Archive for December, 2004
12.27.04
Posted in Geekery at 9:37 am by Adriene
Christmas was good to me this year. 
I got a big honkin’ girlie power tool. Yes ma’am. I am speaking of the KitchenAid Power Mixer that I’ve had my eye on for four years now. The wonderful Hubbin got it for me.
He also got me the Spiderman 2 DVD. He must love me if he bought me a DVD that he knows the only reason I want it is so I can drool over Tobey Maguire. Yummy.
We had a nice time visiting Jeff’s parents and grandmother, and then we spent Christmas afternoon at Jeff’s Aunt Sandy and Uncle Lee’s house, visiting with them and their daughter Donna and her family who braved the interstates driving down from Michigan. They said they had snow all the way to Nashville. Better them than me!
Christmas Eve was spent at Jeff’s old church, Grace PCA in Stone Mountain. It was a pretty cool service - they had a joint service with Atlanta’s Church of All Nations. Lots of carol-singing. Even in my key. Lots of old friends to see. I even had to fess up to Pastor Jackson that I’ve caused Jeff to “stray from the flock” and that we attend a Methodist church now. Haha.
It was a nice Christmas. The only thing that would have topped it, I think, would be to have had my parents there as well. But, that’s one of the sacrifices you make when you get married, especially when your parents are separated by about three hours. But, we’ll be seeing them in a couple of weeks, and that will be good.
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12.23.04
Posted in Song of the Week at 12:42 pm by Adriene
Merry Chrimmas!
I’ve been slack.
But here is my latest musical nugget for your enjoyment:
“Caring is Creepy” - The Shins
This song is off of the Garden State soundtrack which I picked up for the lovely sum of $8.99 at The Great Escape in Nashvegas. Quite the bargain, I thought.
The song is rather ethereal, very heavy on the reverb, and somewhat retro in its sound. The singer’s voice also reminds me very much of a younger Peter Gabriel, so in some ways this kind of has an older Genesis feel to it to me. It’s probably my favorite song off of the CD, and I think I shall be picking up “Oh, Inverted World” now that I’ve been introduced to this band.
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12.09.04
Posted in My Immaculate Taste in Music at 9:18 am by Adriene
I just found out that Keane is going to be in Atlanta on January 28th! Hooray!
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12.06.04
Posted in Ponderings at 12:51 pm by Adriene
My mom told me over Thanksgiving that she wasn’t all that excited about Christmas this year. Granted, I think it was a thinly-veiled hint for grandchildren, but even so, what she said stuck with me. As I’ve gotten older, Christmas has lost some of its glitter and mystique for me, mostly as my innocence has diminished over the years. But even so, it’s probably my favorite time of the year, and I figure it probably will continue to be for most of the rest of my life.
We spoke about getting and giving a little in Sunday School yesterday - mostly about how we, as Americans, tend to sit around and complain about not “feeling” something while we idle away waiting for someone to give us something to feel. Instead, shouldn’t we look deeper into ourselves and to God? Someone brought up how cynical a lot of adults are about the Christmas season and how they complain about how it’s “not the same” as it was when they were a kid. He’s given us plenty to feel excited and grateful about, especially around this time of year. It’s a great time to reflect on what He’s given you (spiritually, not materially) over the past year, as well as to ponder the awesomeness of His love, manifested by the birth of His son.
In the end, excitement about this time of year continues to course through my veins, even though I’m almost 26 now, and by all definitions, I’m an adult. I’ll admit it has changed a little. Instead of the wide-eyed wonderment and uncontainable anticipation of seeing Santa Claus appear with his sack of toys, my joy and excitement now comes from the humbling thought that on a night over 2000 years ago, a small boy was born with the sole aim to eventually pay the price for any evil deed I commit or any evil thought that enters my mind. And how I’ve done nothing to earn that gift, nor will I ever be able to do anything to pay it back.
That, to me, is the true joy of Christmas.
Happy Holidays!
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12.03.04
Posted in Song of the Week at 12:56 pm by Adriene
I was about to do it again! I took a week off last week due to the holiday, but I’m back now with a Song of the Week, just a little late this time.
This week’s band should be no surprise, considering I’ve been gushing over their new CD. But I decided to go a little farther back into their catalog to dig this one up, since I essentially reviewed every song on their new CD in my post a few days ago.
“Stay (Far Away, So Close!)” - U2
“Stay” is probably my favorite song off of U2’s 1993 release, Zooropa. Zooropa is an odd bird, in that it was originally meant to be nothing more than an EP recorded while the band was on their Zoo TV tour. However, it morphed into a full-length album. It’s very experimental, and was probably one of their less-well-received releases, and it definitely has its detractors. However, it’s one of those CDs that grows on you the more you listen to it, as Jeff could tell you (he used to hate it, now he admits it’s got some good stuff on it).
I guess probably why this is my favorite off of Zooropa is that it’s probably the most typical of U2 songs on there. (I’ll give them this, they have a formula, and when they stick to it, it’s usually a good song. ) It starts off with some low-key strumming by the Edge, but in typical U2 fashion, it swells as it goes, as it heads toward the last part of the song with Bono calling:
Stay, with the demons you drowned
Stay, with the spirit I’ve found
Stay, and the night would be enough…
Then, per usual, it dies back down toward the final line:
Three o’clock in the morning
It’s quiet and there’s no one around
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel runs to ground
Just the bang and the clatter
As an angel hits the ground.
Add to the fact that I love the video for this song. It was filmed by Wim Wenders, and features the band as somewhat angelic figures shadowing people going through their everyday lives. The song was featured in Wenders’ movie Wings of Desire, on which 1998’s City of Angels was based, so you can see where the inspiration for the video came from.
So, that’s my recommendation for this week. Listen to it or you’re a loser. 
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