The Farm

I don't usually get home all too often anymore. I've lived at home for the last 19 years and I'm starting to wean myself off relying on mom and dad. I'm glad I chose to go to a school that's mildly close to home because despite many occasions that I just want to get away, I always find myself wanting to go home at some point. Don't get me wrong, the college life is great, but no matter how strongly I feel about staying away, I almost always want to go back. I guess one could consider it a transition phase where I'm starting to live my life without listening to what my parents tell me. I think they figured this out already and decided it's time I made my own mistakes. They're more apt to give me advice rather than tell me what to do. For example, with gas prices going up and having no end in sight, my parents have been advising me to trade my full size pickup off on a car that gets twice the mileage. I agree, beings I pay for my own gas, but I've had that truck for years. It has a certain sentimental value to me. I think I'll probably do the wiser thing and go for the car. I have the rest of my life to buy another pickup and mess around, etc. Anyway, that's not quite the point I'm trying to make. The reason I titled this blog "the farm" is because through school, whenever I needed "time to myself", I just hopped in my truck and drove out into the prarie. I love it there because the only thing I hear usually is the sound of wind blowing over the prarie grass. My favorite spot is at the top of a hill, where I can look out across the hills of nothing but grass (and a salvage yard at the top of one hill). I love being up there. This is the perfect place to think. There's no noise, fresh air, no eyesores (besides the salvage yard to my back), and no worries. I can just about say this is my version of Utopia. Sometimes I sit up there by myself for hours, just watching nature as it happens. As a cattle rancher, nothing looks better to me than green lush pastures.

Husker Football

To me, Husker football is not just another football game played on a Saturday. Although I don't carry my feelings to the point of obsession, I love watching the men in red. There is no other place like Lincoln, Nebraska on a Fall Saturday afternoon. I've been following Husker football for as far back as I can remember, which when you put the numbers to it, is a really long time. I can remember the days of Tommie Frazier and Brook Berringer back in the early '90s. Back then, people like Grant Wistrom, Corey Slesinger, Jason and Christian "the Peter brothers" Peter, and Joel Mackovica were like Gods to me. I loved watching the defense, best known as "the Blackshirts" annihilate the opponent. As long as I can remember, I always wanted to play football for the University of Nebraska. Unfortunately, physical injuries have kept me from living my dream. This last year, I've had the privilege of attending two games. It's very difficult to put into words the feelings and the atmosphere of a Husker football game. The anticipation builds up before the Huskers take the field, the tunnel walk mostly contributing to this feeling. When the men take the field with all the energy, the crowd goes wild and it's so loud a person can't even hear themselves screaming their lungs out. Another thing I'm proud to contribute, is the reputation of the spectators for the University. Nebraska fans are widely known as "the best fans in college football." The amount of respect majority of the fans show to the team and opposing teams is rifiling. Even if the Huskers lose, the fans still applaud a valiant attempt and congratulate the victor (even if it is some rival team like Colorado or Oklahoma). As an avid Husker fan, it gives me great pride to hear this from people on ESPN like Lee Corso and Kirk Hirbstreit. Through thick and thin, I'm always behind my team looking forward to the next game and the next season.

This music video, to a person just watching it for the first time, may seem kinda creepy. If you pay close attention during the music solo parts, the group incorporates extra feelings with clips of movies about a man's pain and suffering. With listening to the song's lyrics, one would think the man's pain and suffering comes as a result of serving his country in the military. It becomes obvious that the man with the box looking thing over his face has something terribly wrong with him. A man in the movie clip states he understands what the man is trying to say through Morse Code, being a result that he cannot speak, see, or hear anything. The man is wishing that the people taking care of him stop, and let him die. I'm not going to lie, the movie clips freak me out, from the idea of not being able to see, speak, or hear anything. Just as the song goes, war has taken all his joys, all his happiness, all his reasons for living.

I think the point Metallica is trying to make is sometimes (more often than not), our government makes us do things we don't want to do; in this case, go to war. They're willing to sacrifice one person for the betterment of others. As a result, that one person's life is, as stated in the song, "left me with life in hell". I never payed much attention to lyrics of rock songs. Being a musician myself, I usually just listen to the awesome sound they produce. I should pay more attention to detail. I could see myself listening to a song in town, and it would offend someone because of the lyrics, and I wouldn't understand why because I'm busy listening to the music rather than the lyrics. Though, now, I pay more attention to detail and understand why they wrote that song, rather than just listening to the musicianship. I would have to say Metallica is one of my favorite rock groups.

Enter Sandman

This is a music video of Metallica's Enter Sandman