This album flat out rocks (Sixpence None the Richer, This Beautiful Mess). I don’t know why it didn’t get the recognition it deserved back in its day (circa 1995). It’s head and shoulders more musically and lyrically innovative than anything the Christian music scene was putting out then (with the exception of JOC). It’s an art grunge/pop mix that was to its contemporaries roughly what the Smashing Pumpkins were to mainstream music. In any case, it’s mystifying. I had lost my copy of the cd for a long time (still had the case and liner), but a friend’s fortuitous forgetting of his cd case gave me an opportunity to burn the album to the computer, and listen to it in the process for the first time in years. So good. I still associate memories of the trip out west to Yellowstone and Glacier, eastern Washington state and the Oregon coast with the album–it provided the part of the headphone soundtrack to the sensory experiences. I think that too might be a reason why I enjoy it as much as I do.
The annual multi-family get-together on New Year’s Day was earlier last evening over at my parents’ place. Four families, ours included, have a big, evening-long potluck grill out affair every year on the first of January. They’re families that have been friends since literally before I was born, so over a quarter century, and it’s always fun to see everybody again, to catch up and enjoy the familiarity. It’s like an extended family gathering without any of the awkwardness. It was great to see Michael again, too. He and Paul have been great friends for years and years and in spite of the fact that Michael lives in Greensboro now, teaching high school math, they pick up every year without missing a beat.
I talked to Michael a good bit too, specifically about visiting his place out there, since he lives in the general vicinity I’ll be moving soon. Lots of plans in the works along those lines, all the more because our lease here at the apartment is up in April, and it’s good to lay everyone’s plans out on the table sooner rather than later. I’m actually seriously thinking about moving back to the parents place for a few months before heading out to Winston-Salem for school. It presents a lot of advantages: Free/less rent (they may prefer that I pay them at least a little bit), moving and thus the opportunity to pare down the amount of stuff that I have to lug to the next stage of my life, and besides it’s not like I’ll be languishing around–I have a well-paying, steady job, and I’m moving towards a goal. It makes sense on a lot of levels when I consider it objectively. Lenin said it best, I think: “In order to take two steps forward, we shall have to take one step backward.” Of course, he was talking about the implementation of communism in a war-ravaged country, not the merits of moving back in with one’s parents, but I don’t think the main thrust of his words is diluted by the shift in context.