Opry and Leftys

Lisha and I visited Opryland this past weekend. We only saw a portion of it. We hit the Grand Ole Opry Hotel first, and later the Opry Mills Mall. The Hotel was not what I expected. It is more of a zoo than a hotel. One could get lost very quickly in this zoo. This hotel not only has river but a geyser-size fountain.

Anyway, lets discuss the important part of this adventure. Opry Mills Mall is the best mall I have ever been to. They have every store you could ask for and many of them are outlet/factory stores. Inside they have these restaurants: Rainforest Cafe, The Aquarium (underwater), T.G.I. Friday's, and a whole food court that has many places you wouldn't expect in a mall. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe. It was an adventure in itself. Take your kids there.

I still haven't discussed the important part: Gibson and the custom shop. They have a Gibson store in the mall. They have a Gibson store in the mall. Did I mention they have a Gibson store in the mall? I walked in to see about fifty Les Pauls hanging on the wall. Most of them were priced over $25oo. Here comes the emotional part of the story. As I gazed at the beauty of all these delicious specimens on the wall, I saw every finish Gibson had to offer garnished with golden hardware. I stared through a window in the distance to see shelves of fresh wood. A lot of this wood was already shaped for beautiful instruments. I realized I was witnessing the miraculous birth of many more beautiful specimens. I looked the other direction, and for some reason, there was a free taco bar by Qdoba. As I turned the corner, I could sense some kind of piercing aura in the air. Then I saw them. Hanging on their throne of a rack, were two LEFT-HANDED Les Paul Supremes beautified by a wine red and root beer finish, respectively. end of story. (me sobbing)

Dave the Pet Store Keeper

I watched "Because of Winn Dixie" last night. Lisha convinced me. I gave in mostly due to the fact that Dave Matthews was a main character. Everything that Dave does is usually very entertaining. Sometimes I think he can't talk without appearing to be intoxicated. I think he did a nice job in his first acting role. If you like Dave, you should give it a chance. It is definitely a good children's movie.

Dave writes a couple licks on the fly as he serenades the pets in his pet store. He keeps all the pets calm in the store by playing and singing. Many times Dave (a.k.a. Otis the Drifter) is seen with a talking parrot on his shoulder. He is known for being a criminal. He was arrested because a police officer accused him of disturbing the peace. The officer tried to take his Taylor. Dave proceeded to break the police officer's nose. I would probably do the same if an officer attempted to confiscate my guitar. There is also an entertaining rendezvous between Harland Williams and Dave. Dave ends up laughing at him because his pet goat/ram is butting his head into a patrol car. The patrol car belongs to Williams, who is once again portraying a local sheriff (Dumb and Dumber). If you aren't familiar with Williams, you should get familiar.

I also hear that Dave did a lot of the soundtrack. The listing after the credits showed him under a few songs including one with EmmyLou Harris. If you are a big Dave fan, and you don't mind a good kid movie, you should check this one out. How could you not want to see Jeff Daniels singing a hymn with Dave Matthews?

I wanna go fast!

I saw the movie and it was awesome. It was hard to keep my heart rate down. I felt like I had a cougar on me. I noticed at the beginning of the ending credits that Will Ferrell was actually the main writer of this film. I found this quite impressive. I always wonder if the comedians we all enjoy actually come up with anything funny, or do they just have their lines written for them. I guess this just shows that Will Ferrell is the brains behind the hilarious characters that he so often portrays. The film is rather vulgar, but unlike some of his other movies, there is no nudity or extremely foul language.

The Maker and Dreamgirl (thanks for the title Dave)

Oh, baby, I have so much to say. This time of the season has been incredible. An' another thing, the space between posts can be explained by all this rhyme and reason. (that's for you gareth)

For the past four years, roughly, I have struggled with what I thought about God, the world, and everything in it. I selfishly decided at one point that I was not going to believe in anything to do with christianity unless God slapped me in the face with it. (maybe not literally) I was looking for something that would undoubtedly prove to me that there was a god. Every once in a while, I would pray like this, "if you are there, please show me." This went on for quite a while.

I went to a church camp in the Rocky Mountains called NYR and talked to Johnny Scott about a possible internship with him and his band. At this point in my life, I was considering this position for selfish reasons. (but when you don't have a god, why would you consider anyone else but yourself) I thought it would be fun to travel the country with a band for a while. It turned out Johnny didn't have an open position. Life when on like it had been going for a long time.

Johnny came to me again the next season.

Now I really had to think about it. I think I agreed to do this internship for some wrong reasons and some right reasons. I decided to come with a very open mind about God. This was a good thing. I still prayed that simple prayer when I thought about it.

Over the past few weeks, I believe that God chose not to slap me in the face with his existence. I think I would be dead if this were the case. He actually took it to the next level of intensity. It was like he said, "Well yeah I'm real, but let's focus on what you need to do for me." I didn't even have the chance to sit and ponder His existence because he went straight to a calling for me to do great things for Him.

I later realized that just in the past year he has been intentionally placing things in my life to set me up for this journey. Over a year ago, I started dating this beautiful girl that I will be married to at the end of this year. I believe now that he put us together to go on a spiritual journey. He wants us both to learn to love each other like He loves us and He wants us to share that kind of unconditional love with everyone we come in contact with.

This girl is incredible.

This week I called Purdue University and I withdrew. I was planning to go there and study Industrial Design. I even, just now, deleted a draft that I had written for this blog about my intended career. I wrote this particular draft a month ago, and I could see the self-centeredness dripping down the page. (I'm not sure if that's a word) I immediately deleted it. I can see the change that has already taken place, even in one month.

Anyway, I also had to try and get out of an expensive lease that I had signed. I was planning to live in an apartment in Lafayette. I was very afraid that I would have to pay rent for a place that I was not going to live at. Within two hours of calling the landlord and asking to be released from the lease, my apartment was rented out to another tenant. I am free. (good song johnny)

I plan to continue my internship with Foundation Red this fall. In January, me and my soon-to-be wife will move to Joplin, MO. We both plan to enroll at Ozark Christian College. I plan to spend the rest of my life sharing my faith with others through worship leading and whatever else He wants me to do.

Tennessee (week 2)

I'm going on two weeks in Johnson City, Tennessee now. We started a new week of ciy conference this week, and my youth group is here this week. It was kind of nice to see some people I live around for once. My birthday is today, and they were bearing gifts from the north. My parents sent a nice little care package with the group. I will be back home in less than a week now.

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

The gareth's webspace link i have shown on the right is for the website of one of my good friends. Gareth goes to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. There are some interesting things on his space, and if he gives you permission, you may be able to hear some roughly recorded music done by our band in Mooresville, Indiana. Check it out. (hopefully you don't mind the publicity gareth)

Audioslave!

A new album is due September 5! "REVELATIONS"