Television as I get older seems less and less entertaining, but the other day I stumbled upon a channel called Palladia, which is owned by MTV, but actually aires music and music-related content. Well, they were showing footage from Glastonbury 2008 and I watched a few acts when this english band called Elbow came on. They performed a song called "One Day Like This" and I was really intrigued by the performance. For one, the entire ensemble, which included an assortment of stringed instruments seemed to be enjoying performed as much as the crowd enjoyed listening to them. It was a treat to see the true nature of these types of festivals.

At any rate, the song caught my ear so just yesterday I got their latest album entitled The Seldom Seen Kid. Right now I am giving it its maiden voyage through my iPod and it's pretty interesting. I really love the song I got the album for but the rest of it has a strong presence. I'm not usually into such poppy stuff, but it's not commercial "pop" as in popular, but as in beat. Maybe "rhythmic" would be a better term or even "bouncy" at times. It's tender moments are not lost though. I guess what I'm saying is that if I were at Glastonbury, I would try to see these guys. Maybe you should check them out too.

So there has been this thing floating around Facebook called "25 things about yourself" or some variation thereof. Well, honestly I was getting a little depressed that none of my friends had tagged me in the note. I thought, well maybe they didn't think I wanted to do it to a more depressing thought like what if nobody things there are 25 interesting things about me. I was convinced this was the case, but then my friend tagged me and now I think I convinced myself so much that there isn't much to say that I can't think of 25 things to say. So, now I'm rejecting this movement and claiming independence from the conformists. It's all about protecting my ego.

I've been thinking of memories a lot lately, what it means to have them and what it means to lose them. There has been a constant battle within myself to strive for a good memory but continually fail at achieving the goal. Many smarter people before me have consulted the idea of what we become if we have no memory, it's written in books and played out on movie screens and more than seemingly with a haunting note on what a scary world it would be without these treasures.

So, what would we be without memories? How would you know how you should act if you didn't remember the rules, how you know what kind of person you are if you could remember how you've acted in the past, how would you know right from wrong? Could you truly love something if you had no context for it's existence or would it let you love more honestly? History always defines our future whether we want it to or not.

My biggest fear growing up was the fear of being forgotten. Perhaps there are slightly narcissistic motives here in that I want my memories to live on in the hearts of my valued relationships, but I think there's more to it. If you become forgotten, the memory of you is gone and without memory there is no record and without record can you even know that what you've done in your life is worthy of attention? To me, it's a matter of value, it's a matter of significance and it's a matter of knowing that you've done something in this life worth passing on. It can be as small as a compliment or as grand as a sacrifice, but when we fade to dust, I hope there is something that we leave that's worth remembering.

It's Kevin, remember me? Just getting some thoughts/memories down.

I just got back from a recent trip to California and it was great to be away from the cold. I flew down to Orange County to see my good friend Danny and his family where I stayed and celebrated his birthday with a hillbilly theme. Listened to some Hayseed Dixie and dressed in flannel while the fake outhouse and still were being crafted by other friends. It was a great time and got to catch up with some old friends, including Nestor who came up from San Diego. Lots of fun no doubt.

Then I headed up to the San Francisco area to the town of Los Gatos where I set eyes on my newborn second cousin Kenzie. She's awesome and Greg and Dawn are learning a lot about what owning one of those little things means. I went to visit Santa Cruz, Monterey, drive the 17-mile drive and walk along the beach in Carmel with my parents. I didn't see any glimpse of Clint Eastwood though. Back at the home I was able to spend some time with my cousin, his wife and their friend Summer over some meals and drinks. It was good to see everyone again and I intend on seeing more of them.

That's it for now, more later. Thanks for encouraging me to blog more Summer.