Observations From London

I need a place to publically acknowledge all of the weird shit that has been happening to me in London so far. This list has mostly been in my notebook--but it's gotten to the point that it would just be easier to compile it here.

June 28th, 2009
- Has anybody ever actually bought anything from SkyMall? There seems to be quite a market for lawn ornaments...

-Nothing can destroy a peaceful, serene Pink Floyd album like a screaming child seated directly behind you.

-Nintendo DSs obviously emit a plane-destroying signal frequency.

-I'm just as excited for the accents as I am for the art.

-People REALLY want you to know what movie they're watching--as assessed by the cacophony
of portable DVD players in my general vicinity.

-When the lights dimmed in the place--after waiting on the runway for almost an hour--I felt like yelling "Woo!" as if I were at a concert. I'm fairly sure others felt the same.

-Flying in the '70s must have been amazing. Everyone would just be smoking and drinking. They should reinstate that policy--as it would make the whole experience much more manageable.

-Whenever I sit anywhere near the wing, I have a sudden urge to pretend to be William Shatner in that episode of The Twilight Zone. Hold your applause, fellow nerds.

-First class seats shouldn't get oxygen masks or floatation devices--just to even the odds a bit and make them a bit more wary of coach passengers.

-The longer the flight, the less space you'll have. I was on a two hour flight to Salt Lake City, Utah--and NOBODY was on it, but the twelve hour flight to London made me feel like cattle.

-Flight attendants speak more about "special credit card offers" than they do about safety procedures. That makes me a bit uneasy--but now that wall-sized map of the world in SkyMall looks much more easily attainable...

-In America: White guy with dreadlocks = Total prick
In London: White guy with dreadlocks = Ladie's Man

-I went into a McDonalds by myself and ordered a large drink. Just for fun, I decided to use a fake British accent to see if anyone would notice. Nobody did. I felt a lot better about myself.

-The British use coins for the 1 denomination. How do they tip their strippers?

And finally--the most annoying thing about this trip so far...

-Anything announced over any sort of intercom will undoubtedly be repeated by my mother or father in the worst British accent imaginable. We ride the subway almost ten times a day. The pain is intolerable.

We All Well Know...

I have never had a spiritual experience--but I came pretty damn close tonight during the mewithoutYou concert. Only a band with an amazing back-catalog and a diverse sound could ever have this effect on me--and I was lucky enough to be there for it to happen.

Chanting the lyrics in a tiny bar, while others around me did the same, was at the same time both therapeutic and deeply emotional. My lungs were gasping for breath at the end of every song--having screamed as loudly as possible.

She's like a hot cloth on a fevered head,
And like a needle she leads me (while I follow like thread)
Tie me up! Untie me! All this wishing I was dead is getting old...
IT'S GETTING OLD!!
... it goes on, but it's old.
-"Tie Me Up! Untie Me!"

How can I even respond to that? The imagery and sound is just so touching that it's hard for me to even put its effect into words. Aaron Weiss--as Kevin and I were joking--may not be the voice of our mainstream generation, but he is undoubtedly the greatest lyricist I have been able to witness in his prime.

You know, I always used to scoff at those people in church who would raise their arms to the sky and gyrate along to the music as if possessed--but now I completely understand. I had my spiritual moment tonight, and I feel very different. I still don't truly believe in any God--but I definitely believe in myself more than I ever have. I caught myself raising my hands to something I don't believe in.

Tie me up! Untie me! It doesn't matter at this point. I've let loose my ties to the past and moved on. Her ideas of perfection always bothered me, but part of me always wanted to believe along with her. I wanted to believe her when she said we were "perfect for each other," which, of course, was not true. I was never able to believe--mostly because of my general stubbornness--and I'm glad I never succumbed to those feelings. My spirituality is simply not found within the walls of a church. I found it tonight. Perfection is such an odd concept. It is one theory that can rarely be observed. The "perfect" circle. "Perfect" symmetry." She can believe it if she'd like--but I feel sorry for her. Truly.

If you fail to see a problem, which I find hard to believe,
Or if you're hanging on from branches licking honey from the leaves;
You say, "The hopelessness of living... and the childishness of suicide!"
But there's a call to love my brother that can never be destroyed.
-"Leaves"

Fast Women and Slow Horses

Summer always makes blogging feel unimportant. I've either been out around town or holed up in my apartment-like upstairs loft.

Who needs blogging when I can play Street Fighter all day?

Anyway--I'm heading up to NAU for orientation tomorrow. I'll be alone, which should make the experience very note-worthy. I'm hoping to meet lots of new people with some similar interests and to develop some early friendships.

Not much to say. Too much to do.

Oh--and I bought two bootlegs on vinyl that will be sending my children through college. Thank you, Radiohead.

One Soft Infested Summer

I wanted to grab you and kiss you one last time.

Somehow I held myself back.

That white dress sure as hell didn't help.

Atlantic City

My usual sleeping patterns make my nights much worse than I need them to be. The problem is not that I stay up much too late--the problem is that by staying up too late I allow my mind to wander into all sorts of bad places. I've fallen asleep for months to the same thoughts. Thoughts that I'm plagued with because of my own negligence and careless decisions--wrong decisions.

I figured that by now I would be able to partition these thoughts off into the areas of my head that I rarely think about--but that obviously has not happened yet. The Boss helps a little bit, but songs like "Atlantic City" tear me up inside. Look up the lyrics if you want.

This wasn't ever planned to be a huge post; just as a short extension of my usual thoughts.

Sorry if it disappointed.