Life as story: A way of life in 2010
Sadly, I only remember one of my 2009 New Year’s resolutions, and unfortunately it was a drastic failure. After reading a book a month in ’07, and 16 books in ’08, I made the ambitious goal to read 36 books this past year. The final total? I was part-way through my tenth book when 2009 came to an end.
In late 2008, and the first few months of 2009, I came to find value in New Year’s resolutions and birthday reflections; once upon a time I found both to be pointless wastes of time. But there’s something powerful and revealing when you take the time to set goals for your future and reflect on your past. In essence, there is true value to be had in doing both and — lucky for me — New Years and my birthday fall six months apart, making it a semi-annual ritual.
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Top albums of 2009
1. The First Days of Spring — Noah and the Whale
I’ve been a moderate Noah and the Whale fan for a couple of years. Their album, Peaceful the World Lays Me Down (2008), made my top ten a year ago and had a fairly regular appearance in my music rotation. I wasn’t sure what to expect from First Days, but what I didn’t expect was to be completely blown away by the group’s growth in performance and songwriting. There isn’t a weak song on the album; the whole thing continues to build like a great playlist and makes for one of those rare albums that is great for any occasion: studying, working, driving, even rocking out.
Top tracks: Blue Skies, My Door is Always Open.
Supwitchuducks?
The University of Oregon has a history of making rash, uninformed decisions only to reverse course and cave to public pressure.
Will history repeat itself at next week’s Civil War football game, when the Ducks play host to Oregon State?
Last week, a trio of Oregon Students: Jamie Slade, Brian McAndrew and Michael Bishop, known as the rap group Supwitchugirl, made a music video for their song “I Love My Ducks.”
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Living a good story
Life is all about transforming from one person in the beginning to an entirely different being in the end.
As we move through life, as we live, participate and even help create our own stories, we change.
Or, so we hope.
The last several months I’ve been subject to profound change. Earth-shattering, the-world-is-not-flat types of change; they have shaken beliefs, habits and relationships to their core.
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Music topping the charts
It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything about music. Which is odd considering how much of an impact it has on my life.
While working on some projects over the last couple weeks I’ve averaged over 100-songs a day – that’s anywhere from eight to ten hours of music, most in one sitting – so yeah, I should have something to say.
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Hand, meet rock
Ever since I could walk, my parents have dubbed me “Mr. Safety.”
I was never one to take much risk.
As such, I’ve never experienced much pain; On the flip side it could probably be said I’ve never really experienced the joy that comes in conquering risks either.
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