KeithWikle.com

Ok everyone else makes lists,

top ten albums

1. Sigur Ros-Takk- Best album for the drive to lake michigan or on the run in the snow.
2. AC Newman- the slow wonder- best bubblegum pop ever. I can almost taste the bubble gum flavor, (is it a flavor)
3. Decemberists- Picaresque-songs about vengeful mariners tend to get ranked higher around here. Never mind the literati rock star thing, this album rocks.
4. Sufjan Stevens- illinoise- this falls second to Michigan in my book, but very very good still. His songwriting reminds me of what I want my short story writing to be, if I had the time.
5. New Pornographers-Twin Cinemas- The best show i missed this year. I love my sister in law, but f%#king weddings kill my ability to see shows. This is a great energetic band. And also AC Newman is in it!
6. Andrew Bird- and the Mysterious Production of Eggs- flat out, measuring cups and MX Missiles are two of the best songs ever. I love the imagery of someone trying to find out if love, or a woman is MX missile proof.
7. Wolf Parade- Apologies to the Queen Mary-Just got this, but it is noisy, rocking good.
8. Damien Rice (O)- the best in the soundtrack to your life. Every song sounds like a soundtrack credits closer where you imagine yourself crying because so and so left so and so, and that one guy’s mother died. Oh yeah that meant a lot to me…
9. Stars-Set Yourself on fire- The tag line when there’s nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire is pretty evocative. We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.

1. Franz Ferdinand-Ok 80’s guitar rock can come back, some of the tunes wear. but jacquelyne pretty well rocks.

   I think top 8 moments for this year are mostly paddling related.

2. Getting new job in Kalamazoo was pretty high! I may bitch a lot about working 14 hour days, but it’s only because commuting to Detroit made me want to buy a pistol. I am back where I belong, con mia famiglia….
3. The first time I got a flat spin on a 6 foot wave was also pretty sweet.
4. Surfing in the dark on the day the edmund fitzgerald went down.
5. Seeing Doug Van Doren on TITS 2! I felt like MY aims and ambitions were validated by having Justine attach a camera to Doug’s Valkyrie. Doug is undoubtedly one of THE best paddlers I’ve ever met, a terrific human being. To see him paddling the crystal blue in the manitou straits on my TV is straight up a win for the Great Lake state, so F!#$ You Florida!
6. Running 7 Miles for the first time since June. An hour of bliss with a headlight on CR 374 with vineyards to the right and left, and harvest rain coming down.
7. Gabriel Surfing for the first time! Seeing a boy instinctively low brace on a wave made my year.
8. Isabella scoring 5 goals in one game. My little michael owen.

#. Laura quitting her job. Oddly enough has been pretty great. No Tag

Forgive the accent free for those of you who speak icelandic or whatever language it is that Sigur Ros uses in this song.

But this piece of music has got to be the best thing I’ve ever heard.

More and more as I am running I think of people who have died, or who are ill. I don’t know why. Today at mile marker 2 where I wanted to turn around this song came on the old iPOD shuffle at the exact moment I wanted it to, so I kept going, mind you only another 1/2 mile to make it a total of five miles, but it seemed that this piece of music and Grandma Cecelia Field’s death are somehow linked. It came on by accident on the way to lake michigan for one of my surf sessions earlier this year when she was ill. I began to think about her death right at mile marker two and that song came on. Snow fell over a tunnel of elm and maple trees along the trail, and I was more winded than usual because I wanted to see if I could pick up the pace a little. I would never have been as into running really if I hadn’t moved out to the west side of the state. There are so many cool county roads in Van Buren county, all with vineyards, orchards, and farms, and I made it a point to try to build up my fitness to run between my house in Paw Paw and what is known as the Farm. Eventually I did it. It’s about 15 miles. The very first time I did it, I came inside really just knackered and sat on Grandma’s couch while she watched the olympics. I had never considered running a marathon. By some stroke of luck, the Athens Olympics came on the television. So Granny and I watched Meb Geflebski go for the gold. This was the Olympics where that poor Brazillian runner De Lima was tackled by a defrocked priest in a kilt. Geflebski was taken in the last few minutes by that tall lanky italian guy Stefano Baldini. Who knew running could be so dramatic, well I told Grandma I wanted to run a marathon. Because I told her I was going to do I sort of felt I should, no one should let a woman like her down, or lie to her. Despite the fact that maybe she didn’t really care one way or the other, I did it. And I think now that she’s gone I may do another just because dammit.

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Swam for 28:00 minutes yesterday. Inefficient at the end, but what can you expect when you’re tired.

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