What a Day

To begin with, I missed my first two classes because my alarm was set for PM instead of AM. At least I got more sleep I guess. Then, at 3:45pm I went to a Red Cross JARCA meeting "downtown" (less than a mile from my place). I got there and the receptionist said that I was an hour early. The email said 4:00pm! "Whatever... I'll just walk around." I hit Boogie Man Music (love that place!), a really awesome book store, ACE ("The helpful place"), and the pet store (basically a free trip to an under-funded zoo). I eventually went back to the meeting at 5:00. Umm... The meeting started at 4:30. Wow... Thanks a lot lady! It didn't matter that much because the first hour was just meet and greet anyways.

Little did I know, it was only going to get worse.

After I went to this incredibly boring fake concert thing that was required for my music class I went to the student union building to buy myself some dinner and some small groceries. First of all, the concert was a DVD of Miles Davis who is well known as the best trumpet player ever next to Louis Armstrong and "Dizzy" Gillespie. Personally, I can't stand his style, but whatever. John Scofield was his band's guitarist (at least for that concert) and I didn't like his style either. He is pretty well known as well though.

Anyways, like I was saying, I went to the student store over there to get some small groceries. I got some more milk, some mac & cheese, some Ritz crackers, and some sharp cheddar squeeze cheese. Don't get on me for my super healthy diet now! Haha... From the classroom and store it is about a 5 to 10 minute walk north. Right when I left the store, I knew the bag would break because the dude put all that stuff into one bag. I put my worries into the back of my head as I turned towards home.

I was halfway home when the bag broke. Imagine that! Haha... So I inevitably looked like a complete idiot in the middle of the walkway picking up my stuff and filling my pockets. By this point, I'm thinking, "I knew this would happen, but it's not a big deal... Just get home, it's dark and it's freezing out here."

I get the rest of the way home and reach for my keys........ My Keys........ MY KEYS! "They're gone! Well crap... Did they fall out of my pocket when I dozed off at that concert. I did have to sit pretty weird in those chairs to be comfortable. I didn't leave them in the car, did I? I just drove it to the Red Cross JARCA meeting a little while ago."

I pulled out my Surefire to check my car (it's very dark outside). They were not there. This was unfortunate but better than the alternative. I immediately set my groceries right next to my car and started a brisk walk back to the classroom. It was like a refrigerator outside anyways, so I wasn't worried about spoilage.

I finally got to the class room in record time. I checked my seat, the seats next to mine, even the next row down and they were not there! This either means someone saw that I left them and took them (for good or bad reasons), or I left them at my place when I left earlier today. I was sure that they just wouldn't fall out of my pocket at any other times than these.

I knocked and rang, but no one answered and my roommate was out. I tried to break in. I would have been successful if I had a screwdriver. I tried to improvise with some stuff, but was unsuccessful. That took me a little while. I then walked around and tried to think of something else to do.

I eventually went to the apartment of the head-people, I don't know what you call them. They are like part-time student managers that have to deal with all the crap that normal managers don't want to deal with. I rang and nobody answered, even though it was within their office hours! Ugh... They did have a sign up that listed a bunch of phone numbers though. I walked to someplace warm and eventually called the on-call manager. She sounded hot, but that's another topic. Finally, all I had to do was wait!

I set my bag down and put my groceries into it to avoid the inevitably awquard moment when she looks down at my random groceries sitting on the ground by my car and I have to think of a good explanation while I can barely talk because my mouth is almost frozen off. I didn't have anything else better to do, so I laid on the hood of my car and watched my breath condense in the air. While I was looking up, I saw a shooting star! That was nice. I haven't seen a shooting star in forever!

I was there for a while getting colder and colder. Then, all of a sudden... Guess who opens the door and comes out! My roommate's friend! What the... I was like "Dude! Are you kidding me?! I knocked; I rang; Thanks a lot!" I called the manager girl and had to turn her away (probably the last bad thing that happened tonight) then stepped inside and picked up my keys, turned on the TV, drank a Mountain Dew, and ate my crackers with squeeze cheese.

Later,
Daniel

Camping

These were the views of Cooper Lake, where Steven, his brother Kurt, and I went camping this last weekend. It was cold, but manageable. This was actually the second time that Steven and I had been there (we won't discuss the first time, it was a disaster! haha).

It is hard to see the details in the pics above because I had to shrink them. Email me if you would like the entire pictures. It is a very picturesque lake up there in the mountains and all. Our campsite was pretty simple and there were only a couple other people there. It was nice because we were able to spread out far enough that we were pretty much never bothered by the other people.

We tried to fish, but that was unsuccessful. I think we really need to get out towards the center in order to have a good chance of catching anything. Although, another guy was fishing on the shore. I don't think he caught anything, but he was in a better spot than us.

We cooked hotdogs over the fire with our extender pole things. They turned out really, really good I would say. Haha... Steven realized that he didn't buy 'hotdog' buns but instead bought hoagie (sp?) buns. They worked out fine. In the future, I am going to work on saving enough money to buy myself a tent and some better gear.

It was a great time and I can't wait to go camping again, this time in a new spot that we have never been to. I better catch a fish next time! I also have to make a note to myself that my first car needs to be a truck, definitely.

Later,
Daniel

Life's Pleasures

They teach you when you are little that you should stay away from drugs and alcohol and I completely agree. And for the entirety of my life up till now, that 'rule' has been important to me. For a long time though, there has been this thought in the back of my mind that as long as you abide by the law, and ALWAYS use MODERATION, there should be no problem with exploring these types of things.

I am not trying to be rebellious or anything like that, but I am sincerely interested in trying some of these things. First of all, I do not want to be adventurous in an irresponsible environment. And like I said, as long as there is moderation, I think I will feel comfortable. I mean, if so many people in the world have enjoyed tobacco and alcohol (both in various forms) then there has to be something to it. I think cigarettes are sick because of all the additive type of crap they use, but the main thing that turns me off to anything like that is its overuse. Chain smoking is gross I think, as well as binge drinking. If people are motivated to create amazing vodka or even wine, there must be something to it!

So this brings me to my main point... I am really, really curious about cigars! Call me crazy, but cigars are completely simple, they don't have all these crappy additives, you don't inhale the smoke apparently, and many other interesting things. I would of course never smoke more than one at a time and I would never smoke one for no other reason then to get a buzz or whatever.

Anyways... I am getting to the point where I really want to try this, so I think I am going to ask my parents and see what they think. Unless they have some strong advice saying that I shouldn't, I am going to go out, buy a single cigar that the cigar-person says is a good beginning one, and smoke it by myself (unless someone wants to do it with me. It could be embarrassing! haha). There are many things that appeal to me about this activity; to many to list, but I am not trying to go behind anyones back about this. It is actually kind of embarrassing saying this! I would never have thought I would say this before. The only reason I would go behind anyones back is because of that reason!

So yeah... Just letting everyone know. It is interesting that this will be the 'headline' post for a while so everyone that knows me will come here and see this and think I'm crazy... haha! Oh well, I haven't shared this with anyone but my Grandma anyways (That doesn't make me safe... haha. Love you Grandma!).

Later,
Daniel

Family

Oh man... I had an epiphany last week. I really, really want to have a family! Since I have had some time to see the loneliness of living on my own and the pure elation that comes with seeing my family again, I don't think there is anything more important to me. Sure, I want to do so many things in my life. The list already contains becoming a pilot, fixing up an old Chevy, building a plane, traveling the world, learning hundreds of weird skills, and many other things. It is constantly growing, too.

I don't know... I just really want to have a couple kids. I want to take my kids to their grandparents house and be spoiled. I want to watch my wife with my kids. I want to watch them in school and I want to teach them all the quirky things that my dad taught me. I want them to depend on me.

I still want to do all the small stuff, but my priorities have changed.

I saw that movie "Into the Wild" the other day as well. It was a pretty sad movie considering that he never actually found happiness. But his revelation at the end was still valuable, I believe. There definitely is no happiness without people to share it with. I think I had a similar revelation. It sure is good to know that I figured this out before I was 5 minutes from dieing (respectfully)!

Later,
Daniel

Music

So I haven't been keeping as up to date on this blog as I should, but I have been pretty busy. Anyways... I finally got my computer back from the shop and you would not believe how much I have taken my music for granted. I could barely survive without my music!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been rediscovering my music collection. I have been shining my light on the nicks and crannies of my collection; the songs that I hadn't played for months, the songs that always get looked over, even the songs that I wasn't in the mood for at the time. Certain titles that have captured my interest once again: "Hemorrhage" by Fuel, "Gravity" by John Mayer (heck, a lot of songs by John Mayer), "Only Hope" by Switchfoot, "Lenny" by SRV, "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls, and many many more.

What's more, I haven't just been rediscovering my music, but also adding to it. Many of the songs that I bought recently have been favorites of mine for a while, they just hadn't been added to Napster. Some new songs include "Lie to Me" by 12 Stones, "If You're Reading This" by Tim McGraw, and some others.

This brings me to my main point... Have you ever listened to a song that is SO amazing that you just crank up the music and literally pray that it fills you up? That is the only way to describe it other than that the song becomes a part of you! I know... deep. But really, this happens to me quite often because almost every song I buy is absolutely amazing.

I just bought the live-in-Birmingham version of "Covered in Rain" by John Mayer and it was unbelievable. Now granted, I already have the concert DVD so I have heard this song over and over, but tonight I rediscovered it. I proceeded to crank it and pray, baby! Ugh... people say there is no perfection, but that right there is damn close.

I was thinking about it, and not many people know what it is like to improvise a solo. Hell, some people don't even know that John Mayer or SRV or Jimi Hendrix or whoever is making something up off the top of his head! Well, it isn't really just making something up; I can't explain it. I haven't been really good enough to ever improvise something great, but every little bit that you can create like that just gives you this amazing feeling. I really think that although I can dream for the song to fill me up, the only way to really achieve this is to be the person soloing. Are you following? I'm kind of confused myself but I think I know what I'm trying to say. It is sad that many of the people in this world will never be able to experience this.

Catch you all later,

Daniel