Into the dark, hello old friend

(this was originally posted on twitter between the hours of four and five am)

finally made it to here. Knoxville. 2am, and it was snowing everywhere. it was beautiful. there was a road that overlooked the city lights.

the view was breathtaking. it really made the drive worth it.

driving back was a bit of an hassle as the roads were slick and the snow clumped to the tires fairly quickly but per usual my superior driving skills (.) <---bemused face, successfully navigated everyone home.

among other things that have made this trip an experience was a chance meeting between two strangers.

i saw a man. illuminated in my highlights. i had been driving for five hours, and was in the hilly part west of nox. it was bitterly cold outside. and he needed a ride.

i've never done anything like this before. i'm not careless. i fully understand the dangers of hitchhikers.

But i also understand that we are called for a better purpose and i would be failing my duty if i did not act...

don't worry Mom, I asked cathlyn to text me every ten minutes asking if i was still ok, so i did my best to be as safe as possible.

his name was curtis and he was a trucker whose car's water pump had frozen. he was headed for his rig. twenty-five miles down the road. he had no one else to drive him. we laughed after he admitted he had even called his ex-wife.

i picked him up four miles into his trek. he was out of breath when he climbed in from running up to my waiting car, his hands, chapped with cold as we shook hands...

the next seventeen miles flew by as we talked about life on the road as a driver, the interior decorations of rigs, husband and wife driving combos (bunkbeds!), and how in arkansas the fine for speeding is $200 for every mile gone over (correct me anyone if im wrong. thanks).

After we got to his rig, I got to see exactly how the bunkbeds unfolded down from the wall by twisting the circular lock counter-clockwise, the miniture fridge, the telly (mb shoutout) cubbiedholed away in the corner, and the crown jewel of it all, a cobra 29 radio.

he called for a radio check, I strained to hear..a voice-crackled across the air, "K-town", beginning of story.

I was smitten.

(btw, the electromagnetic spectrum is a fascinating thing)

Now, although I think that driving a triple digit ride on a day-to-day basis would extremely interesting, I understand that at this point it is not very feasible. Sometimes, we have to wait on the fickle dubiety of life. Oh well, either way I know I will enjoy it.

Closing this story, I probably won't ever meet Curtis again, but during my brief time spent with him, I felt a kinship with my fellow man and my soul wept.

Life is often full of difficulties and hardships. I guess the question is, when the ride's over, what did you learn from it?

this is me, michael. signing off. goodnight

Death and All His Friends

Well long time no see.. I've been playing a lot of HoN (Heroes of Newerth) lately as well as watching WAY too much of this, all of which contributes to me not getting enough sleep (as always). I'm really looking forward to this weekend because I've been wanting to start running again and somehow I never find the time during the work week. Hopefully, I'll be more disciplined in the future. yeah. probably not.

i'm not really sure why i'm writing here..just felt the need to scribble something down. oh, plus i like blogs because i don't have to follow standard english and grammer rules. :p

Artist Spotlight: James Blackshaw

Artist Spotlight: Keith Kenniff

I ran across Keith Kenniff's music after browsing myspace's music artist-hopping. Apparently he also has a side-project called Mint Julep which did the background music in this Levi's Go Forth commercial about a polo league for inner-city kids.

Great relaxing stuff.

Cheers.

michael

edit: cool cool. Keith Kenniff is also Helios! Mint Julep is composed of him and his wife Holly Kenniff.

Dear Mom

Dear Mom,


On this special day of your birthday I want you to know how much I love you. You cannot understand how much I wish I could be home with you, Dad, and the rest of the family celebrating your amazing time here on earth. I hope that this letter will help a little in expressing how I feel when I think about you and everything you mean to me.

Dear Mom, thanks for always being there to remind me to be kind and patient to others. I know that you're not perfect and for some reason when growing up I expected you to be, but any woman that can bear, raise and educate twelve children is an amazing woman in my book. I hope that one day I'll be lucky enough as Dad was to find a beautiful girl to share my life and home with me.

Dear Mom, I take back what I said about being sad that I'm here and you're in Texas. I'm sorta glad that you're far away 'cuz I'm getting choked up right now and it's still embarrassing to me for you to see me cry. Maybe someday I'll be a big enough man that it won't be such a big deal.

Dear Mom, I'm sorry for all the times I got upset because you were right and I was wrong. I know now that you and Dad were doing what was best for me even though I was foolish enough to think that I knew it all back then. I am SO thankful that y'all didn't give up on me.

These days when I'm away at school and I see my friends who sometimes don't have a stable loving home, I'm reminded of much I'm grateful of everything you and Dad have done over the years. I know now that you are the perfect person to be my mother and I wouldn't ever trade you for anything in the world!


Dear Mom, I love you. Have I said that yet? I don't want you to see me cry, but I don't mind telling you that I love you. THAT doesn't bother me at all.

I used to think that it was part of growing up, this being "cool" and not talking to your parents about things, boy was I wrong. These days it bothers me when I call home and you're not there for me to tell you how my week went because you're out running errands, taking kids to doctors’ appointments, or any one of the million things you do while taking care of a large family. Silly how I used to be isn't it?


Dear Mom, WE LIKE YOU. I think that all my siblings would agree with me on this. You're pretty much our favorite person in the world. (Sorry Dad jk)

Honestly, I don't know what we would do without you. I still remember you patiently going over phonics with Jonathan and I back in Biloxi when we first started school. I remember hating it because I wanted to be outside playing; and me acting out because you insisted on us learning our alphabet before we could play. Good thing you didn't let me have my way or otherwise this letter might never have been written! To me, the inspiring thing is that over fourteen years later you are faithfully teaching the same subjects ,that I tried so hard to resist learning, to my younger siblings who are just now starting school. Mom, you're amazing!

It was your careful teaching that helped instill in me a love for learning, reading, and knowledge which has shaped who I am today. I know that you will continue to do a phenomenal job with the rest of my siblings’ education. Just remember that whenever you want a break to go on vacation all you have to do is call me and I'll come home and help watch the kids while you and Dad go take a cruise. The house will be fine. I promise you my eleven siblings and I won't throw any parties while yall are away. Haha


Dear Mom, Don't worry. There aren't any girls in my life right now that you don't know about. I didn't want to put this in here because I'm a guy, but I know it's important for moms to hear. Someday, when I meet a certain girl that I think is the one, I'll be sure to let you know so you can meet her. But that might be a while...your mom (Grandma) says "No girls until after college Michael" haha


Dear Mom, I want to let you know that school is swell. Everybody is super nice and I love meeting and talking to new people. Of course, I miss everyone at home a ton.


Dear Mom, I'm sorry this letter is so long, but you see, there is so much I could write to you about. I started off this letter not really sure what I was going to say. I hope I haven't written too much but in case you didn't know I'm a huge fan of yours. I suppose all letters eventually have to end somewhere through so I guess I'll just close this one with,


Dear Mom,

I love you.


Love, your oldest son,

Michael

Home from Afar: Looking Back

I recently realized that I've been in Tennessee for over a year. Thinking about that prompted me to write this. (that and it's 5am, I'm at the library and am sick and tired of homework lol)

It's hard to believe that its been this long.
When I left home last fall, I remember boarding the greyhound bus, watching my parents slowly slip out of sight as the bus pulled away from the station, and wondering if I had made a mistake.
I remember the girl in the bus who told me she was going to New York City to live with her boyfriend and how her mom cried as the bus left the terminal.
I remember the eighteen hours I spent on those buses, and how I vowed to never ride another bus for that long again in my life.
I remember my first night in Tennessee. I was so homesick that night.

I remember living out in the country and I kid you not, working in the fields, following a tractor, so that I would have gas money to drive into town so as to go job-hunting.

I remember moving into town and sleeping on the floor of an empty house.

I remember sleeping out of my car.

I remember going from the floor of an empty house and my car to what can only be described as the exact opposite thanks to some of the most giving people I've ever met.

I remember moving to Memphis and unfortunately making a lot of decisions I regret.

I remember finally figuring out, that just because you can do it, doesn't mean you have to do it.

I hope I've matured since then. I know I'm a different person from when I left a year ago.

These days, I can't help but laugh when I call home and my entire conversation with my little brother consists of me repeatedly saying something and him yelling "whaaaat?? I can't hear you!" sometimes I find the easiest thing to say that we both understand is "I love you sammy. I miss you" And yeah, maybe I was being a little more emotional than usual considering the fact that I had barely slept the night before, but there's something especially special when your three yr-old sister tells you she loves you on her own initiative.

This is what being the oldest of twelve kids means to me. It's knowing that you have eleven pairs of eyes watching you, wondering what you're going to do in that next situation. It's knowing that most likely they're going to try and do the exact same thing when they're faced with similar odds. It's knowing that, yes, it's a responsibility, but it's also a blessing, because you have those eleven other people cheering for you to succeed because they love you and look up to you. It's calling home and getting off the phone three hours later after talking to eleven to twelve different people, answering all the same questions over and over, but not minding one bit. It's visiting your family for the first time since you left, seeing how much everyone's grown up, and realizing that you're missing out a little on their lives. It hurts. It's suddenly realizing that you aren't embarrassed anymore to be seen out in public with your family, because you now know what truly counts.

I could go on, but I'm sure you get the gist of what I'm trying to say. Never let go or forget the important things in life. For me, family is more important than almost anything else. I'm daily reminded of this as I go about life.

If you were to ask me to tell you something about myself, I'd probably point you here.

This is what I value.

This is home to me.

Artist Spotlight: Olàfur Arnalds

Olàfur Arnalds

Icelandic composer and multi-instrumentalist

http://www.last.fm/music/%C3%93lafur+Arnalds

Wikipedia Page

He has also collaborated with Heaven Shall Burn in these pieces: