09: made it mine

Hey there Eskimo Nation! That's right, I am re-naming my mass following of readers. Don't like being labeled like that? Then you shouldn't have read that last sentence. Even if you never read my blog again, the title is sticking, so get used to it. It's not like I'm making you buy "Eskimo Nation" t-shirts with my face on them . . . actually, that's not a bad idea. Anyhow, since I haven't been active in the blogosphere for some time now, the purpose of this post is to update you all on why life is good.

October:
SKYDIVING!
You may have noticed the super bad (in a good, like really, really cool way) gray and red jumpsuit I am wearing in the picture. They don't just give those out to anybody. I had to ask for one, the guy kinda gave me a weird look, and then kinda slowly said "yeah . . . go ahead and try that one on." I guess most people jump out of an airplane for the thrill and don't really care about looking like a hero while they do it. Well good for most people, I happen to like looking awesome when I'm paying for about 100 pictures that are being snapped of me while I'm free falling from 13,000 feet high. Also I had to borrow some gnarly imitation lace-up vans because I wore slip-ons. It's ok though because I asked my buddy Zach who runs a fashion blog, and he said the blag shoes matched well with the black harness for my parachute.

November:
fun.
The first time I saw Nate's new band at a record release party in Chandler, I wasn't too impressed with the short set list or the crowd that showed up. The highlight was when I saw Sam Means there and talked to him and I'm pretty sure he liked the moustache I was sporting at the time.
I decided to give fun. a second chance when they came back through Tempe on a headlining tour in November. Radness.
1- The crowd wasn't a bunch of teenage girls. There were as many people in their 20's as teens, and a few people in their 30's, 40's, etc. I saw one dude that rockin the bands t-shirt that looked pretty darn old. There was also a pretty even guy/girl ratio.
2- The crowd went nuts went Nate came out, he had this big smile that made him look like a little kid trying to hide how excited he is to open his Christmas presents. After opening with "At least I'm not as sad as I used to be," fun. told some jokes mostly about Arizona and made fun of some of the responses from audience members. Nate then said "we're going to play a cover song" and went right into Dog Problems. Needless to say, I lasted two songs before losing my voice that night.
3- The crowd went crazy whenever they played a song that mentioned Arizona or Phoenix. When they played "The Gambler," (2nd to last song, after they left stage and everyone cheered them back on) Nate seemed pretty emotional singing about his parents and being back in the place they raised him. He didn't cry or anything, but he seemed . . . I don't know, reflective, pensive, maybe. It was cool, he really spoke fondly of AZ throughout the show.
4- When I first heard Aim and Ignite, I thought it sounded a little too "Format gone Broadway" for me. After this last show, I really dig the album whenever I'm in the mood for some upbeat pop music. I find myself enjoying songs like Barlights, Walking the Dog, and Take Your Time (Coming Home) a lot more than I did before.

I was actually standing right behind the person who recorded this. If you listen closely, you can hear my voice singing along.
Obviously there's been more goodness pouring into my life than these two events, but I know I get bored reading posts that are this long, so I'll be dropping a few more bombs of radicality within the next few days.

Xoxo,
QPM