the apt

Getting acquainted with a new lens.

Hover bike!

Toys toys toys.

Unimpressive.

Finally have room to set all this stuff up.

Guaca-yummy.

Noise complaint machine.

something vs someone

It's so easy to find worth in what we have to offer instead of who we are. We strive for the qualities or achievements which allow us to fit in with different kinds of people. 'If I wear these clothes and drive this car, she will like me,' or 'If I am knowledgeable about this subject, they will respect me,' or 'If I don't meet these requirements, he will be so disappointed.' Colleges look for GPAs and extracurricular activities, employers look for achievements and experience, and friends look at everything else.

We are driven to make something of ourselves, but that ambition makes us only the sum of our accomplishments, it reduces a person to a résumé. Feeling productive and accomplished often becomes my idol. Every minute that passes idle seems like a minute wasted. Hard to enjoy living when life seems like a race to get everything done before the timer goes off (Iron Chef style).

We are not to live as plaques on a wall. I want to stop trying to be something and start trying to be someone. Someone show me how please.

sail the sea

Wrote a new song earlier tonight sitting on my balcony thinking about Where the Wild Things Are. My balcony is pretty chill, just installed some mood lights. It's kinda loud too and I was using my laptop mic, so the audio sucks. Oh well, deal with it.



Oh I would sail the sea
Fight the ocean endlessly
To take back what belongs to me

The moon it glows
It’s gravity throws
The compass of my heart to where
An “X” will mark the spot and there

We could run around
We could build a home
We could laugh and play and jump for joy
Make a mess and walk away

These four walls
Do not a prison make
I’ll cut the bars and blow the doors
Sing the guard a song it goes like this
La la la

And he’ll let me free
Send me on my way
Clap his hands and stamp his feet
Tip his hat and say to me

“You should sail the sea
Fight the waves endlessly
I want you to forget about me.”

We have run around
We have built a home
We have laughed and played and jumped for joy
Made a mess and walked away

Now its time for bed
You sleepy heads
By the light of the rising moon
I can’t help but sing this tune
La la la

fix you

Spent some time trying to fix some pictures that were otherwise blurry/poorly lighted/uninteresting. Bad picture = art? I'm not sure. Here are some of my favorites in full res. See the rest here.

what men live by

"I knew before that God gives life to men, and desires them to live; but now I know far more. I know that God does not desire men to live apart from each other, and therefore has not revealed to them what is needful for each of them to live by himself. He wishes them to live together united, and therefore has revealed to them that they are needful to each other's happiness.

"I know now that people only seem to live when they care only for themselves, and that it is by love for others that they really live. He who has Love has God in him, and is in God- because God is Love."

And the Angel sang the glory of God, that the house trembled at his voice, and the roof parted asunder, and a pillar of fire shot up from earth to Heaven. Simon and his wife fell down with their faces to the ground; and wings burst forth from the Angel's shoulders, and he rose into Heaven.

And when Simon raised his eyes again, the house stood there as before, and in the house there was no one but his own dear family.

-Leo Tolstoy, What Men Live By

make music

Man these things look like fun.





Not really expecting anyone to care, but currently expanding effects pedal collection.

Currently:

Morley Tremonti Wah
Morley Volume
Boss TU-2 Tuner
Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
Marshall Guv'nor Distortion (Classic)
MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
DigiTech RV-7 Stereo Reverb

Any suggestions?

dust and discipleship

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
-John 8:31-32

Christian discipleship is a relationship of imitation and reproduction. To be a Christian is to be a “Little Christ.” We are ultimately disciples of Jesus, but, since the Twelve, we follow by proxy. Discipleship is to follow someone as they follow Christ. And there are as many ways to follow God as there are ways to interpret Scripture. A thousand people will express love a thousand different ways, none better or worse than another. We were created so uniquely for good reason.

To imitate any man so closely is to imitate their weaknesses as well as their strengths. To emulate their world view, their approach to devotion, their perspectives on doctrine, their lifestyle and their heart. By necessity, grace blankets men’s shortcomings to draw together imperfect people with incongruous hearts. But, if fortunate enough to be presented with a choice in the matter, be a disciple of someone with a similar heart. Even better, find someone who has the character and qualities that you want for yourself, and follow them so closely that the dust kicked up by their feet becomes a second skin.

I am having to live with a difficult decision in a similar vein, to leave a community which I love because of incongruous directions. Leaving these people whom I love very much leaves jagged edges and splinters in the rift. Aside from them, there is little left that retains me. This community is a hermit crab shell which I have outgrown. It was home to me and I will forever remember fondly of it, but it will never quite fit the way that it used to. My heart is resting on distant shores and new beginnings. Still looking for a shell that fits.