i'm back.

I'm home. And I'm shutting this blogspot business down.

You can find me at tumblr from now on. Click here for my blog in English or here for my blog in Spanish. Pretty much the same material but just in the two languages.

PEACE!

So it Ends.

Well, folks, this is it. This blog has been really fun. Thanks if you read this. I hope you've enjoyed peeking in on my life.

I suppose I'll see you in two years.

And now I leave you with some Christmas love in the form of David Bowie and Bing Crosby.



Love,
ktg.

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.

Women Falling Down.

This is the greatest video on YouTube.

The Greatest Person I Have Ever Met.

Sorry, Veronica Danberry*, but the greatest person I have ever met is my cousin, Ami Jagnandan.

Now, this isn't Ami. This is Paris Hilton. But Ami kind of reminds me of Paris Hilton for a few reasons:

1.) Ami is totally glam.

2.) Paris Hilton and Ami both love Mario Party 6.

3.) Ami, as a rule, will never answer the phone if you call her. Not even one time. I've spent more time leaving Ami voice mails than I've spent doing, I don't know, something. Like, maybe a daily activity? But probably something I don't do for a whole lot out of the day, because in all seriousness, I only call Ami, at most, once every 2-3 weeks. However, if you were to catch her on the phone, this is what she'd look like.

Or, you know, she'd look something like that.

Ami lives in the Atlanta area with her husband and three kids. She and I have a relationship which is hard to describe with words. Basically, we are meant to spend the rest of our lives together. I can remember being about 5 and Ami's family coming to visit and she asked me who my favorite cousin was. I confusedly replied that it was she; "confusedly" because the answer seemed so obvious.

Ami laughs at my jokes and I laugh at hers. Because they are funny jokes. Seriously.

Ami is married to this guy, Davin, who is like half Sri Lankan and half Moldovan or something. Either way, he is brown. Maybe you don't know what I mean by this. Let me explain: I am an Anglo Saxon and he sure as hell isn't.

I hate Davin. Not because he's brown. It's simply a coincidence that I hate him and he's brown at the same time. But he's not funny...not even a little. This is an old picture of Davin that I found in a family photo album.

You may ask why he's wearing those clothes. I may ask why Ami ever married him in the first place. Notice the gut. And the vacant look of sheer incomprehension. Davin's been in school since like 1964 or something. Get a job, pal.

Ami's got these kids, Ethan, Aidan, and Sidney. Ethan and Aidan are both really smart. Sidney is, I think, less gifted (the last time I was around, she crapped her pants...like a couple times a day), but she still asks about me, so I'm down with whatever. Ethan and Aidan both have a future in some form of comedy; Ethan can write it and Aidan can act it out or something. Either way, they are both hilarious. At this point, with what I've seen from Sidney, I'd say that she's got a promising future in drinking cheap bourbon and having chia pets. But we're all blessed with different things.

I like going to Ami's house because it's 100% fun time. And Ami's idea of fun is not going and looking at stuff. In fact, Ami doesn't really like "going." We just sit and eat good food and we all make fun of each other. Oh, and we now play Round Robin Ping-Pong. Ami's house is a social lubricant far more powerful than any alcoholic beverage. Where else would my best friend describe my sister LeAndrea as looking like "any lesbo"? Nowhere, friends. Except for maybe heaven, because that's what being at Ami's is like.

Ami also introduced me to David Sedaris, who wrote some of my favorite books, including Me Talk Pretty One Day. I love to sit and listen to her read Sedaris's essays aloud. And the best part is is that she keeps in all the swear words.

Nowadays Ami goes to the gym and does yoga. I'm not really sure what that's all about, but I think "going to the gym" is code for something that most people aren't supposed to know about. Because that's not really Ami's style. But apparently she's lost a lot of weight and is still going strong. Screw Lance Armstrong, somebody make some bracelets for Ami.

I am going to see Ami around Thanksgiving, which will be pretty great. I am way excited. We belong side by side, a privilege which I have been robbed of by Davin. What a worthless crap sack.

All the potshots aside, Ami really is a rad lady. She loves her kids and has a sweet, sensitive heart. And I've never seen her fall down, not once, and I still love her. That's how great she really is. Because, seriously, seeing Ami fall down would be the funniest thing I can think of.

*Veronica Danberry is in no way, whatsoever, a "real" human being.

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.

My Mission Call Video.

So my sister Marlena put this together for me. Don't make fun of my crying. I'm kind of an emotional wreck.

Argentina. I still can't believe it.

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.

Best Day of the Week.

I just want to say that tonight's episode of The Office was the best yet. Holy freaking crap. I don't want to ruin it for anybody. But seriously. So good.

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.

This is All I Frigging Think About (2).

::// Please Note: The contents of this blog have been very limitedly edited to ensure that my brother Reed will get off of my proverbial case. By way of information, the modifier is no longer misplaced.

Duh, my mission!


As you can see, that big blue blob up there is Argentina. The parts (that's right, parts...with an "s" at the end) in orange are the boundaries of my mission. I'll serve in northern Buenos Aires and surrounding areas--the smaller orange section towards the north--and in the provinces Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego--the larger section in the deep, deep south. Tierra del Fuego, the part floating off the mainland, according to Wikipedia has an annual average temperature of 5.3ºC--COLD.

Down in the south, I might run into the endings of the Andes Mountains. Hopefully, with both of my areas having borders on the ocean, I'll be able to see the Atlantic from the Southern Hemisphere. I will not, like I was stupidly thinking originally, be able to see the Pacific (which is a life goal). Maybe I'll see the Strait of Magellan. That would be cool.

I report to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah on December 12. I'll be there for two months learning Spanish and how to be a missionary, so I won't actually get to Argentina until February of next year. According to a friend of mine, who just left the MTC a week or two ago, the MTC is like the movie Groundhog Day; you do the same exact thing every day. For two months.

Some guys in my ward (a "ward" is a Mormon congregation) Andrew and Taylor Blain are going to be in the MTC in late January, so I'll probably run into them. And my second cousin (isn't that what you call your first cousin's children? Or is it "first cousin once removed"?) Bryan will be in the MTC a week after I get there. He won't be speaking a foreign language, though, so he'll leave after only a couple weeks. And my buddy Steven will get to the MTC about a month before I do. It will be neat to see all of those guys. Just for information's sake, Andrew is going to Monterrey, Mexico; Taylor is going to Arequipa, Peru; Bryan is going to Charleston, West Virginia; and Steven is going to Hong Kong. Good stuff.

My sister Marlena served a mission in Anaheim, California and spoke Spanish. She tells me Argentine Spanish, called Castellano, is super different from anything Mexican. So I'm thinking that although I've had some Spanish training, it will all be for naught when I actually get down there. But who knows.

At any rate, I am more excited now than I have ever been in my life. And "excitement" is an emotion that comes in huge quantities with me. I have never felt so determined that what I'm doing is right and good. I have never felt so happy. I am overwhelmingly stoked to work hard, to struggle with whatever obstacles I've got coming, to learn so much about myself, God, and others. I am confident that it will be the greatest experience of my life.

Argentina. Man. How awesome is that?

The Mission Call.

My Call, from the Office of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

"Dear Elder Garrett:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the Missionary Training Center at Provo, Utah on Wednesday, 12 December 2007. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language. Your Mission President may modify your specific assignment according to the needs of the mission.

You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel. You will be an official representative of the Church. As such, you will be expected to maintain the highest standards of conduct and appearance by keeping the commandments, living mission rules, and following the counsel of your mission president. As you devote your time and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind all other personal affairs, the Lord will bless you with increased knowledge and testimony of the Restoration and of the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Your purpose will be to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. As you serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, the Lord will lead you to those who are prepared to be baptized.

The Lord will reward you for the goodness of your life. Greater blessings and more happiness than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in this labor of love among His children. We place in you our confidence and pray that the Lord will help you become an effective missionary.

You will be set apart by your stake president. Please send your written acceptance promptly, endorsed by your bishop.

Sincerly,
Gordon B. Hinckley, President."

Buenos Aires! How cool is that?! I am unbelievably stoked.

LOMO!.

Here's the photos from my first foray into Lomography. I had some issues with film rewinding, so some turned out oddly. But that's okay...they're Lomo, right?

My friend Erin and I.

One of those that got messed up. Notice the two fisheye circles?

And another.

Just woken up. I love this one.

JD and Hauns, guys I work with.

My brother, Reed.

My friend Allie and I. Notice the light squigglies on her face and shoulders--Multiple Exposure.

Allie and I.

Allie.

Messed up. But still cool.

Another.

Lookin' so tough.

Inside of my lense cap.

Beautiful scenescapes of Manchester, TN.

Well, there you go. Enjoy.

A Product Review (My First).

To start. I'm gonna send a shout out to my girl Carolyn and her blog. Carolyn is my sister Marlena's best friend and recently moved here. Her blog, unlike mine, has some coherence and a main theme: Motherhood. She apparently checks up on this blog here and is one of my (approximate) 4 readers, which is nice of her to humor me. Hi, Carolyn!

In other news, I got a Lomography Fisheye 2 (notice the TRIPLE LINK ACTION!) camera last Thursday. It's only the most fun thing ever. Lomography is all about taking fun photos and not being serious. Because in all seriousness, who needs seriousness?

This camera is capable of multiple exposures, and has a setting that will keep the shutter open longer for night shots. In addition to the built in flash, I also bought the colorsplash flash which can flash not only white light, but 12(!!!) different colors. Also, the Fisheye 2 is a film camera (I can honestly almost hear you thinking "Film? What is this, 1998?"). But film is cool to me...it feels simpler and more fun with film in the "Digital Era."

There is little doubt that some of you are thinking that this camera is not only unimpressive but a complete waste of effort, time, and money. That's okay. I'm already used to confused looks and questions of "Why?" from any number of persons. Just last night my brother Wade called it "just a little novelty thing," which clearly leads me to believe that not only does he not get it but he doesn't even like the idea of it. But if you're feeling in the dark about the whole thing check the About Section of the Lomography website. There you'll find that it's seriously all about capturing how fun and simple life is.

The film is being developed right now, so I won't have any photos up from my maiden photo-taking voyage until, at the earliest, Wednesday. But hopefully I will get to the point of posting, with regularity, my fisheye photos.

Now that I've officially plugged the crap out of that camera (maybe I'll get a check from Lomography?) I'm gonna go ahead and check out.

I just realized how many links there are in this post. That's kind of impressive. Or a bit ridiculous.

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.

"My Soul Has Never Had this Feeling and it Feels Like Gold."

Wow.

It's been forever since I posted. I can't believe that I used to update daily. That's absurd; I never have any time any more.

Last week I went to Virginia and saw CHELSEA DODD. It was the best trip I have ever taken in my life. It was so fun. Looking back, we did nothing truly extraordinary, just a lot of hanging out, but it was so real and so pure and so fun. And life is all about fun.

It was my first time on an aeroplane. I lovelovelove riding on a plane. It's mega fun. I got to fly FIRST CLASS into and out of Atlanta. First Class is niiiiiiiiice.

We spent a couple days in Richmond, near Virginia Commonwealth University. I love that town. So old and so city-like. Everyone there rides bikes. It was three in the morning, and there people were, riding down the road on their bikes. Three seems too late to me. Not in Richmond though.

In Richmond we stayed with Stephen, Chelsea's sister Katie's boyfriend. I'll give you a second to make sense of that previous sentence. Katie and Stephen are so radical. Stephen and I got along super well, and there were so many times that he had me weak with laughter. He reminds me a lot of my brother Reed, it's sort of nuts.

Chels and I went to the beach. I love the ocean. I love the little crabs that will pop out of the sand and look at you funny and if you make any sudden movements, they scoot real quick. I like seagulls because they are so awkward looking. I like seeing dolphins because dolphins are seriously radical. I like little kids in the ocean because they are overwhelmed by fun and surf. The sounds are soft and the air is nice.

The ocean at night is vastly different than the daytime version, and a brand of beauty and magic all its own. It is dark, but I have never felt so bright and happy. I like having my big feet in the cool water and feeling the foam and the sand. Being at the beach was very probably the best day of my life.

We went to Busch Gardens and I rode SO MANY ROLLERCOASTERS. Roller coasters feel like flying. And they are huge and terrifying. I love riding them so much. I always, always say a secret prayer on the bigger ones that we will not die. My prayers were answered that day.

There is a place in Williamsburg called Sno to GO and it is just like Jerry's. I felt like home.

Chelsea's family is so great. Her dad was so cool. He was not frightening like so many dads are. He was easy to talk to and easy to like. Her mom is, I'm pretty sure, my mom in some random body. Obviously, I liked her. It all made sense being there.

I like Chelsea so much. She gets me and I, her. We laugh a lot and joke on each other a lot. It was so great being with her. It feels like being home is the vacation and my real life is in Virginia.

I love that place. I am unsatisfied with this place.

* * * * *

In other news entirely, I am done with my mission papers and will see the Stake President Wednesday. They will then go to Salt Lake and I'll get a call. Absolute Craziness.

Reed Michael Garrett, mi primo favorito, leaves for school on Wednesday.

Everything is ending. It feels right, though, for the first time. Weird.

I'm going Skydiving on Saturday(!) and I might see Cartel on Saturday. Woohoo.

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.

Update: Harry Potter.

I got it.

It is awesome.