Boxing Day

Today is boxing day, a holiday celebrated in the the U.K and Canada which traditionally is for giving presents to those in need.

However, for the majority of us outside of the Common Wealth of Nations, December 26 signals the passing of yet another Christmas. In the next few days withering Christmas trees will be discarded and decorations will be boxed up and stored in garages and basements.

My Christmas was a day of considerable joy, largely due to the fellowship of my friends and family. This holiday season was not a time of tremendous financial or material gain, although I was given an assortment of books that I look forward to reading, as well as a few albums. However, there are certain joys that cannot be bought- like dominating a game of Balderdash in which four different families were competing or introducing old friends to the TV show Flight of the Concords .

May the Lord bless and keep you this upcoming year and may the incarnation of our Lord be something that we cherish and celebrate every day and

The Kite Runner

While in Flagstaff over the weekend I picked up a used copy of The Kite Runner at Bookman's.

I just finished it today and I can not remember the last time I was so emotionally moved by a book.

One line in particular struck me as I read the book:

"I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night."

If you're looking for a copy to read, I'll gladly loan you mine. This is a fantastic book.

Good Times

The last few days have been considerably more interesting then the preceding week. Here's some of the more interesting things that occurred.

Friday and Saturday my buddy Darrick and I drove to Flagstaff to hangout with some friends from high school. For those of you who haven't been there, Flagstaff is a charming college town located in mountains (it is in the shadow of the San Fransisco Peaks, the highest mountain in Arizona). My dad lived there when he went to NAU some thirty years ago. Over the course of the 5 hour round trip we listened to "Kelsey" by Metro Station too many times to count.

Last night, I made a late night sledding run with my crew. Sledding is always fun- sledding by starlight when you can't see the bottom of the hill from the top is really fun. Hot Chocolate from Circle K and some late-late night Scategories capped off a fun filled day.

Today we traded in our sleds for skateboards and street luged some of the steepest hills in town. I regularly hit 35 mph on my bicycle, but 20 mph is pretty scary when one is only 2 inches above the pavement. The last time down I took a turn too sharply and ended up in a snow bank. At least it was a snow bank and not a ditch.

I also did some recording with Darrick. I am still working on the final mixing but be on the look out for a new song on our Monday Massacre page.

Cabin Fever

It is now day six of snow, which for someone who is car-less such as myself means day six of not going anywhere. Cabin fever is definitely starting to set in (as demonstrated by the fact that I'm writing a blog post at 2:30 AM).

I'm trying really hard not to let boredom turn into complacency. So I've been trying to find ways to make the most of my weather-imposed exile. Such as:

I'm reading a fantastic novel called What is the What? by Dave Eggers. It's the artistic retelling of the actual events of Sudanese refugee Valentino Achak Deng's life. I haven't finished it yet by I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Also, I'm writing a new song, which I believe will be called Solstice. The Winter Solstice is only a week and a half away (December 22) and I personally am very much looking forward to the days becoming longer once again. Although I am pretty much nocturnal , it being completely dark before 7:00 PM is just depressing.

Another way to keep from going stir-crazy is playing Scrabble online with my friends from Facebook. It is very addicting. Over the last few days I have been in the process of playing 3 simultaneous games with John Letoto- all of which I have either lost or are about to lose. His use of such words as "qaids" and "adz" have led me to believe that he may read the scrabble dictionary in his leisure time.

Snow

Illustrations

Home

I recorded a song today. Listen here.

My mom made monster cookies. mmmhhmm.

It snowed today. On the bright side it's gorgeous, on the down side since I couldn't ride my bike down to the coffee shop.

Heroes

I'm now addicted to the television program Heroes on NBC. How addicted? Well pretty much like Isaac Mendez and heroine. Basically I watched the entire 23 episode season in 36 hours... it's that good.

Haircut

This is the shortest my hair has been since I was 13.