You don't do it on purpose but you make me shake.

One week from today I will be flying across the country to see the most beautiful girl that has ever existed. I have never been so excited or so nervous.

When Lintsay does one of these I know it's time for me to do mine too. : )



( Yep, it's a survey! )

You know what, I think I finally figured it out. I don't like it, but I've figured it out. And you know what, it's not my loss so much as yours.

I'm not going to say I'm not hurt, but I'm not going to get all spun out about it. I've dealt with far less and lost far more.

Sometimes silence is a more painful answer than an answer you didn't want to hear.

I'm flying out east to see Amee from July 5th through July 12th. I'm excited not only to see her but also to get away from home for a few days and let my head clear out before school. Poncho has requested I bring home a groundhog (or a Timberline Beaver!) for his birthday when I come. I explained the difficulties of bringing one home and he looked at me for a few second and said "Papa, you can do this. Be a man!"

Roight...

I just bought a 50" LCD (well after a trade for a drum kit in a round-a-bout way) and want to know how you guys stand yours up. Wall mounting is not an option, and I'm afraid that my 3 year old nephew or my bulldog could turn it over. Are there any of those TV stands that they can mount onto or something to keep it steady without looking like a construction site? (My only idea if we can't find something is to use tie-straps to hold it down to a table, but that's going to be really ugly.)

Does anybody have any advice?

A teacher at my school was ALLEGEDLY (gotta throw that in for legal reasons) arrested for indecent liberties with a child (multiple accounts) and NO ONE I know is surprised.

That REALLY grosses me out.

I feel guilty that my life is going so decently with some of my friends lives in such turmoil.

So who's got a Twitter? I finally broke down and signed up, so add me @ twitter.com/DustyMurphy

Oh well.

Very much so. I find it near impossible to dance and have people on the internet understand that I'm dancing whereas in real life people easily understand that (but not why) I'm dancing. Although they do understand why I'm saying "I'm dancing! I'm dancing!" better in real life.

This is the truest thing I've heard in I don't even know how long, and I think it bears being "published" here too so it gets a small percentage of the exposure it deserves.


"You have to always be willing to give up something for someone else, but to do it without expectations of anything in return"

-Matt Fahey

Does anybody local have SBC internet? I'm looking into them and wonder what the reviews are like.

Thanks!

Does anybody have any old Power Rangers videos they don't want anything or would like to sell? The Power Rangers bug has bitten my nephew and now that he has his very own television, VCR, and video tape collection he really wants Power Rangers videos. He also really likes a show called Kipper that's about a little brown and white dog. Jenni got him a Kipper video he was a teeny-tiny baby and he's started watching it again, so you if you/your folks/siblings/church/whatever wants to sell any of those, let me know.

Thanks.

Today Poncho and I went to Lawrence. He needed to see the dentist and have a crown replaced (which was a harrowing experience. And also one that's for another time. There was much crying going on, needless to say.) and afterward he wanted a milkshake. No big deal, we walk over to get ourselves a milkshake. Two ladies/girls (I'd guess in their mid-to-late 20's) were sitting behind us and Poncho was drinking his milkshake and just kind of enjoying everything and he asked me just how an amp could make a guitar louder. So I started drawing out some little pictures on napkins and explaining it and these ladies started talking and one of them kept saying "Have you 'There Will Be Blood' that oil movie? Those two are just like that movie." and after she said how we were just like it the third or fourth time, I told Poncho "Turn around and tell her about your milkshake, babe." and he said "This is my milkshake. I DRINK IT ALL UP!" which we had played up a bunch after he heard it on tv and we started saying it to each other a lot. I thought it was really funny.

Mama didn't think it was quite as funny, but I was happier with There Will Be Blood than if they had compared us to Paper Moon or something.

I just walked into the bathroom and my sister was brushing her teeth was Clorox. With MY toothbrush. When said "What the hell are you doing?" she said "Haven't you ever heard of people bleaching their teeth?"

And that's not even the craziest thing she's done today.

I got this through Facebook, but I decided to post it here too, since not all my LJ friends are on Facebook.



1.) I have more records than anybody you’ve ever met. Unless you’ve met somebody that owns a record store. I don’t actually know the exact number, but it’s more than a thousand. (I know about how many more than a thousand, but it’s not really believable. And, yes, I have listened to them all at least once.)
2.) My favorite band of all time is The Beatles, and everything can be traced back to them somehow. They’re why I took up the guitar, which eventually led me down the path to being a professional songwriter. It’s all their fault!
3.) I have had never a hangover, ever.
4.) My favorite color is magenta.
5.) I had three guitars from the time I was about 13 that were my total dream guitars. I own two of them now. One was a Gretsch 6120 with full western implements, and I bought one in 2006. The second was a Rickenbacker 12-string like Tom Petty’s on the cover of Damn The Torpedoes, which finally arrived in Nov. 2008 after a three year delay. The third is a Gretsch White Falcon like Neil Young used to use, which someday will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.
6.) I have passed over 100 kidney stones. And not just little grain of sand kidney stones either, 4mms or more. True story.
7.) My favorite song is Walk Away, Renee by The Left Banke, and has been for a long time. A close second is September Gurls by Big Star.
8.) Speaking of Big Star, I’m such a fan that I named my nephew Alex after Mister Alex Chilton.
9.) I absolutely believe in ghosts. I also believe that there is life somewhere beyond Earth. I don’t know if “aliens” exist, per say, but I do believe there are other forms of life out there.
10.) The movie “The Strangers” scared me more than a movie should. And not a “Ooh this is a scary movie” type of scare, but a continuing type of scare that still lingers. I think that most of this stems from living in the middle of nowhere and people coming to our house asking if someone else lives here/is here occurs far more often than you would think.
11.) I’m constantly haunted by Papa’s death, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think back on it and try to remember something or think of something I could have done.
12.) It’s been a rough ride at times, and when people ask “if I could go back and do it again, what would I change?” I always tell them that I would like to do it all again, but I wouldn’t change anything. And it’s true.
13.) I’ve had a few instances of sleepwalking in my life. Once I woke up outside, in the snow, wearing only sweatpants, and literally had little pieces of ice stuck in my stubbly beard. Nobody knows what set it off and it’s the only time I ever went outside or did very much at all. It started when I was about 16, and seemed to taper off a couple of years ago.
14.) I met Bruce Springsteen once and gave him a CD of some of my songs that had my “songwriter’s business card” with my name, phone number, address, and e-mail on it inside the case. Six months later he sent me a package in the mail with a letter that offered advice and compliments on a song by song basis, along with some guitar picks and a signed promo copy of Magic. I framed everything, even the manilla envelope.
15.) I have met (on different occasions) Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Mike Love, Keith Richards, Johnny Ramone, Todd Rundgren, Billie Joe Armstrong, Adam West, Iggy Pop, and a number of newer and less “famous” musicians. I saw Paul McCartney in person at a guitar store once and although security wouldn’t let me get too close he signed the back of a business card I handed to one of the security guards. It said “Peace & Love, Paul McCartney” then his security guard told me to “Fuck off already.” Peace and love indeed.
16.) I have saved every letter and burned CD I have received from friends/fans/lovers/family/other loved ones in the last 10 years and when I’m depressed I read through them. It helps better than anything else I’ve found.
17.) The TV shows I love the most all have something to with nostalgia, whether they be vintage shows, shows set in the past, or documentary types. A close second are shows like Law & Order and The Closer.
18.) Every New Year’s Day since I was 11 years old, I have watched The Twilight Zone. It’s one of my longest standing traditions and I feel like repeating the tradition every year gives me good luck throughout the year.
19.) I feel like people don’t give me enough credit sometimes. I’m not stupid. I’m usually more aware of any given situation than most people. Just because I don’t react or don’t act the way people want me to doesn’t mean I’m not filled with emotion. I learned that from Papa and I felt like he was generally the smartest person in any situation, so I follow his lead. So far, I’ve never felt I should have done something different. Papa told me once that usually the guy that’s not saying anything when everybody else is talking is the guy that knows the most. And I think he was right.
20.) I think we’re all fated and have a specific purpose in life and that it was all written before our time. But I don’t believe in love at first sight. Some people don’t understand this, but I think that believing in fate makes perfect sense whereas love at first site doesn’t. For me, at least.
21.) Although I often thought the opposite at the time, I’ve come to realize that every piece of advice Mama and Papa gave me was completely true. I see everyday in life.
22.) I fiercely believe in the law of karma, and always do my best to do the right thing in every situation and treat people the way I want to be treated.
23.) I play guitar, bass, drums, mandolin, banjo, piano/keyboard (kind of), cello, viola, harmonica, glockenspiel, and more.
24.) I went to a psychic once with some friends, and she told me that she kept seeing The Beatles when she was talking to me (which was weird, we weren’t wearing any Beatles stuff) and told me, among other things, that when I met “the one” that she was going to love James Bond movies. I would normally take something like that with a grain of salt, but so many of the things she said were either true or came true that I actually ask girls when we start dating “Do you like James Bond movies?” So far, at best, they’ve been ambivalent. So far, none of them have been the one. Coincidence? You decide.
25.) Much like Fox Mulder, I want to believe. To me, if you don’t believe there’s more out there than is known or accepted, what fun is there in life?

It's been so long since I felt like I was really alive and the world was full of possibility that I'd forgotten what it felt like. It's an exciting time to be alive.

Bring them home
Watch them go
All you know is you hope they'll hurry back
And you cry
Then you lie your frail body down
Like a penny on a railroad track
And even if they stay in touch
The past stays in the past
But every time
You crash a little bit harder than the last
And every time you crash don't you