Hometown Roots

I stole this from my boy C-Dub's blog. Seriously one of the raddest things I have seen in a while. Growing up in and around the punk scene in Boise, I am totally stoked on this. Take a peek at the scene in 1985 Boise:


Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

Tradition

It's been a while since I've posted anything on here and A LOT has happened in the past month. For those of you who don't know, I am once again on the move. My work has asked me to relocate to the sunny skies and sandy beaches of Southern California. Kansas City is a great city and was a great experience for me, but I am so stoked to live the dream in the Southwest U.S. I am currently residing in Utah until my place opens up in January. So all you Utah friends, get at your boy. More on the move and other happenings later.

When it comes to holidays I would classify myself as a fairweather fan. I don't necessarily love or hate holidays. To me it's just another day, that is until the holiday is actually upon us. Every major holiday throughout the year (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Veterans Day, etc.....) something happens to me the morning of. I wake up and for a brief moment I think about the "special" day and what it means to me. This very thing happened to me this morning. I woke to the muffled sound of Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab on VH1. Desperately trying to switch stations I angrily searched for the nowhere-to-be-found remote. After 20 mins of looking I finally stumbled upon the blasted thing wrapped up in the very blanket I used to sleep with the night before. As I was searching through the channels that feeling struck me. It was at that moment I realized how grateful I am for so many things, including the ability to sit on my fat butt and change the channel with the press of a button. If you think about it the remote control is such a rad invention. Then I thought about all the other things I'm grateful for like peanut M&M's, my past collection of Homies (the little guys you get at Smith's along side the temporary tattoos and calvin-peeing- on-things stickers), The Beach Boys and ultimately my friends (Creekers For Life) and my fam. Then I went back to sleep.

A few hours, one and a half of Becca's waffles and two glasses of OJ later I was on the road to eat dinner with my family in Payson. While gathered around the table I announced to my step-family my recently created Thanksgiving tradition (born in 2003) of telling my Dad something from my past that he didn't know about and that I really can't get into trouble for anymore. The inaugural launch of this tradition resulted in the telling of an event from my past that included delivery trucks and a very well known potato chip distributor. If you want more info just ask, it's epic.

With all ears at attention, I expunded on an unforgettable night in the summer of '97. Under the influence of certain beverages and amidst several of my friends and my older brother's friends, I proceeded to ride my little brother's bicycle around the backyard pool yelling "Look at me!" When I reached the diving board I thought to myself 'What could be better than riding this bicycle off the diving board? Nothing, thats what.' I pedaled hard trying to reach maximum speed. Once in the air I realized that there was one problem, I was fully clothed.

My Dad shook his head in minor dissapointment and major laughter, along with the others, at my wondrous feat. May everyone have a grand Thanksgiving and don't forget to undress before you decide that it's a good idea to ride a bicycle into water.

Halloween

I have been many things for Halloween through the years: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, mad scientist, a girl, a human body part and the list goes on. But my most accomplished costume of all time was two years ago. Remember the Cobra Kai skeleton costumes from The Karate Kid? No? Maybe this will refresh your memory........

I wore a homemade skeleton outfit exactly like you see here, it was so dope. If only I had some pics of it, oh well.

I know a lot of you out there have seen some pretty fresh and pretty dope Halloween costumes. But what is one of the worst costumes you've ever seen? Here's one I came across...


I have one that tops all others, but I don't think it's appropriate for this blog. Just go and Google "worst costumes ever" and you may come across it.

California Dreamin'

I'm on my way........

Son, She's Gone

So I have been thinking a lot about my Mom lately and just how much I love her. I guess this is something I don't talk about a lot. I mean, it doesn't bother me to talk about it you know, I don't get all teary-eyed or weird about it. In fact, I enjoy talking about it because then I open myself up to others in a way that I previously knew not how. I don't tell you this for any sort of pity or for your condolences. I tell you this to praise the woman who I was able to spend 23 of the best years of my life with.

Most of you know the basics of my Mom's death. For those of you that don't, here you go. Candice P. Crouch was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma in Dec 2004/Jan 2005 and passed away in July 2005.

This whole ordeal started back about 10 years or so. As she fought through various pains, no one could diagnose her condition. This went on for several years with good days and bad days. In Dec 2004 she suffered from a seizure that caused a minor blip in her heart as well, so she was hospitalized. After her release, she had another seizure causing even greater damage to her heart . During this time the doctors noticed a tumor that had developed on her kidney. The heart issue cleared up and the kidney was removed, but my Mother would never be the same. The cancer did irreparable damage, causing her to function with the mentality of a small child. 7 long months later she passed away quietly with my Father by her side.

As one can only imagine, things became very complicated, very quickly. We have the ability to control almost every aspect of our life - our career, what we eat, the music we listen to, the people we choose to call friends, etc..... It is not often, almost never in fact, that we are faced with a situation in which we do not have some sort of control. But this is exactly where I found myself. There is absolutely nothing I could have done that would have saved my Mother's life and that's the hardest part, coming to grips with the fact that I had no form of control in the situation. The following period of time proved to be difficult in many arena's of life.

Three years and two months later, I find myself in a much different state. I have learned that, and this is as eloquent as I can put it, shit happens. I have come to terms with the fact that she has passed and that I don't know why. I don't think I'll ever understand why this happened, but I am learning each day how to integrate this experience into my life for the better. I still struggle with a lot of things surrounding her death, but this I do know: regardless of my beliefs, actions and status in life I will see her again.

I wrote a song in tribute to my Mom and if you're lucky enough you may just get to hear it one day. Until then, I'm playing this one close to my chest.

The Cat's Out Of The Bag or My Dad has an Eagle Eye and Spotted This Within Two Minutes

Rumor's have been spreading, so here it is in all of its glory......


In other news, I recently finished first in the Kieth Crouch look-a-like contest. Check out my winning photo:

Tears

I am shedding tears at how funny this clip is. Mad props to my homie Collin "Cons" Creek for the storyline and the film work, mad props.

3 Years To The Day

Mom, I miss you.

Surprise Surprise

Yeah, I know..... but I really do miss it.

Speechless

The Dark Knight. Seriously, that's all I have to say.

Viva La Espana

So there I was, sitting in the Orlando airport as El Nino made a magnificent move to beat the keeper and score the only and winning goal of the Euro 2008 final. I must admit that I originally had Portugal going all the way, but second on my list was that of Torres, Sergio Ramos, Fabregas and Spain. I watched the entire final with about 50 drunk travelers from across the world in the Fox Sports Zone at the Orlando airport, it was ill.




* Sorry for the music on the vid, what the hell was this dude thinking with Creed?

From The Vault

Just happened to come upon these, scope them:

In other news, Portugal was nowhere to be found against Germany on Thursday. But my #2, Spain, pulled through today despite the mess of a game called by the referee. Seriously, two no calls in the box, that is ridiculous. Russia looked pretty good against a Netherlands team that, for the most part, looked like this was their first match together. As impressive as Russia looked, they will not redeem their group loss to Spain. I'm calling it right now, Spain over Germany 2-1 in the finals.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH

I hope that this doesn't sound super super conceited but I am in love with my band's CD. Honestly, I can't get enough of it. I want it to get big. Like, touring big but I know that won't happen.

I am really really bummed that I decided to leave Maple Grove. I hope that the rest of the group knows how much I loved being a part of the band and how much I absolutely love our music. Here's something for the rest of you to wrap your ears around, let me know what you think:

BOOKS

I have come to the realization that although reading a book is far more mentally stimulating than television, I am just not that big of a book reader. I would prefer to watch TV. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against books or those who enjoy reading them, I just have never been able to get that much into books.

Strike that, there was one point in my life where I used to stay up into the wee hours of the morning reading, that was in 3rd Grade. "Encyclopedia Brown" where have you gone?

Crush = Curse

Warning: The following is a true story of one man's battle with the greatest curse of all time.... The curse of the crush.

I'm accursed, at least I think so. I have the uncanny ability to turn into a complete pussy when it comes to my crushes. I don't know what it is. I mean, a majority of my friends are girls (granted, I have no feelings for these women except for maybe the occasional seductive appearance in my dreams,) but when it comes time for a crush, count me out.

For a while I was on this kick of having mini-crushes because if I never pursued, or tried for, my mini-crush(es) I didn't feel bad for not doing anything about it. You know, I didn't feel like I was letting myself down. With major crushes, if I didn't actively attempt to let the girl know that I liked her then I felt horrible and my self-esteem dropped by at least 24.68 points. For a brief moment in time I switched back to major crushes, that didn't work out as well as I had hoped.

When I do finally nut up and make a move on my crush one of two things usually happens: I get a little piece and fall head over heels without the same response or I just get denied.

On the recent heels of a successful session, I find myself at the worst point of the curse. You see I have this thing, I can't make out with a girl unless I really and genuinely like her. "That's so sweet," "Oh my gosh, how cute," and "I wish all guys were like that" are just a few of the responses I have had for my inability to close a non-committed sesh. We all know that the words of comfort I listed are just that - words of comfort, to someone these girls feel pity for.

Well, I really really like this girl. But due to the 1200 miles between us and my proficiency in the art of post-sesh pussdom, I am drawn to a conclusion that nothing will come of it. I have once again fallen victim to the curse.

Or have I? I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and rid myself of this curse that has followed me my entire life - the curse of the crush.

Stay tuned for details (stay tuned for a long time b/c I'm in Kansas City and she's in Utah.)

Tres Leches

If you can guess who this is then you get the prize.....

Numero Deuce

The Start Of A New Generation

So I want to just start posting things that I like on here. Don't worry kids, I'll still keep you updated on my life. Its just that I come across so many rad things and I want to post them on here.

Numero Uno:

To view more go to blublu.org

This Is The Place

So I'm pretty positive that approximately 12.62% of my friends actually read this blog and a big Cheers! to those of you that do. I appreciate it. Seriously I do.

I feel that this is going to be the best way for me to communicate with all of my long lost homies. I am going to try and do better about posting on this thing. I hope everyone is doing alright.

Here's a little update on my Kansas City status. I moved in on the 17th with help from my Pops and Moms. Then I flew out to Phoenix on the 20th for work to the Arizona Multi-Housing Association trade show. It was a good show and I was able to spend some quality time with my colleague Mark Stoddard. He's a great guy and I know he will do super rad in Sacramento.

I finally got back on the 23rd late in the evening and have spent the last three days catching up on organizing my place. I don't have a lot of stuff so my pad looks pretty barren, but check it out:

*This is what you see right when you come up the stairs from the garage.*


*View from the little eating nook.*


*Time Wasters*

*The Office*

It's not much for now, but the longer I'm out here the more rad it will all become.

I'm not gonna lie, not knowing anyone out here makes things pretty lonely right now but that should change as time goes on. I have committed myself to being more active at church, I went for all three hours yesterday! I think that's the first time I have gone for all 3 hours in like 3 months, RAD! Now I just gotta keep it going.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to all my Provo homies and all the Creekers nationwide for all of your support. As much as it pains me to say, I do miss Utah already but glad that I'm moving on with my life.

Until next time Ima leave it to my boy Snoop to say

peace out.

Soda Popinsky

Does anyone remember Soda Popinsky from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out? Seriously, he might not have been the hardest character to beat but man did I like saying his name. For the last little while (few years) I have been calling my Dad 'Pops'. He seems to like it seeing as when he calls sometimes he says "Hey it's Pops!" Today it struck me that maybe I can get away with calling him Soda Popinsky.

Well as many of you know I made the vicious 1200 mile trek to Kansas City last week and my folks came along to help me get situated in my new place and to see my friends in Nebraska, the Wilcox's. Good ol Pops and Sug helped me move in last weekend and then joined me on my first venture into new church waters, here's a pic:

I have a crush......

RETIRED

I retired the blue beast aka the blue balls this week.
That's right, no more oohing and awwing the babes with my 1999 perrywinkle-blue Chevy Malibu anymore.

I will now be destroying the streets of Provo (for the next 11 days) and Kansas City in this little number.....




For some reason I've had my eye on this beaut for a while and just decided that before I make the move out to KC I needed something a little more reliable and something that would help me obtain a sesh. If girls don't make out with me now that I make a lot of money and have a new sporty car then all girls must be really dumb.

New Digs

So life has been pretty hectic lately. I am moving away from Provo next month and up until a week ago had not found a new place to live in Kansas City. I was trying to get appointments set up out there with some potential clients so that I could then make some rounds and tour some joints to live at, but it just wasn't going to work out. I left my destiny up to the internets. I'll be rocking a quaint little 1 bedroom with a study for my office and a garage to boot.


A couple of weeks ago I got on lds.org to get a feel for the single adults scene out in KC. I was surprised when I only found one YSA Branch listed, but decided to give them a call nonetheless. Some older dude answered and happened to be a member of the Branch Presidency. I talked with him for a bit and he told me about the area and that there are 8 stakes in KC and the surrounding areas with a YSA ward or branch in each stake. He then told me that the largest ward is the Shawnee Mission ward which encompasses Overland Park KS and Lenexa KS. The only area I searched for a place to live is in Overland Park.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to rock a branch. But to increase my chances of finding babes I thought I would test out the large ward first. The best part is I can ward hop every couple of months and pretend to be the new guy. I'm pretty sure something good is going to come of this, I just got that feeling. I just hope Tobias and Gob are in my ward.

IT IS FINISHED

I just want to thank everyone who came out to our show last Friday. It was seriously so EPIC!!! Besides the fact that we got screwed out of fifteen minutes for no apparent reason (there is a motive behind going on second - its called getting to play longer) the show was so so rad as witnessed by the pictures below. Two songs into the set we played California Girls by The Beach Boys, hence the short shorts and the tanks and muscle sweatshirt on our part.

(This is pre-California Girls)

(Come On Party People Get Up!)

(I think you can almost see my twins in this one)


(I rapped Fat Joe's Make It Rain, Illa Illa)

As you can see it was a pretty rad party. The venue was packed and we ended up selling a ton of merch, which is good because I gotta recoup our recording costs somehow. Everyone should have a listen to some of Maple Grove's new tracks. We are really really happy with the album and the artwork and my last show and the birds and the bees....uhhhhhh sorry about that. Its starting to get late for me. I know I know, 930 isn't that late but when you are about to turn 26 life just starts slowing down and 930 just feels a lot later.

EP

1) Amen To The Moon
2) Seasons
3) A Soldier's Requiem
4) Storytime With The Rabbi
5) Sea Of Memories
6) Stars

ITS THE D-O-DOUBLE-G

I don't know if any of you have heard but Snoop Dogg is now a Mormon. I didn't believe it at first either, but after doing some research I found this article from CNN. Here is a pic of the Doggfather reading the Book of Mormon:



This is seriously one of the best April Fool's pranks I have ever heard of. Mad props to whoever cam up with this idea. Oh and by the way Cardon, I DID NOT steal this from you. Someone came into work today talking about how they heard this story on the radio and so we checked it out. I haven't stopped laughing since noon today, hilarious, hilarious.

IT IS FINSHED

We put the final mixes on our new EP last night. It feels so good to have achieved such a rad accomplishment. A lot of work went into this CD and I feel like it shows on the record. We poured almost everything into making this thing happen before I leave. I am so stoked on the CD right now. Maybe it's cause I'm in the band, but I am seriously in love with our record.

We needed to get it recorded and pressed in time for our show on April 11th. This is probably going to be my last show with the band and we are gonna do it right. The show is pretty much going to be a huge party to celebrate my bday, my going away, and most importantly the release of our yet-to-be-titled EP.





I just want to thank everyone who has come out and supported us the last few months. Seriously, you have made this part of my life so rad.

Make sure to come and see me at the show, this might be your last chance to catch a glimpse and give me a hug. Oh and I have to make my shameless plug that you should buy a shirt at our show so we can actually pay for the CD (you can buy a regular printed shirt and a CD for only $10 or you can buy a custom sewn shirt and a CD for only $15 - WHAT A STEAL!)

Holla at ya boi!

STAY GOLD PONY BOY

I have pretty much announced this to everyone, but for all of you out there who might stumble upon this - I AM MOVING TO KANSAS CITY!!!!!

Yes its true. No "day after April Fools" or nothin'. I really am making the move to the MID-WEST (said all slow and gangsta-like) Maybe I'll run into Nelly even though he is from St. Louis (St. Lunatics on da map!)

In all seriousness though, I am getting really stoked to make the move to America's heartland. Obviously I will miss a lot of people and things here in Utah, but that's what holidays are for right?

I've had the privilege of meeting various members of The Get Up Kids at random times in my life - when I was one of ten people at a Koufax (Ryan and Robby Pope) show in Boise, talking with Matt after multiple New Ams shows, or meeting the whole band on their last tour. I have this odd feeling that they will play a reunion show while I am living there and it will be freaking EPIC! VIVA LOS GET UP KIDS!