04 May 2008

This morning my old school John Wayne alarm clock woke me with a startle, no matter how many times I hear that thing go off I still can’t get used to it. It affects my dreams drastically and I awake thinking there is a fire. But no, it’s just my John Wayne alarm clock. Silly me. I arrived at church a quarter to 10. I must say that I have not experienced a worship service like that in some time. It was much needed and very refreshing for my soul. To put it bluntly there weren’t any people getting in the way or distracting me from connecting completely with God. (I know that I have a lot of viewers on my blog that are not Christians or do not view God as do. That is perfectly fine. I’m not here to cram anything down anyone’s throat. I’m just sharing what life is like from my point of view so please view it as such and do not take offense. If at anytime you feel the need to ask questions regarding my faith please do so. I am an open book on the subject and will remain so until death.) I’d go deeper, but I feel that is fine for now. It was, to repeat, so refreshing. I felt that I had purpose again, outside of the box we live in here. Most days I feel that my Christianity is so far different than any one else’s that I see. Which is fine. To each his own. 

After service myself and a manager friend here in Nashville went to lunch. We were both being indecisive morons and drove around for decades trying to decide. He mentioned bar-b-q, which I shot down because I didn’t think it would sit well in my stomach. Then I mentioned Macaroni Grill, which he shot down because he had a bad experience at the one in Franklin…Then he mentioned Buca Di Beppo, which I then shot down because they don’t have any windows and it always feels like you are in prison in that place. So we did this for about 20 minutes then finally ended up at Buca anyways. The chicken parm was a mouthful and the help was… not much help. Thanks help. My not so favourite thing about restaurants is the ice to water ratio. What’s the deal? I can’t turn ice into water that well with my mouth… so could you drop the ice intake down a smidgen? Thanks help. We also got a kick out of the mission impossible headseat that the hostess wore as she constantly came into our weird dog/cat room and whispered table numbers into her microphone as stealthy as possible. So sneaky they are. What ever happened to notepads? On this note I resign as a professional restaurant reviewer. 

After lunch we rented chairs at Starbucks for approximately 2 hours and chatted about everything possible. He spoke of his love for American Idol and I slapped him. No, no I didn’t. But maybe I should have? And I spoke of my love for Linkin Park and he slapped me. Okay so none of that happened, let’s move forward. We discussed artists that we have been listening to and I played some of the new Joel Augé album due out in June, it’s incredible so of course he dug it. I also shared with him bits and pieces of my new album. He quickly dove out of the vehicle while I was going 40mph on Mack Hatcher Blvd. After pulling over and dusting him off I asked him what he thought of it. 

I then dropped him off at Casa dé Weaver and started to head home. Avoiding the man jogging with his dog that appeared to have been modified for show. I think it had the low-rider kit installed. That poor thing had to have been suffering from road rash, especially at the rate his handler was jogging. 

I took back roads out of his neighborhood and ended up missing my turn on purpose. I had no place of importance to be that evening so I thought I’d treat myself to a beautiful country drive. Before I knew it I was lost and loving it. I ended up in some National Park that was 50 miles from Nashville. It was so incredibly beautiful complete with windows down, iTunes shuffling away at random, and the sunroof filtering in the sunlight. (See Photo below)

(This camera phone photo has not been altered in Photoshop, this is the actual colour out here, amazing.)

After driving for about an hour I discovered a pull-off point for hiking, and a creek. Of course I wasn’t going to pass it up so I parked, grabbed my journal, songbook and a mexican blanket I keep in the trunk and headed up the trail. This trail was 1/2 mile long and uphill. Here are some photos I shot with my camera phone. (Unfortunately I didn’t have my video or regular camera with me today.) 

Along the path I ran into a man jogging with his ginormous Rottweiler. He pulled her over so that I could pass safely on the left. He said, “She’s awful friendly but soaking wet from a swim.” So I let her lick my hand and then wiped the large amounts of saliva off on her owner. No, I didn’t, I washed my hand in the creek bed. Then further up the trail I ran into a couple who was digging with their hands beside the trail, they laughed at themselves uncomfortably and mumbled to each other as I passed. I glanced out my peripheral, as to not draw attention, and noticed that the hole being dug wasn’t large enough for a body so I proceeded on my merry way. 

I reached the summit of the hill and threw my blanket on the ground and took in some much needed fresh air. As I gazed out across the green valley below I thanked God for His creation that so many of us overlook on a daily basis. Here are a couple of photos showing the view I looked upon as I wrote. 

I pulled out my journal and began to review my latest entries and analyzed the latest interests that seem to be captivating me. I questioned the existence and time of arrival, again trying to make sense out of life instead of just letting it be, and trusting. After a while I opened up to trust and faith and began to script some lyrics in my songbook. I was moved by the vast expanse of countryside that surrounded me and made my own existence seem bleak, at best. The thoughts began to pour out upon my paper in a simplified poetic form that I hadn’t tapped into in years. It just felt right. As the sun began to set on me melodies formed. Which I quickly memorized as I did not have a recorder or my guitar with me. The sun left me completely as I laid back and took it all in. No phone ringing, no emails. Just me. Surrounded by God in all of His creation and in my heart. Simplicity and peace has left us as a society. We all chase dreams, the bigger and better. The new this - the new that. And none of us seem to just be. Growth happens in the silence. Peace strengthens in the quiet. Focus is instilled when we are alone. 

As the darkness quickly overtook the hills I realized I was very unprepared. I laughed and chalked it up for adventure as I trudged down the path feeling for the trail which was covered with a dense fog. Halfway down all light had left and I continued on using all of my senses but sight to find my way back to the clearing. I finally made it avoiding the strange hole that was dug, the wet dog and the creek bed. 

I arrived home after the small road trip, grabbed my guitar and headed straight for my chair. I began to formulate and structure the melodies and lyrics that I created on that hill. Hopefully soon I will share my latest with you. It’s a mite personal at the moment. Which hasn’t kept me from sharing in the past I just need to allow it to soak deep within for a while. 

Thank you for taking the time to read, I hope it was enjoyable. 

Godspeed.

Cory Basil