i think today might qualify as my 2 year running anniversary. i actually started in the spring of 2006, but didn’t decide to do a race and train for something until a july 4th picnic that year which made it fitting that i ran my last race before the move today. the course sucked for running (super hilly and the 10k looped the same course twice - yuck) but it was really great to run around downtown one last time before the move. lots of great views. i know i’ll be back for some races, but its different when its not your hometown.

i’ve discovered over the past few years that i must have music to run. if i run along and can hear myself breathing and my feet hitting the pavement, my brain takes over and i end up feeling exhausted. but find a good song, i can zone out and i’m set. found a new one today, luckily just about a quarter mile into the 6.2 mile jaunt. if you run, its a great tempo, and the lyrics were - well, all too appropriate. i actually put this song on repeat and listened to it for the entire hour and seven minutes of the race. try it on your running playlist:

hello stranger - “her in these lights”

Back then when we were young
Who thought this day would ever come?
After all this time

Some dreams are coming true
Some of us just can’t get through
After all this time

And all my friends are trying to reach some end
Trying to pretend that we’re alright now
I see her in these lights as the setting night

There you and I are standing still
The years dissolving into stronger will
After all this time

Everything we’ve torn apart
We’ve built back with stronger hearts
I’m so afraid of how long I’ve made you stay,
The choices we made but In the end, dear
Who cares who did it right if only we had survived

The things I’ve seen so far away
Are getting closer everyday
After all this time

And all I want when this is done
To say I tried, say we had fun
After all this time

Nothing will be the same
We keep playing the game

Here comes a girl her eyes like stars now
She’s given me a fearless heart
After all this time

making some new playlists and being reminded of some awesome songs…this one’s thrice “between the end and where we lie”. i’ve narrowed my running playlist down to just shy of 300 songs..you know, just the ones i really like. also, i wonder if i hold some kind of record for being the mac owner who holds out longest before opening itunes on their mac? had the laptop for just shy of 10 months and opened itunes for the first time today. ugh…itunes.

Is this everything? I’ve dreamed of so much more between the end and where we lie.
here all our hopes and dreams are scavenged from the floor and fed into machines that feed on vacant eyes
all of my dreams, always find me far beyond these fake fluorescent skies
I know there must be something more, if I could only find the door then I could free myself and see the world outside

where daylight breaks on you and shines into the grey that sleeps beneath your skull
daylight breaks on you and burns away the grey that suffocates your soul

for now I hold a key, and though I may be lost I know that I will find my way
I search endlessly but every time I’ve thought that I was near the smoke and mirrors lead me astray
see the pit boss, steal each tick tock; time it seems will suffer at our hands
I look for exits in the haze, the dense electric twilight maze, I’ve heard that there is one that leads to sunlit lands

where daylight breaks on you and shines into the grey that sleeps beneath your skull
daylight breaks on you and burns away the grey that suffocates your soul

daylight, they tell me that it’s just a myth, they try to betray you with a kiss
daylight, they tell me that it can’t exist, they might never know just what they missed as

daylight pours fire into my grey eyes, pours grace into my grey life
breaks in and lights the way I can’t live without the day

what i can’t stop listening to right now:

we are here to save your life
the fool, the drunk, the child and his wife.
we won’t let the sun go down
we’re gonna chase the demons out of town.
sing it when you feel alone,
backwards through the megaphone.
sing it to the ones you love,
and the ones you’d like to be rid of.

we are here to take the blame,
to take the taunts, and live the shame.
we are here to make you feel
it terrifies you, but it’s real.
it will keep you up all night
and in a flood, the morning light
spilling out across your room
you say the words will get there soon.
-stars, soft revolution

me, who used to work with–>old boss, who toured with–>david bazan, who got yelled at by–>john krasinski
just stating the facts.

if you like neat photos, visit this site. you will be delighted. or if you just like david bazan, ben gibbard or john krasinski, click on the pic above for more.

i stayed up last night in order to download the new modest mouse album, we were dead before the ship even sank (or wwdbtses, if you will). you know, the follow up to their last album, gnfpwlbn. not to be confused with the mid 90s punk pop sensation album, sgtwotb. (bonus points* if you know what that means without me telling you the band)

this album is fantastic. i like just about every song enough to listen to them repeatedly. highlights:

It honestly was beautifully done.
We’d tried to hide the daylight from the sun.
Even if we had been sure enough it’s true we really didn’t know.
Even if we knew which way to head, but still we probably wouldn’t go.
-fire it up (this may be the most fantastic thing i’ve ever heard on my car stereo)

It was always worth it, That’s the part I seem to hide
And the busy ant empire, Put up their closing sign
Even as I left Florida
Far enough, far enough, Wasn’t far enough
Couldn’t quite seem to escape myself
-florida

dashboard, missed the boat and parting of the sensory are all worth a listen, or at least a read. they are so good i couldn’t narrow down the lyrics.

wow, as i was writing this i just saw a commercial for this album. big time. go buy it.

*points are not redeemable

float on is perhaps my favorite modest mouse song and among my favorite songs by any artist. i have listened to it hundreds of times. i turn it up entirely too loudly when it comes on in the car. i have the urge to sing along when it comes on in bars, and i heard it in the bathroom at a mall in st. louis last year and audibly yelped with happiness.

go to itunes, search for “kidz bop float on”. i can’t tell if i am laughing or crying right now.

yes, its true. kidz bop, that album series that has a children’s choir redo pop songs apparently did their disservice to float on last year. so appropriate for those 8-12 year olds out there…

I backed my car into a cop car the other day.
Well he just drove off, sometimes life’s OK.
I ran my mouth off a bit too much, oh what did I say?
Well you just laughed it off, it was all OK.

And we’ll all float on OK.
And we’ll all float on anyway.

Well, a fake Jamaican took every last dime with that scam.
It was worth it just to learn from sleight of hand.
Bad news comes don’t you worry even when it lands.
Good news will work its way to all them plans.
We both got fired on exactly the same day,
well, we’ll float on good news is on the way.

And we’ll all float on OK.

Alright already, we’ll all float on.
No, don’t you worry. We’ll all float on.
Alright, I’m ready. We’ll all float on.
even if things end up a bit too heavy.
Don’t worry, we’ll all float on.
Even if things get heavy, we’ll all float on.

maybe next they’ll do black cadillacs?

we were done done done with all the….

hehe. now THAT would be funny.

thank you tiff for alerting me of the upcoming modest mouse release, we were dead before the ship even sank. if you go to their website you can hear it or go here to read the lyrics. modest mouse’s last album, good news for people who love bad news was by far my most listened to album last year - it had been a long time since i’d found an album that was so easy to relate to on so many levels. as the title suggests, not the most positive album, but i vented a lot of frustration (and did some serious hearing damage) while listening to that album.

reeeeeealy looking forward to the next release and anticipating spending an obscene amount of money on tix if they come to nashville.

i read a review of dustin kensrue’s new album (thrice’s lead singer) that described the album as a combination of johnny cash and pedro the lion. who can argue with that?

just bought it on itunes and read the lyrics. very good. very, very good. i think i just did a flip. a must buy.

catch him on letterman feb. 2, or else.

got up early today to let the dog out so brian could sleep in a little longer. made some coffee. checked my email. drank aforementioned coffee. was reminded of the existence of decapolis.com which i haven’t been to in about 3 months. found a post titled “new copeland cd/video up”. doodied in my pants. continued reading post to discover that copeland’s new cd releases on october 31, which is today. thank you, october, for ending with such an excellent surprise.

the album is called eat, sleep, repeat, which, coincidentally happens to be my standard daily to do list (along with “shower” and usually some sort of small housekeeping task, but that would make for an awkwardly long album title). i must admit, i’m a bit scared of this new copeland album, i am expecting a lot. beneath medicine tree has provided me with hours and hours of listening enjoyment, and i love each and every track on that album. their next release, in motion was a little poppier, and has 2-3 songs that i skip over every time, but the ones that i don’t skip are so good that its forgivable. hopefully copeland won’t let me down with this new one. order it here.

even better…they’re playing here on friday with appleseed cast =)

in other news, today also marks the 18 year anniversary of my being mistaken for a tree stump and run over by a truck, thus ruining my plans of dressing up as a punk rocker for halloween back in 1988. this, in turn led to me missing a portion of the third grade and explains why i have trouble multiplying by nine and doing subtraction problems that involve “borrowing” if there are a lot of zeroes.

i made my last commute home from cool springs today. its kind of weird to think that after spending 40 hours a week there for the past 4 years, i probably won’t venture that way more than a few times a month anymore. joining me on my ride home to narrate were, as usual, some carefully selected tunes to commemorate. david bazan and chris staples, via my cd player at levels that no human ear should be subjected to…

Have you ever seen an idealist
With grey hairs on his head
Or successful men who keep in touch
With unsuccessful friends?

You only think you did
I could have sworn I saw it, too
But as it turns out,
It was just a clever ad for cigarettes

We’re so sorry, sir,
But you did not quite make the cut this time,
and we’d appreciate it if you’d cleared
your stuff on out by five

Don’t take it personal
Everyone knows you did your best
If it makes it easier,
you should look at it from our perspective

Cause if it isn’t making dollars
Then it isn’t making sense
If you aren’t moving units
Then you’re not worth the expense
If you really want to make it
You had best remember this
If it isn’t penetration
Then it isn’t worth a kiss
-pedro the lion

Save yourself or you’ll be murdered
in forty hour increments,
I’m certain that the evidence will shock you.

Subsequently they’ll fill your chair,
forgetting of your sitting there.

Don’t be afraid to pack your things
and leave the comfort money brings,
and find your own way out of here alone.
‘Cause we’re all homeless anyway,
we’re searching in so many ways.
I do believe there is a place for us.
-twothirtyeight

as much as i hate to admit it, i will miss my commute to cool springs. that 15-20 minutes twice a day for the past four years was really relaxing and gave me time to think and prepare for the day or unwind. i really do some of my best thinking while commuting. maybe this running habit came in at just the right time…