Heather and I bowled quite well tonight. I got a 175, my highest ever, I think. Right now I'm listening to music, and certain music drives me to write. It is the feeling the music evokes. Sometimes, I may not know what to write, but the music is telling a story, setting a scene, calling the muse, whatever.

Have you ever been flipping channels late at night and come across a public access or PBS station and see the religious program that shows scenes of nature and plays music (often instrumental). Many times I have stumbled upon it and had to stop because the scene is amazing - perhaps snow falling on a stream covered by pines, or trees in fall colors dropping leaves, or mountainsides with light vegetation and lots of stone outcroppings - whatever it may be, it stops me. They are not still shots, but video. The music is often piano and seems to reflect the scene so perfectly that I feel entranced. Usually Bible verses, or parts of verses, will be printed on the screen, and for the time that song plays and those scenes roll, I am brought to meditation. I feel tapped into God's creation and truth in a profound way. I can recall the joys of fishing with my grandfather, of seeing Rob and Sarah married in a field on an Ozark evening, of jumping fully-clothed into a river with Tina, of trecking across a frozen lake with my Spofford friends Katie and ????(I should slap myself for forgetting her name) . . . and the memories go on, and I thank God, and I worship Him.

Two weeks and still no sub assignments. Sigh. It is easy to feel useless when among so many feelings and memories of a life already lived, you don't know why you were crafted, or who you are supposed to be, or what your gifts are. It is sad to think that perhaps I understand myself less than anyone.

How sick and wrong is it that the Yankees bagged A-Rod on Valentine's Day? The baseball Super-Corp makes it's biggest move yet in bloating itself into history-making gluttony on the day on which we celebrate love! But, I'm not freaking out. No, really. I may be a huge Red Sox fan, but I'm also much happier routing for the underdog. (I see myself as the perpetual underdog - moving through miniscule temporary highs just to get through life). I didn't really see it coming, I didn't think Stienbrenner could reach so deep. I didn't realize the man truly has no shame. His payroll is $65,000,000 more than the next richest team and he still thinks that it will be a special day when his team wins it all! My outrage has nothing to do with the Red Sox, it has to do with common sense and a level playing field. I've read letters from Yankees fans who believe Stienbrenner has ripped-out the soul of the Yankees by trading a healthy farm system of gritty, all-heart players for a parade of prima-donnas (Vazquez excluded - he just came from the Expos after all).

Anyway. Bill Simmons is the best sports writer on earth. Here is his latest article.

Bill Simmons

and check out the "Winter of Our Sox Content" article in his archive.

Then again, maybe you couldn't care less about sports. In which case you should just move on.

Since we are now well into 2004, it is time to present the Hardcore Poetic top ten CD's of 2003. This list is subject to change at any time, and if, based on my evident taste's, you can think of an album I may not have considered, feel free to let me know.

1. The Juliana Theory - "Love"
2. As I Lay Dying - "Frail Words Collapse"
3. Project 86 - "Songs to Burn Your Bridges By"
4. Nodes of Ranvier - ST
5. Radiohead - "Hail to the Thief"
6. The Appleseed Cast - "Two Conversations"
7. The Agony Scene - ST
8. Beloved - "Failure On"
9. Slow Coming Day - "Farewell to the Familiar"
10. Copeland - "Under Medicine Tree"


Honorable Mentions:

From Autumn to Ashes - "The Fiction We Live"
Further Seems Forever - "How to Start a Fire"
Narcissus - "Crave and Collapse"
Muse - "Absolution"
Apocalyptica - "Reflections"
Noise Ratchet - ST
Celldweller - ST
Cool Hand Luke - "Wake Up O' Sleeper"
Ester Drang - "Infinite Keys"
Anberlin - "Blueprints for the Black Market"
Shai Hulud - "That Within Blood Ill Tempered"

Oops. Dave King (the guy who made this blog possible) brought to my attention that I had not posted the date of the wedding or any other info. For some reason I thought I had. Probably because the our getting married has been a foregone conclusion for several months now among most of our friends down here. It is this lack of surprise that led me to make the proposal as embarrassing as possible. I've mentioned that Heather and I are assistant coaches with JBU's speech and debate team. Well at a recent tournament in January, somewhere near Little Rock, I decided to pop the question at the awards ceremony, in front of 19 college debate teams (over 100 people). I acted as though I was presenting an award to someone on the team. She never saw it coming until I called her up and got on one knee. . . . first she said she was going to kill me, then she said yes.

So on May 22nd we tie the knot and knock the boots! We're going to Boston/New England for our honeymoon, because I grew up around there and she is a flatlander. I'll let you know if we manage to get busy in Fenway Park. . . . no I won't.

Until then, I've got a job substitute teaching at the local high school here in Siloam Springs. It was in front of my face the whole time. After all, the odds are pretty good that rural arkansas would be in need of qualified (i.e. anyone with a degree!) substitutes. It's great; flexible hours and I don't have to do any real work!

Happy Valentine's day boys and girls.

Heather and I registered at our first store last night. We chose Bed, Bath and Beyond. I'm pullin' for that giant Forman Grill! So, we go to the Bridal registry office, and the girl there is wearing a short-sleeved turtle-neck. It looked really odd and I'm thinking "there's a hicky on that there neck." But that wasn't the really weird part. This "sweater" was a light purple sorta lavender color - the exact same color as all of the trim in her office! Exact! The wallpaper, the pictureframes, the kickknacks, the signage, everything was done with this lavender color. So, she was wearing a sweater to MATCH HER OFFICE!!! Do you ever wonder if some people are TOO fashion conscious?!?! Honestly, I wear the same hoodie and the same jeans for a week at a stretch, and I only own two hoodies! So I come out of this with lots of questions. Did she go out to find a shirt to match her office? Did her Mary Kay-loving boss give it to her when she was transferred to Bridal? Did she just stumble across it and think it would be cute to match her office color? Does she wear clothes of the same lavender color every day, or was this her "office-matching" day with her "office-matching" sweater and tomorrow she'll have on a black pullover while pining for her next "office-matching" day? . . . or was it just a crazy coincidence?

Sigh. This is how hot girls turn me off. When they look too perfect - as if they just stepped out of a designer catalogue filled with pretty people. Because we all want to be like the pretty people! Right?
Ugh. Keep the insanely-priced high-profile prep-ware. I'll be slummin' with the goths, punks and hippies.


Anyway, I guess the comment fuction has been disabled. So, if you want to contact me, use the e-mail button up in the corner. I just cleaned-up my hotmail so I've got plenty of room. Just be sure you mention in the title that it has to do with my blog.

Time to go register at Sears.