This Is The World That We Live In, I Feel Myself Get Tired

St. Patrick's Day is pretty much a pointless holiday, unless you drink, which I don't. But it's a good reason to have a huge race in Seattle right? Well my brother Matt and I think so and we participated in the St. Pat's Day Dash early this morning. It's just a quick 3 3/4 ish mile run around Seattle starting near the Key Arena (As I walked past the arena I felt a surge of anger at all the Sonics games I will never get to attend, then it passed and I wondered if they would let people play basketball in there since they are clearly not using it for NBA games. I'm sure they don't) and going around town a bit ending back near the E.M.P. (that odd shaped building in Seattle Center that is filled with music memorabilia that I love) There were over 8,000 people in the run, I think way more than that actually. It was ridiculous! Matt and I reached the enormous crowd with about one minute before start time to safety pin our numbers and tie our chips to our shoes, then we were off and lost in the mess of people. I couldn't have felt more cliche with rain pouring down on me as I hit the shuffle button on my iPod and Drain You-Nirvana was the first song that came up. I smiled, turned it up and started weaving my way through the other runners. The rain lasted the entire run and well into the rest of the day. Nothing is more invigorating than running in the rain, I highly suggest it to anyone. Less than a half hour later I crossed the finish line and found my brother who had finished a couple minutes before me. We wandered around the booths and grabbed as much free stuff as possible and people watched (we do that A LOT, try it it's awesome). Nothing like a bunch of people dressed as leprechauns and getting drunk on a Sunday morning. I laughed at the funny ones then left so I could go to church.

After church and some reading/napping I went downstairs to help with dinner. I was trying to open a can of pineapples to put on the pizza we were making and sliced my finger pretty insanely bad. I kind of just stood there staring at it in shock as the blood gushed all over the counter until my dad grabbed a paper towel and started putting pressure on it. My step mom was freaking out and saying I needed to get stitches, and my dad was messing with my finger trying to get it to stop bleeding and asking if I felt light headed because I was loosing a lot of blood, all the while I was just standing there silently like - wow this is pretty annoying and I'm pretty hungry. I didn't want stitches and it should heal fine, but I will probably have a nasty scar. Good thing though, you know it is pretty important to me that I always remember that time we made pizza for dinner. You just can't let the good memories slip away.

7 Minutes In Heaven

As I was running and listening to my iPod the other day, I realized something. Most of my favorite/the best songs out there are about 7 minutes long or a least very close to that. Yet I still find them to be not long enough, they should go on forever. It seems the longer a song is the better it is. Weird, here's some good ones -

Sick Sad Little World - Incubus 6:23
Aqueous Transmission - Incubus 7:46
Asleep - A Film in the Ballroom 7:14
Pictures of You - The Cure 7:28
Limousine - Brand New 7:42
You Won't Know - Brand New 5:42 (not quite as close to 7 min but so unbelievably worthy)
MFEO - Jack's Mannequin 8:01
Knocked Up - Kings of Leon 7:10
The Sun and the Moon - Mae 7:16
The Beautiful Ones - Mariah Carey 6:59
Space Dementia - Muse 6:20
Sunset on a Friday - Mitch Zebley ongoing

These are just a few 7 minute (ish) wonders that have crossed my path and will forever continue this journey of life with me. There are plenty more out there, but these are the ones that came to my mind first. So they win.

Not that I'm super proud of where I'm from or anything, except that I am, check out all the great bands that Washington state has given the world!

Nirvana (probably 100% of Washingtonians love Nirvana, even if they are hardcore hip hop fans like my little brother)
Modest Mouse
Pearl Jam
Alice in Chains
Death Cab for Cutie
Postal Service
Sound Garden
The Presidents of the United States of America
Jimi Hendrix


And if anyone cares at all, I pretty much can't stop listening to Interpol right now. Mainly Our Love to Admire, I have the other two also but that ones definitely getting a lot of play time in La Toya.

First off there is a new member to my family, La Toya. She is Afrian American. It's pretty awesome. I got her about two weeks ago in Issaquah. Her name comes from my brother. The night I purchased her I drove her over to Matt's house and walked in and told the guys I got a new car that is African American and asked what I should name her. Matt immediately yells - La Toya Jackson. So that is her name, but she is still a Zebley. The best part about her is that she is a stick. When looking for cars I found myself being somewhat of a snob in that I wouldn't even give the car a chance unless it was a stick. Kind of like how I won't give a guy a chance unless I like his hair. Harsh I know. (I'm not shallow I swear, I just like what I like) It's fine I found what I wanted, and she drives like a dream.



The other day I didn't have work and everyone was busy except for my sleeping brother on the couch. He had a pretty late night the night before so I chose not to wake him and set out on my own. Oh remember that song by the Used? That takes me back, what a good one. Anyway, so I got in La Toya, headed for Snoqualmie and about 15 minutes later I was there. (I wished the drive was longer so I could have had more quality music time. Oh well, I know my music will always be there waiting for my return. I can count on that if nothing else.) I was excited to once again make that quick hike down to Snoqualmie Falls. This time by myself with my only distractions being the other hikers I occasionally passed. I would post some pictures, but blogger is being dumb so I can't. The hike really is ridiculously short; the parking is even limited to 90 minutes, which is stupid.

And We'll Linger On. Time Can't Erase A Feeling This Strong

It was sometime in fall of 1995 when I found myself standing in front of the t.v. watching in awe as I took in the music video that was playing. "Who is that lady?" I asked my brother laying on the couch. "Duh, that's Mariah Carey" he replied like I should know. It was then that the obsession began.

I'm writing about this for a few reasons. 1. I unpacked all my C.D. cases this week (which have been at my mom's for the past few years so I forgot how many I even have - roughly 200) and got excited to see all my Mariah stuff. 2. I just watched Zohan with my brother Mitch and loved how he was wearing her shirt basically every scene. 3. I love her.

I don't usually bring up the fact that I'm pretty much obsessed with Mariah unless she somehow comes up in conversation, so a lot of my friends don't know or at least didn't find out for awhile. Considering the type of music I usually listen to (Brand New, Incubus, Muse, 3eb, Placebo etc etc) people usually think I'm joking when I say I'm in love with her. I think it's funny because I'm not joking at all. When I meet people that share the way I feel it usually goes like this -

Me: Are you serious? I effing love Mariah Carey

other fan: No way, I love her so much!

massive hug

It's happened more than once. I remember at my work every time a Mariah song would come on either I would call Ali over in the operators booth or she would call me at my department. She or I would answer and say "I know! I love her" then hang up and get back to work. I probably listen to Mariah every single day and will never get enough. I have to go to her concert in my lifetime or I have wasted my time on earth. I'm not going to lie, for years it's been my dream to go to her concert and be proposed to at it.....by her. Actually you know come to think of it maybe those two things shouldn't happen in the same day, I would probably have a heart attack and literally die. Well it would be a good end to life.

Now that you know this about me, feel free to discontinue friendship. I will understand. I can always go listen to Mariah's 1993 hit "Anytime You Need A Friend" and feel great. And little Miss Courtney Smith don't think I can't see you rolling your eyes at me in disgust back there in Provo! You love her and you know it! Oh just to clarify, if I ever met her I would definitely not be one of those crazy fans that freaks out, that's weird. I would probably stare from afar. I've loved her for the past 14 years, if that's not lasting love I just don't know what is.

Though it's impossible to choose, here are my favorites by her. Only for today though....

10.Melt Away

9. I Still Believe

8. Dreamlover

7. Sent From Up Above

6. Long Ago

5. For The Record

4. Always Be My Baby (Mr. Dupri remix)

3. We Belong Together

2. Don't Forget About Us

1. Slipping Away (Unreleased track from 95 that I don't have and need soooo bad!)

Some Of My Friends Sell Records, Some Of My Friends Sell Drugs

It wasn't until we were driving through Snoqualmie and I saw the broken down train that sits in the middle of that small town that I began to feel like I was coming back to my roots. Only about 30 more minutes and I would be back to living in the middle of the forest. In that moment I made a promise to myself that I will make that quick drive from Redmond to Snoqualmie to hike the falls this week. Then my dad told me that about a month and a half or so ago there was some major flooding out there which ruined some houses and parts of the road. Also that they most likely closed off the trail down to the falls and wasn't sure if it was open again yet. I had already heard the trail was closed but I didn't know it was from flooding. That ruins my life completely. I will have to figure out if it's still blocked off so I can see those beautiful falls up close and personal.

When I got to my house I saw my little brother's ghetto Metro in the driveway and got excited to see him and punch him in the back, which I did. He's a big 17 year old, he can handle my weak punch. I called my oldest brother Matt and he headed over. After getting all of my belongings upstairs into my room we headed over to Kirkland to walk around the waterfront and get some dinner. Have I mentioned yet how much I love this state? Well I do. The trees, the endless number of lakes and ponds, the people (which are mostly Asian - thanks to Microsoft and Boeing), the fact that I don't have to reapply chapstick every 2 hours, basically everything. After wandering around Bellevue Square and Lincoln Square then meeting up with my brother's friends to crash their Valentine's dinner, we headed back home. My insomnia was really catching up with me by this point, so I went to bed and actually slept almost all the way through the night!

Today was your typical Sunday- wake up, hang out til church, come home, eat, hang out. It's funny I wrongfully thought I had, at least for this week, escaped the talks on marriage in Sacrament seeing as how I was at a family ward. But nope, the subject was choosing the right companion and strengthening your marriage. I'm not even kidding, when the first woman started her talk and introduced the subject my dad and step-mom both turned and looked right at me. Please, I'm like 22 leave me alone.

Now that I am away from all my friends back in Utah I am going to try my hardest to update this thing more often. I can't promise anything, but I will do my best to post more than once a month.

I Love You So Much. Do Me A Favor Baby Don't Reply

Getting everything ready to move is probably the most annoying thing that can ever happen to a person. And if you're anything like me, you procrastinate and try to do it all in the last few days. Well that's what my last days in Utah were filled with, on top of figuring out things with my car insurance for my newly totalled car.

Besides the stressful parts of relocating my life, I enjoyed my final time in UT. I mean I didn't do anything super special besides spend time with the people I wanted to see most before I left, but it was good. If I didn't get to see you before I left, I'm sorry. You're just not as important to me as the people I did see. Oh you know I'm kidding, at least a little. I do miss everyone, some quite a lot, but that's life. I will see you when I see you and I'm glad I saw you when I saw you.

Oh It's Such A Shame For Us To Part

As I took the little silver key off of my keyring and handed it to the woman behind the desk, I realized in that moment my life would be forever changed. I would never see Henry again. Since March 2005 we have spent time with each other almost every single day. I thought our love was everlasting, but apparently I was wrong. Everything was going so perfectly. We had plans for the future; we were going to take a road trip together. Who would have thought it would all come to a screeching halt, quite literally. So farewell Henry Fonda my red Honda. I will always remember the way I had to guess how fast I was going because your speedometer didn't work or how you just hated defrosting the windshield. Lets not forget the time we were driving to Salt Lake so I could go to work that one winter and you decided you just didn't need the right front tire, so it flew off and we almost died. That was so darsh of you. Despite our differences we made such a wonderful team. Every time I see a red civic I will think of you and our time together. 13 is such a young age to die, you will be missed my little 5 speed wonder.