Search for Love

I'm sure everyone has seen this one before, but my sister Annie showed it to me some years back and it stuck.

Those that go searching for love
only make manifest their own lovelessness,
and the loveless never find love,
only the loving find love,
and they never have to seek for it

~D. H. Lawrence

Facebook group

Katie was kind enough to create a Facebook group Going Away to promote the album, since I deactivated my account a while back (I made a new account with no friends for accessing content or looking up contact information). If you're on Facebook it'd be lovely if you'd join.

time, you weird, weird thing

Yesterday I sat in class realizing that I hadn't even been home a week--a week ago I'd been flying home. At first it seemed like it must have been two weeks ago, but, no 25 minus 18 only makes 7... So much can happen in a week. When I look at the past I often feel there's a paradox: it seems to have flown by but also like the past was a lifetime ago...

CD cover!

Here it is!

misc musical things

I'm listening to Back Porch Music while making the required changes to my thesis two months after my defense. The problem was it's a small amount of work so I kept putting it off but no more. Anyhow, they had a caller x gets free tickets, and I won them to this show. Who should I take?

I just put two more songs from the album up on my MySpace page (myspace.com/rbt1979). I dedicate the virtual single to Jamie Moshin, since it's the two songs he always requested at Willamette: "Natalie Portman" and "Mostly I'm Just Lonely."

I think my wrist is slowly getting better since I injured it (repetitive motion injury from checking groceries) almost 7 years ago. I'd largely given up playing finger style, but was playing Bob Dylan's "Boots of Spanish Leather" recently and noticed that if I concentrate on keeping my wrist straight instead of letting it collapse toward the guitar it does okay. I certainly wouldn't be able to do a whole set of finger style, but the occasional song with most songs flat picked may be doable. Exciting. I really love finger picking with the steady drone of the alternating thumb. I've also noticed that certain finger patterns wear me out more than others.

I took down the old music page. Juan-Pablo, who designed the album cover and CD label is working on a website with the same theme. It'll have extensive liner notes, including lyrics and stories about each song. I'll post the link when it's up. I hope to be getting it duplicated in the next couple weeks (!). I'm also going to make a new page for self recorded demos of songs not on the album. I'll keep you posted about all of this.

UPDATE 3/25: You can hear some Punch Brothers songs on their MySpace page. I guess they describe themselves as acoustic/bluegrass/classical.

dealing w/ stress

Stress is very bad for us. For a detailed look see one of my all-time favorite books: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky. (Yeah, I could link to the Amazon entry and maybe get some money, but it's not worth the time right now).

My dad gave me a copy of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff (and it's all small stuff) years ago. I didn't finish it, and I'm more than a little skeptical of the entire self-help industry, but I find the attitude quite useful. Reminding me that very few of my troubles are of huge significance in the larger picture is somehow comforting for me. Even if I flunk out of grad school it's not the end of the world, and knowing that allows me to not become paralyzed by fear and thereby reduces the likelihood that I will flunk out. If that makes any sense.

The start of my spring semester of my 3rd year of undergrad I'd just returned from five months in Ecuador and had two weeks to crank out my application for the Truman scholarship--which needed plenty of revision and seemed to consume my every waking hour. I kept reminding myself "you can't take it with you when you die." Somehow that kept me sane(ish) and probably improved the quality of the application too.

Trying to rekindle the attitude that whatever happens it'll all be OK. It requires faith.

back in NC

Had a good week seeing family (mostly Mom, Annie, Jacobe and--most importantly--my nephew Carson). Getting back in the groove for the rest of the semester. Had to hit the ground running with Portuguese, rushing to get ready for my history seminar, celebrating Allison's thesis defense (congrats!) and the homeowner association meeting. Going to play some Wii tennis and go to bed.

first time

So, it turns out that grad school is where I end up doing something for the very first time that most people did in undergrad (something I can blog about, that is...). I'm a late bloomer, I guess.

It used to annoy me how people at Willamette would always save up their dirty laundry to take home and have their moms do it. Well this morning I have a bag full of dirty laundry to take to CA. Shortage of time and quarters. The big difference is I fully expect to was it myself, though my mom might beat me to changing it over.

as I've been saying for some time

the most important product release for Apple in 2007 was not the iPhone, Leopard or one of the new iPods. It was Vista. Sanjay passed along a NYT piece about Microsoft execs having problems with it early on. This has been discovered from emails released in a class action lawsuit.

link

the world is not fair

It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.--César Chávez

if I may be totally unfair

I'll preface this by saying I know it's unfair and I haven't had enough experience to form this impression, but we do it all the time and here it is:

The United Church of Chapel Hill has lots of nifty ads on the local buses about being a different kind of church. So I went there a few years ago and after the service no one talked to me. I've never heard of that happening to visitors to any church. I just kinda stood around at fellowship. So a bad first impression.

Yesterday I was walking down a minor street in Carrboro. A car came to a stop sign as I was crossing the intersection. She clearly saw me, but cut me off. She had a UCC bumper sticker and the one from there that said "ask me about my church." Makes me want to get the one that says "How would Jesus drive?"

So, they've done a good job of making a bad first and second impression...

Sometime I should post about how what I want from a church is logically impossible: basically a diverse church where everyone is just like me.