Before:	After:

Haircut
So I finally did it… I cut all of my hair off. I think I accomplished what I was going for… I really wanted to look in the mirror and see a new me. Sometimes I think everyone just needs a change, and to be honest with you, it helped push me into feeling like the new person I’ve turned into over the last year. I feel great…

I’m Sick
except for the fact that I’ve been sick as a dog for the last few days. About 10 days ago I woke up with a really sore and congested throat. I felt kinda crappy for a couple of days but then it went away. Well over the last 3 or 4 days it’s relapsed and it’s back with vengeance. I finally went to the doctor today and apparently it’s a respiratory infection that’s been going around (everywhere it seems) for the last few weeks. He gave me 3 prescriptions and said I’ll be better in a couple of days. Despite the horrid pain in my throat, the nasty congestion, and the general feeling of being disconnected from the world (I feel like I’m just floating around), I have to admit that the cough syrup he gave me makes me feel like a million bucks.

Rehearsal Space
So for the past two months we’ve been working about once a week for the guy who owns the meat-packing plant where we plan on setting up our rehearsal space. We have an arrangement with him to sort of work for our first few months rent. Anyways, looks like this weekend we’re finally going to get the drywall and sound-proof insulation up in our room, which means that we’ll probably be moving our equipment in next week, so that’s exciting. I estimate we’ll be practicing at least twice a week for a solid month before we really start gigging.

While on that subject, Here are some pics of Aaron and I (and our friend Casey) playing at Savannah Blues a few weeks ago:

So pretty much I’ve been busy as hell.
I guess I forgot to mention that I’ve been super busy with school and work this semester as well. I don’t think I’ve ever been this busy in my life, but I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing. When I get stressed out I try and think about what I would have been doing about this time last year. Anyways, this semester I’m taking Technical Writing, Databases, Information Security, and Creative Writing (poetry).

Poetry
I guess it’s kind of weird that I’m taking poetry alongside all of those techie classes, but my hopes are that it will help me with my music writing, and help cure the writer’s block I’ve had for the last six months or so. I have to admit the class itself is amazing, I actually find myself looking forward to it each week. It’s a lot of work, but I’ve got a great professor and the class is amazing. We have to write eight poems this semester (on top of our poetry research and peer critiques- which is basically where you write critiques for the 12 other students in the class every time a 2nd draft is turned in.

Anyways, for our first assignment, we had to have the subject matter about someone who made a significant impact on our lives. I’m not going to say exactly who this is about, but I’ll leave you with what I turned in for my 2nd draft:

“I Watched You”
-Jeff Wichman

I watched you;
in the 40-watt haze of that pale room
Toy with death and giggle.
Prepare your resolve,
water tainted translucent
with evils you stilled
into a murky resolution.
Fill the glossy black lines
along that instrument of destruction.
Disguise trembles of frustration
as you fumbled around for a vein,
followed the red-dotted line
tapped into your life
pulled and pushed
to displace the apathy
of your dull existence.

Hair clutched your forehead,
to beaded drops of anticipation
As you reclined among the raspy duet
of groaning hinges,
I sensed in you
…………. the whir in your head
……….. the pulsating thud
……… the ghostly murmurs
……. the tingle in your face
…… the bitter bite
…. the closed eyes ignoring
.. the trickle of composure
left running,
evading
certain infiltration.

“Damn.” your quivering voice announced
between the half-grin of cracked lips,
shattering the silence that desperately
clung to the tension in the air
and darkly rested on smoke-stained drapes
that never permitted the time of day.
I watched you so quickly Lose
to your favorite game
never quitting
before it was over.

Until next time,

“Hate us because you’ll never get that far.” - Better Than Ezra : At the Stars

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