"Charm Someone Into Keeping You Warm"

I'm sitting in a recliner listening to "Jackson Hole" by James Wesley for either the fifth or tenth time. I'm convinced your sense of time gets thrown out of whack during the early AM hours. It's got something to do with the fact most people don't consider it a new day until one goes to bed and wakes up.

Conclusion: People who go 3 or 4 days straight without sleeping are interesting subjects, as they seemingly spit in the face of concepts such as that of "days".

That song is good. If you're a country music fan you'll click that link and not be disappointed, I promise. It was the best part of the night, easily — even better than the double cheeseburgers and fries I was waiting in line for in the McDonald's drive-thru when the song came on the radio. His voice reminds me of a blend of Blake Shelton and Jason Aldean, two contemporary artists whose music I enjoy. The song itself was spawned from the same hand that wrote "Amarillo Sky" and "I Saw God Today", each great songs, and I think it outshines both of those tremendously.

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So...it's been a while, huh? "I've been busy." That's always the go-to tactic. To me, using the phrase "I've been busy" to justify the lack of doing things you love to do is like saying "I've been lazy" to justify your lack of working - it's inherently dumb.

Yea, I give as much validity to pleasure as productivity. Sue me.

The thing is though, I HAVE been busy. It's been a good busy though. I've been doing things I love. The victim, unfortunately, has been this blog.

I've been busy having a job. I've been working at the Lexington Herald-Leader for about 3 weeks now and I'm so-so on it. My co-workers are great people - a newsroom full of sports news assistants is not a bad place to be. The job leaves a little bit to be desired in terms of what you actually get to do, but I imagine there's room for growth if I choose to remain there for an extended duration (or if they allow me). Alas, it's hard to complain about 10 dollars an hour when all you really have to do is talk on the phone and type up high school basketball reports.

I've been busy playing Yu-Gi-Oh! madly again. Playing back home and playing in Lexington are two different animals. At home, I was top of the class, anything I built was fantastic because I was among the best players since there were so few actual good players. Here, even some little kids are good. The culture is different - people play competitively and it's so much easier to trade for things you need as opposed to buying them. It's a great addiction.


I've been busy earning the 4.0 GPA I managed in my first semester of college. I survived Journalism 101 with Buck Ryan, which if you ask Jackie Marker isn't excruciatingly difficult, but presents its own set of annoyances that could easily get to a person who has little control of their mind. It's definitely made me reconsider a future in journalism.

Although I felt like I made a pretty good friend through Philosophy 120 in Zac, whose name is listed simply as Zac (Logic) in my cell phone contacts list (I never asked for his last name the whole semester), and I connected pretty well with our teaching assistant, Brian, that's a class I won't miss. Looking back, the concepts were interesting, I just don't see myself ever taking a lot from that class other than a required credit by the university. Hopefully I'm proved wrong.

Gender and Geography was a last ditch effort to get a social sciences credit to replace the lack of world politics in my schedule after I dropped it (8 AM + me = no way in college). Starting off, it was just a way to get 3 extra hours to bring me back up to 15. It was a fantastic decision. Professor Moorer was likely my favorite - definitely the most helpful and instructive - of the semester. It wasn't a typical class, and that probably plays into why I enjoyed it and my comic book class so much. However, the conversations and controversies that got brought up were great - plus I made a great friend in Trey Lindsey. What more could you ask for in a class?

Agricultural Economics was my scariest of the semester, as it turned out to be the class I came closest to not getting an A in. 90 points. Right on the line. Had to get a B on the last test to secure that, and did so by the skin of my teeth. I won't blame the obscure grading system, as others have done, cause in some ways it made sense. The class yielded a good pal in Jordon Cook, a young man who reminds me of a friend in Martin County, Alex Alley. It also provided me with an arena to converse with Ginger Waters other than MySpace, and now she's one of my best friends. Nothing to complain about.

DSP 120, though, as much as the other 4 classes provided, was the best. My semi-recent dive into comic book culture (I say "semi-recent" because I've only been reading comic books for a year or so, but have been a fan of the characters for years) made me not think twice about signing up for the class - and thank goodness! Not only did we talk extensively about a subject I truly enjoyed, but it led me to build a friendship with several good people, such as Hillary Smith, Dave Christopher and Amanda Goff - the last of whom coincidentally is dating a person Heath befriended back at BSCTC!

By the way, it also led to the greatest part of the University of Kentucky experience for me. Erin Hall.

The short brown-haired girl with the Batman messenger bag. The girl I couldn't keep my eyes off in her presence and mind off out of it. The girl who, after our first real conversation, I ran to my dorm and jotted down everything I could remember that she told me cause I was so enthralled with her. It's been a long time since someone captured my attention and emotion like she has.

Hour-long chats after comic class, walks to Comic Interlude, innocent Facebook flirting...things led to other things and we've been dating for several months now. I haven't been as happy as I am with her in a vast amount of time. I'm thankful for her. I'm glad there's a name attached to the girl with the Batman messenger bag - a girl I've fallen for and am better off for it. She's fantastic. Erin Hall is fantastic - period.

As you can see, I've been busy with things I love. This blog took a backseat, but my writing didn't. I've been carrying my journal around with me all the time during the past few months, jotting random thoughts, ideas and observations down.

I won't promise that it won't be another month or two before another post is made. I do think about this site all the time. I do think about writing up random bits about my day, or thoughts, or feelings - yet they all get manifested into something else, it seems.

So, whether it's two months or two days, my love of words is going strong in some form, regardless of if it's here for the world to see.

---Joshua Aaron Moore