Jumbled, broken and sometimes free flowing thoughts and meanderings from every day life...

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My bootleg list
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Hearing

Sam Phillips
A Boot and A Shoe

Jack Johnson
On And On

OTR
Ohio

Waterdeep
Live At The New Earth

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Reading

Jesus Among Other Gods
Ravi Zacharias

II John

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Watched

The Two Towers

Around The World In 80 Days

Big Fish

Gilmore Girls (complete first season)

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Music I like

Waterdeep
Bob Dylan
Squad Five-O
POD
Stavesacre
Project86
Nick Drake
Matthew Perryman Jones
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Other blogs

The Drifter's Escape
Normal Insanity
Hmmm... She Said
CLOG
jer's blog
Jen's Blog
michael72
Midnight Snack
Legible Thoughts
scottraymond.net
Dee's blog
Superglued
Colombian Madness
Drivel Central
Methy's blog
LJ's blog
bet's blog
madi's blog
Blog of Dreams

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Elsewhere

Poetry.com
United Media
Ucomics.com
noahgrey.com
Warwick basses
Dr. Martens
dotmusic.com
recycledsounds.org
Medi-Share
Candystand.com
thesnake.org
ActiveBass.com
HomeStar Runner

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I posted this a few years ago and thought I'd post it again if for nothing else, to make me think.

John Fischer questioning the legitimacy of CCM:

"We started trying to save the world and ended up trying to get a record contract, find out what Christians wanted, justify ourselves to the First Baptist Church. Somewhere along the line, we compromised and took the easier safe road. We listened, even though we knew better, to those who said that, if we were Christians, our music was going to have to be Christian music, and what we came up with was retrained, contained, and stifled. We listened to those who said our music must be sacrificed on an altar. It must take second place. And thinking we only had one heart to give, we gave half of it to the Lord and half of it to music, and both came out halfhearted. We knew better. When the Lord is in your heart, you can give all of it to everything you do. We listened even when we knew better when they said that a Christian could never be popular with the world. We'd have to sacrifice too much and compromise too much to get there. So we settled back into second best where it was safe, where we didn't have to deal with our egos, while we pampered them and gave glory to God. As soon as we all realized we were playing only for Christians, we no longer had to compete with the Knopflers, the Claptons and the Dylans. In fact, when we played our best licks, we got criticized for not ministering. It seemed pointless to extend ourselves, and so, even though we knew better, we gave up being the best."

posted by Jon at 10:55 AM

Just finished "Orthodoxy" by G. K. Chesterton. I'll have to read it again to take it all in. But it is very interesting... I think I'm going to go look for more of his writings.

"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere." -- G. K. Chesterton

posted by Jon at 8:46 AM

I've finally found a way to bring harmony to my family... Johnny-light.

"When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity." -- Albert Einstein

posted by Jon at 2:45 PM

Change is in the air...
Things are seeming to come along quite a bit further musically than they ever have which is good. Good but scarry. I always feel so inadaquate... But I'm learning. Also, Jennifer and I are now proud owners of 3.24 acres. We plan to build on it soon and would like to be able to move in to our new home right out of our apartment. We'll see how that goes. I have so much to learn about things like that. When it comes to building houses and all that comes along with it, I am totally clueless... but I'm praying for wisdom.

"May you live every day of your life." -- Jonathan Swift

posted by Jon at 11:38 AM

I haven't been able to get MM&W's Uninvisible out of my CD player for four days. Not because my CD player is broken, but I can't make myself stop listening to it... Oh so good...

"Beware of programmers who carry screwdrivers." -- Leonard Brandwein

posted by Jon at 10:06 AM

Yesterday was a day of firsts. I ate my first mango and got my first credit card.

"About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgement." -- Josh Billings

posted by Jon at 9:14 AM

Yesterday was a pretty good day despite the fact that my nose was pouring like an avalanche coming down the mountain. After church Jennifer and I went out to eat at a Thai restauraunt with a couple of friends. It was pretty good. Helped clear up my sinuses for a little while. After we got home we were sitting around and decided to do some calligraphy. I think I did pretty good for my first time. Especially since my handwriting is atrocious. We also went to the park and played catch, got tired of that and started trying to do handstands. Then we played on the playground. It was fun. I don't think I'll ever grow up. Slides aren't as high as they used to be...

"I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers." -- Kahlil Gibran


posted by Jon at 11:39 AM

I think I'm going to try to start this blog back up. It's fun and I'd like to make some changes to it. Too bad I don't have a computer at home right now so I'm not making any promises, but I'd like to get back in to it.
 
"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of." -- Burt Bacharach


posted by Jon at 11:45 AM

Wow... September 18th is the last time I posted? Sorry guys. Not that anyone comes around here anymore (not even me), but sorry anyway... 21 days (20 in a matter of minutes) and I'll be a married man. And in an even shorter amount of time I'll be living somewhere else. With emphasis on somewhere. I'm very excited. I think I'll go write. Happy Easter everybody.

"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up." -- Muhammad Ali

posted by Jon at 11:50 PM

I have the most wonderful woman in the world... and I'm going to miss her terribly this week. But I'm excited to be getting my ProTools certification. It's going to be a long eight days and a lot of learning. Life sure is exciting.

"I ofen looked up at the sky an' assed meself the question - what is the stars, what is the stars?" -- Sean O'Casey
posted by Jon at 1:41 AM

Wow... Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I've been spending my time (which I seem to have less and less of these days) working, going on vacation, playing out some (finally), writing some new tunes, reworking some old ones and getting to know someone that I've known for six years quite a bit better. She's wonderful... Why didn't I see it until now?

"I'm in love, never been so sure of anything" -- Derek Webb
posted by Jon at 8:03 PM

If I were supersticious I could blame the crappieness of my day on the fact that today is Friday the 13th. But come to think of it, today was really quite an average day at work. I'm ready for more good days... And if some people are supersticious, can I just be sticious? Or maybe even substicious?

"I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken -- and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best..." -- Margaret Mitchell
posted by Jon at 7:20 PM

I love Foxtrot.

ucomics

"Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won't have to hunt for happiness." -- William E. Gladstone
posted by Jon at 12:46 AM

If you can't figure out how to assemble something, the instructions are supposed to help you, right? Well, not always. Here are some of the instructions I had for assembling a swing today:
-"Attach back frame to the arm and to the back hanger using 5/16"x130 mm bolt. Guide bolt and 8.5x1.5mm washer through the pre-drilled hole on the back hanger, to the 15x8.5x9 mm plastic washer, then into the arm, and throught the another 15x8.5x9mm plastic washer, then through the pre-drilled hole on the back frame and hard tighten by 8.5x1.5 mm washer and nut. Do not tighten completely. Repeat on another side."
What is "hard tighten"?
-"The other side should be put on screws the last in case the canopy is too fight to attach the main frame."
And my favorite...
-"VERY IMPORTANT: The pole with the foot care foot car to be effective."

"Ignorant people in preppy clothes are more dangerous to America than oil embargoes." -- V. S. Naipaul
posted by Jon at 1:11 AM

Around here, today was opening day for little league baseball. I remember opening day when I played little league. Waking up real early, putting on my uniform, getting ready for the big day. Heading down to the high school parking lot to meet up with the rest of my team and piling into the back of someone's pick up truck for the big parade (the only time I ever got to ride in the back of a truck). But that was then... Now I sit; stuck in traffic and late for work because of the opening day parade.

"A good metaphor is something even the police should keep an eye on." -- G. C. Lichtenberg
posted by Jon at 12:15 AM

aslkffff jlasdlfkhas. alskfaslkfieawlrk. fierlakerlasdfywelk... aslkfjaslkd lk l asdlfkfasdlfk asdlkajlskfd aweoriqwervmweori aslfkameweir masofkwe. alskdfiowefj? aslkdfewaylsakdf!!! aslkfajsdflkvoierrqpaaosfijz. zmzilsdfsdfmoweri. amsdofweirmlwey. jakzoidsfjalskdfj. Twelakraosifjwelr. HEralkeroasdflkwea. yewar.

"I'm a reasonable man. Get off my case." -- Radiohead
posted by Jon at 11:23 PM

A Nauseous Nocturne
From: The Essential Calvin and Hobbes

Another night deprived of slumber,
Hours passing without number,
My eyes trace 'round the room. I lay

Dripping sweat and now quite certain
That tonight the final curtain
Drops upon my short life's precious play.

From the darkness, by the closet
Comes a noise, much like a faucet
Makes: a madd'ning drip-drip-dripping sound.

It seems some ill-proportioned beast,
Anticipating me deceased,
Is drooling poison puddles on the ground.

A can of Mace, a forty-five,
Is all I'd need to stay alive,
But no weapon lies within my sight.

Oh my gosh! A shadow's creeping,
Omnious and black, it's seeping
Slowly 'cross a moonlit square of light!

Suddenly a floorboard creak
Announces the bloodsucking freak
Is here to steal my future years away!
A sulf'rous smell now fills the room
Heraldingmy imm'nent doom!
A fang gleams in the dark and murky gray!

Oh, blood-red eyes and tentacles!
Throbbing, pulsing ventricles!
Mucus-oozing pores and frightful claws!

Worse, in terms of outright scariness,
Are the suckers multifarious
That grab and force you in its mighty jaws!

This disgusting aberration
Of nature needs no mitivation
To devour helpless children in their beds.
Relishing despairing moans,
It chews kids up and sucks their bones,
And dissolves inside its mouth their li'l heads!

I know this 'cause I read it not
Two hours ago, and then I got
The heebie-jeebies and these awful shakes.

My parents swore upon their honor
That I was safe, and not a goner.
I guess tomorrow they'll see their sad mistakes.

In the morning, they'll come in
And say, "waht was that awful din
We heard last night? You kept us both from sleep!"

Only then will they surmise
The gruesomeness of my demise
And see that my remains are in a heap.

Dad will look at Mom and say,
"Too bad he had to go that way."
And Mom will look at Dad, and nod assent.

Mom will add, "Still, it's fitting,
That as he was this world quitting,
He should leave another mess before he went."

They may not mind at first, I know.
They will miss me later, though,
And perhaps admit that they were wrong.
As memories of me grow dim,
They'll say, "We were too strict with him.
We should have listened to him all along."

As speedily my end approaches,
I bid a final "buenas noches"
To my best friend here in all the world.
Gently snoring, whiskers seeming
To sniff at smells (he must be dreaming),
He lies snugled in the blankets, curled.

HEY! WAKE UP, YOU STUPID CRETIN!
YOU GONNA SLEEP WHILE I GET EATEN?!
Suddenly the monster knows I'm not alone!

There's an animal in bed with me!
An awful beast he did not see!
The monster never would've come if he had known!

The monster, in his consternation,
Demonstates defenestration,
And runs and runs and runs and runs away.

Rid of the pest,
I now cah rest,
Thanks to my best friend, who saved the day.

The End.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The poem is from: The Essential Calvin and Hobbes.
It is a great book, and if you like this poem you will love the book
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and if you like this poem you will like this web site

"A compliment is verbal sunshine." -- Robert Orben
posted by Jon at 11:33 PM

I would like to have one of these, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

"It is a common delusion that you make things better by talking about them." -- Rose Macaulay
posted by Jon at 12:18 AM

The best part of my day was when I forgot to put on my deoderant. You can just imagine how things went from there...

"Even imperfection itself may have its ideal or perfect state." -- Thomas De Quincey
posted by Jon at 9:27 PM

Today I had a couple of strange conversations. When Joel and I walked in to work this morning, the greeter asked if we slept together. I didn't exactly know how to take this (was she implying that she thinks we're gay or was she just wondering if we are always together since she always sees us together?) I told her that we share a room because Joel's is full of recording equipment. Then later on in the afternoon I was putting up wheel barrows in the front of the store and these two girls pull up and say, "Hey!" At first I thought it was some people I knew, but it wasn't. It was "Hooters on wheels" or so they introduced themselves as such. They wanted me to come to Hooters this Saturday to celebrate St. Patricks day. I told them I was going to West Virginia to go snowboarding and couldn't make it. They told me that I should come some other time then and if I didn't they'd come get me because they knew where I worked. Hmmm... Despite the odd conversations it has been a good day...

"The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness." -- John Cheever
posted by Jon at 12:39 AM

"Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all." -- A. W. Tozer
posted by Jon at 12:12 PM

I feel like I've been stagnant, on all levels, for quite some time now... I don't enjoy it, but I have yet to do anything about it...

"I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor" -- Switchfoot
posted by Jon at 4:23 PM

There's so much stuff that I need to do. So much stuff that isn't getting done. Looks like I'll be up for a while tonight.

"Patience and passage of time do more than strength and fury." -- Jean de la Fontaine
posted by Jon at 12:42 AM

I guess not everyone knows that words can hurt...

"I cannot afford to waste my time making money." -- Louis Agassiz
posted by Jon at 12:06 AM

Stared working for Huffy yesterday. I know, I know... I just started working at the Christian bookstore, but they just aren't giving me any hours. I'm not sure I'm going to leave them yet though. We'll see. But there's something to be said for building things and putting something together with your hands. All of these pieces that are far from useful on their own, but when they're put together where they belong then you end up with this great piece of equipment. I enjoy it, anyway... I'm hoping I can get a complete song out of this idea I have rolling around in my head...

"Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration, if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning." -- Igor Stravinsky
posted by Jon at 11:16 PM

Well, it looks like Nashville is out of the near future for me right now. There's just no way I could justify borrowing $20,000 to go to a school for nine months. Especially when I can do some interning down here right now and get to learn in a half million dollar studio. It's funny how we make plans and God makes other plans...

"Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers - and never succeeding." -- Marc Chagall
posted by Jon at 12:49 AM

Tonight at work, our window washing guy came in and started hitting on the girl I was working with. He's a quite a bit older than she is and not very tactful. He rather loudly said some of the usual things like, "Hey hon, you sure are pretty." and, "Do you have a boyfriend?" Caught off guard, she stumbled over her words and told him she was kind of seeing someone at the moment and he walked out to wash the windows. Afterwards he came back in and I was up front with her and he said, "I tell you what. Tell your manager than I'll wash the windows for free next month... if you'll got out to dinner with me." (I told you he wasn't very tactful) It caught her off guard and she turned very red (I didn't know Asian people could turn that red) and told him that I was her boyfriend... And he bought it! But that didn't stop him. He then said, "Well, both of y'all can come out to eat with me." The guy just doesn't give up, but he did apologize later for trying to pick up my girl. He's a wierd one I tell ya. I've only seen him twice, but I get a strange, uneasy feeling whenever he's around... Maybe I'd feel better about him if he'd take off his purple square sunglasses, but I doubt it.

"If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us we'd be millionaires." -- Abigail Van Buren
posted by Jon at 12:11 AM

Jennifer was back up here for Christmas and I got to hang out with her Saturday. We ended up going ice skating at an outside rink. It was quite fun. Being my first time ever ice skating, I was certain that I was going to fall (I don't do well on skates or skateboards etc), but I didn't. Hooray for me! Then we went back to her house and roasted marshmallows and made brownies. Talked a lot a bout The Two Towers, watched part of The Mummy and Crocodile Hunter. She made Joel and I journals for Christmas. That was really cool (and probably time consuming). A fun time was had by all.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." -- Yogi Berra
posted by Jon at 10:46 AM

Merry Christmas everybody. Now go to bed so Santa Clause can come...

"Merry Christmas Mister Potter!" -- George Bailey
posted by Jon at 1:04 AM

Tonight at work was see-lots-of-people-from-your-past night. I saw a lady that hasn't seen me since I was a little kid (we used to go to church together), then I saw this preacher guy that I kind of know from a revival thing he did like 5 or 6 years ago, but he really didn't know who I was so that was cool. He's kind of strange. And then the kicker... I saw the girl I kind of "dated" in high school. She came through my line and also got an application. Hmmm... And what's even stranger is that I haven't seen her in like 4 years and she lives right down the road from me. Tomorrow is Christmas...

"Inspiration comes of working every day." -- Charles Baudelaire
posted by Jon at 1:35 AM

I hope we get our Christmas tree soon. It just doesn't feel much like Christmas without it. I miss the smell of the tree and sitting on the couch wrapped up in a blanket with all the lights turned off looking at the soft glow whispering in the middle of the night from the tree in the corner of the room. Maybe it's the change from the everyday arrangement of the house or maybe it's the idea of bringing something living into the living room to share it's life with us (though it soon dies afterwards) or maybe it's all the memories... first Christmases with little brothers and last Christmases with grandparents. Maybe it's all of this, or maybe it's something more...

"Peace is when time doesn't matter as it passes by." -- Maria Schell
posted by Jon at 12:33 AM

So I went to my cousin's church tonight. They were having a Christmas party and exchanging white elephant gifts. I took an old textbook and ended up with a plastic fetus. It bothers me... And speaking of Christmas, I still haven't finished my shopping. I just don't know what to get people...

"All things are difficult before they are easy." -- Thomas Fuller
posted by Jon at 1:22 AM