The Breeze

Are you moving much too fast?
And the good times that just don't last
If you're always on the go
Make an angel in the snow
And freeze

Do you feel like you're stuck in time?
Forever waiting on that line
If nothing ever moves
Put that needle to the groove
And sing

Is it a dream
Keeping you awake
Is it the stillness that makes you shake?
If you need to know for sure (need to know for sure)
What's on the ocean's floor
You'll sink

Do you like things the way they seem
Or are you looking behind the scenes
Well if you gotta know
What it takes to make it so
Just believe

Are dark parts to your mind
Hidden secrets left behind
Where no one ever goes
Everybody knows
It's alright

Do you get dizzy
On the ground?
There must be something
Going around
What blows us here today
Will blow us all away

Breeze
Will blow us all away
The Breeze

Gotta live, gotta live in our town

I came into my own in a small rural Arkansas town, the town I lived in until I was 19.  I don't care to much for the town and only visit my family and Jacob but I have some amazing memories.  Memories that are all linked by music.  They're simple, boring and really have no point.  Kinda like the town itself.

Really great albums you can remember buying or hearing for the first time.  Live's Throwing Copper was the first CD I ever bought.  And one of the few albums I know every word to every song.  Neil Young's Mirror Ball was the first monthly cd BMG sent me.  I had no clue who he was and when I asked my mom all she could say was, 'yeah he's good, did a lot of drugs, I think'.

I remember my brother telling me I should buy Smashing Pumpkins' MCIS because it was a good deal for a double album.  My first house with Jacob and Alana and listening to U2's WAR on vinyl while Jacob was deployed on peace keeping mission in Kuwait.  A first of many deployments, none peace keeping.

I remember having to listen to Green Day's Dookie in secret because Adrienne promised her parents she burnt all her secular music at Acquire the Fire.  For those that don't know, ATF is a brain washing christain camp that told us to burn all our music and not to do the normal things kids do.  This is from their website: "ATF’s purpose is to bring thunderous volume and clarity to God’s voice and amass a generation of passionate radicals that engage a full-on assault on the kingdom of darkness."  

Yeah...  Watch the news people, nothing good ever comes from 'passionate radicals'.

I remember sitting in what must have been a bowling alley in South Dakota hearing Tom Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance for the first time.  I can recall the conversation like it was yesterday and the fucked up carpet that only bowling alleys and strip clubs have.  Since I was on a church mission trip I'm pretty sure it wasn't a strip club.  That same mission trip we were banned from watching MTV because it was the devil and my youth director told me The Eagle's Hotel California was about the satanism.  Something I laughed about the other day when it was debunked at Cracked.com

Rivers and Roads

Now that I booked my ticket home I'm doing something that I'm not known for; planning.  Every backpacker that I traveled with was amazed at my ability to have no agenda, no clue on where I was going next.  It started a year a half ago at LAX when the ticket person told me I couldn't go to Vietnam because I didn't have a visa.  Who knew you couldn't get one on arrival?  This guy.  The blueprint was to meet Jen in Hanoi and let her help me map out some kind of master plan.  Turns out I couldn't get in and she was sick and had to fly home.  I landed in Hong Kong and decided to wing it. 8 countries later here I am.

My All Out or Get Out Farewell Tour:

•  Bangkok is the mecca of cheap tattoos.  I'm thinking about getting the tree of life underneath the dragon on my back.

• Cooking classes are must.  Jess and I meant to take some last time but never got around to it.

• Deep sea fishing.  I've always wanted to catch a tuna and eat it raw on the boat.

• Get my P.A.D.I certification.  Diving is cheap in Asia and the water is crystal clear.

• Get another suit in South Korea.  The one I bought in Vietnam is a little tight once I started eating western food again.

• Visit Burma (Myanmar).  It's one of the least developed countries in the world and it dead last in health care.  DEAD LAST.  I wanted to go last time I was in Asia but the government closed the boarders for so-called elections.

No Direction Home

I might regret it but I booked a flight home for April.  I really don't know why I did it, the subconscious can be funny sometimes.  I tell myself I can always go backpacking again but that window in life is closing.  Maybe I want to go home to see what I'm not missing.  I'm at that point in life that all my friends are making decisions and I can't for some reason.  Maybe if I touch the shore I can see the horizon?

I'm leaving Oz in early February and then heading off to Bangkok.  I'm not for sure what I'm doing but I know I have to leave Thailand at some point, so not to over stay my 30 day visa.  Maybe I'll go to Burma if the border is open again.  The last time I tried to enter, they closed entry because of the so called elections.  Gotta love a backwards ass dictatorship.

I do know I'm going to live it up on some Thailand beaches.  For those that don't know Thailand beaches are breath taking.  Just picture every movie scene you see with crystal clear water and locals bringing you fresh juice mixed with booze.  Or just watch the movie 'The Beach' on mute.  That movie kinda sucked but the book is good.  I bought it for a dollar in Bangkok.

At some point I have to reenter Thailand because I'm flying out of Bangkok and hitting up South Korea.  I never thought of going there until I tried to book a flight home and had a 6 hour lay over in Seoul.  I hate lay overs so I decided to stay 10 days.  I'm hoping South Korea will be special because that's where my Grandfather became a man.  I wish I had with me the picture of him sitting tiredly with his helmet at his feet, smoking a cigarette on some remote Korean hillside.  If I did I would post it because it was one of my favorites.  That ornery old man has some stories to tell and if you have a couple of hours, he'll preach your ear off.

After South Korea I'm flying into Cali to see family and friends.  Vegas is now looking in the mix and then it's back to real world.

Real world; Fayetteville or Denver?  Who knows?  I might not even make it home.

Black Crow

Favorite Australian band so far.  I love the Mythology of the crow.  Every culture see's it a different way.

Dance, dance, dance

My new toy.  26 pounds of heavy duty old school.  I found a guy on Etsy that restores old players.  He overhauled everything and rebuilt the speakers.

10 Tracks (Random Thoughts)

• My hands are burnt and cracked and  I can't make it through a day in the kitchen without adding a new scar to them.  I'm proud of my little reminders.  After the first day of working as a cook I wanted to tell my boss to schedule me only on the front counter.  I'm glad I didn't.  The kitchen is still kicking my ass but each day I'm getting closer to making it my bitch.

• Once again Wilco hasn't failed me.  'The Whole Love' is another soundtrack to a phase in my life. 'Art of Almost' is my new writing song.  I guess I would say it's progressive for Wilco but the fuzz guitar, snare drum and bassline at 4:40 is classic rock and roll.  'Born Alone' reminds me of a song I might sing in a Baptist church while on acid.

• The beauty of traveling is that every backpacker you meet has a portable hard drive full of movies and music.  After trading off, I now have over 100 movies and TV shows but I'm stuck watching Arrested Development.  It never get's old.  Hopefully the recent news is true and there will be another season and movie coming out soon.

• When I get a hold of someone's hard drive I always copy bands that I never heard of.  I have a shit ton of new music and some of the best are Australian.  If you get a chance, check out The Jezabels, The Grates, Angus & Julia Stone, Paul Kelly and Gotye.

• My grandparents are getting old and it makes me sad.  They are big part of who I am today.

• What's better than Pearl Jam?  PJ covering Pink Floyd.  Two of my top 10 bands.  Check out the emotion in this video.

Pearl Jam Performs "Mother" for Pink Floyd Week - Music - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 

•  I'm glad Amanda Knox is know free.  Injustice and the lack of freedom are probably the two things I hate the most in the word; that and racism.

• I really want a joint right now.

• Have you heard Kid Cudi's 'Man on the Moon'?  I'm not a huge fan of Hip Hop but fuck this album is good.

• I just placed a bid on a badass record player on Ebay.  Damn I love a weak US dollar and a ridiculously strong Aussie dollar.  Kinda makes up for the $20 pack of smokes.

I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shine ain't always gonna be gold
I'll be fine once I get it, I'll be good.