Even at my best, I guess I’m still just one of them.

A couple things about my life.

1. I’m pretty sure Jimmy Eat World is now my favorite band. Alkaline Trio, I’ll still love you forever.

2. I think I sprained/tore/damaged something in my elbow.

3. My schedule for spring semester tentatively looks something like this:

M/W/F:
Environmental Science – 9:15-10:20
Chapel – 10:30-11:20
Elementary Greek II – 11:30-12:35
Lunch
Either Historical Theology or History of Philosophy II – 2:00-3:05
Planetary Astronomy (B Quad) – 3:15-4:20

T/R:
Sleep In – A long time.
Lunch – 12:30ish
Philosophy of Religion – 1:15-3:05

4. Finally, I think it’s ridiculous that Condoleeza Rice is being considered for the position of San Francisco 49ers team president. It would be a marriage of the totally bat-crap insane.

Agh. My week just went to hell.

So I’m working on Greek homework, by which I mean that I’m putting it off. And after screwing around on Audible.com a bit, I remember that I have the quizzing questions due in about ten days with more chapters than that to do. Crap. And I can’t start work right now because of Greek, and I need to self-teach the basics of calculus in the next eighteen hours. Not good.

So I realize that in the next week I have a few Greek HWs, twice as many Greek tests, a philosophy exam, a debate tourney, a debate brief, worship on Thursday, Tae Kwon Do issues, a GCC presentation, a GCC final paper, and an A&D brief.

The brief I have to respond to is a piece of drivel the likes of which I hoped to never see, written by someone who should have known better.

I’m just going to waste tonight.

Yahoo! Answers sounds off.

The “Best of Anberlin” Mix

I picked up Anberlin’s fourth (not counting Lost Songs) effort, New Surrender, today, and I’m rather a fan. In honor of this, I thought I’d give the tracklist for my “Best of Anberlin” mix, which is comprised of the best Anberlin songs I could fit onto one disc. I don’t own Lost Songs, so nothing from there on here. I’ve become a pretty big fan of this band in the past month.

Best of Anberlin
1. Audrey, Start the Revolution!
2. Readyfuels
3. Feel Good Drag [New Surrender Version]
4. Change the World (Lost Ones)
5. Godspeed
6. Time & Confusion
7. Dismantle.Repair.
8. Retrace
9. The Undeveloped Story
10. Soft Skeletons
11. Adelaide
12. Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights)
13. Stationary Stationery
14. A Whisper & A Clamor
15. Glass to the Arson
16. Haight St.
17. Hello Alone
18. Reclusion
19. Disappear
20. Paperthin Hymn
21. (*Fin)

This comic is growing on me.

Beechwood and Dragon Heartstrings – Dec. 2007 to May 2008

The original idea for this song came to me while watching Accepted. Back then, the idea was that this was about the triumph of myself over any institution trying to hold me back from being everything I could be. But it eventually came to be a bit more narrow. This is about finally being thankful for getting out of a broken relationship. It hurt when it ended, because I cared about her, even if things about her grated on me like hell and if I really didn’t handle everything charitably, and because I didn’t want to be without her, partially because of who she was and partially because she was someone who cared enough to talk to me most every night. But since then, I’ve slowly come to realize how glad I am I’m out of it now. We weren’t right for each other. She wasn’t good for me. This is a song about the long road to accepting that.

Amohalko – Spark

Artist: Amohalko
Album: Spark
Free Download: IVM
Review reprinted from Indie Vision Music.

It was the first week of January, the perfect time for frantically exchanging late Christmas presents. The two of us were isolated in some part of a labyrinthine church basement. There wasn’t a whole lot to say. He gave me some CDs, and I thanked him. Then, slightly reluctantly, he passed me a final CD — more accurately, a CD-R. There was nothing written on it. A tracklist was paper-clipped to the back. Scrawled above the list was the inscription “Amohalko – Fallowfield.”

“Excuse the ghetto packaging,” Carson Sestili remarked.

Bring On the Rain – Feb. 2008 to Sept. 2008

This song borrows lines (both lyrical and musical) from a few old songs I had written (“Regrets Only,” “Silence Syndrome,” a bit of “Monet,” etc.). Some of the motifs are used again because it’s a shame they previously occupied such poor songs. But most of the ideas are new, and the familiar ones take on new meaning here, which makes me happy.

I acknowledge that the line “bring on the rain” has been used by both Tim McGraw and Boys Like Girls, but I didn’t know that when I first heard it, and the line was so completely entwined with the ideas behind the song that I couldn’t drop it (though believe me, I tried).

This song is about a few different things. First, it’s about a lot of dreams I’ve had. I’m fascinated by dreams, and the ones mentioned here have been great. The “human flight” one is the best dream I’ve ever had.

I’ll see you in my dreams tonight, ’cause I’m doing all I can…

I saw tail lights last night in a dream about my [old life].
Everybody leaves and I’d expect as much from you.
I saw tail lights last night in a dream about my old life.
Everybody leaves, so why, why wouldn’t you?
- The Gaslight Anthem, “Great Expectations”

It’s hard to be appalled with my life. I get to spend my time becoming the person I want to be. That’s all. Some of the brightest, hardest-working people in the nation are earning their paychecks telling me anything I want to know, and I’m taking advantage of this system without complaint. I get to travel around the country with a group of awesome people merely to argue about current events. Attractive blonde twins spend their Monday and Thursday evenings teaching me and a few others how to more effectively kick n00bz in the face. It’s hard to be dissatisfied with this. But I manage.

Words fail me.

If you want to read a heartwarming story of a struggle to free wrongly-imprisoned goats — and you know you do — I highly recommend this link.