While it's true that I don't like winter...

I don't mind admitting that I love Morrissey :)


P.S. I need that floor mat! So badly... Moz is so cool, and so is James Dean, I like Mozzy better though. I wish I could be just like him.

Let me clear this out

My head is foggy and cobwebby, I just woke up and I have a final in 2 hours. I'm listening to Pale Saints, it seems like the perfect music for today, there is something so final about their songs, like they're all saying goodbye to something. After this afternoon I'm gonna be done with school for another couple of weeks, that's pretty exciting.

A Leaf is playing an acoustic set in Bremerton tonight but I'm not sure that I'll be game, I might just crash after my last final at 3:30 and not wake up til winter is over. I might be riding on an accomplishment high and want to play til the wee hours, we will see.

By the way; I don't like winter.

I'm so behind in school, going home for vacation was probably an irresponsible move but I don't regret it. I left my notebook and a textbook behind, I really need it, this sucks. I'm writing a paper right now and all the revision notes are in the notebook, crap.

Hey, come see A Leaf play tomorrow night at Chop Suey, it will be really fun I promise, we've been practicing and I think we sound pretty good. I think its only 6 dollars, bring friends if you can.

Tonight is a chilly night. All the leaves are gone or going. I feel a lot like the lonely trees left behind: skinny, scantily clad.

There is a band from Sweden that I just found out about, Like Honey (perhaps a reference to the legendary Jesus and Mary Chain song). They are a shoegaze pop band, this style is a very logical evolution and I hope it is a sign of things to come. Sometimes I get bummed out on the state of college rock with all the garbage out there but this band gives me hope.

On Saturday I played emmerson coffee house with The Mopes, my new band with Emily and Alec. I think it went really well. We messed up and stuff but it felt good playing, I think there is a really good energy that happens when we play. So far we have about 3 songs and the makings for several more. We have a drummer now too, Steven.

My other band A Leaf just recorded a new song, please listen to it I am very excited about it! http://www.myspace.com/aleafmusic
It's the song called Yesterday Today and Tomorrow.

Moorea, thank you for exposing me to a man that I shall leave unnamed, you know who. "Noah and God we're great buds, God saved Noah from floods"

Suuuuuunday Morning!

Live puppy web cam!

http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016

Who loves the sun? Not everyone.

I love the rain, which probably shows that I am still just a glorified tourist in this rainy town. Pacific northwesterners are cool and all but I don't ever think I will be one, which is just fine by me, I have enough cultural identities already. I have another paper due in an hour, I'm on pace to finish it but it's last minute as always. I don't think I have ever finished a paper ahead of time, not once.

Yesterday I woke up to Nate and Shannon laughing on our couch bed, what a good start to a good day. I went to class then sat around recording with them a lot of the day. We practiced with Steven, he is a small asian man that I lived with this summer. He is an insane drummer, it's like he has a metronome in his brain, that kind of rhythm is something you can't teach. I'm really hoping he decides to play with us more. He is also tentatively going to start playing for my new band with Alec and Emily, we're practicing friday. I think we're gonna play some of our songs for Emmerson's coffee house, sans drums though because it would be too real for the children, harshing mellows is not our thing. Steven, is really gentle and nice, if he joins the band, then between him, Alec, me and Emily we will be the nicest band on earth. Our songs are pretty sweet, I really like the direction it's going. Very simple, very pop.

School

I'm behind in 2 of my 3 classes, in procrastination hell. Mama mia, que tragico. Paper due in 20 mins, I'm almost done, can't think straight.

Obama is leading in 5 of 8 key states, looks like he is a lock. STOKED.

My musical tastes have taken a drastic turn toward the homosexual these days. I would rather listen to The Ronettes or Lesley Gore or The Supremes or Sandie Shaw or France Gall than most anything. What would the 16 year old Pat think of this? He would probably be dissapointed but highly amused. I wish I could be friends with him, we would be really good for each other.

Bring my car I feel to smash it

I just got invited to a music stealing community, it's my current obsession. It has allowed me to reconnect with music I stole years ago that has long since been deleted or converted into pure energy and released into the nebulous expanse above and below us via fried harddrives. Subsequently it was all just beyond reach for so long. I forgot how much better indie rock was 10 years ago than it is today.

This afternoon has been spent listening to the explosion of genius that happened in chicago and urbana/champaign illinois in the mid-late 90's. Cap'n Jazz is very special to me, I have this memory of listening to them on a cassette in my friend Lauren Agnew's giant oldsmobile, it had the coolest red velvety interior and smelled like an antique store. She was older than me and a lot cooler, I couldn't drive yet. We were about a year or two removed from our respective crust/punk phases and my eyes had just been opened to thrift store clothing and calmer music. This happened sometime around 98 back in Ventura, that was a really exciting time, to think of it makes me feel nice.
"December embers trickle up, set roots in soil sky as january's stars"

The Sea and Cake, American Football, Pele, Friction, Braid, and most recently the issuing of the lost E.P. from The One Up Downstairs. I could write a sappy blurb about each band but i cant be bothered at the moment. Of special note is the band Very Secretary. In my mind they are the most criminally underrated band of that area and of that entire era. Their 2nd LP standing in the shade is perfect to me in a way few are; melencholy, delicate, twinkly at times, folky and almost anthemic at others. I've never heard a sound similar to theirs since.

There is a band from philadelphia that is very much in the vein of these early Polyvinyl bands called Algernon Cadwallader, I love what they're doing.
http://www.vimeo.com/groups/algernoncadwallader/videos/1081262

squish squash

I'm back in seattle, kind of floating around til school starts. A Leaf has been recording pretty steadily, we need to finalize our lineup and play some dang shows. Last night Nate, Shannon, and I had a rock fight in the parking lot of the music building, it was a lot of fun and a good workout.

I'm kind of exiled from the house ive been staying at in S. Seattle, had a falling out with one of the tenants and don't want to overstay my welcome.

I spent the summer wasting, the hours passed so pleasantly

***Edit: fixed the link below***
I'm reading Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson, 2/3 done right now, gonna try to kill it off before I sleep. I have heard about this book for a long time but it wasn't at the top of my list, I kept forgetting about it completely only later to catch a reference or hear some glowing review... For some reason it came into my head the other day at the bookstore so i bought it right away before my brain moved on. All I can say is that it's the best book I've read in a long time, instantly at the top of my favorite's list.

I leave for Seattle in 3 days, I'm not ready to go back. Ever since I left Arkansas when I was 13 I have felt really out of place, not sure of what my cultural identity should be. I think thats why I got so into Punk, but that's another story. Anyway, I don't feel like a poser saying this anymore; I'm southern damn it. I don't want to leave yet, its too good here. I really believe locations have distinctive vibrations or feelings that they give off. Seattle resonates at a B and I at an A minor, and I might harmonize with it but its not playing my note, its not singing my song. I can't explain what it does to me to walk around in the sweltering heat of the day or when I sit in the backyard while the sun goes down and listen to the cicadas and frogs and crickets. Especially the cicadas. The outside world here moves so slow, especially when compared to the west coast. When the world outside me gets smaller and slower then the world inside me speeds up and grows. I've been writing a lot more music lately, it's all incomplete and will most likely be scrapped or salvaged into something different later, but its really fun.

Still I'm kind excited to go to Seattle, I miss my friends and to tell the truth I am a little bit bored here. I can't wait to record again. These songs we have are really good, I want for us to document them as well as we can and then see what everyone thinks. some old songs can be found at ** Fixed the link http//:www.myspace.com/aleafmusic ** I like the 1st 3.

Sweet down to the rhine

I slept from 10:30pm til 8:30am last night. No that was not a typo. I'm feeling really good here in Arkansas, that was the first night of Godly sleep I've had in years and years. This morning my mom made me my favorite tea (Barry's irish), I ate the greatest watermellon of my life while I waited. The day stretches out in front of me, what's next?

My sister got married yesterday. Her wedding was the best I've ever been to; very southern, everything was done right. I was an usher and a reader, I read 1John 4:7-16 during the ceremonyd I was really nervous about having a role in the wedding but it was pretty insignificant in the big picture and I know it made Margaret happy so I'm glad I was able to.

After the ceremony we had the most killer reception ever at the Little Rock country club. The food was amazing, I picked the wrong week to try and be vegitarian, or at least veg friendly, because I difinitely ate like 14 pieces of chicken wrapped in bacon. We had a really great band and everyone danced like maniacs. Our party seriously had to be kicked out by the band, they had no more songs to play and it was well after midnight. After the party was the afterparty for family, we reconvened at the Landfair estate. We all hung out, talked, drank (well not me, everyone else) for a while, so sweet. I wrestled with my little cuz Konrad, made people spill drinks, made the dog lick it up, great time. After a while we all sat in the living room and had a sort of family concert. My dad played some old country standards like "cotton fields back home" and "you get a line and I'll get a pole" I played Elliott Smith songs, and Beatles and James Taylor songs, and everyone sang along to the choruses, it was hilarious and awesome, so much love happening.

After that I stayed up with various cousins and friends til 7 watching metalocalypse and bro-ing down hard.

A side note, I love my cousins so much. If you have never been around my family you just can't understand, we rule so hard. I'm not trying to boast, I'm just trying to explain it. They are my favorite people in the world, as are my aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. Of course my immediate family is the most dear to me, but the cousins are all such amazing people and I don't see them enough, I hate it. I really have to move back here, it's just home. I love everything about Little Rock, but mostly I love the fact that my family is so nearby. If I could get a good job and start a family here, I think I would be really happy.

This wedding was really emotional for me, and beyond that it really gave me a strong sense of God's sovreingty in my family's life. Everything that has happened up to this point had to happen in order for last night to happen, and last night was just perfect, one of the best times ive had. Supper is ready, gotta go.

Sweet Leaf

My roommate has been smoking weed all afternoon, what a sweet dude.

In other news I hung out downtown for a while this afternoon with my friend Nate, that was really fun. We watched Lost together and then we recorded until 3 am. He is a good friend to me, I'm really glad we met. There are so many lame people in the world, its nice to be around people that are just sweet and loving, that you don't have to put up your guard around. I like being soft whenever I can. The music we are making is good, I'm thinking about staying in Seattle some of the summer if I can so that we can keep up the momentum.
There's this girl thats been messing with my heart, I wish she would just be mean to me so I wouldn't have to think about it anymore. Thats a really cheap way of explaining the situation, but thats how I feel right now. She's being nice to me right now, but I'm bracing for the inevitable. God bless you friends, I think I will update this more often.

Hi, how are you?

Love me.