today's driving mix

destination - douglasville

1. Bjork - Human Behaviour
2. Bob Marley & the Wailers - Redemption Song
3. Bobby Pinson - One More Believer
4. The Bravery - Honest Mistake
5. Coldplay - White Shadows
6. Format - Cause a Scene
7. The Fray - How to Save a Life
8. Jason Mraz - Geek in the Pink
9. Johnny Cash - Understand Your Man
10. Kings of Leon - The Bucket
11. Mike Doughty - Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well
12. Radiohead - Creep (acoustic)
13. U2 - Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own

diving in

she said she's known guys like me
and i've known girls like her too
so now we know where this will go
but that don't seem to stop us
there is no wasting time here
there's no reason to move slow

chorus:
i'm diving in
too soon to say i love you
i just want to get to know you
see what kind of memories we can make
i'm diving in
and i don't care what happens
there's no sense in holding back here
you only live through chances that you take
i'm diving in

girls like her think they can't win
guys like to up and leave them
it's so easy to lose their faith
they ask are there no good ones left
they refuse to settle for second best
somehow i made her look this way
(chorus)

she said that she's got her fears
and i am having doubts too
but they don't seem to get us down
everything's going smoothly
she says i make her happy
she's good at keeping me around
(chorus)

(one of, if not the most pop song i've ever written. not so much what i'm going through; more like inspired by what i'm going through and played the "what if" game. but you never know, life might imitate art)

free at last

whit will probably shoot me for putting this picture up here, but i liked it... couldn't have done my literacy kit without her help.

so the semester ended just the way i had expected it to: sleep deprived. in the end i got it all done. it wasn't my best work, but a lot of it was things that i couldn't do anything about, it was just poor planning. but all that matters is that i'm done! now i've got until january to do whatever i want. which means i'll do a lot of camp stuff, visit friends all over the state (maybe out of state), and most importantly relax. i plan to read a lot too, but lately i've been catching up on my tv watching.

thanksgiving started of kinda rough. i got my first speeding ticket ever. i was almost home, pulling into watkinsville. the speed limit drops to 35, and rather than put on my brakes, i just coasted to slow down when i got to the sign... well just after i passed the sign a cop pulled around the curve and clocked me at 54. the ticket did it's job, i drive slower now... well, i drive scared now. maybe that'll transform itself into driving slower. we'll see.

my aunt and grandmother spent a few days with us. those days involved a lot of watching football, playing rook at night, and they went shopping a lot. i did 6 loads of laundry and got a lot of sleep and spent a lot of time with the fam.

milledgeville confederate monument

before picasa:


postpicasa:

i wear this title proud

diz: now all i have to do is finish my lit kit, teacher manual, and tws

brett: no pressure

brett: you know, jason, that's what my list looks like and I had a sick toddler

diz: i don't get it... you're saying ?

brett: you are the most sophisticated procrastinator I've ever met

brett: congratulations

brett: :-D

countdown

i should be working on my school work, but this is good for my mental health and i'm pretty frustrated. i've gotten a lot done lately, but there's a lot more to go.

Ten Random Things About Me
1. i had pretty serious chest surgery when i was 5
2. i have a birth mark in the shape of a heart on my right shoulder
3. the best tasting things are the things that hurt my stomach the most
4. i'm a fan of both uga and georgia tech sports
5. i am super deadline dependent (i will not do something until it is absolutely necessary, thus not working now)
6. i own 5 guitars but only play 2
7. i own about 400 cds
8. every habit i have is expensive... did i say habit, i meant hobby
9. i love all kinds of boats but i'm a pretty pathetic swimmer
10. i can throw a frisbee better than you

Nine Things I Like To Wear
1. my nike hoodie
2. my chacos
3. my blue new balances
4. a hat
5. long sleeve t-shirts
6. the docker shorts that i've had for longer than i can remember (they're paper thin and full of holes, but i won't give them up)
7. pj pants
8. fleece (like sweatshirt material) shorts, i have about 6 pairs and i immediately change into them when i get home
9. this hideous gray speckled polo with a turtle that says "ymca camp staff" on it

Eight Things I Want To Do Before I Die
i dunno, all my goals pretty much end at graduation cause i've been so focused on that for the past 5 years... i want to get married and have a happy family and do all kinds of revolutionary things.

Seven Ways To Win My Heart
1. have a passion and share it
2. words of affirmation (i starve for them and hold onto them for forever when i hear them)
3. be willing to put up with my crap
4. don't take any of my crap
5. be quirky enough to keep me interested but not so much as to scare me away
6. be godly
7. sing with me or let me take your picture

Six Things I Believe In
1. God
2. my own talents and abilities
3. my parents and the rest of my family
4. the power of music
5. the revitalizing power of nature
6. education

Five Things I'm Afraid Of
1. death
2. success
3. happiness
4. commitment
5. heights

Four Of My Favorite Items in my Bedroom
1. cd/dvd burner
2. my dog
3. photography books
4. my cameras

Three Lyrics to Songs I Love
1. we couldn't all be cowboys, some of us are clowns - counting crows "goodnight elisabeth"
2. i've hidden a note, it's pressed between pages that you've marked to find your way back, it says 'does he ever get the girl?' - dashboard confessional "this ruined puzzle"
3. i am thinking it's a sign that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned - the postal service "such great heights"

Two Things I'm Trying Not to do Right Now
1. lead a girl on
2. think about another girl

One Person I would Love to See Right Now
1. tara

make a note

something to remember. something to make me think twice before doing whatever it is that i do:

"the only guys that want to take the time to 'break down my door' are guys that break it down and then don't come in"

...please don't lose your faith. that good guy is out there, i promise.

reluctant messiah

Reluctant Messiah
(Inspired by Lois Lowry’s The Giver)

You opened my eyes to a new life
A complicated scene
Everything once perfect in childhood
Now only faded memory
I ask myself can I do this
Bear the weight of the world
Now given the chance to make a choice
They never dared let us choose before

Chorus:
I am the reluctant messiah
Climbing up my own Calvary
I know that I must do this
To set my people free
It’s not a question of if I’ll do it
It’s just a matter of I can
I am the reluctant messiah
In search of the promised land

So now it’s been decided
I’m going to change the world
This newfound pain cannot hinder me
I’ve got to do it for every boy and girl
Now I know how God must feel
To watch his children suffer pain
I must give them the power of free will
Of life, of love, of color, and of rain
(chorus)

But now the pain’s too great
And this hill too steep
I just want to lay down and sleep
There’s no way I can make it on my own
But I can’t give in now
Can’t throw in the towel
Here at my heart I’ve got this child
And his life gives me strength
(chorus)

One foot in front of the other
Through the snow I climb
And now I can feel it
What’s on the other side

blue's new friend

big ole tire and neighborly fun

so a lonely 4th grader who lives behind me was at the mailbox when i got home yesterday. he asked me if he could play with blue. he had been scared of blue before, so i figured he'd chicken out again. i went to get him and brought him out without a leash. blue walked in heel until i released him with an "okay" when he ran to the boy, started to jump up, then sat down right at his feet. the boy saw the frisbee, ran to me, then took off for the grass talking to blue the whole way.

in no time he was petting blue, hugging blue, laying down on the ground next to blue. it was fun to watch. neighbors would wave and smile at me as they went by when they saw what was going on. the funniest part were the things the boy said:

"blue, you're the best dog ever. you're going to have to get in fights for me to beat up the mean dogs."
"can i have your dog when you get too old for him?"
"alright blue, listen to me. a frisbee does some tricky things. you think it's going to go one way, but it's going to go the other way. so stop and watch it. [throws, blue misses] now i told you what to do! you're not listening to me!"

he talked to blue the whole time. he asked me if i had a camera and i wished that i did, but it was in my apt and i didn't want to leave blue alone with him. at camp i let kids watch him all the time, but camp doesn't have cats and cars.

i'll be working all day again trying to complete this mound of work that i've piled up.

december to do list

1. record my best newer songs and get them copyrighted
2. practice more piano
3. camp stuff
4. play live gigs (at least 2)
5. do a photoshoot with at least 2 different people as models (any volunteers?)
6. go on a date with someone i haven't ever been on a date with
7. run
8. read these christian books that i bought and have been sitting in the amazon box for months
9. learn how to play "lover, you should have come over" all the way through (there are like 20 different chords in it)
10. go look at christmas lights

teacher stance

katie and i watched a video of us teaching the other night, and noticed the little things that we do all the time. she hated her "teacher stance."

cuatros bigotes

reason #462 why i teach:

batman is pricelss! i love my boys

the alarm clock and the polyphonic spree

so i was wondering what it would be like to get as excited about the morning as my dog does when he hears the alarm clock. just then a polyphonic spree song entered my head and forced me to be happy. now all i need is a colorful choir robe and some kind of percussion instrument you'd find in an elementary school music class. i think i want a set of bells... "follow the day, follow the day and reach for the sun!"

today is my last day of teaching my teacher work sample, though i'll continue to teach as much as my teachers will let me. i'm only required to teach 15 full days, but i'd much rather teach than sit back and watch. at least now i get the option of calling for the bullpen if i don't want to. i don't see that happening though... these next 2 weeks are going to be the hardest i've worked in my entire life, but i get to celebrate november 19th with brad paisley in asheville!


(one of my kids took this)

show off

on a separate note, i went and saw tim reynolds last night. after plan after plan fell through kelli was nice enough to go with me. i guess i expect too much from people when they give me their word, but personally i hope that when i give my word people can trust me to follow through on what i say i'm going to do.

before tim's set he did some squats and grabbed his butt cheeks a la ace ventura and did some other bizarre stuff. then of course he blew me away with his fingers (he uses a sampler thing like howie day when he plays solo, except tim does a lot more impressive stuff). he sang a few originals (lyrically, they sounded like he was reading a science or philosophy textbook) and a few covers (zeppelin & beatles) and of course played the only song of his anyone had ever heard, "stream." he played "stream" about twice the speed that he plays it on the dave album, so i didn't recognize it until he was pretty far into it. despite how it happened in my dream, tim did not invite me on stage to play #41 with him.

some kinda mushrooms

powerplant @ night

how much more bad stuff can happen to my friends? wait, don't answer that! i've had enough! God's teaching me that praying is the best thing i can do, cause it's pretty much the only thing i can do. so many situations i wish i could fix with my own two hands, but there's nothing i can do.

sorta like spielberg

so it always bugs me when i see photoshopped images that are in black and white with only one part in color, but this time i did it myself just for the heck of it. it's kinda like that one girl in the red dress in schindler's list, except there's nothing symbolic about this. it's just dogwood buds.