Relative

I adore my grandparents.
Specifically my grandpa who lives in Bakersfield.
He and my dad are extremely alike, and therefore don't exactly get along very well. So it seems fitting, me being so alike my own father, that my grandfather and I get along so well.

He is known for his long stories about people from exercise class, or a neighbor down the street. Stories about people that no one else but him and grandma know, and no one but them particularly care to hear (except me, i love them!) He also is a lover of the casinos, and was the person that my brothers and I learned how to cheat in card games from! His motto: "if you're not cheating, you're not trying" resounds in my head whenever I'm tempted to throw out a few extra cards during apples to apples :)

Last Christmas he gave me the best present I've ever received- his old antique cameras. It was such a surprise because when i had showed interest in them during our last visit he had said "well ok, one day they will be yours then" and thats what he says about things he doesn't want to give up just yet, but will be given to us only after he dies. So when last Christmas rolled around i was shocked when i opened an old dog food box full of cameras! It's the only present I've ever gotten teary-eyed from!

This Christmas we spent a good few hours discussing his childhood and our family's history. It was so wonderful, and I have pages in my journal covered with notes and names and stories of Hamlett history.

Waiting for a Superman

Beautiful Rainy Day. Didn't do any homework, but it's ok because sometimes it's better to spend the day finding beauty and making art than stressing and killing myself over homework :)

the song is waiting for a superman by iron and wine.
A very powerful song...

It's been really lovely out

so i decided to make a video of footage around the azusa area, i mixed in some photos of the 5 fwy, some from the drive to salvation mountain as well as some from alaska... plus i haven't been able to get this song outta my head for DAYS.

Being Thankful

today is thanksgiving and as a family we have a few little traditions:
a game or two of "scum-king"
one room with football on TV
the other room watching "White Christmas"
deviled eggs, turkey, chips and dip, olives, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, etc.
and at the end of the night, going through all the ads and making our christmas wish list for family to shop for.

This last one is always the most stressful, it always catches me off guard, and I always feel like a materialistic whore when I am done. This year was no different.
What was different was the deep confusion and dread i felt while i was listening to my middle-aged family write down what they want this year...

I dread the day where hand mixers and ceramic figurines would make the top of my Christmas list.

So thank the Lord I'm not there yet... and if you know me 30 years from now, ask me what is on my Christmas list, and slap me across the face if i have settled down and become my parents.

But for now I leave you with something far better to dwell on... part of a family tradition:

We are beggars all

My dear big brother and I went to an incredible concert last night. It was my third time seeing Thrice, Taylor's sixth. It was amazing. As soon as Teppei showed his face we were nothing but giddy, seeing as how we had read that he was not going to be there due to a family emergency! What an awesome surprise! The energy, their passion, and the excitement of a hometown crowd made for an outstanding show. They played old songs and new(off the Beggars album,) each one as energetic as the first. Every song was a treat. My favorite was when they played Melting Point of Wax, a song from Artist in the Ambulance (about the ancient myth of Daedalus and his son Icarus,) and followed it with Daedalus, from The Alchemy Index: Air (about the same myth, from the point of view of the Father.)

There is something about a Thrice show that is so different from any other shows I have been to. After seeing Thrice, even if I have been standing on my feet for hours I feel like time flies by. Last night in a text message I responded to Claire asking how the show went by saying, "Incredible. Of course. Nothing compares to a Thrice show. My head is pounding, my ears are muffled, my throat is sore, but i feel like i could climb a mountain." I love it, they are so great and so much fun to watch, I can not help but smile during and after the performance.

SET LIST:
Of Dust and Nations
In Exile
Helter Skelter (Cover)
Silhouette
The Weight
A Song For Milly Michaelson
The Artist in the Ambulance
Hold Fast Hope
At the Last
Doublespeak
Like Moths to Flame
The Arsonist
The Melting Point of Wax
Daedalus
Beggars

ENCORE:
Deadbolt (of course)
The Earth Will Shake


If you have not done so already, do your ears a favor and check them out.

cardboard and Atlas

I got the pleasure of taking save the date photos for some dear friends of mine out by the marshall canyon horses. Ususally taking posed photos like this really stresses me out and i feel really uncomfortable doing it, but this time it wasn't like that at all. I've known Jake for almost ten years(freaky that he's getting married now! ah!) and Meghan is so kind and easy to be around, so all the pictures didn't feel forced or awkward at all. They knew what they wanted to do, the lighting was gorgeous, and Atlas (Jakes pup) was a hoot. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Ambition

I found this posted on a good friend of mine's facebook, the person who posted it described it as "inspring. depressing. creatively awesome." so of course, i had to take a look. im so glad i did. Here you will find not only beautiful photography, but also a refreshingly honest look into the day-to-day of this man's life. Check it out.

http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/

cold cash and colder hearts

I really am confused by the idea of money.

I need money to do things.
need.
NEED.

...really?

kind of.
I really feel the need to go to my friend's wedding in Oregon in March (which costs money for a plane ticket)
I really feel the need to purchase a vehicle in the near future.
I really feel the need to buy a plane ticket to Kodiak again this summer (or drive a car that takes gas)

I hate feeling so bound by currency.
money.
It can be the cause of so much evil, or so much good.

Thank you Sara Paye

This is for the weird girls.
This is for the little brothers.
This is for the schoolyard wimps
and for the bullies who tormented them.
This is for the kids
who draw outside the lines.
This is for the Fellowship players
and for the midnight kayakers
who are trying to fly.

SHAKE THE DUST.

This is for the professors
who at times
cannot be understood
because they speak half English
and half God.
This is for the rocks
and for thise who venture to climb them.
This is for the dish-washers
and for the bathroom cleaners.
This is for Camper Jim.

SHAKE THE DUST.

This is for the nighttime cereal eaters
and this is for the fart jokers.
This is for the one
who does not yet know where home is.
This is for the liars,
the cheaters,
the stealers,
and for those who wrestle the enemy
for truth.
This, this is for you.

SHAKE THE DUST.

This is for the student who holds down
six classes just to
hold up their family.
This is for the slack-liners,
and this is for the van drivers
carrying a million broken hymns.
This is for the weepers
and this is for the healers.

SHAKE THE DUST.

This is for the ones we fight for.
Do not let a moment go by without
knowing your belovedness.
Pray every time you stand
for your hear beats thousands of times a day
and there is enough blood
to make you an ocean.
Do not settle
for letting these waves settle
in your veins.
No.
Take this world by it's clothespins,
hop on, and take it for a spin.
Jump off
and do it again.

SHAKING THE DUST.

Do not let the night
sit heavy upon you.
Walk into it, breathe into it, let it
crash through the halls of your arms
like the history of questioners coursing
so that you may combat the darkness,
kicking it until it spills daylight.
Angels will protect you and lift you up
in their hands
so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone.
And i hope that when the Fisherman
invites you to join Him,
you do.
For all that pushes and pulls for you,
pushes and pulls for him, too.
So screw up your courage
to the sticking point.
Let his grace be the words on your lips
and the movements in your hips.
For the heavens and the hells
through which Christ has lived,

SHAKE THE DUST.



Written by Sara Paye
Inspired by High Sierra
Some words taken from Anis Mojgani, Homer, Bono, Luke the Evangelist, and the Fisherman
Scripture reference: Luke 9:1-6, Matt. 10:13-15, and Mark 6:10-12

perspective

I live in southern california.
The weather is mild.
except tonight.
I know some of you who come from places with more extreme conditions will scoff at this, but tonight, my friends, we had some gnarly winds.
These winds knocked on my door numerous times (twice I got up out of my chair and opened the door thinking someone was outside, only to be faced with the invisible man.)

I LOVE this though, even if it means a short power outage and dust in my eyeballs.
I am so sick of heat.
Give me these get-out-of-bed-at-the-last-possible-moment-because-I'm-so-cold mornings.
Sweep my doublewide off the ground and take me to Oz.
I'm oh so done with sweaty pit days when no amount of deodorant will help.
I want to wear contacts because it's raining, not so I can wear sunglasses.

but more than that, I want to be content with where I am.

why not?

once i was in a 15 passenger van, rolling down Mission road in Kodiak, Alaska. As the other passengers and I were discussing various topics of life- love and happiness, old friends and new, Candice Laurent asked "what's she bloggin' about?"  and as i remember that moment, i justify my latest conformity. Candice, this one's for you.