this letter is to inform you that you have been removed from the “you suck” list.

the reason for the removal is based on my attendance at your concert on october 27, 2008, at the filmore in denver, colorado.

initially, i must admit that attending the concert was not high on my wish list. we had just gotten back from our honeymoon and had jumped full force in to work. we worked a haunted house through the weekend, and spent most of the previous sunday cleaning up. it was monday. the stars weren’t in alignment. you were on my “you suck” list. so many, many reasons.

but i love my wife and would do anything for her, so being by her side at your concert was an easy choice and a noble sacrifice on my part. besides, we already bought the tickets. well, she did. i lost about 15 minutes of time. i remember a weird smell, then i woke up with a printed receipt laying across my chest.

in any case, we were on our way. if it wouldn’t ruin my driving record (knock on wood), i would have prayed for a small fender bender. or maybe a never ending detour around the city. or a blizzard. alien abduction? but E.T. was a no show, as was the snow. there were no detours, and (fortunately) my fender remains unbent. we made it to the venue, got in the line that went around the block, waited our turn to get in (read: the sooner we got in, the sooner it would be over).

the opening act was fine. no death cab, or decemberist, but they are no longer opening bands. the beer was flowing, the people around use were obviously unaware and had no problem stopping right in front of us to enjoy their view but ruin ours. the opening act finished, and the roadies did their thing. a screen projected text messages sent in from the growingly buzzed crowd. and then it began…

…and it didn’t suck. it’s pretty painful to admit. my music is awesome, and for sure i didn’t consider this my music. i listened to a bunch of your songs, you know, the way you listen to the safety briefings on the plane but don’t actually know how many exits there are on your particular plane or whether the life jackets are under your seat or the seat in front of you. the melodies were nice, and they seemed to fit whatever product they were used for on the television. but with little choice, i actually listened to the words. and i heard them. and i found that, before long, i was there at the concert instead of wishing i were somewhere else. and then, too soon, it was over. there were no more encores, no more songs, no more supporting bad (that were all amazing, as well), no more talking to the crowd and making them (us) feel like you were talking just to us, no more obama images projected on the wall, no more duets with the girl from the opening band, no more polaroids, no more pictures, no more panties and bras being thrown up on stage. but, as corny as it sounds, i left with a new appreciation for the music and you left with a one way ticket off the “you suck” list.

so indeed, mr. mraz. live high, live mighty, live righteously, and take it easy.

regards,

david

i was happy to not have blown up the lab when i plugged the power supply in, and i have since wrapped up the paper clip with electrical tape, just in case.

it’s starting to flow into other areas now, this whole organization thing. i can see the glass of the desk in my office at home. things are finding their way back to their places. i went through the box of magazines i have to catch up on and put into recycling the ones that were irrelevant and outdate and made it easier for me to identify the oldest of the issues i did keep. i organized the units from my photography class, and have the bundle ready for the unit on which i am currently working so that i can jump back in to it.

it feels good. the honeymoon put a lot of things in perspective, and i’m glad the flight back didn’t squash my good intentions. i’ve even started making lists again, which got really long, really fast. but it seemed to make things easier when i actually stayed on top of them, and they still work great at work. i added a photography project to the list that i want to work on, on top of working on the honeymoon “keepers”. i’ve set a few goals for myself in a few different areas, too. they should be realistic, and accomplishing them will give me a rewarding feeling to build bigger goals. perspective is good. realizing it’s a journey and enjoying the trip is better.

the trip was amazing. i’m hoping that it is going to lead to more posts, but i wanted to at least get one up, so where else to start than at the beginning? and since i’m tired, i’ll do an easy post…

we were in the security line in LA and kerri nudges me and says ‘look behind you’. i do, and who should i see by Nigel Lythgoe from (among other things) “So you think you can dance” which I have never seen, of course (read: I watch every episode). He was kind enough to let us get a few pictures after we got through security. we were both so excited that we both didn’t notice that he had not even had a chance to tie his shoes.

]]> http://blog.kettlepot.com/2008/10/21/back-in-the-groove-and-the-country/feed/ http://blog.kettlepot.com/2008/09/15/seriously-for-reals-im-going-to-write-more/ http://blog.kettlepot.com/2008/09/15/seriously-for-reals-im-going-to-write-more/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:48:13 +0000 kettlepot http://blog.kettlepot.com/?p=88 i’ve really been trying but, obviously, it’s crunch time…

according to our fancy countdown clock, there are just over 11 days left before the wedding. i think for the most part we’re in good shape. i just sent out the e-mail to everyone with the itinerary for the weekend, including the world premier of vickerat (Lord, help us). i’ve got some clean up to do on the vows and next week we have a lot of prep work to do, but i think the big stuff is taken care of. it’s really been a ride, and kerri has put so much in to this weekend and in to our special day. i’m ready for it to all unfold and to finally marry the woman of my dreams!

last week i flew out to the east coast for work. it’s my last trip as a single guy! well, not single, but unmarried. and, thankfully, the next time i get on a plane it will be on our way to fiji! i was going to say “at the airport” but i’m going to be at the airport a lot over the next two weeks with everyone coming in to town. mom’s coming out for the first time since i moved here, and she’s bringing grandma. there are a lot of people that can’t make the trip, which is sad, of course, but i’m trying to focus on the happy side with the people that can make the trip.

on a side note, we’re prepping the house for everyone to be here. our sliding screen door was a mess, and we wanted to replace it before everyone got here. i swung by lowes today and they had one of the type we needed. since it was missing some screws and was technically not something that store carried, the guy sold it to me for $1.00. i took the screws from the old door and viola! ok, not viola, since i still have to get it rolling smoothly, but it looks a heck of a lot better than the old door did. our mentally challenged dog likes to run in to it; this one was advertised as heavy duty but the dog is extra heavy duty, so…
what else, what else…we had rain at the end of last weekend, and the mountains wound up snow-capped (most has melted). getting things lined up at work for my vacation. living the dream, as always.

i think that’s it. i keep threatening to work on the creative writing side of things. i found a gadget for igoogle called the “Writer’s Unblock Tool” which gives you some random lines with which to start a story. i think i want to do one of those either before i go to bed or first thing in the morning; make it part of the routine. i need to find a way to get the camera back out, too. i know we sort of have a lot going on, and i have to be okay with that without feeling like it’s an excuse. of course, i imagine that i’m going to be motivated to take pictures in fiji and australia. maybe, just maybe.

it makes me proud.

the good news is that it was productive. i’ve been up for a few hours and finished updating the website for the school, just in time for the first day today. we did a bunch of updates over the weekend, and we went up to help kerri get her space ready…hanging stuff, moving stuff (because i’m so super strong). it is actually a pretty cool space, and i think i was just as excited as she was to go through the process of getting it ready for a new year.

while we were there, a potential new student came to audition. a big change kerri made to the school this year was basically making it audition-only, which will be good especially since her mom moved back to california. the class sizes will be smaller, the kids that will be there generally want to be there, and she’ll have more control over really the whole process. so this new kid comes, and she has to sing, tell a story, and learn and repeat some basic dance steps. oh, and she was like 7. it would be like me going to a job interview having to build something on the spot in java (which i could totally do because i’m a genius).  but there is something about that world that both fascinates me and scares the crap out of me. doing the guitar and working on the singing and all that for the wedding, i mean, that’s really putting yourself out there. there are aspects of it that are very similar to interviews in the business world, for sure. you can get a sense at someones work ethic and attitude from talking with them, and you can get an idea if someone can be a team player. you can see if someone can sing, can learn to sing, or if it’s really just too late and maybe they should focus on a different path. but i just imagine it as one of those things where the parents are telling these kids “oh, you sound amazing!” and then they get there and get “um, yeah, not so much.” it’s like the american idol people, i imagine, except, you know, real. for that, there is no real comparison to my world. it’s not like i grew up with my mom saying “you’re the best little coder ever!”. but having a connection to that world and to be in wonder of it all is one of the many gifts that kerri gives me. in the two years i’ve taken pictures for the school, i’ve seen some amazing performances, i’ve seen some kids break, and i’ve seen these kids be shining examples of many of the attributes i wish i had, and that just don’t exist anymore in the business world around me.

oh, and the little girl was invited to join the school.

i think that’s it. we had another pre-marital session last night which for some reason seemed to focus on me, so i’ve been thinking a lot about that stuff. and being behind in everything (again). and trying to find a way to solve it all.

on a positive note, according to our good friends at dave and kerri dot com, there are 32 days and 9 hours until the wedding.

who needs sleep?

in other news, taking self portraits and trying to experiment with flash is impossible with my a.d.d.  i need a new plan.

even after just talking about it, i was getting motivated. we came up with some (hopefully) creative ideas for some themed shots for the book, and went out last weekend to roxborough state park for our first set. here are a few of our favorites.