There are a number of songs that I feel have had such a massive impact on me, so much so that I would say they’ve saved my life more times than once. A recent one of those songs is Stall Out by MuteMath…
Racing on a faultline
Bracing for a landslide
Conscious of everything getting harder
As the race goes underwater
I keep stalling out
I just can’t keep up
There’s alarming doubt
Am I good enough?
But you keep coming around
to convince me
It’s still far from over
(x3)
We are still far
We are still far
We are still far
from over
(repeat out)
On Saturday as part of our Geek Summit of awesomeness, we watched a few movies… and when I say a few, I mean we watched 4, back to back with brief breaks for coffee/tea/food/wine.
First up: Death Race [trailer]. Pretty amusing film about car racing and death set in a futuristic prison – with the future being 2012. Kinda ironic beginning about the economy tanking. Was fun to watch once, but probably wouldn’t watch it again.
Second: Son Of Rambo [trailer]. This was hilarious!! I heard all the hype when it was released, but didn’t really think it’d be my cup of tea… I was wrong! Loved it. Laugh out loud funny. Highly recommended.
Third: Die Welle (The Wave) [trailer]. German film based on a high school teachers experiment demonstrating what life is like under a dictatorship. Inevitably it all goes a bit wrong. A tad scary at times when you think about it, but an excellent film nonetheless.
Fourth: Taken [trailer]. Liam Neeson stars as a former spy whose daughter is kidnapped while on holiday in Europe. He, of course, mounts a one man mission to save her. Despite the rubbish reviews it initially got, we all enjoyed it!
[According to David Letterman (The Late Show on CBS)]
1. You just had a pre-meeting to discuss your strategy planning session for the new initiative to reduce poverty by increasing access to safe water/credit/food/health care through fair and equitable distribution to those with the right to said good or service through engagement with duty bearers in the government and other stakeholders and civil society organizations.
2. You just repeatedly slammed your head into your keyboard after spending the last 20 minutes trying to get your Skype conference call between Port au Prince, West Bank/Gaza, Delhi, Nairobi and New York to work only to fail miserably.
3. You realize that you can no longer squeeze into your cubicle past that cool hand-woven cloth from Mali, the wooden mask from Congo, the elephant figurine from Thailand and the rug from Afghanistan.
4. You just completed an annual report to your donor explaining that you’re very sorry that you only managed to accomplish 2 of your 14 objectives due to sudden onset of war, drought or an invasion of futuristic nano-robots.
5. You just finished explaining to the donor that you are likely to need a two-year extension and an extra $200,000 to hire an independent consulting company to come up with a plan to fight off the nano-robots, carry out said plan and then finish up the original activities.
6. You realize that you just used cheers, karibu, Insh’Allah or namaste in casual conversation despite the fact that you are neither English, Kenyan, Arab or Indian.
7. You realize that your favourite and most frequented cafe is located in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
8. You just finished depressing a volunteer caller from the Red Cross for the 12th time this year who reluctantly agreed that you are not eligible to donate blood because you just got back from the Congolese jungle.
9. You’re pumped with antibiotics more frequently than a cow in a concentrated feeding operation
10. You tell yourself it’s not failure if you turn it into a lessons-learned document.
Spent the weekend at ‘Geek Summit’ in/around Edinburgh with some good friends from CAid. Had a lot of fun geeking out over movies & comic books. We caught the late showing on Friday night of the new Watchmen movie… it was phenomenal! You should all go see it.
She sits on the floor, face in her hands. It’s not the first time we’ve been here; yet I pray it will be the last.
We talk about our days, sharing the random happenings that constitute our daily routines. She tells me it feels like she’s been putting her affairs in order. Telling her story before it’s too late.
I’m not sure how to respond. In some ways she’s right – telling the stories has a finality about it. A sense of closure.
Closure, yes, but not the end.
A page break perhaps.
You can tell your story and let it be a testament to the fact that
you’re
still
here;
that you’ve made it this far and you’re not giving up now. It doesn’t mean you have to go away.
It’s an ending, not the end.
All of us need to tell our stories, to know that our lives matter. Every day we tell them in a myriad of ways: a chord progression in a song; the words in a blog post; a glance across the room that catches someone’s eye, begging to be understood.
In truth, we’re all searching for validation, aren’t we?
Maybe some of us are more honest about it, or maybe we just can’t hide our need as easily.
We all want someone to tell us that we matter, that their lives are made better for our being a part of it.
I wont claim to have any special wisdom, to be anything I’m not.
I’m a broken, messed up girl.
But I’m loved.
There are many days when I don’t feel that, many days when I don’t sense that affirmation. Many days when I wonder if the past will haunt me forever. Many nights when the tears just wont stop.
But I am loved; I am affirmed.
It’s true.
And because it’s true, so is this:
Starting to get back into the hang of our weekly ‘Lyrics On Friday’ share after a few weeks without it… This week I’ve been listening to The Fray’s latest album, and it is rocking my socks. There are a couple of amazing tracks on it (You Found Me, Absolute), but Never Say Never is my favourite track so far.
There’s some things we don’t talk about
Rather do without
And just hold the smile
Falling in and out of love
Ashamed and proud of
Together all the while
You can never say never
Why we dont know when
Time and time again
Younger now than we were before
Don’t let me go
Don’t let me go
Don’t let me go
Picture you’re the queen of everything
As far as the eye can see
Under your command
I will be your guardian
When all is crumbling
Steady your hand
You can never say never
Why we dont know when
Time, time and time again
Younger now then we were before
Don’t let me go
Don’t let me go
Don’t let me go
We’re pulling apart and coming together again and again
We’re growing apart but we pull it together, pull it together, together again
Wanted to share a couple of piece of software I’ve begun using recently that are rocking my socks…
Spotify is an ingenuis program for listening to music, sharing your favourite music, and so on. You can stream from a massive library of music – I was able to preview the new U2 album last week, and have been listing to Kings Of Leon and the Fray this week. Definitely worth checking out, has a free option and a couple of paid subscriptions.
Twhirl is a ‘social software desktop client’, which I’m using for Twitter. Not only can you use it to track your tweets & those of people you follow, you can look up other user’s profiles, search public tweets, and so on. Best of all: it’s free! Really enjoying it at the minute, it’s adding a whole new dimension to my tweeting.
“You’ll need more than us. You’ll need more and better. You’ll need other people. You’ll need people to help you process, people to help you let go, people to help you remember what’s true and people to help you forget what’s lies. You’ll need the stories and advice of people with gray hair or white hair or no hair at all. Don’t buy the lie that suggests they have nothing to offer or nothing to say – they were young once too. They are stories still going and they’ve seen the places you will go. They’ve been stuck at times as well, just like you and me and everyone.
You’ll need coffee shops and sunsets and road trips. Airplanes and passports and new songs and old songs, but people more than anything else. You will need other people and you will need to be that other person to someone else, a living breathing screaming invitation to believe better things.”
A few friends of mine recently launched a new website / podcast/ community called Centrelight. Matt & John host the regular podcast, discussing what church could be, and are looking for your input!
Stop by the website, check out Matt & John’s blogs, add your comments in the forum, contribute to the podcast…
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