4 moments in Kansas

This last weekend I went back to Manhattan and Kansas City. It was amazing of a reunion as I could have hoped for. The weekend consisted of catching up, baseball, settlers, stories, craps, homework, redbull, laughter, seizures, backgammon, church, movies, depth, and exhaustion. Within this weekend there were 4 moments that meant more to me than anyone will know.

1) Alumni Baseball Game. My childhood and baseball are synonyms. Every summer I played for an extremely talented little league baseball team. We would win NBC state every year and head off to nationals each August. We won the NBC Little League World Series in Minnesota when I was 14. Playing this final game of baseball with all of my college friends around was phenomenal. It didn't matter that I went 0-2 with a BB (even though I did hit a homerun in warmups). It mattered that I spent that afternoon playing a beautiful game with my close friends.

2) Craps in Topeka. This part of my weekend is all about fun. Roadtrips at 8pm to a casino with some of the funnest people I know. Anytime you can gather 5 hilarious people around one end of a craps table, AND the roller goes on a heater is going to be a great time. Especially being able to spend time with Guinty and Tim (I mean Roth).

3) A simple slap on the back. It was the smallest of moments, but when we were at Church in Kansas City the pact crew (minus 1) was sitting on the pews when Josh Tedder slapped me in the back and said that he was glad I was there. It was a small gesture and it came from no where. I felt loved right then. It was a good feeling.

4) Coffee shop with Marion. For a few hours on Monday, Marion Griffin and I sat at a coffee shop talking about our lives and our friends. We rehashed about the most recent issues flooding our minds and eventually landed on the topic of image and roles that we project to friends and strangers. Marion said some of the most genuinely nice things anyone's ever said to me. I think it helped me reconcile my life in Kansas City with my life in Austin. (Marion you're going to be a great therapist).

These are just a few moments in a weekend full of amazing moments.

forced to choose favorites (music edition)

I got a new mp3 player a few days ago. It's not big, so it requires me to choose only my favorite artists. Thay are (in no order):

- Iron and Wine
- Sufjan Stevens
- The Avett Brothers
- Vampire Weekend
- Radiohead
- Mumford and Sons
- Sigur Ros
- Local Natives
- Jack Johnson
- MGMT
- Guster
- Fleet Foxes
- Explosions in the Sky
- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
- Dave Matthews Band
- Counting Crows
- Bon Iver

I'm very proud of this list.

when the question is usually the answer...i get confused

How do you become more disciplined?

Being disciplined is usually the ANSWER to questions, not the question itself.

How do I get better at guitar?
You discipline yourself to sit down and work on it.
How do I connect with God better?
You discipline yourself to read the Bible everyday.
How do I become a better student?
You discipline yourself to go to a coffee shop and do the homework without looking at Netflix.

But how do you become more disciplined? No clue. I guess the answer is "just do it." After 25 years of living with myself, I know that I am undisciplined. I think the answer is to surround myself with people like Josh Tedder and Coulter Goodman who are extremely disciplined people. I guess...

Ok, enough of that. I have South Park and LOST to watch on Netflix.