Currently Listening X&Y By Coldplay Fix You see related

I was reading Searching For God Knows What this summer, and in one chapter Donald Miller recounts an interview he watched with Tom Arnold a few years ago.  Arnold had just written a humorous book entitled How I Lost 6 Pounds in 5 Years, and the interviewer asked him why he wrote it.

The honesty with which Tom Arnold responded was surprising.  He answered very seriously, “The reason I wrote this book is because I wanted something out there so people would tell me they liked me.  It’s the reason behind almost everything I do.”

When I first created a Xanga, I told myself I was using it to practice my writing.  I’m in school studying ministry, and I enjoy doing it, but I think deep down I would really like to be a writer.  Keeping an online blog seemed like a logical way for me to practice being creative and putting things down on paper.

It didn’t take long however before I found myself writing like Tom Arnold.  It’s always nice when some random person leaves you a comment saying they really enjoyed what you wrote, or one of your friends tells you you’re funny.  There’s nothing really wrong with this I guess, but it’s not really what I set out to do.

So I’m leaving Xanga behind.  I don’t spend enough time making what I write worth reading (I’m a perfectionist like that) and I waste way too much time checking to see if anyone has left me a comment instead of doing something worthwhile (I’m pathetic and lazy like that.)

This is not to say that I regret anything.  There are some things I am extremely grateful for.  I’ve met some special people whose friendship I’m truly excited about, been able to check up on some good friends I don’t get to see anymore, and I imagine I did get some writing practice in along the way.

For my last entry, I’ll leave you with a thought: Have you ever wondered what life will look like from Heaven’s view?  When we make it to the other side of eternity - what secrets will be revealed?

Will we see our mistakes that we thought were so small, and marvel at how they altered the course of our lives?  Will we see things we gave up on because of guilt or impatience, and wonder why we didn’t take a chance?  Will we see the decisions we made that we thought we had complete control of, and realize that God was directing us the whole time?

Grace and peace.

Currently Listening Waiting for My Rocket to Come By Jason Mraz The Remedy see related

I’m not really sure if I mentioned this enough or not, but unequivocally (like that big word there Molls?) one of the best parts of my summer was taking advantage of the church’s Hollywood movie pass.  Not only was it financially agreeable, but it also provided me with a quick and convenient way to kill thousands of brain cells why simultaneously squandering precious hours of my life on worthless and unwholesome movies.  It was amazing.

Obviously now that the summer is gone - so is my movie pass, and being a college student I am always looking for cheap forms of entertainment (if you’ve seen my hair, you know what I’m talking about.)  Hence, the thought came to me that I might convince my roommate and suitemates to align our resources together to purchase a movie pass for the four of us.  After presenting them with the idea, they deemed it was a good plan, and therefore agreed.

Since we weren’t aware of any Hollywood stores nearby, we decided we’d just go to the Blockbuster on Forrest.  Upon our arrival we were greeted by an ugly, disgruntled woman who I’m 92% positive was on crack, and learned three things:

You have to have a credit card to buy the movie pass (which I don’t have.)

They’ve raised the price of the movie pass to $24 (which you’d have to be on crack to pay.)

Blockbuster is going to be run out of business my Netflix in the next 3 years (which is what happens when you make it impossible for college kids - who watch more movies than anyone else and are therefore your target demographic as a rental store - to purchase a movie pass because it’s too expensive and they don’t have a credit card.)

Fortunately, P-Marks did a little research (read: Google) and found a Hollywood 10 minutes down the road that has the movie pass for $9.99.  As Abraham said to Isaac at Moriah, "The Lord will provide."

Currently Listening American Idiot By Green Day Holiday see related

My “6 concerts in 40 nights” continued last night with Green Day and Jimmy Eat World at the American Airlines Center.  The recap:

VENUE/SEATING:
Nosebleeds again.  I think I’m the Brick Tamland of buying tickets.  After last night and the Astros’ game a couple weeks ago, Justin and I have decided I’m not allowed to get our seats anymore.  We tried to move to other spots that no one was sitting in, but the usher lady kept making us leave.  I can now confirm that I’ve sat at the top of the American Airlines Center and stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon and looked down - and the view’s about the same.

Grade: C-

OPENING ACT:
Even though they were the opening act, the real reason Justin and I went was to see Jimmy Eat World.  We were a little nervous at first when we noticed they didn’t have any merchandise tables set up and their names weren’t even printed on the tickets (Justin kept asking me “Jimmy is playing here, right?!?” while I began weighing my options of either slitting my writs or jumping off the upper level of the arena.)

Jimmy did show up, but were wildly disappointing.  Now granted, it was Green Day’s tour, but they only got 8 songs.  We’re talking about freakin’ JIMMY EAT WORLD here!  Of those 8, only 3 were from “Futures.”  On top of that the lead singer was either feeling sick or completely drunk (or both) because he was off the entire night.  Plus, they had zero stage presence (which became increasingly clear after hearing the next band.) However, to avoid being decapitated with an axe by Tim and Katie after they read this, I will say they are phenomenal guitarists.

Grade: B

HEADLINER:
Obviously, everyone else was there to see Green Day, as evidenced by the dozens of Jr. Highers running around in black shirts with red ties and makeup.  I think it’s funny how Green Day has been around longer than most of these kids have been alive.

Surprisingly, they played all the hits from “American Idiot” but threw in a lot of old school stuff, which made me happy.  As far as lighting and video stuff, it was probably the best concert I’ve been to.

The most amazing part about the whole thing though was how much energy they had.  They played for almost two hours, and had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand the entire time.  Billy Joe would run to one side of the stage, point to the crowd, and everyone would yell.  Then he’d sing one thing, and everyone would echo right back.  For a while I was waiting for him to take a dump on stage and everyone to go crazy.  Remarkable stage presence.

On top of all that, they grabbed 3 guys from the crowd and made a band on stage, did a fantastic cover of “Shout!” and sang Queen’s “We Are The Champions” for an encore, to which - after seeing everything - Justin and I had to agree.

Grade: A+

OVERALL:
Rabbi P and I have had the argument many times - who’s better: Jimmy Eat World or Green Day?  Obviously he was my age when Green Day made it big with “Dookie,” and I’ve been a Jimmy fan since I saw the video for “The Middle” in 10^th grade (still one of the top 10 best music videos of all time.)  We both had our preferences, and unfortunately were never really able to settle the argument.  Well last night, it was settled.  I’m not saying I’m going to throw my Jimmy CD’S away, in fact I might even go see them again, but as for the question of who is the better band:

Green Day all the way.

Final Grade: A-

Currently Reading Jesus I Never Knew, The By Philip Yancey see related

6 concerts in 40 days.

That’s my goal.

Over the next two months I’ve set out on a mission to see some of the best bands in the world in concert, including: The Killers, Jimmy Eat World, Green Day, Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Coldplay and finishing with David Crowder Band’s new CD release party in Waco on Sep 26.

Tonight, my concert quest began with The Killers show in Grand Prairie.  A recap:

VENUE/SEATING:
So I bought two tickets for Barrett and I for about $35 a piece and sat in the far reaches of the upper balcony, only to find out that tickets for the PIT were being scalped for $40 as we were walking to the door.  To make matters worse, my friend Stephanie drove up from Houston, bought two tickets for $35 a piece TWO DAYS BEFORE THE SHOW and sat in the FREAKING TENTH ROW!!!  How does this happen?  Why do I always get screwed on tickets?  I will now officially light myself on fire.

Grade: F-

OPENING ACT:
I remember listening to Louie XIV on iTunes and thinking they weren’t very good.  After seeing them live, my opinion has changed:

They suck hard.

Really hard.

They might suck more than any band in history.

Grade: F-

HEADLINER:
The Killers put on a good show.  They played all their hits (except for “All These Things I’ve Done” which I was a little disappointed about.)  The house speakers weren’t turned up very loud, so it seemed kind of quiet a lot of the time.  The crowd was into it the whole time, and everyone sang along to “Mr. Brightside.”  Their drummer was good and their lead singer can really sing.  In fact, they sounded exactly like their CD, which is part of the problem.  After seeing bands like DMB or Jars, I’m used to a band doing something new with their songs or adding something to it.  The Killers were great, but they didn’t do anything groundbreaking.

Grade: B

OVERALL:
The Killers were solid, but not good enough to compensate for the fact that Louis XIV were terrible and the ticket gods cursed me again.  Kind of a disappointing way to begin my concert tour, but I’m optimistic about JEW and Green Day on Saturday.

Final Grade: C+

Currently Listening Crash By Dave Matthews Band #41 see related

AC and the internet.

That’s all I ask.

I’m not greedy.  I really don’t expect much from my school.  I realize we’re not going to have a football team, or luxurious dorms, or cafeteria food that starving Mongolian children would eat.

Heck, I don’t really even care if I get an education or not.

But for my $12,000 a year (alright, my parent’s $12,000 a year) I would just like for my dorm room to have internet access and be a temperature OTHER than 127 degrees.

Is that too much to ask?

I guess it just makes me grateful when things are more than what I ask for, like today.

A lot of times I do things and I just wonder what’s the point? and is it worth it? and why even try?  And then days like today come along and certain people come across your path and you think:

Maybe it’s worth a try.

Maybe something good will happen.

Maybe something special came my way.