A Matter of Music

I've realized that one of the features I really miss from the Xanga blog site is the Xanganon. For you non-xanga users out there, the Xanganon was a feature that would put whatever you were listening to, watching, or reading on the top of your post. It was powered by Amazon and added a nifty picture of the corresponding CD, DVD, or book cover next to the title. For example: 

Currently Playing: Every Waking Moment by Citizen Cope

                                          -Somehow

The only difference is that next to "Currently Playing" would be a picture of the CD and the title would be a link to the CD on Amazon. It was pretty sweet. If any of you technologically inclined blog stalkers out there happen to stumble upon this post, could you let me know if there is any comparable blogger feature? Thanks mates. 

In case you were wondering, that was more than a mere example. I'm actually listening to that at this very moment. Citizen Cope became one of my all-time favorite artists last summer following an epiphany I had when I fell asleep listening to him one evening. Adam totally called it. It truly was an epiphany as I had hated Citizen Cope with a passion before that evening. Like Saul of Tarsus I was struck down and ended my persecution of Citizen Cope. I am now his greatest evangelist. Life is much better now that I'm Cope's Paul.

Already, listening to Citizen Cope floods my mind with memories of last summer. Music does that to me. I don't know if it's the same for you all, but I associate music with a certain time in my life when I listened to that particular music a lot. It is both a blessing and a curse. I have the ability to make any memory I choose to recall more vivid; but at the same time inadvertently trigger some very painful memories I would otherwise never wish to recall. It can ruin some really great songs for a while. 

I recall Adam's thorough frustration with me when I couldn't listen to The Dreaming Tree (a truly amazing Dave Matthews Band song) for about a year and a half because it reminded me of a very painful breakup. "Man... you need to stop associating good music with girls," he told me. I've never forgotten his words. It was at that moment I became cognizant of my music-memory association. I have since come to embrace it. Sometimes it's best not to burry every emotion away. I'm reminded of a scene from I Heart Hucakbees:

Jude Law: Well... whats so great about depression? 

Dustin Hoffman: Nothing... Unless it holds the key to something you compulsively avoid... so it will never be examined or felt.

Thats a really great movie by the way. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.

Hmmm... this post has gotten completely off track. I was supposed to be writing about Citizen Cope and last summer. Instead, I've rambled about my memory associations and I Heart Huckabees. But, alas, my mind and itunes library have drifted from Mr. Cope and have turned to Coldplay, a whole new batch of memories, and the realization that I should really be packing right now. I suppose thats it from me tonight. I have to catch a plane tomorrow morning. 

This is for all you former loyal readers of my Xanga: 

Goodnight Bishop 

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a good holiday. Mine was just peachy, thank you for asking.

All in all, Christmas was a success, I had a pretty good time minus some totally pointless drama along about midday. I found out that Laura's family got her the exact same Christmas gift I had gotten for her. Seeing as how they're there and I'm out here in San Diego, this means that mine goes back tomorrow and the daunting search for a replacement gift begins.

For some reason, the whole present fiasco pissed me off beyond all belief. Ridiculous, I know. It's no ones fault. Just one of those things. It's completely irrational to get angry about it. I think realizing all this (that I couldn't rationally be upset with anyone) just further propelled me into aggravated pissyness. Apparently the only thing that pushes my buttons more than a christmas present mishap is realizing that I'm reacting like an irrational dick to said mishap. Ultimately, I succeeded in nothing more than ruining a few precious hours of an otherwise beautiful San Diego afternoon and racking up enough stress to cut a day or two off my life. What have we learned?

I am suddenly reminded of a story involving Adam's dad and a bag of popcorn. Long story short: in this sort of situation, all you can do is laugh. I am presently laughing and it feels amazing. 

Pissyness aside, Christmas was pretty awesome. A big delicious dinner, lots of family, and a fire that causes the poor sap who chooses to open their presents in front of the fireplace to sweat bullets. I'm beginning to realize that the above will forever be what stick out in my mind when I think about Christmas. They will be lumped in with fuzzy memories of waking up ridiculously early and the thrilling feeling associated with seeing all the presents Santa brought that weren't under the tree the evening before.

Christmas is slowly changing for me. The short story above about the silly worry over Laura's present is indicative of that. I don't spend the weeks leading up to Christmas anticipating what I'm going receive, as I did back when I would wake my mom up early and run to the tree. Now, my energy is spent anticipating the look on friend's and family's faces when they open their presents. It's spent shopping for the perfect gift for each person. It's a more mature sort of Christmas. 

I'm presently sitting in front of our fireplace; just threw another log on the fire. I really enjoy having a real fireplace. I'm blogging by firelight... just like the pioneers!

In other news, Adam and I are going sasquatch-hunting in the boondocks of Canada. That'll be fun, if and when we do it. Maybe we'll do it on the way back from steeling the neon and seeing DMB at the gorge. 

Hope ya'll had a merry Christmas.

The Inaugural Post

Well folks, (just like the reign of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, the journey of Washington across the Delaware, and Jesus) Christmas Day has brought about yet another great historical event: the return of Christian Lund to the internet blogging community.

A few months ago I went back and re-read a good three years of posts from the Xanga site I kept in high school. It really made me want to start up another blog. On and off I've had the strange urge to write on this thing, but I never have. I suppose it begins today.

Unfortunately, this is not one of those days I feel like writing... so, this post pretty much ends here. Oh, and please disregard the post before this one with nothing but the picture of myself; I made it while trying to get a profile picture and can't figure out how to delete it now.

Alright. Thats all.

Toodles