Matt's blog

The story of me, an American in Edinburgh, Scotland finding my place as a musician, a husband, a father and a Christian.



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A Spring Break Adventure!

So on Friday night Jeni and I get dropped off at the Spokane Airport to fly down to L.A. for spring break and find out that our flight is cancelled! And not just a little cancelled, either, but all the way, this flight ain't happening cancelled. Apparently there was some sort of mildew in the motor or something, and they had to tow the plane to Portland or something to get it fixed. Well, this is an inconvenience, but not a huge problem, we can simply fly later that night or on another airline or something. Except for the fact that it's spring break, and every airline is fully booked till about Tuesday. Oh yeah, the other factor is that Jeni and I have an engagement party planned for Saturday in Los Angeles which my grandmother had flown in from North Carolina for...the story goes on... So we figure we can just take a later flight out of Spokane on United but the earliest time they could get us into L.A. from Spokane would be about midnight Saturday night, which kind of ruins the plans for the engagement party. Well, we find out from the guy working at the counter that there is a flight leaving for L.A. from Seattle at noon on Saturday, which would get us into town in time to have the party Saturday evening. Of course the problem is that there are no flights into Seattle arriving before noon Saturday. At this point we decide, hey, if we can't fly to Seattle we could just drive! Of course we couldn't take Jeni's car, because then it would end up stranded in Seattle, so we decide to get a rental. It'll be a pain, cause I'm the only one old enough to drive the car so I'll have to drive the entire 325 miles or so, but that's ok. Then, as I am attempting to rent the car, my credit card declines. Wha'!?!? And of course, you can't rent a car with cash and Jeni can't pay with her card cause she's not old enough to rent a car, etc..., etc... So I call my credit card company to find out why my card declined to discover that my credit limit is $2 short of the amount I need to rent the car. After a few minutes on hold, the company raises my credit limit by $5 so I can rent the car. Jeni and I decide we are going to drive over that night and stay in a motel over night to make sure we don't miss the flight in Seattle. As we drive across the state Jeni and I get to hang out and talk with each other with no interruptions or distractions for the first time in months. The radio stays off for the entire drive. That made the entire ordeal worth is. When we get to the hotel in Seattle we look at the clock and it says it's after midnight. It didn't feel like it should be that late, but we just set an alarm for 8:15 and go to sleep. We wake up a 8:15, shower, get downstairs and eat breakfast at nine, leave for the airport at 9:30, return the car at the airport and get in line to check in for our noon flight at what we both think is about 10 or 10:15. As we are waiting in line to check in I look at the departure screen to make sure our flight isn't cancelled again, and see that the flight is on time. I also see the clock on the screen that says the current time is 9:10 am. Weird... We check Jeni's cell phone, and it's true. The clock at the hotel must have been about an hour and a half fast, so we got to spend an extra hour in SeaTac airport. Fun stuff. We finally get in to L.A., and have a great engagement party and everything turns out ok. And that brings us to right about now. Well, I'm sorry that writing was so lacking in grace and constantly shifting from present to past tense, but hey, I'm really tired. I've driven 325 miles straight, flown from Seattle to L.A., and had about a 4 hour long engagement party in less then 48 hours. I'm tired. I'ma sleep now.


Well, I've gots to say, I got a pretty pathetic response on the favorite smell memory question in my last post. You people need to convince me that I'm not just typing into thin air for no reason, although I very well might be. Come on people, contribute, pitch in your fair share, your two cents. Making darkbeerisathrillride.blogspot.com a great place to be on the internet is a team effort.

Seriously people, there's no I in blog.

This post's (hopefully) conversation starter: What's your favorite rental car memory? Share the wealth, leave a comment, make this blog a better place!

The Nose Knows

A very old smell just came over me. I've heard that smell memory is the most vivid and long lasting memory that humans have. This was a very old smell. I couldn't identify it, and as I smelled it I couldn't attach any specific memory to it. I just remembered being very young. I think I was in early elementary school. I felt the distinct feeling of a time of my life that has long since passed, but even that feeling I can't quantify. It always makes me feel good to know that somewhere within me are all the aspects of my past: emotions, smells, sounds, experiences-even if I am not always aware of them. Not all baggage is bad. When I walk into my dorm room and am somehow reminded of a feeling I haven't felt since I was a decade and a half younger, I feel closer to myself. I remember that even way back then I was still me, and I know that the experiences I am having today will not be completely lost tomorrow. While we're on the subject I'll share my favorite smell that I do remember and do have a memory attached to.

My favorite smell: The distinct scent of wet asphalt under a hot summer sun. It reminds me of water fights and summer camp when I was a kid.

If you feel like it, tell me about your favorite smell and the memories it brings up in my comment box.

Triangulachoke

'Nuff said.

The honeymoon just got a little more interesting...

Apparently those cute, friendly, and playful sea lions have added this to their bag of tricks. Going out for fish and chips just became an adventure. Never a dull moment, that's what I always say!

Just 'cause you can doesn't mean you should

Never, ever, use Andrew Seely's computer.

Love Your Squid: Well, I hate to run, but I need to get this stuff done tonight.
chimchim91: ok sounds good
chimchim91: i'm done pooping anyways
chimchim91: so i'm going to get up now

Big Fish and more!!!

Sorry about not having a post for a while. I'll need to do better than this if I expect to get off of my brother's never updated list. So, here's the post:

I've never cried in a movie before. Being a very emotionally sensitive guy, I have seriously welled up in almost every movie I've ever seen, but I've never let myself to get to the point of actually crying. Well, this changed a few nights ago when Jeni and I went and saw the movie Big Fish. I'd missed it when it first opened in theatres, so I was glad to get the chance to catch it on the big screen. It turned out to be a fantastic movie, and after only one viewing I'd say it's in the running for my favorite movie ever. For those of you who haven't seen the movie (you should) it centers around a dying father and his son. Those of you hip to the current happenings of my life can probably see why it was easier for me to cry in this movie than in others. (For those of you who have seen the movie-don't worry, I won't give anything away to those who haven't-I cried during the scene when they went down to the river, but I must say I doubt that there were many dry eyes in the theatre at that point.) It has been nearly a year now since my father died, and all the emotions connected to that event are evolving taking on new flavors with age. I imagine that this is a much better emotional response than the response I had to my mother's death, which consisted of little or no emotions at all. Death is a hard thing. That's really all I have to say about it at this point, maybe I'll have more in future posts.

On a lighter note:

Love Your Squid: I titally forgot about that earlier
horsejeni: sorry, so did i
Love Your Squid: totally, rather.
horsejeni: titally? huh?
Love Your Squid: I guess that might have been a Freudian typo
horsejeni: perhaps

Yeah, well...

One of the reasons you haven't gotten a post from me in a while is because I've been playing lots and lots and lots of guitar! I'm kicking around the idea of doing a short concert this summer, maybe at the church. Coming up on my plate before that, however, is Musicfest Northwest in May. This is a big musical competition that is held up here in Spokane every year. A lot of Whitworth college students participate in the festival and I will be one of them this year. The two competition pieces I'm playing are Prelude No. 1 by Heitor Villa-Lobos-a 20th century Brazilian piece- and a Fantasie by Francesco da Milano-a 16th century Italian lute piece. Along with these pieces I am going to present up to 20 minutes of music of my own choosing, which I have yet to choose. Wish me luck, and I'll let you know about the unfolding as it unfolds!

Hope you enjoyed the post. I'll try to get back to the ol' blog a little sooner next time.

By the way:
titally=tidally
Heitor=Heater
Lobos=Lobes
blog=bloc

ARGHH!!!

Snow!!! I hate snow!!! Why the frit is it snowing!!! This is really cheesin' me off!!!

Oh, I almost forgot!

Thanks for the link Amy!

And...

This is the coolest game ever!!!

That is all, you may go back to your lives, or you may read Amy's blog and play Heli Attack II. I'd go with the second option.

Just a General Post/Scholarship Audition

Well, my poor roommate Derrick had, before today, never heard Taco Grande by Weird Al. Well, college is a time to meet new and interesting people I guess. Now he has, and I'm sure he will think his life greatly enriched by it. Frankenstein by Edgar Winter Band is going on now, earlier we had various They Might Be Giants, which he had never heard of at all, and some pretty cool John Scofield. He's now, I'm sure, thinking fondly of the days before I had a computer of my own in the room. I don't think we really share the same musical tastes. Dick Dale is up now, soon to be followed by the Rev. Al Green and maybe some BPBs. You get a free pat on the back if you know what BPBs stands for. Anywho....

So I auditioned for a music scholarship from Whitworth today for next year. Today was the first time that I have actually had to do a live audition in front of a real person. I'm not really sure how I made it this far without doing one before, but here we are. For being my first live audition it went pretty well. My performance was by no means perfect, but I went from one end of my piece to the other without stopping, which I guess is a good thing. My guess is that my scholarship for next year will stay pretty much the same as it was this year. Whelp, bring on mediocrity!!!

Mmmm, mediocrity.


Maybe I'll go back to the BPBs.


I just had blogger run a spell check and obviously I mispelled quite a few words, here are the correct spellings:
Grande=Grand
Frankenstein=Frankincense
Scofield=Schofield
BPBs=BPCS
Anywho=Anyway
Whitworth=Hitherto
Mmmm=Mm

Well, somehow Boston slipped into my playlist to close my blog with...isn't that nice? Now I'll close my eyes and you'll slip away...




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