The RSS feed switch is still a good idea as everything I do online basically gets updated there (including this blog). And I know you’re a completist. And a little OCD. Just sayin’. It’s not like I actually write anything here.

If you visit this site by going to urbanblight.net … soon that url will load my Tumblr site.

HOWEVER, if you read this site on a feed (you awesome person), then you will need to do something.

Please update your feed reader to the following:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/urbanblight

If you want to go to my Tumblr site now, visit:

http://urbanblight.tumblr.com/

The design is currently just an Obama theme.  Someday I’ll change that.  Someday.

I’m trying to get better at that stuff.  I never wanted you to take it personally, People.  Although, sometimes you are kind of an asshole.

And maybe I take you for granted. And I’m sorry for that, People.

But NO MORE.

Now Matt Urban is on Facebook.  I think that means you and I can play Scrabble.  Or maybe throw turkeys at each other, whatever the hell that means.

But it also means that I have to decide whether that dude in the cube two rows down is my “friend.”  More importantly, will he notice that we AREN’T friends.  Will it prevent us from being actual non-cyber friends?  Has he not send me that damn Photoshop file that I asked him for days ago because of it? Will he now be able to find that picture of me where I’m [REDACTED].

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions as to how I’m supposed to make this Facebook thing interesting, let me know.  I already have the icon on my iPhone home screen. So far, that’s my favorite part.

train!, originally uploaded by Joc_And.

I love it when the train comes. Maybe that’s cause I hate it when it doesn’t.

shawn: “urbanblight” is so strongly associated with you that when I see it anywhere I just assume you must be connected somehow.
urbanblight: heh, i wish! i would love some royalties on it. there’s a band apparently with that name, too
shawn: which is the one I just encountered
shawn: NEXT WEEK: Urban Blight!
shawn: I keep thnking i’m gonna see your Mii
urbanblight: lol – it’s my hardcore band
shawn: I like that that implies you have many bands
urbanblight: yeah, my disco-rock band is Al Qaeda Sex Tape … my alt-country band is Stupid Broken Umbrella, etc.
shawn: haha
shawn: I want to buy your alt-country band’s album
urbanblight: it’s an under-appreciated masterpiece that will receive it’s due after being used in a car commercial, years after my untimely death
shawn: Yikes, well, at least some good will come of it (your untimely death)
urbanblight: yeah, it’ll get my burgeoning lesbian folk-punk daughter some spins on college radio too, when she releases a haunting cover of it.
shawn: haha
shawn: you’ve thought about this
urbanblight: heh, a boy can dream

If Hurley from LOST can post three entries about excrement, then I get to post an IM conversation.

The changing of calendars (as U2 reminds us every frickin’ year) is mostly a administrative marker. Does it actually mean something?  Eh … depends on how you react to it, I guess.  For me, the year still hinges on the school calendar.  Autumn is the time where I really stop and say “woah, I started college/high school/kindergarten X years ago.”

That being said … there’s something about this morning.  As I sit in my kitchen, sipping coffee in my favorite robe …  light streaming through the windows … knocking out some stuff for work … listening to my iPod’s morning mix … staring at my shiny new iPhone … I feel slightly hopeful for 2008. I feel like I’ve been revving my engine for a few months now, and I’m just about ready to slip it into first gear.

So here’s to you and yours. Eat, drink, be merry.  All that.

I was ready to get up and be responsible. Like an adult.

Then I wake up. And it’s 5 minutes before I’m supposed to leave.

Tonight, I will be in bed early. Staring at a ceiling, waiting for sleep to come. Maybe I’ll take a Benadryl or something. But by God … I am waking up on time tomorrow.

To be honest … I don’t particularly hold the ability to wake up on time in very high esteem. However, I know that in general, society is in to that sort of thing. What bothers me, is that I am having so much trouble making what should be a simple adjustment.

At least someone understands:

I can think of a million things to do to change … but none of them scream “Yes, Matthew, I am the solution you’ve been searching for.  Rest easy, my son.  The battle is over.”

That’d be nice, wouldn’t it?

Sometimes I think “oh just do it, change now” … but I’ve made rash decisions in the past that didn’t work out so well.  Not saying I have any regrets (who knows how alternatives would have turned out).  I’ve just learned that it’s adviseable to know as much as possible about what you’re getting yourself into and what you’re hoping to get out of it.

I’m not going to go into great detail about what is making me feel frustrated here … it’s not personal, and it’s not spiritual … but I find it affecting these aspects of my life, and I want that to stop.  In essence, I’m worried about time.  I assume I have plenty of it left here … but I’m worried that if things don’t change soon … I’ll wake up and find myself at the end of a path I never meant to choose in the first place.

The problem is that I’m a relatively pleasant person.  I take enjoyment from and find love within the people I surround myself with.  Generally, I make extremely good choices in that arena, and I’ve been blessed with a nearly 30-year spat of good luck as well.  I try to make everything I do enjoyable for myself and for those around me.  It’s just hard to notice that you’re unfulfilled when you’re basically in a good mood all the time.  It’s like I’ve been walking along a lovely trail … checking out the wildlife, the groovy foliage … and now I’m looking around and I’ve realized I’m totally lost.

The one thing that I have decided is that I need some discipline.  It’s something I’ve consciously shunned most of my life.  I’ve always despised formality and external discipline is the pinnacle of that.  However, internal discipline … that’s something I can have some respect for.

So I’m going to enforce this on my schedule.  Try to get up at a certain time.  In bed by a certain time.  Start some form of meditation that will encourage said discipline.  I’m going to have to experiment to find the right practice for myself.  I’m really picky … which is quite the obstacle when you’re trying to let go of judgement and the petty distractions of the material world.

Speaking of petty distractions, I’m going to do my damnedest to post to this blog every day, even it’s just a link or something.  Again, discipline, routines.  Please note, I reserve the right to disappear again at anytime.  I’m just trying this out.  I expect this to result in a lot of crappy posts.  I apologize in advance.

Keeping all that in mind, this is a fine cover of “Many Rivers to Cross” by the fine NYC band, The Walkmen.  As legend has it, they lost the lease for their studio located on the Upper West Side in 2006.  Distraught with the loss, they decided to record one more album real quick-like and covered the entirety of Pussy Cats, an album by Harry Nilsson, produced by John Lennon and recorded during their legendary Lost Weekend in 1974. Enjoy.

I bull-dozed through my youth (like everyone else), but I have enough document from that period to remember what it’s like to be young. There are so many benchmarks that you clearly reach (or don’t reach), that it can be relatively easy to call up memories from 14, 18, 22, etc.

But what about 26? Let alone 29 …To combat this problem, a few years ago I began making playlists of songs that were in heavy rotation on my iPod (or what have you) for each season of a year, beginning with Summer 2003. This was vaguely inspired by the film, High Fidelity (there’s a scene where John Cusack is so upset that he starts re-organizing his vast record collection in order of musical discovery – brilliant). These are the equivalent my photo albums, as photos didn’t really interest me much until recently.

But I’d like to use this blog to get more specific about logging the experiences, emotions, perspectives and perceptions of my days. That way I could get a clear sense whether 29 year old Matt might get a kick out of 39 year old Matt. (The jury is still out on whether that actually matters.)

But there are dangers. How specific can I be? Will people be offended by what I say? Will observations/thoughts that I have come back to bite me when packaged for public consumption? What if I’ve neglected to tell someone something and they read about it on my blog? Should I change the time-stamp to be outside of work hours? This site isn’t important enough to me to negatively affect my “real” world. Obviously, you shouldn’t say things like “my boss is a d-bag” on your blog. But you’d have to be pretty thick not to realize that. Especially because I assume most potential employers Google people’s names now.

The lovely lady I’ve been spending time with lately asked me what I write about on my blog. I didn’t really have an answer for her. I mean, I do write about my life (I guess I’m doing that right now), but I don’t really … confess dark secrets here. I try not to name names in most scenarios. It can be limiting at times … part of the reason I write (publicly or otherwise) is to better articulate the thoughts in my head … and plenty of those thoughts are about the people who are close to me. The only way I’ll blog about that though is if I’ve extrapolated some greater observation from the situation. And even then, if it’s at all a sensitive situation in my real life, it probably won’t end up here (explicitly anyway).

I try to have an open-door policy in my life as it is. I may not offer certain information up without being asked, but in most cases, I’ve found that being dodgy about something does more damage than what you were being dodgy about. If I can show someone that I’m on the level with something, then generally they are going to be pretty accepting and on-the-level with me too. Of course, it’s not always that easy. There are things that you must do in your life, that you can’t explain to other people, things that seem unacceptable out of context … that doesn’t make them less important, genuine or necessary.

So … to answer the lovely lady’s question … time will tell what I write about. Good guesses include: music, culture, city-life … observations on advertising (the industry I work in) … and once in a while I’ll probably sneak in a sermon or two. I hope to make use of the tag cloud in the left hand sidebar so we can all see what I’m writing about.You know.

For posterity. Ahem.