Sky High

So those of you planning on seeing the movie "Sky High" stop reading now, I don't want to spoil anything for you. But it was a great movie, and the last line in the movie perfectly summed up all I was trying to say in point #6 the last post...

"So my girlfriend became my worst enemy, my worst enemy became my best friend and my best fried became my girlfriend...who would have thought it? But I guess that's high school, right?"

SO FREAKING TRUE!!!

Anyway, go see the movie, I'm going to bed...
-Rod

You live, you learn...10 years!?

So this past Tuesday Alanis Morissette released "Jagged Little Pill: Acoustic" as a 10 year anniversary of the release of the original all time best selling album by a female artist. Man, those were great songs, and they've lasted. And she is a great singer. It's funny through the years I'm seeing what she had to say in some of her songs as very true...

"You live you learn
You love you learn
You cry you learn
You lose you learn
You bleed you learn
You scream you learn
You grieve you learn
You choke you learn
You laugh you learn
You choose you learn
You pray you learn
You ask you learn
You live you learn "

I used to have those words posted on my locker in Jr. High. I can't believe it's been 10 years! I remember when that album first came out on cassette tape and we were in line for hours to get it!

Sometimes, there is just no way for people to learn other than just living...through life, I've learned a lot and have A LOT to learn! There are a few things I'd like to add to my comments from last summer about life...

The originals are here...

I'd like to add to #3, living for yourself is still pointless, just don't forget about yourself. If you get caught up in someone else's agenda, then there will be no "you" left. Make sure your happy with your life as well as serving others. The others will be happy as a result of you being happy.

New ideas from being 22:

6. Everyone is incomplete, never look at a person as "where they ended up" because who knows, in a few weeks or a few years, the tables could be turned. Just worry about yourself and keep others within pen's distance. All of us will have ups and downs and the only thing certain about the people around us is that we will all eventually pass. The people that you least expected to keep in contact with from high school could be one of your best friend after graduating college. The cutest girl you knew from Jr. High could now be the most worn looking and unhappy person you pass on the street. The kid that made fun of you in high school for standing up in what you believed in could walk up to you at your little brother's high school graduation 5 years later and apologize for all he's done, long after you've forgotten.

7. Life is 99% how you take it, you choose whether or not you're happy. This is no joke, people say this all the time, but it's true. No matter what's happening around you, you choose how to take it and how you feel about it. It's like Mitch Hedberg said, "If you find yourself lost in the woods, build a house...you've greatly improved your predicament! I once was lost, but now I live here!" There's also the story of the old mule and the dried up well...it's a very detailed story, but the short version is, there was a farmer with an old mule and a dried up well. One day the mule fell into the well and the farmer decided it wasn't worth getting the mule out and to kill two birds with one stone, he'd bury the mule in the well, since neither did much good to him anyway. When the shovels of dirt started to hit the mule's back, instead of panicking and taking it, he shook it off and stepped up. With each shovel of dirt, he shook it off and stepped up. In a few hours, the old mule walked right out of that well. What was meant to kill the old mule was what actually saved his life, simply because of how he took it.

8. The only thing I regret in life is not taking enough pictures with my friends. Even though at the time I may have thought there was no time, I could have taken the extra minute, and now when unpacking in my new home hundreds of miles away, I could remember the good times forever.

Anyway, I'll probably add more later, but for now, that's what's on my mind.

I've been watching Jamie Cullum while typing this, and wow, what a musician. He is such an incredible piano player. He plays jazz and rock...but he dances on the keys to play as well as hops up on top of the piano to tap dance and everything. I need to practice piano more.

I am sore all over because I just got back from the gym. It's my third day in there since being in Jersey. I had an epiphany the other day that when I was in high school and college, I was walking everywhere, and now, I'm not half as physically active, so I'm trying to compensate for that, but ohhhhh...it feels like my tennis days all over again....

Anyway, g'night everyone...

-Rod

Stuff related to this post:

Alanis Morissette
Jamie Cullum

Life Is Sweet

So I just picked up Natalie Merchant's VH1 Storytellers DVD and it was incredible. Most of you know what I'm talking about, those of you who don't know who she is are too young, and that makes me old. To be honest, I don't know much more than the singles on her "Tigerlily" CD...but this DVD has stuff older and newer than that and it is really cool. There was an extra song on the DVD that the original broadcast didn't have called "Life Is Sweet" and it almost moved me to tears, it is gorgeous. The lyrics really make you reconsider your perspective on life. Here's some of them:

"They told you life is hard and misery from the start,
it's dull, it's slow, it's painful...

But I tell you life is sweet in spite of the misery,
there's so much more, be grateful....

Well, who do you believe?
Who will you listen to?
Who will it be?
Because it's high time that you decide...in your own mind...

They told you life is long,
be thankful when it's done,
don't ask for more, be grateful.

But I tell you life is short,
be thankful, because before you know it, it will be over...

because life is sweet...life is short..."

It's just an incredble song...I went straight to the piano and started learning how to play it.

Today I watched "Family Guy" for the first time in a long time and laughed harder than ever. It's a GREAT show...

Last night I talked to Elizabeth until my phone died, it still amazes me that we can do that...she's such a great person, I've been fortunate to always have her as a friend...

Talked to my brother, he's going through some tough times...but I things will look up as soon as he starts college, I keep telling him that those will be the best years of his life.

My mother called me the other day and left a voice message saying my dad had suddenly flown to Korea. Of course, being my mother, she didn't tell me why and so I did some calling around and found out my grandmother is dying. I pray that whatever happens to her is smooth and that my dad stays strong...this is tough for him. It's weird that I'm always hundreds of miles away when stuff like this happens.

So it's been quite a week...

I'm off to bed, got work in the morning...

Soli Deo Gloria...
-Rod

P.S.

Stuff to check out related to this post:

Fast Forward Four Years...

So now I get to show you pictures from my last week at Greenville right before I moved to Jersey...

This is me presenting Dan Wolfe with Kikkoman to offically make him an honorary Asian:















This is Dan's first moment as an honorary Asian, every give a round of applause for Mr. Wolfe:





















This is Dr. J playing at Wings-To-Go, we had a huge group out there to watch him play, man that was a fun night...this guy is so freaking talented...he ripped up the guitar...





















And here's some of us in the audience...well, at least the carnivores...hehe...















Well, that's it for now folks...

God bless...
-Rod

Nostalgia Kicks In...

So here's the story for today...I was staring at my pencil sharpener today...it's an electric one with two sticker made from photos of my first week at Greenville College. Seeing the pictures again made me feel good. So I dug through all of my old photos and relived GC again via photo, man that was a good time...so here's the photo edition of my first week at GC...


This was what was on the sticker...this was the first of many Wal-Mart trips:

















Here's me and K Masch...in the freshman parking lot, man, I remember hating that lot so much and wanting to be out of there...it'd be kind of cool to park there again...



























This is my first dorm room at GC, and of course I had to have the Becky's and Courtney chillin'...














Man, how the days go by...

If time travel is possible, how do I set my destination back to August 2001?

-Rod

P.S. What the heck, here are a couple pics from my high school senior fling a couple months before leaving for GC...

This is me and Paul in sumo suits:
















And this is Paul kicking my butt...

rodkim.com v 2.0 complete!

So after fighting with Flash and HTML all day, I finally finished my website update! Check it out and let me know what you think!

This morning I went to church for the first time in like 3 years, it was OK. No one kicked me out or asked why I went to Greenville and studied music. I'll probably be back as work allows.

Tonight I talked to Jason Leong on the phone while talking to Jacie and Becky Beighly on AIM...whew! It was good to touch base with those guys again.

Anyway, right now I'm having some perogies and going to bed...g'night...
-Rod

Philly...

Went to a concert tonight, it was absolutely incredible.

On the way back, I talked to Dr. Johnson on the phone. What a wise man. Amongst just catching up and small talking, he really had some pieces of wisdom that enlightened me. I miss that guy. He doesn't know, but he had me tearing up when he was talking. That man has done so much for me and made a huge part of my life what it is and is going to be...I hope someday I can do something to make it up to him...

Anyway, I'm going to bed, I decided that I'm going to try and attend a Presbyterian Church in the morning. I'm still skeptical of churches, but my father would really like to see me get involved again and the Presbyterian Church is the only kind of church that was concerned about me but never tried to push my buttons or have a "holiness" competition. So what the hell, I'll give it a shot.

So g'night everyone,
-Rod

If you need to get away...

It was funny, I know this is going to sound really vain, but it's totally not meant to be...I had a lot on my mind today and just thinking about all I had in yesterday's post as well as the million projects at work. Normally, I hum a tune that really soothes me somehow...sometimes the melody attaches to particular memory and sometimes the lyrics really hit me. I did that today, started humming, "If you need to get away, know that you can stay..." and was thinking, "Wow! What a great tune...wait...that's one of my old songs...haha..." But I guess it did its job, I wrote it as the only melody at the time that could make me feel better and I guess it did its job later too. Citizen Cope is still rocking my iPod and Lina's not too far behind. There's some Joss Stone tunes that are really pulling me too.

Well, today I think I came up with a game plan for my life...and things all look good.

I started writing again last night, and man it felt good! It came back so naturally...I have a great feeling that this next batch of songs is going to be killer...I'll keep everyone posted.

Anyways, it's way too late to be up knowing I have to be up for work at 6:30am...

G'night,
-Rod

My Way Home...

So I've been really into Citizen Cope lately. His music has always really impressed me, but just now the lyrics are tying it all together and making it perfect. This song that is one of the shortest on his newest album, "The Clarence Greenwood Recordings" called "My Way Home" describes exactly how I feel now and kind of how I've felt for the past 8-9 years.

"Sometimes I miss a step,
I stumble here and there...
I'm findin' my way home.
If I'm lost then I'll admit,
Sometimes I plain forget...
I'm findin' my way home.
You can try and stand in my way,
You can say what you're gonna say,
But I'm finding my way home."

He's right, I'm finding my way home not their way home or my parent's way home or my friends' ways home. There's a destination and one thing I've learned in Jersey is that there are a hundred roads leading to the same place and I choose which suits me based on distance, scenery, potholes, etc. No one can tell me their way is right for me unless I decide that for myself. I frequently stop and ask for directions and advice, but overall, it's my decision on which way to go. I definately believe there's a way that the Man Upstairs has planned for me, but I still think it's up to me to find it, a gift from Him to me...my way, via Him.

I guess I've been thinking all of this because of the recent relocation and some dreams I've had the past couple weeks. I don't usually remember my dreams, so when I do they have a huge impact on me.

Not too many days ago, I had a very vivid dream that I was a freshman at Greenville College again. Some experiences were the same, and some were completely new, but the overall atmosphere was the same. I lived that whole first semester again in one night and when I woke up I felt really overcome with a sense of sadness that it was over again. It was weird, because it took a few minutes to come to realize that I hadn't just come out of that year...or did I? I watched Donnie Darko the other night and have been having major deja vu the past couple weeks. I'm not saying that I think something supernatural is happening or that I believe in some unearthly happenings, but I think at the very least it's all indicators of my place in life right now. It's just odd that it felt like...it still feels like that the dream I had was months even though my logic knows it was only a few hours. I wish I could have that dream every night and relive that year.

All this is a long way of saying that I feel like Greenville is my home. I've never missed a place so much. When I moved away from Kokomo, it was nice to visit now and then, but I always looked forward to being back at Greenville. I never missed Kokomo as a whole, though I missed people very much. But now, I find myself missing Greenville so much I'm think about the place everyday and having dreams about living my best years there. The thing is that the early years are the ones I miss the most. Maybe that's because they're the farthest away, I don't know. I'm not naive though, I'm not just going to pick up and go back to Greenville based on some feelings and a dream. I know there has to be an element, or a few perhaps, from my time there that are actually home, and the rest was just the setting. I'm not sure if it was a particular group of friends, specific experiences, Dr. Johnson, or something else I'm not thinking of, but once I find that thing, I will be working my way home.

I say that because I love the East Coast, and I think it's the most comfortable I've felt in my skin in my entire life. I'm glad I'm out here and things are great. I hope to have a long, great time out here...but I still am looking for "home" per say. Because Greenville doesn't always mean the physical location. (My time at Greenville would have been very different if Dr. johnson wasn't one of my professors and friend.) So I'm searching for what part of Greenville was "home" and where I fit out in the East Coast so I can find my way home.

To all my peeps in Indy (or from Indy and have moved on elsewhere) I miss you dearly and hope to become finacially free enough one day to be able to freely travel the world to see you all frequently. Cory, April and fam, I'm sorry I keep missing your calls, but I hope Cali treats you well and I'll be seeing you from time to time. April, a few weeks ago I found the card you gave me when I moved to Greenville and it said to enjoy these few years because one day I'd come across this card and it would have been three years past...wow! Thank you guys for your guidance and friendship. Pamn & Jeb, what can I say about my high school years? I wish we could do it all over again. Thank you for late nights at Denny's and helping me survive the most drama filled years of my life, you're the best friends I could have. Elizabeth, it has been quite a journey since Columbus Blvd...we go way back and I hope we can always live life together no matter the distance like we always have, I'm proud of you and your journey. Paul, wow, who'd thought four years ago when we were both driving away from Greentown we'd both end up driving out to the coast years later, I'll be talking to you soon...maybe we can play ping-pong sometime ;) Casey & Jessica, I haven't forgotten about you and on the off chance you read this, know that I haven't forgotten your friendship through my time at Eastern. I am so fortunate to have been able to spend those years with you. Casey, I still remember our first meeting..."You like Mortal Kombat too?!" haha...remember when we finally got to see Considering Lily in concert? Kevin, I'm so glad you finally found Patti and you're happy. I remember so many late night conversations and soul searching, you always encouraged me to report to the higher calling, and I'll never forget that. To anyone I forgot back in Indy, I'm sorry, I'm ignorant, but you still had a huge impact on my life and I'll carry that with me always.

So now that this post has become a novel, I want to mention that I'm glad life has been what is has been so far...I've also been listening to a lot of Lina lately, a few lines from her song "I Am" have also been ringing in my head...

"Thought I'd seen it all,
That's when trouble called...
(they say trouble's not your friend...)
but it helped me know who I am.
Through my adversity,
I discovered "me"
Healthy, strong and freewheeling.

I know where I'm going,
I love where I've been,
I'd do it all again if in the end it makes me the (man) I am..."

Anyway, that's a lot for one night, it's time for bed...

Finding my way home,
-Rod

Things to check out relating to this post:

Citizen Cope
Lina
Greenville College

Not quite Delilah...I hope...

So it officially happened, I got off worked today and had the "do" hacked...the rumors are true, old school Rod is officially back...

It's going to take a while to get the "spike" back in it since it got so wavy and soft while it was long, but as you can see, in a few hours it seemed to already be taking shape!

10 Minutes after "the cut":




















2 hours later...



















Anyway, time for Donnie Darko...g'night,
-Rod

NYC

Went to NYC today and had lunch with a good friend from school, Dan Layus, his band was on tour and was in NYC for the weekend so we met up with him...it's great to see he is the same great guy...even treated us to lunch!

Anyway, it's really late and getting up in the morning to go to work is going to suck...

G'night,

-Rod

P.S. Check out Dan's band, Augustana at www.augustanamusic.com

Hitch!

So I finally caught up with the rest of the world and watched Hitch today with Nick and his brother, Chris. Today at work was me still getting used to my job. I still hope I'm cut out for all of this...

On another note, I think I'm gonna finally cut my hair, don't know how short yet, but it is getting to be a lot of trouble and when I got my new driver's license, I realized how long and big it was...

I also picked up Missy Elliott's "The Cookbook" today, it is so cool, really really old school stuff. Especially the song "Lose It". Holy cow, this is a GREAT old school track. The whole CD is full of beats that haven't been used since MC Lyte. I love that stuff, there's a vintage feel to it and sometimes I think it's more creative than this new crunk crap.

Yesterday I had the "Official Stupid Errand Day" and my good friend Dexter Brank drove me around to get all those ridiculous errands done you have to do when you move. I'm now officially a New Jersey resident. I also finally got that stupid EZPass. Dexter is a great guy and a great guitarist...so naturally I hope to help move his career forward if I can.

Nick and I stopped at Best Buy today after work and I passed some electric keyboards and started playing and realized I haven't played for a week. I'm going to have to get back in the routine of practicing and write some more songs. I have a good little group of songs on that CD with my senior recital on it, but I hope this next batch will be a new level of Rod. We'll see I guess.

Anyway, I'm going to bed, but thanks for anyone reading this, leave a comment and keep in touch...

Shout out to all the bananas out there,
-Rod

Stuff to check out related to this post:

Movies:
Hitch (starring Will Smith)
Music:
Missy Elliott - The Cookbook
Rod's Senior Recital

Dexter Brank
People:

Ask this girl why there's a shout out to bananas
Ridiculous Organizations:
New Jersey MVC
EZPass

Stupid Errand Day!