[sun]vembr

Today, on the 8th of November, 2009, in Canton, Michigan, the weather was warm and balmy - and by 'warm and balmy', I mean 'about as hot as it gets in August in Gaylord'. To be fair, I'm exaggerating on both counts - but seriously, it was AT LEAST 60 degrees Fahrenheit this afternoon. I seriously contemplated wearing shorts this afternoon while cleaning around the house. That's... a pretty far cry from the post that I made last year, about this time. (INTERESTING SIDENOTE: I have realized that the more interesting my Real Life is, the less time I have to blog about it... and the less interesting my Real Life is, the more time I have to blog about it - therefore, any event that could have in any way, shape, or form been even remotely interpreted as 'interesting' Back When I Was Quite Bored Last Year got blogged about to death. In retrospect, 1) that is depressing, and 2) I don't know how interesting of a sidenote that just was, so I may have just made a lie. Sorry. It kinda puts things in perspective, though... so I guess that's at least somewhat useful.)

So yes. Instead of [sno]vembr, we have [sun]vembr.

The other day, I finally broke down and got a new skateboard! It's been quite awhile (a few months) since I got to skate, and I have been missing the sport terribly... so when I was in Ann Arbor the other night at a classical symphony performance at the University of Michigan (against my will / to fill a music appreciation requirement for college), I stopped by Launch Board Shop and picked up a shop deck (because I cracked my old board the last time I skated):


As you can see, it's a clever parody of the Arizona Iced Tea can graphic. (This is quite fitting, as from what I can tell, Arizona's line of canned beverages has become quite popular with skaters - my old crew from Gaylord, anyway - over the last few months.) I got to go skate last Friday at a park in Belleville that I just found out about. It's kind of old and worn down, but it does have a decent 4' miniramp. I have discovered that I really like skating ramps... there's something infinitely satisfying about being able to throw down a long line of tricks without having to stop and go set up all over again.

Does anybody remember this post, from way back when? I'm guessing no. Well, lately, I have been thinking about my blog quite a bit. (Really, although I don't post a lot, I'm almost always thinking about posting - 'hey, I could blog about that, hey, this would make a cool post, why don't I write about this, etc' - and so on and so forth.) I have realized that the answer to the question that I asked in the aforementioned post (i.e., "Why does this blog exist?") is quite simple: it's to document my life. I don't want to be a Famous Blogger and have thousands of readers - if that was my goal, I would have quit long ago. I don't really want to be a professional writer... I'm sure that I could pull it off, but quite frankly, I feel that my talents would be put to better use elsewhere. I'm not doing this for my readers. Don't get me wrong - I love you guys, all ten (maybe eleven) of you - but while some of the things that I write about are entertaining, and while I try to make my blog fun to read, I'm not doing this For You Guys. This blog is for me - so that I can look back on it and read it and remember all the things that would have otherwise vanished from my memory. I plan to have this blog for a long time - maybe my entire life. At this point, it's much too soon to say. But regardless, I want to be able to show my kids the kinds of things that I wrote about when I was a young man - a young man, coming of age and trying to grow up in a world that confused and terrified him. I want to be able to read this and remember where I came from so that I can remind myself where I'm going - or why I didn't do what I thought I was going to do - or so that I can laugh at how stupid and petty I used to be.

I love posts like this - where I get to open up my head and thrown my brains down on the table via my trusty QWERTY keyboard. I seriously don't do this enough.

I feel that it's worth mentioning that MediaFire, the best free file-hosting service possible, just underwent a major upgrade and now works beautifully with Google Chrome. (I used to have to fire up the clunky beast that is IE 8 to upload files to my account.) This is relevant because, as I type, I am uploading something to MediaFire to post on my blog:

The Orange Lights - Life Is Still Beautiful (Alan Braxe Remix)

This song has been running through my head (and through my speakers) a lot lately. It's a beautiful, synth-driven remix of a melancholy indie rock track. (Alan Braxe is French, and The Orange Lights hail from jolly old England; nobody does synth-driven stuff better than the French (FACT), and the British are masters of melancholy indie rock (DOUBLE FACT), so there's no escaping the fact that this version of this song that combines these two powerful musical forces is amazing (FACT ATTACK).) I highly recommend it. The lyrics are pretty meaningful, too...

Even when the sun goes down on
All the things you thought would last so long,
It’s alright, life is still beautiful.

-K