La Vida es Aventura.

Woah!

Life here lately has been an unbelievable adventure lately. A crazed, wild adventure. But it will pale in comparison to the Mission, which will be the greatest Adventure yet, methinks.

Anyway, what is going on in my life? Oh, just everything.

I leave for Utah a week from TODAY! Yes, Monday December 10, I will leave my home for two years. Everything I will need must fit into two suitcases. Because I'm leaving, I'm kind of scrambling to get everything together. Or rather, Mom is scrambling to get everything together while I complain about it. Thank God for my wonderful mother.

But there is still so much to do. From calling all of my out-of-town friends for one last time to going to the optometrist, I've got a full plate this week.

All I do is live/breathe/sleep/think MISSION. Speaking of which, my two childhood best friends, Caleb and Jon Trujillo got their mission calls. Well wait, I'm jumping too far ahead in this story. So there are three missions based in Buenos Aires, Argentina: Argentina Buenos Aires North, Argentina Buenos Aires South, and Argentina Buenos Aires West. So anyway Caleb and Jon are these twins I used to pal around with from about age 7 to 12. Then they moved to Colorado. I've seen them a couple times since and talked to them a few times. Anyway, so they called me on Tuesday and Jon is going South and Caleb West. Weirdness, right?

More mission-related weirdness: one of the guys in The Scene Aesthetic is Mormon. As if that's not weird enough, he's serving a mission in the Argentina Rosario Mission. This isn't just a rumor. Check the site, man, it's there.

Anyway, my last day of work was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. You have no idea how sweet thinking about not going to work is. That night I spent the night at my cousin Reed's house (for clarification I have a brother Reed AND a cousin Reed) and stayed up way too late and got up way too early. But it was very worth it.

The next morning, I went with my sister Marlena and her fam to our sister LeAndrea's house in order to Give Thanks. I really love Thanksgiving. We hung around there for a while and my cousin Ami came up. Then I drove down with my cousin Matt to Disney World.

Man, Disney world was beyond radical. I could start a whole different blog (kirksultradisneyworldtripexplosivehiiyavacation2007.blogspot.com, maybe?) but that would just be unnecessary. Suffice it to say, Disney World rules so hard. Except for Epcot. If you're planning a Disney trip, remove Epcot from your itinerary. It blows. Animal Kingdom is my favorite park down there. The animals really rule so hard. And that Expedition Everest ride they got sporting down there is fun. Disney is just so expensive. You save up and watch it all quickly disappear.

The only drawback to being down there is the warmth...It was November. And there were all these Christmas decorations, but it definitely did not feel like Christmas. In fact it didn't feel like Christmas until I got home and the house was decorated. I'm glad I didn't have to participate in the decorating like last year.

So one of my (if not my absolute most) favorite bands, Anberlin came out with a B-Sides/unreleased album called Lost Songs. This is not really relevant nor is it pertinent but I'm all about the musick.

Okay, I think I'm FINALLY done.

Merry Christmas.

Take a Sad Song and Make it Better.

I saw Across the Universe this weekend. For those of you that haven't heard of it, check out the trailer.

Basically, it's a musical with songs written by the Beatles. They aren't the originals, and they're sung by the actors.

I definitely think that the makers of the film were heavily relying on the fame of the music for the success of the film...the plot is fairly formulaic and there are some pretty huge holes. I was sort of left with questions like, "Wait...who was this character?" or "She's in love with him?" or "How did they get back to the city?"

And being as it was set in the 60s, they have to make a political statement, right? There's a scene where troops are toting around the Statue of Liberty, crushing the tiny palm trees of Vietnam, singing "she's so heavy." Seriously. Ridiculous.

I enjoyed it, though. I was super entertained. I just wished they had a little more script and a little less social commentary. Maybe they had to cut some scenes for running time...perhaps a Director's Cut DVD will be really great? Who knows. And it's fun to look at...one of those movies with a lot of colors and wacky effects that some critic somewhere would call "visually stunning." If you're into good music and some pretty stuff on the screen, check it out. I would go see it again, even though it's got faults.

And "Hey, Jude" and "I've Just Seen a Face" have been stuck in my head ever since.

Today is the Day.

Dashboard Confessional's new record, The Shade of Poison Trees, came out today. It's way too rad. I highly recomend it. From what I've heard so far, it's 100% acoustic, like the early Dashboard albums.

Dashboard Confessional is my favorite band and I've been listening to them since middle school. If you haven't jumped on this bandwagon (ha! bandwagon!), now is the time to do it.

YouTube, Ya'll (2).

As I've said before, I am all about some YouTube. And I like showing folks some of my favorites off of the biggest time-waster on the internet.

I won't post the actual "Leave Britney Alone!" video on here, but clearly, I've provided a link...the reason being that, 1.) Chris Crocker is all sorts of ugly and 2.) this is a kid-friendly blog...ol' Crocker sports quite the potty mouth. So if you don't want to hear that, skip it. However, if you haven't seen it...I mean, its pretty funny...so watch it.

Now onto what we're really here for.

Yes. Another Post about Musick.

This time, the band at hand is Eisley.

Eisley is a family quintet out of Tyler, Texas. The band is made up of four siblings and a cousin...they could change their name to the DuPree Family band. One of the sisters is engaged to Adam Lazzara, the lead singer of Taking Back Sunday and another sister is married to Chad Gilbert, a guitarist in A New Found Glory. Not that any of these facts are really relevant...but I mean, it's cool, right?

Anyway, I just bought their new record, Combinations and it's pretty radical. It's a bit harder than their last record, Room Noises, but I wholeheartedly approve of both disks. Incidentally, they'll be playing here in November. I'm definitely going.

The girls are the singers in the band. The lead singer, Sherri, has a super pretty voice that's most definitely not main-stream-sounding the all of those supposed pop "Divas," but it's not all breathy or weird like a lot of the female vocalists in the Indie rock world are these days. It's just super pretty. There is also some pretty mad harmonizing going on with the other sisters on backing vocals. As a human with a decently functioning brain residing somewhere in my skull, I love harmonizing, and Eisley doesn't at all hold back in that department.

I like Eisley because they're mega chill. And really pretty and soft. And their lyrics are way cool. Look at the lyrics to "Plenty of Paper."

If you're into the downloading scene, check out "Come Clean" off of the new record or "Plenty of Paper" from Room Noises. Or if downloading isn't your bag (it's not mine), just click the Eisley purevolume link at the very top of this entry.

Plans.

I feel like there is nothing left for me to do before I leave. This summer was kind of rad, so I'm satisfied.

However, I've still got some things to do.

The Starting Line is playing here next weekend, the 28th. Also, hopefully Across the Universe will actually be released here sometime. Since it is apparently not being shown here on the 21st.

The first weekend of October, my sister LeAndrea and her family are coming up to visit. Sometime after that, all of my family is supposed to go to Chattanooga for a mountain retreat of sorts, so we can all be together once more before I leave. Also in October, The Academy Is... is playing here. Should be pretty boss.

In November, my brothers Wade and Reed, their families and I are going to DISNEY WORLD the week after Thanksgiving. We're spending Thanksgiving at Le's house. Then we're off to the happiest place on earth. Our cousin Matt will be joining us, which will be rad. And Cartel is playing here! I just saw them last month in Nashville and I saw them another time here in town. They are probably the best band I've seen live.

In December, I go to be a missionary.

Also between now and then, I have to buy a whole lot of crap for my mission: 2 suits, dress pants, dress shoes, WINTER BOOTS, 15-20 (!) pairs of socks, a winter coat, and a slew of other necessities. One thing about being a missionary is that this will be the easiest packing list of my life. I'll basically wear the same thing every day, so it's no biggie.

And then after the mission, I'll spend Christmas here with my family. My best pal, Matt is in the MTC right now, headed for Toronto, Canada. He's also speaking Spanish, so will be communicating nonstop in la lengua de nuestras misiones. Which should be pretty buck.

Then I'm off to BYU in Provo.

Holy cow. Life is finally happening to me. And it's really, really terrific.

Christmas in August?.

This weekend I bought the Sufjan Stevens Christmas CD, Songs for Christmas.

Buy it now. It will complete your life. I've listened to it so much the past few days. And I love it.

A Few Thoughts.

I feel somewhat sickly. Hopefully I will get over this.

I am going to Virginia on Monday. Seriously.

I LOVELOVELOVE musick. I saw The Format (!!!!), The Honorary Title (!!!!!!!), and two bands which I've never heard before, Limbeck and Steel Train (!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Clearly, Steel Train was awesome. The Format was one of the best bands I've seen live.

I finished Harry Potter and it was everything I could have ever hoped for it to be and more.

Matthew is here and will soon be gone.

I randomly thought of this video that came on Cartoon Network in the days of my youth and found it on YouTube. I love it.


Enjoy. Good night.

Little Blessings.

I was a bummer until I heard Paulson!

And then Backseat Goodbye!

Wonderful musick.

Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care.

Man.

I am in a weird mood right now. I am sort of.
I dunneveno. It's odd.

I just saw Relient K. It was very odd and unexpected. Levi called me Monday, "Are you going to see Relient K on Thursday?"
"What?" said I. "Relient K? You're sure that Relient K is playing on Thursday?"
"Yeah," said he, "I heard it on the radio."
"You're positive?"
"Yeah."
"You're positive?"
"Well now that you're questioning me, no. But I'll make sure."

Incidentally, he was completely correct. It was just a bit of an acoustic set. Only six songs. But it was pretty mega rad and everything. I was like three feet away from Relient K. Odd.

I really think that everything just gets better as it goes along, you know? I love every day more and more every day.

But this odd feeling that I was saying about just a second ago. It's in my gut. Like I want to get naked and drive around. Like something really wonderful is going to happen. Like all of my hopes and fears are going to come crashing down in a heap of future happenings. And I won't know what to do because of the exquisite wonderfulness of it all. I'm not sure how that and driving naked coincide, but it seems they do.

I love love love love love The Honorary Title.

Up to Date.

I haven't posted in forever but it feels like there is nothing to say. Here goes nothin'.

I am finding that I am more often than not sleepy as all get out. This is the case right now.

Life is challenging right now. Matt is leaving. The mission papers are not happening (rather, they are happening so slowly that no one, even myself, seems to notice). School is taxing. However, life is going well enough. I am happy, and that is good.

My cousin Reed got home from his mission in Nicaragua last Friday. I love that kid so much. He is so rad. I've hung out with him a couple of times and we haven't really done anything all that great, but it's still super fun nonetheless. I can't really understand a lot of what he has to say because he still speaks English like Nicaraguans (or Spanish speakers in general) speak Spanish. It's funny.

My trip to Atlanta was SO FUN. We (Matt, Kelly, Karen, and I) saw Jonezetta, Meg & Dia, Bayside, and Anberlin. Bayside wasn't that great, but the other bands were SO AWESOME. I had such a good time. The drives there and back were super fun. I love those kids.

School is almost out and this is very exciting. I have some huge plans for the summer. In May, I'm going to Birmingham to see my friend Rebecca and also this band, Animal Collective. In June I am going to Las Vegas then to Salt Lake City to see Matt. And then in either June or July I am going to see Chelsea Dodd. She's the coolest girl I know.

My mission will hopefully happen at the first of July. If not, I am cool to leave, at the latest, at the first of August. But, like I've said, this process is all going very slowly.

I am overwhelmingly excited to go on a mission.

Just Some Stuff I'm Thinkin' about Right Now.

I take an examination today and then after that it's SPRING BREAK. I will be able to turn my brain off for a whole week. That's very exciting.

Listen to Anberlin, because they will change your life. I love their music so much. They are just so Rock and Roll, you know? Real Rock and Roll. Not the gay kind.

I am unbelievably sleepy right now. Seriously, I can't believe it.

Angry (at the World, Perhaps).

Look how gay this band is. They are called Blinded Black, which is also pretty gay. Their music is pretty gay too.

Man, what happened to music, you know? Apparently, these days, Rock and Roll is all about fedoras, swooping hair cuts, popped collars, and going out of the way to look like a bunch of frigging fags. I mean, whatever.

I am very. sleepy right now. And always for that matter.

A Brief Explanatory on the Universe as Theorized by Kirk Thomas Garrett.

I just Q-Tipped my ears. And it's nice because a clean ear is a happy ear, you know?

Anyway, I was just listening to this group Dhira. They are Spanish only like the lead singer is Swedish or something? I don't know. Anyway, they are so good. They even have a sitar! I don't know why that sentence is exclamation point-worthy. I guess I am just really excited.

But anyway, I was listening to Dhira and I was just thinking about how I really, really like music. A lot. I mean, I don't want to be one of those people that's all, "MuSiC iS mY lIfE!!**" or anything, but it feels like music is part of me. I really just feel good when I listen to music.

And I really think that sometimes humans are capable of feeling music. Not the vibrations of it or anything. Like the actual music itself. I think that sometimes when you are in the right place and the right music is playing at the right volume that there are nerves in your body which feel it. It's like when you feel heat. Only music isn't necessarily warm. It just feels like it's in your body because your nerves feel it. I think that these nerves are in your stomach because it seems like whenever I feel music, the feeling starts in my belly and spreads out until it touches my toes and the top of my head.

And I'm no brainologist or anything. And you probably think I'm wrong. But if that's the case, then you are listening to the wrong music. Put down the country or the rap and pick up a descent record that has some actual electric guitars and a real set of drums played by someone who is not named Bubba. I mean, I like rap just us much as the next guy, but I mean your music nerves are not going to respond to lyrics like "Do yo' chain hang low?" or "Lemme see yo' grill."

They, the nerves, only respond to music that feels like it was written by the universe itself--music that glorifies innocence and youth, music that shows love as something that is the most beautiful and dangerous thing in creation, and music that let's you know that getting older is inevitable and that things turn out just fine in the end.

And that brings me to another theory of mine about the universe: the Vortex. The Vortex is a very rare occurrence when you, your body, is the actual center of the universe. Now the beauty of this is that the universe is infinite and by definition has no center. That is what makes the Vortex so awesome in its power and influence.

See, you feel the Vortex when you have that feeling in your body, most especially your chest and stomach, when everything feels right and good. It might be described as feeling infinite. It might also be described as feeling like you are nonexistent. More specifically, the Vortex makes you feel like everything and nothing mutually. Feeling the Vortex is exclusive to no one and you have probably felt it before, but you didn't realize it.

The Vortex likes to show up when you are quiet. When you are with people you love. When you witness the massive beauty of creation. When you are listening to good, soft music. But perhaps not all of these at the same time. For example, when last I felt the Vortex, it was when I was on the side of a mountain in Las Vegas and I saw the hugeness of the city and the wind on my face. Nothing big, but I understood the gravity and beauty of the situation.

However, the Vortex chooses you. You cannot coax the Vortex into coming. I have tried it and the Vortex is so big that it knows when you need it. Also, the Vortex has to watch everyone so it is gone in a flash. You may feel it for ten minutes at most and then it will be gone for months.

You might feel it when you are in love. You might feel it when you are driving very fast on the Interstate at night. You might feel it lying in the grass looking at the sky. But so many people skip over what they feel in the deepest parts of their bodies or simply don't participate in quiet, beautiful activities and miss that they are the Vortex. They feel too much with their heads and not enough with their bodies.

That is the trick with these things. You have to let your self be still enough to listen and then you have to let your body function as it should: in one unit. Your brain, your heart and your gut have to work together. God put them in one container, your skin, and you have to let them be one in order for them to catch on to the little things that are so huge that the universe has.

But don't concentrate so much on the little big things that you miss the average things. Those are just as beautiful as the universal and a lot more common.

Like clean ears. Clean ears really do feel good. Like I've always said. A clean ear is a happy ear.

Check Out this Sweet Music Video.

It's this europop band, Porcupine Blood. They're British.



[I mean, technically that's just Grant and I. But it's still pretty rad, right?]