..ongoing obsession

..for Dave Matthews.. I never thought I would reach that point but he and his band may be my all time favorite, and this is a realization after only ~6 weeks of intentional listening. They brought me back to playing guitar like the whole day. Most people know me as someone who can definitely be highly annoying with recommending and spreading my opinion on music, series and sports etc.. but this one is fo' real!
I now own like 6 CD's and 3 Live-DVD's of the Dave Matthews Band and it is absolutely amazing! 'Before These Crowded Streets' has to be in consideration of the best album of all time with a collection of stunning songs that take you to another place. Keeps me floating, it's like a drug.
Time to switch the topic.. it's 1:13pm and I am still snoozing in my bed after watching the HSV soccer club win 0:3 in one of the most ridiculous games I've ever seen, haha!
And it is my 8th day as a vegetarian, and I feel really good. My body is not affected at all which makes it easy for me to keep going. I just eat more eggs and beans and I'm fine. I guess the biggest part of my friends back in Germany would not have hesitated to say: 'Paul, you a veggie? Wtf!' - But nope, I can do it, ha!
I think I will get myself some Subway-lunch now, the veggie patties are actually reaaally delicious! Nothing special in the next weeks but some visits from friends, we'll see!

I had one of the biggest laughs of my life last week.. just check it out, it is kinda popular over here!

..and how could I forget it, only 2 days left until the NBA season 2013/14 will start with one of the greatest openers you could imagine on Tuesday: Bulls vs Heat. Schedule is checked - free on Tuesday night! League pass - bought! Ready to start the season, OKC(my favorite team) will play on Wednesday night, I am so excited! And I just had the realization that Dirk Nowitzki has the same jersey number as one of my favorite DMB songs, #41. It's magical! See you!

In the warehouse!

Man, yesterday and today were crazy days.. because one of my fellow housemates is on vacation participating in a half-marathon tomorrow(good luck with that!) I had plenty of work but it was actually chilled out.. so this weird thing happened to me yesterday morning.. I was working in the morning so I usually get up at 6-6:15am to be downstairs at 6:30.. I woke up, extremely tired, and went to the bathroom where I took a shower.. I was thinking "Why am I so freaking tired, I slept at least 6-7 hours!!", so I walked back into my room and randomly looked at my iPod and it was 1:23am... I ended up oversleeping until 7, but nevermind.. 

I'm getting ready for the NBA, tip off in now less than 10 days! Whoop whoop!

My day still consists at least(!) of 3 hours Dave Matthews Band music, either in the car, in bed or in the common space.. it's everywhere, yuhu!

Life is short but sweet for certain..

Love y'all!

PJB

Neeews

Today I felt the first time some crazy little thing called consistency coming into my life at L'Arche. The months before were kind of crazy but also exciting and people who have lived here before I came would call it "unusual". But it feels really good to now have finally settled in, because it can get really stressful here from time to time. And it is incredible how much I've grown in the last 3 months. Yeah, I arrived on the 11th of July and now it's October 11th(well, almost) which makes (I think) 3 months. Wow. And "the best is yet to come" - to quote Dave Matthews, you won't find a post without him anymore, hehe - that's what I hope for myself and the community that is supporting me! You are amazing!

That being said, I still have a lot areas of growth. I had an interesting conversation with one of my housemates about spirituality and whether it is independent or directly connected to religion and we came to the conclusion that it's definitely independent from each other. I hope I will grow even more in the 9 months that are ahead of me, personally and spiritually. Yes, spiritually. Because my energy has to come from somewhere, right? I don't know. Something to think about when I put on some music and go to sleep. 

What also helps me to clear my mind is playing (basket)ball. Shooting 3's and even hitting one from time to time, swoosh, man, that helps a lot! 

What I also think is worth sharing - if you don't believe it, just don't do it - I will start be a vegetarian next week for a month to prove myself that I could do it if I wanted to. Why right now? Because at the end of November we celebrate Thanksgiving.. and almost all my housemates approved my thought and some want to do the same thing, but the turkey (or whatever) at Thanksgiving is a must! 

Oh yeah and I also got a haircut. My hair has never been that short since I think I've been like 10 years old, for real. Thanks to my housemate Eva-Elizabeth for doing it again! This time we both have not been that nervous about the whole process which led to a great haircut I think. 

Next update coming soon, I hope that I have the opportunity to give you guys some more interesting stuff than my haircut.. but traveling is not on my schedule on the next weeks..

So far, so good: Have a great weekend, mine is starting on Sunday!

PJB

Crush me

Damn, I just spilt some beer.

Okay, let's do serious business now, I am doing very well this week. It's a busy week since our community in DC/Virginia will celebrate its 30th anniversary this weekend! Woohoo, cool times!

But I don't feel like sharing too much about that, it's just going to be a lot of fun and stress.

Nevermind, I want to tell you something else. Most of you guys should know that I am a huge music fan. I mean, huge. I really care about what I am listening. ALL the time. Sounds usual, right? But I think I would consider myself as someone who is really intentionally listening to music. I like more or less all kinds of music, I went through all the phases and stages you could imagine.. let's not talk about that too much.. 

But now, I think it was like 2 weeks ago, I went into a local CD/DVD store to look for some John Butler Trio records and kinda randomly ended up walking out of the store with 3 albums from the Dave Matthews Band that I was listening to a little bit before. 

I know that I might exaggerate..but: It changed my life. My last 2 weeks could be described by 3 things: Work, Breaking Bad Finale, Dave Matthews Band. I loaded the 3 records on my iPod and since that particular moment I listened to like 5 songs from different bands. And 1 of these 5 songs was the "Imperial March" from Star Wars which I turned on when I walked downstairs to work. 

So I found myself only listening to this one awesome band. I never heard anything that is filled with such power, diversity, complexity and fun combined. It's a mix of.. well, just listen to it yourself, it's amazing.

The good thing about it: they got 8 albums out. So I will probably go get the bus on Monday and get me at least 2 more. I learned a lot of their songs on guitar and it is so much fun..

Well, I guess most of the people who read this are not really interested in it.. but shit, I'll share it anyway.

My favorite song(if I had to choose one): Crush.

It is arguably, hands down, the best love song ever written. And not only the studio version is awesome, it grows even more on stage.

I want to share these to performances with you. 

The first one is a version with the whole band, and the second one, it gets me every time, is a version just Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, 2 acoustic guitars and a bottleneck. Magic. 

Passion.

And even though like most of you people won't care at all.. maybe I get one or two of you to become a DMB fan as I am now. They are in my top ten. And not in the lower part!

I will now finish my laundry and go to sleep. And "shut down" my laptop. I hope you see what I did there.

Peace & Love from Arlington

PJB