Tea and tunes

I'm sitting down, writing this blog entry on a full stomach, listening to The Antlers, and drinking some Mandarine Orange tea (for I am feeling the beginnings of a scratchy throat coming on and I am trying to fend it off in hopes of not getting sick again), and despite feeling a little under the weather, I'm doing well. Although I've been busy with school work, I've still had time to relax and work on some creative stuff. I've written three songs since being in Norway, bringing my "new song" total to 6. I've been recording while here in Norway, using the mic in my computer, just to get the songs down and hear how they sound, and I was planning on re-recording them when I get back to the states so I could use my good equipment, but now I'm thinking I might pass. Although the sound quality could be a bit better, I think the idea of listening to a song raw, recorded in an environment other than a studio would be kind of neat. At the end of some of the songs you can hear the clock in my living room ticking, and I think that might add something, add atmosphere, or take to you the place where I was when I wrote it and recorded it. We'll see what happens.

I've started to exercise more since being here. Since I don't have three graduate classes on top of teaching, I'm finding that I have quite a bit of time on my hands and instead of sitting around watching TV I've decided to get out. I've actually started to run, every other day for now, and it's been good :) (Although this cold might set me back a few days and ultimately, running in the cold could have been the cause of it haha) But I'm hoping to continue with the weight loss while here. I sometimes gage how fit I'm getting by the amount of pushups I can do. When I was at my highest weight I could only do 10, and just the other day I reached 45, and although it may not seem like a lot, it made me very happy.

I've been missing home lately. Not to the point where I'm crying at night about how homesick I am, but just thinking about Grand Forks and Sioux Falls, my apartment, the people there...I miss it. Sometimes when I'm sleeping here I imagine that I'm in my room back in Grand Forks. That probably sounds weird, but it helps me get to seep sometimes. I was listening to Charlie Parr and Split Lip Rayfield today and it really made me miss Grand Forks. I miss the drive from Sioux Falls to Grand Forks, listening to some bluegrass, and just watching the fields and hills pass by, I miss playing shows with the band and laughing about the ridiculous things that happen, I miss going to Urban with friends to grade and read, I miss everything. When I get back things will be different. Friends will have graduated and will be getting ready to move on and there will be stories that I will not be apart of, and that used to bother me, a lot but I've realized that that is just a part of growing. There's no sense in dwelling on the past because you can't change it. What matters is living in the now and making the most of what you have. So, when I get back, I won't sulk about not being around for the last 4 months, instead I'll soak up as much time as I can and create new memories and stories. Miss you guys :)

-Xavier