A morbid bit of patriotism...

Here's my anthem for those of you without facebook:

I was walking to my bus stop the other morning and saw this:

And couldn't help thinking of this:

Morbid, I know, but it just came to my mind. I thought it was really interesting, for many reasons, but it ultimately led me to be grateful for the people who fight the good fights.

There's a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn't a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature.

-Barbara Kingsolver

ugh! rehearsal sucked. try, try again.

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.

-Arnold H. Glasow

AUTUMN, JE T'AIME!!!!

I wish I had more photographs of what has happened in the last couple of days - lots of really beautiful moments. Anyways here a couple of shots to whet your Autumnal Appetite and I'll also include some notebook entries I've jotted down:

"11.2.09 - In Conducting - watching a groundskeeper raking leaves. A long stick got into his pile. He picked it up and gave it a nice, juvenile toss to the base of the tree. He seemed satisfied. Why do we rake leaves, anyways?"

"11.4.09 - (while listening to "Im Treibhaus" in Vocal Lit) for a second I could see the music [from the page of the score in class] reflected in the face of my watch - it was exquisite. the leaves out the window are lovely as well."

If I could remember a single word of my dance-party rap, I would insert it here, but a photo will have to suffice:

As you can see, I was wearing a hard hat and safety goggles. There is no reason to be jealous, just know that when I make it big as a rap artist I will be sporting this ensemble on a regular basis. I plan to come out with my own line of hard hats, and everyone will be 10 x safer in the daily happenings of life.

Tonight I went to dinner with my friend and former coworker James, and we stopped by Hatch's afterwards- a locally-owned chocolate place. While we were walking through the Avenues I realized that it was seriously the nicest Autumn weather I think I've ever experience. It was so crisp, and fragrant, and still. On my walk from the bus stop to meet him tonight I was wading calf-deep in these HUUUGE leaves on N Street. I kicked them up and made as much noise as possible mwahaha... UGH! I love this weather, I love Autumn so much!! Also, we walked by piles of people's raked leaves and kicked them with spite.

"Flames and smoke climbed out of every window and disappeared with everything that you held dear. But you shed not a single tear for the things that you didn't need, cause you knew you were finally free... And all you see are so many possibilities..."

-Death Cab for Cutie

Marveling! Marvelous.

I have something to say, and I'm only going to say it once: there are some things in life I will never understand, and the human brain is one of them. What a remarkable piece of matter we are working with up there in our noggins. How could we possibly EVER fathom the capacity we have with our brains? We can't! There is no way. How could I wake up, know what my body needs, use my brain to make my world function, understand and intake information, cook eggs and bacon, communicate, reason and debate and empathize and ponder and find amusement... how? How how how? What a system...

I love colors. I love that my eyes can interpret them and that they resonate within me. I was in the tub the other night and I experienced indigo (without the use of hallucinogenic drugs). My thoughts have been indigo.... I'm a hippie? So sue me. Then go try to be indigo.

If I could keep one moment from my day forever and ever, it would be this: assembling crappy shelves from Smith's while listening to Sigur Ros. I was somehow able to THINK of harmony, DESIRE it, intake breath, let it back through my epiglottis, use it to resonate in my bones, let it be articulated, and sing. What a miracle.

If there is one thing I regret most in the last month it is this: dropping my phone last night and losing ALL OF MY NOTES that I had recorded in my phone in the past 8 months. All my quotes. All my to-do lists. All my motivational messages. All my thoughts I had recorded in there. It really, really bums me out.

"In other words, I should say, there are no words."