i'm really getting the urge to do something. i keep seeing and reading of people who have an unrelenting drive and achieve phenomenal feats. and yeah, i earned a master's degree and will probably go get a doctorate soon, but that is not the kind of "feat" i'm talking about here. maybe go on tour, write a novel, backpack across Spain...something that i would have a story to tell about. when i'm 40, i don't want my only stories to be about the bad dirt storms in lubbock or what happened one day in a graduate seminar. i want to change people's lives. i want to be significant.

but right now i need to clean my apartment, so i guess i'll go do that.

lubbock = dirt, wind, dust covering everything in my apartment, dirt, wind.

last night, isaac and nate and i rocked it a bit at tokyo joe's, but since we played last out of four bands, lots of the people had already gone home. there were still enough people there for it to be an enjoyable experience though, and a number of people signed our email list. yay!

a friend of mine took some pictures of the show, so as soon as i get them, i'll post a link to them from here.

i caught the last 20 minutes or so of the replay of the state of the union address on c-span last night. in the portion that i saw, Bush didn't stumble over his words like he normally does in his speeches, but when he finished his speech, all that bumbling awkwardness broke through: when he closed the large folder his speech notes were in, he hit the microphone really hard, then when he turned around to shake Chaney's hand, he knocked over Chaney's glass of water, which spilled all over the desk and floor. we can always count on Ole' Dubya to come through for us.

yeah, maybe i drank too much coffee tonight. anyway, there is an awesome article about the cold mountain soundtrack/jack white/and music in general. just click here.

i find it strange that soccer moms and rappers both strive for the same possessions to mark their status level: a big SUV with mini flat screen TVs, a dvd player, and a gaming system such as Xbox or PS2. i guess materialism is quickly becoming the new common bond of humanity.

there must be some odd disturbance in the cosmos taking place recently, because in the last 3 days, I have seen four of my past students from Texas Tech. every encounter seems to have its own strange oddity to it, and there is always that awkwardness because they think that i probably don't remember them. i learned from a few experiences when i first started teaching at Tech, that when an instructor sees one of his or her students out in public, the best thing to do is let the student talk to you first. otherwise, the student might get really nervous and uncomfortable. anyway, if i see one more of my past students in the next day or two, i don't think i'll be able to chalk all this up to coincidence.

i applied for a data entry job today (through a temp agency, blah). i actually got fired from the last temp agency i worked for because i decided to take a holiday without telling anyone. after filling out the appication (which had a grammar and math test section?!?!?) i went to apply at Target, but there were several people waiting to do the same at the computer terminals, so i decided to take a look around. yeah, i ended up buying stuff instead.

today looks forward to grading some papers and then rockin' out with isaac and nate.

i watched The Count of Monte Cristo last night. I spent the first half of the movie making fun of the main character for being a pansy. I spent the second half of the movie not saying much because the main character finally started to kick some butt and take some names.

i've spent the last hour stealing html code then messing with it in the hopes of making a webpage for Plan for Landing. i've marginally succeeded. Check it out here or via the link in the links section.

and not that anyone will actually do this, but i want to have a READERS' POLL. if your name is not jason, jesse or amy, and you read this blog--click on the comment button below and tell me so (if you want to remain anonymous that's ok).

now ladies, don't have me break this thing down for nuthin. i wanna see y'all on y'alls baddest behavior.

guess who's going snow skiing in a month? that's right. this will be my second time to snow ski in my adult life, and i'm gonna get those snow blade things, so everybody on the slopes better watch out cause i'm gonna be like a bull in a china shop. i'm not really sure if that simile fits there, but i wanted to say it so HEY! oh yes, and also while i'm there, i get to kick it at some radicool hot springs pools. and to think...i won this trip. there are few things sweeter in life than things that you get for free.

get on the floor...you know what to do.

this afternoon, i practiced with isaac (on drums) and nate (on bass). the difference between a song performed solo and a song performed with a full band is immeasurable. both of them picked up the songs really fast and started adding cool fills and giving the songs more musical depth. i skipped out on 2 substitute teaching offers today just so we could have practice. i mean, come on, you can't put a price on the value of developing art, or at least that's what i'll tell myself.

the last couple days have been a bit odd in that i am really starting to see who are my real friends and who are the kind of friends who talk bad about me when i'm not around and try to dramatize my life. so instead of directing a philippic at those who are turning out to be wolves in sheep's clothing, i'll extend gratitute to those who prove to be my friends even when doing so isn't easy or fun. these people make extra efforts to communicate with me on a regular basis even though we may not see each other much due to conflicting schedules or because of miles and miles that separate us. upon this definition, those of you who i consider friends, i thank you for being real, honest, interested and interesting, dependable, and encouraging at the times when i need it most. i pray that i can be as much of a blessing to each of you as you are to me.

[i apologize for the seriousness of this entry. i expect to be back on track to attempting to amuse my readers in subsequent entries.]

the glove compartment is inaccurately named, and everybody knows it

amy and i just got back from Lost in Translation. i enjoyed it. it was somewhat random and driven by characters rather than plot.

even though it's saturday night, i am about to start some preliminary studying for the GRE subject test in literature. i'll be busting out the Norton anthologies of literature to read and take some notes. at this point, taking the test is a mere formality for me to get into a couple of schools, but i'll go ahead and study since doing so will be a good review before i launch into my Ph.D. and because i see the test as a challenge. this entry is somewhat boring cause i'm in such a chilled out mood right now. oh well.

i'm back! after much driving, living like gypsies, crashing parties, and riding in a motorcyle gang -- amy and i have safely returned to the Hub City. the new year's eve party was phenomenal...almost all of my best friends of all time were there (jen and jason, nicky, jason t., lance, christy jo, somer, courtney)...i just wish pj and brandon could've made it too. we had some drinks (some more than others), talked about the old days (back in '99), and played a fun game that i don't remember the name of.

now for the cliffs notes version of the rest of the weekend: stayed with jen and jason wendnesday night (in Haltom City, north of Ft. Worth), hung out and stayed with josh and crystal on thursday (in Ennis, way south of Dallas), had lunch with jamie on friday (in Lewisville, way northwest of dallas), went to guitar center (in Plano), crashed a late new year's party in McKinney (north of Dallas and Plano), stayed with my sis and played with her kids (back in Haltom City), drove to Eastland to see my mom and grandparents on saturday, drove back to lubbock on sunday. so if you get out a map and look, you will find that we covered almost every corner of the metroplex. my saturn is a beast, but right now he is a little tired, so we'll stay here for a while.