Andrew Bird

"Out on the road when your only friend is a traveler's song..."

Be Kind by Devendra Banhart
Traveler's Song by Fruit Bats
Details of the War by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Say Hello by Rosie Thomas
Father and Son by Cat Stevens
Hollow and Bold by Marla Hansen
Tables and Chairs by Andrew Bird
(Antichrist Television Blues) by The Arcade Fire
Flim by The Bad Plus
Let's Go Bowling by Camera Obscura
The Crane Wife 3 by The Decemberists
The Lakes of Canada by The Innocence Mission
Resurrection Fern by Iron and Wine
Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell

I made this mix during a competition my friend Catie Ramage and I got into. We still haven't decided who has won yet.

On another note...

I love this photograph right there. The combination of that last Joni Mitchell song and looking at it makes me...sad? Maybe. Or happy. Funny how I'm not sure which...

"Tears and fears and feelin' proud,
to say "I love you" right out loud,
dreams and schemes and surface crowds,
I've looked at life that way.
but now old friends are acting strange
they shake their heads, they say I've changed,
well somethin's lost, but somethin's gained
in livin' everyday
I've looked at life from both sides now
from win and lose
and still somehow
it's life's illusions
I recall
I really don't know life...at all." - Joni Mitchell

i like listening to these:

How My Heart Behaves by Feist
Silent Life by Fruit Bats
Track 5 (I forget what it's called--shame on me!) by The Innocence Mission
Broken Chair by Jim Guthrie
Bridges and Balloons (Joanna Newsom cover) by The Decemberists
Grapevine Fires by Death Cab for Cutie
Hey Mama Wolf by Devendra Banhart
Are You Lonely? by Denison Witmer
Seaweed by Fruit Bats
Free Man in Paris by Joni Mitchell
Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez
Bandits by Midlake (<--this one seems to make it into nearly every one of my mixes)

Sometimes I delight in the way my notes look...

I wrote this during Old Testament class:

Sunshine lay across my paper,
Caress my brow
with your blinding light
lifeless beauty
has not been touched by you

if Death were to have me,
I should close my eyes
my last waking moments
Amidst a wet field
seeping through my stupid clothes

I will join the the Dead,
the dead of the trees
and slowly sink
Gladness will fill my body
from my lips to my fingertips

Appreciating the naturality,
the light flickering,
shattering through the leaves,
the Living
in my imaginative--
my native mind.




....oh my, I am so easily distracted. Lyrics run through my brain in multitudes, and i start to actually think. i have to take advantage of those moments though. ha!

hello, first-post-in-months. welcome back to life.

Every Little Thing She Does (is Magic),

she does only to avoid writing the dreaded essays which have been laying at her feet all week.

Indeed it's true. I'm the laziest person ever in the whole world. Maybe that's not actually true, but then again, maybe it is! Either way, this is how I feel.

I have to answer this question in essay form: Another important theme of Black Like Me is that blacks and whites behave differently in one another's company than they do when they are amongst themselves. How does this affect Griffin's experience? What does it say about the level of understanding between the two races?

It's either that question or four others having to do with this book, Black Like Me. It's a pretty incredible book, don't get me wrong, I just don't want to write right now, my friends. Ha! And I want to be an english major--who am I kidding? If I can't handle a 20th Century Lit. class, how am I to withstand college?

Dash it all to pieces!
I'm
going
to bed.

Pray for B.K. Taylor

Just a reminder for myself and my Readers.
Listening to Regina Spector makes me think of Beth.
That is what triggered this post.

Peace 'n Love, B.K.

"They made a statue of us,
and put it on a mountain-top.
Now tourists come and stare at us...
blow bubbles with their gum--
take photographs of fun,
have fun!"

Sometimes I write posts just so people don't see the previous one right away when they look at this web page.

"Is love a fancy, or a feeling?" was something Maryanne said in the movie (at least, in the book too, maybe) Sense and Sensability.
I thought of this last night while skipping off to the kitchen while Kate and I were watching "Dan in Real Life".(Which was brilliant, by the way--so is the soundtrack. Get it.)
"A fancy." I said coldly to myself, after which I took a big swig of tea and walked into the family room.

aye.
this is what you call pointless writing...one of those jokes where people are waiting to hear the punchline that never comes.

haha. goodnight, brothers and sisters.

A Nat Mix (ANM), One She Created all by Herself

Save it by Jim Guthrie
Unguided by The New Pornographers
Ten Silver Slide Trombones by Don Peris
Concrete Seconds by Pinback
Calender Girl by Stars
Grey Ice Water by Sun Kil Moon
Section 24 (The Fragile Army) by The Polyphonic Spree
Bandits by Midlake
Resurrection Fern by Iron and Wine
Pretty Mary K by Elliott Smith
The Rollercoaster Ride by Belle and Sebastian
Un Dernier Verre(Pour La Route) by Beirut
The Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left by Andrew Bird
Challengers by The New Pornographers
Forgiven by Denison Witmer
Tomorrow is a Long Place by Nickel Creek (Bobby D. cover)
Broken Chair by Jim Guthrie

This is my room.

take a look! it's really messy though, i'm warning you, and it doesn't look too stellar or anything.
some of them are sideways--haha. i couldn't get 'em to rotate.

sometimes i feel i cannot make my posts interesting unless i include a picture or video. ?

to my right there is a weight watcher's bottle of orange soda (or should we call it, orange puke!) that is three quarters of the way drunk. i wonder who did that. probably some poor, unforunate soul who made the discovery of it's true intentions in mid-gulp.

why is it that on every other time of the year, do i have the urge to eat those little, sugary valentine's day candy hearts, but not on valentine's day? they will reside in my top drawer for fully six months before i acquire even the slightest craving that will induce me to eat them.

my ears are beginning to hurt from these clip-ons. i would take them off if i didn't think i looked so cool in them. it's not like there is even anyone around me! it's as if i think there is a hidden camera somewhere in this cluttered basement, recording me. me, being stupid and silly.

i have taken them off now. ashamed of myself.

i have taken to drawing trees lately, and pictures of people looking at objects that are symbolic of what they are thinking of, or of things they are subconciously trying to find in their lives. again, ?

this is a very identifying stage in my life. this whole year has been. so, if you ask how i am doing, that is probably what i am wanting to answer you with, but i'll most likely just say, "fine."

now, this is all very personal (haha, well, some of it anyway), so don't go chattin' it around to all your friends and moms. and don't over-analyze it. not that you would, i'm no Holden Caulfield or anything.

i love that name. i think i will name something/someone sometime in my life, it.

Introducing: Yael Naim

Brett and I were watching T.V., and the new Apple commercial came on to tell about their new crazi-thin Macbook, and a pretty, catchy piano started to play. I watched, but more listened with delight to this happy melody.
How exactly music has that incredible potential to evoke such happiness or thoughtfulness in people, is beyond me. It is something I have often thought about.
So, I said, "Brett, who is this singing?"
And he said, "I don't know...but I think she's Isreali or something."
And I said, "Listen, Son, you better find out for me, 'cause you're smart with stuff like that."
And he said, "Like heck I will!"

So I found out who she was from Hannah A.M. Oliver.
Watch the vid, it's really...well, nevermind. Just watch it.

Carson-Newman Update No. 1

it was nice...

tenessee is pretty goober-ish, and i can barely stand it...SO glad i am home.
but i'm not holding it against the college, they can't really help the location, i suppose.

so, it was darn stellar, man, but only made my college decision much, much harder.

P.S. did i mention before how i would pat myself on the back (if i did that) for the way i picked out these lovely colors on my blog?
no. i think not.
sometimes am proud.
mostly about my blog.
and i think
that
is okay.
to be proud like that.

I'm leaving for the weekend...

have a lovely one.

Carson-Newman, here I come!

do you see the ugly blue wallpaper?

yes...well...look again, my friend. it's completely gone.
i need to take pictures of the new and improved...
maybe i will
do
that
there
stuff
right
now.

man, this cover is the best.
hello, my favorite band, sufjan and i both love you.

It's a Wednesday, and it definitely feels like it.

So, i'm not sure what to write...all i know is that i want to write something. i mean, who wants to listen to nothing, really?
because that's probably all i'll say in this post...nothing. absolutely nothing. well, maybe i'll say something. it just probably won't be very much worth your time. ha!

so...i've been having some interesting thoughts, mounting excitements, and also some apprehensions.
i'm excited about going to college. REALLY excited. just thinking about what things might be like for me next year and stuff, being able to go away (hopefully), and stuff. but then i'm kind of scared. will i make good friends? will people like me there? will i get crazy homesick?
will i keep in touch with my good friends here?
what will it be like.

i learned how to play the B minor chord yesterday on the guitar. i like how that one sounds. it's also very hard for me to play.

...catching myself on thoughts that are wrong, thoughts that are assuming and arrogant. i don't think i do always catch myself when i'm thinking wrong things. why, i don't know. but i believe it's important to realize this, so i can work on it.

i've been wondering what people see in me, or if they see much in me. constantly my thoughts are bad, i am guilty of so many things. thank Jesus Christ for His blood and mercy.

i can see alot of life in you, yes,
i can see alot of life...

Today

...i almost cursed out a bird. really badly....but then i remembered that i might wake up someone if i did. heh. see how considerate i am?

...got discouraged about my room. there's no more happy joy in tearing off the wall paper. i almost cursed out that wall too. "tear down the wall, aren't we all? the opposite of war isn't peace..." -good old Mark from Rent.

...i am, due to the dreadfully difficult wallpaper, wearing frumpy sweat pants and a beater.

...had two "angels" sent to me by my mother. they took the form of Ryan and Sean.

...i am in a bad mood.

...i had breakfast with amy and beth.

...i met amy's new roommate, and liked her.

...i borrowed a chic flick.

...i will watch that chic flick.

...james and shane visited. i wasn't even excited.

...i say, "hang correct capitalization in sentences!"

...i am, needless to say, down.

vague, i know.

i feel...weird.

Oy vey.

This is something I've been saying too much. It's been substituted for things I formally said like, "Geez" and "Dang, woman!"
For instance, this evening I was taking a nap after I got home from a day of dusting and scrubbing at the Hall's. I was soaking into my sheets and covers, curled up and in that lovely state of nearly falling asleep and losing all of those ugly freezing sensations, when Jonjon yells, "NAT!"
I groaned and yelled back, "What?"
And the answer came back, that question I've learned to dread over the years, "Can you make the tea?"
I told him to leave me alone and that I was taking a nap. However, I have this guiltiness that is always creeps inside of me when I flatly refuse someone, and so I threw myself over my bed, and complained to the heavens, "OY VEY."

I kind of like the feeling of waking up after a nap, still in my jeans and my hair falling all over the place, discovering under my eyes smeared mascara, and them wishing they had never been opened, and the shortness of breath that follows this. For some reason. I can't explain it.

I finally cleared all of the books off of my bed, so I no longer have all of my belongings (scarves, pants, blankets, alarm clock) strewn all over the family room, where I have been living since Saturday night. In fact, my entire room looks pretty fantastic. I cleaned it.
Half of the wallpaper is no longer on it, and it gives it a sort of ghetto/bad hotel room look I'm enjoying. I've never been happier with the place.

Last night as I was laying in couch, dealing with my insomnia, something shocking hit me. (Don't worry, it was something completely immaterial.)
I could perhaps, maybe, might...be spending Valentine's Day alone!
Not that I usually spend it with some dashing young fellow, but with Amy. But Brett Townsend is Amy's new interest, and Amy is Brett Townsend's new interest, which could mean they would be doing something together on Valentine's Day.

Now I'm walking away, humming the sad Charlie Brown tune to myself, head bowed.
At least I should be.
Maybe I will just ask a boy out before then.
teehee.

Jeremy Weber, listen to Beirut. they're astoundingly cool.

i am tearing off the wallpaper of my room. right, not steaming, but tearing. my dad came in and tore off a big piece as i was prepping to steam, and i thought, "all right! will do just like that, Pop!" so i've been tearing with my lovely pink knife i got at sears hardware.
my room is going to look unfurnished for a while. :)

Ever feel that you can't go to bed because you feel so dissatisfied?
You don't want to go to bed because then this dissatisfaction will carry to the next day and therefore, be doubley dissatisfying. This is how I feel.

sometimes nothing is right.