So tomorrow I brave the treacherous battlefield of PDX, and hopefully return safe-and-sound at Denver International in the early afternoon with just enough time to bring in the New Year. 2007 seems like an exciting year already - dreams and aspirations fueling my perseverance and determination. The endless roads of where my life could head in the next few months is almost too much - "it's enough to make a man explode". I just have to take a deep breath, keep my eyes open, and remember to go with the Hoppus. Oh yes, 2006. You were quite the comedian.

Since I will probably either be too tired or far too deep into the celebrations tomorrow night, I will be dedicating this double feature of a blog to old man Time and anyone who survived this last chaotic year. Imagine it now: The marquee reads "ONE NIGHT ONLY" and spotlights etch across the starry sky. Thousands upon thousands flock to the velvet red carpet to reserve their seat for the greatest show of the next year: 2007! The two-thousandth and seventh year since somebody claimed a beatific infant was brought into the world aside three wise men and an assortment of barnyard animals! This calls for some sort of celebration! We've created a holiday and stolen a calendar system from the Romans! The world is blessed!

As joking aside, the lights lower and the curtain goes up on the events of your past year. A movie clip montage from the Academy Awards of the good, bad, and terribly anarchistic moments of the past year! Mine would display as follows - using a simple list and some generic keywords:

Champagne from a paper cup, white lights over bare branches, letters from a long lost love, a mix tape and hot tea on my bedroom floor, writing beginnings but never endings, a black hat and a trip to Wendy's, linguine and passion, Topper Revue and 'Kings Of The Land Of Crunk', a state wide trip fueled by Christopher Walken and The Alan Sparhawk Project, the final days of Olions, so freed the chains of Los Alamos High School, my imminent defeat, traveling across the country, Kings at Ian's, Panic! At The Phix, playing on a run down guitar at the "Hot Monkey Love Cafe", drunk concert goers and cries of 'Maaaarrrrrbbbbbllllleeeee....', tapioca balls and strange looks, Happy Hollow and too much Katamari, Friday The 13th for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Godspeed records and doorbells on back doors, and an exhausting trip...

The Diner and the sounds of 'socials' from Miss Casey, letting go, falling victim to some sick cosmic game, a gigantic step forward into Colorado, elusive Comcast buildings and Byron, Cursive live, drunken Uno and resulting delirium, Patrick Swayze, multiple coats, Boulder and Marb at 5 AM, stuck in the snow, a fateful day, may Kasher be with you, the degradation of my sanity, Jean's tattoo, the Plus 44 show, long days and some Spicy Pickle, meeting the one-and-only Lexi, a 'sexy party', Regina Spektor and my family in Oregon, and then...

With an epic crash of cymbals, the music cuts short. And then? And then what? What will I find in this next day? What will I experience when I wake up and go on with my life as I have been doing for the last three-hundred-and-sixty-five days? Everything. Nothing has been left out. I will watch the New Year come and go with the same sweet nostalgia - the same blinding sparklers - and the same pop of champagne. This 'new beginning' will undoubtedly...begin. Just like planned. Time will continue it's endless march. I will not be different, nor the same come midnight tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will know that much more about the world. Myself. My life. I will know that much more about the people around me - the frivolities and drunken inconsistencies aside. I will know that much more about how I feel about...everything. How I feel about these new songs....how I feel about Thea...how I feel about being able to always start a Chapter One but never, ever finish.

This must be it. Welcome to the New Year.

Well, I'm here in my family's apartment for another day - the continuing joke that is the Denver International Airport and the smiting of God's snowy hand upon it has left me deadlocked without point or purpose. I will probably be returning to Denver the day after next; hopefully the apartment is not/was not on fire. At least it's comforting to know that no one has released the creature. Yet.

I've had a lot of fun here in Salem, don't get me wrong. It was so unbelievably great to be with my family - spend time with everyone and get back to how I grew up. I love seeing my sisters - reciting fun movie lines, making stupid jokes, just being weird all-around - and I hope I fill my position of 'little brother' good enough for the time being. I love seeing my parents - I get to spend more time with my dad now because of his new job, and I think that now - after my senior year, graduation, band stress, and much more - my mom can relax a little bit (I'm such a fuss, I know). Also, being able to just sit alone and think to myself has been great. Just relaxing - watching movies, playing games, playing guitar and writing songs - all things I thought I could do back in Denver, but are so much different here. It's been a great time.

I do hope to return in time for a joyous celebration of the New Year, which I have decided in an off-hand sort of way is my favorite holiday. There's some aura that sparkles so slightly in that one night. The atmosphere is warm even when it's freezing. Whether it has been the somewhat crazy events of Fabry's annual get together - something about 'death sauce' and David Byrne - or champagne from a paper cup on a couch in Zac's shed - listening to Ryan produce loud, drunken sounds from his guitar and spending the last seconds of the year 2005 in the air. Whatever it is, the memory of New Years itself always compares to the mass accumulation of memories from the year before. It always sticks with me until the next year rolls around. It allows me to do what I'm doing right now - reminisce and swell with nostalgia.

Who knows where I will find myself at the end of this year? In the basement of my drummer's house discussing Freud and how humans open bananas wrong? Snowed in at my apartment with Tyler and Dustin listening to our perfectly selected soundtracks? Will I be spending the last draining seconds on the phone with someone...anyone...spilling my soul? In the immortal words of The Chemical Brothers...

"Where do I start? Where do I begin?"

Somewhere beneath a vanilla sky. Somewhere sitting on the couch between a girl I've never met and my grandfather discussing literature. I'll be back to playing croquet at lunch breaks and believing what I write. I'll find myself somewhere solving mysteries with Nancy Drew, or turning Japanese. I'll finally board those fateful clouds I spoke of in years past - the last liner to cross the starry expanse. I'll jump so high I never come down. I'll drag out the 'olde' record player and dance the twist and mamba to the sounds of The Beatles and Tim Kasher. I'll list inconsistencies and impossibilities with great ease - laugh at my own humor - and make a toast to that brand new day. I am so excited; I can't even express it.

We'll be dancing in the dark.

We'll be flying like trapeze artists.

We will not be afraid.

We interrupt the regular blogging to bring along this special post from Murder Murderer Love Inc. The end of 2006 is growing near - the double digits of days are slowly growing to an end - and 2007 will be here in the wink of an eye. This can only mean one thing...

Yes, it is that time again to countdown the top fifty music releases from this past year. 2006 was an excellent year for new music - from both old favorites and completely new artists. It took me forever to compile my list right, but here is what my final fifty comes down to:

50. The Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia
49. The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
48. Mastodon - Blood Mountain
47. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - What's Going On
46. The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes
45. The Who - Endless Wire
44. Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
43. Xiu Xiu - The Air Force
42. Roseanne Cash - Black Cadillac
41. Wolfmother - Wolfmother

40. The Gotan Project - Lunatico
39. Now It's Overhead - Dark Light Daybreak
38. Christina Aguilera - Back To Basics
37. Copeland - Eat, Sleep, Repeat
36. The Album Leaf - Into The Blue Again
35. Placebo - Meds
34. The Black Keys - Magic Potion
33. Beck - The Information
32. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
31. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
30. Mates Of State - Bring It Back

29. Cat Power - The Greatest
28. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
27. Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
26. Built To Spill - You In Reverse
25. Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
24. Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
23. The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
22. Sparklehorse - Dream For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain
21. Plus 44 - When Your Heart Stops Beating

20. Neil Young - Living With War
19. Muse - Black Holes And Revelations
18. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
17. The Knife - Silent Shout
16. Set Your Goals - Mutiny! (tied with) The Hush Sound - Like Vines
15. Incubus - Light Grenades
14. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
13. Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
12. The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
11. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

10. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
9. The Mars Volta - Amputechture
8. Mogwai - Mr. Beast
7. Fear Before The March Of Flames - The Always Open Mouth
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
5. Tool - 10,000 Days
4. Sparrows, Swarm And Sing! - Oh Shenandoah, Mighty Death...
3. Swan Lake - Beast Moans
2. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
1. Cursive - Happy Hollow

2006 was pretty wild; a whole variety of great music. Of course, I have my own personal bias (just as Bright Eyes will probably in the top five for 2007), but that's why this is MY top 50 list. A lot of other top 100 lists didn't even include some of the albums I liked, but that's just how it is. I hope you find some stuff you agree with, and some stuff you didn't catch in the last year. If so, go out and do some shopping!

Edit: I added The Hush Sound's "Like Vines" to the list because I obviously don't keep very good records about album releases...it's tied for 16th with Set Your Goals' "Mutiny!" (because I couldn't find anything I could've booted down or off the list). It's also been added because...because...WWJD?