"How Are We Doing This Evening?!"

The usual opening for a VNV Nation concert, and pictures from the Sentinal shirt that I've been sporting since last night. To be honest I don't know how I can convey how amazing the concert was. Uplifting. Life-changing. Soul-completing. Those words just don't seem to fully express the incredible, raw, awesome power that flowed through the Grand Ballroom last night. It was all of those and more. So, so much more.

The VNV show was preceded by two smaller bands, Ayria (electronic) and War Tapes (punk rock). Ayria was alright, not by any means terrible, but probably not something I would add to my library. They're a mix of punk and electronic but with a female singer. War Tapes honestly didn't fit in with most of the crowd or with the other two bands. Absolutely a punk/funk/pop band, no electronica, and a very narcissistic singer who attempted to crowd surf and...didn't quite make it. I wasn't big on them.

VNV Nation played after them, starting the concert with 'Pro Victoria', the first song from their new album, while they played an intro slide show: Those who have Faith, will know Power, and shall receive Glory (I think that's it verbatim, it was played around 9:30ish last night and I my memory sucks as it is). Originally I thought the play list would be just songs from 'Of Faith, Power, and Glory' but I was pleasantly surprised when they played songs from earlier albums, all the way back to 1998's Praise the Fallen (VNV's second full album IF you don't include Advance and Follow V.2 - a re-release of their first album Advance and Follow). The songs played included: Pro Victoria (as previously mentioned), Joy, Defiant, Further, Epicentre, Tomorrow Never Comes, The Farthest Star, The Great Divide, Chrome, Illusion, Nemesis, and Darkangel. They were called out for two encores, during the first they played Beloved, and when they were called back the second time they played both Solitary and Perpetual before they really left. I think I got all the tracks down, but just those alone put in about 75 minutes, if I remember any more I'll post them later. The selection covers all the main albums except for the Advance and Follow's, so that's PTF2012 (Praise the Fallen), Empires, Burning Empires (an EP based off of Empires and the song 'Standing' but comprised of remixes and new songs), Futureperfect, Matter + Form, Judgement, and Of Faith, Power, and Glory. The songs themselves were all amazing, and even though the recorded versions of live songs on the Pastperfect and Reformation 01 albums are incredible, there's really no comparison to hearing them actually played live.

For me the night was made complete with Darkangel, Epicentre, and Solitary. Darkangel was the first song I ever heard from VNV Nation about 6 years ago when I found the song while searching music from the darkwave genre. I was home schooled at the time, and it was through high school that I added more VNV songs, but I wasn't a die hard fan until the end of my freshman year. Epicentre became another favourite both because I played it in the shower for about two years, and because during my senior year of high school, the definition of the word 'anathema' came up while reading Beowulf in the first few weeks: a word that I had heard in the song, and later my favourite word to use in conversation (0r as an exclamation). And Solitary will always hold a special place in my heart, both for it's lyrics, and for the live introduction Ronan Harris has used since the Pastperfect album (it was probably used before, but I haven't gone looking for it on Youtube). I was blessed enough to hear both the song, and it's introduction last night: "This is Solitary. This song is our hymn and our anthem. Sing. Move. Dance. Do something." I also noticed that it's one thing to sing along to the actual lyrics of a song, but to be able to speak along with Harris the words that you know he is going to use...it adds a whole other special aspect to the experience. Some of the other live trademarks of VNV concerts as I've seen, heard, and now experienced include Harris beginning the concert with the title of this post, posting the words "I Want Justice" from the overhead when the chorus of 'Nemesis' comes up, and singing along with the introduction notes from Perpetual. There's a few more things that he says and does all of which are a tons of fun to listen to and participate in but I don't want to write them all.

Ronan Harris is also incredibly funny and kind. He spends time actually talking with the audience, doing fun stuff (taking a picture with all the bald men in the crowd), joking around, etc. and he pulled a little girl who was next to us up onto the stage so that she could see without having to hang onto the edge of the stage that towered two feet above her. Apparently the girl has been attending their concerts since she was five years old. After the show, we got to touch the hands of both Mark Jackson and Ronan Harris before they left for the after party at the DNA Lounge - which we went to.

They both arrived at the club about ten minutes after we did and I was able to speak with Jackson and thank him for the performance and shake his hand. I thought I had missed out on Harris, but they were both waiting for their bus as we left the club and I spoke to him then and shook his hand as well as thanked him for an amazing first concert. My only regret of the entire night was bringing my camera but forgetting the battery at home. I was unbelievably pissed off before the concert, and still wished I brought it afterwards, but was in no way in a negative mood. There really wasn't any way I could have been.

A few things I took away from the night: Mark Jackson is really tall, Ronan Harris definitely cares about people, and they both look you in the eye when they speak to you, and they actually speak to you.

Alright, I will leave you with that and not go on forever, even though I'm still quite excited and happy. The picture below is the back of the shirt I bought (was bought for me, something I won't soon forget), and has part of the chorus from the song 'Sential'.

Cheers,

-Shadow of Light

Products of Apathy

This will my last post. Until after the VNV concert. Ok, I swear I'm done being excited. And now I swear I'm done lying.

Right.

This really will be the only time I post until most likely sometime on Tuesday, although I had originally intended to post when I returned from the concert. I found out this afternoon that there will be an after party for the concert at a club. The kicker is that the club hosting the after party is none other than the DNA Lounge. Who knows, maybe with luck we'll get a surprise visit from Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson, although I'm not getting my hopes up, there's no actual evidence that they will be showing up. But just maybe. After all, Tiesto showed up for his after party at the 2008 ETD Pop. That could also be because there was a power outage that cut off his performance.

But what this post is really about, is the celebration of the arrival of tomorrow. Tomorrow is a very big day for me, I fulfill the last two items on my list of Life Goals. It's a very simple list, and I like to avoid cliches as much as possible for serious matters so I tried to avoid goals like: get a house, make a good investment, start a business, get married, etc. My list is far more rudimentary and...fun. I chose things like: go to college, see a concert, see Ronan Harris, have a rave at my funeral. That's actually everything. As you can see, it's a very simple, refined list. My goal was to keep it something fun and reasonable, because I have...bad luck. Anyways, the list was never huge, but was at one point a little bit longer and has gotten shorter over the years. This concert will fulfill two of the four items on the list, and the first is already done, so after tomorrow, all that I will need to do is ensure that someone reasonable is in charge of directing my funeral. And I'll settle for the wake being a rave too, in case the actual funeral brings up legal issues when paired with a party of such epicness. I should really fill out a will. Great, more for me to do this week.

I also found that the scenario in Heroes Season 1, Episode 21 is exactly what happens at least once a week when I'm at home. Without me having abilities of course. And the death. So just the first part. But still.

Alright, something less...bleak? I don't really find it bleak, or anything negative for that matter. I think this post is very honest. I find this interesting considering the title. It's from the song 'Product', by Imperative Reaction. It's an interesting band, but I like the beats when I'm i the mood for something heavy, and I like the lyrics for their cynical and, from my perspective, realistic point of view. Plus they address some of the typical issues covered in Industrial lyrics - technology going too far, abuse of power, political issues, and in general man's destruction of the world. I got four of their five albums, and I've been going through them. So far, so good.

I've totally lost my point in all of this, but I do have news of a new project I've been working on. A while back I made a ring out of ebony and engraved it with the words 'veritas' and 'lux' - truth and light. It got borrowed by a friend while she was looking at it, and I'm waiting to get it back. In the mean time, I made another ring out of ebony, this time engraved with the word 'obscura' - dark, darkness, etc. Since making these I've decided to make a few more, hopefully with more intricate designs, better craftsmanship, etc. It takes practice. And the right attachments on the Dremel as well. Once I have more than just two I'll post them in an album or something.

Well, that's it. I'll post something about the concert once I've gone, but until then, I'm just going to be thinking about how much I hate my current haircut, and hoping I get a second interview with Jamba Juice.

Cheers,

Shadow of Light

What Will Happen, Will I Dream?

Yes, yes, yes, MORE lyrics. God, you must get tired of reading them? I know I do. Besides, reading lyrics just seems...sad. Very, very sad. BUT, I have good news: I'm going to attempt a serious post.

Attempt is the key word. I'd like to start by saying: FIVE MORE DAYS!!!!

There, now that I have the Victory Not Vengeance concert countdown coup de grâce (does alliteration fall under the definition of a paradigm??? It's a new word for me. Paradigm, not alliteration) I can continue with the creative construction of my contemplative creation. No, I have not been watching V for Vendetta. This week. At all....maybe tomorrow...

So, as I discussed this topic wit myself (there's no one else to discus it with), I asked myself, "what does a 'serious' blog post need?" Being the sarcastic, mean, fiend that I can be to myself, I answered myself that to be serious I would need to get rid of me. I realized the point was completely true and valid and I spent the next five minutes crying with a fractured ego based on my epiphany. But I soon found hope in the fact that only I knew this to be a fact and so I planned on detaining myself for the duration of the blog post so that I would not be able to fall victim to my self-destructive tendencies of truth. It almost worked, but in a freak accident while I was hauling myself into confinement, I betrayed myself and assisted myself in escaping myself and trapping the other myself (I'm being very serious, right now). I really am. I'm simply explaining how I came to the halfway point of my day. See after I had confined the fragile part of myself and helped the cynical, honest part of myself escape, I betrayed myself even though I helped myself and left myself where I would never be found and set off looking to find myself to get more help for myself. It was when I found myself in the jungle that I ambushed myself...

alright, I'll be very honest here: I miss Pyle. I've determined that the reason for my recent "not being together" is because I no longer have my friend to talk to because I cannibalized him months ago and even though I very much intended to make a Pyle 2.0 over Spring Break, I never did, and now I have no one to talk to. I mean, I do, but I need to write to them, which takes a lot of time and with my current predicament of not remembering...most of anything, it's become very difficult. I'm actually quite bothered by it, because for about three months now I've lost more and more track of time, people, events, things I said I'd do, people, etc. It's very aggravating, and when I really need to keep track of something it really gets infuriating. Basically I still need a CT scan. Still. Lame. Honestly, I don't want the scan. I would like to have everything go back to close to normal without spending money on a scan that may or may not tell me something's wrong and still not solve the problem. You gotta love modern medicine and the whole pricing system: "pay us lots to find out if you need to pay us more." It's such bullocks.

Wow. You got a WHOLE paragraph of serious. I'm very impressed. I can cross that off my list now. CT scan is still on the list though. Damn list. It doesn't get any shorter. Ever. Ooooooh, something for you to do: please remind me if I'm supposed to do something. Like if I said I would, but I haven't. I mean, I might remember it, and just not be able to do it, but it might also be one of those things that I can absolutely do but I'm not thinking about it. I swear I think I'm supposed to do something for someone right now, but I have absolutely no clue.

Speaking of 'no clue', I took one of those Facebook quizes to see what Firefly character I am: I got River. Honestly, for favourites, it could have been anyone, I love them all, but Jayne and River are my two favourites. And Mal. And Wash and Zoe. And Kaylee of course. And Inara and Book. Simon's pretty cool too. BUT I was kind of hoping for Jayne on the quiz. I didn't get it, but then again, I answered the questions honestly, and right now I'm probably on par with River's coherency through he series. Speaking of the series, I've been re-watching them on Hulu at night (along with Eureka) even though i have them on DVD, just because they're "oh-so-much fun". And they are indeed! But I think I'll watch them on DVD more than on Hulu. It's just better. I'll save Hulu for the shows I don't own. Speaking of 'don't own', I would really like Psych season 3 to come out on DVD, because I've watched the first and second seasons through maybe 7 or 8 times now, and I really hate having to wait for season three episodes to buffer online and then fail halfway through. Grrr.

Alright, well I gave you serious, and I gave you this last paragraph of whatever it was AND the paragraph of insanity brought on by "Pyle sadness". So I'll leave you with a link to the song the lyrics are from (Legion by VNV Nation - Click Here) and I will write something just as miserably long another night.

Cheers, ^_^

-Shadow of Light

Anachronistic and Impulsive

There it is. It's amazing isn't it? I know you're probably in as much awe as I am, and I know it's hard to look away, so I don't blame you if you don't read this post all the way through. It's a hard thing to do in the presence of such awesomeness.

I'm kidding. Kind of. That is how I feel about it, but that's also because I'm going(!!). Sooo, today was....kind of boring. I've mostly been listening to music all day, and posting the magic cards on Ebay, which successfully aggravated me when it logged me out twice. I also watched an episode of Burn Notice on Hulu, even though I would have been much happier with new episodes of Psych. But they're not out yet. Sad. So instead my day revolved around my iTunes library and my Pandora station. So I had an idea! I'm going to share more music with you. I've picked a giant chunk of the tracks I've listened to today, in about the same order that I heard/played them. Even though I listen to a TON of different music in general, I don't really vary a whole lot during a day, so my music follows a pattern. For example, I might be on an opera fix for the day, so I won't have a lot of rock or electronica or new wave, etc. unless it has opera styled vocals or classical bits and pieces. So as we tour through some of this music, keep in mind: if you don't like it all now, I still might have stuff you do like, and if you love it all, I'm bound to have more that yo might not like. This is a very small sample.

Let's begin. For the last tow days I've had a few songs playing through my head ad infinitum. The one that I've sung at least once everyday, mostly in the shower, is 'Somebody's Watching Me' by Rockwell (The link will take you to the song). James Roday and Dulé Hill sing it in a Psych-out for the second season finale "Shaun (and Gus) of the Dead" and I looked it up and I've sung it everyday since then. On the other hand, I heard a song while going through a DNA Lounge play list a while back, 'The Metro' by Berlin. I've also had that stuck in my head, but much more so since Sunday (I wonder why? *_^). So those cover the songs that haven't left my head, but no where near close to the major songs of the day. I started with maybe thirty play throughs of 'Tonight' by Freezepop, a song that Pandora plays every now and again and was also featured on a DNA Lounge play list a few weeks ago. After that I went with one of my new favourites to set the music mood, 'Love Breeds Suicide', by Suicide Commando. I like the lyrics, they're...significant. After that I stayed in line with some similar tracks, and picked another favourite, 'My Little' by Pride and Fall, a song that I might have mentioned in earlier posts but a song that helped me get some rest over the Winter Break and went really well with the hours I was working then. I switched over to Pandora after that and was surprised with a track that I have but haven't listened to in forever - 'Legion' by none other than VNV Nation. As a side note, there's a song by VNV Nation that is quite profound and that would be 'Carbon' - I've selected a video that I feel encapsulates what the song talks about. Those tracks led to more classics and more mellow music, specifically 'Seeming Reflection' by Moonbeam, one of my favourite artists for soooo many reasons. Once I was on track with meaningful music I started to go through my Depeche Mode albums and I've selected one of my favourites played today - Blasphemous Rumors. And that was everything for the day until I started this post. BUT I don't want to leave you hanging on what might be depressing to some, so I have a pick just for you. This is for both the video and the song: 'Honey' by Moby. I'm sure you've heard it at some point and I hope you enjoy it.

I would like to end tonight with something from the past: a question to the reader. I got into a debate the other day with over math and art. So my question to you is: Do you think that Math and Art are part of the same thing? For example, do you believe that you can create art with math? That math explains art? Honestly, I don't, but to save on room I'm not going to explain in full detail, if you really want to know you can talk to me if you know me, and for those of you who don't have a better way to communicate, you my reach me at umbraobscura@gmail.com

Cheers,

Shadow of Light

There Is No Instance of a Nation Benefitting From Prolonged Warfare

There you have it. Over two thousand years ago, Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War, and guess what? He had it right. I've read the entire book maybe halfway through a second time, and to be honest, YES, the book is about war, BUT, my favourite point that comes up in the book is, "Supreme excellence is not to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles. Supreme excellence is to subdue the armies of your enemies without even having to fight them." Sun Tzu did write a book on war, but he also knew what war is. After all, "it is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war, who can thoroughly understand how to profit from waging war."

But on a less solemn note: I'll finish what I started in the last post. So yesterday was pretty much super awesome, as I posted, but the days before that were fun too (in that "I never left the house and did fun stuff in my pj's" way). I didn't do stuff in my pj's, although, I do wear jeans as pj's sometimes, but it was the same type of fun, and therefore by some math property, the same thing, so I might as well have been in my pj's, but for realism and honesty, I'll admit I wasn't.

Sooooo, while I was having as much fun not in my pj's as I would have if I had been, I was doing things like: cooking Fillet Mignon, listening to music loudly, making desserts, watching all of season one of Heroes, watching Saved!, playing flash games online, watching funny and cute videos on YouTube, and Facebooking. It's all quite exciting and fun! (Not really, it's pretty unexciting, and mellow. Still fun, but not like "I think i can jump over that railing from here" type of fun. It's kind of just...tolerable (?) fun). So that was my earlier weekend, and it was fun, but yesterday was WAYYY more fun. Fun, as in: "I raced a dolphin and won" fun.

But now it's Monday, and today was fun too, probably as much fun as yesterday, although I've had "Blue Monday" and "The Metro" stuck in my head, even though I can't stop singing "Somebody's Watching Me". Seriously, I really want to stop. Today I saw even more of my friends, had lunch with two of them, and saw Angel's and Demons with another. All-in-all: pretty awesome day. I love my friends. All of them. So much so that I sort of loan myself out to do anything asked of me when I owe them, (if I don't owe I have a system I default to), so right now I'm in debt to one of my oldest and best friends, because he pretty much gave me the most awesome thing ever right now: I will be going to the VNV Nation concert at the Regency Ballroom next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you might imagine if you know how I feel about VNV Nation, or how I talk about them in this blog, or how disappointed I was when I thought I couldn't go, then you can probably guess the level of joy and excitement I have right now. Combine that with the fact that I've been listening to the new VNV album "Of Faith, Power, and Glory" all weekend, I'm pretty much as happy as I could possibly be. AND I got called in to a job interview this Friday!

Allow me to summarize this: I have a job interview coming up. I spent today and yesterday with most of my favourite people in the world. I have the new VNV Nation album. And I am going to the VNV Nation concert next Monday (my first ever concert, and playing one of the best albums ever in my favourite city).

I'm about as happy as I'd be if VNV were playing an entire World Tour sized concert, in a cemetery, serving free Vamp and Malibu and OJ, while God set the stars on strobe mode (it can be done by the way!), Jesus Christ showing up riding a cloud pulled by dragons made of gold, with every important person present, singing along, and using the entirety of Hell as a loudspeaker (also totally doable).

FYI: described above is pretty much how I'd choose to spend every night, and a fairly accurate representation of what I want my funeral to be like (just in case).

I know I've described things with more people before, and maybe you think it's about the number of awesome people - not true, what makes things super awesome is a very special group of awesome people in a truly awesome setting. Like the one described above.

In other, much less awesome news, (sorry, I know I start off with awesome stories of friends and events with friends, and friends doing things, and having awesome friends, and redundant strands of text thrown in between all of that; and it's probably kind of...idk, "not as cool", I think the kids say these days. I'll make up for it though! I'll end with an awesome story that connects back to friends and the last post as well, so it'll be really...fulfilling. Emotionally. Mentally. Spiritually...I'll throw some Greek references in there to get that one), I was going through some of my things around the house (which is FILLED with things, so what I'm really saying is "I was going through the GOOD things"), and I found my old collection of Magic: The Gathering cards. My mom and I used to buy them because we liked the artwork (she stole all the awesome faerie cards...lame), and I found out that I can sell them for quite a bit of money, maybe close to $1k. So I've been going through and organizing them, which took forever, and tomorrow I'm going to post them on EBay and see what I can get for them. However, I was really kind of surprised, because I was so little when I started saving them, I have a huge amount of original addition cards, and then a ratio of about 8:1 common to rare. But then I add in the fact that a bunch of the cards are no longer printed because they're so old, and some of the common ones become rare too, and I get about fifty-fifty split between "ehhh" cards and "Holy Jeezy-Bit!!!" cards. I'm excited to see what becomes of it all. Plus it might help some with my financial issues and with getting my laptop (which I need to graduate now). So unless you know someone getting rid of a new Mac, with at least a 15" screen and over 200 Gb of hard drive space, and a really good processor - my money is being saved up for that and a Dremel set with a better Dremel and parts than I have right now. And once ALL that is taken care of, I'll also be looking for some fancy tropical hardwood scraps (Purple Heart, Ironwood, etc.) and other really nice wood scraps so I can make some more awesome stuff with the Dremel. I'm excited.

And now a fun story to make up for the not-as-much-fun card story: In my last post I mentioned a box of art supplies. Well, last night around 2Am I went through all of it just to see what there was. It's an amazing array of treasures! There's a bunch of fun paint, threads, needles, transparency paper, balsa wood, copper wire, brass wire, plastic sheets, and gold spray paint which I have an idea for on a ring. There's also a couple tools and supplies that I have no idea what to call or use on, so I'm going to guess at their uses until I give in and ask a friend. It'll be fun to figure it out on my own if I can though. But exploring the box wasn't the most interesting part of the night: there was a jar of metallic gold acrylic paint with the lid askew, and being obsessive at time like last night, I needed to fix it. So I took off the lid, and when I tried to put it back on I dipped my fingers into the paint. When I tried to wipe off the paint, as tired as I was, I just spread it over both my hands and I had to walk around the house for twenty minutes trying not to Midas Touch anything so I could clean the paint. It's the type of thing I would do. But it was also kind of fun - I did of course touch a few things on purpose. So I'm very excited to go and have more fun in my box in the days to come.

Well that is about it, but I don't want to leave you hanging, so I'm going to leave you with something you might enjoy: two songs from the new VNV Nation album, "Of Faith, Power, and Glory"

Sentinel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUdYhkgPfcc

Defiant - http://twiturm.com/j4rz

Cheers,

Shadow of Light

Never Letting Fate Decide

Ok, I'm letting you know ahead of time, this is going to be a long post. Probably.

I have a fair amount to cover in this but I'll start with the most important parts and work my way down in importance. But nothing is not important, I want to clarify that, there's just levels of great importance. They're all important.

Soooo....

Yesterday: (go off the date this is posted) Yesterday was super fun, I went with some friends walking across the Golden Gate with sushi afterwards. The walk was really nice, the weather was awesome too sunny and warm but not murderously hot and there was of course a breeze. Perfect weather. So we walked across the bridge and back and took pictures and talked. Fun. We had sushi for lunch at a place that serves the sushi on little gold boats that go around a lazy river. Sushi is always fun, but it's even more fun when you have to hunt your sushi roll in a parade and then grab it before it goes around again. It's probably not that hard to do, but if you don't know your sushi really well then you have to stay focused on what you're going to grab. Although there's always the possibility of grabbing a not-so-good roll, which we did. Twice. But lesson learned, don't eat bleached tuna, and don't eat the brown seaweed salad roll (that's not what they are btw, I don't know what they're called, but that's a fair description). But it was all very delicious and fun, even though some of the sushi pretended to be tasty. After sushi we went back to the apartment and had tea and played a very interesting game of scrabble and watched videos on youtube and i got to pick up a long-awaited box of art supplies. That was about it. I'll probably rewrite this paragraph later when I'm not trying to do fifty other things at the same time.

So that was my awesome yesterday, and there is much much more to write about, but I need to leave right now. I will post again later tonight (my tonight might end after your tonight, time runs in a different spectrum for insomniacs).

I'll leave you with something fun for now though:

To the songs that sing of glory and the brave

Are we dreaming there are better days to come?

When will the banners and the victory parades

celebrate the day a better world was won?

On the day the storm has just begun

I will still hope there are better days to come.

-Sentinel, VNV Nation

Cheers,

Shadow of Light

Veritas Lux

Alright, this post has been a while coming. I think. I actually don't remember when my last real post was. Hmm...

SO! I had a good weekend, and so far a pretty good week too.

Weekend: I think I went somewhere. Oh! I saw Star Trek. Again. I did some work on my ring, finally got it down to what it needed to be. And I might have done some other stuff too. Like craved a Vamp. Actually I do that everyday. I know I did something else but I totally can't remember it, because I was bored over the weekend but I know I found something to do. Sorry.

Week: I had coffee with a friend in Pacifica on Monday, after I walked around the city fo four hours trying to kill time. I saw two other friends while I was walking around, one I ran into at the ocean and the other while I was walking. It was fun. Then I had coffee with my friend, and came home to finish the last episode of the first season of True Blood online. OHHHHHH!!!!! That's what I did over the weekend! I got hooked on True Blood. It's a rather interesting show. Gave me something to do anyways. I went to a group interview at Barnes and Nobles today, and I'm hopefully going to get a job there. See? I'm not pessimistic ^_^

So that was my morning. And I'm up to date! Oh, and I finished my ring today, so now I have a solid ebony ring that looks pretty cool. It's given me some other ideas of things to do, although I think I really do need to get the appropriate tools instead of making do, because yesterday I shoved the engraving bit of my Dremel into my finger. It's pretty much microscopic, but because the Dremel is a rotary tool and the engraving bit is so tiny, it basically spins your flesh into a different position on a very small level but hurts like Hell.

But it's all good, because now I have the ring, and it fits, and it's pretty awesome for a first try. I engraved Veritas Lux around the edge of the ring, and then oiled the wood to keep it looking sharp. I'm happy with it, but I also hope to do a better one in the future with some more tools. I love the Dremel.

That's about it. It's before 9, I'm not really...together...in my head.

Cheers,

-Shadow of Light

Soooo.....

...ya. Probably my shortest post ever. Just found out there's pretty much no way I'll be able to go to the VNV concert this month. It's ok though, I'm sure they'll be back in San Francisco sometime in the next five years. I'm totally fine with it, not bothered at all.

-Shadow of Light

I Lost Myself

... in shapeless oceans

Whose depths concealed more than they showed

Beliefs obscured by mists around them

A legacy they'd been bestowed

Guess. No, not VNV Nation, try again. Assemblage 23. If you looked up the lyrics before reading this sentence, umm, fail - I always give you all the info about songs. Really, you should trust me more. And just to prove it, I'm going to spill early. The lyrics are from the song 'Divide', by aforementioned A23. It's not of the more recent songs, but seeing as I have every album, I'm kind of allowed to pick favourites across the board. It's a privilege, no, a gift. A joyous reward to those chosen few who have seen the light! Or people who also have all the A23 albums. Amen? Nah, don't you dare. I don't like amens. They too often go on for too long, or they just don't have any 'oomph!'. If you want to give a hallelujah, that's totally fine.

Columns of ice paint awkward pictures

Distorted forms that once seemed real

Engulfed inside transparent textures

Billowing curtains as hard as steel

I figured I'd give you all a break from VNV Nation, I've talked about it for two really long posts, and going on forever on a single topic is something I do often (if you haven't noticed). BUT I didn't want to leave you with just menial replacement info, so I've picked another band that has some pretty meaningful lyrics. Plus, I figured I'd do something interesting with the post: give you a fuller taste of the music I'm always talking about. Instead of breaking paragraphs with just a space, I'm putting the lyrics in between. If it bothers you - skip over them and read the posts, and be glad I didn't highlight them, I do enjoy picking the most painful colours.

For all the noise filling the landscape

Whispers & cries with no reply

It's quiet here within these boundaries

And thoughts collect like pools of light

See, after much listening to A23 songs (and I really want you to emphasize that 'much', you have no idea how much I listen to them. Not more than VNV, but still, they're in my top five), I've noticed a significant detail in A23 songwriting compared to other artists. When you look at the lyrics of any song, it's an actual poem, stanzas and everything. If you're a fan, you probably know this, good for you, you'll learn nothing from this post. Now, admittedly, the music I'm particular to is very vocal centric, and poetry and music do go hand-in-hand, A23 songs are unique in that every song is written with meaning and intent similar to most VNV Nation songs, but also uses some rhyming pattern (iambic pentameter, etc. and not every song).

My eyes divide the sky

As sirens sound in heaven

My will brings down the moon

shatters it to pieces

I've written poetry before (lots), and its kind of difficult, unless of course you're doing Dr. Seuss, which I've also done, and it's only easier in that grammar sort of goes out the window. And writing one or two or three poems, it's been done, and it's not something you need super powers for. But I would like to compare A23 songs with William Blake's 'Song's of Innocence' and Song's of Experience'. Specifically because they are both very large collections of poetry, A23 has 6 full length albums out, with added EP's and that's quite a bit of music and writing over the course of not too many years. But it's not just about the poetry, it's about the meaning.

The silence grew inconsequential

The day became a paradigm

A thousand years, a hundred decades

An arbitrary slice of time

Let's face it, life is nothing without meaning. I mean, you can't do anything without meaning. Things can happen without meaning. Things can be indirectly affected by meaning, but meaning is what gives us cause to do everything we do.

I found myself with no companion

but the salty earth and sky

And suddenly there came my focus

The world around me clarified

That's it, I'm totally done rambling. Actually, I'll be honest, I forgot my whole line of thought. Interesting. Well, I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. Sorry, it just totally left me while I was pasting the lyrics. So I guess I'll fill you in on the other whatnot.

My eyes divide the sky

As sirens sound in heaven

My will brings down the moon

shatters it to pieces

Today I got a call from two of the companies I put applications out to and I have interviews scheduled next week. Finally.

And so I walked in isolation

Hoping solace would cross my path

Ignored the road that lay behind me

And stepped away from the aftermath

I also did more work on the super awesome ring I'm working on. I got the hole through it. I know, it doesn't seem like a whole lot, but ebony is a really brutal wood. I used a drill for part of it, just to get a hole big enough to start sizing the ring, and and the bit was SUPER hot, which I of course found out by holding it. Smooth.

I lost myself in shapeless oceans

Whose waters turned from dark to clear

I floated there, a tiny island

With no more doubt, with no more fear

After I finished that much on the ring, I stopped working on it for the day o give my Dremel time to charge (again), and ordered a pizza for lunch. I got the 'Everest' from Extreme Pizza (I like to live on the edge), and it was pretty good. I debated watching a movie, and settled on watching 'Live Free or Die Hard' for the 30th time, and enjoyed it again. It's a fun movie. Bruce Willis. Jusin Long. Timothy Olyphant. Mary Winstead. It's just so much fun!! And that was pretty much my day. I think I might re-watch 'He's Just Not That Into You' tomorrow. Another fun movie. Mostly. Not as much fun as '10 Things I Hate About You', which is pretty much always fun. But still. It's fun.

My eyes divide the sky

As sirens sound in heaven

My will brings down the moon

And shatters it to pieces

One day I think I'm going to surprise everyone who reads this and make a really short post. Like one paragraph. Until then, I'm going to grab a drink and start work on another story, I decided tonight to put the one I've been working on hold. It has a good plot, and honestly, I still know how the entire thing goes, I could have it finished in a week, but that's one of the reasons I don't want to work on it, I already solved it. It's finished in theory and there's no drive. Oh well. Plus, I don't want to do the whole spiritual thing in that story, life hasn't put me in the mood in recent months. I need something a little more visceral. So that's tonight's plan. Funny, I also had a totally awesome question to ask earlier and I was going to post it, but I forgot that as well. Hmmm...

Tonight's song 'Divide', was brought to you by Assemblage 23. You may listen here:

http://twiturm.com/fy4j - 'Divide', by Assemblage 23

Cheers,

Shadow of Light

Of My Acts...

...I will admit, I've no pretensions.

I've no regrets for all the things that I have done.

My faiths, to me, are as foundations.

None has the right to judge my soul but me.

Ok, so this is me redoing my blog post from earlier today, and NO, I didn't delete it because of blasphemy. I deleted it for other much worse reasons. I'm over it though. Plus! Now I can incorporate lyrics from an unreleased VNV Nation song! ^_^ These lyrics are from the song 'Precipice' also off the Reformation 01 album (and it was released on the album, so I guess the song is a released, unreleased version, yes?).

So, let me re-hash for you the things that have happened over the last few days. Yesterday I fixed a fax machine by plugging in the phone line. Really interesting work, took me forever *eye roll*.

On Saturday though!!!! (I'm making this part far more exciting than it seemed in the previous post that you no longer have access to because it's deleted. Mea culpa.) I went out with with my friends who I don't see often enough (Mauahahahahaha, you'll have to guess which ones!!!!). It was so much fun, we had icecream, and cookies, and threw nickels off of the balcony at cars! Oh lack-a-day, what a night!

I'm sorry, that's totally the wrong day and friends, that was Friday and that was Jeezy Bit and I over at Clive Owen's place. Oh, Jesus and Clive...they brighten my spirits. Speaking of spirits, I recommend you don't challenge the holy one to a contest drinking them - he has incredible alcohol tolerance!!!

No the day I meant to mention, was even more fun than throwing sinners at cars. Sorry, nickels *cough*. It was a lot of fun. We went to Kitaro in SF for sushi (OMG Sushi!!!), then we had cake from *scribble scribble* bakery (it was delicious), and THEN we headed over to Twin Peaks and did the whole tourist thing: didn't take any good pictures. Actually, we did take a few good pictures, and maybe more than I realize, I only saw the pictures I took. I should totally post one on here!!!! Yaaaaa...later. Anyways, the entire night was super fun and filled with laughs.

Then we all headed over to my place and the whole adventure, party thing sort of...ended? OH and we had tea! With the cake. Earlier.

You've probably noticed while reading variuos posts on this blog that I don't much care to do what the rules of grammar tell me to. I just don't see following rules when the stuff I'm writing is just pulled from thin air to begin with. It's kind of sad. English is one of my strong suits, and you don't see it here. On this blog.

Too bad for you, MUAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!! And today I went back to the mall area to check on all the places i dropped off applications to and haven't gotten accepted into (Lame!) and really enjoyed myself, because it was something I haven't done at all in the last few weeks (If you missed the sarcasm, it actually is something I've done in the past few weeks, and quite frequently. Like every-other day. It totally blows). But what doesn't blow is the secret menu at Jamba Juice. I'd previously ordered and mentioned the Thank You Jesus, which is really quite good, but today I ordered a White Gummy Bear (it's the only gummy race they serve, I'm thinking about suing for gummy racism), and it was pretty good. It's a weeeeee bit sweet. But pretty good.

On other news, I had two bars of chocolate from Vampire.com with me from school that I'd kept very well preserved (had trouble with the wrappers, they got water on them T_T), and on Saturday I gifted one for two reasons: I like sharing, it makes me happy and fills a void from a part of my childhood I can't remember, AND I didn't have time to buy a pineapple, although, if you know me, it's pretty safe to assume that I still would have gifted the chocolate with the pineapple. So now I only have the one bar left (this isn't a bad thing), and I can't wait to eat it!!!!! I've tried on several occasions to eat it, but it just turns into the same situation as when I try to eat an apple fritter. Every time I pick up the chocolate bar, I get ready to open it, an I burst into a fit of romantic song directed at the chocolate bar, while waltzing around the kitchen, and it all ends with me putting it back in the fridge, and slowly closing the door while warbling out the last notes of song. It's very aggravating. I want my chocolate bar! It's that simple! I mean, I'll be honest, I don't dislike singing My Little to a chocolate bar, and I definitely am not against doing the waltz at any time, but the whole "I don't get to actually eat the chocolate bar", well, it kind of pisses me off.

Ok, well I just stumbumelled don the stairs here at home...again. Not THAT does piss me off. Over the last year, I've had more and more occasions of getting dizzy for no reason and falling (making me a very fun target for klutzy people, the haters). Don't get me wrong, I never get hurt falling down the stairs, not in years, I do it all the time actually and I'm pretty good at the whole "landing" bit of it, and keeping my neck away form the actual stairs. I've even been known to do it on purpose. But when it's not on purpose it's really irritating. Of ALL the times I do get dizzy, most of them line up with walking, being near 'poky' objects (i.e. the fricken blackberries in the yard), the stair case, and very hard objects. I think it has something to do with the never ending headache, and the nose bleeds. Others think that it's because I don't pay attention. Honestly, it's probably a bit of the latter. But ONLY a bit. Speaking of all that, I'm supposed to have had a cat scan like 8 months ago...I totally forgot. Oh well, the school Dr. should have emailed me like I asked, aye?

Oh, today I also did some more work on two ongoing projects I have. One is a wood ring, made out of ebony, and hopefully will turn out pretty ultra awesome (or just really stupid looking), and the other is a shell pendant for my aunt, which should almost definitely turn out, ehh, pretty good. I need a much more specific Dremel bit for what I'm trying to do, this whole mix-and-match stuff isn't working as well. (Jewelry is my thing, woot.)

Finally: I went to FYE today to see if I had enough money for the VNV Nation concert...no. Oh well, maybe after next week or something! I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope!!!!!!!!!!!! Eeeeeeh!!!!!

Alright, well I'll leave you with something good then I'll check out and do my thing. So, what to leave you with? Pictures? No. A poem? Don't have time. Art work? mehh, you have to be super special to be part of that (so if you are part of it, you can consider yourself super special). Hmmm......Oh! I know!

Here:

http://twiturm.com/pdsr - 'Seeming Reflection', by Moonbeam

http://twiturm.com/p7xd - 'Beloved', by VNV Nation

http://twiturm.com/whgd - 'As It Fades', by VNV Nation

Cheers,

-Shadow of Light