Chapter Three

I have just made the decision to deem this day as the beginning of Chapter Three. The number three really has no significance. It seems right, and so it will be. 

It dawned on me a couple of hours ago: A lot of things are changing for a lot of people right now, myself included. I have always been an advocate of change; I feel that change is more often positive than negative, despite the rigors that it brings about.

School is once again rapping it's persistent knuckles on my window, and I'm feeling lured back out into the wilds of education. I feel unnaturally renewed, mostly in my spirit, and I'm certainly ready to get back to it. Whatever "it" will be. But "it" will be something. (Belmont is doubtful).

things to come

NOVEMBER 11th!

Saturday

What a Saturday it has been.

I am laying in bed. I am a bit worn out (less sleepy, more weary) but don't feel like sleeping quite yet.

I am content. I am at peace. And I am getting to know the meaning of both of those things a bit more everyday, it seems.

All Things Considered

At this point in time, it is hard for me to realistically believe that I am meant to have a "blog". 

I don't use this blog in the way that blogs are meant to be used. I don't even use this blog the way that blogs aren't meant to be used. I don't use it at all! 

Naturally, the next question rears it's smug little face: if all of this is true, why do I insist on returning to this little cubby hole on the web every so often? I guess it's because I can. And because I honestly enjoy the act of writing. I don't so much care to share it, but blogger.com makes it so darn easy, it's hard not to. 

So here I am, saying many things, and still, having not much to say. 

I have been trying to make the most of this semester. It's funny that I refer to it as a 'semester', although I am not enrolled in classes. For a brief spell, when classes were just getting started at Belmont, I felt a bit melancholy about my decision to take time off. That feeling soon passed. I feel confident about my decision now. I have been steadily working on things not necessarily academic, but still important to me. 

I will leave it at that. 

where'd your eyes go?

I'm sitting here, somewhere in Louisville, Kentucky. In some faceless coffee shop on a street called Bardstown. The band arrived in this little town yesterday afternoon, after we discovered the unfortunate cancellation of our show in Owensboro. A collective decision was made to travel to this street called Bardstown. We played on a sidewalk for an hour, maybe, shaking tambourines, bowing stringed instruments, and tinkling on our rickety little glockenspiel. Generous patrons tossed the occassional bill of currency into an opened cello case. Later, we were able to weasel our way into playing in the upstairs of a brewery, still on this street called Bardstown. They were hospitable. We made lots of new friends. 

So, I'm sitting here, in this faceless coffee shop, on a street called Bardstown. I am drinking deep the anonymity that the environment is offering. After a week of constant social obligation, it is a settling thing to sink into the stillness of singularity. Alliterations galore. Yikes.

 

There is an ache somewhere in my spine to swim in the ocean. I've assumed the culprit to be merely the poor sleeping conditions in which I've adopted lately, causing my spinal column to shift and squeak. But I realized, just now, that it is something far more interesting. Swimming in the ocean is something that I love, and will continue to love, despite how spooky it may be. I am able to scare myself out of the act, at times. I scare my own little brain so much that it refuses to allow my physical body to gallop from the sand to the surf, only for fear that an ominous presence is waiting for me somewhere out in the blue. Waiting for my clumsy figure to collapse into the arms of the sea. Waiting for whatever that moment would be, when it can swiftly snatch me up and swim me to the bottom of the ocean, where it can eat me in peace. All of this to say, I'm going to the beach on the Nineteenth of this month. It will be wonderful. 

We are performing this evening at Derby City _________ (something). I expect it to be fun. This is the next to last stop on our tour. It ends tomorrow in Nashville. 

I am almost done reading Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut. I have been enjoying Mr. Vonnegut lately.

I have found myself this morning in a most curious gap in space and time; I have found myself standing before a rare realization: I have a blog! So easily I forget that I have this convenient media canvas to have my way with, whenever I want. Summer has begun with a flurry (A very hot & sunny flurry), and I'm busier than ever with music. 

It seems that I have woken up earlier than necessary on this cloudy Sunday morning. What better time to write than at 8:00am? I've found that sometimes my written expression improves by leaps and bounds whenever I'm slightly foggy from sleep. This morning, I am the human embodiment of foggy!

So, I went camping with my father and two strapping brother-in-laws for a night in Jones Gap this weekend. Jones Gap is a beautiful little nook in the Blue Ridge Mountain system. Whether or not "system" is the correct term in this situation, it is no matter to me. 

Here are the highlights of the expedition:

• Upon our arrival and set-up of camp, the heavens opened up and released two hours of rain. Luckily, we came prepared. The four of us sat beneath our blue 8x10 tarp, cooking dinner, playing guitar and singing, and talkin' smack. 
• After the rain subsided, I took a mini-hike with Justin (one of the two aforementioned strapping fellows) in search of the fabled "Jones Gap Falls". We never made it to the falls. Instead, we found a bridge. I insisted on stripping down to my undies and taking a dip. I am certain that if I stayed in the water for any amount of time longer than the .95 seconds that I was submerged, my heart would have failed me. I put a poncho on over my wet, freezing, nearly naked body, and we trudged back to camp along the winding mountain trail.
• We had intriguing theological discussion round the campfire before bed, whilst munching on Pop-Tarts and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
• I awoke the next morning to discover my right eye swollen closed. It is still swollen, 24 hours later. I am convinced that a furry caterpillar had his way with me. 
• After packing up our campsite, it began to pour! However, the rain took a break after about an hour, giving us a perfect window of time to hike for a couple of hours. We made it to the falls, at long last, and spent some time hunting the river for creatures, to no avail.
• We ended our journey at Zaxby's.  I can't think of any better way to conclude an outdoor extravaganza.

_________

In other, not so interesting news, I turn twenty-one on Tuesday! What does this mean? Nothing especially different, besides the fact that I can now legally buy alcohol and legally consume it in bars with the rest of the trashy bar-going demographic in Nashville, TN (Nothing personal, to any honky-tonk bar goers that may be reading my blog......)

It seems that my stomach has woken up as well, and it longs to be appeased by Breakfast. So here is where I shall end my useless narrative. I'm going to make some peanut butter toast.