Amy, looks like i'll be gone for a lot of today. back later tonight, and i think i should be around on Sunday, but so will Mom & my sisters. give me a call, my extention is 8850.

Methodists.. lets see methodists hmm, they're the heathen Christans, right?
Last time I went to church was when I visited the U of I with my aunt for Mom's weekend in the spring. It was nice. I remember there was a stain glass window of Jesus on the cross wrapped in an American flag and people praying under him. My guess is that it was a new church. While I realize that every culture has their interpretation of the lord, and our is no exception, it still cracked my shit up (I must be a traditionalist or jaded or both).

My train comes in Friday night. Rachel are you in the townhouse? I'm staying in Beth's apartment and she doesn't have a phone.

Wheee, you're probably coming to visit me! Just so you know, I am now fully cell phone reliant (ick). My parents got rid of their land-line because it was pretty useless, so if you need to call me the number is 319-430-9882. Oooo, now I can get stalkers! So yeah, let me know at some point what's going on. :)
-rachel

Amy, i'll be around this weekend, kind of. my mom & my sisters are going to be here on Friday (gasp!!), so i may be toting them around a lot. sounds like we may head to Iowa City for a jazz festival there on Saturday. come by some time & visit, at least... i dunno. Justin is here, Lucy if you know her, Beth, I students, Lana and Susannah if you know them... right now i'm just hoping that i don't get dragged to church on Sunday morning. Emily says i should pretend to have turned Methodist or something. what do you think?
oh, this is Emily. i don't know about the rest of you, but Blogger is opening for me in safe mode, so i can always see everyone's names. anyone else getting this?

Damn, I lost my post on this stupid thing. This is Drew, by the way. Okay, I'll be brief and to the point. Adam, you can't beat yourself up, you did your best and that is all a person trying to succeed can do in this world. I listened to CD of yours once, and although I am no artist or musician, I think you have a gift which will serve you well in the future. Never give up, and shed the doubt in you with thoughts of how hard you work and how much we all believe in your talent. But most of all, remember when you do succeed that you and you alone made it happen. Pete, you sound like Thoreau, keep it up. I have a Hank Williams Jr. CD with a song entitled "Don't Give Us a Reason". Since Hank earned my respect with this patriot song, I think it woud be a perfect installement for one of our shows. This'll have the commies oozing out of the woodwork!

Hey, I'm going to Galesburg this weekend. Will there be anyone on campus to visit?

-pete
Hiking in the mountains, miles from the nearest road, i see an ant on the trail. Ants, i assume, do not live long and do not travel far from thier homes. When my enormous, rubber-clad foot came down inches from the ant's little eyes, he may have seen something "supernatural" for the first time in his life. Is it possible that, in some way, i am--we are--that isolated, and the few "supernatural" events i have seen transpire in my own short life are simply quick, close-up glimpses of the mammoth world i cannot see?

Well Adam, I'm sorry you're bumed but I think you're just looking at it the wrong way. I mean, if you had taken 1st place then the Adam Prairie behind the music that's going to be airing in about 15 years won't be nearly as good. Besides what great rock act, I don't mean good, I mean what "great rock act" didn't struggle in the beginning? You wouldn't be much of a legend if you didn't start from tough times. The way I see it, you're right on track.

-just a fan,
zach

well, i probably don't have anything to say that's much different than what em already said. i suppose i could say that i can sort of sympathize. my boy's little sister went to dance nationals last weekend, and she's only been dancing for a couple years. i've danced for about 14 and never done that well. of course in my case it's probably because i haven't worked hard enough and she really is better than me. for you, on the other hand, it's probably one of the previously mentioned reasons. i'd certainly advise you asking your old guitar teacher about it, because at least then you'll have an idea of really why you didn't do as well as you hoped or felt. but in the end, you feeling good about how you played and having other bands say the same is what's important. i've learned over the years that sometimes judges just don't agree on what is good or worthy.
-rachel

damn, Adam, that sucks... you've probably already gotten the, "well, it's all about having fun anyway, not getting prizes," but that's still pretty hard on the ego. let me throw some maybes at you... maybe you're right, and it was because you guys were the first ones up... maybe the judges just didn't feel like old-school that day... maybe they're all imcompetant buffoons with no real sense of musical talent whatsoever!... maybe your old teacher expected more of you because some teachers are like that, or maybe the other judges just didn't listen to him/her... maybe you could ask him/her? maybe your band members should have practiced harder... and to come back to what i said to begin with, the reason people say things like "it's about having fun" is because that's true. are you in a band to win prizes or to have fun? hopefully it's primarily to have fun with these guys, and it sounds like you do. but having people recognize you guys as an awesome band would have been really cool, too. practice harder if you really feel like you have to, but don't beat yourself up about it. you're not a second-rate musician and you know it. better luck next time, young Skywalker.