Fall, I love it. It has to be my favorite time of year except the thought of the long winter is very close to mind. I love the smell of burning leaves and rustling of leaves. I took part in a traditional northeast past-time this weekend and went apple picking. I had never been since we don't really have many apple orchards in North Dakota or Iowa. It was a pretty fun time once we found our way and waited in the half-hour long wait for the entrance.


We had to do this with every apple.


This turned out better than I expected


Life is moving too fast and yet I feel like I'm not getting anywhere in life. I'm just waiting for something to happen and I don't know how to change that feeling. I'm going to be searching for a second job after my folks come in 2 weeks. I need to start paying off these credit debts I acquired from going to the wonderful institution of MSU, Mankato. I feel like sometimes I will never be secure in life.

I have to get my priorities in life back in line. I need to start focusing on what I really want in life and who I want to be. I still don't know who that person is, does anyone have any suggestions? I want to start a routine that can't be broken, I need to gain will power again. Is there any reason for me to stay in Boston besides I can't afford to go anywhere else? Everyone seems to want to get out or already has an escape plan.

I hope to update again when I have something more of substance. If you saw any of the pics I put on facebook, they all look quit ea bit worse in comparison to the real thing. I have uploaded them all to

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/567706430bFLStc?vhost=good-times

Check them out, let me know what you think. Have a good week everyone.

I miss....

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enough said.....

..

Tomorrow I will be sorting and boxing food for homeless/soup kitchens/middle income families going under. I'm excited to go to the Greater Boston Food Bank again, it was a pretty fun time last year, even though I really didn't know anyone and felt awkward most of the time.

Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing with my life when doing a half day of charity makes me feel better than working a full month. Sometimes I feel like my job doesn't have meaning and isn't worth while. It really isn't a good feeling to have. I guess it pays the bills...kinda.

The summer is flying by, soon the trees will be turning and the snow(sleet) will be falling. I'm not looking forward to another dreary winter filled with darkness and wet socks.

I had a good time a home with my family in ND, it wasn't as good of an experience as I thought it would be. Part of me felt guilt for not impregnating a wife. I can't tell you how many times I was asked when I was settling down....i'm 23....i'm sorry my life isn't filled with diapers and the Jonas Brothers. Speaking of the Jonas brothers, here is my niece, she is in love with them.


She is going to be a heart breaker soon - she already has 2 boyfriends.

I really like my new house...except for a few things that I could live without - such as finding pink tampons in the washing machine or notes on the whiteboard...but, they will both be gone soon enough.

I'm hoping that the booze cruise after party/b-day party will be a success. I have a feeling it should be a pretty good time, even if not as many people show up as I would like.

I like Boston, I really do - so often I walk down the sidewalk and just a calming feeling washes over me. At other times, I cant wait to leave this place - just for the fact it would be something different. I kind of feel like my life is on cruise control and nothing major is happening. I want something to surprise me....I feel like this will be my last year in Boston, I need to move on - there is so many places to see and many people to meet. It is so hard to meet people no matter where you go. Why is it so hard for humans to connect?

Well, this blog is pretty senseless, I guess that is what wine does. I need to update this more often - even if no one is reading.

Once you are out of the habbit of writing for all to see - you lose the motivation and you also lose anything respect you have as a blogger - damn me and my absence.

I need motivation - to find out what I want to with my 20s, will I spend them always questioning? Will that go further than my 20s? Yes, I am only 23 and I will probably be married have kids by the time I'm 30 - but who really knows.

Bah - this blog is dribble, let me know just talk about shallow things like concerts and partying it up in Boston.

I got to see a good friend from my old life in WY - it is always strange seeing people I know from WY out outside of the star light of the Tetons. Seeing someone from my past life always makes me miss what I had.

Boston - you will be my home for another year. Please be good to me. Don't let me die in a Celtics or Sox riot. Thanks

I've got a girl - she wants the best for me, but what exactly is that.

My band slurm will be no more in a month - the drummer will be moving to NYC to work for Microsoft and she will be leaving with the xbox history. Damn you

My mouth is going raw from ginger cat cookies and tortilla chips - yuck

I've seen some great shows this year so far - I won't name them all, but I will give you the highlights.

Colin Meloy - Solo and second row - we wore the same outfit
Moutain Goats - amazing
Bishop Allen - best leg stomp i've ever seen
Sea Wolf - Solid
Death Cab and PUSA - Frigid
Foals and Ruby Suns - I haven't danced like that in awhile - thanks PBR
St. Vincent - Gorgeous
Fiery Furnaces and MGMT - Loud - Hey play that song "Time to Pretend"
Kevin Devine - Makes me glad I live in the NE since he comes around so often
Cloud Cult - Still one of the best live shows
Cake - Even better when it is free
Owen - Why can't you play at a sit down venue

Ok - think thats enough list excitement

I think I will go camping this weekend - I need to get back out in nature, even if it isn't the nature I want.

I like my housemates - we will soon have a bash at our place, you are all invited....lets say in two weekends? Sound good, be there at 2:30 and bring pork sausage and tofu.

Hello Everyone,

It has been quite a few months since my last update. I believe this is my longest absence without a blog since I signed up for myspace. A lot has happened since I last blogged, perhaps I will go into greater detail at another time. I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm alive and that I want to start again soon. I just got a new macbook so now my computer won't crash everytime I want to actually type anything. I hope you all are doing well and I'll post again soon.

Michael

I need to stop listening to Elliot Smith, but it is all I've been in the mood for in the past couple weeks. Sometimes I feel like I've changed so much that I don't recognize myself anymore. I don't know how to stop this progression into a sleepless winter.

 

Driving home from work has become one of the most stressful parts of the day for me – I hate this "snow" – I want a garage, now. People are some of the only things that are keeping my sanity. The daily foosball game at work, lunches with Justin and Sundays with Marissa are some of the only things keeping me in this city. I need to find my place here, but I don't know how to do it – Sometimes I feel like it isn't worth it and I want to give up. I want to be happy here, I truly do, but just don't know if Boston is right for me or perhaps I just need to change myself. The nerdiest thing is that I want to make an excel spreadsheet on how to improve my life – thanks BZ.

 

Should I stay or should I go?

December 15th, 2007 – a diary

I thought I'd give blogging one more chance before the year is over. I've taken a hiatus from the blog world to see what life would be without myspace. Life is about the same. A lot has happened to me over the past few months since my last entry. I've changed in ways for the better and yet for the worse. I feel like I've lost a lot of self control and yet have had more self control than ever before in other areas.

I've done some things over the past month that I never thought I'd get a chance to do. I've seen Sufjan Stevens perform with a full orchestra in Brooklyn, by far one of the best concert experiences – I'm grateful to be one of the few people in America that got to see this performance. I've also seen two of the comedians from one of my favorite movies – Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter – I never thought that Michael Showalter would make a pooping noise towards my job instead of humiliating me on stage, for that I am grateful as well.

I spent a wonderful weekend in Minnesota with my parents and brother when we practically lived in the Mall of America since we stayed across the street. It was great eating pizza and playing cards late at night and laughing like I haven't in ages – who knew that my dad could be so funny. I also got to spend a quality night with Jon's foot rest. Thanks again – and I'm sorry.

This Christmas will be another one spent alone in Boston. Hopefully it won't be too depressing having egg nog and watching movies by myself. That does sound somewhat relaxing at least.

This will probably be the only Christmas tree i'll touch this year - thanks Marilyn

Bertha will be laid to rest soon….yes, I bought a new (used) car a couple weeks ago - a 98' Honda C-RV with only 51,000 miles on it. I love it so far and it was perfect timing for the storm that hit boston. I sure do love driving home for 2.5 hours instead of 30 minutes – great time. I'll miss you Bertha, you've been good to me.


What should I name her?

I have a lot of things to decide over the next couple months. I guess it will be good to have some time to myself to help with my decisions, I just hope that I can finally decide what steps I need to take and what do I actually want to accomplish in this life.


I've been spending a lot of time with her....


Dear Kathy Moeri,

 - Happy Birthday!

Love,

Myles Standish Sate Park Balloon

I knew that this day would be coming sometime in the near future....but, not like this. My poor father, waking to the howling of a mourning and in pain dog. I lost a part of my childhood today, both of the dogs that I grew up with passed away. Sissy was a very odd eskimo poodle, I don't know why she did half of the things she did - Sissy more than likely suffered from a heart attack this morning at the age of 84. Kandy.....poor Kandy - I knew that you would never die on your own, you were too strong of a dog for that. Kandy had been suffering from a hernia over the past couple of years, speculation shows that the stress and heartache from Sissy's sudden death caused Kandy's hernia to start bleeding profusely. Kandy was laid to rest at the age of 133. I wish I could have said goodbye to my childhood friends, who knew that I would have a pet for almost 20 years of my life, I'll remember the good times of sleeping with Kandy on the couch in my basement in Iowa. I'm glad that they are not in pain, now I just worry about my father's pain, he really cared for those dogs despite his words.

R.I.P Kandy 1988-2007

R.I.P. Sissy 1995 - 2007

Where to begin to summarize what has been going on in my life in the past weeks. I feel so disconnected from my online life, so many e-mails are piled up, and soon replies will happen. My life over the past couple weeks has been exercising, concerts, coffee, movies and multiple sports.

Yesterday, one of the greatest days i've had in a long time....most of it. Waking up on a Sunday morning with hope for the day, a call to make coffee plans, Favre making records while Molly and I talk to fellow midwesterns from our block, frisbee in the Boston Commons on such a perfect fall day....all of this culminated with my hamstring being extended just a little to far, I made the catch - that is all that matters, blood still dripping from my face.

As far as I know aspartame has not been in my body in quite some time, I miss gum and cherry coke zero, but I don't need them. I'm better off without it. Tonight was Laurie's going away dinner, the Director of Marketing who started at BuyerZone after I did is heading to lovely San Diego. She will be missed, and yes, I made 4 cds for her to listen to on the way out.

Living for myself is becoming more of a reality for me, the fall brings a new hope. I just need to have the time to make a future, I feel like I always need to plan things out before living them. Why? It is time to stop planning.

Matt Pond, what is there to say - I still love this man, even if his songs have changed - we are both bound to trees.

I love the Lizard Lounge, Fionn Regan put on a great early set - I wish I could have heard more of his rambling.

I now need to R.I.C.E. my leg before bed. E-mails will soon be replied to.....hopefully.

A chapter of my life has come to a close over the past week. Life has been changing, for better of for worse has yet to be determined. I need to make some more changes which i'm currently trying to work on. I'm going to try and cut out caffeine as well as aspartame out of my system, which means no gum, diet pop and even quite a few types of tooth paste. I of course will splurge on an occassion, but I want to try and eat as purely as I can. This means a lot of trips to Trader Joes and the Organic section of Shaws. My goal is to be back in the same shape as I was about 2 years ago by Christmas; I just need to keep the motivation.

Life has still been pretty busy and drama filled over the past week and I just need to compose and relax and enjoy the little things in life like fresh fall weather, green tea and a new toaster. I finally made it to a meetup group for ultimate frisbee on Sunday, it was great, I haven't played that competitively since my days next to the Crawford Hall. Hopefully we will have quite a few more games before the dead of winter hits. I'm hoping for a nice Indian summer to carry us into Thanksgiving...it could happen.

For all of you who are reading this in Boston, I created a meetup group called "Indie Rock Boston" which is for people to meetup before and after shows to have drinks and food. So far I have about 20 members, everyone has shown some good interest, but i'm hoping that people will actually start showing up for events eventually. Check out the site and join the group

Indie Rock Boston

I'm really not sure what the future brings for me, this fall will definitely be a life changing one. I shall explore the city alone, and hopefully find out if Boston is right for me or not. I hope that everyone had a great summer, and I'd really like to see all of you more often. Stacey, I hope that you get a chance to make it out here sometime this fall. Caiti, you are wanted as an adventure buddy.

Thanks to everyone who has listened to me over the past week, it was well appreciated, and it is good to know that I have friends to turn to.

Here is my latest concert photo, shot at the Cloud Cult performance at the Middle East Upstairs.