typin’ away May 23, 2008

I am doing what I hate to do: journaling—real, thoughts down to remember for good, sorting through the mess journaling—on the computer, on a keyboard. I don’t like this for a couple reasons:

1. I type faster than I write. This may seem like a good thing (and it some ways it is) but I like journaling because it forces me slow down my thinking and think things through. I think that’s diminished a little like this.

2. The temptation to edit is too strong. I have a very strong “Do Not Erase or Remove” policy in my journals. On the computer, all I have to do is press backspace a few times, and often times I do it without even thinking. Even adding things…it just hinders the honesty, and I need all the help I can get in that regard (even when I’m talking to myself—how sad).

3. I like the concrete, handheld weight of paper in my hands and the look of handwriting on a page. It seems more nostalgic, more creative, more beautiful, more something I would like to go back and peruse through one day.

But oh well. I don’t have much of a choice. Since my surgery (tomorrow is one week since I’ve been home already!), sitting up is miserably uncomfortable almost anywhere. Especially when I am also leaning over a notebook, trying to keep it open, attempting to jot down a complete thought. But somehow, sitting at the kitchen table with a pillow behind my back and my computer in front of me is pretty tolerable. And after almost two weeks of doing basically nothing, I am starting to go crazy and my head is starting to overflow with all the stuff running through it.  So I wanted to write.

So, I’ll open up Word and do what I have to do.

What about you? Ever take the time for pen and paper, or do you prefer sticking to your computer?

Straighten up! May 12, 2008

Well, tomorrow’s the day when I straighten up. Literally.

I’m having spinal fusion surgery tomorrow to take care of my ever-worsening scoliosis. I’ll be pretty out of it for about a week, but after that I’ll be sitting around at home doing nothing at all, so I plan on doing some serious blogging (for real this time. I swear) and deciding whether this is something I really want to continue doing.
Prayers appreciated.

See you in a week.

And the livin’ is easy. May 4, 2008

It’s Summertime. Officially. I got home Friday afternoon, slept until 1:00 pm today (READ IT: that’s the afternoon, people! oh, the magic of summer vacation!), and spent today relaxin’ with the fam, watchin’ the derby, and killing the battery in my best friend’s new car. Good stuff. I don’t know why I decided today was a good day to start blogging again, but whatever. It’s summertime. That’s my motto. Plus, this video was just too good not to share (with, you know, the zero people who read this blog?)

After watching this video, I have fallen a little bit more in love with John Mayer (which, trust me, is just what I needed). Also, his “Take Your Fans to Work Day” idea is so much fun! I’m sure Brody would be proud–all this new fangled on-line presence, get your fans invested stuff. (SIDENOTE: It has, however, brought back sad memories about how I never got to go to Take Your Daughter To Work Day with my mom because she didn’t work when I actually HAD TYDTWD, but now that I’m in college she works again. Man, how dare she spend all her time with me when I was in elementary and middle school. Wasn’t she thinking about ME and what I WANTED?! Jeesh.)

Anyway, the good stuff:

Cease to begin. April 1, 2008

The title is in honor of the AMAZING Band of Horses show I saw last week. Every time I think about it, I can’t help but smile!

At any rate, no blogging for me for awhile. Obviously.

I haven’t been updating (not that anyone missed it, I don’t think!), but I’m not going to start up again anytime soon. I’ll still be reading other people’s blogs, but I’ve just decided that there are other things I should be concerning myself with than writing a blog of my own. I have better ways to spend my time right now…ways that are more productive for me, where I’m at right now.  I’m working on things. Maybe I’ll be back eventually. We’ll see!

Things I’ll be spending my time on in the next few weeks: This list is as much for any of you random readers as it is for personal accountability, I think.

-finishing up my sophomore year of college (what the heck?! I thought I just started!), and officially entering the Pro-Teach program. Trying to keep up my GPA.

-getting back into the habit of journaling, on paper (in one of those things…what are they called? a book?), daily. If I did it for two straight years, I can do it again!

-spending time with my amazing friends before we all head off to spend our summers elsewhere

-assuming duties and getting ready for next year as president of the Women’s Leadership Council! yay! (I’m hoping to revamp that Web site a little bit, too).

-Atlanta Braves baseball, back in action! Despite the sort of sad start, I’m maintaining that THIS IS OUR YEAR!

-lots of Crusade and community group stuff. thinking and praying about what God’s got in store for next year.

Seeking and learning. Moving forward, and learning how to let God show me how. I am learning how to give up control–this has been an interesting semester. God’s amazing. That’s really all I’ve got to say.

Let’s Do Some Good. March 4, 2008

This only takes about 5 seconds. Go do it. Right now. Go.

They’ll fund up to 20 masons (1 per 100,000 visitors), so that means we have until July 1st to get 20,000,000 people to visit this Web site.

Burkina Faso has been on my heart lately because they have the lowest literacy rate in the world, and as a future teacher and as someone who just loves to read, it makes me so sad.

So let’s do some good.

Let’s build some houses.

February’s Mix February 29, 2008

Like I said before, I’m making a mix per month this year. It’s kind of funny, because looking at February’s list. I can’t even remember why I added certain songs. “The Boys of Summer”?? In February?? I vaguely remember having a conversation with someone about it, but who knows. There’s lots of newly discovered stuff on this month’s list, too–Lisa Germano, Matt Costa, The Everybodyfields and Headlights–but some older stuff too. And almost a song-per-day, with 27 total. On my original list, I accidently put “God of This City” on there twice. I guess that shows you how much I LOVE that song. If you haven’t heard it yet, you should get on that. It has a pretty awesome story behind it too.

February:

• “That Thing You Do” The Wonders
• “Bring It To Me” She and Him
• “Overboard” Ingrid Michaelson
• “Marvelous Light” Charlie Hall (the “Live from Passion07-Part 3” version)
• “More Time” Needtobreathe
• “If I Ever Leave This World Alive” Flogging Molly
• “All You Need Is Love” The Beatles
• “Blackbird” The Beatles
• “Don’t Make Me a Target” Spoon
• “The Underdog” Spoon
• “Leave” Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
• “Too Much Space” Lisa Germano
• “The Boys of Summer” Don McClean
• “Hosanna” Hillsong United
• “Far More” The Honorary Title
• “Mr. Pitiful” Matt Costa
• “Cold December” Matt Costa
• “God of This City” Chris Tomlin
• “Love Song for a Savior” Jars of Clay
• “Say” John Mayer
• “Feel It All” Feist (the remix by Britt Daniel of Spoon)
• “Lonely Anywhere” The Everybodyfields
• “Dig” Jars of Clay
• “Falling Slowly” Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
• “Lift My Eyes” Bebo Norman
• “Get Your Head Around It” Headlights

Something to think about. February 18, 2008

I’m mostly concerned with the second half of this video. I don’t have time this morning to really talk about it, but it bothered me a lot. I don’t think Christians need to back down from issues or from politics. I think the opposite. We should stand up for what we believe in just like anyone else should. But I also think we would be so much better off if Christians, as a whole, stopped and considered HOW they say what they say, and consider the way Jesus lived and acted and impacted people, as opposed to the way most people go about it today. Jesus talked a lot about boldness, but he also talked a lot about gentleness. I think a little more gentleness and a little more understanding would go a long way towards preventing opinions like the one Charles Barkley apparently holds.

Sestina February 5, 2008

I’m taking a poetry course this semester that I’m really enjoying right now. It’s kind of a lot of work (more than I was expecting), but that work includes reading hundreds of pages of poetry, and so I don’t really mind. As I’m doing that, I’ve stumbled across some really wonderful poems, and I think I’ll post some of them now and then. So from now on, if I post a poem, assume that’s where it came from. Here’s one for today.

Sestina

by Elizabeth Bishop

September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.

She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,

It’s time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle’s small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tidying up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac

on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.

It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the alamanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmothers.

But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house.

Time to plant tears, says the alamanc.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.

Music Monday: She and Him’s “Bring It To Me” February 4, 2008

I have been anxiously awaiting posting this song for Music Monday ever since I heard it yesterday. Technically it’s not Monday for another 11 minutes, but I’m sure you can all excuse the technicality. I found it via Pitchfork and Who Killed the Mixtape?, who provides the audio.

She and Him is a collaboration between Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. I LOVE M. Ward and his beautiful raspy voice. I didn’t know Deschanel sang (then again I don’t think I’ve even seen any of her movies), but her blues-y, jazzy voice is perfect for this song.

The song is beautiful and nostalgic and, I think, will satisfy lovers of a million genres. I hope you like it!

This week’s pick: She and Him’s cover of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It To Me”.

31 days down, 334 to go February 1, 2008

I am totally blown away by the fact that it is February already. I can tell you one thing–God has been really faithful to get my through January not only in one piece, but feeling really good about the coming months. February 1 officially marks one month since The Biggest Change of My Life, but it feels much longer than that. Some days are rough, but God’s being really faithful to me lately and teaching how to trust Him with every detail of my life. I’m going on a missions trip to the University of the West Indies over spring break, which I am very excited (and very nervous) about. Today I take my first exam of the semester and turn in my first paper, but that’s kinda crazy because I can’t even remember this semester’s class schedule on a day-to-day basis.

At any rate. I decided that this year, I’m going to make a playlist for each month. For a long time now, I’ve been waking up every morning with a different song stuck in my head. I don’t know if I dream about them or what, but they’re not even always things I’ve been listening to recently. That has since died down quite a bit and probably only happens once or twice a week. At one point I had decided it would be fun to keep track of which song was stuck in my head for every day of the month and make a mix of them all at the end. I never got around to doing that, but I decided that this year I’ll make monthly mixes. They’ll be composed of songs stuck in my head, songs that are resonating with me for one reason or another, songs that are applicable, songs I hear randomly, etc. etc. For January, I have 22 songs. Some days had more than one, others none, but 22 total.

January:

• “My Rights Versus Yours” The New Pornographers
• “Breakable” Ingrid Michaelson
• “Birds” Kate Nash (December, really, but important and there wasn’t a December list. so it can go on this one)
• “No One’s Gonna Love You” Band of Horses
• “Love Song” Sara Bareillas
• “Still Hurting” The Last Five Years
• “Sundrenched World” Joshua Radin
• “Three Cheers for Five Years” (Acoustic) Mayday Parade
• “Brick” Ben Folds Five
• “Either Way” Wilco
• “Mystery” Phil Wickham
• “Secret Crowds” Angels and Airwaves
• “Boy with a Coin” Iron & Wine (especially the awesome version in an NPR session I listened to)
• “Carousel” Iron & Wine
• “Gravity” Sara Bareillas
• “Imitosis” Andrew Bird
• “Impossible Germany” Wilco
• “The Boys Are Back In Town” by whoever sings that, in honor of Heath Ledger and the cinematic masterpiece that is A Knight’s Tale
  
• “The Pieces Don’t Fit Anymore” James Morrison
• “For All Who Are to Come” Hillsong United (yay for the book of Hebrews)
  
• “Chemicals Collide” Cloud Cult
• “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” The Beatles