A follow-up of yesterday, I still HIGHLY suggest you head to their site and check them out since you can listen to all their albums in full...
but to make it easier to hear a taste of them, I was able to find 3 songs to add to my "Music of the Moment" playlist to the right ---->
And because I really care about you guys, I even moved the 3 songs to the top of the playlist. I know, I know... I'm such a doll, right?
So, in true "metro" fashion, I am a lover of singing... specifically I love to sing, as well as listening to others. Especially when it's great acapella!
Last night, Wendy and I watched the newest season of "The Sing-Off" on NBC. I love this show, especially this year. Last season was OK, but this season has some real talent. There were a couple of major standouts, but all in all I got excited about all of the groups.
Today, while listening to Pandora Radio and working (Ingrid Michaelson station, FYI), this group came on, and I was pleasantly surprised to be listening to a VERY good acapella group. I immediately went to YouTube to listen to more, and then followed up on their site. I was extremely pleased to find that I could listen to all their songs from all their albums in full on their site. Super cool!
If you like acapella, I suggest checking them out. They currently are promoting their Christmas album, and it's also very interesting.
For your viewing pleasure!
Due to a "sorta-request" by my buddy Nathan Duke (also featured in the video... the nerd), I have uploaded a video of our Syncronized Swimming performance from back in H.S. Now, this video will live on in all it's glory on YouTube... forever!
I have a new "pet-peeve"... except it's not really a pet-peeve. Really it just grosses me out.
What I'm referring to is, Bathrooms that smell like delicious food.
It's gross. I mean... the thought of it is gross. The men's bathroom in the office building I work in often smells like good food during lunch. It's like someone brings their lunch into the restroom - to prepare it??
It's not even the act of food being in the restroom (which, incidentally, I've never actually seen). Instead, it's the idea of going in to use the toilet, being hungry, and then having my appetite worked-up while using the toilet.
I'm sorry, but something about this disturbs me. I shouldn't be getting hungry while sitting on the pot. It's just wrong on so many levels!
Just a quick word to say that today, at 11:30 our time (8:30pm in Cape Town), I would have been sitting in a Stadium watching the France-Uruguay game, had it not bee stinking impossible to find reasonable accommodations in South Africa.
Yup, I'm just saying. You would have been very, very jealous!
Oh, and we also had (have) tickets to 3 other games:
Uruguay vs. France in Cape Town on June 11th
Italy vs. Paraguay in Cape Town on June 14th
Spain vs. Switzerland in Durban on June 16th
Brazil vs. Ivory Coast in Joho on June 21st
Wendy and I just got back from Armenia on Sunday. I have a lot to say about it, but I've been finding it hard to blog lately. A few reasons exist for this:
1) Blogging is actually work. At least I think so. And when I get home and actually have time to blog, I really don't feel like doing so.
2) Any of you who blog know of the curse of blogging - you know, the fact that you blog about something, and since you've taken the time to blog it (see #1 above), you want people to read it. So, when you meet up with friends who haven't yet read said blog post, you don't want to talk about the topic you've blogged about, because.. well, you've put time into blogging it (see #1 above). So you avoid the conversation about the topic you've blogged about so you don't spoil your blog... which leaves you with very little important to actually talk about, because - naturally - the very fact that you've blogged it, makes it one of the important topics currently in your life (due to #1 above).
Thus, real-life conversations seem to suffer, and really, I already don't have much of importance to say in real-life without trying to make that more difficult by first blogging about it.
None of this is an issue of course, if the person has already read the blog - but then, let's face it, you're conversation is now just really a re-hash of what they already know.
Note: I've spent the last 10min. sitting here trying to think of a clever phrase or word to "coin" that represents this delima, this phenomenon, but have been unable to come up with anything really good. The best I got is "bloggerdox" (a cross between paradox and blogger). I'm taking votes and suggestions though, so chime in at any time.
3) There was a third really good reason for not blogging, which I had all lined up... but my rant about #2 caused me to forget #3. So just pretend you know what it is, and that it is really valid, and full of deeply considered reasoning.
======================================
I will blog about Armenia, I promise, and I'll even include pictures. Mostly though, I'm only going to do it because it will provide me with a way to not forget the impact and details of one of the most incredible, amazing, touching trip experiences of my life.
I just HAD to blog tonight.
So, Wendy and I just arrived in Wilmington, N.C. My cousin and his family live here, and we're staying with them for a few days. Then we'll head up to Winston-Salem to visit my Grandmother, aunt, and other cousins. We rolled up at about 8pm, and had dinner and talked. It was fun.
Currently, it's 11:50pm. At about 10:40 tonight, we said our good nights, and retired to our room.
It's a beautiful master suite, huge walk-in closet, big bath, large room and bed, and Allison has done such a great job making it feel welcoming. She even prepared a basket of toiletries in case we had forgotten some of our own! We spent the next 10min getting ready for bed, but seeing as how it is only 7:50 our time in Cali, it was still just a bit too early to actually sleep. No big deal, I have my laptop.
I plugged it in and set in on the bed. I then climbed into bed, and sitting upright with my legs stretched out in front of me, proceeded to arrange the blankets...
and then the bed fell apart. Well... that's not exactly right. The bed didn't exactly "fall apart" - Rather... it broke. With a
VERY
LOUD
CRASH.
Seriously? Seriously?@! What the heck! I mean, this is the first trip I've ever made to see my extended family without the rest of my immediate family, and the first thing I manage to do is break their bed? What kind of lousy luck it that?!
My first thougt was to fix it. But in order to do that, I had to take off the comforter, mattress, box spring, and move the side table. Additionally, or perhaps far more importantly, the only "tool" handy was a plastic toy screwdriver.
The side rails have metal plates in them on the ends that hook into the headboard and footboard. The plate connecting to the headboard on the side I was sitting on ripped out of its sideboard!
Turns out, it's actually broken, so there's no way for me to fix it... certainly not without real tools. By this point it's 11:15 or so, and I don't want to disturb our hosts, so Wendy and I decide to just give up and rearrange the room so we can "make" ourselves a bed.
What once was a beautiful room, quickly turned into chaos.
At this present time, We've completely disassembled the bed, and I'm laying on the mattress which is in the middle of the floor. Our hosts still have no idea any of this has taken place.
I gotta admit though, I'm actually kinda excited to see their faces when they come in tomorrow to get us. :-)
and of course, for your viewing pleasure:
It's only too bad I don't have full "before during and after" pics.
I'm not a big "car" guy. Heck, I'm not a big "sports" guy... or most things "guy-like".
That said, I do have opinions about those guy-things, and every once in awhile i get decidedly "guy-ish".
Well, I read this article: 6 Cars So Alluring They're in an Art Museum
It made me think of my all-time favorite, sexy car. That's first car in the article: 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C2900B Touring Berlinetta , is pretty sexy. But no where near as sexy as my favorite car.
Say hello to the most beautiful car every made: The Auburn Boattail cir. 1936
You'll wanna click those images to see em' up close.
Ever since I was 15, I've loved this car... I mean LOVED this car. I rarely get so excited about a vehicle... but this one is SOOOOoooo sexy. If I ever had the time and money to restore a car, THIS would be it.
It is simply beautiful. It just screams power, and refinement - and it oozes sex-appeal.
I didn't bother to see if it was one of the 18 cars that made it into the museum. If not, it should be. It's true "car-art" at its finest!
What about you? What do you think of the Auburn? Would you pick something different?
So last night, we watched American Idol. This "Lady gaga" wannabe Ke$ha came on the show and performed. Can I just say, "Horrid"?
Anyway, it made me wonder something:
For those of you who may or may not know... I used to be an actor. I did a commercial or two, but I'm most "famous" for my award-winning work in a music video... for a female pop-star from Switzerland/Germany named Kisha.
I was confused, and had to make sure this lame "Ke$ha" wasn't the same as my Kisha. It isn't... but at any rate, made me track down this little goodie for all of your enjoyment!
Behold! Me, in all my 17yr. old glory! (Oh the days when I had no chest hair! :-P ) I'm easy to pick out (I'm one of the surfer dude's, and am the "most seen guy" in the video)... however, some/most of you may know two of the other guys in the video... can you pick them out?
Jury Reaches Guilty Verdict in Murder of Abortion Doctor
I'm torn by this article. The question is this: "Is it wrong to murder a murderer?"
Some would say the "murderer" in this scenario (an Abortion Doctor) isn't a murderer... but if you believe the Dr. is committing murder, is it then murder or simply killing to take their life?
That's a hard question to answer. We have a fundamental obligation to protect those that can't protect themselves. The case linked above is interesting, because the Judge wanted the case to not be about abortion... which is precisely what it is about.
We have Murder charges... but we also have man-slaughter charges too... specifically for the purpose of punishing "poor" decisions, vs. "evil" decisions (at least, that's how I see it).
So, in this case, isn't that exactly the point?
If you believe Mr. Roeder at all (regardless of your view on Abortion rights), then according to his motives... isn't it technically a "poor" decision? His motives were, after all, to protect those he believed were defenseless. That's not exactly "evil" is it?
I think about Osama Bin Laden. I've thought about killing him multiple times. I've premeditated it for years. For me, the thing that holds me back is my inability to accomplish the task... but that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it for years - and given the opportunity to kill him, I'd do it. So, is premeditation the standard by which we judge murder? If so, then if I ever see Osama Bin Laden, I guess I'm going to jail forever.
The Dr. was doing something within the law... there's no argument there. but does that absolve someone from their responsibility to protect others? (even if that responsibility is only perceived?)
I'm torn by this case.
So, not only was my 30th a super amazing evening, but the gifts I got were totally awesome, and totally ME!
Anyway, one "type" of gift I got was iTunes gift cards, and I got a bunch! That's really good news, because I've had a bunch of albums lined-up that I've wanted to purchase, and now I had the chance to do so.
I still have more credit left to buy another album or two, but here's what I've gotten so far (note: these are all full albums):
Church Music - David Crowder Band
A Collision (I already own B Collision) - David Crowder Band
Can You Hear Us? - David Crowder Band
Closer (EP) - Jars of Clay
Never Going Back to OK - The Afters
33 Miles - 33Miles
One Life - 33Miles
Pages Special Edition - Shane Barnard & Shane Everett (aka Shane & Shane)
Kingdom of Comfort - Delirious?
Wake Me - Tal & Acacia
What to Do With Daylight - Brooke Fraser
Albertine - Brooke Fraser
A Good Day - Priscilla Ahn
The Hotel Cafe Presents Winter Songs - Various Artists (in the same vein of, and including, Priscilla Ahn, Regina Spektor, Ingrid Michaelson)It's been a long time... a very long time since I've had an evening of lengthy, intimate worship with God.
I'm not simply talking about a church service of worship, where the # of choruses are pre-planned, and God isn't given any room to move, except within the confines of the "planned evening".
What I'm talking about is the deep, meaningful, intimate worship that comes with people gathering together to sing songs and let God join them and move them the direction He wants.
Most of you who read my blog are familiar with the "First Sunday Night of the Month Worship Service" that used to occur at Emmanuel EV Free Church in Burbank. I miss that.
During my one year at APU, Nathan Duke and myself started to meet at the firepit near the small chapel outside our dorm, and play music. By the end of the year, it grew into a weekly Tues. Night event with multiple musicians, and that over 70 people (on avg.) would attend. We'd just play what we felt, or someone would mention a song and we'd play that until we were lead to another song. If we didn't know the song, we'd pass along our instruments to others that did know it. It was awesome, and I still look back at that with thankfulness that I was able to be an intrigal part of that event.
I want that again. I miss that type of communion with God.
I want to plan an evening next month (or maybe the first weekend of March) to get together with others and just praise God for who He is. Not just another venue to have a church service with someone to preach to me. No, I simply want a time to glorify God with music.
I'm still figuring this all out, but I know what I'm after, and I'm willing to make sure it happens. My hope is that friends tell friends who tell more friends, until it's a group of people I both know and don't know, but who are interested in spending an evening together glorifying God.
My idea is one similar to that which we started at APU: People show up with their voices... and with instruments if they have them. This isn't a "i'll stand on stage and lead you" type of thing. This is a "we get in a group and everyone has something to offer" type of thing.
Have a guitar? Bring it. Have more than one? Bring em all so others can play too. Bongos? Sure. Egg Shakers? You bet. Just your voice? Perfect. A heart focused on Christ? An absolute must.
I miss it. I miss it a lot. Don't you?
1) I'm the only proclaimed Christian in my office. Today, my co-worker, Beyhan, approached me and she asked me a "religious" question - one which I believe I answered honestly, but also told her that I wanted to look into it further to make sure I didn't give an answer from ignorance. It was a great question:
"What does the Bible say are OK and "proper" reasons that a person should get married?
This was followed with, "Does the Bible say it is OK to not get married?"
Now the second one I answered easily... yes, it is OK to not get married. Paul even encourages it if possible in Corinthians.
But the first was interesting. It's not, "What does the Bible say about marriage?" but rather, about the reasons that good and appropriate to choose to get married.
My answer? As far as I know, the Bible doesn't say anything about what should be a persons reasons behind getting married, but instead simply talks at length about the marriage bond itself (and given those rules, one can deduce if their choice for marriage will be honoring in the long-term). I said I'd come back to her though. Anyone with any additional thoughts?
2) I read 3 articles today about the Massachusetts Senate race. Not one contributed the Democrat loss to policy decisions. Instead, they only blamed Democrats for falling asleep at the wheel during the campaign. Additionally, they all still found a way to through in a "Bush's fault" in their articles. These were from NY Times, ABC News, and Washington Post. Pathetic.
3) Following my #2 above, I'm really pissed that somehow "Health-care Reform" has become synonymous with "Public Health-care". Why can't we simply fix the problems of our system, without destroying the private industry? Furthermore, why doesn't someone point this out VERY VERY LOUDLY?
Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia, said he was skeptical of suggestions to scale back health care legislation and pass some incremental changes as part of a stripped-down bill.
“That’s probably not so wise,” Mr. Rockefeller said. “That could become another long process.”
One idea is to pass a bill that focuses on tough federal regulation of health insurance markets. But Mr. Rockefeller asked, “Does that cover 35 million Americans?”
Singing... because otherwise I'd be cursing! I was at lunch, across the street from my office. Sitting in the Coffee bean & Tea Leaf shop as my lunch nears its end, suddenly the skies open up and simply becomes water. I'm not sure you can call it rain when it is so thick. Instead it's simply "sky ocean".
Anyway, so I waited to go back across the street because I had my laptop with me, and frankly I didn't want to be soaked. While sitting in the coffee shop, I watched quite a few people pull out their umbrellas and attempt to traverse the sky ocean. The problem? The wind was so strong that the rain was literally traveling side-ways. There were about 10 of us that stayed in the shop watching these people and laughing. Umbrellas? They might as well have used fishnets for all the help they were.
So finally, it lightens up to the point where you might venture outside, but certainly wouldn't want to not have an umbrella. I figured it was my chance! I packed up, threw on my raincoat hood, put my laptop bag inside my coat, and went outside.
I'm standing anxiously at the stoplight (because I just missed my turn), waiting for the chance to walk across, with my head down, and my hood on. While standing there, I was taking into account the 4-ft wide "river" in front of me, and was contemplating exactly where was thinnest so I could jump across when the light changed. Still with my head down, the roar of the approaching traffic gets louder, and I check to make sure my laptop bag is not being exposed to the wet underneath my coat. I never bother to look up and down the street to watch the traffic. Head still down, I decide that, wanting to stand in the rain for as short a period as possible, I should prepare myself for my turn to go, and since the river was very thick, taking up most of the lane nearest me, and my laptop bag was heavy, I should be as far forward on the curb as possible so that I could more easily jump the water.
Have I painted a good enough picture for you here? Yup... it was straight out of a movie.
A very large white raised GMC truck goes flying by in the lane closest to me... the very same lane that currently was acting as the bed for a 4-ft wide river. I never did look up. The first I noticed the wave was as it obscured my view of my legs.
I looked up in shock, and over to the cars that were also waiting for the light to change. I saw a grin on every face.
Staring at them I took a step backward, only to be hit again as a second truck (goldish-tan this time I think) threw a wave at me. Now my audience wasn't just grinning... they were laughing.
Sigh* At least somebody was enjoying the cold, wet rain. I guess that's Karma for laughing at those who tried to leave the coffee shop.
The pic below doesn't do it justice. My pants are still soaking wet. The dark parts of the pants are simply the "wettest" of the wet.
First off, sorry Carrie. I know you like pictures, but this topic really doesn't have any pictures to associate with. However, I don't want to leave you hanging, so I've added some gratuitous photos below.
Ok, so I've previously mentioned how I don't feel I contribute much to conversation any more. Sure, I talk - but much of what I say is of little interest, is word vomit (gossip, etc.), or is redundant.
Don't get me wrong, I do have intelligent conversation at times. It's just that most of the time I feel is wasted speech. I didn't use to feel this way. I use to feel like I was a healthy contibutor to conversation. Now, I feel like I don't have much input that people care for.
I feel like many of my friendships have become more shallow than in the past, and I largely feel like I'm to blame. Do I really only have old memories and stories to rehash over and over and over? Is that really the sum of my personality?
I'm not "totally down on myself" or anything. I know I'm a good person, and I can be fun to be around. However, reflecting on this past year, I don't feel like I've had much worth saying... and truthfully, often I simply sat in a group and said nothing. Comfortable silences have become uncomfortable.
My blog is called "The Long Winded" and it's often been a running joke that I am, indeed, Long-winded. This has never ever bothered me. I am long-winded. However, once again reflecting on the past year, I've noticed how much I tend to get interrupted. This used to bother me because I felt an injustice was being done. With it's frequency though, I've come to realize that it largely is not about those interrupting me, but rather because what I've had to say really does have little importance. Where being "long-winded" was once a joke to me, I've now begun to see it as a fault.
Truthfully, I'll always be long-winded. I inherited it from my mother. I tell so many details, most of which don't "really" matter to the story. That's in my nature... and it's not what I'm discussing here. What I'm talking about here is running my mouth... what Proverbs calls being a fool.
I feel like somewhere along the way, I lost sight of the important things in people's lives. What makes you interesting (and valuable) to others is in fact how invested you are in the other person - not how much you know (or believe you know), or how funny you are (or believe you are), or how cool your job or things are. I truly love my friends, but somewhere I stopped investing in them. At some point I began to be shallow.
As a result, what I have to say is less interesting.
This leads me to my personal self-improvement New Year's Resolution for 2010. Do I speak more, or do I speak less?
Certainly, when I say "speak more", I don't mean adding more lousy content. Rather I mean speak-up more, ask more questions, inquire into people's lives. This may not add more "David" to the conversation, but it may add more "value".
On the other hand, maybe I should take a vow of silence. Not in the "traditional" sense, but in the "don't speak unless it is important" sense. Maybe what I do say should be limited to words that have value - words that are wise, encouraging, and loving. Simply leave out the filler.
How important is "filler" anyway? The life of the party is often the loudest. They can also quickly get annoying, but they certainly are the life of the party for a little bit. Is there an importance to a certain amount of word vomit?
I'm still not sure which direction to go this year. Whatever the case, 2009 was a great year for me learning, but was a piss-poor year of me contributing. I hope to make 2010 much different.
US evangelist says quake-hit Haiti made 'devil' pact
After reading the above article, I've decided not to label myself as a Christian. Instead, I simply believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
Sick.
I should be working right now. But all i can think about is the country of Haiti. As more and more images and videos emerge I can't help but stare at the devastation. It's kinda sick actually... I'm drawn to the images. Truthfully though, I'm not drawn like some are to stare at wreaked cars on the 405 Fwy, or homes on fire in Malibu.
No, this is different entirely. I just can't stop thinking that this is the sort of thing God made us for to support one another and show His love and mercy through. That's looking at the bright-side, but I'm not looking at this with the attempts to see the glass half-full. Rather, it simply is this tug at my center... something that keeps saying, "You want to help, because you're supposed to... it's why I made you."
Perhaps it's because I just saw "Blind Side" in the theater last week. That certainly got me thinking about the people I ignore who are in need. Maybe I'm now just ultra-sensitive because my minds been on it.
Whatever the case, I feel like I should be doing something. Using my skills for something. I can give money - and perhaps I should - but that feels... distant... like it misses the point entirely.
I feel like there's a call to action that shouldn't be ignored. I spoke before about my desires to do something great... to build computers for ministries, or use the application from my current work to support charities (how cool would that be at this given time). Maybe I should put more of my heart and time into those things so I'm not caught empty-handed in the future.
As for right now though... those things, while nice, don't help the people I keep staring at in the images on the computer and TV.
