South Harpeth

I ran Front of House sound today at church for the first time ever. It was weird. I felt out of practice. I think it went well though, considering I haven't done anything to that scale before. I mean this isn't your average church sound system. This system serves as one of Nashville's largest music venues during the week. That means we have to set everything up in the morning, make sure it all works, and then when it's all over, we have to break everything down again. It's a lot of work. But I was enthralled by the challenge of it. The only error that happened was out of my control anyways, so I didn't feel too bad. There was frequency interference with the wireless mics, so we just switched in the middle of the service. I'll be running again next week. I've taken some good notes.

After church we ended up going to the Sir Pizza like we always do. I mean the pizza sucks, but it has turned into a solid tradition, so I go every week. Once that is over we usually go back to one defined place and play video games or watch TV for a while. That's what we did today, only the gathering was pretty small. Then there's ultimate frisbee. That happens at about four, but I don't go anymore. I don't like to play during the extreme seasons. But I found myself at a crossroads today. I wasn't going to play frisbee, so what was I going to do. I decided to go out to my spot at the river out in the country. It's an awesome drive, and well worth it. When I got there I tried knocking on one of the doors of the houses near by just to let them know I was there, but no one answered. I ignored the signs that posted No Trespassing and I made my way down to a large dry log protruding out of the water. It was flat on one side, just perfect for sitting on. So I sat there and read and thought. I thought about a lot of things, like what a satisfying life would be like and what I currently allow to prevent me from living the life I envision. I would think about this and then get right back into my reading. Then I would stop and think again about whether or not I'm really lonely and in need of a girlfriend. What if I'm just bored? Then I read again. Then I would stop and skip rocks or fidget my feet around in the water as the little minnows and crayfish seemed very interested in them. Or maybe I would just stop and look at my surroundings, run my toes through the small rocks that I imagined as sand, smell the air, listen to the little gurgles of water and cicadas in the air. It was two hours of bliss.

On my way out, I did eventually find someone who I could ask permission from. His name was Bill and he was a weathered old man on the back of a riding lawnmower. He seemed really gentle and caring though, as if he had spent a few years of his own with grandkids.

"Sure, you can come out here any time you want just as long as you keep it clean. But you seem like a nice boy. Looks like you were just out here for a read. That's nice."

Ah, but it just made me want to buy a small shack out in the country and build it into a nice cottage. I would love doing something like that. I don't know how long I could stand it though. It would be rare for any of my friends to make it out of the city to visit, at least rare by my standards. But I think about having a tin roof, hard wood floors, and a fire place on a hillside in the woods, and I'm pretty happy. Who knows. Maybe it'll be something I'll really consider. Probably not for a while though.

Peace and love.