Tasteful Tangible Tantalizing Totally Tite Terrific Tune Tuesday

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Everyone’s favorite Tuesday music blogging spot is back! Although I may need some help adding t-words pretty soon. Comment if you’ve got some. To check out some older Tune Tuesday posts, click here.

Go.

Song: Syndicate
Artist: The Fray
Album: The Fray

I’ve put the video down at the bottom, so press play and then read on!

The Fray is one of my top 3 bands. I love the piano infused into the lyrics that somehow can always be interpreted on a spiritual level. And I don’t think this song is any different.

This album was released in February and for now, this is my favorite song on the album. What I did first was look up the word syndicate, it’s only mentioned once in the song. So keep this in mind while listening:

syn⋅di⋅cate : a group of individuals or organizations combined or making a joint effort to undertake some specific duty or carry out specific transactions or negotiations.

I’ll just go ahead and say what I think this song overall is about because then I think the lyrics just fall into place. And this may be a long post, because I think this song is FULL of good stuff.

Much of the new Fray album seems to be about finding the Lord and the struggles of building our faith. Specifically, I think this song is about hardships, battles and doubts Christians face when we have built up that faith.

The thing that we are searching for, Jesus, seems to be so distant and old being over 2000 years old:

Halfway around the world
Lies the one thing that you want
Buried in the ground
Hundred miles down

And that can be frustrating causing doubts or times when we just want to give up even though we are “awakened” to the Truth:

First thing that arises in your mind while you awake
Bending you til you break
Let me hold you now

The chorus is kind of encouraging in that the person speaking seems to have been exactly where the “baby” is at and reassures them that its ok to ask questions and to just hold on to what they believe:

Baby close your eyes
Don't open til the morning light
Baby don't forget
You haven't lost it all yet

We have no idea the love and forgiveness that we are capable of that is shown by Jesus and we may not realize this until we see Him face-to-face:

Don't know what your made of
Til the one thing that you want
To come in with the dawn and suddenly changes

I haven’t quite figured out this line. This is the one mention of syndicate. Any ideas? I’m sure Monday is significant in that it is the day after Sunday. Perhaps the thought that people go to church on Sunday only to return to their same exact lives the next day making no changes after learning on Sunday:

Monday’s syndicate means everyone’s the same
But all we've lost to the flame. Listen to me now

Another line is then added into the chorus. This just reiterates the fact that there is questioning going on, but the one thing we know for sure is our God:

All we know for sure
Is all that we are fighting for

These next few lines are pretty powerful. I think they show that our God is mysterious and that we may never have all the answers (which is a struggle in itself, but also a beautiful thing because it shows how big our God is) even as our relationship with Christ grows and we get closer to Him:

Someday when this is over
We may still have no answer
For now is when I hold her
We are closer
We are closer
We are closer
We are closer

So what do you think? This is of course my interpretation, and I think many of these lines can be interpreted different ways. Some may even think it’s just about a long-distance relationship, but the Fray is always wonderful about putting deep, hard-hitting lyrics embedded into some very pretty music.



End.

Atlantic to the Nolichucky

Sunday, June 21, 2009

In the past week, I took a couple of mini vacations.

From Sunday, June 14 – Tuesday, June 16, I did absolutely nothing (except get a sunburn and play with some cute kids) on Edisto Island. Every summer, my aunt rents a house where the backyard is the beach. It takes about 10 seconds for me to get from the house to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the loveliest.

Edisto Beach, SC

From Friday, June 19 – Sunday, June 21, I explored the mountains, creeks and waterfalls around Erwin, Tennessee where my brother lives. Made a trip to the hippie-filled Boone, NC and dangerously rainy top of Roan Mountain.

Erwin, Tennesse

My question is….which do you prefer: beach or mountains? If you could only chose one, which would it be?

To the DC!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

I spent a couple of days in our nation's capitol with some fantastic people. Here's a fun shot of me at the Capitol Building.

DC is an interesting place. I didn't get the feeling there that I got in NYC or London or Florence (however, I did love the metro, but that may be my general love of public transit), but I still loved seeing all the wonderful sites that call DC their home. Gallery after gallery (most in which I got lost in) provided endless amounts of artwork to gaze at. Memorials provided a few moments to remember our country's past and those who've fought for it.

Overall, DC is a unique place. As it should be. Although it may not be my favorite, I still appreciate everything that it holds. Even that kid protesting, or reading from a sheet of preselected statements, outside the White House.

Although, it was a little bit eerie hearing this happened just a few days after we were in the city.

Next time I'm visiting the Washington Post despite the bored sighs of those who may be traveling with me!

Fake Runner

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

So I've been driving/riding all around Charlotte a good bit these past few weeks and have noticed this strange little thing people do. When crossing the street, sometimes a person notices a car waiting on them when they're just about in the middle. So they then pretend like they speed up by throwing their arms in some circular motion that makes it LOOK like they are running. But in fact, they are still walking, their arms are just swinging faster.

It's so silly. I laugh out loud every time I see it. I crafted together a little video that will demonstrate exactly what I'm talking about:




Anyone else seen this? Or do this?