one of lauren’s (the girl I’m visiting in nashville) friends, steve, is from pittsburgh. he is a singer/songwriter like many others here and I had a chance to listen to some more of his music today. I heard some of it before, but that was earlier stuff and he got better—much better. I felt like I was listening to a cd produced by someone from warner brothers or something. it was crazy good.

it got me thinking-not that I haven’t thought this before-that there is always someone better than you. and it didn’t make me jealous; normally being one-uped makes you want jealous of the person who schooled you, but that wasn’t the case. I just thought long and hard about my own songs and what they sounded like and who they appealed to. I just want to be better for my own self edification and no one else’s. I don’t expect to make a living off of writing songs or anything like that, I just want to be better because I know I can be.

so lets not be jealous of those who are better, lets look to them for inspiration and strive higher and higher till we reach our full potential.