Written by cbte on December 16th, 2009
Do you want to know my secret? I’m sorry, you won’t be able to know the true identity of my secret until after Christmas time! I’ll give you a clue as to what the secret is, though – it’s a gift for chesapeake. She started this fabulous tradition called “Homemade Christmas.” So I’m making her a gift – at home. It’s a fantastic gift. I’m going WAY over the top on this one, but not in ways you might think. I’m pretty sure I just give extra attention to detail, but I jokingly claim to suffer from OCD. I might actually suffer from it – but that’s a good thing – because when I do something, I do it well.
However, there are a few parts of this gift that I’m not incredibly happy with. If I were to try and make every single bit of it as perfect as my brain wants it to be, I’d be working on it until next Christmas. So my goal is to finish the damn thing, polish it up a bit, and gift it. Not dwell on all the things I wish I would have made better. Don’t worry, internet, I will finish the gift. I’m actually finishing it up right now.
Anyway, the point remains: I have a secret. Now my secret is indexed throughout Google to anyone who cares to read about it. Unforch, they still won’t know my secret. Look out chesapeake because this gift is gonna be one for the record books!
I CAN HAZ TEH GIFT MAKING ABILITEEZ??
Written by cbte on December 5th, 2009
So we lie here in the dark
All the wrong things on fire
In sickness and in health
To be with you, just to be with you
In your wedding dress
To have and to hold
‘Cause even at my best
I wanna let go
And you hold me in your arms
And all that I can see
Is my future in your hands
And all that I can feel
Is how long ever after is
It’s all that I can do
To be with you, just to be with you
In your wedding dress
To have and to hold
‘Cause even at my best
I wanna let go
Thought I’d lost you
Thought I’d lost you
I gave you away
Thought I’d lost you
I’m jealous of the moon
For how it moves the waves
‘Cause in your wedding dress
To have and to hold
‘Cause even at my best
I wanna let go
And I wanna be somebody else now
And I wanna thicken my skin
And I wanna wish it all
Just wish it all away again
There’s something odd about sad music that moves me. I feel like the emotion attached to the music is an added bonus – assuming the music is stellar to begin with. I’m a big fan of Keane, Matt Nathanson, Cary Brothers, Aqualung, and the like. I believe that it’s necessary for musicians to perform beyond acceptable means to push themselves to the top of their class. Although the majority of casual listeners cannot discern a difference between “good” and “world-class”, there’s a specific reason for attaining the highest level of performance. When the emotions of lyrics are added to the mastery of musical execution, the fusion becomes a tangible, accessible feeling for the listener – whether they realize it or not. It’s not even as much of “realizing” it, as it is experiencing it.
One of the best examples of this type of music is Keane’s “She Has No Time.” Tom’s use of a pianissimo falsetto combined with the utter lugubriism (see protologism) of the song adds up to a tidal wave of emotion. This type of music is commonly avoided when listening to music in pairs or groups. It is best experienced as a form of zen, meditation, or reflection. The difference between this type of music and the music that is played on the radio every day is the participation of the listener. Rapping your foot on the floor mat of your car does not count as listener participation. Perpetual head-banging, leading to the shattering of a car window also doesn’t count. What Tom, Cary, and Matt are achieving is an interaction between their music and the listener’s brain. I believe that everyone is capable of some form of synesthesia – it just doesn’t happen the way it happens to true synesthetics.
Synesthesia for non-synesthetics occurs with the mental imaging of past or future events or possibilities. As we grow physically, we struggle to keep our mental growth in perfect synchronization. As the body ages, we try to expand our brains. After twenty years of schooling, there is not as much information to be spoon-fed to us as during education; therefore, we must conjure up our own lessons. This is where interactive music comes in. Some people are afraid of this type of mental maturity, some accept it blindly, and some feed on it. I am of the latterest. I feel a constant need to take my mind out of my body and experience new – and perhaps impossible – things. Just because one doesn’t physically accomplish something doesn’t mean that person hasn’t experienced it.
In conclusion, I don’t listen to this music to augment depression, feel sorry for myself, or so that it may lead to the purchase of skinny jeans, black hair dye, and a tattooed tear next to my right eyelid. No, I listen to – and experience – this music as a form of expanding my mental capabilities. When you are conscious of expanding your mind, you enhance your creativity and improve the possibility of physically realizing your ideas.
Or maybe it’s just me.