Let’s Waste Time Chasing Cars

It's amazing how I can love a song so much sometimes and hate it just as much other times. "Chasing Cars" is a wonderfully simple song by Snow Patrol. Sadly, the redundant guitar part can get annoying if you're not in the mood. It also doesn't help the band itself really really stinks performing this live. Anyway, just a side note, the song came on as I was starting this late night blog. (iPod moving on to next track) Ah, now here's a real song I am always in the mood for. This one's my little secret, so I won't reveal it just yet, maybe someday.

It seems as if these few moments before bed, after jogging four miles, before decompressing, after a full day of work in three states before…well, you get the idea…it seems this twilight between the hectic noise of the day is usually where my rare moment of clarity occurs. There's so much I want to talk about, but either just don't have the right ears, the time or I just can't talk about it until other circumstances run their course. There's so many people I miss and just not enough vacation days in a year to fly out and spend time with them. I don't really consider this a bad thing, if there were ever things to be thinking about, it's better that it's about people I love and revelations of age made than loneliness and an unchanging naïve mind. Also, it's not as if things aren't great as they are: I've got a good job doing work I love to do, a comfortable living in a nice apartment, a very considerate and honest roommate (those who have had a few of any kind of roommate can appreciate that), a wonderful East Coast family that I couldn't have imagined any better, lots of music and movies and the ability to put pen to paper and my voice to tape (well, hard drive these days) and create music to vent my thoughts.

I guess there really wasn't a point to all that, just aimless nostalgia for the last 3 years…kind of odd, but I guess at the velocity life has accelerated to these days maybe nostalgia grows up more quickly. I dunno, now I'm ranting like an old man with nothing to do and I'm far from that; it's 1am and I can count on one hand the number of hours I'll have to be awake to get to work. So, off to bed, sweet dreams friends, and to those I haven't seen a while, I miss you all, you have no idea.

-Rod

Petting The Creature That Killed Steve Irwin

So today was another eventful day at Myrtle Beach, went to Ripley's Aquarium, had some pseudo Mexican food at a really loud frog restaurant, more food at a burger joint where you could throw garbage on the floor and I ended my part by taking a slow stroll down the ocean's edge after dark and now I'm out on the balcony about a hundred feet from the ocean's edge finishing up this blog before bed.

I'll have to say that something I've never done is pet a stingray, but today that definitely happened. For some reason, I didn't even give it a second thought and immediately recoiled when I felt the slimy back of that thing and realized it was the animal that ended animal enthusiast Steve Irwin's life.

Also, this trip wins the award for having the most goofy photos of me ever. If you do some searching on this blog, MySpace and Facebook over the next few days, you'll probably see most of them.

Anyway, the ocean's waving me to dreams…

-Rod

Now A Major Ocean Picture

So Thursday I headed out with Nick, Chris and Rita on a road trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I've never been here, so this is a great experience. The ocean shore here is so different than that of even the Jersey or Delaware coasts. Last night, I tried to fly a kite for the first time since I was a kid and it was a blast…for about 4.5 minutes. I got overly excited and got the kite in what seemed like outer space and then the string snapped. My "Terrorsaurus" disappeared into the night sky, flying away to freedom. Still, it was really fun. Our condo is a couple hundred feet from the ocean and is an incredible view. Falling asleep this close to the ocean and waking up to the sun over the water horizon is just indescribable.

Without getting too corny, seeing how vast and huge something like the ocean is and how I am just a speck in it gives me indisputable evidence of a maker much bigger than I.

So far, there's been a lot of sleeping, swimming in the waves and great food. We caught a show called "Legends In Concert" that featured a number of celebrity impersonators, though not a complete substitute for the originals, it was entertaining none-the-less. I went with Nick and Chris wandering around some tourist traps and we met up with Rita to catch an Imax 3D show. It was about Dinosaurs, so I was totally lost in the moment.

We're in the last day here, then back on the road to go home. It'll be tough to leave this beautiful view of the endless ocean, but I do have a brand new 160GB iPod waiting for me in Delaware, so that's something great to look forward to.

-Rod

My Office, The Office and an Evil Resident…

So today was an office day for me at work to catch up on sales and some paperwork before a string of gigs the rest of this week. Marketing at BEL.com is going stronger this year than any other and I'm kind of excited about some of the projects coming up. The gig list this year seems to be growing more international this year than in the past, so things may be getting really interesting this year.

When I finished at the office I loaded up my car with the gear for the next two or three gigs of mine and headed home…with a pit stop at the local video store to pick up the 3^rd season of "The Office". Aside from being INCREDIBLY spot on with various characters in the workplace, it's really amazing how they catch the quirky, small details of human character and situations between people. I think that's why myself and millions of other viewers relate so much and enjoy the show so much.

While I was there, I got the double disc set of Resident Evil 1&2, I already have the movies separately, but these are re-mastered and they came with movie tickets to the third installment of the trilogy. I've always loved the Resident Evil series in both the games and the movies. I can't wait to see what this next chapter brings.

So now, off to finish some chores, see what album work I can get done and then off to the next show.

25 Years Later…

So I'm officially a quarter century old. It's funny, I don't remember where I thought I'd be at this age, but it's still hard to believe that I'm out East where all the movies I watched growing up happened. Today I'm hanging out at the Jersey farm just chilling out. For those not keeping up, my friend Nick has the same birthday and as years past we combine festivities. Nick's mother cooked for us and made a killer red velvet cake. I got a ton of MySpace and Facebook greetings and many great gifts. My computer is finally up and running and my album is making more progress. I had a good chat with Ian, the drummer for my current project and "Live From LaDue Auditorium". A small part of it was actually about the album, but just connecting about all kinds of different music helped focus the vision. Well, back to movies and being lazy until tomorrow morning when the gig schedule gets crazy again. *sigh* I am getting old. Anyway, thanks to everyone who sent their greetings, gifts and cards. G'day…

-Rod

Heroes Marathon and the New Computer

It's officially September and I know I say this every year, but it is hard to believe another year has gone by since my last birthday and this time I'll be a quarter century old! Between that, Labor Day and a friend from work getting married on Friday, I was actually able to talk my boss into letting me have the weekend off. It was all timed perfectly because my delayed notebook computer order came in and "Heroes: Season 1" released on HD DVD at the same time. I've been spending the evenings after work in front of nearly 20 hours of Heroes and configuring my computer just the way I want it as well as transferring data from the old computer to the new one.

At the beginning of the week I got an unexpected call from a high school buddy I hadn't seen in nearly 6 years. Turns out he was passing through the area from Indy to Philly for American Idol tryouts. Dan stayed at my place for a few days and we caught up while I introduced him to Heroes. He's officially hooked.

So today, a few more tweaks on the computer and just being lazy for once. Then, back to work on Tuesday.

-Rod