This Guy Falls Down

Closure

I've been asked for more "creative process" posts. You ask for it, you get it. BTW - this one was written on a plane the other night, so it may be a little choppy (turbulence and all).

Whenever you create, you are working towards closure. Knowing that you have finished what you set out to do. The problem is that sometimes you will achieve closure prematurely. You show someone else what you've been working on, and your mind calls it a day and is ready to move on to something else. Or, you leave too many projects unfinished and find yourself with this vague sense of dread, knowing that you have something that you need to be working on. Figuring out when you are done with something seems simple enough, but it is an art to be mastered if you want to progress on the creative path.

Madeleine L'Engle links

Somebody has said that a great book should be read at least every five years. I'm in the middle of reading L'Engle's The Rock That is Higher for the second time in the last couple of years, so it's heading towards "great" status for me. I love reading interviews, especially with people who inspire me. Here are some things I recently turned up:
Disney just aired the movie version of A Wrinkle in Time. Here is a great interview she recently did with Newsweek. It's interesting to note that she didn't seem to care for the movie.
Bonastra is another good jumping-off point for interviews, quotes, etc.
And there's always the official web site. I encourage you to check out L'Engle's work. She will surely challenge your way of thinking, and that's a good thing. For fiction, her "Time" quartet is a must for all-ages, with A Swiftly Tilting Planet being my personal favorite. And in the non-fiction realm, you can't go wrong with Walking on Water (especially if you're involved in the arts). A Circle of Quiet would run a close second.

Am I the only one that does this?

Apparently, there's a key, or combination of keys, right near the "return" key, that erase the last line or so that you've typed. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Maybe I could figure out how to use it on purpose. Or maybe I would know how to avoid it. I just want to make sure I'm not crazy here.

Tulsa

After posting from exciting sounding places (Ireland! Denmark! Germany!), what could possibly be more normal sounding than Tulsa? OK, maybe New Haven, Connecticut. Or Mount Vernon, Ohio. At least there have been songs written with Tulsa in the title. But you know what I'm talking about.
Sorry for the lack of posting the last several days. Sadly, it's easier to get online in Aalborg, Denmark, than at my in-laws in Georgia, which is where I've been camped out the last few days. Let's see if we can't change that.

Chronicles of Narnia movie

Get ready. It's coming. And you can check out some cool pics ?here. (Thanks to Sarah for the link!)

Belfast

Well, tonight we played our last European date in Belfast. It was excellent. Last night we played at a small church in Dublin and had a great response. I really enjoyed Ireland, and hope to come back again sometime soon. I visited there in high school and totally dug it. I dare say, it could be my favorite country I've ever visited.
So, tomorrow we fly back to the States. It has been so awesome touring Europe and meeting great people and hopefully winning over some new fans. It will also be awesome to go back home and see my family. The rock will continue, though, as we have a show in Atlanta on Saturday.
I will try to get some pictures up soon. Also, I haven't forgotten - I will upload my journal and pictures from my Lesotho trip soon, too.

Denmark

We had a great day today in Denmark. This country feels very different than anywhere else we've been. It was very beautiful. We played in Aalborg, which is in the northern part of the country. It is so wild to go this far from home and have people singing along with the songs. The best part to me was the big foam "Third Day" letters they had behind the stage. It was classic. Hopefully we will get to come back soon.
On to Ireland!

Deutschland

Our Netherlands show went really well last night. My schedule is almost as whacked as this computer keyboard (the 'y' and 'z' are mixed up, the '@' symbol is hidden on the 'q' key, for starters...). I've been tired during the times I'm supposed to be awake, and I can't sleep at night. Last night, for example, I was up until 4am watching 'Rat Race'.
Germany is beautiful, as I expected. Our show went well tonight, except that I kind of fried an amp. The people in Europe have been very excited to have us. Tomorrow we have an off day in Heidelberg, then it's on to Denmark...

De Nederlanden

Before I even get to today, let me say, last night's show was incredible. Definitely what I would refer to as a "top five" show (there are probably actually about 25 shows in my "top five", but it sounds good to say!). Great crowd - we were worried they wouldn't know the songs, but they sang every word. I hope we get to do another show very soon. Dale, our web guy, has been out with us, and has been doing regular updates on the band site.
Last night we rode on a ferry, so I got up in the middle of the night to check it out. Totally worth it. I got to see the Cliffs of Dover (anyone remember Eric Johnson?) and saw the sun rise over the English Channel. Still haven't caught up on the sleep yet, but it's was totally worth it.
So today we had an off day in Holland. Ate a bunch of Middle Eastern food and saw the new Harry Potter movie. Tomorrow, we do two shows in a day. Fun for us!

London calling

Well, we just got here to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I found one of those internet cafes and had to buy a prepaid card to check my email, so I figured I'd post here as well.
I'm really tired, but pretty excited about playing here. It will definitely feel like a step back in time. Actually it will feel like a step back TO "Time", as the crowd will probably be about the size of that tour. Pretty good considering we've never played here.
BTW - everything over here is just a tad different, including the computer keyboard. It's driving me crazy!