The Simple Life

I recently discovered that I'm not that special.

I don't have any great talent, I'm not all that smart and I'm not too athletic. I'm just sort of average. Most of the people I know are pretty normal to. That's not a slam, it's just the truth. Sometimes I look at others lives and wonder, “how they endure being so normal?” It scares me almost.

So many average lives, filled with average experiences and average events.

And just like so many of the people I know, I'll live an average life. I'll go of to collage, get married at some point, then start the 'ol nine to five. Eventually I'll die. Every day humans enter and exit the life cycle. It's just how things go.

No, I haven't been reading Ecclesiastes lately (to much). I desperately want to be special but not desperately enough to do anything about it. Every morning I get up and....live. The whole living business gets in the way of being special.
To be special you usually have to work hard. Perhaps if I found something I could be special at, then I'd be able to work toward it.

After all, God calls us to do our best for him, in everything we do. So being special (at least to some extent) looks like obeying God. It looks like living an above average life in an average situation.

The hard part for me is, sometimes being special means obeying God and just being normal. Of course God hasn't called us to mediocrity but not every one can cure cancer. What's hard for me is finding a balance, between being steadfast in the station God has put me in, and wanting to be superman.

Because ambition can be a good thing, but it's tough not envying the famous and subsequently ignore the blessings God has given me.

Ecclesiastes 2:18-20 & 24-25
18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun.....There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?


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On A totally different note, I have zany idea I want to try. I want to go into the nursing homes in my area and talk to people. I want to bring a pad and pencils and just listen. The greatest generation this nation has ever seen is dying, and so many wonderful stories, special stories are being lost. They need to be recorded.

I probably won't do it but it's a nice idea.

Thanks!

Levi

Music

I haven't written in some time (thanks Captain Obvious). Since hardly anyone besides myself even reads this I don't think it's too big a deal. If I'd had something I considered worthy of posting for the world to see I probably would have. As it is though, my life remains without worthy material (not entirely true).

It seems like I've devoted a fair portion of this blog to music (which is probably true). Apparently I'm more interested in it than I thought.

Maybe I'll write about music for a living instead of becoming a rich and famous lawyer.

I've actually got a project for school about music this due this Tuesday. We're supposed to compare and contrast three genre's of music....in five minutes. Sadly, that's not even enough time to properly introduce ONE genre, but I shouldn't complain. I chose Indie, Rock and Hip/Hop. Oh and I have to work in several clips from the categories I selected.

I chose Shad for Hip/Hop, Switchoot for Rock (predictable I know) and Castledoor for Indie.

I'm only really a fan of the first two but Castledoor was started locally so I thought it would be interesting to include them. Shad is an exceptionally talented Hip/Hop artist and defiantly worth your time.

Before I started the project I wasn't aware of the enormous diversity in music, even within a given genre.

Rock for example, has tons of subgenres:
Emo
Metal
Thrash Metal
Electronic
Screamo
Punk
Grunge
Garage

Those are just a few off the top of my head.

Although I'm not going to complain about the workload, it is a shame we can't do more for this project.

On a somewhat different note, I found a great sight called purevolume.com. It's awesome. You can browse through thousands of artists and listen to a playlists of their big hits. The playlist looks like any you might find on blogger or myspace. The coolest thing about it, is that it will let you download some of the songs. Notice I said some, not all, which is why I'm inclined to believe it's legal. However, you download things at your own risk.

Another reason I thing it's legit, is because many of these musicians have come into the Purevolume studios to perform. I find it difficult to understand how an artist would play for a company who was ripping them off.

Purevolume is a great way to find new music or enjoy music from artists whose music you don't own.

Two other cool features are the recommendations and the ability to create your own playlists. So if you like a song you can add it to a list of others you'd like to enjoy.
(purevolume if you're reading this I'd be happy accept and payment you might like to send my way).

And obviously recommendations is straightforward. It automatically lists artists who you might like according to what you’re listening to currently.

I personally discovered a band I had heard of before but never listened to. Future of Forestry. Awesome stuff. A bit unique maybe but very enjoyable. If your interested check out their songs "Set Your Sails" and "Holiday."

The band is classified as Ambient Rock (ooohh another subgenre). To be honest I not totally sure what they mean by "Ambient Rock." To me it sounds like Relient K got a hold of whatever Bob Marley was smoking. It also kind of reminds me of an open air concert on a warm summer evening.


It's a nice break from this unusually cold winter.

Hope Somebody gets something out of this.

Thanks for reading

Levi