i figured since it is half way through 2007 now (i can't even really believe it) and i'm starting my 27th year of life (turning 26 - for my confused readers, think hard - it does make sense), i thought i'd make a list of the music that's rocked my year so far. logically, i should probably make my list have something to do with the number 7, (you know 2007, 27th year) but in reality my preface has little to nothing to do with my post, and i'm just going to list music for the heck of it.
albums that i've listened to A LOT so far since the start of 2007:
speak for yourself - imogen heap
back to basics (discs 1 and 2)- christina aguilera
stripped - christina aguilera
till the sun turns black - ray lamontagne
a fever you can't sweat out - panic! at the disco
keep it together - guster
songs that rocked the lar-dawg - (jeff larison's fave songs of 2006 compilation)
futuresex/lovesounds - justin timberlake
arise - an anonymous project
blueprints for the black market - anberlin
cities - anberlin
never take friendship personal - anberlin
remember right now - spitalfield
sink or swim - waterdeep
the khrusty brothers - the khrusty brothers
it won't be soon before long - maroon 5
other artists that have stirred me...
patty griffin
bleed the dream
brand new
the early november
led zeppelin
brilliant geographers
the dan doran band (local band)
chris daughtry (interestingly enough)
explosions in the sky
saosin
jennifer knapp (old school stuff)
silers bald (old school laura story version)
rufus wainright
the waybacks (coming to lawrence june 10th-11th by the way :)
why did i bother posting this? like my blog says - who knows where thoughts come from? they just appear...
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
grandmas and faith handkerchiefs PART 1
i got an interesting piece of mail the other day...
the envelope read "God's Holy Spirit instructed us to loan you this to start turning things around for you. So, here it is." naturally, i opened it.
inside, i found the following (see above). as a minister for more than 50 years, the "pastor" that sent me this read, and reread the Bible and determined that God instructed ministers to send "Bible faith handkerchiefs" to people so that miracles of blessings could occur (based on Acts 19:11,12 - read for yourself what the scripture actually says). who knew all i had to do was send people holy snot rags? on this paper 'chief, i was instructed to write my name in the center, with the name of a loved one i wanted prayer for below it and place it in my Bible at the Acts passage at night while i slept.
i found this experience to be very holy and helpful in my walk with the Lord.
along with the blessings that were assuredly going to be mine once i returned this faith handkerchief in the mail to "st. matthew's churches" at a p.o. box address in tulsa, oklahoma, i was also encouraged to pray about "sowing a biblical seed offering unto the Lord" for "this is the work of God that this church is doing." i had no idea God was calling me to give him seeds this whole time. i thought i was called to tithe money, likely to the church of which i am a part. apparently not.
there were many stories of how these B.f.h.'s "worked" in people's lives. people going off "dope," getting out of jail, receiving checks in the mail, etc. and amazingly enough, they had become "seed harvest members." how coincidental!
even more wonderful is that i had a special sealed prophesy to speak words of wisdom in my life, though i was NOT to open it until after sundown on the day that i sent my 'chief back. after getting on the internets and finding out that this whole thing was officially a scam (i thought about sending just the 'chief back to see what happened - some informal research if you will), i opened the sealed prophesy, even though i had broken the "rules" and was to have destroyed the prophesy without reading it because it was of a "spiritual nature." oops! and let me tell you, the prophesy wasn't at all general and was very applicable to ONLY my life. or something like that...
i shall leave you with what my favorite picture was. a picture, i'm assuming, from "Biblical times" since Kodak was strong to quite strong back then, of what i assume is Paul giving a Bible faith handkerchief (that looks just like mine!) to a sick person. that's so life giving.
i once was blind, but now i see. i once was money, now i'm a "seed." i once used direct communcation with the living God in prayer, now i just use my paper Bible faith handkerchief and put it in the mail. ask yourself: WWPD?
grandmas and faith handkerchiefs PART 2
because you'll likely read what's above this as PART 1 first...
i've had a few blog-worthy things come up lately, and i must admit that i was more tempted to do one of my more serious "what i've been learning" posts, but decided against it because sometimes life is just funny and the world needs to know about it.
thus, i take you on a journey.
first of all, i love my grandmothers. really, i do. however, i'm pretty sure that i'm not much like either one of them...case in point, their love for email forwards. i am very proud of one of my grandmas who used to send approximately 3 forwards a day, because she generally limits herself to one a week now after multiple grandchildren complained and confessed to her that we automatically deleted them. her lesson was also learned when we accidently deleted her request for a Christmas list last year, mistaking it for another "you're going to have bad luck for 7 years if you don't send this to 30 of your closest friends" sorta thing.
anyway, i got a kick out of both of my grandmas this week as they both sent their own "inspirational" emails...my favorite part about the link below (via email forward) was that my grandma had already sent it to me before a month or so ago, but the first time in the body of the email it read "Words of wisdom from a 98-year-old senior citizen who shares her thoughts on love." this time the preface for the link was "I hope you enjoy this slide show. It meant a lot to me and I wanted to pass it on to you, so that you know you are loved." please meet the sap within and watch what's at the following link:
http://www.doyourememberlove.com/musiconly.html
oh, and pretty please watch the accompanying explanation that follows the picture escapade. you will learn that this "98-year-old senior citizen" is not exactly a person...and in fact this link was created by a man that wrote a book about meditating with his dog.
my other grandma's forward (along with some just fabulous jpegs of characters that should've never been created) taught me the following things: that i am one of the 10 prettiest ladies on her friends list, elvis impersonators are "losers," apparently it's okay to make claymation-like pictures of old people wearing things like speedos and bikinis, that i was supposed to "hit" 10 pretty ladies (which i didn't, because even pretty people don't like to get punched in the face...seriously), and that it's okay to send your granddaughter an email forward that also says "If you get hit again you know you're really pretty. If you break the chain you'll have ugliness for 10 years." i'm planning on taking my next 10-year stint of ugliness and becoming a mime. i'm told that ugliness is covered up well by white make up and not talking. i guess it confirms that whole notion of "i won't be getting married for a long time" thing...unless ugly mime love is the best love...
they do apparently care enough to send the VERY best...
i've had a few blog-worthy things come up lately, and i must admit that i was more tempted to do one of my more serious "what i've been learning" posts, but decided against it because sometimes life is just funny and the world needs to know about it.
thus, i take you on a journey.
first of all, i love my grandmothers. really, i do. however, i'm pretty sure that i'm not much like either one of them...case in point, their love for email forwards. i am very proud of one of my grandmas who used to send approximately 3 forwards a day, because she generally limits herself to one a week now after multiple grandchildren complained and confessed to her that we automatically deleted them. her lesson was also learned when we accidently deleted her request for a Christmas list last year, mistaking it for another "you're going to have bad luck for 7 years if you don't send this to 30 of your closest friends" sorta thing.
anyway, i got a kick out of both of my grandmas this week as they both sent their own "inspirational" emails...my favorite part about the link below (via email forward) was that my grandma had already sent it to me before a month or so ago, but the first time in the body of the email it read "Words of wisdom from a 98-year-old senior citizen who shares her thoughts on love." this time the preface for the link was "I hope you enjoy this slide show. It meant a lot to me and I wanted to pass it on to you, so that you know you are loved." please meet the sap within and watch what's at the following link:
http://www.doyourememberlove.com/musiconly.html
oh, and pretty please watch the accompanying explanation that follows the picture escapade. you will learn that this "98-year-old senior citizen" is not exactly a person...and in fact this link was created by a man that wrote a book about meditating with his dog.
my other grandma's forward (along with some just fabulous jpegs of characters that should've never been created) taught me the following things: that i am one of the 10 prettiest ladies on her friends list, elvis impersonators are "losers," apparently it's okay to make claymation-like pictures of old people wearing things like speedos and bikinis, that i was supposed to "hit" 10 pretty ladies (which i didn't, because even pretty people don't like to get punched in the face...seriously), and that it's okay to send your granddaughter an email forward that also says "If you get hit again you know you're really pretty. If you break the chain you'll have ugliness for 10 years." i'm planning on taking my next 10-year stint of ugliness and becoming a mime. i'm told that ugliness is covered up well by white make up and not talking. i guess it confirms that whole notion of "i won't be getting married for a long time" thing...unless ugly mime love is the best love...
they do apparently care enough to send the VERY best...
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
something to hold on to...
first thing of the day: i went mcdonald's for breakfast before work this morning (which i very rarely do) and happened to catch a quick glimpse of the top half of the guy's face in front of me, via his rearview mirror. i must admit, i thought - huh, he's kind of cute. this thought was quickly dashed away however, when i caught a look at his full face...and what did i see? A HANDLEBAR MUSTACHE! eeww! serves me right for checking out guys in kck at a mcdonald's...
secondly, i am about to lose my mind right now because my co-worker has loudly been playing (what i've googled and found out is) taylor hicks' song "do i make you proud?" next door on repeat! my answer to that question is, NO! you do NOT make me proud, but you do annoy the crap out of me! this is time number 7 that i'm hearing this song in a row! AAHHH! have i ever posted a blog about how much i dislike self-empowerment, feel-good about yourself and what you've overcome ballads? well, if i haven't, now's the time i shall rant. i strongly dislike them, and i think they're crap to put it lightly. even my beloved christina aguilera's song "beautiful" makes me kind of want to vomit...and i think christina kicks most people's asses musically. the low point of my musical endeavors? when i actually sang "wind beneath my wings" in high school for a spring concert. i still can't believe i did....i didn't even like that song!
rant completed. i'm worn out now....and sadly find myself singing the question, "do i make you proud?"...(cries...)
secondly, i am about to lose my mind right now because my co-worker has loudly been playing (what i've googled and found out is) taylor hicks' song "do i make you proud?" next door on repeat! my answer to that question is, NO! you do NOT make me proud, but you do annoy the crap out of me! this is time number 7 that i'm hearing this song in a row! AAHHH! have i ever posted a blog about how much i dislike self-empowerment, feel-good about yourself and what you've overcome ballads? well, if i haven't, now's the time i shall rant. i strongly dislike them, and i think they're crap to put it lightly. even my beloved christina aguilera's song "beautiful" makes me kind of want to vomit...and i think christina kicks most people's asses musically. the low point of my musical endeavors? when i actually sang "wind beneath my wings" in high school for a spring concert. i still can't believe i did....i didn't even like that song!
rant completed. i'm worn out now....and sadly find myself singing the question, "do i make you proud?"...(cries...)
Saturday, May 05, 2007
tent time!
'tis a rare thing when i get to hang out with truly delightful children that i love. i know that i hang with kiddos everyday at work, but i don't often get to have fun with them, throwing agendas to the side. today was different however...other than the fact that according to my little friend maliyah, we had an agenda: to make a tent.
i promised her a few weeks ago when she asked if she could come to my house, that we would make a tent since i didn't have many toys. she apparently kept mentioning to her mom, leslie, over and over, that she wanted to come over, and today was the day that we made her dreams a reality. four chairs, a couple of sheets, a smurf, a frog, some pillows, and some washcloths (aka "towels" which were must haves according to the little miss) later, we were set. we actually didn't tent it too long before growing restless (and by getting interrupted by a couple of odd looking blokes at the door that were in a "communications" program and wanted me to buy something from them so that THEY could go to cancun, mexico - i didn't fall for it by the way) but we did have some fabulous time later with some "basketballs" (otherwise known as a soccer ball and volleyball) outside. the porch swing also brought forth some delight as maliyah both was the pushed, and the pusher with her bulging 3-year-old biceps. her smile, and her reluctance to go visit starbucks with les and i were endearing. *inserts some comment about how any child wary of leaving the front yard for the overpriced mega-coffee-emporium is a smart child*
good times were had by all (including when the cancun-ers came back by and asked if i was a photographer)... stay tuned for further adventures...
...including the further adventures of spider-man, which i've still yet to see...
i promised her a few weeks ago when she asked if she could come to my house, that we would make a tent since i didn't have many toys. she apparently kept mentioning to her mom, leslie, over and over, that she wanted to come over, and today was the day that we made her dreams a reality. four chairs, a couple of sheets, a smurf, a frog, some pillows, and some washcloths (aka "towels" which were must haves according to the little miss) later, we were set. we actually didn't tent it too long before growing restless (and by getting interrupted by a couple of odd looking blokes at the door that were in a "communications" program and wanted me to buy something from them so that THEY could go to cancun, mexico - i didn't fall for it by the way) but we did have some fabulous time later with some "basketballs" (otherwise known as a soccer ball and volleyball) outside. the porch swing also brought forth some delight as maliyah both was the pushed, and the pusher with her bulging 3-year-old biceps. her smile, and her reluctance to go visit starbucks with les and i were endearing. *inserts some comment about how any child wary of leaving the front yard for the overpriced mega-coffee-emporium is a smart child*
good times were had by all (including when the cancun-ers came back by and asked if i was a photographer)... stay tuned for further adventures...
...including the further adventures of spider-man, which i've still yet to see...
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
walkin' into spiderwebs...
why it takes me so long to blog about anything, i will never know. except for the fact that i do know. and that reason's because although i spend dubious amounts of time on my mac (get your mind out of the gutter, you readers that make everything dirty - i'm talking about my iBook), i generally require inspiration before i post. and, well, i'm apparently only getting inspiration about once a month these days.
i suppose i've had all sorts of more somber life occurances and lessons on my mind as of late, and only take the time to be witty in the presence of a select few. work's overwhelming, i'm in general just tired, i'm overcome with feelings and prayers about the fallen state of the world (one of my co-workers was shot in the ward parkway incident for instance), and last week there was this guy driving behind me on the way to work who i noticed in my rearview mirror. when i peered into my mirror at the next stop light, i saw that this man had placed a blonde wig on his head and was taunting the driver waiting at the light beside him. after a few minutes of my disbelief and laughter, i saw the man take the wig off and return to "normal" or whatever version of "normal" is possible when you're a man that voluntarily wears women's wigs in traffic. all this is true by the way, and i mix the lighthearted in with the serious mostly because 1) i want to see how close you're reading this, and 2) you probably would assume with my last couple of posts that i'm serious all the time now, and you would be wright. or riong. or something like that.
ANYWAY, my blogging inspiration today came from the anticipated spider-man 3 movie synopsis below. i forgot it was even coming out this weekend until i got my weekly AMC MovieWatcher Review Newsletter - i guess i thought the month of may seemed so far off, and now it is not only upon me, but onup me. i don't even know what that means. so, don't ask. i got unusually excited over the following account:
Spider-Man 3 (PG-13); Nationwide
Peter Parker has finally managed to strike a balance between his devotion to M.J. and his duties as a superhero. But there is a storm brewing on the horizon. When his suit suddenly changes, turning jet-black and enhancing his powers, it transforms Peter as well, bringing out the dark, vengeful side of his personality that he is struggling to control. Under the influence of the suit, Peter becomes overconfident and starts to neglect the people who care about him most. Forced to choose between the seductive power of the new suit and the compassionate hero he used to be, Peter must overcome his personal demons as two of the most-feared villains yet, Sandman and Venom, gather unparalleled power and a thirst for retribution to threaten Peter and everyone he loves.
(thanks the AMC MW R N 5/2/2007 for this)
it kind of gave me chills - partially because i see all sorts of parallels to reality and life in the good/evil scheme it reveals- the evil power that corrupts and erodes the most wholesome souls, and the struggle to fight for your true self and those around you so that good may prevail. beautiful. exciting.
(oh, and the other reason is that spidey is also my favorite superhero.) i can't believe i'm admitting this, but i haven't even seen the first spiderman movie, though i'm tempted to go rent it now, even as i write this...i have documentation of my likey of spidey though, via this pic i took of a diet dr. pepper can a couple years ago when the S2 movie was made. i got all excited to take random pictures with my (then) new digital camera, and i was happy with the result. ironically for me, i just uploaded that pic to my flickr account along with my friends' wedding pictures from that same summer. i went and saw the second movie on the evening of that (afternoon) wedding in minnesota with the bride's sister and cousin. i tell you this only because that digital camera i was so excited about then has since broken, and i, in the last week just bought a new digital camera, hence why i'm into flickring...thus brings me to the opening of the third movie, and my continuing excitement, end scene.
anyone wanna see it with me?
i suppose i've had all sorts of more somber life occurances and lessons on my mind as of late, and only take the time to be witty in the presence of a select few. work's overwhelming, i'm in general just tired, i'm overcome with feelings and prayers about the fallen state of the world (one of my co-workers was shot in the ward parkway incident for instance), and last week there was this guy driving behind me on the way to work who i noticed in my rearview mirror. when i peered into my mirror at the next stop light, i saw that this man had placed a blonde wig on his head and was taunting the driver waiting at the light beside him. after a few minutes of my disbelief and laughter, i saw the man take the wig off and return to "normal" or whatever version of "normal" is possible when you're a man that voluntarily wears women's wigs in traffic. all this is true by the way, and i mix the lighthearted in with the serious mostly because 1) i want to see how close you're reading this, and 2) you probably would assume with my last couple of posts that i'm serious all the time now, and you would be wright. or riong. or something like that.
ANYWAY, my blogging inspiration today came from the anticipated spider-man 3 movie synopsis below. i forgot it was even coming out this weekend until i got my weekly AMC MovieWatcher Review Newsletter - i guess i thought the month of may seemed so far off, and now it is not only upon me, but onup me. i don't even know what that means. so, don't ask. i got unusually excited over the following account:
Spider-Man 3 (PG-13); Nationwide
Peter Parker has finally managed to strike a balance between his devotion to M.J. and his duties as a superhero. But there is a storm brewing on the horizon. When his suit suddenly changes, turning jet-black and enhancing his powers, it transforms Peter as well, bringing out the dark, vengeful side of his personality that he is struggling to control. Under the influence of the suit, Peter becomes overconfident and starts to neglect the people who care about him most. Forced to choose between the seductive power of the new suit and the compassionate hero he used to be, Peter must overcome his personal demons as two of the most-feared villains yet, Sandman and Venom, gather unparalleled power and a thirst for retribution to threaten Peter and everyone he loves.
(thanks the AMC MW R N 5/2/2007 for this)
it kind of gave me chills - partially because i see all sorts of parallels to reality and life in the good/evil scheme it reveals- the evil power that corrupts and erodes the most wholesome souls, and the struggle to fight for your true self and those around you so that good may prevail. beautiful. exciting.
(oh, and the other reason is that spidey is also my favorite superhero.) i can't believe i'm admitting this, but i haven't even seen the first spiderman movie, though i'm tempted to go rent it now, even as i write this...i have documentation of my likey of spidey though, via this pic i took of a diet dr. pepper can a couple years ago when the S2 movie was made. i got all excited to take random pictures with my (then) new digital camera, and i was happy with the result. ironically for me, i just uploaded that pic to my flickr account along with my friends' wedding pictures from that same summer. i went and saw the second movie on the evening of that (afternoon) wedding in minnesota with the bride's sister and cousin. i tell you this only because that digital camera i was so excited about then has since broken, and i, in the last week just bought a new digital camera, hence why i'm into flickring...thus brings me to the opening of the third movie, and my continuing excitement, end scene.
anyone wanna see it with me?
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