What do these things have in common? Not much...but they all share a part of my evening. I'm going to go in reverse order. As with most days recently I've had so much to think and process that I have a hard time centralizing on a single thing to write about. I've tried just writing about everything at once, but that usually ends in disaster.
I'm currently listening to Fugazi while writing at the Metro coffee shop type place (24 hours and very bright, which is good for studying so I think I've found a good study spot, it would be nicer if I went to UT but that's a topic of another entry)
That knocks out two of the things in my title, well, three. I've also established my location across the street from the dynamic campus known as UT. It's a facinating place...I interact with hundreds of UT students a day when I'm at work...but that interaction rarely goes beyond "what can I get for you, small or large, did you say you want that decaf?, would you like whipped cream on that, yea it's really good with it, here's your change, thank you very much/take it easy/thanks man etc..." I don't really know very many of then, yet I live in Austin. The issue there of course is I attend another school...in the same area, but in a way detached. For the purpose of my plans and my life I have attached the two, and so have thousands of other people.
Did I mention that UT is dynamic? There are many uses for that word, and almost all of them describe the school. Such a diverse population, literally the entire planet is represented here. The ideas here are progressive, perhaps too progressive for the real world. So many people, searching. It's not unlike Texas State in that respect, but where the students are looking for answers are though more varied means here. Right next door the Church of Scientology attempts to answer those questions for students, and some students believe that the answers are next door. My uncle did, and he disapeared for two years, reappeared, moved to LA, got married, has a succesful job and a seemingly happy life. I guess he found those answers, or mabye not...no now that I think about it no amount of outward visable success can guarantee true happiness. In fact, now that I think about it, virtually nothing in the physical world can. However there are 6.4 billion people on this planet that spend their lives trying to find it...some do, but it's almost never found in a gated community, in the polling place, behind door number three or in a shoe contract.
Our "manifest destined" material drivern unfettered mega-capitalist society...for all of his precedent shattering enormity and hype, has never made a single person truly happy. I know that is the truth, but it's hard to imagine, as a human with a human brain wanting to do human things, how that is. For many people, what we have is the theoretical secret to life. The "American Dream", which, as far as I can tell, includes at least most if not all of the following: A house in a safe suburban neighborhood with a fully occupied two car garage and another slightly used but good looking car for the oldest of your 2.3 kids that just turned 16 parked out on the street, nearby schools that are ranked "above satisfactory" by state standards, a green lawn that in certian parts of the country takes gallons of water from a seemingly infinite supply to maintain, closets full of more clothes than will ever be worn, plenty of entertianment oriented objects displaying the latest distractions from pop culture in a liquid crystal display with surround sound, membership in a nice church that meets in a shiny new building with a huge electronic sign out front that attracts the attention from other typically nice looking suburbanites who are commuting on what is...of course...the outermost loop around the city...a church where you can go and feel good about yourself and not have to worry about sin or the poor or being generous and honest without expecting something in return, season tickets to at least one local pro sports team, a couple of yellow ribbon car magnets kept in a drawer so that in the event that the one on the Chevy Tahoe falls off it can quickly be replaced before a member of the family begins to feel unpatriotic and guilty for not doing more to support the troops...wherever the hell they are...while at the same time being thankful that they won't have to worry about either of their kids going off to some who knows where country because that's what poor kids are supposed to do because they have no other option."...that, in a nutshell, is the image I think of when I think of the "American Dream"...but nothing I listed above has the power to make someone truly happy. Some of the most unhappy and suicidal teenagers grow to be that way when they realize that the suburban promise of the "American Dream" doesn't do anything beyond making their pointless lives more generally physically comfortable than the immigrant family that just moved in fifteen miles down the freeway toward downtown.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Monday, March 28, 2005
Moderation
Is a good thing and I've decided to embrace it. More on this later I'm just putting this here so I remember to write about it.
- Jordan
- Jordan
Saturday, March 26, 2005
26 things I don't like about Texas
A couple of disclaimers here:
One - I generally like Texas, and often talk about the things that I like about the state
Two - Texas is a huge state, very few things can be true of the entire state so alot of what I'm saying are extreme generalizations.
Here goes:
1) People driving ridiculiously huge vehicles
2) Too many people claiming that it's the best place on Earth (it's not)
3) So many people who claim to hold "conservative" political views...mainly because their parent's do...and George W. is their "homeboy".
4) A culture that makes, in a lot of places, Christianity a "thing to do" and nothing more.
5) The hyper-suburbanization of the State...espeically in Dallas-Fort Worth and double-espeically in Houston.
6) Houston
7) In general the Eastern fourth of the State...the one part of the state that tries hard to identify itself with the awful, backward, ignorant, closed minded phenomenon that is/was the "old south"...while the rest of the State strives to allign itself with the progressive vision of the modern Southwest.
8) Texas A&....DAN KINIRY IS AN AWESOME HUMAN BEING!!!
9) The utter disreguard for the environmental future of the State (this of course excludes Austin).
10) Tom Delay
11) The marrage of academics and athletic preformance, as well as people measuring schools purely on the proformace of their athetic teams...espeically in football...and giving academics very little reguard when choosing a school
12) The Houston Texans and the illegitimate arrogance of their fans...I mean, they're the last people in the sports world that should be arrogant about anything.
13) Truck commericals by Detroit-based Domestic auto manufacters that all but insult the state's intellegence and appeal to the lowest common hick denominator
14) The people who buy all of the huge trucks that make those annoying commericals a "success"
15) People buying huge trucks when they don't need them...espeically common among East Texans, but prevelent in any rural area of the State
16) Waco, the worst city in Texas over 100,000 people (I've been to all of them except Beaumont...from what I've heard about Beaumont though it might give Waco a run for this title).
17) Legalism in many of the state's churches
18) The frightening marrage of politics (The Republican Party) and religon (The church in Texas).
19) The idealogical homogeniety that dominates many parts of the state.
20) The crappy states that border Texas (I mean, when New Mexico is the best state that borders your state...that really sucks)
21) The lack of any semblence of good mass transit systems (exceptions are the DART light rail in Dallas and the good bus system in Austin)
22) The archaic rules that shape the State's government.
23) The disgustingly political redistricting plan that made Austin the largest city in the U.S. without true congressional represntation just because it votes a way that Tom Delay doesn't agree with.
24) The lottery, damn you Ann Richards for unleashing this plague on our state and lying to us saying that it would exclusivley fund the state's school system.
25) Texas Tech fans.
26) The outright worship of High School Football...I'm as big a football fan as the next guy...but it gets just too ridiculous here.
One - I generally like Texas, and often talk about the things that I like about the state
Two - Texas is a huge state, very few things can be true of the entire state so alot of what I'm saying are extreme generalizations.
Here goes:
1) People driving ridiculiously huge vehicles
2) Too many people claiming that it's the best place on Earth (it's not)
3) So many people who claim to hold "conservative" political views...mainly because their parent's do...and George W. is their "homeboy".
4) A culture that makes, in a lot of places, Christianity a "thing to do" and nothing more.
5) The hyper-suburbanization of the State...espeically in Dallas-Fort Worth and double-espeically in Houston.
6) Houston
7) In general the Eastern fourth of the State...the one part of the state that tries hard to identify itself with the awful, backward, ignorant, closed minded phenomenon that is/was the "old south"...while the rest of the State strives to allign itself with the progressive vision of the modern Southwest.
8) Texas A&....DAN KINIRY IS AN AWESOME HUMAN BEING!!!
9) The utter disreguard for the environmental future of the State (this of course excludes Austin).
10) Tom Delay
11) The marrage of academics and athletic preformance, as well as people measuring schools purely on the proformace of their athetic teams...espeically in football...and giving academics very little reguard when choosing a school
12) The Houston Texans and the illegitimate arrogance of their fans...I mean, they're the last people in the sports world that should be arrogant about anything.
13) Truck commericals by Detroit-based Domestic auto manufacters that all but insult the state's intellegence and appeal to the lowest common hick denominator
14) The people who buy all of the huge trucks that make those annoying commericals a "success"
15) People buying huge trucks when they don't need them...espeically common among East Texans, but prevelent in any rural area of the State
16) Waco, the worst city in Texas over 100,000 people (I've been to all of them except Beaumont...from what I've heard about Beaumont though it might give Waco a run for this title).
17) Legalism in many of the state's churches
18) The frightening marrage of politics (The Republican Party) and religon (The church in Texas).
19) The idealogical homogeniety that dominates many parts of the state.
20) The crappy states that border Texas (I mean, when New Mexico is the best state that borders your state...that really sucks)
21) The lack of any semblence of good mass transit systems (exceptions are the DART light rail in Dallas and the good bus system in Austin)
22) The archaic rules that shape the State's government.
23) The disgustingly political redistricting plan that made Austin the largest city in the U.S. without true congressional represntation just because it votes a way that Tom Delay doesn't agree with.
24) The lottery, damn you Ann Richards for unleashing this plague on our state and lying to us saying that it would exclusivley fund the state's school system.
25) Texas Tech fans.
26) The outright worship of High School Football...I'm as big a football fan as the next guy...but it gets just too ridiculous here.
Bombarded with Thoughts
I came back from the break overwhelmed with so many ideas, thoughts, musings and what have you. I was excited, because I had so many things to write about.
But I'm realizing that they're all so jumbled in my mind that I can't possibly focus on one of them...and it's frustrating, because so much is going on in my head right now and I need to share it.
I had a good talk with a friend the other day about many of those thoughts...but even still I'm lost in the fray.
So much to think about, I can hardly concentrate on a single thing.
- Jordan
But I'm realizing that they're all so jumbled in my mind that I can't possibly focus on one of them...and it's frustrating, because so much is going on in my head right now and I need to share it.
I had a good talk with a friend the other day about many of those thoughts...but even still I'm lost in the fray.
So much to think about, I can hardly concentrate on a single thing.
- Jordan
Monday, March 21, 2005
Post Trip: I Saw So Many Freakin Trees That My Retina Nearly Exploded
I'm back, I landed last night. A few things are very apparent...Central Texas is much flatter than the Pacific Northwest, and there are fewer trees, far fewer...and they are not nearly so huge.
Also, it's a lot warmer here.
I digress...alot, so I would not be able to talk about the whole trip in a single post. I'm planning on writing several of them based on my experences.
Not counting airport stopovers I visited 4 states, two (Canadian) provinces, and we drove 2,037 miles on our hardcore roadtrip of rockage 2K5.
I made the trip with my good friend Dan Bakken who grew up with me in Temple, Texas but now lives in Idaho where he goes to school at New St. Andrews College...in Seattle we stayed with his very nice and hospitable grandparents who happened to live right next to the airport.
Places visited:
Seattle - Rocks without question, except people drive much much slower there than I'm used to. Nice town, very green, lots of trees and water and more trees and nearby mountians. The city has a great vibe, not unlike Austin in that respect. everything is developed with space in mind which I like. My friend and I were walking and just randomly walked by the Sub Pop office. Very cool. It was suprisingly hard to find a good independent coffee place...I guess Seattle is more of a mecca for Corporate coffee than coffee in general now. The Space Needle was an expensive trip but worth the view.
I was doing cool stuff from the moment I landed. Dan picked me up and ferried me around town to give me a sense of the place, which it did. We went back to his grandparents house and they fed us dinner. Dan's grandparents are awesome to say the least...they had plenty of hospitiality to share. We went out and drove around town again, hanging out and stuff. We went downtown. Saw a street fight involving a couple dozen people. Seattle is surpsingly not a very active town at night, everything closes really early, that was suprising.
Seattle Day 2 - So much stuff on day 2, too much to write about: We parked downtown and spent the day on foot. It was an unseasonably beautiful day there (or so the locals said...the weather was definitely nice) We went up in the Space needle, found some coffee at this really good place on 4th street, found the Sub Pop office (randomly...which made it even cooler), lunch at Unconventional Pizza...pretty good, visited the Seattle Library which is easily the coolest library building, mabye the coolest building, I've ever seen, met up with some of Dan's friends, went to the Seafood market, the first Starb***s (it was interesting to see where the Evil Empire began), The Waterfront along Puget sound (very cool). For dinner Dan, this cool dude Ryan and I decided to splurge and enjoy life so we went to this place downtown called McCormick and Shmicks...yea it was the most I had ever spent on a single meal but the food was incredible...we had really good times that day. We walked around downtown some more...it was 8 PM and most things were already closed so we decided to call it a night. It had already been a really awesome day.
Vancouver - I've read a few times that Vancouver is considered to be the most beautiful city in North America. After vising, based on the other cities I've visited, I have to agree.
Without question Vancouver lived up to the hype that it recieves. The city is extremely beautiful. Stanley Park is a jewel and West Vancouver is a really cool area. Downtown rocked, that's where our hotel was. The view from just about anywhere there was incredible. The people were VERY nice and friendly. It was like a really beautiful place with people at least as nice as people in Texas.
Dan and I drove up early that morning. Ryan decided to come along and followed along in his car. We had a minor delay at the border, you know, Canadians...just kidding it was pretty routine and it was my first time into Canada and I'm from Texas...I would have stopped myself too. We at first had a hard time finding a bank (to get some Canadian bills)...well, we found a few but they were downtown and parking there is pretty lousy. We got those Canadian bills and went to Stanley Park...we walked around there for a couple of hours, it was pretty enrapturing (is that a word, I think so). Then we drove over to West Vancouver and hung out there. It's a really cool part of town that has a small town feel. Vancouver is beautiful...did I mention that? Mountians right next to the coast, beautiful trees...and for the most part beautiful buildings. The city is very dense by North American standards and fits into it's environment really well. For dinner we went to Boston's Pizza, really good stuff, had some Canadian beer (also good stuff). Ryan decided to stay the night there and we looked around downtown Vancouver. Dan bought a cigar from a certian country that Americans aren't allowed to buy cigars from. Some guy tried to size us up for a good mugging (asking us if we had change to see how much money we had...which wasn't a whole lot and the shop onwer tipped us off as to what he was doing). The shop also sold more bongs and various other paraphenlia than I could possibly have imagined. I'm comfortable in cities, even somewhat rough areas like downtown Vancouver at night. Dan seemed to be much less so but that's understandable we live in very different areas....Vancouver is a beautiful town but it has some problems. Most noticably a major drug/heroin problem. The city is the site for a controversial iniative to give free heroin to addicts in hopes that they won't do dangerous things or O.D. or anything like that...I'm wary of the idea, I will write an entry on it later. It's a city of contrasts, a very diverse city. Overally a very nice city. At least two people asked us if we were looking for weed (which is plentiful and not as criminalized there, but still illegal)...something that I'm used to but Dan wasn't. Interesting times. We went back to the hotel and crashed there. The next morning we left early, but not as early as we wanted to.
British Columbia - We drove right across the place. The Cascades, Kamloops, Revelstoke, Glacier National Park. It rained most of the way but changed to snow at times. B.C. is an extremely beautiful place...probably the most overall beautiful place on the continent.
Calgary - We drove across the Canadian Rockies at night in the snow which was fairly adventurous to say the least. Calgary looked like a nice city but it was cold (8 F).
The Canadian Rockies/Banff National Park - Words cannot describe the incomprehensible beauty of this place.
B.C./Montana/Idaho - We cut though Eastern British Columbia and re-entered the States in Northwest Montana...we drove along this lake there, I forget the name, but it was snowing and everything was white and it was incredible. We cut over to Idaho, stopping to watch an amazing sunset over a large lake, to the quaint little college town of Moscow (Idaho) where my friend goes to school and stayed the night there.
Washington/Oregon/Mt. Saint Helens - Yes, the Mount St. Helens. We drove across the mostly empty expanse to the columbia river. We drove along the Oregon side of the river and things got beautiful again past this town called The Dalles. Oregon struck me as an interesting place, with interesting people (emphasis on interesting), they don't allow you to pump your own gas there. All stations are self-serve, I think it's to promote job creation, I'm not sure...but it was really strange because I've always pumped my own gas. I guess it goes against my independent minded Texas mentality. We drove on to Portland. I would have loved to stop there it looked like a really nice city but we were short on time. We crossed the Columbia (again) and drove up these really beautiful but really windy roads to the St. Helens area. We saw this forest service road on the map that was "closed in winter" but since it had been a dry warm winter we decided to chance it. Well, about 20 miles (and 50 minutes later) down the road a guy from the Forest Service waved us over and told us the road was closed. But, he stopped us right were the best view of the volcano, the side that exploded in 1980, could be seen. It was awesome, beautiful, amazing, watching the sun set there. We took lots of pictures. There was a layer of volcanic ash on the road from recent mini-eruptions, along with snow and some large rocks. We drove back down the road and got on I-5 to Seattle, finally ending a really long road trip.
Vashon Island Washington - The last day we took a ferry with my friend Dan's grandparents to their little cottage on the shore on Vashon Island. Vashon is a beautiful place, a good sized island in Puget Sound. It was a great retreat and a great way to unwind after the eventful stuff from the road trip. I could describe what the Northwest is like but it's hard to if you haven't been there. Not much in Texas gives you a base for visualizing it. Everying is so green. So much stuff grows. I kept asking Dan if certian plants grew there naturally and of course the answer was yet. I was espeically intrigued by the ferns and moss...moss grows everywhere there. We hung out along the shore there even though it was raining pretty consistently and it was colder than I am used to. We took the ferry back, had dinner and I began to pack for the airport.
Seattle Tacoma International Airport - My flight was overbooked. Delta was offering a $400 travel voucher, a free hotel stay, and some other hookups for anyone willing to fly out the next day. I really didn't want to get on the plane that night and I didn't have anything to do in Austin the next day so I volunteered and they put me up in a nearby hotel. My thinking was with all of the adventure on the trip, why not have a little more. I flew back to Austin the next day with no problems...oh, I forgot to mention one part of the deal was that I got to fly first class. That was an unreal experence, something I never thought I would do. Definietly good times.
Very good times.
- Jordan
Also, it's a lot warmer here.
I digress...alot, so I would not be able to talk about the whole trip in a single post. I'm planning on writing several of them based on my experences.
Not counting airport stopovers I visited 4 states, two (Canadian) provinces, and we drove 2,037 miles on our hardcore roadtrip of rockage 2K5.
I made the trip with my good friend Dan Bakken who grew up with me in Temple, Texas but now lives in Idaho where he goes to school at New St. Andrews College...in Seattle we stayed with his very nice and hospitable grandparents who happened to live right next to the airport.
Places visited:
Seattle - Rocks without question, except people drive much much slower there than I'm used to. Nice town, very green, lots of trees and water and more trees and nearby mountians. The city has a great vibe, not unlike Austin in that respect. everything is developed with space in mind which I like. My friend and I were walking and just randomly walked by the Sub Pop office. Very cool. It was suprisingly hard to find a good independent coffee place...I guess Seattle is more of a mecca for Corporate coffee than coffee in general now. The Space Needle was an expensive trip but worth the view.
I was doing cool stuff from the moment I landed. Dan picked me up and ferried me around town to give me a sense of the place, which it did. We went back to his grandparents house and they fed us dinner. Dan's grandparents are awesome to say the least...they had plenty of hospitiality to share. We went out and drove around town again, hanging out and stuff. We went downtown. Saw a street fight involving a couple dozen people. Seattle is surpsingly not a very active town at night, everything closes really early, that was suprising.
Seattle Day 2 - So much stuff on day 2, too much to write about: We parked downtown and spent the day on foot. It was an unseasonably beautiful day there (or so the locals said...the weather was definitely nice) We went up in the Space needle, found some coffee at this really good place on 4th street, found the Sub Pop office (randomly...which made it even cooler), lunch at Unconventional Pizza...pretty good, visited the Seattle Library which is easily the coolest library building, mabye the coolest building, I've ever seen, met up with some of Dan's friends, went to the Seafood market, the first Starb***s (it was interesting to see where the Evil Empire began), The Waterfront along Puget sound (very cool). For dinner Dan, this cool dude Ryan and I decided to splurge and enjoy life so we went to this place downtown called McCormick and Shmicks...yea it was the most I had ever spent on a single meal but the food was incredible...we had really good times that day. We walked around downtown some more...it was 8 PM and most things were already closed so we decided to call it a night. It had already been a really awesome day.
Vancouver - I've read a few times that Vancouver is considered to be the most beautiful city in North America. After vising, based on the other cities I've visited, I have to agree.
Without question Vancouver lived up to the hype that it recieves. The city is extremely beautiful. Stanley Park is a jewel and West Vancouver is a really cool area. Downtown rocked, that's where our hotel was. The view from just about anywhere there was incredible. The people were VERY nice and friendly. It was like a really beautiful place with people at least as nice as people in Texas.
Dan and I drove up early that morning. Ryan decided to come along and followed along in his car. We had a minor delay at the border, you know, Canadians...just kidding it was pretty routine and it was my first time into Canada and I'm from Texas...I would have stopped myself too. We at first had a hard time finding a bank (to get some Canadian bills)...well, we found a few but they were downtown and parking there is pretty lousy. We got those Canadian bills and went to Stanley Park...we walked around there for a couple of hours, it was pretty enrapturing (is that a word, I think so). Then we drove over to West Vancouver and hung out there. It's a really cool part of town that has a small town feel. Vancouver is beautiful...did I mention that? Mountians right next to the coast, beautiful trees...and for the most part beautiful buildings. The city is very dense by North American standards and fits into it's environment really well. For dinner we went to Boston's Pizza, really good stuff, had some Canadian beer (also good stuff). Ryan decided to stay the night there and we looked around downtown Vancouver. Dan bought a cigar from a certian country that Americans aren't allowed to buy cigars from. Some guy tried to size us up for a good mugging (asking us if we had change to see how much money we had...which wasn't a whole lot and the shop onwer tipped us off as to what he was doing). The shop also sold more bongs and various other paraphenlia than I could possibly have imagined. I'm comfortable in cities, even somewhat rough areas like downtown Vancouver at night. Dan seemed to be much less so but that's understandable we live in very different areas....Vancouver is a beautiful town but it has some problems. Most noticably a major drug/heroin problem. The city is the site for a controversial iniative to give free heroin to addicts in hopes that they won't do dangerous things or O.D. or anything like that...I'm wary of the idea, I will write an entry on it later. It's a city of contrasts, a very diverse city. Overally a very nice city. At least two people asked us if we were looking for weed (which is plentiful and not as criminalized there, but still illegal)...something that I'm used to but Dan wasn't. Interesting times. We went back to the hotel and crashed there. The next morning we left early, but not as early as we wanted to.
British Columbia - We drove right across the place. The Cascades, Kamloops, Revelstoke, Glacier National Park. It rained most of the way but changed to snow at times. B.C. is an extremely beautiful place...probably the most overall beautiful place on the continent.
Calgary - We drove across the Canadian Rockies at night in the snow which was fairly adventurous to say the least. Calgary looked like a nice city but it was cold (8 F).
The Canadian Rockies/Banff National Park - Words cannot describe the incomprehensible beauty of this place.
B.C./Montana/Idaho - We cut though Eastern British Columbia and re-entered the States in Northwest Montana...we drove along this lake there, I forget the name, but it was snowing and everything was white and it was incredible. We cut over to Idaho, stopping to watch an amazing sunset over a large lake, to the quaint little college town of Moscow (Idaho) where my friend goes to school and stayed the night there.
Washington/Oregon/Mt. Saint Helens - Yes, the Mount St. Helens. We drove across the mostly empty expanse to the columbia river. We drove along the Oregon side of the river and things got beautiful again past this town called The Dalles. Oregon struck me as an interesting place, with interesting people (emphasis on interesting), they don't allow you to pump your own gas there. All stations are self-serve, I think it's to promote job creation, I'm not sure...but it was really strange because I've always pumped my own gas. I guess it goes against my independent minded Texas mentality. We drove on to Portland. I would have loved to stop there it looked like a really nice city but we were short on time. We crossed the Columbia (again) and drove up these really beautiful but really windy roads to the St. Helens area. We saw this forest service road on the map that was "closed in winter" but since it had been a dry warm winter we decided to chance it. Well, about 20 miles (and 50 minutes later) down the road a guy from the Forest Service waved us over and told us the road was closed. But, he stopped us right were the best view of the volcano, the side that exploded in 1980, could be seen. It was awesome, beautiful, amazing, watching the sun set there. We took lots of pictures. There was a layer of volcanic ash on the road from recent mini-eruptions, along with snow and some large rocks. We drove back down the road and got on I-5 to Seattle, finally ending a really long road trip.
Vashon Island Washington - The last day we took a ferry with my friend Dan's grandparents to their little cottage on the shore on Vashon Island. Vashon is a beautiful place, a good sized island in Puget Sound. It was a great retreat and a great way to unwind after the eventful stuff from the road trip. I could describe what the Northwest is like but it's hard to if you haven't been there. Not much in Texas gives you a base for visualizing it. Everying is so green. So much stuff grows. I kept asking Dan if certian plants grew there naturally and of course the answer was yet. I was espeically intrigued by the ferns and moss...moss grows everywhere there. We hung out along the shore there even though it was raining pretty consistently and it was colder than I am used to. We took the ferry back, had dinner and I began to pack for the airport.
Seattle Tacoma International Airport - My flight was overbooked. Delta was offering a $400 travel voucher, a free hotel stay, and some other hookups for anyone willing to fly out the next day. I really didn't want to get on the plane that night and I didn't have anything to do in Austin the next day so I volunteered and they put me up in a nearby hotel. My thinking was with all of the adventure on the trip, why not have a little more. I flew back to Austin the next day with no problems...oh, I forgot to mention one part of the deal was that I got to fly first class. That was an unreal experence, something I never thought I would do. Definietly good times.
Very good times.
- Jordan
Saturday, March 12, 2005
The Northwest
I probably won't make any entries for the next week or so. I'm going to the Pacific Northwest to take a road trip that my friend Dan Bakken and I have been planning for years. I'm flying to Seattle, staying with his family, then we're driving up to Vancouver British Columbia (Canada), across the Canadian Rockies (weather permitting) to Calgary (where the low temperature is forcast to be -2 F), down though Western Montana to Idaho (where Dan goes to school and we again have a place to stay). And then back to Seattle. Much is planned and I'm very excited. It's the first Spring Break trip I've ever taken.
See you guys next weekend.
- Jordan
See you guys next weekend.
- Jordan
Sunday, March 06, 2005
10 Random Opinionated Thoughts On Life
1) The new Trail of Dead album is disapointing --
It's not that it's bad...but it's just not them and it doesn't really measure up to the greatness of their previous albums. It's more crass, less passionate, more conventional, less loud (in a bad way), more lethargic. I dunno, mabye I'm just too picky when it comes to my favorite bands. Madonna and Source Tags are amazing...so was the EP that came out between Source Tags and this album, it gave me some hope that this album would be part of a contenual improvement.
2) Garden State (the movie) Is overrated --
It's not that, again, it's a bad film, it's pretty good. However, I do not see how it is the greatest film ever made...as some people in a fit of blind obsession have claimed it is. It's simply another movie about another twenty-something guy who doesn't know who he is or where he's going and is trying to find out what those two things are. It's no different than the Graduate in that sense. The film never really resolves, and honestly really isin't that deep. It has some really funny moments, but as an overall film I didn't get into is as much as seemingly everyone else did.
3) The Texas Department of Transportation is absoultely ridiculously stupid for knocking down the Westbound entrance ramp to Ben White between Congress and I-35 --
I guess this is one of those "you have to be there to understand" things.
4) Texas State University students need to start caring more about the school's athletic teams --
Instead of wearing other more prominient athletic school's stuff, we should concentrate on going to our own games, cheering for our own teams, and supporting the program so that someday mabye we can compete with Texas and Texas A&M instead of dreaming or pretending while treating our school like it's a second class instituion...when it's not.
5) Antibiotics leave a weird taste in my mouth --
Everytime I've taken them, I've had the same weird taste. It's weird
6) People seem to use wet weather as an excuse to drive in an unbelievably and irrationally bad way --
Everytime it rains, more people pull in front of me, run red lights, and run stop sings, things that you can't blame on the rain, only on just being thoughtless and careless.
Hey Chris, good to see you in the Blogosphere
7) The "Blogoshpere" is a stupid name, for anything. Blogging is overrated...that could be point 8...
8) Blogging is overrated. Yea, sure it's a new medium where "everyone has a voice"...but a lot of those voices are crappy and full of...well, crap. To think that the average blogger has the same media power as Peter Jennings is just wrong. Peter Jennings is Canadian...who would have thought.
9) Conan O'Brien is a genius and should already be hosting the tonight show instead of Leno.
10) The gas price hikes are purely being manufactured by business and investment instrests to make a profit. Even with increased consumption in China, there's no reason for prices to jump like they have except for the fact that investors are focing them up and holding the economic growth of the U.S. hostage. I would like to think that the Bush Adminstration would do something about it but who am I kidding.
It's not that it's bad...but it's just not them and it doesn't really measure up to the greatness of their previous albums. It's more crass, less passionate, more conventional, less loud (in a bad way), more lethargic. I dunno, mabye I'm just too picky when it comes to my favorite bands. Madonna and Source Tags are amazing...so was the EP that came out between Source Tags and this album, it gave me some hope that this album would be part of a contenual improvement.
2) Garden State (the movie) Is overrated --
It's not that, again, it's a bad film, it's pretty good. However, I do not see how it is the greatest film ever made...as some people in a fit of blind obsession have claimed it is. It's simply another movie about another twenty-something guy who doesn't know who he is or where he's going and is trying to find out what those two things are. It's no different than the Graduate in that sense. The film never really resolves, and honestly really isin't that deep. It has some really funny moments, but as an overall film I didn't get into is as much as seemingly everyone else did.
3) The Texas Department of Transportation is absoultely ridiculously stupid for knocking down the Westbound entrance ramp to Ben White between Congress and I-35 --
I guess this is one of those "you have to be there to understand" things.
4) Texas State University students need to start caring more about the school's athletic teams --
Instead of wearing other more prominient athletic school's stuff, we should concentrate on going to our own games, cheering for our own teams, and supporting the program so that someday mabye we can compete with Texas and Texas A&M instead of dreaming or pretending while treating our school like it's a second class instituion...when it's not.
5) Antibiotics leave a weird taste in my mouth --
Everytime I've taken them, I've had the same weird taste. It's weird
6) People seem to use wet weather as an excuse to drive in an unbelievably and irrationally bad way --
Everytime it rains, more people pull in front of me, run red lights, and run stop sings, things that you can't blame on the rain, only on just being thoughtless and careless.
Hey Chris, good to see you in the Blogosphere
7) The "Blogoshpere" is a stupid name, for anything. Blogging is overrated...that could be point 8...
8) Blogging is overrated. Yea, sure it's a new medium where "everyone has a voice"...but a lot of those voices are crappy and full of...well, crap. To think that the average blogger has the same media power as Peter Jennings is just wrong. Peter Jennings is Canadian...who would have thought.
9) Conan O'Brien is a genius and should already be hosting the tonight show instead of Leno.
10) The gas price hikes are purely being manufactured by business and investment instrests to make a profit. Even with increased consumption in China, there's no reason for prices to jump like they have except for the fact that investors are focing them up and holding the economic growth of the U.S. hostage. I would like to think that the Bush Adminstration would do something about it but who am I kidding.
Big College Werds
Today at work I used the word "frenetic"...but not only did I use it, I used it in context, in a normal situation, in a normal nonchalant fashion and I used it with the full knowledge of what it meant.
My statment: "The past few Sunday afternoons here have been really frenetic".
This brought me to an epiphany of sorts. I realized that the farther along my college "Career" has progressed, the more propensity I have had to use big words to describe things in normal situations where smaller, easier spelled words would have sufficed. I could have just said, "the past few sundays have been freakin' crazy", but nope, I had to drop another big "college word"...as I call them.
It is almost as if my life has become entangled in the strange linguistic world of the "Daily Rice" (see link).
Of course the casual use of an extended vocabulary is a normal thing to me...or at least it seems like it should be. I'm a very verbally minded person pursuing a very verbally oriented degree. The funny thing is that I often try to limit my vocabulary when I'm talking to other people, not because I think they're not as smart, but because I don't want to come across as a "smart ass". I dislike the akward feeling of saying a word that I understand, in context, only to get a weird confused look from the other (often younger) person that I'm talking to. The same thing happens at work when talking to customers...espeically since a good deal of them are from other countries and have somewhat limited (allthough they do a good job with what they have) English skills.
A good example is this entry...I've used some big words in a casual fashion. It's not because I'm trying to in order to sound smart, it's because I'm not putting the usual brakes on the words I use. I'm writing in the way that seems "normal" to me. Often, in order to feel included, I will speak or write in a way that is really not reflective of myself, but of the common denominator of intellectualism that I feel I need to maintain in order to acheive the level of "popularity" or acceptance that I want. I did not realize, until just a few months ago, that I look at intellegence, particularly mine, in an often not so positive light. I think however, that this is a sign of a deeper spiritual problem that I have in the area of self-acceptance and self-image. I'm sure that I will write more on this in the future. Hopefully, I will write about it in a way that more truly reflects the verbally gifted person that God as created me to be.
I just want to be vulnerable. I don't want to worry about what others think of me anymore. I'm tired of it. It's a horrible and restrictive prison.
- Jordan
(p.s., I know that some words that appear in my blog are misspelled, that's because I'm actually just an average speller and I don't run a spell check on my entries. Not sure why, I just don't.)
My statment: "The past few Sunday afternoons here have been really frenetic".
This brought me to an epiphany of sorts. I realized that the farther along my college "Career" has progressed, the more propensity I have had to use big words to describe things in normal situations where smaller, easier spelled words would have sufficed. I could have just said, "the past few sundays have been freakin' crazy", but nope, I had to drop another big "college word"...as I call them.
It is almost as if my life has become entangled in the strange linguistic world of the "Daily Rice" (see link).
Of course the casual use of an extended vocabulary is a normal thing to me...or at least it seems like it should be. I'm a very verbally minded person pursuing a very verbally oriented degree. The funny thing is that I often try to limit my vocabulary when I'm talking to other people, not because I think they're not as smart, but because I don't want to come across as a "smart ass". I dislike the akward feeling of saying a word that I understand, in context, only to get a weird confused look from the other (often younger) person that I'm talking to. The same thing happens at work when talking to customers...espeically since a good deal of them are from other countries and have somewhat limited (allthough they do a good job with what they have) English skills.
A good example is this entry...I've used some big words in a casual fashion. It's not because I'm trying to in order to sound smart, it's because I'm not putting the usual brakes on the words I use. I'm writing in the way that seems "normal" to me. Often, in order to feel included, I will speak or write in a way that is really not reflective of myself, but of the common denominator of intellectualism that I feel I need to maintain in order to acheive the level of "popularity" or acceptance that I want. I did not realize, until just a few months ago, that I look at intellegence, particularly mine, in an often not so positive light. I think however, that this is a sign of a deeper spiritual problem that I have in the area of self-acceptance and self-image. I'm sure that I will write more on this in the future. Hopefully, I will write about it in a way that more truly reflects the verbally gifted person that God as created me to be.
I just want to be vulnerable. I don't want to worry about what others think of me anymore. I'm tired of it. It's a horrible and restrictive prison.
- Jordan
(p.s., I know that some words that appear in my blog are misspelled, that's because I'm actually just an average speller and I don't run a spell check on my entries. Not sure why, I just don't.)
Saturday, March 05, 2005
itunes Top 25 (Response to Paul Wheatley's Entry)
"Ok. I want everyone who reads this to be vulnerable. No editing. No kidding. Post your Top 25 Most Played from your iTunes in the comments section. Just do it. Remark on mine as you deem necessary. I'm ready. Be brutal. Ask questions. Let's make it a dialogue."
Extremely good idea...if you have itunes on your computer...which I do...I've always had it hoping to get an Ipod or something similar...which I haven't...that will be the title of a future entry.
My top 25, as of 03/04/05, no editing:
1. Every Double Life* - The New Amsterdams - Never You Mind - 31 - 12/30/04
2. Transistor - 311 - Transistor - 27 - 2/15/05
3. We Laugh Indoors* - Death Cab for Cutie - 25 - 12/2/05
4. Cosmonaut* - At the Drive In - Relashonship of Command - 24 - 2/9/05
5. 405 (Accoustic) - Death Cab for Cutie - 24 - 12/30/04
6. One By One All Day - The Shins - Oh, Inverted World - 23 - 2/11/05
7. Lockdown - Less than Jake - Losing Streak - 22 - 2/4/05
8. Pretend to Be The Same - Slick Shoes - The Biggest and the Best - 22 - 12/2/04
9. Mistakes and Regrets* - And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Madonna - 21 - 11/21/04
10. In Spite of the World* - The Ataris - Blue Skies, Broken Hearts, Next 12 Exits - 21 - 3/1/05
11. Company Calls - Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes - 21 - 2/7/05
12. What Happens Next - Slick Shoes - Burnout - 21 - 2/7/05
13. All My Best Friends Are Metalheads* - Less than Jake - Hello Rockview - 20 - 2/4/05
14. Pepper - Millencolin - Pennybridge Pionners - 20 - 1/17/05
15. San Francisco - Mu330 - s/t - 20 - 2/28/05
16. Responsible - Slick Shoes - Burnout - 20 - 1/24/05
17. A Better Place, A Better Time* - Streetlight Manifesto - Everything Goes Numb - 20 - 2/28/05
18. Look What Happened - Less than Jake - Borders and Boundaries - 19 - 2/9/2005
19. Food (A.K.A. Aren't You Hungry - Reggie and the Full Effect - 19 - 10/27/05
20. For Better, For Worse* - Slick Shoes - Burnout - 19 - 2/4/05
21. A Movie Script Ending - Death Cab For Cutie - The Photo Album - 18 - 12/8/04
22. Erin With An "E"* - The Impossibles - Anthology - 18 - 1/31/05
23. Sugar in Your Gas Tank - Less Than Jake - Losing Streak - 18 - 1/17/05
24. Consequential Apathy* - RX Bandits - Progress - 18 - 12/5/04
25. Fighting In A Sack - The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow - 18 - 2/11/05
*Appears on my all time favorite songs mix...see earlier entry
Some preliminary notes:
It is importiant to remember that I do not have an ipod...this list only represents songs that I've listened to while at my computer. When I'm at my computer I am either studying, blogging, or making mix cds. Thus, my list is biased towards good study songs or songs that are on mix cds that I have made. I occasionaly get "obsessed" with a single song, but most often that happens while I am listening to a cd in the car or on my portable cd player, and not at the computer. However, this does explain why "Tranistor" is at #2, I was just sitting at the computer, putting it on a mix, and I ended up playing it for an hour straght because I was rocking out.
Because I listen mostly to cds, some bands that I listen to more than others are way underrepresented (RX Bandits highest song is #24, but I listen to them as much as anyone, no Mars Volta yet I spent the whole summer listening to them last year). But, if you keep the limitations in line, then this is a pretty good representation of the music I listen to while at the computer. You'll also note that many of the songs are also on my all time favorites mix cd...which can be explained both by the fact that I was listening to them to put on in the right order on the mix, as well as the fact that I can listen to those songs over and over again and not get tired of them.
Extremely good idea...if you have itunes on your computer...which I do...I've always had it hoping to get an Ipod or something similar...which I haven't...that will be the title of a future entry.
My top 25, as of 03/04/05, no editing:
1. Every Double Life* - The New Amsterdams - Never You Mind - 31 - 12/30/04
2. Transistor - 311 - Transistor - 27 - 2/15/05
3. We Laugh Indoors* - Death Cab for Cutie - 25 - 12/2/05
4. Cosmonaut* - At the Drive In - Relashonship of Command - 24 - 2/9/05
5. 405 (Accoustic) - Death Cab for Cutie - 24 - 12/30/04
6. One By One All Day - The Shins - Oh, Inverted World - 23 - 2/11/05
7. Lockdown - Less than Jake - Losing Streak - 22 - 2/4/05
8. Pretend to Be The Same - Slick Shoes - The Biggest and the Best - 22 - 12/2/04
9. Mistakes and Regrets* - And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Madonna - 21 - 11/21/04
10. In Spite of the World* - The Ataris - Blue Skies, Broken Hearts, Next 12 Exits - 21 - 3/1/05
11. Company Calls - Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes - 21 - 2/7/05
12. What Happens Next - Slick Shoes - Burnout - 21 - 2/7/05
13. All My Best Friends Are Metalheads* - Less than Jake - Hello Rockview - 20 - 2/4/05
14. Pepper - Millencolin - Pennybridge Pionners - 20 - 1/17/05
15. San Francisco - Mu330 - s/t - 20 - 2/28/05
16. Responsible - Slick Shoes - Burnout - 20 - 1/24/05
17. A Better Place, A Better Time* - Streetlight Manifesto - Everything Goes Numb - 20 - 2/28/05
18. Look What Happened - Less than Jake - Borders and Boundaries - 19 - 2/9/2005
19. Food (A.K.A. Aren't You Hungry - Reggie and the Full Effect - 19 - 10/27/05
20. For Better, For Worse* - Slick Shoes - Burnout - 19 - 2/4/05
21. A Movie Script Ending - Death Cab For Cutie - The Photo Album - 18 - 12/8/04
22. Erin With An "E"* - The Impossibles - Anthology - 18 - 1/31/05
23. Sugar in Your Gas Tank - Less Than Jake - Losing Streak - 18 - 1/17/05
24. Consequential Apathy* - RX Bandits - Progress - 18 - 12/5/04
25. Fighting In A Sack - The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow - 18 - 2/11/05
*Appears on my all time favorite songs mix...see earlier entry
Some preliminary notes:
It is importiant to remember that I do not have an ipod...this list only represents songs that I've listened to while at my computer. When I'm at my computer I am either studying, blogging, or making mix cds. Thus, my list is biased towards good study songs or songs that are on mix cds that I have made. I occasionaly get "obsessed" with a single song, but most often that happens while I am listening to a cd in the car or on my portable cd player, and not at the computer. However, this does explain why "Tranistor" is at #2, I was just sitting at the computer, putting it on a mix, and I ended up playing it for an hour straght because I was rocking out.
Because I listen mostly to cds, some bands that I listen to more than others are way underrepresented (RX Bandits highest song is #24, but I listen to them as much as anyone, no Mars Volta yet I spent the whole summer listening to them last year). But, if you keep the limitations in line, then this is a pretty good representation of the music I listen to while at the computer. You'll also note that many of the songs are also on my all time favorites mix cd...which can be explained both by the fact that I was listening to them to put on in the right order on the mix, as well as the fact that I can listen to those songs over and over again and not get tired of them.
Girls Part I
Girls...so many songs (and albums) have been written by frustrated males on the subject. Among them: Blue Skies, Broken Hearts by the Ataris is a good summnation of my feelings at the moment, mainly because certian songs are about the frustrating part of not getting the girl, rather than just breakup songs. Since I don't have any songwriting tools (or the lack of self-conciousness) at hand, writing a few entries about the subject will have to suffice. Of course, the last thing that music needs is more Carraba-esque girl songs anyway, so God may be sparing the world a favor by limiting my "talent" in this area.
I've come to a young, yet transitional point in my life where I have realized that girls have become such a frustrating subject, an incomprehensible consternation filled subject that my mindset towards the female sex is quickly becoming sharply more masogyinistic (anti-female). This frigtens me, one, because I am not gay, and two, because I'm called to love people, including girls, even the girls that treat me like I'm worthless, won't give me the time of day, think I'm not good enough for them, etc...at least this is the perception that I have of the perception that girls in general have towards me. The problem, while this may not be true, I have yet to see any hard evidence that it is not.
I'm sure the problem ultimately is my fault...due to my personal inadaquacies, failings, weaknesses in my spiritual life...but then of course I often see people with the same failings have success with girls and wonder why I can't have the same.
I've come to a young, yet transitional point in my life where I have realized that girls have become such a frustrating subject, an incomprehensible consternation filled subject that my mindset towards the female sex is quickly becoming sharply more masogyinistic (anti-female). This frigtens me, one, because I am not gay, and two, because I'm called to love people, including girls, even the girls that treat me like I'm worthless, won't give me the time of day, think I'm not good enough for them, etc...at least this is the perception that I have of the perception that girls in general have towards me. The problem, while this may not be true, I have yet to see any hard evidence that it is not.
I'm sure the problem ultimately is my fault...due to my personal inadaquacies, failings, weaknesses in my spiritual life...but then of course I often see people with the same failings have success with girls and wonder why I can't have the same.
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