well, it's been 30 weeks. i'm now car-less. gave the saturn to my friend rachel, and now get around mainly by folding bike. it's kind of nerdy, riding around town on a bike that i might have stolen from an oompa-loompa (same color and everything). included are 20 inch tires, 7 speeds, a steering post that will never quite be steady, and some sort of power over the minds of others. the bike provokes many comments..."i thought it was a wheelchair", "is that for you or your kid", "you ride that on the street?", "do you need a ride home?".

daddy taught me not to ride with strangers.

i'm in the middle of "get rid of the car" frenzy. my friend john (and soon to be former landlord) gave me one of his old bikes. i've been bike commuting for about a week and a half...wonderful stuff!!! i used to think anyone on a bike on this city is crazy. everyone else i've talked with about biking thinks i'm crazy. but i'm here to tell you, it's a very satisfying way to get around. it's even fun in the rain (except for when you get to your destination soaking wet...yum). exercise is good too.

i've also been obsessed with buying a scooter. it's not that pressing, thanks to the bike and my need to totally revamp my own financial management habits. now i'm down to two jobs. yes, two. i'm quitting most of my music gigs because i'm burned out. right now, i'm in two operas...i know, i vowed never to do that again...and it sucks. though i'm having fun with turandot...park and bark at it's finest.

the wonderful thing about biking: you see lots of things that you miss in the car. i'm going to be posting my pictures of the city here...along with my commute stories. but for now, shower!

well...in a post game update...our first season ticket game was a bit sad. the marlins jumped up on us for 5 runs in the first. chasing our new starter redman out in the third inning. we didn't have an answer, and ended up losing 11 to 4, or something crazy like that. however, jenny and i had a splendid time drinking expensive beer and being a little bit too cold. stayed the whole game.

i've been thinking about braves fans...i wish we, as a whole, cared more about the game. there is some sort of diversion centering around the hugest plasma tv in the universe in between every half inning. hosted by this crazed redneck jeff foxworthy wannabe...i feel like a monkey in a zoo during the game breaks. with the zoo-keepers saying "look here monkey, look here...good monkey!". then, to make matters worse, the only time people really get into cheering is after they are admonished by the huge wraparound scoreboard. "make some noise monkey!"...watch some youtube videos of international soccer matches. the fans there are so passionate, each team has a set of songs the fans sing at games during play. there are riots over the game...fans know and understand what is going on on the field. if only the braves would do more to focus our attention on the beauty of the game. help us to understand what's going on. then maybe we can cheer without being hit over the head with an iron skillet.

speaking of skillets...i am terrible at catching and throwing a football. a few months ago, i bought one to keep in the back of my car. hey, i didn't have a football! that's sad. now, i'm thinking of purchasing a basketball for the same reason. i don't own a basketball. what kind of person have i become??? it's just sad.

on a lighter note, my little coffee job is developing into something really nice. i am in line for promotion, and my manager aaron thinks i would be a good manager. that might end up being a really sweet gig for me. working for the evil empire is nice. right now, as a part-time peon worker i have health benefits, 401k, and a stock purchase plan. not only that, i like the life of the coffee shop. i go home...there is no planning, nobody calling me, no extra rehearsals, no responsibility for the young kids of america. lately i've been feeling the need to not have a job that drains me emotionally and physically. teaching...not so sure about it anymore. in fact, that is an understatement. i think i would be perfectly happy working coffee shop in the morning, and singing around atl at night.

it's fostered a dream too...the dream to one day open a coffee shop of my own. katie and john and i actually have been talking about it. of course, that would take lots of work, and much capital in the beginning...but i really would enjoy it! well, enough of my anti-every thing i'm doing rant. maybe i'm just destined to wander through this life. hey, i am a sagittarius enfp...what the hell else could i do?

i've been thinking about baseball alot lately. first off, jenny and i bought 9 game flex season tickets this year. i've never had season tickets before...and this is supremely exciting. tonight is our first game...braves vs. marlins. redman pitching for us and willis pitching for them. funny thing is, willis is on my fantasy baseball team (the king prawns)...so i will be rooting for myself to lose money tonight in more ways than one (buying beer and hot dogs, losing the fantasy league). but, that's how it goes. braves come first.

last night, ry offered us dugout tickets with he and sara to the last nats game. unfortunately i had rehearsal for catholic church. i'm leaving them soon, and we have rehearsed so little in the past couple of months because of my opera i couldn't stand to cancel it again. however, i would really have liked to have gone.

i have a few thought on the braves season. first off, it seems that we have a much better team this year. our bullpen looks great. our gm really fixed the problem...even with our thin starting rotation, i think our pitching is going to be just fine. we've got a whole new right side of the infield, it's exciting to have young players come up. johnson seems to be able to play second pretty well, though his hitting hasn't really kicked in yet. if he can just get on base he will score. thorman has been playing well, even gotten some clutch hits. diaz must be an awful fielder, because he hits the daylights out of the ball, but can't find consistent playing time. i love langerhans, but for the love of god the man needs to learn how to hit.

i'm hoping for some good pitching tonight. we're sitting in the upper deck behind first (or maybe third) base. my dream right now is to settle down my life and buy season tickets for the braves season. they start at about 270 bucks, so i definately can afford them. it is a serious time commitment, but hey...i'm cool with it. i'll write a ben post game update.

well...it's sunday night, i've got work to do...but i can't bring myself to pick up the pencil. such a long day. wine, wine, wine.

well, i seem to have lost my phone. i've looked everywhere...but i must have left it at sidelines on chastain road last night. i went out drinking with the directors of elixer (my kennesaw belle opera), and haven't seen the phone since. unfortunately, there is no way to call sidelines to see if they have said phone. a trip may be in order, or a call tonight from jenny's phone. but, i kind of enjoy it being lost. in fact, i really enjoy it. ha! take that rat race. yet, i still have many places to be. the world can wait.

it feels like a weekday. worked the coffee shop this morning, and am getting ready to go see cousin betsey's art show, then off to a singing party with jenny's mom (and her parlor singing cohorts). not sure what to expect. but, there's food and free booze. always a winner.

i just finished reading the store copy of ishmael beah's book 'a long way gone'. it's about his journey into and out of being a child soldier. it's amazing to me what i have, and how our life is so different from the lives of those in places like sierra leone (where ishmael is from). i'm sitting here in a great loft, in the middle of one of the wealthiest parts of atlanta. it's a small space by our standards...but it is so much more than 90% of the world has. i'm washing 3 loads of clothes right not (1 load of all black...haha, such a diva)...when ishmael left his country to come to america he had 2 shirts, 2 undershirts, and 3 pairs of pants. are you kidding me? not only that, he had wandered alone without parents for years! being forced to kill and emotionally manipulated by evil, evil men.

on the daily show he said "we are all capable of great evil and great good"...i have always thought this is true. every one of us should try to keep that in mind when we go saying terrorists or arabs are evil or not right. they are doing terrible things! but they are still human. there must be a way to recognize the brotherhood of all humans, so that war can end.

it pains me to know that ishmael can go through something like that in sierra leone, while our very capable army stood by and did nothing. not only that, it's still going on in other places today...while we are fighting (in a very similar situation now) in a war brought on by dishonest leadership for selfish reasons.

okay, enough of that rant. time to switch loads.

well...i've got a little break from my insanely hectic schedule. let's do a little breakdown of my burnout inducing business...

jobs:

starbucks coffee man
church choir director (church 1)
children's choir director (church 3)
teen mass music director (church 2)

gigs:

alfredo in seven hill's die fledermaus (rome, ga-march)
nemorino in kennesaw state's elixer of love (late march)
laurie in a small production of little women (thankfully, moved from may to october)
georgia state classes (1 hour only, thankfully)

i have no idea what day it is most of the time...and i've got a pillow and blanket in the car so i can take naps in between events. i've already let church #3 know that i'm leaving after this semester, but i've still got to finish up there. boy, am i tired out. i'm laying here for a nap, but can't seem to quiet the mind. it's good to have work...but i have gone too far. if i can just survive through march, we'll be in good shape. if...

luckily enough...i've discovered that i am happy. singing is great for the soul! getting paid to sing opera is really great. my goal is to get my life organized so that i can get away with working towards that goal. oh, it's going to happen. the process has already begun.

well...another one of w's state of the union's has come and gone. i don't think the democrats or republicans are going to be able to pull us out of this iraq mess with any kind of dignity. w brought us into it, and the dems stood idly by because of bush's poll numbers at the time. i hold them both accountable for this! now, lets see who has the vision to get us out of there without causing an enoumous international disaster (oops, too late). i love how w keeps talking the bipartisan talk. there was NONE while they had the power. hmmmm, now can we work together guys? sheesh

i should be sleeping...but i just want to say...who dat!

for going on about the saints...i just wanted to put down my feelings before the game.

it is so strange to me that every single sports prognosticator is picking the saints. that scares me a bit. yes, i'm confident our offense can score on the bears...and i truly believe we'll win. it just doesn't make much sense to me that EVERYONE else thinks we will win too. if the saints make it to the super bowl, i'm definately going to make an attempt to get down to new orleans for the parades. talk about crazy!

i have to watch the game after it's all over...so my phone will be off at about game time. but, at about 930 i'd love to talk to you about the outcome. message me or something during the game and i'll get back to you after

ryan w. is an extreme badass! so, we're putting the rock band back together...and we've been writing songs. so, we decide to do one of mine first...i wrote it over at jennys, it's got a main guitar hook, a vocal melody, chorus, bridge, lyrics...etc... well, ryan sends me this mp3 of all the other parts he's put together. they are amazing. the song works. it's short, loud, soft, and pretty decent. this band is going to rock! i think we're going to work very well together.

tonight i had dinner with my coffee boss, aaron. he is such an intereting guy...very intelligent, but also very gentle. he made spagetti with soyballs, and we sat around his place (with his 2 young boys) and talked. i ended up leaving at 11:15...an insanely late time. good times with good new friends. we laughed about many things (my handwriting especially), and talked about the many interesting aspects of life...especially faith and spirituality. a topic i've been ultra-weird about in my head, but okay with in my heart. and that's okay!