Time to post pictures up of my new living quarters for the year.
Because Erin is awesome, she is buying me this.
You should buy one too.
There is too much good music in this world. And I guess in a related note, it is September 6th. That means the Augustana CD is out! Yea yea yea!
7:15am. Just finished HP 6. Sad.
Roger, Vince, and Dave will be here in a few hours. I should sleep.
love love love love love love love love.
the soundtrack of my life
1. Song you hope to hear at your wedding
1. Finley Quaye – Dice would make for a good slow dance song.
2. There must be dance music reminiscent of TAF dances like say, Temperance’s techno cover of Forever Young.
3. And as for a (the) love song, well, we’ll see.
2. Band you wish you were a part of
Dave Matthews Band, Jars of Clay, or…Augustana!
3. Song you hope not to come on during a car ride with your parents
I’ll agree with Z on Trina’s “my neck my back” song.
4. Masochistic song
Something Corporate – Konstantine. But it makes me happier more than anything else. That's probably why it's my 2nd favorite song, because I feel it. And that's what good music does right? It makes you feel.
5. Song that inspires you to be a better person
Guster – Two Points for Honesty
Desree – You Gotta Be
6. Song you tell your friends to listen to
As of this very moment, Ari Hest –
7a. Song you claim you know all the words to
Jason Mraz – 0% Interest
b. Song you really know the words to, but are too embarrassed to say
Moulin Rouge – Elephant Love Melody. But I’m not really embarrassed by it.
8. The song that is you
Dave Matthews Band – Best of What’s Around. A lot of my life philosophy revolves around this song.
9. Song that you have that you think no one else in the universe has as well
The instrumental theme from that Volkswagon commercial where the guy is driving fast to make it to the wedding to tell the bride he loves her. “Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
10. The song that would be playing off a boombox carried by a rhesus monkey who is following you everywhere you go
The Junior High Swing Choir Mix 2005. I listened to it five times today.
Um…Otis Redding – Sittin on the Dock of the Bay?
I don’t know if she is hot, but she sounds hot. Merrille Brainbridge – Salty Lips.
Lifehouse – Come Back Down.
No idea. But I’m listening to Vertical Horizon right now, and I know I had their mp3’s long ago.
The Lemon Tree. I don’t know who its by. But if I was with my Springfield boys, Backstreet Boys - Everybody.
jdak;lak;lakda!!!! the whole augustana cd is on their myspace!
And acoustic videos (which are sweet) are on vh1.com!
I want an acoustic Augustana cd now...
Welcome back to the new school year. To kick it off, we showed that the State of Michigan isnt the only place that had a TAF reunion this weekend.
We had hot pot. It was awesome. No one rolls like tafCrush at the University of Illinois.
Hot dang. The new apartment for this year is awesome. Our view is impressive, and high high high up in the air. Come visit.
Plenty of floor space for TAFers. Wuha!
I plan on posting some pictures sometime soon.
Cleaning up some links to the left. Me's thinks I should start subscribing to xangas. Or doing that thing Wil does. Then my left side would be less crowded. But I think people like using this place as a portal...
Champaign tomorrow. Can't wait to move in Saturday morning.
I'm in Chicago at Jeff's apartment with him and Z. We just got done watching MTV's "My Super Sweet Sixteen." Those kids are tools. GIGANTIC TOOLS. I hope they untool themselves in life.
The past week has been interesting. Lots of driving (with high gas prices no less) and new beds each night. It leaves me feeling a little detached. But luckily, I know awesome people. So here is a list of awesome people.
Christine - because I stayed with her for five nights and taught me a song to play.
Erika - because I stayed with her and had a push pop.
Jill & Tyler - because of their beautiful wedding.
Angie - because she is Angie.
Steve - because he burned Mr. A-Z for me.
Alex, Jeff, & Z - because they offered me places to stay in Chicago.
Panera/St. Louis Bread Co. - because they gave me free wireless internet in St. Louis and Springfield.
I left a lot of people out, but if you're reading this, odds are, you are awesome too.
It takes no time to fall in love
But it takes you years to know what love is
It takes some fears to make you trust
It takes those tears to make it rust
It takes some dust to make it polished
Ha la la la la la la life is wonderful
Ah la la la la la la life is full circle
TAF was good this year. TAF will be better next year. Mark my words, you're all in for a real treat.
Michigan is nice. Friendly. Inviting. I think it is because of the many friends here. Lots of love. Thank you Michigan.
Some downs though. Chatrooms can dissapoint me. Not in terms of how many people are in them, but the content in them sometimes. I wish I didnt have to regulate. But I have to sometimes. And then I get sarcastic lip back. It sucks. Being the mean one sucks.
Back to the great state of Illinois tomorrow. I'll be in Springfield for the Jill Nash - Tyler Campo wedding. Love will be in the air, and it will be lovely. I might come back up to Chicago after that since well, I don't have a home. Well, I don't have a home in terms of four walls and a roof. But I firmly believe people can find other people to be "home"s. And I have some of those. So I am lucky and blessed.
Love love love.
To all of Junior High, campers and staff, and the rest of TAF,
WUHA! For an amazing week.
Love to you all. Hope you're not feeling too lonesome.
To sum up the day:
"Nothing unusual, nothing strange. Just a little older, that's all"
But thanks for all the birthday wishes guys, it was the most I've gotten in awhile (credit: thefacebook). I didn't do anything special. I actually ate pizza alone for dinner. Hah. That sounds a lot more pitiful than it was. But I had to pack and all.
But hey, a week-long birthday party in THREE days right? Who's excited?
This old kid, right here.
for TAFers:
Manchester is currently in CENTRAL time zone.
Indiana is weird. They have THREE different time zone settings.
So next year, they're changing it. So check back again next year.
And, JH has over a half mile in streamers. 2,673 feet to be exact. hahaha...
Ah yes. Sad I missed this too whilst in Taiwan.
Congrats Beth and Jeff.
At least I have the Jill Nash - Tyler Campo wedding August 13th. If TAF would have been in its normal time, I wouldnt have been able to go. Whew.
COOLEST THING EVER!
check this article out. And then go to www.aimfight.com and fight! Ooguay and I are in the top 5%, haha. I dont know if thats sad or not. But we got OWNED by Iceqbs17.
Back in St. Louis after five days in New York City. Last night at Yulings was freegin sweet. Sweet view, good food, great friends, and exciting work done for JH. Pictures are on Hochies blog. Not to toot my own horn, but I really like the one of me and Alex with the glow of the laptop and the NYC skyline with the Empire State Building in the background. We were working on JH small groups.
And that means TAF is really coming soon. So get excited.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello from the Big Apple. It is big. Margaret's abode is abodey. That means good. Air mattress! I think all of the times I have ever slept on air mattresses, I have been exhausted and fallen asleep quite quick. So good experiences with air mattresses. Hochie (also visiting) and Margaret said my snoring was not as snorful as usual. Shrug.
This is Margaret making a guest appearance on Jon's blog. Ho Chie and I both wore earplugs so that we would sleep through Jon's snoring. [end]
Yes, it's true. My snoring reputation precedes me.
So today I was at Columbia University and I went to the bathroom. Walking up to the urinal, someone else didnt flush, so I flushed it. Good karma, because after I finished I went to wash my hands, and a pair of awesome aviator sunglasses were sitting there! AND IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR AVIATOR SUNGLASSES! I felt like I should go back and return them to a lost and found, but I dont think anyone would have come to the bathroom to look for them. And I did flush that urinal. Wuha!
Ok. Cruising the NYC streets with Alex in the Outback with the windows down and my new aviators on, is baller.
Oh, and I scored a bounty of Augustana booty last night. Argh! I'm a pirate! But yes. Concert was good, the guys are more polished. Davef LOVES them. Yes he does. You should sing "Boston" around him whenever you can. Oh, and the cd should be available on iTunes as soon as next week?
TAF TAF TAF TAF TAF TAF TAF!
Ok ok. So Live8. I was in Taiwan and flying back from Taiwan when I'm sure all the media was abuzz about it in the US. And I wasn't really able to watch it when I got back. I was able to catch rebroadcasts of it on tv though, and I saw this particularly story which may or may have not been big news? I don't really know. But yea.
On the Live8 stage in London they showed a video, that ended on the face of this girl:
Pretty much, it was a painful video to watch of starving children, and at first, like everyone else, I thought this girl was about to die. You really got the sense that this girl who could barely open her eyes or close her mouth was about to give up. What I didn't know was that this was footage from twenty years ago shown at Live Aid. Bob Geldorf then said something to the effect of, "twenty years ago, this girl had 10 minutes to live, but thanks to Live Aid, she is here with us now today." And much to my surprise, she really was there, as in, about to come onstage. Yes, I am a sucker for these stunts, but it is much needed.
Birhan Woldu her name is, and she really is strikingly pretty. But more importantly, she's healthy and graduating from college in Ethiopia now. To the supporters of Band Aid, Live Aid, Live8, and all other poverty fighters and etc, she is the manifestation of charitable work. From the brink of death to the brink of embarking on her own life with a college education. Not too bad at all.
I read some articles online, and one of them said Ms. Woldu wasn't actually saved by Live Aid and questioned what Geldorf claimed. And probably, Live Aid didn't directly feed her and save her life. BUT, it's still raising awareness and bringing us as humans one step closer. One step closer to seeing, to thinking, to caring, to actually doing. Each one is a different stop on a path that people in the industrialized world are on. And I think we need that. Most of us aren't going to see this video and then go right to helping out. But every little but helps, and the more and more we see, the closer and closer we are to actually doing something.
My post college plans are unsure. I'd like to pull a Jenny Chung and go teach in France for a year. But I also have feelings to go to Africa and help out, but I'm not determined enough to do it just yet. I'm watching The Killers on aolmusic.com and their performance at Live8. "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier..." I've got the desire to help, but I've got to do more to help.
One step closer, eh?
