New music.

My friendy-friend lent me Death Cab for Cutie's new album, Narrow Stairs. I was really excited, because I love them.

The first time I popped it in, I loved it. But I was surprised. Though this is often the case, it catches me off guard when it happens. It didn't sound like their previous album, but like their early albums. It sounded a lot less studio-perfected and a lot more raw.

I'm not saying I don't like Plans. I do. I think it's one of my top ten favorite albums. I just find Narrow Stairs to be a lot more honest. It brings back memories of their older, more honest, less corporate stuff.

Woah woah woah. Did I just say less corporate? Let me clarify before you give me up as another ranting indie kid.

Before Death Cab signed with Atlantic Records, their stuff was a lot different. More sprawling, less perfected. It's just what normally happens when a band signs with a more mainstream label. They're cleaned up. Their music is honed down to make the best singles.

Once again, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Plans is perfected, and I find it nearly perfect, despite some people's dislike for its perfection. I love every song. I just also like it when an album sounds raw and honest. Gosh, I've used those two words like eight billion times.

Anyway, now that I'm done justifying and clarifying, let me move on with what I was saying. Death Cab's new album sounds more like their older ones than Plans. It sounds more pre-Atlantic. Ok? Ok.

One of the main reasons for this is the length of the songs. The second song "I Will Possess Your Heart", is around eight minutes long, and it's a single.

......what? But that's what amazing about this album. I found myself saying, "What? They're allowed to still do this kind of stuff?" But not in a despairing way. In a pleasantly surprised way.

Ok, I feel I'm beating a dead horse.

The other thing I really like about this album is the lyrics. They're open and honest and....raw? Haha, you bet.

I think I may be done with this, because it's crashing and burning extremely fast.

Lots of good feelings toward Narrow Stairs, ok?

Does Anyone Still Say Slovenly?

I am lazy by nature. I know that this is not a very appealing description for me to give, but it's the truth. I really am just a lazy person.


I don't have much incentive to do most of the things that I'd like to do, like work hard to get good grades, etc. I am a coaster. No, not the cork kind that protects wood tables from cup rings. The kind who coasts through school, sometimes barely scraping by with an acceptable grade.


When I say acceptable, don't be fooled. I'm not talking about acceptable to me. I don't even have that type of standard. I mean acceptable to my parents. The reason I want my grades to be acceptable to my parents? I may get grounded from doing something fun if I don't.


Here is another pathetic but true facet of my already sparkling personality: my standards fluctuate with my grades. If I get a C in Algebra 2, well, it's a hard class, and I tried my best. If I get a D in Physics, well, the teacher's an idiot and it's really hard. I don't know why I am admitting these things. But it's true.


I could have avoided so many grounded weekends, ridiculously late cram nights, and fights with my parents if I'd just put a little more effort into things. But, as Jimmy Eat World would say, "ain't that the way it always goes?" It's so easy to look back on your past mistakes and think, "Man, I could have done so much better," but it's so hard to make the effort when you actually have the chance.

At least, it's hard for me. Or as Billy Madison would say "Well, it was hard for me SO BACK OFF!"

I feel no incentive to type more about my laziness, shockingly enough.

Peace and love until I write again. Which will probably be in a few weeks when I realize I haven't been writing.

The Ice Bowl

Every year, my youth group has "The Ice Bowl" at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. We wear jeans and sweatshirts, (gloves for the less hardcore kids) and we have a battle royale on the ice. what happens is we get these huge helmets to wear, and these sticks with a little black thing on the end. I couldn't tell you what shape the black thing is...it looks like something fell off the end of the stick.

So after we've slapped our huge helmets on, we take our incomplete little sticks and go play. There's a red ball a little bit larger than a fist as our puck. We put the two nets not long ways on the ice, but short ways, because no one wants to skate so far for one goal. Then, the game begins. Usually only ten or twelve people show up, so it's five-on-five, hardcore broom ball. Sans brooms. That's the other thing I don't understand. We don't use brooms. But that's okay.

So once the game is on, I think we all feel our inner Wayne Gretzky take hold. Wearing not skates, but tennies, we slip and slide around after that little red ball.

I have to say, this may sound a tiny bit lame, but it's not. It's really fun. For one, it's fun to ice....skate. If that's what you call it when you're not wearing skates. That part is fun, as well as the whole scoring a goal part. I'm one of those players that stays mostly over by the net...so I can receive passes and score a goal. (I'm sure that I am completely slaughtering hockey terms, but ohhh well.) So after I received a pass, I'd shoot. And usually, I'd have shot it in a way to make it go not at the angle I was hoping, but straight in front of me, slipping right past the entrance to the goal, into the enemy's hands. Ooops. But I did score three or four goals (pure luck, I assure you) and it's very exciting. Plus, I'm not the sportiest person ever (understatement alert) and so it made me have that teeny taste of sportsdom....which is nice.

So after a good two hours, we trudge back off the ice, peel our helmets off our oh-so sweaty heads, giggle at everyone else's horrible helmet hair, and flop down, sweating and tired. Our faces are red and our knees our soaked (as well as other places, for those with unfortunate balance) but it was fun!

Every year, I go a little reluctantly, thinking that no one will go, I'll be cold, I could be doing homework (yeah right...), or something else, but I leave saying "Oh my gosh...that was so much fun. We should start a league!"

Yeah, a league. Who knows? We may just give the Rough Riders a run for their money.
Maybe. But first we'd have to use real skates, I think.