october, november, and beyond

Clearly it's been quite some time since my last post. Where have I been, you ask? I don't even know. Time has been flying by this semester. Week after week I remark at how quickly it's going by. The week days are so busy with school work I barely have time to breath until friday afternoon, at which point the full weekend begins and goes pretty much not-stop until sunday afternoon at which point I spend the rest of the day getting back into school mode and repeat ad nauseum.

That said, there have been high points in the weeks. Now the hard part is picking them out of my memory. There's so much bouncing around up there. In order to sort the events out in my mind, I looked back at my previous blog post to see where I left off. Ah yes, fall break. Fall break seems as though it were last weekend.

The first key event of the past month that I can remember would have been halloween, which also happened to be the big 22 for me. The day was beautiful and sunny. The last day of a later sunset before the fall back. After a morning and afternoon spent homeworking, cleaning, and even relaxing, the festivities began with a lovely outing to Jim n' Nicks with some of the friends. I must say I love that place every time.. mainly the cheesy biscuits. That night was the raucous event that is halloween in Charleston. After giving up the whole costume search, Chris came up with the idea that we could be Irish brothers. This involved various green clothing, including a kilt made from a flannel shirt, and various Irish tattoos drawn on our arms. Also, a superb Irish accent we worked on the whole way to the party. Halloween '09: success.

Moving on... The next weekend the parents came to visit. The weather was perfect and gave them a break from the dreary cold north. We had a great time exploring the town, seeing some of my favorite sights, and eating at some of my favorite restaurants. I love my parents. They're simply the best. Parental visit '09: success.

Those are the key events that I feel like sharing. At some point in the hopefully soon future I will write on a more interesting somewhat philosophical debate I've been having with myself on authenticity and the reality of individuals.

A Breath of Fresh Air

I deem fall break '09 a success. Best. Fall. Break. Ever.

The main theme of the weekend was the lack of an agenda other than spending time with each other and having a blast doing it. God's creation was abounding in beauty. Reds, greens, and golds of the leaves speckled the forest. Not only that but it was a great time to build deeper relationships with some great friends.

One by one

I'm going to start doing some quick short updates on what's been going on since I find I lack the time to fill in the whole story all of the time.

I photographed for the first time in forever this weekend. I'm in love again. My camera missed me and I missed it more than I realized (no, I don't have a name for my camera). Either way, it's back to shooting film for me. Right now I'm stuck tied into the color/paying for developing but hopefully soon I'll shoot some B&W and find time to sneak into the lab and develop it. I hope my photos I took this weekend turned out alright despite low light of the florescent variety in many of the shots. Time will tell. I'll try to get some scans whenever I finish off the roll and get them developed.

In other news, I'm proud of my friend Judah who I referred to the SartoriaList. Upon seeing him tonight, I know that he has been an attentive reader and felt that he would fit in on the List with his dark brown boat shoes, blue shorts, light blue oxford shirt with sleeves rolled up, well crafted royal blue rain coat, and dark brown leather bag to top it off. A lot of blue but it all went together well. Good for this first rainy day in a long time. Well done Judah.

New post... finally!

After almost two months of neglecting my blog, I am getting back to it.. but not quite yet. This is a teaser. I'm going to write tomorrow, well actually later today because it's way past my bedtime.

Summer of '09

I remembered yesterday a statement I made at the very beginning of the summer. It was something along the lines of "Summer of '09, the summer that changed the world." It was a play off of the whole summer of '69 thing. I figured since it's been 50 years since then, we're about due for another awesometastic summer. Well as it turns out, unless something drastic happens in the next month, I don't think this will be the world changing summer I hoped for. At any rate, it has affected me pretty well.

This summer was my first summer not living at home. I think it has ruined me as far as living at

home goes. I never intended to move back home after school. After visiting in mid July, however, I know I can never move back home. That's not to say that Pennsylvania is out of the picture for me. I love Pa. It was beautiful when I was home. I just can't move back home. I now know I'm on my own. I'm looking forward to getting a job after I graduate. Financial freedom is very important to me. The idea that I am constantly tied down because of financial obligations really peeves me.

I was so thankful for the chance to be in Charleston for the summer. The guys I lived with were amazing. They're gone now, except for Mark, who is here for another week. It's like the end of an era in my life relationally. I know I haven't graduated yet and am not moving somewhere, but they have. Harrison is about to leave to live the dream and teach in Roatan, Honduras, Tyler is working and getting married in Norfolk, Bear is going out to Jesus school in Cali, and Mark is about to go to Jesus school in Columbia. These men of God have impacted me more than I know. God has worked through them in my life and the lives of others beyond any expectations. Since Harry, Tyler, and Bear left, Mark and I have been going through withdrawal. Symptoms include boredom, a sense of emptiness/longing, feelings that three fifths of you is absent, and lack of pull-up competitions. That said, I'm incredibly excited for them and where they're going. God is going to use them in amazing ways.

Now comes the time for adjustment. As I enter into a new school year, new roommates, new relationships, I find myself somewhat melancholic about the whole situation. I'm ready to get into my classes. I know this year will be great, I'm just not quite there yet.

All of that said, I have a great soundtrack for my life right now:

Kaki King - I recommend "dreaming of revenge" to get you started. It's mostly instrumental. She's a very gifted guitarist.

Alexi Murdoch - Acoustic folkish kinda stuff. He has experienced some recent fame for his heavy involvement in the soundtrack for "Away we go," a melodrama out this summer featuring John Krasinski (or Jim Halpert for all of you Office fans). Anyway, I recommend "Time Without Consequence."

Also good are Angus and Julia Stone, The Whitest Boy Alive, and Young Galaxy.

I recommend these artists to everyone feeling similar emotions... or not feeling them, it's just good music.

bicycles, bicycles, bicycles

I know it seems as though I'm always talking about bicycles. Forgive me but they're tons of fun. I don't know anyone who dislikes bicycles... other than when those bicycles have crazy people on them who disregard traffic laws and do things like ride against traffic on a one way street. Moving on...

We all know the current bicycle culture consists of two main groups that actually care about biking. That is to ignore people who own old mountain bikes and beach cruisers and ride the wrong way on one way streets. These two groups would, in my terms, be the roadies (those guys going really fast in their spandex and cycle jerseys on their $2000 bikes) and the fixies (those hipsters with their own tight clothes - jeans or cut-off shorts - on fixed gear bikes with deep v rims and deep v-neck shirts). That said, I own both of those types of bikes and clothes, to some extent.

What excites me is a new third bicycle culture equally aware of their bikes and their clothing only this group focuses on being classy and chic. That would be the new Cycle Chic movement. Very fitting to Charleston and other more bike friendly and stylish cities, cycle chic movements are all about looking good. The bike are classic and vintage in appearance, whether they be nice beach cruisers, vintage 3 speed Schwinns, or a new $3420 Gucci bicycle (see below), and the clothing is generally chic (think Banana Republic for all of you non-fashionistas).

If you want to find out more about the Cycle Chic movement in Charleston and the rest of the world, check out Charleston Cycle Chic. They have a ride coming up June 24th @6:00. 

For ideas on being the chicest bicyclist on the road, check out The Sartorialist's bicycle section.

And if you ever want to go for a ride around town, let me know!