leaves at my apt

while blue takes care of his business, i get to enjoy this amazing view. i used to think the georgia mountains were the prettiest place on earth, but i'm falling fast for these tennessee hills. 

georgia - florida

oh man where do i start? my first georgia/florida experience was amazing. i didn't take a camera so this is what you get. i'm leaving a lot out, but i don't want to bore you:

friday
so on the flight i met this pretty girl and her family. it's her 21st birthday soon so she was all decked out in a sash and crown for the weekend. her dad and i talked about sports and athens and shared a paper, but i kept the ipod on most of the time cause bebo norman calms my nerves enough to fly.

we land and i call justin to tell him, and mention the corey smith concert that night. well miss birthday girl, whose name is taylor spins around and says "no way! where's he playing?" i wasn't sure so i got her number to call her and let her know when caseycallie and crew picked me up. callie says it's sold out, so i call and give her the bad news, say have a great trip, and expect that to be it.

the crew (casey, callie, drew, amy, courtney) wants to go to the mall where i pick up some ridiculously expensive sun glasses, some chickfila and caseycallie buys turtles. we go to the hotel, sit around, watch the craziness at the pool below our balcony, drew and i throw a football on the beach, and eventually we head to dinner before the corey smith show. food was great, but the service was horrible.

the show was insane. the crowd was about 1/3 florida fans and i thought there was gonna be a brawl. corey smith is like the bulldog nation's jimmy buffett. he doesn't sing complicated songs, but everyone can relate to them because they're all about life in georgia. taylor enjoyed a few of the songs via cell phone and we agreed we should meet up at come point during our tailgating.

saturday
girls take way too long to get ready, and so we were up at some ridiculous hour to start tailgating by 9. a free breakfast of danishes and a green banana later we were headed for our parking lot... without our parking pass. the folks there were nice enough to pull up our name in the system and give us a temporary pass. we stayed there for a while, hung out with casey's parents and friends. they were the reason i got a ticket for $16.

after a while amy and i went looking for justin who ended up being just across the street. we hung out with them for a while then went to find taylor. she was a little more difficult to find (i walked all the way around the stadium twice before i figured out where she was talking about.) a few free pork sandwiches (from the other white meat promotional people) and we finally found her and her family. i told her mom about teaching in franklin, and she went crazy 'cause they live there and taylor's younger bro is my kind of student. amy and i had a lot of fun doing cheers with him, eating their ribs and drinking their beer.

somehow i managed to get the only georgia fan not enjoying himself to sit behind me at the game. he was telling us to sit down, and when he put his hand on my shoulder to try and force me to he about made me do something i’ve never done to anyone. i said some things i shouldn't have when he thought he'd be funny by throwing popcorn on amy and i. he finally left and everyone around me was like "you're a bigger man than me, i was waiting on y'all to fight. i woulda had your back man, you shoulda hit him in the mouth."

we left when georgia turned the ball over (again) in the 3rd quarter and went back to justin's. drew had been stuck on the florida side and was scared he was gonna get in a fight, so he met us. i ended up staying with justin and his friends that night.

sunday
i'm not very good at math late at night and decided i should get up at 5 to go back to the hotel room to get my stuff, shower and make my flight. well my flight didn't leave until 10:50 so i had plenty of time to help justin take down the trailer, slice the heck outta the tip of my finger taking down the tent, and get everything packed up for them to leave. i fell asleep a few times waiting on my plane to board. met a girl on the plane who was more nervous about flying than i was. she had a nikon in her bag so we had something to talk about.

picked blue up, headed home, slept away the afternoon. all these time changes are really throwing me off... it's like i gained 2 hours last night. but i still didn't want to go to work.

lessons learned
for some reason i get more attention from girls when i'm not trying.
i really enjoy meeting people when i'm traveling. it's like a switch goes off inside me and i become an extrovert. i'll talk to anybody.
i need to learn more party songs on guitar. there's a place for all my whiny ballads, but it's not the beach.
corey smith is amazing. he's definitely the soundtrack to the weekend. if i could pick one song it'd be this one: enjoy!

"next year"
it's 2006 now and i'm still the same
ol' son of a bitch in the wind
i act like i did back when i was a kid
but it hurts more than it did back then
i go out on the town and make a fool of myself
i run around with the same rowdy friends
i get drunk and obnoxious and wake up the next day
swearing i'm never drinking again

my grandma still tells me enough is enough
life ain't a game son, it's time to grow up

maybe next year i'll start acting my age
turn a new leaf over my wicked ways
get a real job and start pullin' my weight
only three hundred and sixty five days until i change my ways

i dress like a slob, i never tuck in my shirt
i let it hang over my baggy jeans
wear an old baseball cap on the top of my head
with the logo of my favorite teams
i still got the same dirty mouth that i have
since my 1st cousin taught me to cuss
and i just quit my 9-5 occupation
to play a whole bunch of songs i made up

yeah, i'm a big old kid but i ain't ashamed
'cause when the time comes around i know i can change

maybe next year i'll start acting my age
turn a new leaf over my wicked ways
get a real job and start pullin' my weight
only three hundred and sixty five days until i change my ways
maybe next year

maybe next year i'll quit blowing all of the cash
start workin’ out and get off of my ass
maybe next year i'll quit puttin' off all the chores
maybe next year i'll visit my grandparents more
maybe next year i'll go back to church and repent
maybe next year i'll pick up my bible again

i outta straighten up there's no better time than now
to kick all the habits that are bringin' me down

maybe next year i'll stop singing the blues
maybe next year i'll start tellin' the truth
maybe next i won't stay drunk all the time
maybe next year i'll have a little more piece of mind
maybe next year i won't be so sad when i'm alone
maybe next year

wanna learn about my school?

they just posted videos about the schools in my district. here's the video of my school. and school district while i'm at it... i've got my own version of narration, but i'll let you enjoy the professional rather than what i have to say.

just a little different

so miss mcgugin invited me to go to the vandy game today (i wish they'd have played like they did today against uga, and saved their good play to beat spurrier). on the way to mellow mushroom before the game, there was this bike on a bike rack on the back of a car that was twice as tall as it should have been. i told her how kelly and i had seen a group of them riding around hillsboro village the first night we went out (we had our last date recently, i might elaborate on that later). well anyway, we're at mellow mushroom and i glance down at the "all the rage" and notice the cover story is these guys on their tall bikes. they're christian dudes and use it as ministry. i have tremendous respect for guys who are rebels with a cause. i'm not that brave.

i'm gonna go have nightmares of those hideous all-purple uniforms that clemson wore against tech today.

the love of my life

eric took this picture with his camera phone. it cracks me up. there's so much emotion in it.

more from the commute

got bored with this picture so i played with it in picasa (further proof that google will take over my life, i use blogger --also a google product-- for this).

i felt like writing a waltz

i'm about to drive down this road... the leaves are even prettier now. i'm so spoiled up here!


(1-2-3, 1-2-3)
i was in love or so i thought
you painted the picture of someone you're not
and when the rain came, the paint washed away
and all that was left was a cold shade of grey

find a way to forget you
i wish that i could
(but you're locked in my memory)
try to move on without you
i know that i should
(but i can't tell my heart anything)

it should be so easy to just walk away
but the way that you haunt me makes me stay
i can't explain why i hurt like i do
i'm covered in bruises beating myself up over you

(not based on recent experiences, it just fit the mood and melody i was humming, so don't worry about me mom)

family, friends, fun, football, and being an idiot

oh me, where do i start? i did my best to cram in the most fun, family, and friends that i possibly could this weekend, and i think i did a good job.

i finally left nashville at about 6 thursday night. the only stops i made were for gas and coffee. i pulled into athens at 12:30, and went straight to bed.

woke up friday, watched tv, played frisbee with blue, and went back to sleep. saw the family for a little bit, went to justin's duplex, and sat around a fire in his back yard with he and lesley. after staying there a couple of hours, i went to casey and callie's where we eventually watched rv. their friend drew and i were the only two who stayed awake through the movie. when it was over i went home because for some crazy reason, they had decided we should meet at their place at 7:30 to leave to tailgate for the vandy game.

it was really cold out on lumpkin in front of the holiday inn, and after waiting what felt like hours, casey's folks showed up and we chowed down on some not-so-traditional tailgating food, but it was a dang good breakfast. the weather finally warmed up, and we made our way to the back row of the student section in front of the bridge. after a miserable performance, georgia lost to vandy for the first time in forever. folks were crying, which i found funny. i mean, i know you're not supposed to lose to vandy, or lose the homecoming game, but why were they crying?

after the game we ate some leftover breakfast and went back to their apartment. we watched the first half of the florida/auburn game, figured florida would win, and then headed to the dollar theater to see talladega nights. i probably stayed awake for about half of it, alternating between callie's shoulder and struggling to keep my eyes open. i dropped them off and drove home to get a little sleep before going to grandma's.

we left for south georgia sunday morning to spend the day with my grandma on her 89th birthday. the dogs had fun running around the farm and getting into the most disgusting situation i've ever experienced. we stopped in macon for some seafood at corky bell's on the way home, then got back to athens at 9.

i went to see whit in toccoa, driving for 2 hours there and back for a little over an hour of time with her. it was well worth it, but i probably just frustrated her because i'm so closed off lately.

slept in a little monday, then headed to milledgeville to see my kids and the teachers i student taught with last year. the kids have grown a ton. i was in kristi's crazy class for a while, saw the other teachers, listened to jessica and lauren complain about teacher work samples, then headed to gcsu to see dr. j.

i hadn't told her i was coming so i believed her when she said she was shocked. i talked to her a while about life and realized i'm incredibly spoiled teaching up here. bui came in to get a recommendation letter for grad school and talked about how hard his job is. he says he loves it, and i pray he does, cause goodness knows i couldn't teach in a psycho-ed center.

after that i hung out with kelli until it was time for dinner with the crazy ladies who teach at creekside. after that kelli saw me walking downtown from pueblas, so i joined her and her cousin while they ate.

i drove back to athens at 4:45 am when kelli kicked me off her couch as she headed to the gym. i slept a few hours, took my dad out to lunch for his birthday, threw my things in the car and drove through the rain back to nashville.

after crossing monteagle (quite a spiritual place for me, i'll write a song about it at some point) the rain stopped and the fall leaves popped with color. if i wasn't on the interstate, i would have pulled over to take pictures. instead i just took it in with my own two eyes.

blue and i are glad to be home. i'm worn out, but it was well worth it. i had an amazing time, did some stupid stuff, but overall had a great trip home. i answered some "what if" questions and all in all had a great vacation.

like hotel room doors

relationships are like adjoining hotel rooms. each room has a door that you can choose to open if you are the person renting the room.

sometimes you know the person on the other side, and she feels comfortable opening their door. your rooms are connected and you're part of each others lives.

sometimes you open your door, and beg and plead and collapse from exhaustion, leaning against a door that never opens.

sometimes you sit quietly on the bed while you hear the sobbing and yearning in the voice on the other side. they bang and claw on the door, and you eventually hear them slide down in defeat, never opening the door to let them in.

sometimes you leave your door open, leave the room, and dream of going back one day to see if she will open the door again.

i've left way too many hotel doors open, and slammed too many shut, crushing the fingers and hopes of a girl who simply wanted to hold my hand.

all this life for rent gets us nowhere.

10 things we can all learn from our dogs

jason posted this on his myspace blog, so i figure i can steal it and repost it since he stole the picture from me. my comments are in red:

JDean's dog, Blue, and I spent some quality time together this weekend throwing frisbees and running around the block. He inspired me to write this.

1.) Whenever a friend or significant other comes to your home, always greet them with a smile, a hug, a kiss and genuine enthusiasm that you are lucky enough to have them in your home
or hide under the bed until they call you, then do all that excited stuff

2.) Whenever someone invites you to spend time outside in nature, jump at the opportunity. Outside is waaaaaaaaay better than inside.
and just in case they're going to change their mind, pull like you're a sled dog until you get to the first pee spot

3.) Take walks daily. Be active.
and whimper like crazy if your owner is too lazy that day

4.) If you want to be someone's friend, you must first smell good. Don't stink
but don't bathe too often or it will dry your skin out. don't forget your frontline and interceptor, cause nobody wants a friend with fleas and worms

5.) Smell, roll in, enjoy, view and listen to all the sights, sounds and loveliness that is nature. God gave us the trees, rocks, grass, flowers and sky to enjoy. Man built buildings to sheild him from these things
chase every bug, bark at every cat, whimper and tug to play with every dog, and expect every single person you meet to absolutely love you and want to pet you and not mind when you jump up on them

6.) Always be faithful and love everyone unconditionally, regardless of how mean they are.
...wait, are you saying i'm a bad owner?

7.) Be eager to please your masters.
as long as he's not telling you to jump in the bath tub or trying to get your attention when other dogs and people are around... or running the vacuum cleaner, taking pictures with the digital camera, or using any other device that you're terrified of.

8.) Don't set your standards so high in order to be a friend to someone. Love everyone. After all, if you are a dog, the only test you have to pass to be ok is if your butt smells good. Our standards should be similar in simplicity.
sniff everyone, try to play with everyone.

9.) Always be willing to protect those you love from harm.
even if it's your buddy the doberman versus a mastiff and rottweiler

10.) When your friends are hurting, be quiet, sit close, snuggle up to them and let them know you love them.
or sit on top of their feet

I hope one day to love up to the image of the man that my dog thinks I am.

I lifted this pic from JDean's site. This is Blue

philoso-fickle

sometimes life... it's funny. i get this overly romanticized view of the world and everything seems to have greater, deeper meanings than it had before. everything's enhanced like the supersaturated photograph of a lomo camera.

today was a good day. i had a long day at work, but kelly came by after school to get her cell phone and i just enjoyed being in her company, plain and simple. when i came home i took blue for a run, and with my ipod blaring ran farther than i can usually make it. the music kept me from hearing my heavy steps and labored breaths and it was just me, the music, and the wind in my face.

i cooked myself a fairly healthy dinner of grilled chicken, green beans, and pasta. got a quick shower, donned a long sleeve t-shirt and some nike pants and hung out with cianna, suzie, and shawn. i called callie to interrupt her studying and talk about how great it is that i'll be home in athens in 3 days. i'm just happy. i said "i love you" to 2 friends who i haven't said it to in a while.

when i got home i got online and talked the philosophy of my commitment issues with jason and whitney and decided all that sitting on the fence ever does for anyone is give them splinters (or more painful consequences if you choose to straddle said fence). still, i'm pretty comfortable on the fence, for now. it's a good view.

one day i'll jump down and pick a pasture to settle in, but for now, i just want to take pictures and figure life out. i've got a lot of what-ifs in my life, and most of them are just fantasy what-ifs that i've created. if they're a what-if now, how come they weren't a what-if then? jb says there's no such thing as what-if, only what was. i like that. we'll craft it into a song eventually. but for now, i need to sleep.

"we're trying to find our way to love
this running ain't no kind of freedom"
-david gray - freedom

on the fence

saw john mayer and sheryl crow last night. me, and seemingly everyone else at the show was disappointed that she was the headliner for this tour stop. mayer's set was way too short, but amazing none the less. he could actually sing pretty well which he couldn't do years ago (the last time i saw him live). when ms. crow played her hits it was an enjoyable show, and she brought keith urban out to play a couple of songs with her. he didn't do anything fancy, just a real nice job of complementing her with his guitar. a good time was had by all. i got to see just about every one i know in nashville, so that was fun.

and for those of you reading into the picture, yeah, i'm back on the fence.

my morning commute - counting blessings

sometimes you just have to get up at 6:30 on a saturday, grab the dog, grab the nikon... and drive to work. i have the most amazing commute in the world, and so i decided to shoot it yesterday with the dew and the fog and the leaves beginning to change. i got a lot of good shots so i'll post one a day. enjoy! i get this every morning!


on the right of the road you have edwin warner park, on the left percy warner park. these are the most amazing city parks i've ever seen. they have everything! (have i ever mentioned the dog park?)

free money!

how cool is it to check your bank account online and see a deposit for $225 that you weren't expecting? thank you state of tennessee! woohoo!

that'll pay for my plane ticket to jacksonville! wooohooo!

jb comes to town tonight! wooohooo!

i'll be in georgia this time next week! woohoo!

woohoo.

crooked sideburns

every man knows it. it's impossible to get your sideburns right. every haircut they ask you if you would like them to fix your sideburns, and out of male pride you always say "no, i'll take care of them myself."

and so begins the battle of getting your sideburns at the same length and level.

when my dad taught me how to do my sideburns, he said, "it's easy son, just line them up with your ears." but i quickly learned that doesn't work because my ears aren't level. my right ear is higher than my left. so i had to learn to compensate... a little higher on this ear; a little lower on that one.

and the thing about sideburns is you never know how much you're actually trimming until it's too late. every guy, since he started shaving at 14, has cut his sideburns, one uneven side at a time, until he has marched his way all the way up past his ears and had no where else to trim. and they were still uneven. most of the time you just have to compromise and know when to forfeit your quest for even sideburns.

so here's to uneven sideburns and uneven ears. not all of us can have a perfectly symmetrical face like you, denzel washington. the rest of us must live in a world of "almost aligned." who wants a perfect face anyway? i say crooked sideburns add character!

you don't know me

jb filled out this survey about me. here are the excerpts that cracked me up:

My name: Jason "i'm not a playa I just crush a lot" Dean

What was your first impression of upon meeting me/seeing me: "Man, I could whoop this dude's ass and steal this girl right now"

What's one of my favorite things to do: Sing and play baby

Am I funny: Funny weird

What is the best feature about me: You are a good listener

Do I have any special talents: no but you have a huge head

Would you call me preppy, average, sporty, punk, hippie, glam, nerdy, snobby, or something else (what): kind of bummish

Am I dating anyone: You went on a date but I wouldn't call that "Dating"

If there was one good nickname for me, what would it be: Mr. Non-Commitment

What's your favorite memory of me: "Dude, I haven't been to class all week."

What is my worst habit: Lovin em' and leavin' em

cattails and tall trees

two more pics from the boss man's house on the bluff. that week spoiled me.

happy birthday mom!