And Summer's Love Song Will Play Into Our Ears

Standing on the porch bidding farewell to the summer is one of my favorite moments of each year.

A new realm of employment has presented itself in the form of selling cell phones at Best Buy. I was offered the position over a week ago and I am still waiting to start. No good.

My friend Sally, along with the band Calrensau, are opening for Needtobreathe tonight. I'm very excited for them.

As part of my attempts at living a healthier life, I am now two weeks into the South Beach diet, and so far, I'm a pretty big fan. 14 lbs lost so far.

"It's not easy, but we'll keep breathing"

It is most certainly no secret that I am a failure at keeping up a personal blog. A culmination of the lack of time, motivation and creativity make it so that writing a journal entry is a very stressful experience. All of that to say I'm sorry it's been so long.

Life as I know it is changing once again. Hannah is moving into her own apartment in Greensboro next week, and I have recently decided that I am going to attend the audio technology program at Guilford Technical Community College, which means that I too will be moving to Greensboro in the future. In contrast, the company I work for just picked up another contract, so from now until at least november I will be in a different city every week. I have finally quit smoking for good, thanks to the help of a little device known as an electronic cigarette, which mimics the act of smoking but only actually produces water vapor.

Oh, and I have developed a new found love for appetizers.

Song sketch "stormy skies"

There's a mother
Staring out the window of her little house on Maple street
She is crying
Crying cause her baby ain't coming home

There's a mother
Bleeding her heart out on the pavement of Maple street
She is dying
Dying cause her baby ain't coming

Well they told you but you didn't listen
They told you but you didn't listen
Don't you wish that you'd listened

Can you see those stormy skies rising up on the horizon
Lightning flashes like headlights in your eyes
And can you hear the rolling thunder
Shake the earth just like a car crash on highway 65

And when you dream, dream big, as big as the ocean blue. Cause when you dream it, it might come true

Growing up, I always had dreams. Dreams of being famous, dreams of living in fabulous places, dreams of making a difference in the world. I often joke, now, that corporate America is to blame for the killing of my ability to dream big. The almighty American dream, to have a steady job and a house and a nice car, has never really appealed to me, yet I find myself working towards it more and more as I grow older. I've traded my dreams of musicianship and writing and charity for the reality of blue-collar labor to keep collectors at bay.

In recent conversations, one seemingly obvious point seems to be drilling itself into me: The only thing keeping those dreams from becoming reality is me. There is nowhere else to lay the blame.

French author Victor Hugo cites: "Each man should frame life so that at some future hour fact and his dreaming meet."

In my last post, I gave a list of certain goals I have for 2011. Allow me to add another; 2011 will be the year I begin framing my life for the success of my dreams.

What dreams are you holding on to? How far are you willing to go to obtain them?

So spin your web and trap me in, like spiders on the treeside

Quoting my own song. Is that vain?

I'm writing this while sitting in a coffee shop in Charlotte after an impromptu trip to Boone, a trip that resulted in a girlfriend. Last week, I did a job with Tractor Supply in Columbia SC. The week before that, I got a car worth driving without going into debt.

Sometimes, life becomes almost unbearably awesome.

2011 is shaping up to be all that I had hoped. I'm still not certain where I'm headed or what the future holds, but I am certain that I will make the best of all that I'm given. With that said, I thought I might share a portion of my near future goals.

-Go back to college and actually finish this time
-Finish my solo EP
-Start another band
-Get my own place
-Blog more
-Find a church that not only preaches and believes the word of God, but lives it out in the community

My final goal is a life changing one: To come to terms with the fact that God is an impossible God, who is not limited by our own impossibilities. My prayer is that I could live out a complete, outright and bold faith, believing that absolutely nothing is impossible.

Song sketch

I can't remember how it felt
To fly with you
Next to the stars we'd lay but you always
Stole the view
Looking down my feet are on the ground
I want so badly to move
But you've got me glued

So spin your web and trap me in
Like spiders on the treeside
Drifting slowly on silky strings of
Lies and love and sweet thoughts

Whispering quietly
So as not to disturb the air
You're leaving me breathless with the way
The wind plays with your hair
I'm fairly sure that stunning is a word
They created for you
I'm holding on to nothing
You've got me glued

So spin your web and trap me in
Like spiders on the treeside
Drifting slowly on silky strings of
Lies and love and sweet thoughts

Thoughts are getting tangled
I'm coming undone
I can't escape this delicate intricacy
You've spun

Weep for yourself, my man, you'll never be what is in your heart

So as it turns out, I'm a failure at blogging. I just can't find anything compelling to write about.

2 weeks ago, I went to a job in Concorde, working with a crew that was turning a Napa into an Oreilly store. It was hard work, I'm not gonna lie, but it was fulfilling work. The team leader told me later on that they were looking for people to do this full time, and that I had made the cut. That was the last I heard from them. So now I'm sitting around waiting on a phone call to tell me my next move.

Lots of good shows coming up. I'm definitely excited about that. Dashboard, Iron and Wine, Ben Folds, Explosions in the sky. Good stuff.