You know right now I am having the opportunity to do what I have always dreamed of doing. And I have always known that I would be doing it. That is to play in a band and travel… we are about to go to Ohio and Maine, and who knows where else in the future? We have been playing all over New York State and I am loving it! We played in Canada a bit, and have played some in PA. It’s really exciting and I love it… you can check out more of our touring adventures here, http://www.blog.juliamarieband.com And by the way, I did the drawings at the top! And check out the real site while you’re at it… we just redesigned it about a week ago, http://www.juliamarieband.com
You know what’s strange though? Doing what you’ve always wanted to do makes you feel strange. It’s a combination of good and bad for me… I find that it sets in as soon as I get home. I was sitting in my room today, after I got home(I’m home for a couple of days right now) and I started to remember just how many things have happened in this room. Weird things remind me of stuff… Christmas is coming up, and that one is really strange. Like, looking at a catalogue reminds me of when our house used to be covered in lights and we would go and get a tree and drag it through the snow and I would be full of anticipation about what was under the tree. It seems it was always video games of some sort… or video game related. I remember getting the original NES, I remember the Super Nintendo, the second Super Nintendo, the second NES, the Playstation, the PS2 etc… by the time we got the Xbox360 my excitement for video games had faded… I no longer got excited around Christmas time.
I keep remembering this time when my three cousins Djere, Steve and Tom came and stayed for a week or so… it felt like forever. We did nothing but listen to ska and play medal of honor on the playstation… it was so fun having them here, and when they left I would go to play medal of honor and it just wasn’t fun anymore. People make things more fun I guess… or this time I went with all of my friends to the sci-tech center, and then I went by myself later and it was actually very sad to be there. I was in the “shadow room” where this light would flash and your shadows would be frozen on the wall. And when all of my friends were there with me it was so cool, we made the strangest shadow images… but by my self… it was not just boring, but it made me sad.
Christmas has lost the crazy excitement that it used to have. When we used to go get the tree… we used to put lights all over the house and everything looked and smelled Christmasy. I took that all for granted and actually was quite annoyed by some of it… now I actually kind of feel a longing for it. What do they call that… nostalgic? I remember a party at dry hill with some of my best friends, one of my last days at Carthage… I went to dry hill later, alone… and it was lame. Some times even with the same people, in the same place you just can’t emulate a moment. I’m glad Christmas is still super exciting for Adam and my sisters… at least the younger ones, but the problem is more with what I would want. Everything I want is like 2,000 dollars and up! But, my parents still manage to make every Christmas special for me… I really wonder how they do it. I know kids with rich parents who spoil them to death and they spend all the money in the world on them for Christmas… and still, Christmas is not special for them.
In case you’re wondering, yes… I know this is a fragmented entry. I really just felt like writing as it comes out, and there are a lot of topics where that is dangerous… but this is not one of them… I hope not at least 
src="http://www.jamesharmer.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif"> . I also remember hanging out with Sam Gardner and Katie Gardner at the retreat… riding back in forth in the back of a truck… I am pretty sure that was illegal yeah… and I also remember staying at their house and talking for hours with Sam about the most random things. I also remember Katie putting braids in my hair so it would look like dread locks… wow, was I ever that lame? I still have pictures. I also remember the Coffee house, and playing music really loud while everyone hung out. I won’t ever be able to get those times back either… I feel weird everytime I walk by that place.
I also remember hanging with my best friend Tom Durham… me and him and Jarrett having a jam session on a little plastic guitar, a Cort bass… and J-Ratt playing drums on some cardboard boxes and gladware containers with TKO sticks. And man… we made those gladware containers sound great! I remember also… having a sheep named Fuzzy… who tried to jump up on the bus one day with me. And dragged me down my driveway… and being laughed at. Hmmm… it’s just strange how life changes, time really does get away. If I take anything for granted, I am missing out.
So right now… in late 2008 how does this apply? Well… I guess, I should just not miss out on any opportunities during this tour. I am getting the chance of a lifetime. How long will it last? I don’t know, but I am not going to take this tour for granted, I am thrilled to be doing this and will treat it as something valuable, which it is! I don’t want to look back in 10 years and go… “Man… I really didn’t appreciate that enough.” I want to look back with thankfullness, and I am really happy to be in this band and have this privilage of working with awesome people! Hope to see you ALL while on tour, and Ziggy… we’ll try to make it down to Panama some time!
For those of you who read it all… wow, that’s impressive. I wrote this one different then usual… it’s quite fragmented and hard to follow probably. Kinda like having a conversation with me I guess. I could list several other memories I’ve been visiting, but there is no need to… it would just make this longer.
With love,
-James’
