Zac was here over a week ago, and I finally pulled some of the pictures from his visit of my camera to share with ya’ll. From the moment he arrived until the moment he left, it was an absolute joy to have him around and the party refused to stop. After our his great toilet debacle, we met up with the gang to head downtown for some Thai food on Saturday. I’m still relieved that any of us survived that lunch meal after our orders were all way spicier than normal. Jeff literally was red with sweat dripping down his face while my lips burned uncontrollably. After lunch, we all loaded up and went to see Role Models with Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott. If you get the chance to see it, GO! It’s hilarious! Joe left after the movie, and Jeff, Zac, Cory, Lauren and I headed to Jeff’s place to watch last week’s episode of The Office in HD. Jeff is convinced everything is funnier in HD; the rest of us are not so sure. After we had had our fills of Dwight and Andy (is that even possible?) we headed back to my place for dinner and The Strangers, a horror flick of Zac’s choosing. I’m not a huge horror movie fan, and I definitely am not a fan of my friends whispering and making plans to sneak in and scare me in the middle of the night. Why the heck did I give those guys keys to my apartment?!?!

Sunday morning Lauren, Jeff, Zac, and I headed off to church together and had the experience of a lifetime… “What’s Up With That“. Man, I love when people write their own songs. Jeff, Zac and I headed back to my place to watch the Pack lose to the Vikings and then headed off to play frisbee golf. First of all, Zac and I had never played before and had to have set a record of ‘trees hit with a disc’ in a single day. But despite the cold and wind, we had a killer time and laughed til we cried on more than one occasion. Lucky for us, we were able to finish our 18-hole outing before the FIRST SNOW OF THE YEAR happened. After the first few flurries fell the gang with Jeff’s gf, Liz, headed to Galaxy Dinner to grab some food and play ‘telephone’. Yeah, we really are 11 years old. Eventually, our lamer friends headed home and the rest of us headed off to Wal-Mart in search of gloves, snow shovels, and $5 movies.

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Zac bought a new watch at Wal-Mart.  Yeah, that IS a calculator watch, and we had to scour Flagstaff to find it.  He’s pretty excited that he can tell time and ‘calculate’ on it.  Also, he can spell three things… hello, boobs, and hello boobs.  Awesome.”

It’s not a big hush-hush secret that I have the best brother in the world.  It’s actually scientific fact, but I won’t bore you with all of the numbers and equations.  Just trust me… he’s the best.  True to best brother form, Zac drove up to Flagstaff late, late, late Friday night after a long/stressful work week with lil sleep and way too much driving to spend Veteran’s Day with the gang.  Not long after he got settled my toliet started making a hissing sound and the next thing I knew Zac had taken it apart and we were on our way at 2am to Walmart to buy what we needed to fix it.  For the next two hours Zac struggled to fix the toliet, and eventually, at 4am tired as he was, it was done.

It would have been easy for us to wait and call maintanence on Saturday am.  Zac was exhausted… tired of driving… weary but no.  It was broken, and he cared enough about me to take care of that domestic burden.  There are four hundred and thirty seven reasons Zac is my numero uno best friend and spending time with him this weekend just affirms how much he means to me. His willingness to go the extra mile and take care of the ‘man-stuff’ in my life is just the icing on the world’s best cake.

It’s that time of year where my parents are beginning to ask me what I want for Christmas.  I’m tempted to ask for a pygmy hippo this year, but my dad will probably just say no because he’d just wind up having to take care of it at his house.  So maybe I’ll just buy him one, and all of our problems will be solved.

As always Zac has great taste when it comes to music, and on my last voyage to the homeland of cotton, cows, and copper, he introduced me to one of my favorite new songs. I don’t listen to country music all day every day, but it’s hard to be in Willcox and not want to roll the windows down and drive slowly through town listening to country music. Something wonderful has been in the air as of late, and this song expresses that sentiment perfectly.  So listen! Watch!  Love!  Live!  And it’d sure be nice if you would roll with me.

Montgomery Gentry - Roll With Me

Wake up in the morning
Get to living my life
Making sure that Im all that I can be
Went to church on Sunday
There was a moment that came
I swear it was like the Lord spoke right to me

So now I’m slowing it down and I’m looking around
And I’m lovin’ this town and I’m doing alright
Aint’ worried ’bout nothing except the man I wanna be
I’m thinking it’s time to be livin’ the rhyme
When I’m singing a song about nothing but right
And it’d sure be nice if you would roll with me

Saw a kid last winter only twenty years old
Being laid to rest while his mom stood by his side
Sure was hard to watch those tears roll down her face
Made me think how we all just have our time

So now I’m slowing it down and I’m looking around
And I’m lovin/ this town and I’m doing alright
Aint’ worried ’bout nothing except the man I wanna be
I’m thinking it’s time to be livin’ the rhyme
When I’m singing a song about nothing but right
And it’s sure be nice if you would roll with me

Who knows whats ahead
I think I’d rather not know instead

So now I’m slowing it down and I’m looking around
And I’m lovin this town and I’m doing alright
Aint’ worried ’bout nothing except the man I wanna be
I’m thinking it’s time to be livin’ the rhyme
When I’m singing a song about nothing but right
And it’s sure be nice if you would roll with me

Eventually I plan on ceasing with the Ryan Adams talk. (I said eventually, Cory).  But for the moment this eclectic musician has my full attention.  Not since the release of Continuum has an album gripped me from first word to last chord like this one. In the days leading up to its release, I fought the good fight to be strong and refrain from listening until my musical boy bff Jeff’s listening party Tuesday night. But even the bravest soldiers sometimes lose in battle, and this was a battle I was destined to lose.

Nine other Ryan Adams albums and a handful of unreleased EPs have provided the soundtrack to so many of my ‘transition to adultdom’ days, and if you hadn’t figured it out yet, the bar for Cardinology was almost unobtainable. It was the newborn baby born to a family already full of successful children.  However, that’s the brilliance of Adams.  Each and every album is a distinct offering, a unique piece of art that deserves a room of its own in a musical museum.

From the first listen, I was obsessively rewinding portions of each song to hear the lyrical sentiments over and over again.  I was enamored with the musical sound of each moment, and the stories each song told hit me square in the chest.  As much as Jacksonville City Nights is my favorite RA album, this was just seemed more approachable for my journey.  Even stranger, there are somewhat positive songs on this album.  I’m sure many die-hard fans will find it too main-stream and lacking in the gut-wrenching songs of emotional devastation, but as I’ve come to learn, girl cannot live on depression alone.  So for my musical gushing this week, I offer you Cardinology.  Hopefully, it will command your ear like its done mine, and WHEN (not if) it does, go buy the album and suppor the artist.  Pretty please!

Born Into A Light: “For everything that’s wrong there is a worried man. There is a reason why. We just don’t understand but will.  You got to keep the faith.”

Go Easy: “If only to say this to myself, I will always love you. I will always love you. So go easy on yourself.”

Fix It: “I know it’s not a game. But it feels like losing when someone you love throws you away. I’d fix it.”

Magick: “So turn the radio up loud and get down. Let you body move. Let you body sway. Listen the music play. It’s magick.”

Cobwebs: “If I fall will you catch me? If I’m sorry, sorry enough? If I fall will you pity me? Will you confuse my love for the cobwebs?”

Let Us Down Easy: “Every season i spend alone feels like a thousand in my heart and soul. So let me down if you must, but let us down easy, Lord. Let us down easy.”

Crossed Out Name: “I wish I could tell you just how I felt. I don’t pray; I shower and say goodnight to myself. When I close my eyes, I feel like a page. With a crossed-out name.”

Natural Ghost: “I was waitin’ around for somebody to die. Nobody did, but a part of me died. I suppose from all that waiting.”

Sink Ships: “War is over. And I’m waiting in the sinking ship. If only I had known.”

Evergreen: “And maybe you’ll find someone to lay some roots down next to you. Be more like the trees and less like the clouds.”

Like Yesterday: “The trees outside are still. I take a sleeping pill and feel a little less pain.”

Stop: “Call in the backup and the backup comes. Nobody can help you if you won’t. Inside your chest your heart is just hurt. Behind your eyes a need replaced a want.”