A Startling Moment

It’s nearly 3:30 am. I was laying in my bed idly working on things on my computer and fiddling around listening to Pandora. It was my Sufjan Stevens station–one of my favorites. A song came on that made me stop. I couldn’t concentrate. It literally consumed my entire mind with everything it said, what it meant to me, and what it meant to things in the past.

I don’t get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I’d been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I’d be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there’s an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I’m sorry, I know that’s a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

This song meant a lot to me. It described the way I felt–and still feel. When it came it what rushed through my was a mixture of emotions, memories, feelings, thoughts, regrets, hopes, dreams, fears, and sorrows. I don’t have a point for all of this.

I think it was meaningful which is why I am recording it. It’s the first time something like that has completely debilitated me. It as overwhelming and scary but at the same time beautiful and sad. But I’m going to spend some time thinking about it now.

State of the Union of States

Tonight at 8:00pm we pay tribute to one of the most antiquated, ritualistic, and still necessary part of our American political system: the State of the Union address. We know from the outset that we won’t learn anything new (thanks to the endless, 24-hour news cycle) and we know that over half of the allotted air time is going to be spent with pan-and-zoom shots of our current representatives clapping either in support of what was said or out of formality because they don’t want to be a sourpuss.

But this is an integral part of our system. It is a chance for our President to truly recognize the state of our nation, make public his priorities, and show the American people his plan for the next year. At a juncture as critical as this it’s important that he is just there. That our leader is willing to stand up, admit fault in our nation, but promise to tackle it head on. That alone can restore confidence enough to pull the working man into the fold.

It’s going to be interesting to see from whom President Obama pulls his quotes from. Like many of our greatest leaders, he grabs his most poignant statements literally or synonymously from the great leaders of the past. He has already pulled from Kennedy, Lincoln, FDR, and Jesus Christ. It’s going to be interesting to see if he goes that route tonight.

I’m excited. If nothing else, it makes me feel involved in the government. Like I have something to do with what goes on in Washington besides voting for someone every two years.

Been a While…

Possibly the coolest thing I've found in a long, long time.

Since I last posted something…

• I finished up my fall semester
• I enjoyed Christmas break
• I made a killing working at a snack bar over break
• Started spring semester
• And, last but not least, Kevin Durant turned into one of the baddest scoring machines I’ve seen in a long, long time.

But this post is about Last.fm. I listen to all sorts of different types of music. If you check out my library you’ll find Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Jay-Z, Kanye, Nas, Mozart, Morissey, Mae, Depeche Mode, Jack Johnson, Black Eyed Peas, The Roots, Korn, A Perfect Circle and plenty of other random things.

I’ve always wondered what kind of music listener I am besides a binge listener. What I mean is that I’ll listen to an artist or style until exhaustion then move on to another. I recently completed a John Mayer binge. Before that was Kanye. Before that was Dave Matthews Band. Right now, I’ve really been enjoying some classical music and some of the more modern arrangements that have been put out.

The beauty of Last.fm is that it tabulates all of the songs I listen to from any number of sources (Pandora, Winamp, it’s own player, etc.) to assemble it into data of what I truly like. Then it makes recommendations based off of that.

But it gets better.

There is a free player application that runs on virtually zero system resources that acts as a free internet radio app. Personally, I think it’s better than Pandora. You also have the option to play through things they would recommend based on your library.

The idea behind Last.fm is to take music listening in the virtual social direction in much the same way Facebook did it for personal interaction. Regardless of whether you involve yourself in the sizable sommunity there, the application is still extremely useful.