Yep, after working for switchfoot all weekend, and going to their Hello Hurricane release party on Tuesday, I got to see them again on Jimmy Kimmel.
After Courtney and I saw U2 (posted below) I said that I wished all of the shows I attended would be broadcast on YouTube.
Well look at that! Maybe they all will be!
Thanks
Last night I got to see The Lion King musical.
It was amazing.
Today I am working for Switchfoot.
My favourite band ever.
As I type this, I am sitting back stage, several feel away from them.
They are soundchecking.
Jon just played the main riff from New Way To Be Human. I don't know if that's on the set or not.
They are so cool and so nice.
They are also messing with their new equipment and they look like kids on christmas.
This is a dream come true.
Thank you Switchfoot, thank you.
This past week has felt so amazing.
I don’t even know why I am trying to describe it except I feel that I need to lest I ever forget about it.
There is this one ungraspable feeling and idea in particular that I want to make a vain attempt at grasping.
First: Courtney and I went to a U2 show at the Rose Bowl on her 21st birthday. At the same time, our dear friend Madison was in labor, and the next day, a new and beautiful little human life was brought into this world to be with our lives.
Welcome to the planet, Sage.
That night, on the eve of Sage’s birth, the halfmoon shown brightly in the dim Los Angeles sky and I knew it was just a perfect night.
It felt magical.
And this “magic” is precisely what I want to ascertain.
For a few good moments I could pause and breathe and know that there was a grand story unfolding all around me. I could just feel it, see it in the eyes of all other people, inhale it in everywhere around me.
It is the feeling of infinity that I have occasionally discerned throughout my life, and it is the best feeling ever.
I can’t quite say where it comes from, but it was like I knew my distinct part in The Greatest Story Ever Told.
And I guess that a piece of me always knows that I am a part of this, but so often I ignore it.
I know that I can feel it, but I cannot exactly hear the narration.
I don’t know the next chapter or page or even the next sentence of this story.
That is a little scary.
Right now I am wondering if maybe I have to write it.
And in facing that, I am tempted to cram as many shallow, trivial things as possible into that gaping story line, just to make it easy; so I don’t fear getting it wrong.
But! sometimes, I can hear the pen: and I know it isn’t mine.
Something is out there and it is guiding all of this. Every coincidence in the story was planned long before by the author; none of it is chance.
And in this feeling I can reach out into eternity, into infinity, into that immeasurable magical brilliance.
For some reason it makes me think of those tucks driving through the long, cold nights in the vast, empty spaces across America. Maybe if you have driven for a long time you will know what I mean. The trucks will drive all night and then into the desert sunrise; across the unending land and into another still day.
They make me feel something I can barely wrap words around.
I guess it's what I mean when I say, "I feel infinite."
But somehow it is more than that, too.
This summer dragged on far, far too long.
And though now some days are still warm I am so glad to feel the bitter cold wind that swept through here this past week.
I sat with Jordi and the newborn Sage as the crisp wind blew outside. I could hear the sound of the freeways sigh along with my sigh, my lungs breathing in, and out and in, keeping me here on Earth and as a part of this story.
She played her guitar softly and I just thought about what it means to be alive.
I love that feeling.
I really do.
The wind comes in at night and brings a change that you weren’t expecting; it brings a life you never thought you had the chance to live until now.
It is when you learn something new that will forever impact how you live your life.
It is understanding love; it is the stars; it is gazing into the night sky and attempting to perceive your own infinitesimal existence.
It is those three perfect notes you hear together which somehow construct a euphoric harmony.
Simple, ubiquitous; yet quietly magnificent.
We rush around and fill our lives with so many busy things, but for me it’s those quiet moments, which I cannot describe, that are worth living for.
When you can take a breath, and know that your soul is alive, and that there is another step beyond this one, and then one more beyond that one, and that the story continues forevermore.
Because the sweetest melody is the one we haven’t heard.
And we all need to keep listening.
It was so, so amazing.
By the way, U2 are the most Christian band I have ever seen before. Take note of this, supposed followers of Christ.
I know this is a little odd, because it is very hard to "know" what one does not know. It's like asking someone to think of something they have never thought about before. Not an easy task.
And true, there are millions of things that I don't know, and obviously, the more I learn, the more I will be aware of what I don't know. But these are things like, "what is the meaning of life?" and "why has the internet made me so stupid?" Not something you can look up.
This, on the other hand, is a list I have managed to compile of things that most people know, and that I could easily learn.
But I just don’t know them for some reason, and I haven’t really spent the time to learn them.
- The difference between affect and effect
- What “Modal Jazz” is
- The names and types of clouds
- The provinces of Canada
- Canadian geography in general
- Why Doc Holiday is famous
- types of gold, diamonds, and what exactly a “karat” is
- birth stones, and the significance of expensive jewelry
- where Sonoma is
- any Led Zeppelin songs. (I have a cassette tape… I should just listen to it.)
- the proper pronunciation of any French words
- French
- how to be on time.
I've seen switchfoot many, many times before.
And I know that this will be another good show.
Because I get to help with sound!
I'm so excited.
