God's honesty: Parable of the Weeds

I don't usually feel like God speaks to me when I read the Bible.  Not like, "Hey Steve, here's what you need to know about me..."  It's usually a feeling or a sense of new understanding, just not a literal phrase or sentence.

Last night was a different story however, thanks to some great friends and the NET version of Matthew 13:24-30.  I'm not talking something audible, but it was as close as I'm comfortable with experiencing.

The insight for this came from the note in verse 25 on the nature of weeds.  I had always understood weeds in the context of what they look like here in west Michigan, maybe a poke weed or a thistle.  The weed being referred to here though is probably darnel, or ζιζάνιον (zizanion), if you can read Greek (I cannot).

Darnel is a plant that looks very similar to wheat, but is poisonous.  First, this tells me that it's not so easy to separate the good from the bad, and it makes the world a very real place.  Not ideal.  That shouldn't be news to anyone.

My sentence from God came as a clarification to the problem of evil in the world.  It is very easy to look at the desolation and hurt and pain in the world, and ask, "how could there be a God who would let this happen?  Does s/he even care?"  That's a very reasonable question to ask.  I'm not going to give you a proof for why God exists or doesn't, that can't be done, and it frustrates me to no end.  What I will do is tell you something about God, if you believe her/him to exist.  God is honest.

If you believe God exists, then occasionally you will bump into something in the Bible that seems morally questionable if God is God.  If God is love, mercy and kind.  I'm going to ask that you suspend your human perspective on morality, because frankly, you don't have an eternal perspective, or even a 7th dimensional perspective (you can bet I wish for even a 5th dimensional perspective every day).  Don't suspend your idea of morality forever though, you can have it back later, you will need it to remain human.

In verses 28 and 30, God says to me, "I know there is evil, and I know you see it.  I see it too.  But this is my plan, despite how it may not make sense and hurt from your perspective."  He says: "An enemy has done this."  "Let both grow together until the harvest."

In this instance, in this parable, in this story, I hear God saying to me: "I know.  I know.  This is the decision I have made from my perspective, it might not make sense from yours.  You will have to fight to grow in the midst of a weed filled world.  You will struggle to receive the sunlight you need.  You will compete for water with the weeds, but in the end, I know the wheat and I know the darnel.  I'm going to gather you into my barn."

I hear an acknowledgment from God that the world is a confusing place, but that he's letting us grow this way for now:

‘An enemy has done this...in gathering the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.'

 I don't understand why s/he's doing it this way, but God isn't hiding it either.  S/he's honest with us about it.

I am a cynical Christian

I am cynical.  I am occasionally bitter.  Despite this, I love people, really love them, even if I hurt deeply and don't do it as well as I'd like.  I fight intellectual elitism in myself, and idealism in churches.  Let me unpack that.

Isn't cynicism bad?  Doesn't it hurt and cause loss of intimacy and trust?

Yes, it can be and it does.  It can be borne of doubt when that doubt is ignored and swept under the rug, or worse, ridiculed.  A doubt that is raised and scorned, or decried as weak faith can bear a crop of cynicism.

Cynicism can be cultivated over an extended period of time if doubts are not shared, or if the individual is not comfortable raising them among their friends or family.  Ignoring the existence of doubts, instead of cultivating and addressing, or even encouraging them can be caustic, especially over time.

Intellectual elitism
Cynicism and intellectual elitism, in particular, can be a response to the anti-intellectualism that is plaguing churches today.  It is part of the religion vs science "debate" and makes a mockery of both, in its misunderstandings of both.  Elitism however, is a poor weapon to fight anti-intellectualism, as it alienates and divides further.

Empathy, dialogue and gentle explication are a far better tool to reach those who feel threatened by "science".  Much of my cynicism and need to be elitist has been curbed by having conversations and dialogue with other Christians about what science is and what it means to me.  The friendship of a Christian in science can often dispel misunderstandings and the belief that the two callings are mutually exclusive.

Of course, dialogue means entering into conversation without expectation of a changed mind/heart/attitude from the other person.  Useful dialogue is often just that--an exchange of ideas that often leads to no change, other than a deeper trust or respect.

Idealism
Idealism is another point of contention that cynics have with the church.  It can be thought of in this way:

“God will never give you more than you can handle.” Some Christians dispense this phrase with such regularity that one would think it comes from Scripture (I think it is actually a distortion of Paul’s words on temptation in 1 Cor. 10:13). The opposite, however, seems to be more biblically true—God at times gives us way more than we can handle in order to drive us into a deeper dependence on him (“. . . we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. . . . But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead”—2 Cor. 1:8-9).

Idealism oozes out of our pulpits in the form of empty platitudes and trite sentimentality. It seeps out of well-meaning lips in hospital rooms and funeral parlors as we stretch for something cheery to say in the face of sickness and death. A great deal of sermon material can only work in safe and sanitized suburbs.

--the Gospel Coalition

It is no wonder that it's hip to be cynical as a pushback to idealism.  Anyone who is honest can see that we don't live in an ideal world.  How often do we pretend that our churches aren't filled with hurting confused people?  We can't hide here either.  Cynicism acknowledges this, but to be useful, it needs to move past it into hope.  Unfortunately, hope is hard.  Hope is hard when there are innocents being killed and raped.  Hope is hard when politics seem like just another vehicle for powerful people to make farcical decisions to advance their careers and names.  Hope is hard.

What now?
Despite the difficulty of hope, I'd rather trade my cynicism for hopeful realism, and embracing the reality of a world and a church that are not ideal.  Because when you're cynical, it's hard to care about solutions.

In case you wonder how dark a journey can be that results in hopeful realism, let me share something that I wrote recently to a friend:

My worry in penning this though is that it is satisfying some dark, human desire to seem realest-of-the-real to those that would read it, and somehow think better of me. For truly, that is what i desperately want. Still and always. This is why grace is difficult and why i distrust myself ever to receive it, because in my heart i know (think) that i don't need it. And I'm terrified that i will always feel this way. Calvinism and evangelicalism and the words of men/friends have no balm for this. I must admit it, i hate (have?) faith. i do not understand it and i do not trust it. i am suspicious of it. Its supposed simplicity and guilelessness seem nearly nefarious. What kind of Christian dares to say or think that? i'm no longer sure. God, this is hard. How does this happen?
...

My conception of faith stems from Hebrews: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  This is problematic, because I find it difficult to be confident in something I'm hoping for.  I guess that's the nature of faith: it must be blind.  I don't know if it's faith that I hate, or if it's the fact that so few Christians have a problem with it.  That, to be a good Christian, you must just be happy about faith, and the deeper your confidence in it the better...it just strikes me as false when I observe blind, unquestioned faith.  I guess it feels like a cop out: "oh, I have faith, therefore I don't have to think about what that means... "Basically what you [my friend] said:

"When people talk about what God is teaching them through doubt, I have never understood that.  Mostly, I wonder how full the glass has to be to tip the scales and "count" as faith."

Yeah! WTF?  I think my problem is excessive cynicism and distrust...that kind of hurts the faith idea too.

 It was a low point for me, but I don't think it's faith that I hate.  Faith is still tough for me, and I hope that at some point it's tough for everyone, because that means you care about getting it right, or at least better.  I still think the answer is Jesus.  It may be a buzzword, but hopeful realism is transforming my cynicism.  Just being able to say that helps.

Jim Wallis says it this way:

Faith enables us to act in hope, despite how things look, and that's what can help make change finally occur and change how things look.

Reading
Is Christian Cynicism a Spiritual Sickness?
Putting Off Cynicism
The Post-Cynical Christian
7 Ways to Stop Being Cynical About Church
Post-Cynical Christianity
On Christian Cynicism
Embracing ‘Hopeful Realism’: Why Cynicism Is a Dead End and Idealism a Farce

The coldest, most delightful wood

Some days after work I just want to read and drink hot apple cider. Yesterday was one of those days. But I'm glad it didn't work out that way. You see, yesterday I got to help my friend usher in a new stage in his life.

It started a week or two ago. He said he'd like help on his engagement and that he'd bought a ring, and it was only a matter of time. I said, "anything!"
That brings us to two days ago, planning for a day later in the week. I would photograph his proposal secretly! Then a day later, in the afternoon, plans change: "can we do this today?"

Engage hyper drive: complete errands on the way home, and pick up lens from a friend with 20 minutes to play around with it. Everything in place finally.

Plans fail immediately, and I lose them on the way there.  Hopefully they don't see me pull in the parking lot.  I stall to make sure I arrive late enough.  Next problem: how do I carry my tripod, camera and the ring box, while xc skiing?  Split-second decision: poles are for the weak.

Let me paint a picture for you.  A tall, gangly, Carhart suit, ski mask wearing man skis along alone clutching a small box, tripod and camera bag.  He hurtles along the trail, up and down hills rather bumpily and without decorum or grace, because he is at least a year out of practice.  Luckily, he meets no one on the trails.

Having reached my destination, I clear snow away to create a small spot out on a bench under a light pole and place the hand-made box down gently, containing a sparkly, shiny diamond ring.

Ninja-mode engage.  I am become the woods.  I am the snowflake that nestles on the logs and leaves and branches.  I am all snowflakes and I am none of them.  Well off the trail, I ditch my skis and settle behind a snow covered, frozen pile of brush.  In between two light-bathed trees lies the snow covered bench of destiny.  My camera and borrowed lens sit atop the tripod, waiting in anxious anticipation.  I take some test footage and admire the beauty that is a lonesome, cold bench in a sea of trees cracking, bending and whining from the cold wind.

I lie in wait for my prey, patting down a bed for myself in the snow.  As they come up the trail, I press record, pray, and lie down, peeking periodically to make sure they're in the frame.

My friend suavely pulls over and begins brushing the snow off the bench making room for his beloved.  They sit, an awkward task with skis and she notices the box.  BAM! I lie in silence, listening to the wind and the trees and the snow crunching.  There is cold, and there is bliss--I don't notice the cold.

Adorable engagement shenanigans occur, and eventually they call to me.  The jig is up, I am discovered, and I greet the exultant couple.  Much later, I treat myself to hot apple cider and a book--Schrödinger's Cake?

Bri

There are many words that I can use to describe a relationship I've had for over 80% of my life. The picture above does a very good job though, without uttering a syllable.

Two boys sit in kayaks under a bluebird sky in the chill August waters of Lake Huron. One is yellow, bright as a banana and similar in shape. The other is bathed in blue, green and yellow, fading twice in a continuum of color.

We constructed sails from a dutch golf set and broom with garbage bags. Matching the creativity in games imagined and played over the years is the competitiveness with which we play them. It's funny how important it becomes to win a game that was conceived of mere seconds ago, but it's been foundational to our friendship over the years. I used to get truly mad at him in middle school.

Never content to just make something, we use our new "sailboats" for sport. Paddling out past the breakers, we align our vessels for shore and pick a large rock as the finish line. The no-paddle rule is in effect as we let the wind carry us and cleverly "steer" with our paddles to arrive on shore first. We're more pushed by the waves than any effect the wind may have had, but it's a clear and definitive victory for one of us. Our sailing prowess is unmatched by the other and to the victor belong the spoils. And the next day comes with seven more invented games with seven more victors. [Note to the reader: the last two sentences are best read dripping in sarcasm.]

As we've grown older our competitive streaks have subsided...somewhat. They'll never be gone completely though, as board games continue to show. I can't stay mad long though. Since we're still friends I presume the same goes for Brü.

Every time we get back together, after being separated by hundreds of miles and hours of interstate, we can pick up right where we left off from. Just writing this makes me yearn to mosey back to Hudsonville and sit in a basement to play games with Brian, Scott and Jeff. Ah well, you can't always get what you want.

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson in His Journals

Those who ride pandas

For those who ride pandas to battle,
harness something fierce 'neath the saddle.
The black and the white,
they cause such a fright.
Because sometimes you need to kick a pack of wolves to death.

Only seeming to live on bamboo,
whose G.I. tracts are talented: poo.
They might be a blight,
people flee on sight.
Because pandas will knife you to death if you're not careful.

A general once said to his captains,
"A panda did make me these napkins."
His stitches were tight;
they came out just right.
But it turns out that now he just sells refrigerators.

But this poem doesn't make any sense,
pandas aren't even very intense.
Don't bring them to fight,
just buy them a kite.
But they can totally only barely throw a frisbee.

Inspiration credit to Luc LaFreniere

Set to music

0.6 Yparticles

A mole once emerged from her hole.

She rolled out to go on the dole.

Though fat as a slug, she outweighed the bug,

and never got any money from the government.

German reggae: Seeed

I've listened to a few of the songs off Seeed's most recent album, but finally came across this gem a few days ago, a full year after its release. Augenbling. The song jumped into my bones the first time I heard it and I had to immediately buy a physical copy of the music! Gotta support those that make the good stuff :)
I'll be bumping to work with Seeed for the foreseeable future.

It took but a day or so to notice that there is also an English version called "Blink blink". I was pretty impressed to hear how fluid the lyrics are in both versions. The French singer/rapper from Niger, Féfé, is featured on the English version.

Long story short: Seeed is bringing reggae/dancehall to the next level. To be fair, I don't know enough about reggae/dancehall to know what the current level is...but I'm fairly sure this is a paradigm shift.

The English version for those interested:

Sloats and Frains: Genesis

I wake up in my one room apartment with the sun drenching my face, prying my eyelids open. Yesterday was a whirlwind of miles in cars and planes, across timezones and an ocean.

My supervisor, Dr. Heckmann, came by in the evening to make sure that I had arrived and was settled. We went for a bit of a walk, and found a payphone for me to call my family and reassure myself with their voices. I went to sleep feeling more comfortable with the unknown...now that it was a little more known. And Nutella. They bought me some food for the weekend, giving me my first experience with the rich, creamy, chocolatey, smooth Haselnuss perfection that is Nutella. In fact, supper on jam and Nutella sandwiches was not uncommon...

The morning was warm, bright and sunshiny. I leave the apartment a few minutes after 9, to do some of the exploring I had been too tired for the night before. I walk along a stream, over a bridge, along a meadow bursting with yellow wildflowers and past some barns. The path goes over the road into town and is paved with cobblestones, trimmed with cement. The Selz burbles along joyfully before breaking from the path that opens into green, scrubby fields mottled with fluffy, sheepy shapes. The picturesque path will later accompany me on many a run during warm summer nights to Groß-Winternheim and back.

As I walk back into town, St. Remigius' bell tower rings loud and bold, imploring, beseeching and celebrating with parishioners arriving for Pfingsten Mass. The bright, cheery mood fills me too, as I begin to decompress from the terror of exams and the immediacy and rush of a good friend's wedding just days before. There is no rush here. We are on holiday, and I am becoming part of this quiet town, if only for the summer. I glory in my status as local-wannabe.

Song writing/recording

I've been putting together a recording for a little ditty about camping in Mackinaw during years past, that I composed during last summer and fall. I put it together on the ukulele and have the chords figured out as well as most of the lyrics. Some of them need a little polishing and fixing of course. I have the piano chords and inversions figured out and in the computer, so it's just a matter of making sure that I like the tempo, and how the chord progressions sound. I'm getting pretty excited about this "UntitledMackinac" project.

In the last couple days I've also decided to work on a little hiphop/rap project too. Last fall my friend Jenny received a ridiculous voicemail from her dad, caused by a butt dial. The text was pretty funny to read, so I want to set it to a sick (hopefully) beat that I've been working on, and record it as a short rap. I love working on both projects, and I'm ready to be underwhelmed by what I produce...but hey, I've got to start somewhere. It's just hard to find the time to work on them. School is a black hole :)

I received a Behringer UMX-610" midi controller for my birthday, which has been helping, and I've been putting the tracks together using LMMS, the Linux MultiMedia Studio. I may move to a different product in the future, but for now, I'm pretty happy with this setup.

Snark

Photo credit: Mural (Banksy); Aardvark (travelnewsnamibia); Bird on a branch (Dawn Smith); Stars (bitácora de Galileo).
In the dark park sat a lark upon the bark.

Its shadow marked stark against the luminous pockmarked bulwark.

"Hark" remarked the aardvark matriarch set to embark.

"Join me Plutarch, in my arc to the celestial monarch."

Hughes park

Arch linux

I've had to troubleshoot computer issues at work from time to time, and any time I can't handle it I call upon a linux power user who works for our IT guy. He's helped me with installs gone wrong (openSUSE) and when an update resulted in GRUB unable to find the partition table. Now I'm on a Fedora system which should be more stable and has the same libraries and available repositories that I needed. It's also the distribution that the developer of the software I use recommends (I had no experience with it though, thus openSUSE). In any case, we were talking shop about different distributions that we've used, while he was fixing my problems, and he mentioned Arch linux, which piqued my interest.

It's a simple and lightweight distribution (their words) that really teaches you how linux systems/installs work. You need to mount the drives yourself and install the base system, bootloader, users, network and anything else you may want (really useful Life Hacker guide here). One of the best things is that it updates on a rolling release model which is continually upgraded, instead of upgraded by reinstalling for every version.

The first install didn't go well, because I didn't understand exactly how the mounting and base install went. However, the second time through I managed to mount the correct partitions and write the files I needed to the spots that needed them. It was slightly trickier since I'm dual booting with Windows 7 and was installing from a USB key, but I made it work. I also had some issues getting Xorg to work (installed the wrong drivers), but the second time was the charm (Intel drivers). After that it was basically just a matter of installing some fonts and choosing LXDE as my desktop environment.

Eventually my goal is to use this box as an FTP server and be rid of the windows partition completely. I need it for MSPowerPoint in the mean time, so until I can figure out a stable way to display slides I have to keep it. I've been trying to use Wine to install MSPowerPointViewer, but haven't had much success with it yet (guide). It's still very much a work in progress and I'm planning on reformatting the linux partitions I made and trying it again from scratch to get it right the first time.

I'm also still trying to get the hang of the Arch User Repositories for installing things like Packer.

Blast from the CCM past

I stumbled upon a song by the O.C. Supertones from 1999 that I used to listen to on repeat. The song is from their album Chase the Sun.
Nothing catchier than Christian Ska...

Constantly moving...comes to a halt

My roommates and I just completed one of the last parts of our move last night: arranging the kitchen!

It brings to a near-end the saga which began roughly two weeks ago. Our lease ended on July 27 (Saturday), but the new one didn't begin until August 1 (Thursday)...leaving us with no place of our own for a few days.

My dear brother sent me the most uplifting text at the news:

Haha so you're homeless. bummer

Yes, we were homeless. But not to fear, for our new roommate was the fortuitous renter of a townhouse in the same complex we lived in and happened to have a roommate recently vacate.

• Stage 1: Move everything from our place in boxes and other such packing shenanigans, to the empty room on Thursday and Friday nights and cram as much furniture as possible into the interstices while still keeping his place livable for his remaining roommate...mostly successful.


• Stage 2: Apartment preparation and waiting period. We managed to schedule our required carpet cleaning for the morning of the last day we were on the lease, not noticing that we were required to be out and have keys turned over by 10am that day.
  
  After a last minute scramble, we got an extension from our complex until 4pm (latest possible) and had the carpet cleaned just in time. Other things cleaned at the last minute: oven (probably burned out my lungs with the lye in the cleaner and a too-hot oven), fridge, upstairs bathroom, downstairs bathroom (remembered at 3:40pm) and range. We turned in the keys at 3:59pm.
  
  Anything we get back on our deposit will be icing on the cake at this point, since we took the lease over after a few years of damage from the previous tenants (fridge was oil-orange, cabinet doors perpetually greasy etc.) and they left us the deposit money.


• Stage 3: The second move began on August 1, after work. We rented a truck for a few hours, which I had overly much fun driving. It took us just two trips:
  1. large furniture
  2. boxes, boxes, boxes
  with some great help from our new roommate's former roommate.
  
  The lion's share of the move was over at this point, with all of our stuff in the new location (sans a few boxes).

Since then it's been the slow process of clearing floors and re-arranging. My own room was mostly done last Saturday (day following the mass move), and Nate and I had a good start on the kitchen as well.

This brings us to last night (Wednesday, 6 days post move) with the last phase of cabinet filling and utensil placing, mentioned at the start of the post...I'm just so glad it's over and that I can rest when I get home.

Lewis speaks

Its strange to have read a great deal about someone and never heard them speak. Not so strange that it's uncommon, but strange for a figure such as C.S. Lewis. Lewis was a prolific Christian writer and apologist who passed away in 1963. His writing is known by many, but his voice by relatively few.

I found a treasure trove of Lewis audio online though from the Gospel Coalition. If you enjoy his writing and want to hear the apostle to skeptics for yourself I would recommend checking it out.

His accent sounds exactly like what I think of as the prototypical British man in the 1950s. He could just as well be narrating a video clip about some scientific phenomenon or study. I like it.

Goodbye again Grandma Split

I said goodbye to my Grandma Split again this weekend. Home for a wedding, I stopped by her room with my mum and sister, to visit her and Grandpa, who hadn't left her side in days. We talked with Grandpa for an hour or so, and I held her hand and stroked it while listening to her labored breathing. She never opened her eyes, and to be honest I was kind of glad, because the lifeless stare would have been through her eyes, but it wasn't her anymore. I told her I loved her, and that I was back from Pennsylvania to visit her. They said she could hear us, so we talked to her, and with Grandpa too.

Alzheimers had already robbed Grandma of her mind years ago and it had now come back to take her life. It still hasn't quite hit me that she's passed and gone now, but when it does I'll grieve again. I'll grieve for the finality and to know that all of which was her is gone, save what lingers in our memories and the pictures that captured her in time.

I can remember Sunday dinner at their home with the pot roasts, potatoes and gravy, beans and corn with pepper sprinkled over them. I can remember going to her house while mum worked and coloring with her, playing in the den with the shag carpet under her watchful eye while she sometimes played the piano. I remember the camping and the crocheting and the puzzles, crossword and 1000 piece alike. I remember impossibly good baked beans at picnics. I'm thankful for all that I can remember, and I remember grieving with her when memory became hard.

Hers was the story of a dutch girl from Iowa who moved with her family to Grand Rapids and went to Grand Rapids Christian HS when it was the only 'Christian High' in the area and so deserved the moniker. A beautiful young Maliepaard bride, she married my dashing Grandpa and started a family, raising four children and knowing the heartbreak of losing another. Not an extraordinary story, but a true story and a good story. Her story is of faithfulness, faith and family that she carried on her back in an unassuming manner. Her story is echoed and carried on in the hearts of all the honeybunches that she had and held and loved, and who loved her back, and in Grandpa's heart for over 60 years.

Grandma won't get posthumous awards or prizes (as far as I know). Her quiet story is one of many like it but that doesn't make it any less unique or powerful.

Her confusion is gone now. Grandma's not concerned about when she'll go home, or about where home is any more. She is home now. Her mind is at rest with the knowledge of her Savior and she's in his presence. Her mind isn't worn and torn anymore--it's been fixed and renewed.

We love you Grandma and we miss you. We're glad you have your mind back and that it's better than it ever was. We love you bunches and we remember you as the vibrant, creative woman of God you were always meant to be.


I was able to get the audio of her funeral service in which I read this. It was beautiful and it's still a little hard for me to listen to, but it means a lot, so I think it's worth sharing. My cousin plays the piano starting at 22:20. I try my best to read this post at 24:55 and my brother and sister play piano and viola at 28:25.

The north lawn was a letdown

I saw the President's house on Saturday for the first time in person. I was not impressed.

This is roughly what I saw (mouse-over for expectation):


I guess the north lawn is fine, but I was expecting the south lawn, and not to see a street sweeper on the driveway...It all seemed very pedestrian and not suited for a person of the presidential station. Ah well, all things considered, we put the Executive and family up pretty well.

I learned earlier today that the official residence of the South Korean head of state is called the Blue House (Cheongwadae is literally: pavilion of blue tiles). Pretty cool I guess. The grounds are hella tight (below):

Guilty pleasures on repeat

So...I have no shame, and wanted to share it.

My anthems the last couple of days have been 22 by Taylor Swift, Falling in Love by 2NE1 and Bloom by Ga-In.

I dare you to tell me these songs aren't hooky...ridiculously so. And to be honest, I've needed some upbeat music lately.

Also, who's ever heard a Kpop-Reggae-Hiphop track lately that was better than Falling in Love? Ok, it might be the first of its kind.

This strikes me as something that I shouldn't share...I'll be over there fighting a shark to prove I'm still a man, if you need me.

Hiphop recommendations Summer 2013 [Part 2]

My favorites don't really have a theme, don't come from one language, and aren't all that alike. But they're some of my favorites. And they're not even all hiphop. Seeed is reggae/dancehall, for example. I don't put much stake in genre designations though since bands can be described in so many different ways (and hate being pegged to whatever genre is generally agreed upon that they are anyway).

I've been compiling some of my favorite songs for years now really, but it's time to write a little post about them and why they appeal to me. I envision this as a series moving forward that I'll update when I hit 7 or 8 new songs I've discovered. Here is the second part of the first installment (Part One):

10. Cali Swag District -- Teach Me How to Dougie (2011)
    

    This is a perfect dance number, dougie or not. The west coast knows how to draw the females and make the dudes jealous, that much is certain :P. The song and concept are pretty simple, but it really makes me want to dougie...
    The actual dance is an enigma to me, not really surprisingly I suppose. C-Smoove and Yung make it look so easy and effortless. I wouldn't dream of messin' with Bubba's dougie.

11. Lupe Fiasco ft. Talib Kweli -- After All (2008)
    

    Lupe put this out as part of a mixtape with a ton of collaborations. For some reason this track feels a little overproduced, but it ends up working on the whole. The lyrics are pretty deep and draw on a lot of Biblical imagery. I interpret it as a foray into how people derive meaning, drawing on his own thoughts on death and "the end."
    
    LF is a brilliant lyricist and I particularly enjoyed his work on this track, and on his album Lasers.

12. The Coup -- Cars & Shoes (1998)
    

    This seems to be a little deviant from the Coup's typical political rapping, but who cares, because it's hilarious.
    
    Boots expounds on the fact that though his car is a complete lemon, you can walk or you can get in...his car is still better than your shoes, since you don't have one. The jazz flute really completes the delight that I draw from listening to the hilarious lyrics of this track and its über-funky beat. You might put your foot through the floor, might have to use your shoulder to close the door, but my car is still better than your/my shoes.

13. A Tribe Called Quest -- Can I Kick It? (1990)
    

    The Tribe is one of my favorite groups as mentioned before. I think the obvious answer to this song is, "Yes!"
    
    This track is the epitome of early 90's rap with dat funky beat. The music video has charm in spades. It just seems right that Phife Dawg and Q-Tip would just be hanging around, spittin' and asking the same question over and over...yes, yes you can kick it. Please, please, please continue kickin' it.

14. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis -- Thrift Shop ft. Wanz (2012)
    

    My friend and former housemate Adam turned me on to this in December 2012 when I was back home on vacation. At that point it had already been out for a few months (August 28 debut).
    
    It's got mad hooks, a lively sax part, it's a tongue in cheek indictment of consumerism and the beat reminds me of the Fresh Prince theme song. What's not to love? The man can rap, teach and entertain. Haggerty even uses his music to support causes like equal marriage rights, atypical in the rap/hiphop scene.

15. The Coup -- The Guillotine (2012)
    

    Boots is rapping about the power the people have to take down the ruling class, alluding heavily to the French Revolution. He's been clear about his views as a communist, and in search of those pulling the strings behind the Oz-like curtain. He goes after the puppet masters in the track and music video with some very cool imagery.
    
    My favorite magazine, Wired, did an interview with Riley when the video debuted, talking about how the themes of the song fit with his involvement in the Occupy movement.

16. A Tribe Called Quest -- Bonita Applebum (1990)
    

    It's difficult not to include a couple songs from the Tribe on any list...so why fight it.
    
    Bonita is one of the Tribe's well known hits, about a very shapely and seemingly specific young woman.
    
    My favorite line from Q-Tip in this is, "Chairman of the board, chief of affections." The poor Tip seems so smitten that, despite his superficial pleading and desire, I just hope she puts him on.

17. Urbanize (de) -- Glaub an Dich (2008)
    

    This track is ridiculously positive. It repeats that no matter what the world does to you or throws at you, you're still believed in, and you still got this! You've nothing to lose, have courage. :) Sometimes it's nice to hear folks rapping about more than just how awesome they are.

18. Ludacris -- Get Back (2004)
    

    This is a guilty pleasure of mine. I can distinctly remember walking home in high school, after Science Olympiad with this running through my head. I was a pretty angsty teen, so this was probably my anthem, being applied to jocks or something like that.
    
    The song isn't very compelling, since Luda appears to be merely expressing annoyance at yuppies in the club, since he's soooo cool. Kudos to him for doing this ridiculous MTV video with the huge hands. At very least it's a nostalgia enabler.

Head to Part One if you're interested.

Yesterday...

all my troubles seemed to never leave
now it looks as though they've partly gone
Oh, I believe in each new day.

It was kind of comically hilarious how badly yesterday went. It started with a meeting in the morning, frenetic work in the afternoon, couldn't see my girlfriend, was punctuated with an awesome respite celebrating a birthday, then sunk to a super-low immediately before bed, when I realized that I had to present at group meeting in the morning, and hadn't prepared anything yet...

I fell asleep dreading the early morning prep.

The prep came, the prep went, and the presentation went better than expected.

I'm alive, no worse for the wear, and here's a delightful video you should watch.