the proverbial cool

greetings. my apologies for becoming ridiculously slack and not blogging regularly (for all two of you who usually read this thing).

lots of stuff, so here we go...

the white chocolate ep - im currently recording. the ep goes on sale at windsor's coffee house this coming thursday. just $5 for your own copy. yes, there will be originals, and, yes, there will be freestyling...

spring break - last week i had the best spring break ever. i celebrated by sleeping in that first saturday morning. then i packed for a week of the unknown. i jumped in my car and headed for the tennessee mountains. i arrived just in time to stop by sub7 at milligan college. i caught a few songs from amos and andrew, aka the prof coats, and then i decided to go for a late night drive since that was a common pastime for me in college. it was beautiful.
sunday morning i attended starbucks first christian church of johnson city, tn. and worked on my message for vespers. i loved spending hours pilfering through words of lewis, merton, assisi and a kempis. once i had that done, i headed back over to seeger chapel on milligan's campus. i snuck into my favorite place, the tiny prayer room, and spent a couple of hours playing guitar, which for me, often serves as a form of prayer.
vespers was interesting. i only knew the senior kids, and there werent that many of them there. at this point in the semester, everyones pretty worn out. i had a lot of fun speaking though, and i always enjoy the challenge of winning over an audience that doesnt know me. i think it went pretty well...

after vespers, i had my first quality visit with tori m. we went to the acoustic cafe, which totally belongs in downtown savannah with it's hint of old incense and artsy/scene kids in their early 20s. i loved it. there was a folksy music group playing, and theres always a random dog hanging out in the shop - never the same one - but always chill and enjoying the music, looking as if he should be smoking or something....
tori confessed that she knew that monday was "wonderful wednesday." w. wed. is the best thing ever. you wake up (it can actually be any weekday) and theres a flyer, signed by dr. jeanes (college pres.), saying that classes are cancelled and giving you the schedule of crazy stuff during the day. i was excited. my fifth wonderful wed, and im not even a student. perfect timing. this year, however, they decided to start it at 5pm monday and go through 5pm tues., which i think is even better.
anyhow, it's tradition that after dinner, around 6pm, theres always a gallon challenge. you know, where a bunch of people try to down a gallon of milk in an hour w/o puking everywhere? thats the one. but i'm getting ahead of myself...

monday morning i met richard kenny down at the sub to talk about life, and specifically, some important life decisions he has to make pretty soon. it was amazing to see who he has become in the last three years. he was a freshman when i was a senior, and we had bonded b/c we both hated our freshman year of college. anyhow, it was a good visit.

from there, i went back to becca and nathans, where i was staying, to have lunch with becca. becca and i have known each other since we were 14. we went to church together. she went to atlanta christian for college, but married a guy who decided to go to emmanuel for seminary. so, after i left milligan, they moved up to johnson city and she now works at milligan. we ate some really good strawberries...

now in planning for this trip, monday had actually been reserved for two very special people: chris eger and brad parker. so, after spending some time just enjoying the beautiful weather, i headed back to milligan to meet up with chris. we picked up brad along with beth harkey, and trekked over to keva juice for a few smoothies. my first keva juice experience, btw, and i loved it. we spent about an hour in the sunshine just talking and it was wonderful. these three people are three of my most favorite people ever.

back to milligan - wonderful wednesday festivities had begun, and we decided to watch the gallon challenge. gross. fantastic. not sure how i feel. the best moment: seconds left on the clock and one man, ned, has not thrown up...looks like hes gonna win. oh, wait, no, he's not b/c this guy, casey, who had already thrown up, threw up a good five feet from ned, but aiming at ned. it got all over ned's feet/legs, thus causing ned to throw up from...well...ya know....it was a beautiful thing...

after all the excitement, tori and i headed up to the top of sutton hill, where, while in college, i frequented this hill many a sunset along with my guitar. after a while, tori had to go, but, just like old times, other people stopped by... beth joined me, and a few minutes later brad. brad said he felt like hed just stepped back in time. i agreed, strummed a few chords, and we watched the sun set on buffalo mountain...

around 8:30 i joined my emo friend, travis, for dinner and coffee and a great mix cd. this is his first semester teaching, so we discussed our kids and classroom stuff. for the record, travis, you're right: that cd has melted my face off....very emo....several times....

john hammon was supposed to call, but he didnt, so i snuck into the sga room in the sub back on campus around 10pm and began writing a song. i didnt know thats what i was going to do, but thats what happened. you'll have to buy the white chocolate ep to hear it...

tuesday i said my farewells and got back on the road. this time, to atlanta....well, ok, canton, ga. i went down to chill with greg and jessica, two amazing friends. we did absolutely nothing noteworthy, and i loved it....needed it, even. i got a chance to visit with my friend, ben, whom i have not seen for two years. he recently got engaged, and i hadnt met the girl, so we all met for dinner. it was really good to see him again.

after a couple days of that, i headed over to athens, ga. the only reason for me to really go through there was that back in march i was in my friend, heather's, wedding and i wanted to give her pictures i had taken, so i used that as an excuse to go. heather is a 2nd grade teacher, and not on spring break, so when i got to athens on thursday, i just hung out by myself for a few hours until she was off work. it was amazing. i had never spent time by myself in athens, so i took the opportunity. i parked downtown, grabbed a fruit cup and some water for lunch, and sat in the shady grass on the uga campus along with my guitar and a good book. i sat there for about three hours, and it was perfect. it was the absolute ideal spring weather. everyone was out, walking around. i love watching people....not sure why....i think i like to imagine that i know what theyre like, and make up stories about them and their lives...what they do...where they come from....why theyre there in athens....

at about 4 i headed over to heathers and we had girl talk for a little while. i helped her cook dinner (and by that i mean i sat in the kitchen and kept her company b/c she didnt let me do anything) and when jack came home we all ate. it was great....but soon it was time for me to hit the road again....

before spring break began, one of my students gave me a cd of a guy named corey smith. it just so happens that corey went to uga and had written a few songs pertaining to the area, so i felt it was appropriate to listen to his tunes while in athens, and while driving home through the backroads of ga. it was one of the best drives of my life. now, you have to understand, i love driving. i esp. love driving on back roads to loud music (what kind of music? depends on my mood and the location). this was a beautiful drive.....very country....rustic....wish you could have been there...

back to savannah. reality hit and i had to grade papers...

i didnt intend to write so much about spring break....that's not at all what i was going to focus on in this entry, but there it is, and i have to go, so i guess the proverbial cool will have to wait....