Long time, no blog.

I stay busy. I work. I go to school. I work. I write. I eat. I work. I lazy. I write. I work. I go to school. I watch sports. I watch Survivor. I go to school. I eat. I eat. I work. I watch sports. I write. I read. I watch Power Rangers. I work. I walk. I lift. I watch sports. I go to school. I sleep. I dream. I go to school. I watch The Big Bang Theory. I work.

All of it is awesome and all of it takes up my time. I neglect this blog too often. Chances are, this could be a last post until next year. Who knows?

I don't know. I just write. I just work. I just go to school. Etc.

And I do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ7qfpoOzcc

The One Where I Became a Man

2001-2010. A decade full of events that shaped me into the man I am. 10 years of tragedy, smiles, laughs, tears. 10 years of gaining friends, losing friends, watching friends have kids, watching friends' kids. A decade whose definition should just have the word "change" written beside it in the decade dictionary, if they make they make those. A decade that saw the end of one of the most successful shows in television history - "Friends". I wasn't a fan by any stretch of the imagination (though in my late teenage years have considered giving it a shot since I'd probably appreciate more now than I would have when it was popular), but when its series finale aired on May 6th, 2004 (my sister Krystle's 10th birthday, by the way), I was in the living room of a crappy trailer watching it with my mom. I don't even think she was a fan, either. It was just something someone living in this era had to do - a historical moment that if you weren't a part of, you would have felt left out. 2001-2010 will depart in a few hours, but the impact it’s left on my life and the lives of others will be felt

2001: The only thing I can remember about this year is I was crazy about Ariel Maynard and 9/11. That's wild ain't it? I know so much more happened, but the 5th grader inside me can only recollect the day that those towers collapsed and the schemes James Howell and I would concoct on the telephone in order to woo our respective "love" interests. 9/11 is my generation's Pearl Harbor - none of us will ever forget where we were that day, what we were doing, who we were with. I was doing math problems in Anna Stepp's 5th grade classroom with Heath Wilson and Jessica Ray near me when Ilene Smith ran into the room in tears. At that point the 11-year-old me was probably more preoccupied with Ariel or the math then the impact of the situation, though I guess many preteens probably could have cared less. In the years since I've gotten over Ariel and realized just how important September 11th, 2001 was - even if the year as a whole remains vague in my brain.

2002-2003: Sometime within these years, we moved into that trailer. These were bad years. However, they set the stage for what has transformed into my current family life - a better one, in my opinion - so I am thankful for these years, even if they were hard to get through. \

2004: The “Friends” series finale had aired a few weeks prior and I honestly haven’t thought about that happening until just now when I was thinking about the moment I met her. A poodle dress and some dancing. A cute sister to a former girlfriend…now I’m questioning whether it was during this year or not. Has it been 6 or 7 years since we’ve known each other? Either way, it’s been a while – but if we didn’t meet in 2004, there’s nothing about that year that strikes me as important (except, I wrote the first 10 songs of my life during the summer of this year – and man were they bad). 2004 might not have happened at all. I feel bad that I can’t remember since you’re one of the most important folks in my life. I know it happened, though.

2005: The year I met the girl the 14-year-old me seriously thought I could spend the rest of my life with. In retrospect, 14-year-olds are fucking stupid (so are 15, 16, 17, and 18-year-olds). That’s even further accentuated by some of the events that transpired at the end of my 8^th grade year (mostly, hitting Justin Porter over something stupid). Thankfully, I turned 15 later on in the year and quit hitting peop….oh wait no I hit someone in 9^th grade too. Damn. I wrote my first GOOD song this year. It wasn’t about the girl I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with, but it was my first love song.

2006: I knew the girl I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with for a year now and couldn’t get past her pretty exterior long enough to realize she was a nutcase. Or maybe I did know it and just loved that she loved me. I turned road-legal this year but wouldn’t get my license for a whole other year. It was in this year that I also met two of my best friends – Corey Howell and Curtis Goble. So, I guess me and 2006 are even.

2007: Me and the girl I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with broke up for the 5^th or 6^th time during the summer of this year, and it was the greatest gift of all time. Her leaving me left me with so much free time that summer that I fell in love with the NBA when I decided to start watching the playoffs. And what a year to start watching! The #8 seed Golden State Warriors took down the #1 seed Dallas Mavericks in the first round, a historic feat, and I witnessed LeBron James’s 48-point destruction of the Detroit Pistons on route to the Cleveland Cavalier’s only NBA Finals appearance. The Cavaliers, their budding superstar and their hobo-looking center (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) became my team that summer. And I became a sports junkie.

2008: Me and the girl I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with got back together about a year after her deciding we should call it quits and experienced our best time together yet. This was the year I went to the Governor’s School for the Arts and realized that whatever I end up doing in life, writing will have to be a part of it. This was the year me and the girl I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with broke up for the final time, days after I went over a hill on the way to her house on my 18^th birthday. What a lousy way that would have been to go out, huh?

2009: This year and the next are definitely in my life’s top 3. The events of all the years prior culminated in 2009 – my mom’s new boyfriend Shawn wasn’t so new anymore, but became a fixture in our lives that was well-welcomed, I finally got over the girl I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with and even had a strong enough heart to turn down her advances around the time of my senior prom, and after years of hard work I graduated as valedictorian of my senior class and went to college at the University of Kentucky. Power Rangers ALMOST ended this year, which would have been a travesty, but even it has survived the decade of change :)

2010: Started off with a tragedy of a month, but has turned into one of the all-time great years. It’s had its share of ups and downs and confusing moments, but I feel like this is year is the perfect bookend to the decade. There’s too much to talk about to go into detail, so I’ll leave it at that.

Ain’t that probably the worst retrospective you’ve ever read? I guess it’s more for me – a minute hodge-podge of random thoughts, of some important moments in my life over the past 10 years. It probably doesn’t show as well as I’d like here, but this decade HAS been amazing. So many memories, so many moments I’d love to recreate. With family, with friends, with more than friends – I have nothing but cherishing for all that’s happened. It’s not all been great, but it’s been good for me. It’s made me into the young man I am today. These years will continue to make me into me. And I hope you all stay around to keep witnessing the transformation. Good-bye, 2010, and 2001-2010. Hello, tomorrow.

I’ll be there for you.

WASHINGTON - ONE inch begins here. This ONE goes out to the ONE I love. (File under fire) This ONE goes out to the one I left behind. A simple prop to occupy my.
TWO inches begins here. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. A Tale of TWO Cities. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done before.
THREE inches begins here. Commander, tear this ship apart until youve found those plans, and bring me the passengers; I want them alive. Apology accepted Captain Need. You can tell him yourself.
FOUR inches begins here. Happiness is a warm gun. Ive got blisters on my fingers. You say you want a revolution. The fad FOUR. In an octopus garden. Paul is dead. John. Paul. George.
FIVE inches begins here. Point to point point observation. Children carry reservations. Standing on the shoulders of giants . . . leaves me cold. A hundred million birds fly away.
SIX inches begins here. Spackle. Super model. Spaghetti. Syringe. Serum. Salad. Satchel. Smock. Sun-dried. Soup. Simplistic. Statistics. Sandwich. Sorry.
SEVEN inches begins here. Antarctica, North America, Asia, Europe, South America, Australia (Ocean) and Africa. SEVENTH Heaven. Greed, sloth, gluttony, lust, pride, envy and wrath.
EIGHT inches begins here. Octopus. Octagon. October. (August?) The Big EIGHT. Octave the octoroon. October Revolution. Crazy EIGHTS. How many English words are octosyllabic?
NINE inches starting right here. The square root of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square roots of the two legs of a right triangle. Pi is 3.14.
TEN inches starts here. Northwestern. Ohio State. Penn State. Purdue. Wisconsin. Iowa. Illinois. Indiana. Minnesota. Michigan. Michigan State. Can you add? The people at the Big TEN cant.
ELEVEN inches here. See this amp. All the numbers go up to ELEVEN. So when your playing at ten, and you want that extra something, you can go to ELEVEN. Why not just make ten louder?
TWELVE inches here. Aries. Taurus. Scorpio. Gemini. Capricorn. Sagittarius. Aquarius. Leo. Virgo. Cancer. Pisces. Libra. Are you into that zodiac stuff?
THIRTEEN inches starting about here. The road goes ever, ever on. Why did Gallup jump? Because Fred gave him the finger. When the thrush knocks. I am Thor, King under the mountain.
FOURTEEN inches here. I’ve never done this before. You’ve never lied on the ground __ before? No, I mean, I’ve never done what were about to do before. Oh, that’s OK. I lied to you too.
FIFTEEN inches. FIFTEEN birds in five fir trees. What shall we do with the funny little things? Fellowship following the foolish fighters. When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done.
SIXTEEN inches begins at this point here. SIXTEEN Candles. The Breakfast Club. Pretty in Pink. Whatever happened to Molly Ring career? And Anthony Michael Halls?
SEVENTEEN inches here. SEVENTEEN is a magazine written for fourteen year old girls, but what about the Tiger Beat readers? Remember Joey Lawerence? He was HOT!
EIGHTEEN: The right of citizens of the United States who are EIGHTEEN years of age or older to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age.
NINETEEN inches. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Congress shall have the power.
TWENTY inches begin here. I dont want to buy anything, sell anything or process anything. I dont want to buy anything sold or processed, sell anything bought or processed, or process.

Love You 'Til You Leave

Love You ‘Til You Leave

Lyrics by Joshua Aaron Moore. © November 2010.

Girl I don’t think a bra’s ever looked as good

as yours does now there on my floor.

Missing the lady who just cast it aside

along with the blue dress by the door.

It’s sure been a while since I’ve seen you

and seen that smile.

The one that transforms this man into a grown child.

When I see you dressed down like that

you give this heart of mine a near attack,

but I know it don’t mean a thing.

‘Cause after my wine’s gone and we’re knocked

‘til morning comes, there’ll be no doubt

you ‘ll wake up with little memory.

Of the things you did, the lies you spoke

into the ears of a man whose hold

is nothing more than a retreat.

But because you ask, baby I bend.

Time after time, again and again.

You make me love you ‘til you leave.

You left your suitcase here, but I’m not sure

you’ll come back for it.

There’s just a couple things in there,

some clothes and liquid courage.

You probably downed a little bit

to get yourself to my place.

I’m not sure to blame Jack or Sam for

making you make my damn heart ache.

‘Cause When I see you dressed down like that

you give this heart of mine a near attack,

but I know it don’t mean a thing.

When after my wine’s gone and we’re knocked

‘til morning comes, there’ll be no doubt

you ‘ll wake up with little memory.

Of the things you did, the lies you spoke

into the ears of a man whose hold

is nothing more than a retreat.

But because you ask, baby I bend.

Time after time, again and again.

You make me love you ‘til you leave.

*Music for about 10 seconds or so*

The things you did, the lies you told

to a man whose love is just hold

that's nothing more than a retreat.

You ask. I bend.

Time after time, again and again.

You make me love you ‘til you leave.

I love you 'til you leave.

I get to love you 'til you leave.

Coldsnap

Gifts got given with

no regard for price in terms

of dollars or time.

Seventeen hours

inside Arkham Asylum

wrapped in those blankets.

No sleep. Straight gaming

within December’s late chill.

Sisters thought us nuts.

Left the screens for one

last frigid night up Stepp Branch.

We were flame dodgers.

Watching the Rangers

get butchered by Disney while

we were dodging flames.

Ashes ate up a

cold smoke sky a second time.

Why again for them?

Pen Pal

Keeper of my mind’s musings,

of where I’ve walked and talked,

a pal who remains in my cargo pocket

eager for morsels of daily delicacies,

a mischievous footnote to an observation,

the conversation taking place across the room.

We travel together

to the park in West Virginia where I

landed ass-first after a sick jumper,

into that Lexington newsroom

where we’ll slack off imaginatively,

or to that house up Collins Creek

where Whitney's words ruined June.

And when my head is driving

nails into my mind,

I will drop my current duty,

open up to my friend in any venue

and release my worries into

his prison pages.

Lidded box I pack with pride,

stocked with smiles, shortcomings, and silhouettes

of this packrat’s parceled personality.

A quote from Rece Davis,

a quip from Ginger Waters,

a minute ode to the soothing Toby ballad,

a list that might become my next Yu-Gi-Oh! deck.

Between and around the words

are scribbles and pretty nothing bursts

the pen felt were needed,

or fellas and fools who need guitar assistance,

like Waylon’s cowboy rhythms—

room for Saturday nights,

the action of a game,

a nest of memories,

and a device that keeps hearts hopeful,

room for me to imagine

future number ones arriving at an agent’s studio,

songs so powerful and memorable,

that not even I—the man behind the moments—

have the slightest idea who will sing them.

So Damn Sad

I was driving down the road,

flipping through the music stations.

Trying to find a piece of gold,

in all the dirt that they’d been playing.

And when “The Dance” came on I just lost my mind.

Later on that evening, flipping through the iTunes

playlist titled “I Can’t Get Rid of These Blues”

I listed to “Don’t Take the Girl” 8 times.

Baby ever since you left it’s been like this each night.

I went from “All My Rowdy Friends” to “So Lonesome I Could Cry”

It’s like I woke up on the wrong side of music row.

Where all the lies and tears and heartbreaks go.

Never was one for a ballad before

but that’s changed ever since you slammed that door.

You used to serve a better purpose in my life,

but your new one ain’t that bad.

You’re now the reason all my favorite songs are so damn sad.

Just the other day

I hung out with some pals.

Went to the pub to watch game

to get me outta the house.

Didn’t matter cause they had a karaoke machine.

You wouldn’t believe how many girls were there

who arrived with brunette curls in their hair.

And buddy every single one of them was there to sing.

To make matters worse, the Reds lost by three

as the last lady closed with Faith Hill’s “Breathe”

It’s like I woke up on the wrong side of music row.

Where all the lies and tears and heartbreaks go.

Never was one for a ballad before

but that’s changed ever since you slammed that door.

You used to serve a better purpose in my life,

but your new one ain’t that bad.

You’re now the reason all my favorite songs are so damn sad.

I’m a glutton for punishment I guess because

I can’t keep my dial off depressing songs.

Thanks to the Georges, Merle and that Toby guy

I can relive us 4 minutes at a time.

It’s like I woke up on the wrong side of music row.

Where all the lies and tears and heartbreaks go.

Never was one for a ballad before

but that’s changed ever since you slammed that door.

You used to serve a better purpose in my life,

but your new one ain’t that bad.

You’re now the reason all my favorite songs are so damn sad.