time that was supposed to be for the second show. It was great. We were fairly far back in the balcony, but the sound was great and so was the view so I really have no complaints. I also really enjoyed the talk that he gave the next day though I am too scatterbrained at the moment to recap it.

The other highlight from the festival was the showing of Danielson: A Family Movie.

I was an incredible documentary and both extremely enjoyable and inspiring. After watching it, all I wanted to do was find my guitar and start making music. The question and answer session with Daniel the next day was great as well, as he was completely open and honest and real. It was great to hear about how he does his craft and I don't even know what else to say other than that I loved it.

The other thing that I enjoyed was the talk that David Dark gave. I picked up his book, Everyday Apocalypse, because I enjoyed it so much. I loved the way that he used modern pop cultural sayings and lyrics to express things and how he dove into them, very enjoyable.

Here's what I came away with. I really want to try my hand at songwriting. It was a really inspiring weekend in that regard. Here's the other thing, I have no idea what I'm doing. So, I guess we'll just see if I can shake the embarrassment of simply assuming that anything I throw together will suck and just throw together something that sucks so that I can throw together other things that suck less.

Currently Reading... Eve's Revenge
Currently Listening to... Belle and Sebastian - Step Into My Office, Baby

And I'm in Grand Rapids

Which, of course, means that I'm super-pumped. That's because this coming weekend is the Calvin College Faith and Music Festival, and it promises to be the highlight of my year/life.

Firstly, I'll be able to see Lauren Winner talk who has really impressed me with both Mudhouse Sabbath and Real Sex. Simply put she is a phenomenal writer and if she is even half as good of a speaker, then I'm in for a real treat.

Nextly, (I don't care if it's not a real word, I like it), the music is going to be nothing short of amazing. Friday night it's Sufjan Stevens and Anathallo followed by Emmylou Harris and Neko Case on Saturday. Even though I've seen him twice before, I'm still beyond excited for Sufjan. I don't know how much accompaniment he will bring so it may be interesting. I've also been wanting to see Anathallo for a while so that will be really fun. Neko is playing three nights in a row before the fest at my favorite venue in Chicago, (two are sold out already but if you are in the Chicagoland area tomorrow there are still tickets available). I haven't seen her yet either but I really enjoyed the Fox Confessor and the New Pornographers have been a favorite of mine for years. In other words she will be lovely to see. Now I'm not that familiar with Emmylou so that will be the one show were I'll have zero familiarity going into it... unless I check her out beforehand.

Continuing the awesomeness is the showing of the Danielson: a Family Movie on Friday night. I've been wanting to see this since it was making rounds at various film festivals last year.

There are also a slew of workshops that promise to be nothing short of super-sweet.
(Sidenote: I'm at BW3's right now and they are totally playing the song from Ghostbusters that goes "and I guess we're gonna have to take control". This maybe the highlight of my day. Just looked it up and the song is Bobby Brown - On Our Own.) Anyways back to the workshops; you can check them all out here just make sure that you check out all four sections linked on the page. I have no idea which I'll go to yet as they all look amazing.

Finally, Sufjan is giving a lecture. I don't know exactly what that will comprise of yet, but from what I've heard it may be a more intimate performance / talk about his music. Either way this will more than likely be my highlight.

I'll fill you in with all the detail after the weekend!

Currently Reading... Eve's Revenge
Currently Listening to... Bobby Brown - On Our Own

Another update?

Okay!

So one of the things that really hit me from the trip to New Orleans is the plight of the poor and the entitlement of the rich. Walking through the poor neighborhoods and seeing that the homes had still not been either gutted or torn down is ridiculous. It has been over a year and a half! Now, really I can see that much of the rebuilding should not even be considered when the city is in such a prime position to simply go through everything all over again. Then, why hasn't it been done? Why haven't the levees been improved instead of simply rebuilt? I can also see why people do not want to leave the area regardless of how dangerous it is. Their livelihoods are there. It is all most of them have ever know. It culturally defines a good chunk of who they are and that I can relate to. Either way these people who have been displaced for this long should have at least something to rebuild with by this point and the fact that they don't is absurd. And the worst of it as far as I'm concerned? How about the brand new, beautiful, reconstructed white suburbia. Not specifically to point to race as much as class here but it is literally impossible to ignore. Really, the thing that this stirred up in me is my own sense of entitlement. Why was I raised in a culture in which things like higher education, a nice house, and comparatively anything that I wanted were available to me. Now I'm not trying to say that I feel any "white-guilt" about my circumstances, rather I feel true guilt about how I have taken everything that I have for granted. I went to college not to get an education, but because I was supposed to. My education came far down on the list of priorities that I had for myself, as attested to by my work towards it and my grades throughout it.

"Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more." -Luke 12:48

Most of what I have been given throughout my life I have squandered. I guess the plus side to this is that I now realize what I have been given; how much more I have been given. I can no longer live in the ignorance of this fact and instead will strive to use and value what I have been given.

Currently Reading... Eve's Revenge - Lilian Calles Barger
Currently Listening to... Bright Eyes - Four Winds EP

Halfway back

Well, I just got back from New Orleans on Saturday, but I'm not back up to snuff as I still have a raging cold that's knocked me flat. On the plus side it is better than it was yesterday.

I'll have a bunch to write on the trip in the next couple of days, as I don't think I'm going to write everything right now.


Right now I'll write of one Jenny Owen Youngs. We went out to Frenchman St. one of the nights that we were in NOLA and saw her perform. It was lovely. She was adorable and had the crowd in the palm of her hand the entire night. I highly recommend both fuck was i and voice on tape from her album. The highlight of the night coming at the end when she performed a stripped down acoustic version of Nelly's Hot in Herre. Absolutely hilarious.

Here's the thing. I want to write like that. I know that I can write well, at least when it comes to everyday events. Creatively, I'm just baffled. I don't know where to start. I don't know how to write as I know how to talk. I can hear melody in my head, but I can't make it come out of my guitar. I know that someday the guitar will output the melody's that I crave, but what I am not as sure of is my ability to write creatively. I know that it will come with practice, but it intimidates me. I don't want to start as I fear the result.

Currently Reading... Eve's Revenge - Lilian Calles Barger
Currently Listening to... Batten the Hatches - Jenny Owen Youngs