Nonsense, Drivel, and Balderdash

The man, the god, the legend, Brian Heiss made a list of top 25 albums of his life. These are the albums that have marked me. I couldn't whittle them down from 30. They are in, more or less, chronological order starting from about 6th Grade until this year, the time I really started getting into Pop music. They aren't the best albums I own, or even my favorites. But they are an honest representation of what has played a big part of my musical life throughout time. If I made a list of favorite albums, it would be different, though many artists and albums would undoubtedly overlap. 1) Greatest hits, Simon and Garfunkel 2) Take me to your leader, Newsboys 3) August and Everything After, Counting Crows 4) MTV Unplugged in New York, Nirvana 5) What's the Story Morning Glory, Oasis 6) Life in General, MxPx 7) Our newest album ever, Five Iron Frenzy 8) Legend of Chin, Switchfoot 9) Mezzamorphis, delirious 10) Fashion Focus, Starflyer 59 11) Origins of Symmetry, Muse 12) Starin...

25 random things about me 1) Sometimes I play a game where I try to do normal things as if I one of my arms had been blown off in a war. Cooking, cleaning, opening things... they become much more interesting with one arm. 2) So far, Spain is the only country I've lived in where I dont get made fun of for eating so much mayonnaise. French fries, green beans, sandwiches, potatoes... its all better with mayo. Spaniards agree, though I think many other europeans would also stand by my side on this issue. 3) I have odd vocabulary in English. Sometimes people interpret my use of large SAT sounding words as either a sign of pretentiousness or intelligence. Mostly it is because I grew up transliterating words from spanish into english and vice versa. To say that "water is potable" or to talk about "quotidian things" sounds normal to me. It wasnt until I went to College in the US that I realized that I sounded weird. 4) After years, I have begrudgingly come to accept tha...

- A little girl comes up to me crying, "tell them to stop calling me assassin," as two little boys run after her chanting "assassin" in a sing-song voice. I think that it doesn't matter what you call kids, as long as you chant it in that voice. -We were reading a story about a troll and a kid pipes up, "not the troll again! he reminds me of my dad: big, ugly, and hairy!" -The same kid later on piped up when the we were explaining healthy and non healthy foods. The teacher explained that some foods will make you fatter than others, though some people were just naturally shaped a certain way. The boy says "I don't know which one my mom is, but she's huge." -"I saw it first" said one boy "I saw it before you" said another "well I saw it a million years ago, before the dinosaurs" "well I saw it before the world existed" "I saw it before God existed!" This then unleashed a theological conv...

It wasnt but a couple weeks ago when I was jobless, homeless and penniless. Time certainly plays a funny game. As I mentioned weeks ago, I had spent the previous 4 months looking for work, and hadn't found anything. My translation work dried up. And my savings disappeared as I paid off rent, food, and basic living expenses. So in desperation, I moved in with my mom again. This raised another problem though, as I needed to find someone to replace me in the old apartment to replace me. Last week, it all came together. I finally found someone to take my place in my apartment, relieving me of all the responsibilities that were still on me. My translation boss/client suddenly called up this week, after 4 months, with all sorts of projects for me to do. And best of all, I have a permanent job, at least up until june. I have taken up a job as an auxiliary english teacher. About 5 years ago, the Spanish government started setting up bilingual public schools. Not all public schools are bil...

Gale force winds all over spain. Outside, the leaves are swirling around madly. The window shutters rattled all through the night, keeping me in a state of restless sleep once again. My dreams have been as wild as the weather lately. Sure, part of it can be chalked up to the noisy nights I try to sleep through, but my mind has been ill at ease for a while now anyway. A lot has changed since before christmas. And yet, a lot has stayed the same. I am still jobless . And now I am also penniless. The little money I had in the bank has been devoured by basic living costs like rent and food. Because of this, I have been forced to move back in with my mom. Yeah, I'm now a 25 year old guy living with his mother. Fortunately, it is the traditional spanish thing to do, so I am not as lame as I feel. And besides, this is all temporary. I feel a bit like one of those leaves I see outside the window, tossed back and forth, dizzy and disoriented. But I must admit that being caught up in a whirl...

Over the years I have realized that one almost needs to separate Christmas-Advent from x-mas, the winter holiday. I like almost everything about the religious festival, but have issues about the public holiday. But once you are able to separate the two and not feel like Santa has hijacked Christ, then it is easier to enjoy the whole thing. It is still a time that brings people together and encourages people to be nicer to each other. I still has lights twinkling and cold biting and hot beverages... But then there is Christmas music. I'm sorry, but I hate most christmas music. Why? For the same reasons that I dislike most Pop music. It is made up of cheap, repetitive tunes that are meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Even the songs that were once decent have been played to death on the radio by top 40 artists. Not only do musicians use this season to do their usual amount of artistic rape, but they even do it to beloved carols that are meant to promote religious themes...

I walked into one of the local quick-e marts on Paseo de la Florida the other day. In Spain, they are referred to as "Chinos." Which literally means "chinese." These chinos are relatively new additions to the urban landscape here, only appearing after I left for college and immigration skyrocketed. But now they are a part of life; the little corner store that sells basic goods, exchanging price for convenience. But anyway, I was on my way to Jessica's house to make supper when I realized I had forgotten an ingredient. I popped into the store and quickly grabbed what I needed. As I was about to leave, a middle aged, latin american, transvestite approached me. He, dressed and make-up'ed as a she, was quite polite as he asked me if I would be so kind as to help him read something. He held out a small notebook containing a different number and name scrawled on each page. "What does this name say?" he asked me, pointing to a page. I squinted at the han...

I know. I've been gone. But so have most of you. The blogging world seems to have come to a halt, or at least until this week, when a few people decided to update their long forgotten pieces of web real estate. I swear something a bit more interesting is coming up, but for now I will comment on my Last.fm page. For those of you who don't use it, it is a great little web application that keeps track of what you listen to, allows you to compare and show others, as well as look for music that is similar to your own tastes. Anyway, according to the application. Here are a few interesting facts about my music habits: The top listened artists: 1 The Beatles 2 The Smashing Pumpkins 3 Over the Rhine 4 Ryan Adams 5 Ray LaMontagne 6 Simon & Garfunkel 7 Regina Spektor 8 Bob Dylan 9 Oasis 10 Radiohead 11 Ben Harper 12 Tegan and Sara 13 Jeff Buckley 14 Ryan Adams & The Cardinals 15 Pedro the Lion Of course this list doesnt take several factors into account, such as ...

And people laughed at me when I said that moths were my nemesis, my greatest fear, my ultimate revulsion, my... well, you get the picture. Check THIS out: MOTHS EVOLVING INTO VAMPIRE DEATH CREATURES!!! Now, I may not agree with all those nutty Creationists out there (if you are nutty, no offense, by the way). But this may get me me start classifying evolution as "evil" alright. Just imagine. Moths starting to suck blood. I mean, it is bad enough when they are eating my clothes, stealing my money, and assaulting my women. But sucking out my life force?! I wont let them! You may think I am overreacting. You may be thinking, "c'mon ryan" mosquitoes, horse flies, and the IRS has been sucking the life out of you for years"! Yes, but those things wouldn't do this to your daughters!

Life has moved forward quite quickly during these past few months. Time, however, has not. It some ways, it seems like the August-October period has been much longer than a mere couple of months. This is due to several factors. On one hand, I think that when one's life is filled with a lot of change, time seems like it expands and stretches to accomodate the magnitude of the transitions. I have had a lot of changes. Physically, my environment has shifted radically from being a large apartment shared between 5 roommates, to a quiet 3 man set up. This has been a huge change. Living in a clean, quiet, private home has had a huge psychological impact on an introvert like me. I mean, in the last house our house was packed with visitors every week. Even if each person only invited people over one weekend a month, that still meant that it was going to be full every time. The fact that my house was downtown and large didn't help it become less of a place for everyone to use as a hostel...

My mind wanders at night. My mind wanders during the day as well, but at night it really takes off. I have done a fair bit of night walking during the past couple of weeks. I have spent a lot of time down Madrid's empty streets, flooded in that orange city lamp light that I have come to love so much. This town was made to be savored after dark. During the day it is like any other European city, but at night... it is something else altogether. Especially late at night. A few days ago, as I was walking home around 3 AM, I passed a girl who was walking in the opposite direction. She did that thing that girls do when they are trying to act like they are not nervous, puffing herself up, chin in the air, though avoiding eye contact and picking up her pace as we met. I felt sorry for the human race then. What would it be to live in a world without fear? A world of perfect intentions? Imagine being able to walk down dark city streets without an inkling of temerity. How many times have I th...

It was pouring down rain the other night when I headed for home. It was one of those downpours that we rarely see in Madrid: thunder, lightning, giant drops, water pouring over low sidewalk curbs as it finds its way to the gutter. From under my umbrella, and with my pants rolled up slightly, I was enjoying the whole thing. I walked down the sidewalk breathing in the wet smells, skipping over puddles. No one else was around, of course. Even the neighborhood winos had found another place to drink, leaving their bench to drip alone. A few cars drove by slowly, not used to driving on wet pavement. I tend to sing when I find myself walking alone. Finally I reached the metro station. Had I tarried any more I would have missed the last train that night and been forced to take a bus. But fortunately when I arrived at the station, a sign flashed "9 minutes" until the next train would come by. A group of German boys were standing near me. They seemed too young to be college students, b...

This has been a stressful month already. House and job hunting. The latter is only just beginning. The former is pretty much settled. Finding a new apartment in Madrid has been a difficult task. I ended up visiting 9 different places around the city, and calling many more numbers. Many places got snatched up right as we went to see them. Others were downright terrible houses. Fortunately, the search ended up paying off. Or so it seems at this point. We move into a new place tomorrow night. Pictures and details will come soon. In celebration, I have this picture. I found these hot dogs in my local supermarket. I believe that Jonah may have found them before me, but it was a joyful rediscovery for me. Those of you native english speakers should find the name brand ironically hilarious:

August has been a flashback. You could say it has been old-skool because I haven't had a summer like this since I was a teenager. August has been spent lounging, walking, reading, talking. Long hours by the swimming pool accompanied by a book or by friends. Countless pool jumping competitions and late night swimming expeditions. I have lost track of how many barbecues I have hosted. I haven't had enough money to travel this summer, so I have been stuck here, mostly at my mom's house dogsitting. This has been both a blessing and a curse, as it has limited my mobility but also given me a large house all to myself. I think being out at my mother's house has contributed significantly to my sense of summertime nostalgia. Lounging around the place were I spent my youth has brought back that blissful feeling of irresponsibility which we all look for during vacationtimes but rarely find once we hit "the real world". I have also spent quite a bit of time with a couple ...

This just blew my mind. Aaron Eckhart, of Batman, Thank you for Smoking, and Paycheck fame: and Sean Bean, of Lord of the Rings, Troy, and The Island fame: In my mind, they were the same actor.

The plaza mayor was packed with people last night. The city was putting on a free classical music concert directed by Daniel Barenboim. Dan, Fran, Eva and I arrived over an hour early, but even that was too late and the seats were all taken. So we sat uncomfortably on the ground, squashed amidst the throngs of music lovers and tourists who had come to the Plaza in hopes of catching a glimmer of genius. Once the music began, the hypnotic effect of musicians in the ecstasy of performance held us in its sway. I was automatically in love with every woman on stage and feeling bonds of kinship with every man. And somehow, the warm cobblestone under my sore backside was easily ignored as waves of music rolled into the audience. It is amazing how long the ground remains warm after a day of the sun's hot abuse; long after the evening goes dark. As I sat there on the warm stone, I was reminded of last summer, one night at camp in which I lay on the basketball court. Using its retained heat t...

Tea is now being served at my spiritual blog . I began it years ago, when struggling with issues of faith and belief. I tried to restart it about a year ago to discuss the petty quibbles I have with modern christianity. But the quibbling was too petty, and I lost interest in it. Now, years after what I consider to be my "crisis of faith", I have come to realize that any real quest for the essence of truth is going to be an endless series of crises and questions. Every dogma, every assertion, every statement of faith, every aspect will bring up questions and frustrations. Since writing sometimes seems to exorcise my sleepless nights, the spiritual issues blog is reopened for business.

Camp finished last week. I suppose I should have been updating more often; letting you all in on the inner workings of the summer camp lifestyle, but I didn't. Honestly, I could have cared less about this camp than any of the previous ones I have worked at. In previous years I found myself stressing out and making an effort to be liked by the children and to teach them english properly. This year, camp was just a means to an end, and that end was the paycheck. About half-way through the camp I realized 2 things: 1) I really didn't like this batch of kids. 2) Yelling all day was starting to take a toll on my voice. I admit that I freaked out a bit about my voice. After a year of not being able to sing, my vocal therapist had finally told me that I was doing well enough to start again. A month later, because of some stupid kids, I was running into a sore throat. If the children had had any interest in learning English then perhaps it would have been a different story, but they di...

13-15 year old boys should be confined to prison cells made of cold shower stalls. I would tell you all to lock up your daughters, except that the girls are equally inappropriate, though in a different way. It's odd. guys will tell you comments about themselves that you wish they would keep secret (I have heard the word "masturbation" more times here than the rest of my life combined, and lets remember that most of my friends are celibate 20-somethings...). The girls don't comment on themselves as much as they do about others (half-joking with guys about the aesthetics of their posteriors or that they want to bear their children). So maybe we just need to lock everyone up in individual cold shower stalls... miles and miles from each other. Having a large group of pretty female camp counselors doesn't help things. This is mostly because they equate small stature and beardlessness to innocence. But then at night I can hear the boys rating the counselors'... var...