to ed on his wedding day

yo! here is some stuff i put in a gift to my friend ed on his wedding day. but if you want to see and even better tribute, google "ed and janie wedding frequencies youtube", the video should be up in a couple days!!!



ED!! i write you today at a milestone in your
life! you have found a love that will last you
your whole life. Thanks be to Janie for making
my friend the happiest has been in love
and life, with the promise of even greater joys
to come!
Dude!, its been 16 years since we met, 8 years
since we obliterated the challenges of our high
school, and 4 years since we left the safety of
our academic blankets. We had such ambition, the
growth of our talents seemed limitless. And here
we are, not dismal failures, yet still not kings
of our crafts. Can you remember even what our
goals were? i remember vaguely that mine were
the goals of a music writer, and perhaps
performer. although the timbre of this dream has
changed much more than i could have ever
foreseen, i still hold it.
Ed, what were yours? what are yours now? I'd
be very curious to know, my most cognate of
buddies. You had always been the friend i had
most admired, and not just for your flannel
wearing abilities. For your leadership, drive,
and the way it always seemed to me that you had a
destination. even if it was a destination we
could not see. I would always look to you and
our friends, not necessarily for answers, but for
the promise of a good time. and i reveled in the
fact that we all had the itch to become great,
for lack of a better word, artists.
will we still dare to be the men we thought we
could be? or will we resign ourselves to live
softly as those who sought glory, and tasted
some. Living on, content to taste a few more
slices if the chance should arise? My friend, we
could part ways forever and you would still be
there. your memory conspicuously reminding me of
the person i was, whom we were, whom we are now.
This happy day I do not believe we are doomed to
slices. the memory of us and our friends
empowers me to think we may yet each take our own
entire cake!
I think fondly of a day many years from now,
when we can sit down at a table and look back at
our lives in awe of a twofold unspoken promise
that we both of us kept in spades: the promise
we made from ourselves to ourselves, that we
would live our lives in the fullest of capacities
as individuals, while at the same time
challenging our friends and loved ones to excel
beyond the base par of mere existence - with our
words, by our actions, and through our prayers,
hopes, and well-wishes.
I can see you grin as you think you've made a
particularly good move playing dominoes, or
perhaps cribbage, Othello, even chess if we still
have our wits.
in the midst of the skill of this unforgotten
fun, any accolades or trophies we attained fade
from behind the eyes of our smiles. For what
were they but the chance blessings of apathetic
fate.
so many of our talents and achievements were
given to us freely Ed! are we not grateful? We
are, but we know the joys that come from these
gifts, however joyful, are not truly our own.
After our last game is played, our true joys are
finally realized for what they were and are: the
steps we had taken by the will of our own spirit
to increase the bonds of friendship and love
toward all whom we met, and the fruits of joy and
life-affirming bittersweet sorrows that our
actions and creations had bestowed upon them.
-Upon a point of greater dreams, I hope we can
make this realization many times before our
last!-
So let us today and always celebrate all of our
lost goals and faded ambitions by each day
planting new seeds of conquest and mischief. let
us contract the germs of creation, and spend the
time it takes to sow and reap the benefits of
their diseases and cures, paths and destinations.
this i hope for you and Janie!, for myself and
all others whom we know and love and have yet to
meet.


Random memories with ed:
the swallows!
Zero Hour
your busted toofs
the D.E.L.
white rider!
visits to Lawrence
grunge, not goth
west side story
pit orchestra
Cross Country
the hoodlums
a planned bike trip to the U.K.
a realized trip to Miami and DC
MITY
grand rounds biking
sport shakes
our senior band scores
teepeeing Humphrey
the soma solo on the 7th grade bus ride, then
taking it to the 8th grade talent show
those damn wire-light-reindeer
free rides to jazz band
serotine
nailed to the X

summer of bells

my head hurts, i hear ringing...

glory, just like totally the funnest weekend of the year has past by, kind of a bummer but i'll be doing ren fest this year so i'll see a bunch of those folks soon again. my best buddy Ed is getting married next weekend, so thats cool, i've been to three weddings in the past 9 days, yikes. allthough i've heard no bells to my recollection, there was a rather loud cricket at stephan and jolienes' though...

know whats weird? my hours this summer are 12-6 so every day i walk to and from work hearing the nieghborhood church bell songs. i know its just a recording, but i like to pretend there are real bells in the tower. i'd sure like to bong me some big brass bells someday, just be like- bong bong bong bong...