Today was a day, not unlike many other days. The sun rose, it set, and the wind blew.
And I wrote a new song!
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=840661&songID=8618875
Check it out.
Peace, love, and potato skins,
Justin
Winter break is drawing to a close, and I must say that the past few days have been pretty badass. On Sunday I went with my grandparents and siblings to Elk Mountain in PA for two days of skiing on powdery white fluff. The snow was good all over the mountain, and even though it was bone-chilling cold at some points, I still had a good time. I got a scare on Monday when my sister hit a bump and literally ended up about ten feet in the air, and then tumbled head over heels for another 40 feet or so. Gave us quite a shock, but she ended up with nothing more than a puffy lip. And she got tons of giggles out of hearing us recount how she flew in the air; I think that fall might have been the highlight of her week.
We got back from skiing today, and then I headed out to Best Buy to pick out a laptop; my old one needed many repairs and the Geek Squad said that they would replace it instead of fixing it. So now an upgraded computer at no cost, and I must say that makes me rather happy.
I'm definitely ready for school. Bring it on.
Peace, love, and ladybugs,
Justin
Winter break has been pretty good thus far. I've been practicing my guitar hardcore, a few hours a day, and have noticed an improvement since break started. I've learned "Here Comes the Sun" and am currently working on the Jeff Buckley version of "Hallelujah", which is quite a challenge but I'm enjoying it. And I've tried writing some of my own music, but to no avail. I'm excellent with lyrics (if I do say so myself, which I do), but I can't write a melody to save my life. Right now I mostly come up with folk-sounding stuff that is ridiculously simple, but I figure with time and practice it'll improve. It's just difficult because I like to have the music before I start writing lyrics, instead of basically writing poetry and trying to force music into it. But oh well.
Last week was fun; I got to hang out with Lucius and his friend Mike for New Year's Eve, and we all got rather intoxicated and went walking around Willingboro for a little while. I drank too much (which I intended on doing from the get-go) and realized that I get a little too emotional when I drink a lot, so I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I party. It ended up for the best though, as I ended up getting some things off my chest that I had meant to for a while, though admittedly my drunken state wasn't the best way to do it. All in all it was a great night; I got to spend some time with one of my bestest buds which was a nice treat.
A couple days after that I went down to Atlantic City with Jackie and some of her family and friends for her birthday. We had a lot of fun dancing at this 70s- and 80s-themed club at the hotel, though I learned the hard way to find out how much drinks are before purchasing them ($7 a shot is FUCKING RIDICULOUS). Lesson learned. It was worth it though, if only to hear Jackie ramble on about how sober-drunk she was. Twas quite funny.
Yesterday I went and saw Avatar in 3D with my sibs and grandparents. I have to disagree with my brother's claim that it's the greatest movie of all time, but it was pretty sweet. I'd recommend it.
I miss my Wendy. <3
Peace, love, and fiddlesticks,
Justin
Last week was fun; I got to hang out with Lucius and his friend Mike for New Year's Eve, and we all got rather intoxicated and went walking around Willingboro for a little while. I drank too much (which I intended on doing from the get-go) and realized that I get a little too emotional when I drink a lot, so I'll have to keep that in mind the next time I party. It ended up for the best though, as I ended up getting some things off my chest that I had meant to for a while, though admittedly my drunken state wasn't the best way to do it. All in all it was a great night; I got to spend some time with one of my bestest buds which was a nice treat.
A couple days after that I went down to Atlantic City with Jackie and some of her family and friends for her birthday. We had a lot of fun dancing at this 70s- and 80s-themed club at the hotel, though I learned the hard way to find out how much drinks are before purchasing them ($7 a shot is FUCKING RIDICULOUS). Lesson learned. It was worth it though, if only to hear Jackie ramble on about how sober-drunk she was. Twas quite funny.
Yesterday I went and saw Avatar in 3D with my sibs and grandparents. I have to disagree with my brother's claim that it's the greatest movie of all time, but it was pretty sweet. I'd recommend it.
I miss my Wendy. <3
Peace, love, and fiddlesticks,
Justin
2009 is coming to a close. And for once, I find myself viewing the changing of the year as having some significance in my life. I've always viewed the structure of the calendar and time as being completely man-made and arbitrary and having no real significance, so it's kind of weird to be saying to myself "Oh, this year is going to be different." One of the biggest things that I'm looking forward to in 2010 is the arrival of my bestie Amabel to Rowan; that's certainly going to uplift my spirits considerably and I know that there are many fun times to be had. I'm also happy because a lot of the problems that have been troubling me over the past year are so are either gone, or are now viewed in a way that I am able to recognize them for what they are; they no longer own me. Within the past few months I have been awakening to a newfound sense of freedom and creativity, and I am happy to be proactively involved in the creation of this beautiful Life, as opposed to simply watching it pass by me. I've spent entirely too much of the past two years watching potential experiences slip by; "No more!" I say! As always, the moment is now!
Every day I become more and more amazed at the beauty around me, often in what I call moments of Pure Being. When we have emotions, often there are thoughts, either conscious or sub/unconscious, that correspond with them. But moments of Pure Being are when I get a feeling inside that is often overwhelming, and seems to come from nowhere. The other day I was walking out of WalMart and gave what little change I had to the charity outside, and out of nowhere there are a couple streams of tears trickling down my face. It wasn't because of any thoughts or feelings I had toward the charity or myself, but it was just a swelling of unadulterated Being that chose at that moment to release itself through me; it was beautiful. I've noticed that I've been having moments like these a couple times a week, and I love it. There is no doubt that this was the year that I truly woke up for the first time, and for that I am extremely grateful.
I don't have much of a clue what the next year has in store for me, although I do have a few vague ideas. I just know that for better or for worse, it will be one of truth to myself and the path I am on, and I have faith that this will ultimately bring me the greatest happiness. I wish the same for you. =]
Peace, love, and AOL,
Justin
Every day I become more and more amazed at the beauty around me, often in what I call moments of Pure Being. When we have emotions, often there are thoughts, either conscious or sub/unconscious, that correspond with them. But moments of Pure Being are when I get a feeling inside that is often overwhelming, and seems to come from nowhere. The other day I was walking out of WalMart and gave what little change I had to the charity outside, and out of nowhere there are a couple streams of tears trickling down my face. It wasn't because of any thoughts or feelings I had toward the charity or myself, but it was just a swelling of unadulterated Being that chose at that moment to release itself through me; it was beautiful. I've noticed that I've been having moments like these a couple times a week, and I love it. There is no doubt that this was the year that I truly woke up for the first time, and for that I am extremely grateful.
I don't have much of a clue what the next year has in store for me, although I do have a few vague ideas. I just know that for better or for worse, it will be one of truth to myself and the path I am on, and I have faith that this will ultimately bring me the greatest happiness. I wish the same for you. =]
Peace, love, and AOL,
Justin
...and it was a great one.
Although I got about 2 hours of sleep last night, I was still able to wake up bright and early this morning to open presents with my fam. And I'm happy to say that I got pretty much everything that I asked for =]. Mis padres got me an iHome that sounds AMAZING - its like a symphony in my head. I'm very much trying to simplify my life this coming semester. Right now there's just too much clutter in my room. I have an unnecessary amount of books, most of which I won't read all year, and I had a stereo with like 6 speakers...I don't know why I felt the need to bring all that STUFF. So I wanted to condense that with the iHome; I'll also be putting a lot of my books in boxes for the semester. I'm thinking that an uncluttered home will help produce an uncluttered mind. I was also very happy to receive a new comforter and bed set; I've been using the same one since the beginning of high school and it just wasn't working anymore lol. It also made me happy to see my brother and sister open their gifts - my sister's still in the tearoffthewrapping-analyzethepresent-moveontothenextone stage, so it was funny to remember back when I was like that. Oh, to be young.
After hanging out at the house for a little bit, we went over to my grandparent's house for Christmas dinner. It wasn't too much different then usual, though my grandma did put silly string in the stockings of me, my siblings, my Pop-Pop, and my aunt Amanda. So naturally, they were going to get used. When we were opening our stockings, my Grandma said "Under no circumstances are those to be shot in the house." HOWEVER, my aunt and her kept going back and forth until my grandma TRIPLE DOG DARED her to shoot the silly string. And anyone who's seen A Christmas Story knows that when you're triple dog dared to do something, you have to do it. So when my grandma realized that she was soon going to be covered in silly string, she ran like a bat outta hell out of the house, with my Pop-Pop and aunt following. Then my sibs and I grabbed our ammo, and we all engaged in a short-lived melee of silly string carnage. It was good times. And then we opened the rest of our presents, and my grandparents got me a new guitar. =] Its MUCH better than the one I've been playing with. My aunt and uncle got me a case to go with it, and my parents got me a capo, so I'm all set. All in all, it was a great Christmas - I got some great gifts and got to spend time with my loved ones (that's kinda important, you know).
As most of you probably know by now, I also recently made the decision to go for the cueball look and baldify my head. Although I did it partly on impulse (though I did take a night to sleep on it), I think part of the reason I did it was because I wanted to outwardly manifest in my physical appearance a change to correspond with the inner changes that have been going on. And yea, I think monks look cool too.
I hope you all had a blessed holiday, and will spend the few remaining days of the year to look back on the experiences you've had - good, bad, or indifferent - and find a way to learn from them to create a better You.
Peace, love, and sticks,
Justin
So I'm an hour and a half late...sue me.
The notion of staying at Rowan an extra year so that I can get a BA in Psych as well as Philosophy is getting stronger and stronger in my mind. Don't be surprised if I soon confirm "therapist" as my career choice.
Peace, love, and jet engines,
Justin
