My blogroll

1. http://monttmardie.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=6

2. http://secret-music-box.blogspot.com/

3. http://africanpress.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/lifted-from-njoros-blogspot-interesting-reading/

4. http://allspinzone.blogspot.com/

5. http://antubrunei.blogspot.com/2009/02/sleep-paralysis-dihimpit-ketika-tidur.html (Very interesting. I have this condition described in this blog. Frequent Sleep Paralysis)

My favorite works of art

My Favorite Works of Art

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Enjoy. And give the player a few minutes to load.

Free Post

I'm going to use my free post honestly to reach out and try to get people to be more open minded. Somebody once said "Be nice to everyone you meet, for everyone is fighting a hard battle."

This holds true in life. Do not judge one another or discriminate. This seems random, I know, but think for a second. If we all did this, we'd be finished as a human race. We'd be extinct.

Thank you. Love your friends. Love your families. Love your music. And love your life. Hopefully at least one person will take this to heart. And I hope your day will be better because of it. :)

Goodnight, Earth.

My photographic eye

Water. The most basic form of continuity of existence. And one of the most beautiful elements about our unique Earth. It is our lifeblood.

On the Graffiti Beat

I did an earlier post on the Poole's Mill bridge in a natural park about a mile from my house back home. It is a very interesting place. The bridge itself is covered with graffiti. Many may not consider it graffiti in the traditional sense of the term since the park itself isn't very well watched and no one really cares. As well, most of the graffiti is words, phrases and expressions, with a few drawings thrown in. I went there this weekend, and unfortunately my camera crapped out on me so I do not have any pictures (There may be some on google images, although I could not find any good ones of the art inside the bridge). However, I can tell you all about it. I've been going to this little hole in the side of Earth park since I could barely toddle. I've swam in the still-water section, slid down the natural water slides made at the shoals and even gotten eaten by the river a couple of times. The inside of that bridge, which almost every local person has seen at least once, details the last several decades of history of the people coming there. It has thousands of names, love promises, phrases, dates and other historical memories. I can walk through the bridge and point out many people that I went to elementary school with. I can even point out a few of their mothers and fathers names on it. My own father taught me how to dive out of the bridge into the water hole, which is only about 5 feet deep. With the bridge 15 feet in the air, of course this likely wasn't the best plan. But I'm trying to illustrate everyone's great memories of the place as it has grown throughout the last few generations. As I said, I wish I had pictures, but I can only tell you that if you'ree ever near Ducktown in Forsyth county to ask a local where Poole's Mill is. They'll know what you're talking about, and then you can see it for yourself. It's absolutely beautiful.

I'm having a catharsis (2)

What exactly is trust? Is it receiving the expected result in any from another person? Is it believing that tomorrow you'll wake up, when it's impossible to be certain? It it guesswork? Lately, I've been thinking it is. How can anyone ever truly know another person when that person has just as many deep catacombs hidden inside themselves as any other person? Smiles, kisses, they do not show us the way. They only lead us in a direction that could end with further life or immediate death.

I don't trust almost anyone to be their best. It's sad, of course, but true to me. I've come to believe that human beings are so fundamentally flawed that basic compassion has been all but wiped out in our day to day lives. Even those I love in a stupidly extensive way, they really don't get my trust, because they've proven to be able to abuse it. There are a few that I would hand my very existence to in a paper bag and believe in them fully to care for it. Unfortunately, and strangely, most of them have parted ways with me. They are very random people. Old friends, ex girlfriends. Genuinely good people. And, unfortunately, no one in my family can be given that.

I ramble. But isn't that what this is supposed to be about? So I sit here, taking allergy pills every day, writing my music, drowning in schoolwork, keeping up with relationships that don't often amount to what I put into them. And I try to seek comfort in God. Without a doubt, I believe that he watches us all daily and puts us through these hard times to test us. Reminding myself of that gets very, very hard. Guess we gotta keep pushing. We all deserve to be loved.

Good night, everybody.

Iceland is notorious for its natural beauty. Every year, countless people flock there to see the rolling hills, wonderful weather (especially to us southerners), and interesting culture of people. Not surprisingly, this natural beauty spills into the country's art. Looking through much of their most prized pieces of art, I'd say 80 or 85% of them consist of or are illustrations of some portion of nature. Being a fairly technologically simple place, many of its citizens find their beauty in the wonders of the Earth. The result is artistic masterpiece.

Interestingly, having listened to much of it myself, these natural, simple elements spill over into the country's music as well. (I relate a lot of things to music. Sorry if it gets annoying. It's what I do) Musical groups like Sigur Ros and the Album Leaf, who both have deep roots in Iceland, deal mainly with similar themes as the artwork we see. They play very beautiful, calm, ambient music, so it's safe for the masses to check out if you want to add a relaxing new musical sound to your collection. In fact, The Album Leaf has a record out entitled "In A Safe Place" in which all of the songs are not only ABOUT nature (and I'm using the word "about" in a musically analytic tone, since most of their works are without vocals), but they are entitled many natural themes. Songs like "Streamside," "Over the Pond," "Thule," and "The Outer Banks" are excellent examples. I cannot reccommend either of these groups enough.

Through this connection, we can now see that Iceland takes much of its artistic influence from one of the most obvious and beautiful sources available to mankind: Nature.