Head or Tails? Yes or No?

Lately, musically, I've been listening to a lot of different bands and different types of music. Here is a quick little recap for everyone.

1. Isel & Glaciers leaked 3 song demo.
Okay, to start off about Isles and Glaciers It's a scene kids wet dream. Lead vocals are taken care of by Craig Owens (ex-Chiodos/ Cinematic Sunrise/ The Sounds of Animals Fighting) and Johnny Craig (ex-Dance Gavin Dance/ Emarosa), guitar is taken care of by Vic Fuentes (Pierce the Vail), Nick Martin (Underminded), and Brian Southall (The Recieving End of Sirens), Matt Goddard (Chiodos) plays bass and last Vic's brother Mike Fuentes(Pierce the Veil) is on drums. One of the things that I love about this band is that both Nick and Vic are the vocalist of their main bands and this gets utilized and doesn't get looked over, Craig and Johnny obviously sing the moth but Vic does a good amount of singing and Nick does most of the screaming. Probably my favorite part about this band is that it doesn't sound like Chiodos or TREOS or any other band that they play in, you can hear the influence it in but you can't put on any of the three songs and go "This is an emarosa song that got thrown away." I definitely you try to find the torrent for this and download it ASAP.

2. nevershoutnever! - the Summer Ep.
Christopher Drew makes music for the pure fact that he loves making music and he loves making people happy. This kid came storming onto the scene out of no where and just took over. Every song on this EP is completely different from the last, different vibe, different influence, different everything. The wierdest part about this ep is how he closed it with a dark, depressing song about how he regrets losing his virginity. Hands down my favorite song on the ep is Simple Enough, it sounds(and probably was) just recorded as a demo and at the last minute was like "Put Simple Enough on the EP too." It has this cool lo-fi I just demoed this song in my parents basement kind of vibe with the piano and vocals sounding distant and having a slight echo. Every song on the EP is right where it needs to be.

3. This Will Destroy You - Young Mountain
This is hands down one of the most relaxing albums to listen to. I'm listening to it as I write this review and I can't really think of how to describe it other than relaxing. I was making out with Jenn last week while listening to this album, we would kiss the entire song and whenever one song would end we would stop and talk until the next song picked up. If you stressed out this is definitely an album to pick up and put on.

This week has been weird, Jenn has been in Texas visiting family and my parents are in Hawaii with my Aunt and Uncle. I never have the house to myself, Jenn being out of state has nothing to do with that having the house to myself, but I've just taken this week to sit at home and relax. I haven't got to sit at home by myself and just relax since I moved home in June.

I actually got out during the daytime and took some pictures today. There was a few I really liked that I put up on flickr. This one I liked but it didn't make the flickr cut.

Alive with the Glory of Love

I have a lot to be thankful this year. Here's a list of some of the things I am extremely thankful for.

1. As cheesy and generic of an answer this is I have to say it. I'm so thankful for God and his forgiveness, without Him I would not be alive.
2. Speaking of being alive, I am definitely thankful for that, last April while hanging out with my friend Travis and Brett tubing down a creek in Muscle Shoals Brett and I spilled over a waterfall and landed on rocks and then both of us almost drowned, so my value for life has grown a lot since then.
3. Because of that incident I decided to move back to California to be able to spend time with my parents. I'm so thankful for having a loving supportive set of parents that did an amazing job raising my brother, my sister and myself.
4. I'm so thankful for my brother, I always talk crap and joke but I'm proud of him, he's over in Afghanistan right now serving this country.
5. I'm thankful for my job, it's such a fun firm to work at. I'm so blessed to have a job I love that pays well in this economy.
6. Last but definitely not least, I am so thankful for Jenn, it's only been a few short weeks but she makes me extremely happy


I'm vegetarian. We all want turkey at Thanksgiving.

Your Hand In Mine

I broke my collar bone on Friday. It is hands down the most inconvenient thing on the planet. It takes me so long and a great deal of pain to get dressed. I got stuck in a windbreaker for 15 minutes the other night. It sucks. On a positive note the vicodin makes me dominate at scrabble.

Despite the whole breaking my collar bone thing, my friday was really nice. Because of that I spent the entire day with Jenn. A lot of it was spent in Urgent Care waiting rooms but it was nice to just sit there with her. We didn't get to eat until around 530 that day so after that the day went a lot better for Jenn, she was starting to get cranky. After that we dropped off my prescription and got my car and dropped it off at my house. She got to meet my mom, which was unexpected, and they got along great, my mom was even cracking jokes and kind of making fun of her for babying me. My parents already like her better than my last girlfriend, which is a great thing, especially because my dad hasn't even met her yet.

After we dropped my car off we went back to her house and just sat on her bed and talked the rest of the night, she showed me old pictures and stuff from high school and junior high. We listened to This Will Destroy You and Explosions In The Sky she really liked them, which makes me happy. It was just nice to bond with her, I really like that we are open about everything.

I know in past relationships I always have trouble being 100% me, there is always a part of me that I hide for some reason but with this one I can say is I am not hiding any part of me. Jenn is the first girl I've been like this with in a long time. Her and I are a lot alike with things and that helps so much. I've never dating someone like me and it's so much better.

Somebody's Gonna Miss Us

St. Louis Missouri July 2003.


The other night I was hanging out with Jenn and she pulls out her high school yearbooks. I found a random picture of myself and my friends from 9th grade playing hackie sack, I didn't know it was there. I had completely forgot about that, or those people at least.

We go through each year and jr year still had my picture in it even though I left halfway through the year. I look at my picture and laugh and ignore the blue box around just assuming it. Then I hear "did you notice the blue box?" Turns out the blue box is for cute boys. Cute right?

We finally got to senior year and she just kept telling me these great stories. Stories from being on the robotics team, stories from grad night, things like that. After we finished I grabbed my phone and posted a tweet basically saying "for the first since in 4 years I actually feel like I missed out on my senior year." I was in awe that I actually said that, I had a blast my senior year. My senior year I mainly spent doing merch for a few of my friends bands. I got to go to shows out of town at least once or twice a week for the end of 2005 and at least three times a week for the first couple months of 2006. I was all over California. Not to mention when I wasn't out with my friends I was working an internship as an editor for a video podcast. I had a blast doing both of those things and now I have friends spread across the west coast because of it and I have the job that I have now.
I was talking to another friend from high school about it today and her reply has been ringing in my head all day. "You shouldn't feel like you missed out because you didn't have the stereotypical normal high school experience." She's right, I didn't. Nothing in my life has ever been normal and I accepted that a long time ago.

I never thought I would write these words but I wish I went to prom, I wish I acted like a jackass at football games, I wish I went to grad night, I wish I walked in the graduation ceremony with friends.

Things Fall Apart

I went to lunch with my friend Dylan today. We went to high school together, kind of. The first three weeks of my Senior year I went to the same private school he did but we never met. Probably cause I hung out with the seniors and he was a freshman at the time, that makes me feel old cause he goes to CSUN now. We were sharing stories from when we went there. Mine were from the previous semester before he got there but it was a tiny school so he know who I was talking about. I really didn't care for anyone at the high school I went to before that, which makes the whole Jenn and I dating thing that much more random, but I love all the kids I went to at that private school. In fact while I'm writing this I'm talking to one of my friends from that school on Facebook.

I'm just feeling old at 21. Besides that two year disappearance to Alabama I have been going non stop since I was probably around 13. It also doesn't help that the last time i stepped foot into a classroom was september 2005 and the last time I did homework, or at least tried on homework, was sometime in 2004.

Anyways, the past year, maybe less I've just been looking back on my life, see the changes I've made, the different interests, different girls, different fashion, different everything. I never thought I would be the man I am now but oddly this is exactly who I want to be.

The last two relationship I've been in shook me to the core when they were over. Both times I had to look back on who I was and I didn't like what I saw. Who I am now, how I treat Jenn, I'm impressed with who I've become. I never thought I would ever be able to say that.

Jude Law and a Semester Abroad

This is kind of copying a "certain someones" blog post. haha

So in the middle of my junior year, January 2005, I just dropped off the face of the earth in the eyes of my friends from the high school I was attending at the moment. There were few people I kept in touch with and even fewer I cared to keep in touch with, so I lost touch by choice. That was a little under 5 years ago and obviously I have matured and I've been reconnecting with people on Facebook, some are the same few I wanted to keep in touch with and some are the ones that at the time I really didn't care to.

Fast forward to a few months ago when I found my friend Jennifer, we chatted a little bit over Facebook since I got it, nothing special. Early last week I log in and I have a wall post from Jennifer saying we should hang out, so I comment on it asking her to send me her number and we start texting. We did a little flirting over texts and we decide to go get lunch on that Thursday, I only had an hour and I was really enjoying her company so I asked if she wanted to watch a movie that night and she said yes. That night I went over and we cuddled as we watched the movie, in all honesty what happened next was completely unexpected, we kissed. I'm not too sure who made the move but I'm pretty sure it was me. When I was heading out the door I asked something I don't think I've ever asked anyone, "When can I see you again?" The next night I was in Santa Monica with some friends and I was texting her, I was being cute and offered to bring her some starbucks while she was at work the next morning because she said she loves starbucks, personally I hate it. I wake up Saturday morning and I'm excited to see her, I drive across town to her work and bring her a white mocha frap. We hung out the next few nights and slowly started realizing we have feelings for each other...or at least finally admitting to them.

My last two relationships I've done the long distance thing, like states apart and I'm sick of it. I shared that last piece of information because of what I'm about to say. Jennifer leaves for a semester in Europe in a little more than two months, that's why we both didn't want to admit the feelings we have. I know how hard long distance is, I know about the ups and downs but it would be a 100% lie if I said I don't want to keep this going and go through that tough time. I'm not too sure where she stands on this situation but I know this is something that brings joy to both of us so I don't want to end it any time soon. I guess we will just cross that bridge when we get there but as for now I like where we are at and how this is going.

Livin' La Vida Loca

So a lot has happened since my last post. Well not really, just seems that way. My girlfriend and I spilt so I've just been focusing on work. I got more (tattoo)work done on my arm and that really is about it. With this lack of a girlfriend I have been going to bible study and hanging out with old and new friends. Last night I went to Santa Monica and hung out with one of my friends from when I lived in Alabama, she was out there for a film festival that was going on, I was walking her to her hotel room and there was a party in the courtyard for this movie "kickass" all I know about it is Nicholas Cage has something to do with it. There was a spot light that had a stencil that spelt out "kickass" shining on the walls of the hotel. Before that though we were walking around third street and the pier just talking about stuff we've gone through with former lovers and the crazy lives we've both had. We we're talking about how random the people we meet are, politicians, musicians, actors, ect. We were just talking about how thats stuff that isn't "normal" but because of who of are parents aren't are its normal to us, more so her than me but meeting those kind of people doesn't even phase us, but I guess we might be in the right mindset because they are just people.

I was telling her this story of one of our friend about how I was talking to him before his band played, small local band nothing notable, and he was freaking out cause the singer of the death metal band "Impending Doom" was standing next to him. Me, being the douche bag I am,replied with "So?" which led him to say "Its brook from Impending Doom!" or something like that, basically just repeating himself to get his point across. After that I replied with "Yea? So? He's a person just like you, doing literally the same exact thing you are. The only difference is his band is on a label and your band isn't" I don't get why or how people can idolize another person that much. I understand looking up to someone and to push your skill to match the skill that person has or even try to be better than someone but at the end of the day theyre still a human being, they still pay bills, take craps, long for love, feel alone. You can look at Heath Ledger or DJAM, at the end of there life they weren't what the world thought they were, they were just humans that felt alone.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying these people aren't special or talented, that's not what I'm saying at all. They're human being, not God.