walking next to you...

today was a good day but it just turned into an AMAZING day! if you know me, you know that there is no musical genius that i love, love, love more than sufjan stevens. he is so brilliant and if there is one well known person that i would want to sit down and chat with even if only for a couple minutes, easily, it is him:) now i know i don't know him personally and he could turn out to be some kind of strange person...but that's what make shim so grand. he can perform with wings on his back...what other person can pull something like that off with as much class as mr. stevens...exactly:) now, i am not a crazy, i just admire his creativity and the way he expresses it. anywho, i read this article today and am excited! be excited too!

news
SUFJAN STEVENS TO RELEASE THE BQE IN OCTOBER
2009-07-21 | Link

Back in October of 2007, Sufjan Stevens debuted The BQE—a visual and musical homage to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway—at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's (BAM) Howard Gilman Opera House in downtown Brooklyn. Originally commissioned by BAM for the Next Wave Festival, the BQE featured three simultaneous film projections, a 35-piece band and orchestra, and live hula hoopers for a 3-night run.

One week following the performances, Sufjan and his orchestra went into the studio to record the soundtrack, but afterwards, feeling disenfranchised by the magnitude of the universe, Sufjan decided to shelve the project. Until now. Two years later, Sufjan found inspiration to mix the music, edit the video and expand the project to include photographs, liner notes, a comic book, and a stereoscopic image reel—a multi-media package that attempts to render this much-loathed urban expressway into a conscionable work of art.

The release date is set for October 20, 2009. The double-disc album will include the original film on DVD, the original soundtrack on CD, a 40-page booklet (with photos and liner notes), and a stereoscopic image reel (aka View-Master®), created by illustrator Stephen Halker.

The limited edition vinyl is available as a double gatefold and includes the soundtrack on 180-gram vinyl, a large-scale 32-page booklet with liner notes and photographs, and a 40-page Hooper Heroes comic book.

And on October 24, 92YTribeca will host a release party for The BQE. This will include a showing of the film as well as a performance from string quartet Osso (playing selections from Run Rabbit Run), the recently-announced re-imagining of Sufjan's Enjoy Your Rabbit. Roberto C. Lange (aka Helado Negro) will DJ. Tickets go on sale Thursday, July 23rd for $12 here (link will not work until Thursday).

i, for obvious reasons, won't be able to attend the release party but i am sure it will be grand.
if you are not at all familiar with this fellow's music, get on it.
over and out:)

i can't seem to upload it any other way so until i do, this is it. i can imbed it but if i do it just plays and i don't know that it would make you happy to have it just play every time you come for a visit. i took a gander at this and it made me smile and i think it will make you smile as well. i really want to see it...next week, next week....hopefully.

today is a make a button card kind of day:)

the sunglasses/glasses, that is. pastor john...i call him that, rode in on his bike today and he was wearing these and he looked cool as always and i tried them on and the photo above shows you how they fit. i don't think they are for me but they fit the pastor just fine:) the photo also shows my new bangs, they are from last night and i like them. i have been thinking about them for some time now and last night was the night.

it has been such a nice day and i am really hoping that everyone experienced something eventful. i did. brian and i are at work and this zooey d song came on and brian started doing this special dance and i just happened to catch it.

i have been thinking about it a lot lately. i think about it often but it has been so much more these past couple months. on saturday i played for a conference and a couple times i shared a few different things. one of them was something that has been eating my up. i have been reading this on a daily basis for a number of days now:
³ Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
it has been consuming a great deal of my thinking time. when i am not chatting with someone, or doing homework, or reading a book, or working, i am thinking about this. it reeks of prayer to me and it is something i am really trying to believe. i think one of the biggest problems we all having is talking too much. it is ok if you disagree. but we have this thing where we talk a lot and it ends up being so empty because there is little or no faith involved... i am speaking from personal experience.
back to prayer. delighting oneself in Him, trusting in Him, committing our ways to Him...it isn't possible if we are not spending time with Him. and i am not talking about those already rehearsed prayers we like to throw His way when we just are not in the mood for it, or too busy, or too sleepy, or whatever it may be...ouch...i have done it...i think we all have. there is something so special about just spending time with Him. unplanned and unrehearsed.
i have been finding peace in non-peaceful moments lately, joy in joyless moments, joy in amazingly joyful times, love, and so many others and i know without a doubt that it has something to do with those unscheduled and unrehearsed times that i have been spending with the Creator.
i don't expect anyone to take my word for it because I don't take people's word right off the bat either. i am not the kind of person who believes what i am told...is that bad? i just like to test it out to be certain that it is something i believe for myself, otherwise what good is it for me? you know, if i don't even believe it. it is just something i have been experiencing lately and i don't know that i can give credit anywhere else.
i read this this morning and liked it so much.

August 3rd.
	THE BIG COMPELLING OF GOD
"Behold, we go up to Jerusalem." Luke 18:31 Jerusalem stands in the life of Our Lord as the place where He reached the climax of His Father's will. "I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me." That was the one dominating interest all through our Lord's life, and the things He met with on the way, joy or sorrow, success or failure, never deterred Him from His purpose. "He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem." The great thing to remember is that we go up to Jerusalem to fulfil God's purpose, not our own. Naturally, our ambitions are our own; in the Christian life we have no aim of our own. There is so much said to-day about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament it is the aspect of God's compelling that is brought out. "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God's purpose, we are taken up into God's purpose without any consciousness at all. We have no conception of what God is aiming at, and as we go on it gets more and more vague. God's aim looks like missing the mark because we are too short sighted to see what He is aiming at. At the beginning of the Christian life we have our own ideas as to what God's purpose is - 'I am meant to go here or there,' 'God has called me to do this special work'; and we go and do the thing, and still the big compelling of God remains. The work we do is of no account, it is so much scaffolding compared with the big compelling of God. "He took unto Him the twelve," He takes us all the time. There is more than we have got at as yet.

this is a bit scattered but it's ok, lovely days ahead:)

i can honestly say it was a terrific weekend but i am so tired...it is the sort of tired that is painful. i knew it was going to be a busy one, i have been anticipating it for quite some time now and have tried to prepare myself both mentally and physically...i don't think i was successful as i am tired in both areas:) as happy as i was to experience it, i am so glad it is over. friday was the busiest day i have had in a very long time but it was also the highlight of my weekend...it was so busy that i literally crashed into my bed and fell asleep within seconds that evening. i don't really remember the process, i just remember waking up saturday morning...still tired:) i worked for 8 hours that morning, went and sound checked for another 2 hours right after work, drove to santa ana, and finally made it home for a little sleep time. i think my favorite part of that day was the sweet little wedding zack and i went to. it was for this really sweet gal and her love and well, it really was so neat. it was held at a place that resembled a spanish mission and it was so homey and all those present seemed like they were having a delightful time. i for one had a delightful time...i can at least speak for myself:) we sat in an area where we could not see the ceremony but we heard it and it was just lovely. afterwards, we were able to sit with two great people, thomas and maria, and i felt so privileged to be able to spend time with them; chatting, laughing, and just enjoying. after the ceremony, i met these two lovely french people, i believe their names are sylvie and philipe(i am almost certain the spelling is off). anywho, they were such a delightful couple. philipe did a fun little magic trick for us. i don't think any of us expected it so once he did it and was a success, we all celebrated, it was such fun:) i met quite a few lovely people that evening and even though i don't think i will be seeing them again any time soon, it was nice to meet them:) i also got this super neat heart bird feeder and what makes it even better in the fact that is is officially being put to VERY good use. a couple weeks ago i noticed a bird's nest close to the front door of mi casa. well, see the photo below:

i hope the birds living there will be happy with it:) what a useful little favor. i was unable to drive home that night due to sleepiness....severe sleepiness at that...zack told me i was mumbling something about birds...something i can't recall:) i didn't get many photos but it was a lovely night. i hope you all have a delightful week to come. i am still tired but i am thinking it will be a good one:)
over and out.

i know this is the third post of the day but i have to write about this because it is so neat. yesterday i was chatting with my lovely friend kim and she was telling me that she saw this purse and it made her think of me. she said the color and everything about it had my name written all over it:) well, i know everyone that knows me would totally disagree with me about this, but i am in need of a new yellow bag. the one i have currently is about to lose a strap so i was hoping to replace it...but i may have one too many purses so others may not believe that i need a replacement:)
well, i was going to check it out today because the price was very reasonable but before i had the chance to, kim came in with a bag and told me there was a little something for me in it. i had no idea what it was but when i saw the color it hit me and i smiled really big. i couldn't believe she did such a thoughtful thing but honestly, she is just the kind of person that would do that kind of super sweet thing. just being around her is such a wonderful experience and that is something that anyone who knows her will say. i have a new purse to sport to class tonight...kim, if you are reading this, thank you so much:) but mostly i am so grateful for the amazing people i have in my life. people who are constantly saying little prayers for me, constantly encouraging me, loving me, and i could go on and on. i am blessed. thank you friends:)