Woops.

So, I had some beef. And salmon. But I lasted a week. Errbody needs a little meat, but my mission to eat less beef lives on. I'm no herbivore, that's for sure.

xoxo,
nathaniel

Defeat the Meat!

Day 2 of my life as a vegetable is going well. I was offered a meat pizza with meat on top yesterday, and instead of devouring it (as per usual), I passed it along to my house-mate Will, a semi-vegetarian. He used to be vegetarian, but has determined that one should not be so picky about free food, and thus submitted to his stomach's plight. I feel better after meals, too, as if I've eaten clean foods. Indigestion is just a bunch of crap (literally!).

I'm thinking about getting a part-time job or something so I can save up for a van of some sort. Perhaps at a local coffee shop or a gas station (Kum & Go is hiring, but I don't know that I could keep a straight face if I worked there). Biokinetics might work, too, but their hours are always strange, and I need something to keep me from wasting time. If I worked at a gas station in the evenings, I could read the day's homework that I otherwise couldn't finish at school. The gas station attendants always look bored, so they must have free time! We'll see.

I'm seeing my mom about some patio furniture today. I may call one of you and ask you to come along with your big trucks.

xoxo,
nathaniel

Vegetable Medley

Haley made some delicious stir fry tonight at Aaron's house. It had some lovely broccoli, carrots, green stuff, and a new favorite: fake-steak!
I have recently decided to refrain from eating red meat for two reasons. The first of which is due to my stomach's horrible reception of said meat. Every time I consume such bloody muscle tissue, I feel slightly ill. Perhaps I'm carnivose-intolerant. Alyson self-diagnosed herself as lactose-intolerant, so I think I can do the same for red meat.

Secondly, a certain female friend of mine from New York explained to me her recent success with red-meat-removal and her reasons for doing so. This was the first reason for abstaining by which I actually felt compelled. Commercial livestock is fed tons and tons of grain and other crops, which in turn require huge tracts of land (not to mention the acres and acres these cattle require to grow). They consume much more vegetation than a human, thus making the feeding process completely ineffective. Man can live by vegetable alone...or at least without beef. Instead of rearing the cattle with wasteful, inefficient grain crops, we can instead use the land to feed more people per capita (i.e. impoverished nations such as Nicaragua, South Africa, etc.) without taking up any new farm land.
I've never been moved by the animal slaughter videos and pictures, but this is something I can get behind.

So...it was so nice to eat this fake-steak, which tastes remarkably like steak, yet has a more consistent, pleasing texture than grissle-meat and tough sirloin. So, with that I say three cheers for alternative meats!

Also, quitting meat is worth like 250 scene points at least!

xoxo,
nathaniel

Back in Black (not a Led Zeppelin song)

School has Oh-ficially commenced once again. So far, two wonderful things have happened. First, I discovered that good friend and esteemed blogmaster Matt Stowe and I share a Global Awareness class, which, contrary to my premonitions regarding its intrigue, will surely prove to be rivetting and worthwhile. Secondly, I attended a Government and Politics in the U.S. class for about 2 minutes this morning, hoping that by the good graces of the professor I could be added to the class. My boyish charm and unkempt hair were no match for the professor, as I found myself included in a blanket statement made about the class being too full for people to join. I quickly packed up my trapper keeper, placed my pencil and pen back in my Hello, Kitty pencil case (with retractable spring-loaded pencil sharpener and eraser combo), and vanished like a phantom...or a fart, because I was slightly more detectable than a phantom.

My cousin and his friends were the best. They all felt like family, making the 15-day rain streak seem less dreary. I miss Washington and all its fine inhabitants. I feel like I'm just at summer camp when I'm in Springfield. Bellingham, WA felt like home. New York feels like home. Chicago feels like home. I think home will never be where I am and will always be where I'm going.

To my best of friends in Springfield, I promise that my contempt with the city is not also with you all. I love me some Springfieldian friends and will remain dear to me, regardless of our geographical disadvantage. This feels like New Year's or something. Today I start my first day of adulthood, I feel. I love to read now and can't wait to start my first homework assignments. Yep, that's a true symptom of adulthood: liking boring things. Fortunately, I have 3 more semesters to validate or invalidate this new change.

xoxo,
nathaniel

FUNNY!

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a while:

CLICK IT!

xoxo,
nathaniel

Veggie & The Full Effect

I'm never eating red meat again. Gross. Them cows is eating too much crops. Of course, if someone wants to buy me a prime rib, I won't refuse.

In other news, my website should be up and running very soon, and I hope to have the east coast tour confirmed by the middle/end of February. Until then, go to myspace and download some free mp3's.

xoxo,
nathaniel

Moldplay!

Today I awoke in time to see the sun out for a few hours. While some might call it fate or coincidence or divine providence, I call it my Uncle power washing the mold and moss off of his patio outside the window. Whatever reason, this sailor finally saw some son!

Speaking of things that take time to grow on you, an Austin City Limits re-run of a Coldplay concert was on this evening.

Uncle B: Hey, isn't that Gwenyth Paltrow's husband? Coldplay, right? Which one is she married to?"
me: "Yeah, his name is Chris Martin. They have a kid together named 'Apple'."
uncle B: "Figures"
me: "Yeah."
uncle R: (enters stage left) "Who is this group?"
uncle B: "Coldplay. They're the hottest new band from 2001...2003" Uncle B pauses to watch Chris Martin act like a goon at the piano..."Hey, Nathaniel. Now that's what you need to do on stage! The lead guy is always magnetic. You gotta get the girls to scream like that. You're better at piano than him. pauses again
*On the TV, "Clocks" is beginning to play. ugh*
uncle B: (rises from chair, stretches out left arm, and 'rocks around the clock' with his air guitar, sporting googley eyes and a fully extended tongue) "See, you gotta point like this and work the crowd."
me: (shrugs in slightly humorous disdain) "If I did that, I'd lose all my scene credibility (note: he doesn't know what scene means. I don't care too much about it, but I thankfully didn't have to explain it)."
*On the TV, Coldplay won't stop playing the outro to "Clocks."
uncle B: "Those guys aren't all very talented. You could play like that."
me: "Huh. Thanks."

* * *
My uncle likes Coldplay. Perhaps the bands' stale music is finally starting to come to fruition, and more people will begin to see how much mold they are growing. Mold, of course, finds its home primarily on cheese. Coldplay Live = mega cheese.
Later on they (Coldplay) invited Michael Stipe of REM out on the stage to sing a few songs. Here's what happened next.

* * *
Uncle B: "Hey, it's that, Michael something?"
me: "Stipe. Michael Stipe from RE..."
Uncle B: (interrupts) "REM, yeah. They were big a few years ago."
me: "Yeah, it's been a few years."
*On the TV, Martin and Stipe sing a song about God's love shining on everyone, the effects of which were directly apparent in the living room. All the adults paused to embrace the positive message of the now perhaps-not-quite-so-sin-centered secular world of music...The song ends*
Chris Martin: (in his British accent, phoenetically spelled out for your reading pleasure) "Thes es one of thee bess songs evah written." Martin begins to play Nightswimming by REM. Actually a very good song, but he's over-doing it)
Uncle B: "This better be the best song ever. You can't just say that before a song unless it's good. This isn't good."
Uncle R: (chimes in) "Yeah, when is the melody going to start. He's just singing the same note."
me: "It's a very good song."
Uncle B: "Well, the lyrics might be good, but you should never say 'This is the best song' before playing your own song."
me: "REM wrote this song. I wanted to cover it some years ago."
Uncle B: "Oh. It's not the best song."
me: (timid and defeated) "Well, I like it."
Uncle R: (In response to a close-up shot of Michael Stipe) "He sure has taken a beating."
me: "Some people thought he had AIDS."
Uncle B: "Well, that wasn't the best song."
*Curtain*

xoxo,
nathaniel

No Sun for the Sailors

No Sun for the Sailors by Nathaniel Carroll

Scattered across the restless sea,
the shipyards tell of hardship and of fame.
And for miles down the shore you can hear the ocean roar
As it calls each tired sailor out by name.

Louis had a knack for finding danger,
and some would say that danger had a knack for finding him.
And many years down the line he could hear the ocean pine
as it beckoned him from land to salty rim.
And he cried "Yo ho ho, this life is one to know,"
and quickly dropped his family and fled
to the murky waters just beyond the mountain tops,
and ignored the many voices in his head.

They cried "There is no sun for the sailor.
Just watch the fog against the sky.
It bellows and it batters you - your body cast awry
All waterlogged and wrinkled up, you'll never dry.

And there's no more sun for the sailor.
And there's no more sun for the sailor's wife.
And there's no more fun for the family.
If you never feel the sun you won't feel life."

Louis heard the plight of the sea that night.
He knew he would surely find a better life in spite
of his boredom with the land he once had claimed to be his own.
A future apart from this would be so bright...

and he cried "There is much sun for a sailor,
I can hear the echo in the bay.
It bellows and it beckons you - your body can't deny
composed of mostly water, we are never really dry!

But there is never sun for the sailor.
And there's never warmth on the sailor's brow.
And the only thing a sailor ever absorbs
is the pain of being washed ashore
against the rocky land before
your darkened soul will ever see the light.


A little treat inspired by the cold, sunless Northwest. I'm sure I'll put it to music very soon, attempting to steer clear of any Decemberists comparisons. They're not the only ones inspired by the sea!

xoxo,
nathaniel

Top 10 Lists...

I am horrible at these things.

Here is my top 10 list for albums that I actually got to listen to in 2k5. They also were all released in 2k5.

• Cold Roses - Ryan Adams (and the Cardinals)
  
• Songs for Silverman - Ben Folds
  
• In Formal Introduction - The City on Film
  
• Picaresque - The Decemberists
  
• Born to Run (30th Anniversary Edition) - Bruce Springsteen
  
• Come on Feel the Illinoise - Sufjan Stevens
  
• Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
  
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
  
• The Weight is a Gift - Nada Surf
  
• In the Red - Kind of Like Spitting
  
  Honorable Mention: Amestory - Amestory

Here is a list of CDs I overplayed in my car for one of two reasons: A, I have very few good cds these days, and have failed miserably at "keeping up with the Joneses" as they say; and 2, they were the only discs in my car.

• More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley
  
• Dear Catastrophe Waitress - Belle & Sebastian
  
• Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
  
• A Ghost is Born - Wilco
  
• A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
  
• Nillson Sings Newman - Henry Nillson
  
• Funeral - Arcade Fire
  
• Sea Change - Beck
  
• Learn to Sing the Songs of Phil Ochs - Kind of Like Spitting
  
• $100 Room - Kind of Like Spitting
  
• Emergency & I - Dismemberment Plan
  
• Things We Lost in the Fire - Low
  
• Tapestry - Carole King
  
• Commitment - The Felix Culpa
  
• Want One - Rufus Wainwright
  
• Worship and Tribute - Glassjaw
  
• Used Songs (1973-1980) - Tom Waits
  

And here's a list of music that Matt Stowe or Mike Dutkewych played for me once and I wanted to hear a lot, but couldn't due to my horrible memory for such things:

• Velvet Underground
  
• Cat Power
  
• Feist
  
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
  
• The Boy Least Likely To
  
• Lemuria
  
• Clem Snide
  
• The Mountain Goats
  
• Victims of Telephone!
  
• The Muse
  
• Bonnie "Prince" Billy
  
• Andrew Bird
  
• Belle & Sebastian
  
• anything from the Sad Man Club mix. You'd know if you were sad like us.
  

Music I thought about a lot, but didn't actually get to hear:

• Minus the Bear
  
• So Many Dynamos
  
• The Faint
  
• M Ward
  
• Ambulance LTD
  
• Lil John and the East Side Boyz
  
• Kanye West
  
• Cody Chesnutt
  
• Common
  

Best Concerts of 2k5

• These Arms are Snakes, Minus the Bear, Thunderbirds are Now!, The City on Film - Sept. 12 @ The Granada in Lawrence, KS.
  
• Nada Surf - Oct. 14 @ The Metro in Chicago, IL.
  

And finally, a list of a few things I could have done without in 2k5:

• X & Y - Coldplay
  
• The Shins
  
• That new Nickelback Song
  
• Dub/Reggae/Rastafarian/Club music. Quit singing the same note repeatedly, for Bob Marley's Sake!
  
• Hawthorne Heights
  
• That Sugar, We're Going Down with a Bullet, etc. song by Fall Out Boy. That band makes me have small anxiety attacks.
  
• Must Love Dogs
  
• The OC
  
• The cancellation of Arrested Development
  
• College
  
• $325 Heating Bills
  
• Girl Trouble
  
• Gas Prices
  

Overall, I give 2k5 a B+. It had some great moments, but out of sheer expectation for what 2k6 has in store, I cannot award 2k5 a grade any higher. Stand back, errbody. 2k6 will be the year of Nathaniel. New album. New split cd. East Coast Spring Tour. Full US (and Canada?) summer tour. Plenty of love for everyone. Granted, it could all go very horribly, and the only reason I say things of this nature is out of pure ambition and anticipation. I am not trying to drown you all in pretense.

In moments like these, only my lil' sister says it best: "I'm SOOOOOO Excited!"

xoxo,
nathaniel