November 20, 2006
My legs are still sore from all that bouncin' at the Audio A concert. Shows you how much I exercise! Anyway, love small venues, even though we were right by the speakers. And they played DC-10!!! And Ocean's Floor, and Get Down, and Hands and Feet... would've been fun if they played Some Kind of Zombie, or Never Gonna Be As Big As Jesus. Oh well. It was one sweet concert nonetheless... I very much enjoyed myself. And very much long to go to another concert.
Hmm... maybe that's how I subconsciously rationalized pre-ordering the Switchfoot CD today (yes, I buckled into the $10.15 USD shipping rate, compared to the $12 USD CD... but I get 4 extra tracks, right?). I shall greet my new year by listening to the new Switchfoot CD!
SONG OF THE MOMENT
I am a one way motorway
I�m the one that drives away
Then follows you back home
I am a street light shining
I�m a wild light blinding bright
Burning off alone
It�s times like these you learn to live again
It�s times like these you give and give again
It�s times like these you learn to love again
It�s times like these time and time again
I am a new day rising
I�m a brand new sky
To hang the stars upon tonight
I am a little divided
Do I stay or run away
And leave it all behind?
It�s times like these you learn to live again
It�s times like these you give and give again
It�s times like these you learn to love again
It�s times like these time and time again
"Times Like These," Foo Fighters (from One By One)"
November 15, 2006
Oh MAN! I'm so psyched for the Audio Adrenaline concert this Saturday! I bet they're gonna play "It's Over" for their last song, and I bet I might just literally cry. Such a sap I've become over the years. We'll see if it happens.
Oh MAN! No more Mark squeak? Boo! *sigh* The Underdog album is so sweeeeeeet... I'm so glad I grew up with it. I swear that "Hands and Feet" song drilled the importance of mission (and not giving up in hard times) into my heart back in high school. Along with the rest of it. So good. I hope my kids get into cool music like this.
SONG OF THE MOMENT
I am so weak and I'm so tired
It's hard for me to
Find enough strength to feed the fires
That fuel my ego
And consequently all my pride has all but died
Which leaves me
Down on my knees
Back to the place I
Should have started from
Been beat up
Been broken down
Nowhere but up
When you're face down
On the ground
I'm in last place
If I place at all
But there's hope for this underdog!
That's the way, uh-huh, we like it!
That's the way, uh-huh, we like it!
You can call me the underdog
I'm in this race to win a prize
The odds against me
The world has plans for my demise
What they don't see
Is that a winner is not judged by his small size
But by the substitute he picks to run the race
And mine's already won
"Underdog," Audio Adrenaline (from Underdog)
You know, stupid, oppressive issues that come always ultimately remind me of my own humanity, and how much I need the grace of God. I certainly feel like the underdog who is back on her knees, where I should've started from.
Don't you love this moulding that God does through sticky situations?
November 13, 2006
Another music update. So I ordered The Classic Crime and Jimmy Eat World two days ago. Just waiting for their arrival soon. Myspace will have to appease me for now. :oP I should give up giving up CD buying, once and for all.
Also, here are some bands that are coming out with new albums late this year or sometime next year of which will eventually end up in my collection:
- Switchfoot - Oh! Gravity - sounds awesome!
- Jimmy Eat World (I assume, since apparently they're in the studio)
- Mae
- Relient K - Five Score And Seven Years Ago
Yay!
In other news, I finally had some time to look over grad school material. The plans keep changing. This is not good. We'll see what happens by the end. I can't really predict, unfortunately. :oP
SONG OF THE MOMENT
Well I tripped, fell down naked
Well I scratched my knees, they bled
Sew up my eyes, need no more
In our game, there is no score!
Forgive me father why should you bother?
Try honesty, try honesty
Hop in your dump truck, reverse for good luck
Ride over me, ride over me
Take on the whole world, fight with the young girls
Die tragedy, die tragedy
I'm insane, it's your fault, so sly
Your well of lies ran dry
I cut the cord, free fall
From so high we seem so small!
Forgive me father why should you bother
Try honesty, try honesty
Hop in your dump truck, reverse for good luck
Ride over me, ride over me
Take on the whole world, fight with the young girls
Die tragedy, die tragedy
Call me a cheapskate, come on for Pete�s sake
Cry agony, cry agony
I'm insane, It's your fault... cry!
Forgive me father, why should you bother now?
Forgive me father, why should you bother now?
"Try Honesty," Billy Talent (from self-titled debut)
Not quite sure I'm so attracted to this particular Billy Talent song, and not the others. Well, okay, I think it's the opening riff that gets to me. So sweet!
November 11, 2006
I suppose I'll have to attend a Remembrance Day ceremony another day. But, hey, it was nice to end the week by hanging out with good friends, watching a movie (however lame) and playing some songs. Anyway, I hope I get to visit a World War I/II battle site when I go to Europe next year.
I spent all of the iTunes gift card Angela and Cecilia gave me. Well, okay, I have about 20 cents left. I'll save that until the day I have the need to buy a song! ;o) Most of the stuff I downloaded was stuff I wanted to get but couldn't find elsewhere (like "One Thing" by Finger Eleven! sweet!). iTunes is definitely better than puretracks (and I'm guessing any .wma file download services). Here's the song list:
- California - Phantom Planet
- Days Go By (Acoustic) - Dirty Vegas
- Everything You Want - Vertical Horizon
- Gone - tobyMac
- The Hell Song - Sum 41
- I Can Only Imagine - MercyMe
- The Kill - 30 Seconds To Mars
- Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer
- My Immortal (Band Version) - Evanescence
- Nuisance (Radio Single) - John Reuben
- One Thing - Finger Eleven
- Ordinary Day - Vanessa Carlton
- Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
- Song 2 - Blur
- The Space Between - Dave Matthews Band
- Spirit - Switchfoot
- Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
- Times Like These (Live) - Foo Fighters
- Try Honesty - Billy Talent
- Youth of the Nation - P.O.D.
November, 6, 2006
This kind of thing makes me melt into a puddle. And pen a(nother) song about the human condition.
SONG OF THE MOMENT
Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
And you begin to wonder why you came
Where did I go wrong?
I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life
Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defence
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
And pray to God he hears you
As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you've followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he'll say he's just not the same
And you'll begin to wonder why you came
"How to Save a Life," The Fray (from How to Save a Life)
I read on Wikipedia that this song narrates the experiences of the writer at a summer camp for troubled youth.
It hits home, after having worked with so many people who are in way worse situations than myself (i.e. not being able to communicate fluently, being almost evicted, having to choose between meals and heating in the home, not even having a home). How would I know how to sympathize or understanding? I only get to see many of them one or two times, give them a bit of help, then send them on their way. How do I know that they are better off? How do I know that I've helped them out, really?
How do you save a life?
November 4, 2006
Oh man. I'm in danger of double booking myself. I pretty much forgot that I was to call Marianne tonight, but I got to (finally) chat with her, which makes me happy to have missed the sexuality talk at church.
Anyway, today was Aunt Susan's funeral. It's interesting hearing about her life from the people who knew her best. The slide show was pretty nice as well, especially all those pictures from her youth. Her presence will be missed. It's still hard to wrap my head around the fact she's gone. My mind has been drifting back to last Christmas, where we had some lovely family times together. It'll be different this year.
Hmm, I suppose I'm updating a little backwards. The week has been busy. A few meetings, general lack of sleep (again). Also, the brain juice is depleting - I need to think up stuff for the tutor training program at work (probably my "best" project), JOY fellowship, and the church retreat. I think with a night of good rest, I can come up with better stuff for everything. Or if things came one by one. Guess I'm not a multitasker after all.
My birthday was nice. Came home to a decorated room, courtesy of Nie and my sister. Oh, and while I was away, they baked me a cheesecake. Never expected that, so that was sweet of them. :o) I went out with the family to Iron Chef - I really liked that sushi pizza. And I don't think I had enough raw salmon. Love that stuff! My dad rather enjoyed the restaurant. I think we'll be frequenting Iron Chef more in the future. After that, we went to T&T and got some prepackaged goodness. Well, needless to say, a quiet birthday was had.
So, I'm finally 23. About time.