Moments

Life is full of moments. I understand that's not the most bold statement ever made by, well, anyone, but it's true. There are the good moments where you feel like you're on top of the world and you skip freely down the road, singing whatever song makes your heart the happiest. There are also the opposite moments, where life doesn't seem to stop piling on. Where one swing and a miss turns into 4 outs on 8 pitches seen with two strikeouts a la Josh Hamilton in the 2012 Wild Card game against the Orioles.

A lot of times, though, we occupy that middle ground between the two. We may stub our toe getting out of bed, but then our boss calls to say the office is closed for the morning due to an unexpected power outage. You may forget to study for a test and cram all day to find out upon test time that it's open notes and your stress and worry really didn't matter. Life is all about these moments and how we deal with them, and more importantly it's about whether we allow that one swing and miss affect how we play the rest of the game. 

I had a bit of a temper as a child and couldn't reign my emotions in a lot of the time, believe it or not. I cried and whined and lost my cool and didn't know how to properly deal with these things as they came my way with a clear, level head. I'm not saying there are loads of kids who do, mind you, I was just a basket case at times. But then along came my dad. 

For those that know him, Roger Farr is a good man. He cares a lot about a lot of people and for a lot of my friends, both older and younger than I, he was the cool, funny dad. He listened to countless kids at church and at our various school events that would come jibber-jabber his ear off about what was good in their life. Mom got them in school, Dad got them when they were away from school. 

I know this is one of the biggest cliches of them all, but it took me until well into my 30s to realize what a great man my father is. I always knew him as someone unafraid to show Randall or I tough love when we needed it, which was more often than not. I remembered, falsely, all of the times I felt that he was unfair or that his judgement was mean or evil against my favor. But when I look back on these moments, he was teaching me how to control myself, how to act, and how to get back up when life knocked me down. 

Can't hit a curveball to save my life and strike out with the bases loaded to end an inning? Dad tells me to chin up because you can't pitch with tears in your eyes. Same with shooting free throws. Same with a lot of life, actually. He's always been there for me, and the older I get, the more I realize I'm not the only person who relies on him in this way. Also the older I get, the more I realize how much of what he used to tell me when it came to sports, my favorite being, "The other teams kids moms and dads want to see them win just as badly as we want you to and they bought them gloves and bats just the same as we bought you." That was his was of saying you win some and you lose some and that it's really just a game so give it your best shot, and if you don't get a hit, it's not that you did wrong.

Once again, I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I will say this in closing. Life sometimes knocks you down and like a bully, doesn't let you get back up. My dad has gotten smacked pretty good by life recently, and he probably doesn't want me sharing this, but if you see him, give him a hug. I know he could use it. 

And Dad, hopefully Mom makes you read this, and if she does, let me say this: You are the smartest, hardest working man that I'll ever know and if I grow up to be half as wise, caring, strong and amazing as you, I know I'll be just fine. Thank you for always guiding me and never letting me give up on myself and for also never giving up on me, because I know that I gave you chances to. Thank you for always leading by example and showing me, Randy, Tony and now Reid that being a real man isn't always what the stereotypes say they are, but that being humble, and caring with the ability to be hilarious and roll with the punches regardless of the situation counts too. Thank you for never settling, always setting the example, and being a true display of fatherly love. I'll never be able to repay you for the life lessons that you have given me, but I wanted you to know that they reached their mark. Sorry it took me so long to realize what you were aiming for.

2014 ramblings

A friend of mine asked me today what I was going to write tonight and I guess I hadn't shared with her that I was a part-time blogger when I have the time and I told her that I try to write about what's on my mind but it had been a month or so. Well, I apologize that it's been close to three. That's unacceptable and it won't happen again.

So, since I last wrote, there have been major changes all over the landscape of my life and that's what this edition will be about; catching up with the past 3 months, and what is going to happen moving forward. The new year is a good time to clean up some things and start fresh, right?

So, as far as 2013 is concerned: I finished my semester with 2 A's in 2 classes; learned more about the presidents and their fitness levels than I probably ever thought I would; decided to push off entrance into grad school until Fall '14 so I can knock out the remaining prerequisites and take the GRE again - not that I bombed the first attempt, I just know I can do better with any semblance of preparation; ran a half marathon in a personal best time; decided to focus on training for more runs; and have made some decisions regarding my sports loyalties. Added to that mix are, what I feel to be, the needed change that occurred at the head coaching position at UT and the Cowboys once again letting me down. 

Now onto bigger and (hopefully) brighter things in 2014. I'm not going to sit here and make some sweeping declaration that 2014 is going to be the best year yet, but I think it has some real potential.  

My first main decision of change in 2014 begins with something that happened in late 2013. The Dallas Cowboys, my favorite football team since birth, was puttering along with another lackluster year headed again for the all-to-familiar finality of finishing another season with eight wins and eight losses. They had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on more than one occasion this season and I was starting to run out of excuses for how these things could continue to happen. I was also starting to get tired of rooting for a franchise with such poor upper management that I finally reached my breaking point. I love the Dallas Cowboys, I truly do, but from this point forward until Jerry Jones is no longer in charge of personnel decisions, I renounce them as my NFL team of choice after 30+ years and am a free agent. I will, at some point between now and the draft in May, have a new team draw in which I will draw my new team from a hat, or something else random. I do not want to jump on the bandwagon of some team left in the playoffs to be 'that guy' so I am going to leave it up to fate. I'm just too tired of feeling like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football while Jerry plays Lucy and yanks it from me each time. Life is too short to continue to make the same mistakes over and over again and Jerry's pompous attitude and selfish nature have finally pushed me overboard. I know this isn't some life-or-death moment, but it will be a part of my 2014 and is one that I am looking forward to!

Secondarily, I have decided to run again in 2014...a lot!! My plan currently is to run ten half marathons and maybe one full. You read that right...TEN. Most of these will take place in Texas and there are a lot of them around and I feel like pushing myself. The first of these races takes place in eleven days and I couldn't be more excited with the second just a few weeks after. Both of those are here in Austin as well so it won't require any travel. For those of you who have been reading along with me over the years, you know that I started writing when I started running so I am expecting this increased attention to long distances to really fuel my writing spirit. I will be chronicling these runs and keeping you all up to date on these events, as they will help me navigate the year with a clear head. This is more for a later blog, but after having trained in the past alone, I have started training with a group and I will tell you all right here and now without ruining the future writings that I enjoy it even more now for so many reasons.

This year will also lend itself to more knowledge growth than has been present of late as I plan to focus and dedicate myself more to reading and less to tv and movie watching. I realized over the summer and past semester that I really enjoyed reading as I was required to do a lot of it for my coursework, but found that I was lacking the ability to read what I wanted to, but that's about to change. I asked Santa for a load of books for Christmas and, well, I guess I had been a good boy because he came through in a major way. Most of these books are the stories of our sporting past, all non-fiction and based, in some regards, around my studies. I have found that I love learning these old stories of the foundations of our nations love affair with sports and sporting culture, and since it's my passion and what I am going to study for the foreseeable future, I might as well immerse myself in it. 

Long and short, and seemingly what this whole edition has come down to, is that I'm tired of settling for the mediocre and middle ground and 2014 will be my first year in attempting to go all out for everything I want, all the time. Yeah, I may fail. Failure happens. Nobody succeeds the first time, every time. But, if you've been given a gift or an ability to do something, it's time to stop wasting it. They say you can't take it with you, but they are wrong. You CAN, depending on what you want to take. The money and accolades and all of that will be left here, for sure, but the way you feel at the end because of the amount of effort you put in will always be with you and who wants to lie there when their time is up and beat themselves up over what they SHOULD have said or COULD have done. Not this guy. Not good enough. Not anymore.

Full disclaimer: I never know where these things are going to end up when I start writing. I rarely know what direction they will take, or what my overall message is. I appreciate you guys wading through with me and hopefully I will get better and grow as you all grow with me. Suggestions are always accepted. Help me get better.

Last thought, these two songs may be the same song with the same point and damn near the same tune(especially the start), but they both rule. See you soon!

Training Runs on Pretty Days

Man, today was a good day for running. Such a good day, in fact, that even leaving my socks at home and having to run without them couldn't even get me down.

Things I will recommend: Not waiting until the week of an event to start training. Don't read this the wrong way, I cannot wait to run 13.1 on Saturday! Really and truly can't. I should have probably started knocking the miles out a bit ahead of time, though. It will either be the smartest or dumbest thing I have tried to do in recent memory.

Today's run, though, was phenomenal. Absolutely perfect. Around 82 when I started and sunny sunny sunny. The quintessential "Chamber of Commerce Day". After not running distance regularly in some time, I found today's run to be promising. I was able to maintain a pace of around 9:30 for the entirety of my 4.25 miles and only had to stop a time or two to stretch my left calf which got tight on me.

Obviously it's also recommended to wear socks while running and my feet are letting me know all about it right now, but like I said earlier, even that discomfort couldn't drag down how it felt to run again.

I started really feeling in rhythm around mile three-and-a-half which made closing the run that much more fun, but I honestly almost kept going. I hope race day has the same effect. I normally do start getting my legs under me around mile 3 so it's a challenge for that first quarter, and then I coast home.

Anyway, sorry about the short piece today. I'm just really excited that I made it! Now I have to start setting a playlist and rubbing my legs!

Catching Up With Some Good Tunes

As promised a few weeks ago, there are a bunch of new albums out that I needed to go over with you all, so I am just going to get right into it. As stated previously, I am no musician, I just really like music and enjoy the things it brings to my life. I could be utterly wrong about everything said below, but this is my blog so I can say what i want!

I'm gonna start with the easiest album I will ever probably attempt to tell anyone about, MGMT's latest self-titled venture. I was super smart and have once again purchased an album based upon previous works which I enjoyed even though the more recent work appears to be getting worse. This is prime example numero uno. After thoroughly enjoying their first album, "Oracular Spectacular", I rushed out to purchase their follow up, "Congratulations", and while wasn't as fond of it as the first, still found some modicum of enjoyment out of it. You can imagine my enjoyment, then, when I heard a new album was coming out. A chance to redeem themselves for a lackluster second effort, I thought. I thought wrong! I will have a hard time describing any of it to you because it forced me to zone out pretty hard and did not capture any part of my attention. I'm not sure if I have ADD or what, but I'm not sure if getting someone to zone out and not realize what they were listening to for close to an hour was what they were going for. I wish I could say I have given it more than one listen, but I haven't, and may not to be honest. Here are some of my favorite songs from the first two albums to make me feel better:

Enough about that, I'm glad I got it out of my system. Now onto something I have actually enjoyed listening to over the last few weeks.

I will start here with the full-length debut from Grouplove titled "Spreading Rumours". This album was released in late September, just weeks before the band would conquer ACL and become one of the darlings of the festival. I was first introduced to their work in the summer of 2012(I had to check my Shazaam to make sure of the time) when one of their tunes, "Colours", off their EP appeared in, you guessed it, a movie trailer. I would love to say I was pleasantly surprised by this album being good, but I wasn't. After listening to the EP pretty regularly and hearing some of their music pop up around the water cooler, I expected nothing less than some really good music and I was not let down and you won't be either. This album is chalk-full of finger tapping, head bobbing goodness with some raucous drumming and wonderful harmonies. I really just love this album. It's worth a listen or two. It's pretty great. 

Next up is the completion of Justin Timberlake's 20/20 Experience. The first disc was released back in the spring and was a very sexy, melodic album full of soul and class. In the follow-up/completion of the journey, JT takes us into the world of what happens before you get to classy and gets - pardon the rhyming that is about to occur, I just can't help myself sometimes - sassy. This album seems focused more in the club scene in which one would be attempting to pick up the lady for whom you would eventually write the love songs. My only real issue with this album is that it wasn't the first part because I feel that it would have flowed better into the other part as opposed to the way they were actually released. It's just partially irritating to listen to an album full of songs for six months that you could equate all are written for his wife, Jessica Beil, and then follow it up with a bunch of really good club songs about hooking up. Going in reverse would have told the tale better in my opinion. Anyway, there are a few gems on this album as well and I can't wait to see the man put on his show in December. Some of my favorites:

I will end today's session with what I think is one of the most enjoyable listens around these days, and that is the young lady from the UK, Lorde, with her full-length debut, "Pure Heroine". Coming off a summer where she captured ears worldwide with her hit "Royals", she keeps the train running with this album. Her voice is mesmerizing, melodies and accompanying beats entrancing, and the whole album begs to be listened to on repeat."Tennis Court" and "Glory and Gore" are my jams. For real check this album out if you haven't already.

Understanding Fans, or Trying to

You ever wonder what happens when a fan base for a certain team gets so used to winning that the thought of losing turns them on one another and, even worse, on their team? 

We heard a story in class today about the first ever professional baseball club, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, that rivaled some of the fan sentiment from today and even outdid some of the extreme nature of fan behavior present in todays society. A little background, in the mid 1800s, baseball was taking off and truly becoming our nations pastime as men, and women, all over the country were playing the exciting new game. No city took to the game more than that of New York, with over 50 teams competing against one another in 1858. The popularity of the game even grew throughout the Civil War as men on both sides were playing constantly. One of the main rules set up as baseball was founded, though, was that of it always remaining an amateur game, meaning, the founders of baseball never wanted their players to be paid. This all changed in 1869 when Harry Wright founded the Red Stockings and begin paying his players, many of whom were from the New York area. His investment in players paid off as they won all 65 of their games in the '69 season, they even turned a profit on the season for their investors of $1.39. The roll continued as the next season began and they won their first 27 games, beating teams on either coast with help from the intercontinental railroad. It wasn't until a matchup in front of 20,000 spectators in New York, playing against the Brooklyn Atlantics, that the Red Stockings first tasted defeat, an 8-7 extra innings loss. The Cincinnati fans took this loss so badly that many refused to show up for future home games and eventually the team was disbanded. All based on ONE loss!

Talk about fans not putting up with losing. I have seen this scenario play out more times than I care to count, though not as extreme,  in recent memory with not only my alma mater, The University of Texas, but also with some of the other teams I pull for, the Texas Rangers, Dallas Cowboys and even Manchester United.

All of these situations have their differences, but the long and short is still that winning and being competitive in your league has fostered a sense of entitlement in the fan base to where the slightest hiccup causes massive uproar. Don't get me wrong, there are issues at hand with all of the aforementioned teams, but is it really the worst of times as some would have us believe?

For example, when the Rangers lost game 163 this year to the Rays, I was as disheartened and bummed as any Ranger fan. I wish we had done more to solidify our spot in the postseason and given ourselves a shot at another World Series run. The unfortunate part, though, is that we didn't. We lost our way mid-September and without a furious last week of play, wouldn't have even had the shot at game 163. Yes, there are some changes that need to be made, but if you had listened to some of the venom  being spewed after that loss, you would think we had lost every game along the way. Some of it was pretty brutal. The other end of the spectrum is the "well, at least we made it this far" fan that's okay as long as their team plays well and always wants to keep everyone around because of the good ole days.

A lot of both is going on down here in Austin with the sometimes scuffling, always confusing 2013 version of the Texas Longhorns football team. One week we suck and need to fire Mack, the next week we are better and turning the corner, the next we win, but sucked doing so and probably got lucky so Mack needs to go again and the next, we do the improbable and win a game that we probably shouldn't have and maybe all is well. Who really knows? I know I don't. I know there have been times where I've sung the praises of these kids and other times where it wasn't fun at all and I would rather not watch the game at all.

When you talk the Cowboys... on second thought, I'm not gonna address that here. I have my own opinions that some others share and many others don't about what is going on with those guys. I get really more frustrated with talking Cowboys than anything else I talk about, mainly because I do feel so strongly towards how a certain player performs versus how many within the fan base of those cheering view him.

All in all, if we view fandom as a spectrum, where one end is the 'Chicken Little sky is falling end' and the other is the 'Never change the good ole days end', I fall somewhere in the middle. I like nostalgia and longevity but at the same time, when something is broken, it needs to be changed. That's where I am on Texas football. I know we are playing better and our kids haven't given up on this season and still DO have a lot to play for over the remaining 6 games, but I think it's time for a change at the top and time for a new voice to be heard in the room. Not to disparage what Mack has done for the profile and strength of the program, but the time has come if you ask me. My hope for the rest of the season? That we win out! Win the Big 12 and play in a BCS bowl and win it and allow Mack to step aside a winner, like he wanted to do after 2009.

As for the Rangers, I don't really know what I want. I do know I wish they were on the verge of their third World Series matchup in 4 years and a chance for revenge against a team that sometimes makes it hard for me to fully trust baseball again. Many people have had this phenomenon after getting their hearts broken in relationships, mine is still mending two years later after the blow the Cardinals laid on me. Instead we are home, watching other teams get their chance at glory, figuring out how to take that next step back into the fray. I have utmost faith, though, that the right moves will be made to make sure that this thing heads in the right direction, though. 

The Coolest Job in Music

Movies and music go hand-in-hand if I am the one who gets to make the call. The right song at the right moment can make all of the world of difference in how you feel towards a character or react to what's going on in a particular scene. Ryan Phillippe waits for Reese Witherspoon at the top of the escalator in Cruel Intentions and "Color Blind" by the Counting Crows drags you into the moment, allowing you to share that intense, emotional meeting that is a turning point in the entire film. Same with the first time Natalie Portman and Zach Braff meet in Garden State and she changes his entire life with one Shins song or the closing scene of Fight Club where Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter have front row seats to the apocalypse, his face half blown off, buildings collapsing around them all to the beat of the Pixies "Where is My Mind." That Pixies tune is the only one on the whole soundtrack not written and produced by the Dust Brothers and has become synonymous with the movie itself. There are so many more songs that define movies that I could write a daily blog about a different one for a year.

Music can dramatically altar everything in your life, and never more so than in a movie, if you ask me. Gonna try a new thing this week and add links as we go. Disregard the subtitles if you would.

What I have started to become more cognizant of, though, as I consume movies is the trailers. I mean, yes, I have always loved them and then once I had friends who were in the business of turning movies into trailers, I found out the level of work it takes to take a two hour film, make it into 3 minutes and don't give away the ending. The job I want now, though, is not that job, but the job of picking the music to accompany the trailer. I feel these guys are doing masterful work picking the right tune to portray the tone of the movie and are really thinking outside the box. My two favorite trailers that fully exemplify this that are out currently are for the upcoming Leonardo DiCaprio flick The Wolf of Wall Street and the Ben Stiller fantasy tale The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I don't know if I love the trailer because they feature songs I really enjoy or what, but I want to see these movies so badly. The former features a really poorly named Kanye West tune "Black Skinhead" and the latter gives us "Dirty Paws" by Of Monsters and Men. I will leave it up to the psychologists in the group to determine what level of Pavlovian response I have had that has made me gravitate towards these two movies in particular and why I can remember their trailers more than any other out right now save Gravity, which is funny given the concept of this blog. Gravity sticks out to me because of it's general lack of music in the trailer save a few piano chords and short violin stroke.

Anyways, enjoy the clips, go see some movies this week, support the artists in your town, turn off the tv and watch some of the iTunes Festival while it's still available for free on your iTunes. Next week is coming in hot with probably 10 album reviews including the second part of Justin Timberlake's 20/20 Experience, new MGMT, Grouplove, Avicii, Lorde and more! There will also be playlist under the last movie clip of some of my favorite movie songs and songs from movie soundtracks. Thanks as always for your support!

Quick Breakdown:
1. Slow Wave from Pump Up The Volume
2. Stuck in the Middle from Reservoir Dogs
3. Pretty Woman is pretty self-explanatory, no?
4. Tiny Dancer from Almost Famous
5. Afternoon Delight has been in a ton of movies, probably most famously for the Channel 4 News Team's rendition in Anchorman
6. Lookin' Out My Back Door The Big Lebowski
7. In the Air Tonight is another that has been all over the place, but will forever be linked to The Hangover
8. Take My Breath Away from Top Gun
9. And Back to the Future's Power of Love

This is a super quickie list of songs that came to mind as I thought about movies I had seen in the past few months. I'm going to continue to add to this list and if someone knows how to become the guy that puts movie soundtracks together and/or gets to choose the songs for trailers and seminal moments in movies, holla at your boy!!

The Overreactive Subculture of Sports and Society

Today I am writing tired. Not physically tired, mind you. I have been getting my 6 hours or so of sleep each night like a good little boy. I am mentally tired, though. Why, you ask, am i mentally tired? Must be from the juggling of two jobs and school and the relentless pursuit of fitness, right? NOPE!!!! It's from the constant and consistent overreaction to every minor detail of every football game that has happened over the past two weeks. That's right, I'll say it. We are two weeks into football season and I am already over it. I understand I am may be a little more sensitive to this than most after years of working in bars which caused me to make small talk with complete strangers and having a lot of that talk be sports related. I am probably overly optimistic when it comes to my teams and honestly, at the root of things, I just want to be entertained and if my team wins, even better.

Fair warning, this is going to be my rant blog tonight so if you don't want to read me be super grumpy, stop reading now because here goes nothing:

• The Longhorns are not the worst team that has ever played football. Yes, they sucked real hard Saturday night and deserved to lose and, in all honesty, Manny Diaz deserved to lose his job. Whatever he has been doing since his arrival has been subpar and a change needed to be made. What pisses me off to no end, though, is the endless stream of comments I've read railing against David Ash, UT's quarterback. Did he have the best game ever? No. Did he cost the Longhorns the game with a lack of effort and excess turnovers? HELL NO! While his defense was allowing a school record 550+ yards rushing, David was a modest 19 of 34 for 251 yards through the air and two touchdowns with no turnovers. He also ran for 34 yards before leaving the game in the 4th quarter with a concussion. Was he the problem? Not even remotely. Did I still have to read on my Facebook wall about how much McCoy should be in and not him and then listen to it all morning at the bar Sunday? You know it. 
• Another topic that burns me up is this notion that every kid in the state of Texas wants to come play football here and that Mack Brown has done a lousy job of getting talent to this school. A lousy job of developing the talent? I could stand to be persuaded that that is the truth. The fact that there isn't talent here is asinine to think. People can bitch all they want about RG3 or Andrew Luck not coming here but you know what? When they were being recruited, we had the number 1 recruit in the nation on the way to play quarterback in Garrett Gilbert. He is from Austin, was winning championships, son of a former NFL QB, running our offense and the consensus number one QB recruit in the nation. Every school in America wanted him and if you think i'm lying, you're kidding yourself. So, is it out of the question at that point to offer smallish track star RG3 a scholarship as a wide receiver?  I would think not. Same with Luck. These guys all want to play in the NFL so why would one top recruit follow another top recruit to a school when another school is offering him a chance to play right away? Johnny Football? Yeah, we didn't offer him a scholarship, but it doesn't surprise me either after the fact. Mack Brown is, and always has been, a man that teaches respect of others and, as the story is told, he had issues with Johnny's personality so he didn't offer him a scholarship. Should he have? Would you date a girl/guy with a shitty mindset that treated people poorly just because they were hot or wealthy? Same story. We have 85 total scholarships to give to members of the football team. 85. In 2011, the state of Texas produced 345 division 1 football players of the 161,000 kids that participated in High School football. Put simply, if Texas, A&M, Baylor, Tech, and TCU took 25 each of these kids, that's 220 for the rest of the nation to choose from. My point is that sometimes you're gonna hit, and sometimes you're gonna miss. Also, and not to pick on Johnny Football, but if he was such a great recruit, wouldn't the likes of Baylor or TCU have offered him a scholarship? At the time, they were better off football-wise than the Aggies so it's not like they wouldn't have tried to get him, right?
• Now onto the Cowboys. I love Tony Romo. I think he's downright awesome and it was such a wonderful and welcomed sight watching him not have to completely run for his life last night and get to work in the pocket. I'm sure it was as alarming to him as it was to me. I am sick and tired of listening to people say that this team will never win with him at quarterback. There are so many points to be made that I don't feel like typing right now because it makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills that I am seeing this while everyone else misses it. It has gotten so bad for me that last night, when his right tackle Doug Free got bum-rushed and pushed on his fat ass, and then Tony got leveled and stayed down and eventually was pulled from the game that I wished he would be hurt for the whole season. I wished this not because I think anyone else could do better, quite the contrary, actually. I wished that so that people who cheer for this team can see just what he means to this team and learn to respect the job he has done year in and year out with the substandard support staff that has been provided to him. I would forfeit the whole season just so Tony could get the respect he deserves.

I'm done, I have so much more to say but don't want to get too worked up before bed. Have fun out there. Hate what I said or love it, I don't care, just pay attention to what you're watching. It should be fun. It should be a respite from a long day's work, or a time to meet and hang with friends.