#bro I have a spiritual experience every time I hear this song live

[binders-and-beanies]

The Wonder Years // Cardinals

[jaehyunsbreadbasket]

NCT DREAM Glitch Mode Album Ranking: An Opinion Piece

In which I review and rank the songs from Glitch Mode based on my first few listens of each. My opinions are subject to change given the fact that some songs take more then 3-5 listens to grow on you.

1. Teddy Bear: 9.5/10

This song accelerated my heart rate just from the intro bro

I didn't expect a song with this title to be a body rolling R&B song, I was expecting a ballad lol

Feels dreamy asf

Heavenly

Mark singing 😩

Straight to the favorites ☝🏽️

I'm feeling the vibe

The falsetto moments after the bridge, I'm fucking floating

This song is a spiritual experience

Their vocals!!!

NCT's vocals have never failed me

2. It's Yours: 8.5/10

Already got me from the intro

I bet you $1,000 Haechan starts this track

Run me my money

This instrumental is hitting

I'm a sucker for a good coffee shop bop

It's mine 💁🏽‍♀️

I'm so obsessed with Jisung's voice

It's good background music, I don't know if any specific part is standing out to me though

3. Saturday Drip: 8/10

I already hate the instrumental

Ik this man did not just say "Me and my clique" 😭💀

The little piano (xylophone?) tune is reminding me of OK!'s instrumental

Does a great job of building up anticipation to the chorus

The video game coin sound was kinda cool

I thought Dream wasn't allowed to use the word "drip" anymore 😭✋🏽

Important question: Do they have drip on other days of the week or only on Saturday?

Yes bridge

"Drip too hard, everybody get back, get back" YES LEE JENO

Rap bridges have a special place in my heart

The "What you doing on the weekend" part 😩

"Baby I love how you move move move" 💃🏽

Main instrumental aside, this song was the moment

4. Rewind: 7.5/10

Sounds a bit retro

Chill vibes

Jisung.

This song has good energy

Parts of the instrumental remind me of church for some reason, idk where it's coming from but it's scratching my brain

Nostalgia? I think yes

The half step up thing (I'm so bad at explaining, my choir teacher would not be pleased lol) they're doing in the chorus is so pretty

I love the cut off at the end, it reminds me of One Direction's Live While We're Young

5. Arcade: 7/10

Okay trap beat 💀

JISUNG VOCALS JISUNG VOCALS

Nice summer vibes

It's like they mixed their old style with their newer style and I like it

This just feels like Dream

Pretty boppy, I'm dancing

Youthful energy

First song I've had positive feelings on so far (In regards to me listening to the album in order the first time around)

THE BRIDGE THE BRIDGE THE BRIDGE THE BRIDGE

Haechan's vocals in this, yes please

Vocalists slayed

6. Better Than Gold: 6.5/10

I had to pause after the instrumental to brace myself, I know this is about to be good

They're having their Bruno Mars 2016 moment

Midway through and I'm starting to think that my expectations were too high lol

Dream has a thing for the days of the week, I se

The end of the chorus 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽

The transition into the bridge was so clean

Renjun stood out here

The chant part after the bridge 😩

"Ladies aye, Fellas aye, everyday, we gon' play" 💃🏽🕺🏻

They way that you can always hear Mark the loudest in their chants lol

"Go-o-o-o-o-old" gets me every time

7. Glitch Mode: 5/10

The intro gave suspense

Kinda like if Ridin' and Hot Sauce had a baby, but that baby was kinda ugly

It's just not hitting the way I wanted it to

They're trying to get me hype but I'M NOT GETTING HYPE

It's not exciting

The music video was visually pleasing though, but that's irrelevant rn

Haechan's high note was too short, give me more

I feel like this needs more Jisung, but idk that might just be a me thing

It's catchy though, so like all of the questionable NCT titles before it (Hot Sauce, Sticker) it'll probably grow on me

Currently I am trying to force myself into liking it, Stockholm syndrome vibes

It's getting a little dance out of me on the 4th listen so I guess it's a grower 👍🏽

The "mmm, mmm" really sticks in your head

8. Replay: 4.5/10

I don't know how I feel about the beat, It's choppy for sure

I'm not liking the "oh oh" chant

More headache inducing content, slayyyy

No thoughts, head empty

I don't know what I think

The second verse is definitely better than the first one

Was Jeno having a little Baby Don't Stop Taeyong moment in that bridge???????

Did that mf just say "Play play play play play"!?!?!?

THIS BREAKDOWN YES

THE SONG IS FINNALY PICKING UP THANK GOD

It's giving Misfit vibes in this bridge

Jeno's raps always hit

The song went back to being boring after that but it's okay because I'm so grateful for that bridge

Spent my whole second listen waiting for that bridge and it didn't even hit the same the second time around 😭😔✋🏽

9. Never Goodbye: 4.5/10

Renjun has such a pretty tone

It's giving Not Alone vibes

I love when raps are happening over soft and sweet instrumental, it's a nice contrast

Besides that, the whole song just kinda ran together for me

It's kinda boring but that's okay ig

Haechan's part in the bridge 👏🏽

The harmony in the bridge is so lovely

10. Drive: 4.5/10

Feels simple and minimalistic

Carefree and fun

The little car lock sound is so cuteeeee

I don't really have any strong feelings on this song, I don't hate it, but I don't absolutely love it though

This song is also pretty boring for me

11. Fire Alarm 2/10

Very noisy

Honestly such a jump scare

The siren is reminding me of the whistle in Sticker, oh no

Not "hop out the coop" 💀💀💀

The siren is ruining it, I actually hate it more than the sticker

It's giving headache

The beginning of the second verse was a nice break from all this chaos

Renjun's "Turn up the music"

So glad I didn't listen to this with headphones

When they said "sorijilleo", they really meant it

Will never listen to this willingly again

Overall Notes: This album has taught me that a good bridge can really save a song and also, Dream has really good bridges. It was a bit of a mess, definitely has some skips in my opinion but there were good times too. I don't think that any of these songs will be big favorites for me in comparison to Dream's other songs but it could definitely be worse.

Extras:

-Can you tell that Jisung is my bias? Lol

-The Glitch Mode MV is nice, but I wish that there was some more even center time for the dance parts in it (I'm aware that the center time will be more even when they perform Glitch Mode live) but to anyone that doesn't stan Dream, it might give them the impression that Mark, Jeno, and Jaemin are the only members that dance well, which simply isn't true

-I tried to rank all of these in a critical manner but if we're talking strictly opinion and nothing technical, Better Than Gold and Rewind are my favorites

[trainthief]

hey i'm one of those aforementioned "only-heard-blake-shelton" people - do you have any recs for better country music? i like finding new music but country is hard cause i don't really know where to start

I think the best way to explore any genre is to abandon the feeling that you’re obligated to develop an academic-level base of knowledge in the different foundations and aspects of it. If that’s something that actually interests you then by all means go for it, but despite how pretentious and rude people can get about music, it is at its heart just a form of expression - and while knowing which specific sounds might have influenced others can enhance the listening experience for some people, it’s not like there’s a prerequisite course load you need to take before you can start telling people you like country music at parties. 

Anyway, that point aside, here’s some basics: country itself is a really broad concept, and was initially defined more by its ideology and source than any specific structural musical qualities that it tended toward (although its creation was most heavily influenced by Irish, Mexican, and African musical traditions). The common use of instruments like guitars, banjos, and fiddles is more to do with the ease of accessibility and portability for poorer Americans of the late 1800s, who - especially in the West - tended to be at least somewhat nomadic. Thematically speaking, it was most often centered around the experiences of blue-collar workers, including but not limited to cowboys. Subsequently, it has suffered under the combined efforts of corporations and politicians to market a parody of rural America’s own culture right back at them, and that’s why - especially if you’re only in your 20’s or younger - it’s very possible your knowledge of it is defined by commercialized Bro Country (which in my opinion is almost always antithetical to the actual spirit of country music itself, and also from a musical perspective tends to be uninteresting bullshit). 

As far as subgenres go, the ideas quickly become so vague that it’s really up to the listener to decide how they want to categorize their music. Region and era can influence sound quite a bit, so that’s one way. Subject matter is another. Actual musical structure is a further one. I’m not going to bother and try to give you a comprehensive idea of all the options, because that’s impossible to do in anything shorter than an essay. Instead I’ll just fill you in on some of my favorites, and some song suggestions to go with them: 

Country Music You’ve Been Listening to This Whole Time Without Knowing It: this is an easy one to start with. Lots of folk music is also country music, whether you were aware of it or not. James Taylor, John Prine, John Denver, Bob Dylan…. You’ve been here this whole time. 

Outlaw Country: Tends to be either dark or mournful, but regardless it’s dramatic and fun. Usually framed around some fictional crime the singer has committed, which they have either been sentenced for or are on the run from. Good examples are Kate McCannon by Colter Wall, Mama Tried by Merle Haggard, Late July by Shakey Graves, Gallows Pole by Willie Watson, and Hell’s Canyon by Lost Dog Street Band

Spirituals: I’m definitely not going to tell you how to feel about religion itself - but given that music has been such a deeply rooted part of spiritual expression for as long as we’ve recorded history, and has very often evolved in tandem with or in response to religious movements, I think you’re really cutting yourself off from some good tunes if you try to ignore it entirely. Johnny Cash’s later stuff, especially, has the same dark overtones of his earlier Outlaw music but with the addition of gospel stylings and a religious severity that comes together in a way that’s honestly just straight up sexy to listen to. Ain’t No Grave and Redemption Day are probably the best two examples of this. On the other side, there’s the simplistic and heartfelt kind of spiritual country found in stuff like Hank Williams’ I Saw the Light, or I’ll Fly Away as performed by Gillian Welch, which I find really moving. 

Honky Tonk: On the subject of Hank Williams, honky tonk is really fun music, and I deeply resent the fact that it’s been incorporated into the classist caricature of rural stupidity. At its heart, honky tonk was just designed to be a good time, and the vocal techniques it employs are actually really difficult to master, so it deserves a lot more respect. Hank Williams, in particular, also tends to use it to get right at the heart of subjects I really enjoy (although don’t confuse him with his son Hank Williams Jr, who writes Bro Country and unfortunately seems to be a terrible person). Anyway, Mind Your Own Business is one of his (and one of my favorite personal anthems), and Wealth Won’t Save Your Soul is a powerful one too. Regarding more modern honky tonk, my favorite up-and-coming musician is named Nick Shoulders, and I’d recommend his songs Rather Low and Snakes and Waterfalls. 

Nice Comfortable Country Music Sung By Ladies: this is definitely a genre specific to just me, but it’s a type of music I grew up listening to a lot as a kid and I really love it. Like the title says, it’s just country songs by various very talented women who make you feel like you’re warm and at home. I Have a Need for Solitude by the great Mary Chapin Carpenter, Across the Great Divide by Nanci Griffith, Traveling Alone by Tift Merritt, Angel from Montgomery by Bonnie Raitt, Hammer and a Nail by The Indigo Girls

Poor Boy Blues: again, not a definitive stylistic subgenre so much as it is an opportunity to show off a few different songs of a few different styles that all follow a common and relatable theme, specifically one that is important to the overall genre itself. Dead End Street by Blake Mills, Crop Comes In by Chatham County Line, Thirteen Silver Dollars by Colter Wall, My Rifle My Pony and Me by Dean Martin, Cowpoke by Dave Stamey, Automobile by KALEO

Love And Heartbreak: have you really lived if you haven’t rocked out to Cowboy Take Me Away by the Dixie Chicks? No, you haven’t. You’ll also be happy to hear that I recall a poll that listed Cowboy Take Me Away as being the number one song every cowboy will sing along to on full blast whenever he’s alone. Anyway, there’s also Buddy by Willie Nelson, Crossing Muddy Waters by John Hiatt, Morning by Jim Ed Brown, Every Time I Hear That Song by Brandi Carlile, Gentle on My Mind by Glen Campbell, Kathleen by Townes Van Zandt. 

Experimental: if you’d like to get a little weird with it, I’d recommend The Gold is Deep by The Dead Tongues (which uses some really ambient reverb and a small church organ for a more psychedelic sound), or Familiarity by The Punch Brothers (which compositionally borrows a lot from modern classical chamber music with its rhythmic systems and pacing). 

There’s lots more we could get into here, like bluegrass, slow dancing music, spaghetti western soundtracks, and the fact that not all country pop-rock is bad, but I’ll stop myself here…. If you’re looking for a more general source for a lot of country all at once, here’s my favorite of my country playlists. Hope that was helpful! 

[nobody-knose--archive]

yknow how i go on about not having listened to the solo albums? it’s nat day. i listened to nat. liveblog below

-spooooky ghoooooost

-you know technically this is my first & only 100% complete & utter blind tally hall experience + liveblog. everything else has been an album i've already heard or variations thereupon

-alright well this doesn't sound like tally hall

-hi rob

-boy man this is poppy but it sure is rob's voice singing

-"he don't wanna lose" damn is that a tally hall reference????????/ /j

-this ghost sounds pretty damn relatable

-still sounds like something i'd hear on the radio (derogatory (affectionate))

-does this one have a music video? i'll have to get to those eventually won't i

-oooh funky pronoun shenanigans one of my favorite types of shenanigans

-what baby did rob pick up off the street to provide these backing vocals

-white star??? is that a dw reference???? /j it'd be almost relevant by the time this came out

-i don't know anything about imagine dragons but this reminds me of them

-this is an 80's-ass fadeout

-oh so he's namedropping every track here? just planting the words old bike right in the first verse

-wahoo audio channel shenanigans

-oh there's the hum biddy biddys i heard about

-this is distinctly much less like bicycle race (queen) than i was expecting

-then again i mostly know bicycle race (queen) from lemon demon's cover of it so.

-this does indeed sound like the hawaii part ii of rob cantor

-classic acoustic guitar use. minimal percussion

-nevermind there's the drums & rock guitar everything's changed

-now it sounds like some actual tally hall stuff

-whomst

-guest vocals? i should've seen them coming but didn't expect any in this song at least

-oh there's that lyric. i've seen it plenty of times & always had to imagine what it sounded like

-this in fact indeed giving me 1985 vibes

-is that the year rob was born? it'd be near then at least

[following that comment was an exchange between me & june about birthdays. it told me rob’s born in 1983 but ross was born in 1985 so maybe rob made a tribute to his old bandmate. who knose <3]

-those drums. those synths. he's really going for the 80s alright

-i feel like i'm gradually forgetting this is an album by rob cantor, yellow tie of tally hall

-see, hawaii part ii was produced to the point of feeling unfeasible & unintended for live performances. but this album hits a middle ground where it's like, if this were done by anyone other than rob cantor of tally hall, it could be done live, but it's just rob cantor, not of tally hall, making an album himself, so i just know nothing about this would ever be done live. it's an interesting effect

-this album needs more tmbg influence

-this sounds less like going purple than i was expecting, which can apply to both the whole album & this song right here

-i recognize that voice from hawaii part ii

-i think? i need to check the credits

-stephanie? no not her. the lady from black rainbows?

-i'm blanking on her fuckin name it's on the tip of my tongue

-madison?? alison??? no alison hanna is from another song god what is her name

-yeah madi diaz thanks june

-i don't even know if that's actually her that's just who she sounds like

-what's interesting about this song is (just like hawaii part ii) tally hall didn't do duets very much but this actually sounds like one

-i promise i won't do hawaii part ii comparisons the whole way through it's just what comes to mind

-good god madi has some good range those are high fuckin notes

-OH GOD

-this is faster than i was expecting

-wow okay. this is no longer a jh song alright

-sounds like some terraria synths in here. they could actually be in terarria for all i know

-this is the song they've been putting on all these villain playlists?? i couldn't think of a less villainous song if i tried

-oh thank god the tambourine is back i've been starved for it

-i wouldn’t know, i go on even though

-oh this is the one with that really wild music video isn't it. good old acoustic guitar

-i can actually picture this one on a tally hall album. he's being kinda silly with the percussion but the vocals at least. hm

-honestly what intrigues me most is how it's nothing like the asteroid musical pieces + going purple. those are all i knew of rob's solo stuff until now & i'm not picking up on many similarities. oh and the shia labeoufs/christian bale

-damn he's doing the vocal filters again

-i keep thinking i'm hearing zubin somewhere in the background- wait no that's my cat at the door now

-how many shrimps do you have to eat

-alright now this one's just silly. congrats to it for making me laugh

-if that's real whistling in the background there it's just gotta be bora i know this

-if that's real accordion in the background then it's surely also bora

-this sounds damn near like nonsensical spanish- i thought la telanovela was after this? /j

-he just pulled out all the stops for this album. everywhere.

-you know i kinda thought of extreme vibrato/reverb as a joe thing but i'm really hearing a shit ton of it here so maybe it's a rob thing too. or maybe i should listen to jhjh before i make any conclusions

-who. who's this? i absolutely don't recognize this guest singer. not from hawaii part ii presumably then

-if i can say one thing about this album it's that it's absolutely living up to its cover

-so what does this have to do with telanovelas. i watched que hora es in 9th grade spanish i know what they're like /hj

-oh this is the one about that guy who isn't actually dead. epic

-now this sounds more like the solo viral pieces of his

-i'm pretty sure laughter is the intended reaction to have here so good on rob  for achieving that- wait it's over?

-oh. guess he was taking more influence from tmbg than i thought

-let your mother know is the song i've heard absolutely nothing from other people about. and now. i suppose i can't blame them

-oh you know what my complaint about this album is? it's very little like lemon demon. too many mundane 2nd person ballads, not enough 3rd or 1st person stuff about absolutely nothing

-also from a musical standpoint he doesn't make things stand out super well. it feels a tab bit sanded down. like there are bits in the vocals & instrumentals that feel like they're meant to be a big change, but there's no notable emotional shift in the tone

-ayyyyy this is the one andrew worked on!

-yeah fuck with the tonality of it mess shit up go ham

-i mean if you're going to include flute in a rock album you've got to make it worth it

-i've not heard that song but i think this is meant to be the spiritual opposite to special by jh

-you know what i want from this song? andrdew vocals. it can do whatever it wants i just want to hear my man sing

-definitely bora's whistling no way it's anything else

-showing off your vocal range there mr cantor?

-oh hey this is the one that makes my friends cry

-i've not listened to songs about girls but this is reminding me of it anyway

-this feels like audio taken from a music video that had sfx added to the original song

-like bro. you can let your lyrics stand for themselves. you don't need to dangle me on a rope from a bridge over a highway

-i mean he might as well end the album this way. he might as well.

-ending thoughts, i guess. rob does what he does well but i think he ought to be doing something slightly different

also look at this yt comment i found on the comprehension amalgamation upload

[thirdgradebear]

Remember Pennsylvania

I’m planning to write a retrospective of my ten years in Portland, because a lot has happened since I moved to Portland, both to me and to the city. So it makes a good bit of sense that as I’m just beginning to write out this look back, I come home to see my family, and remember from where I come.

Last night, I landed Pittsburgh and caught a cab ride at 8:30pm. My driver didn’t think I knew what I was doing, and rode me in some circles to get the fare above $50. I told him I knew he was lost and made him knock $5 off, which was most of what he extracted doing doughnuts around Bones’ apartment. “I just want one thing to be clear,” he told me as he took $5 off the total. “I wasn’t lost.”

For any tech bros thinking of moving to Portland and finding “cheap” housing: Bones rents a spacious one-bedroom apartment on the South Side of Pittsburgh, a lesser-developed part of town called “the slopes.” He pays $450 a month.

Because I fucked up and checked my bag with my wallet inside, I didn’t eat anything the whole day I was travelling. I texted Bones from a dying phone that I needed to eat or I’d be no fun to be around. He ordered me a sandwich from his neighborhood spot, a gigantic roast beef hoagie that I ate fast. Without asking if I needed either, Bones gave me a 22oz can of Pabst and some Tums. I graciously took down both.

After a few beers and some weed, we walked down an icy hill to the neighborhood dive bar. You can still smoke inside here, and it smells like it. The back door is the only door, because someone threw a brick through the front door and it’s boarded up, and shut. Bones and I play Run the Jewels on the jukebox and I very dramatically win two games of pool. We meet up with a friend of Bones who is a fashion photographer - Keith. Bones and I rap along with RTJ2 songs, and once we’re really lit we head back up to his apartment.

Keith comes with us and makes us some noodles with chicken. We smoke and drink and rap in Bones’ living room. We were recording a demo Bones and I have been planning for two years. There’s some fire, there’s some bile. We were up until 5am. That’s only 2am Portland time, but I dunno what the fuck Bones was on to be up that late. I’m an old man now, I don’t do that shit.

My uncle came to pick me up, waited for me to wake my lazy ass. 12:30pm, I left Pittsburgh for the hour and a half drive north, to my hometown.

My uncle and I are the most political, adventurous, and rebellious people in the family. We share old drug stories, stories of near-death experiences, and perspectives on the NoDAPL movement (he spent a little under a week at Standing Rock - his recognition of his privilege to drive there and create oil demand led him to having a deep spiritual awakening, which has him questioning some of his longest-held notions. It’s inspiring, if difficult, conversation the whole way home.)

The landscape in Western PA is so different than Portland - it’s been a long, long time since I saw a hill covered in barren trees. There aren’t nearly the number of evergreens here. The sky is a certain color of blue. As we drive, my uncle points out the window - he used to always point out hawks nests, or great birds flying, so I look to the sky and don’t see what he’s pointing to. “Trump sign,” he says. I look down a bit and see a large red barn, facing the interstate highway with a “Make America Great Again” banner. Uncle mutters about how people in Western PA supported Trump. “Makes sense to me,” I tell him.

My mom and grandma have marinara with chicken and spaghetti noodles ready for us. It’s much needed - my second meal in about 36 hours, unless you count the hundred-ish ounces of beer I drank as a meal.

Mom and I visit the convenience store to pick up a prescription. She’s been without medicine she needs since October because she’s in the Medicare “doughnut hole” - the position many folks are in when they get a certain dollar allotment per year for drugs, and take more drugs than the allotment. The pharmacist lets her know that her insurance won’t cover one of the pills she needs. She’s visibly upset about it. I stay calm and apologize to her (we haven’t won full communism yet, so I guess I owe her that apology). She’s been dealing with this shit for months. “That’s why I don’t see the doctor,” I tell her.

We leave without the drugs she needs, and she takes me on a drive across the “new bridge.” The Spring Street bridge was rebuilt last year. It’s a major development in a town where there aren’t many major developments. The old bridge was dilapidated metal, and was closed for years. The new one is stone and looks very nice. 

Meadville is a funny, beat up old steel town struggling to find itself in a new economy. We drove over the bridge into Meadville on 322. About 15 years ago, the city built a sewage treatment plant about 5 city blocks from my grandma’s house, the family house. The bridge into Meadville runs right alongside the plant, and there were concerns back when it was built that people would see (and smell) a sewage treatment plant when they drove into town for the first time. You literally saw the plant right before seeing the “Welcome to Meadville” sign. So to solve this problem, the city erected plastic barriers on the median part of the bridge, which mostly-obstructed a visitor’s view of open sewage pits. They also sprayed pine scent into the air - my grandmother would often say it smelled like “someone shit a pine tree.” Well, now the plastic barriers on the bridge are gone - the city seems to have accepted that this plant is a feature of the landscape. I don’t think they’ve sprayed pine scent in some time.

The police station moved from its old building to an old armory building, closer to the center of town - Diamond Park. Diamond Park is shaped like a diamond, the surrounding the park are two streets, lined with churches, and City Hall, and now the police station. Kids in Meadville on Friday and Saturday night used to go on “cruise night,” which basically meant driving in circles around the Diamond. Back when my dad was a young buttrock enthusiast, this was where young people would blare their rock-n-roll and drink cheap beer. The city cracked down on this practice when I was young, as hip-hop culture started taking over the cruise night scene and rattling bass became more common that squealing guitar solos, in case you want to conjecture about the intersection of culture and race in small-town western PA.

The old police station is now a small pet food manufacturer, not the major one in town. Dad’s Dog Food was the big local employer; my grandmother worked there for a time. Walmart bought up the factory years back, so now it manufactures dog food for Walmart. My uncle, an artisan employee of a metal fabrication shop, has been retired for a year - for years prior, they would sometimes have enough work for him, and often not. My mom, a specialist in printing technologies at a plastics manufacturing shop, has been unemployed for four years following a health scare that nearly killed her and left her disabled. Last I knew of him, my dad was still working at a large tool-and-die manufacturer, Channelock. They make tools and stamp other brand names on them - Mac tools, Craftsman, etc. You can hear a banging most hours of the day and night, as the giant metal press pops out individual pieces. It kills someone every couple years, but nobody would ever dare question whether the jobs are worth the risk.

One of my childhood best friends sent me his resume to give him some advice. His position at a retail store was eliminated. He has a Master’s degree, a wife and three kids, a house. He’s brewing beer in his spare time and I’ll help him drink some of it this week. Sometime this week we will eat at The Whole Darn Thing, my favorite sandwich shop in Meadville. As I typed that sentence, I had to ask my family whether it was still open. It is, thank god. You never know.

Grandma is watching Leave it to Beaver. Mom is looking up recipes on the internet - she’s had more time to focus on eating healthy since retiring. I’m going to get a sandwich at Arby’s - roast beef, plus curly fries and a Jamocha Shake. We don’t have these delicacies so close at hand in Portland.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Carlos Niño Interview: Earth is the Place

Photo by Azul Niño

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Carlos Niño is spiritual and intensely focused on the concrete elements of the Earth, presenting them as in congress rather than in conflict. The Los Angeles-based artist just released More Energy Fields, Current (International Anthem), the latest album under the Carlos Niño & Friends name, and it contains all of the elements you normally associate with Niño, from thematic calls to nature to deep ambient textures part of his New Age-meets-free jazz language. True to the name of the band, Niño is a collaborator, and the record features many folks familiar locally (pianist Jamael Dean, guitarist Nate Mercereau, perucssionist Jamire Williams) and globally (saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, Dntel’s Jimmy Tamborello). 

Yet, More Energy Fields, Current is probably the album where Niño most focuses on the details present in our every day. That is, instead of just using instruments to remind you of things you see in nature, he includes natural elements themselves as prominent characters. On the fluttering “The World Stage, 4321 Degnan Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90008”, over pitter-patter raindrop percussion and Sam Gendel’s alto saxophone, he actually swishes water around in pans, a constant reminder of our physical connection to an essential entity. Both actual sounds of water and percussion that sounds like crashing waves comprise the appropriately named “Thanking The Earth”. Speaking to him from his home in Woodland Hills last month, he cites the sound of leaves found on a hike in the rolling, layered “Now the background is the foreground.” as exemplary of his new philosophy, taking something the average person might walk by and giving it a pedestal in music and in life.

What’s important, though, is that Niño doesn’t switch the background and the foreground; rather, he expands the foreground itself to include the background. In other words, there’s plenty of room for instrumental association, too. The washy ambiance of the gongs, electric piano, and saxophone on “Togetherness” gives it a feeling of warm familiarity, while the album’s opening and closing track use the same theme and begin and end, respectively, in an almost perfect loop, like the circular nature of the very planet to which Niño feels a deep connection.

Below, read my conversation with Niño, edited for length and clarity. We talk about the record, his relationship to nature, his liner notes call-outs to Shabazz Palaces’ Ishmael Butler and Beastie Boys’ Mike D, and his mentorship with New Age pioneer Iasos.

Since I Left You: What about More Energy Fields, Current is unique as compared to anything else you’ve recorded in the past?

Carlos Niño: I guess, for me, a non-answer to your question is, “It’s all unique,” but also, “It’s not unique.” It’s totally what I do. [laughs] Everything I do is unique because that’s how I’m approaching it. All the records have a variety of creation methods, including excerpts from live concerts. Each record has a big variety of potential ways in which the pieces get made. I’d err on the side of it being unique, but it’s also totally me: It’s how I hear things, see things, how I feel, how I put them together. I’d consider myself unique, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it all the time. It is what it is. It’s just me.

SILY: A lot of the ethos of the album refers to your relationship with the Earth. How has your relationship with the Earth or nature grown over time? And how has your approach to tackling that musically grown?

CN: I’m among the people that would consider their identity as spiritual, a spiritual being, a soul incarnate here on this planet in an earth human body. The entire experience is earthly. I feel totally connected to not only the cosmos but the core source of divinity in every moment. The Earth is really the experience. We’re here, living on, in, with, of the Earth. I find myself to be very reverential towards the Earth. I like to orient my whole experience towards the Earth, as opposed to the way other people might consider themselves an individual that has some sort of separation from their body and their body being separate from the Earth. I see it all as very connected and the point of being here. Why am I here? These are questions that people can talk about in many ways, but your question is very important to me in the sense that, yes, I am seeing this experience, my ability to communicate through music, words, and titles of songs as part of my Earth experience. I’m celebrating that. I love it, I appreciate it, I do most things in my life in an orientation towards protecting the Earth as opposed to neglecting and/or destroying the Earth. That goes hand in hand in how I take care of myself and others. That’s a total point of view for me. There’s always going to be a reference to an earth experience. I’m really into it. I appreciate it. I feel it.

SILY: For a lot of people, including myself, I grew to appreciate nature in a different way during the pandemic, hikes being one of the safer activities to do. Did you experience that as well?

CN: I’m saying all this with the most humility, and if it comes off any other way, please know that I care about everybody’s experience, but I feel like there were less people out, but I was doing the same things I always do. I always hike and end up connecting with nature and friends of mine who are farmers or environmental activists or involved in various projects at that time. I would say that via the particular kind of privilege that I have, living where I live, having the experience and mobility that I have, I kind of side-stepped almost all that was happening in and around [COVID]. I feel like people have had so many different experiences based on where they live, how they feel, how much television they watch, how much they listen to the people around them, whether they live in a big city, small town, or a rural area. There are so many factors on this planet that go into an individual’s experience. 

I would just say that when the shutdown first happened in Los Angeles, and no one was driving, and a good 95% percent of the population did stay inside, when I went outside, the skies, views, colors, depths of clarity were completely amazing and magnificent. I imagine you’ve seen pictures from one year to the next of very polluted places in the planet that all of a sudden became completely unpolluted, almost within a week or two, when human industry, hustle, and activity slowed down or completely shut down. You go from having a completely polluted sky to birds and species of animals that had seemingly died off or been missing somehow return to activity. To me, those are all really signs of how misguided humanity is in what it’s doing. If we cared about the result of what happened after two weeks of a month-long shutdown, we would make adjustments and consider how we could live differently so that was maintained. I feel like people are struggling to deal with so many different things, including poverty, mind control, fear, so many aspects, it becomes difficult for people to prioritize and say, “That was a glimpse of what we could actually have, live in a beautiful and abundant reality on the planet.”

These are very complicated subject matters and there are so many ways you can discuss them. I would just say overall, the simple answer is, “Not a lot changed for me,” but I did really truly appreciate how much cleaner things were for a period of time. I was hugely excited that Los Angeles had record rain last year. We’ve had almost no rain so far this year, which is really a bummer, but last year, during the shutdown period, we had such a massive amount of rain, there was flooding everywhere, but everything was just growing that much more. It was really exciting for the natural world. Like, “It could be like this.”

SILY: There are a lot of water elements on the record, like the sounds at the end of “The World Stage” and at the beginning of “Thanking The Earth”, and of course, the album cover. What’s your relationship to water?

CN: Again, I’m gonna use a word I’ve used in all of the answers so far: total. Water, to me, is the grandest element besides sound, but I also love so much the sound water makes, and the way that it feels. I consider myself regularly in tune with my water body, the elements of water that relate to my consciousness and spiritual being. It’s all involved. I’m frequently, as a musician, interested in creating sounds that remind me of being in a forest near a creek. The end of “The World Stage” is an interesting point because that was water that I poured into a bowl, and ringing the bowl [created] the sound. In other cases, it’s actual field recordings of water that’s occurring in its own natural state somewhere, from the ocean to a creek to rain. That’s so special to me. I’m totally into water, I listen to water, and it’s one of the reasons I wished for more rain. I realize talking to somebody from Chicago, who goes through an intense, profoundly challenging winter, you may have a different relationship with different kinds of water. Here, I’d pray for a week or two of your winter, but not the whole winter. I love referencing water, being water, listening to water, putting water sounds in various ways into my records...I’m not a trained drummer, but I do collect cymbals and other metals that frequently create sounds of waves, sonar, all things that connect to your question. “Total, bro!” It’s very California. Totally that. [laughs]

SILY: The percussion that ends “Thanking The Earth” is almost like waves crashing.

CN: Thank you for noticing that. That’s a goal of mine, if I’m in the forest or having a psychedelic experience, I’m tuning into things I want to report back about, and they’re almost all these natural, spiritual, cosmic, sonic things. “If I could create that sound, the feeling of being there!” Actually, in terms of what’s unique about this record, the song “Now the background is the foreground.”, that’s a very unique concept to be verbalized. The result of what that concept is being named, I’ve been involved with on previous albums. But naming that, I am definitely bringing things that people walk right by, that I tend to be really drawn to, into the foreground. Even the single [“Pleasewakeupalittlefaster, please . . .”]--if you listen to it, the way that piece came about was from a duet that Shabaka Hutchings and I did. We made a couple hours of duets, and I excerpted this one section and created loops around it, with Jamael Dean playing on top of it. When I went to go add my layers to accentuate the loops--a song like that is referencing DJ Premier, and it’s almost a hip hop song, anthemic, repeating a lot. When I’m playing those leaf clusters, which in that case was eucalyptus I found on a hike, I put it way up front. People were asking, “What is that? Why have it up there?” when others would have it so subtly in the back. Now, the background is the foreground. Here’s the stuff you don’t always here that’s a really deep energy. I’m putting it in the front.

SILY: In a way, do you think the way you bookend the record, with almost a perfect loop, gives it a dream-like quality?

CN: It can. That’s a nice way of putting it. It’s not something I intended. The original way that I conceived of the album ended with track 8, “Togetherness”. When International Anthem heard what I turned in as a bonus track, the last song of the record, they said, “Can we please put that on the record?” And if I did put it on, I’d want to have a little bridge, something that took us from “Togetherness” to that. So then I created the interlude there, which is a reference to my mentor Iasos. I feel like it became what you’re talking about, but before, it was shorter and more concise. Now, it has this bookend, which I feel great about, and Shabaka was totally supportive of.

Dream-like? Sure. Waking dream, water dream, earth dream, sleeping dream, whatever. You pick. [laughs] However it’s fitting, I’m with it. It’s accurate.

SILY: Both “Iasos 79 ‘til Infinity” and “The World Stage” reference ways you came up, the latter a callback to where you promoted shows and the former referring to your mentor. What did that mean to you, to call back to different parts of your life on this record?

CN: I don’t think of it so much as a callback, but I like your point of view about it. You’re making a connection/correlation that resonates for me. I’m like, “Good job, bro!” I was thinking it more that this piece is from The World Stage, rather than giving it some title when it was a complete improv and was enjoying it, I thought, “Why don’t I just call it the name of the place?” which I love so much and would pretty much do anything for. I did come up there and still play there and have in fact played there four times this year. I feel like giving it the address was fun to me. Why don’t I have this ridiculously long title, and there’s no way someone could mistake what it was? If I just called it “The World Stage”, some would get it and some won’t, but why not just put the info? Very plainly almost overstating the information. Nothing abbreviated, just boom.

The Iasos piece was the last thing I made for the record. It wasn’t really intended. I was working with something I made with synthesizers that reminded me of Iasos and asked whether it was okay to put a processed version of him talking in his incredible 1979 documentary...but that interlude was a bridge piece. I named it after him partially to your point, to promote him. He’s not on this record but he’s been on my last five. I didn’t feel like he needed to be. But because the piece felt like him, I named it that. It’s [also] of course a hip hop reference to [Souls of Mischief’s 93 'til Infinity], not for any particular reason. Just for the fun of it. If somebody who has insights or particular perceptions makes some connection, I’d encourage it. Anything you see or feel in it, whether I intended it or not, I support that.

SILY: In the liner notes, you mention “Iasos 79 ‘til Infinity” as being “inviting.” I felt that, but it’s also a disorienting track. Was that something you intended, and is that a balance you try to achieve on the record in general?

CN: I don’t want anything to be disorienting, but I think sometimes it is. I’ll relate it back to the nature thing. If you get a massive gust of wind while you’re on a hike, and it startles you, you have the ability in that moment to either enjoy it or run from it. I’m not trying to create anything someone anybody would want to run from, I’m really not--that’s not enjoyable for me--but I do embrace what I would say is more the shadow side of some of those sounds. I wouldn’t say that’s my orientation, but I do embrace it. I’m not trying to negate it. I don’t make dark or disorienting music, but that piece has the sense of you passing through a door with an amount of suction, so you’re partially having to exert a certain amount of energy to get through the door. That’s what it feels like to me. He literally says in that documentary that these benevolent extraterrestrials are around us all the time but won’t impose their feelings or ideas on us to block our free will--they need to be invited in. If you say, “Hey, come in. I do want to interact with you. I do want to communicate with you and learn from you.” That’s what he’s talking about. In those notes where I thank people, I thought it would be cool to say on “Thanking The Earth” that I want to thank Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces, who’s a close friend of mine, because when I was working on the last Shabazz Palaces album, that’s when that piece came together for me. He has a song on his record called “Thanking The Girls”. When I was working on “Thanking The Girls”, I started working on “Thanking The Earth” and thought, “This is a perfect opportunity for me to shout him out,” even though he had nothing to do with the song. I do a lot of that. It’s not a misdirection, but kind of a vibe.

SILY: What about shouting out Mike D on “Salon Winds”?

CN: Mike is just a homie. We have a bunch of mutual friends. We did two salon concerts [with him] and his long-time partner--they’re not together now but have been associated for a long time, Tamra Davis, the director. They have a house with their kids. I put together various salon concerts that were private outdoor very safe open space events all through last year. I did 15 of them. Two of them were at Mike’s house. The “Salon Winds” piece was this moment in what we did that I knew in the moment I wanted to work with. When I got home, I excerpted it, mixed it, and knew it was coming out and was gonna be a thing.

Also, last year, I helped Mike co-host his Sun Ra special for his Beats 1 radio show. He’s a loving supporter, we have a lot of mutual friends. I’ve been up at the house to jam with them a few times. They have a whole thing going with his two young sons who are very active in music. We co-presented this concert, that’s where the song came from, so I gave him a shoutout. Just easy, referencing the vibes.

[kktravelblog]

england: april 2018

I finally reached my breaking point of sitting at a desk this past April. I always knew it wasn’t for me, but thought I’d give it a valiant effort. I mean after all, it is what everyone else was doing. After months of contemplating what’s next, I decided to quit my desk job while still giving a somewhat traditional path a try and found a nanny position in Hoboken. And the best part of changing jobs is having the opportunity to have a free week of vacation time built in. If you don’t do this, you’re honestly missing out. 

I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go. Typically, I use every vacation opportunity to go somewhere exotic with beaches, diving, mountains and hiking, but because summer was right around the corner, I decided to go to cloudy England, which would be only the second time I’ve visited Europe. This always comes as a shock to people, but it just hasn’t happened yet. However, this time around, England was almost too easy to pass up because my two good friends from Australia, Anna and Katie, already lived there and I had free places to stay. So within less than a week, I had a trip planned and was on my way. 

This was my first solo traveling experience, which I really want to do one day (stay tuned AGAIN). I had gone to Australia alone, but I view that as a completely different category of travel. I looked it as a real small baby jump though, since I would technically have two friends awaiting my arrival in each city I was to visit. And they speak english. But it was still a step in the right direction.

I arrived in London, found wifi to alert Katie, then started my journey to her flat just outside of center city London. Once I got off the tube and made my way outside, I found Katie waiting for me. And no joke, the second I stepped outside, I felt like I was in Harry Potter. To all of you that don’t know, I am a huge fan of Harry Potter. To me, it has always been a mysterious place created in my brain while reading the books and later by Hollywood. So to see the country it was created around was surreal. I probably mentioned “that looks just like Harry Potter” more times than I can physically count. But it still blows my mind. *American fangirl* 

Katie’s flat was only one stop outside the center city of London, making it extremely convenient and a great place to be. After a quick pitstop to refresh after the long flight, we headed into the city to meet up with her boyfriend and to have lunch at this cool indoor food truck market/explore a bit on her lunch break. I was quickly informed on this mini tour just how many buildings were older than the United States of America, which is pretty nuts to think about. I never cared for history, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around that fact. Katie and her boyfriend both had to head back to work, so I was left to explore the city on my own which resulted in me walking over 15 miles. I saw a lot, including Big Ben (although under construction), the London Eye, the bridge that collapses in Harry Potter, the London Bridge (from the famous song), and more. Somehow, in a square mile city though, I somehow managed to completely miss Buckingham Palace. Not sure how and the only way I realized is when I later complained that I didn’t get to see the men in the red suits and Katie and her flatmates were flabbergasted and made me show pictures of where I was.   

While exploring the city was great, my most memorable day in London, to no surprise, was my solo trip to Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio. IT WAS BLOODY BRILLIANT. I know you get it, I am a huge fan, but I just cannot help myself. Magic is so cool. I spent over three hours there, winding through the sets and reading everything available. I was incredibly shameless, to the point that not only did I have strangers take my picture throughout, but I also mounted a broomstick in front of a green screen just so I could get a video of me flying through Harry Potter scenes. Some call it desperate, but it’s really commitment. Don’t worry the short clip is public, but I have the full version waiting for your viewing if you choose to want to see it. Warning, it’s two minutes long. I also don’t think its fair if I leave out that the majority of the other people there were either couples or families. I was the only single person, who got ID’d for age. ID’d at the Harry Potter studios. But honestly, there is no shame in this game. 

The next day I headed back into the city to see Buckingham Palace. Not making that effort would have been embarrassing. It’s like completely missing the Empire State Building. It honestly was worth it to see too. It puts the White House to shame, that’s for sure. After that, I spent the rest of the day wandering and then met up with Katie for dinner. We had an early night as I had planned to set off to Birmingham early the next day, with a stop to see Stonehenge and Bath on the way. 

Stonehenge was really cool. I’ll be honest. I skipped the museum part due to timing (and lack of interest), so I honestly cannot tell you much about it. But I can tell you the rocks were really cool and my timing with the weather was impeccable. The entire drive to Stonehenge, plus the short bus ride from the parking lot, it was downpouring. But I swear, as soon as I stepped off the bus, the clouds parted and the sun came out. Luck was on my side. I’ll get to why in a second.

Next up was Bath. Bath is a really unique city and I definitely recommend stopping by if you have the time when you’re in England. It’s known for its natural hot springs, Bath Abbey and Roman-era Baths as well as the architecture. The architecture is traditional and old-fashioned, however the overall vibe of the city and the stores within are new and modernized. I could totally see myself living here. Check it out, and let me know what you think. 

And finally, I made it to Birmingham, where Anna and I quickly headed to the local food truck markets to eat and catch up. Anna (she’s American) had been my closest friend in my Australian adventure and recently moved there with her Australian boyfriend. Dreams do come true. 

This is where traveling gets cool. While in England, I had the opportunity to go visit Richard and Helen Combe at their countryside English home. Turns out, luckily, they live right outside Birmingham. If you don’t recall, I met Richard on the top of Rob Roy Glacier in New Zealand in 2015. It was a series of weird coincidences that brought us together, but showed me just how grateful I am for how the world works and the people it brings into your life. Richard had lost his son, Stephen, in a helicopter crash a week prior to us meeting. We only spoke for a short time that day, but it was an incredibly impactful conversation. After tracking him down, I was able to reach out and maintain a friendship with him and his wife Helen throughout the years. It was really cool to hear their side of the same story and how many similarities there were, most notably, that we were meant to find each other for a good reason. Spending the day with them in England will forever be one of my most memorable traveling days, of course, after the day I met them. They welcomed me into their home as one of their own and showed me a glimpse into their lives, including meeting their daughter and Helen’s mother. They also told me tons of stories, showed me around their town, took me on a short walk to a part of the city where you could see Wales in the distance, and updated me on their lives, while also being incredibly interested in mine. I will forever hold that day incredibly close to my heart. 

I should also mention, I am not spiritual in any way. I believe in a lot of cliches like things always work out, when there’s a will there’s a way, etc. but I am not spiritual by any means. Except I do believe their son Stephen played a huge impact on how seamlessly my trip worked out. From the plans, to the odd weather occurrences, to how close they lived to the only other city I was visiting to… did i mention the car company randomly upgraded me from some random car to a Mercedes A class (still don’t know what it means, but know that is definitely an upgrade) for free? All of those things had to of had some help. It doesn’t make sense otherwise. But it was these moments that really reminded me of how special my friendship with Richard and Helen is. And what it reminds me of life. I always say the punchline of every joke, story, moment will always come, but sometimes not right away. And this one proved it by coming three years later. 

Ok back on track now… Sometimes I need to include things for you guys, but also for my own personal memory. 

After my visit with Helen and Richard, I headed back to Birmingham to meet Anna. We would later go to dinner at the local pub, and embarrassingly mess up trivia questions based on America. I spent the next day literally laying in bed, watching Netflix, letting my body relax from jet lag and waiting for Anna to get out of work so we could head back to London to hang with Katie. 

My last day was super special in terms of friendships. It was really great to hang with Katie and Anna together again and honestly felt like no time had passed by since we had last been together in Brisbane. We spent the day exploring London and different markets, walking the waterway and eating good lunch (my fav meal). And of course, Kings Cross and platform 9 3/4. That night, Anna and I were left to pick a restaurant on our own. And in true American fashion ended up unknowingly picking a chain. It was still good. Heck, I’d go back. Later, we met a few of Anna’s friends at this really cool bar that legitimately had a tree in it (that Lexi also recommended. If she ever reads this blog, I needed to make sure she got her call out) and then would later go to a London club. Did you know London clubs close at midnight? No? Me neither. It’s weird to me. But we ended the night the right way, by eating pizza and face-timing both B and Eric. No better way to end the trip than all back together. If not physically, but technologically.

The next morning, I woke up at 4 am and made the trek back to the states, through Dublin, where I was able to try a Guinness at 7 am their time. I couldn’t tell you what time my body was on. However, I refuse to count that as real. I will go to Ireland for it. Again, I can’t say it enough, this trip was special in so many ways. I know it’s getting cliche. Not only with Richard and Helen, but also it was really cool to see two of my closest friends from Australia in a different country and spend the day like no time had passed. I really look forward to when we can all cross paths again. But Anna, to be honest, it’s your turn to come to the city. Katie already did. And B and Eric, you too. 

And now I was off to live a semi-traditional life of being a nanny in Hoboken at 27 years old. 

[snsmissionaries]

12/11/17 -- Elder Dalton Hall, Kansas, Wichita Mission

Dalton’s first letter home:

Hello everyone!! I am so glad that I am here and time has already seemed to go by very fast!! This week here has been so fun!! Right when I got dropped off at the MTC I got all the information I needed including my name tag! I literally dropped my stuff off in my residence (which is basically a dorm with 6 bunk beds and 6 little closets) and went straight to our classroom. Just so you all know, they just finished adding on to the MTC and they have huge 7 story buildings where we study, learn the language, go to class, and email. I went straight to my class and met my district. My district has 8 Elders and 2 Hermanas. Right when I got here I went to the classroom and met our Spanish teacher Brother Astorga. We didn't talk any English at all and we still haven't all week. Elder Carter, Hermana Graves, and I are going to Ecuador, Guayaquil South, Hermana Kerr is going to Ecuador Guayaquil West, Elder Packer, Jordan, Thorpe, Robinson, and Hansen are all going to Argentina, and then there is this one funny crazy kid going to Paraguay. They are all so chill!! I also got to meet my companion Elder Carter!! He's super cool!! He's from Murrieta, California and he skates, surfs, and plays soccer. We have a lot of the same interests and we listen to a lot of the same music!! He and I get along very well and we've been having a fun time as companions! It's so weird because his name is my brother's first name so whenever his name is written on the white board in our class I think of my bro! Basically this whole week we have been doing a ton of studying the language and studying the gospel. I have already seen the gift of tongues help me as I can pray, bare my testimony, and talk in Spanish pretty well.

There are 6 bunk beds in our residence, but there are only 4 of us so it's pretty nice!! Elder Carter and I room with Elder Packer and Elder Jordan and we have grown to be really good friends and we do everything with them! So we wake up at 6:30 every morning and I will read my scriptures til about 7:15 and then we get ready to go to breakfast at 7:30. The cafeteria is a buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the food is pretty good!! There are so many options!! I am legit gonna gain some serious weight! Right after breakfast we go to class from 8:30-11:30 and we learn Spanish terms and phrases, we learn how to teach the gospel in Spanish, we learn how to do basically everything in Spanish. This last week, like literally our second or third day we met our first investigator!! Her name is Stefanie and we had a lesson with her! It did not go well because we did not know much at all, but we tried to teach her. We've had 3 lessons with her already!! The other day me and Elder Carter studied and taught her about the book of Mormon and prayer for our second lesson. We had so much help from the spirit and the gift of tongues!! IT WAS AWESOME!! I felt the spirit so strong and I shared my testimony with her all in Spanish. We heard from Brother Astorga the next day that she thought we had the best lesson and that she felt the spirit and felt god's love for her! It was so cool! We had another one with her the other day about the priesthood and it was pretty good and then we have another lesson with her tonight. So after our class in the morning we go to lunch around 12:15 and then after that we study for a little bit. We usually get an hour of exercise a day sometime after lunch. For exercise we've been playing soccer and basketball, of course. The first day we went to the gym and my team won 4 games in a row. We can only play 3 v 3, half court, and we aren't supposed to keep score or be competitive though, lol. It is still fun though to play with other Elders. We also went and played soccer in the grass in front of the Provo Temple and it was super fun but I rolled the same ankle (like 2 minutes in) that I rolled at basketball before I left for my mission so I just walked around on it and started playing again, but it is so swollen and bruised and everyone has been trippin out about it lol. After our exercise we shower and then go study til dinner and then we got to class from 6:30-9:00. So that's basically my schedule today, but it varies sometimes. We go straight to our residency and shower, brush our teeth, get ready for bed, and write in our journals before lights out at 10:30. I have been writing in my journal like crazy and I can't believe it because I have been so bad at writing in it in the past! We have a hard time going to bed though because we all joke and talk a whole lot! The Elders are so cool and fun to talk to. We usually pray in Spanish together before we go to bed too. That's basically my schedule!

Here is just another spiritual experience that I had this week: So we had a meeting with our branch presidency in our classroom with our district earlier in the week (the branch presidency is over our zone which consists of a number of other districts) and they all came with their wives. There is a President, First Counselor, and a Second Counselor. There calling for the church is to be with us and to help us in the MTC. So anyway, back to the spiritual experience... we were all introducing ourselves and eventually they said that they were going to call a district leader and immediately I started picking out who I thought was going to be the district leader and then all of the sudden I felt the spirit tell me that I was going to be the district leader. I got emotional sitting in my chair and I started to tear up. I felt the spirit tell me that I need to watch out and be a leader and example for our district. Right after they finished explaining the role of the district leader they said that they would like to call Elder Hall to be the leader. I know that the spirit testifies and speaks to each and every one of us. My responsibilities include checking the mail, knowing where everyone is, having interviews with the Elders and Hermanas, emailing the district leaders, and picking opening prayers and songs for our classes and meetings. I am very blessed to have the calling I have and I am so excited.

Okay so this week me and my companion were looking for a table to sit at and I saw these two African American missionaries sitting alone and I was like, we should go sit by them, and we did! We started talking to them and they were so chill!! One of the Elders is from Haiti and he looks just like Russell Westbrook!!!! The other Elder was from Belgium and we talked to mainly him because Westbrook was talking with some Sisters. But anyway, we talked to this Elder from Belgium and his name was like Elder Bononogo Makanza and he had an accent because they speak French there! We learned that he is so good at soccer and he had the opportunity to play for the Belgium International team and play pro soccer but he declined so he could go on a mission!! It was such a huge testimony builder for me and Elder Carter!!! Elder Carter loves soccer and a lot of his favorite players play on Belgium and Elder Makanza got to meet them all so he was so mortified! Anyway, it was so cool to talk to them and we always call them Elder Belgium and Elder Westbrook because we can't pronounce their names.

Last night we had a devotional at 6:45 and we were 10 minutes early, but the whole gym was packed!! We had nowhere to sit but we got escorted to the front left section towards the very front and sat for the devotional. I wasn't sure who was going to speak to us, but as we were singing we all stood up and I saw Elder Gary E. Stevenson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come in with his wife (for those who don't know who this is, he's a pretty big deal and we get to hear from him and the other authorities semi-annually during General Conference). I had no idea that we would be able to hear from an Apostle of The Lord live. I was overcome with the spirit and I felt the saviors love and joy as he entered the room. He and his wife gave amazing talks about Christ-like attributes from the Preach My Gospel handbook and it was awesome! The devotional was broadcasted to other Missionary Training Centers across the world! I felt the spirit during his talk and the final hymn was my most favorite hymn, I Believe in Christ. The second they announced the song, I was overcome with the spirit yet again. I cried all four verses and I was overcome with the spirit of the Lord. I thought about my family, the people of Ecuador, and so many other things. It was so amazing to be in Elder Stevenson's presence and I loved feeling the spirit at the devotional.

That's basically a summary of the week!! Sorry for making it really long!! I love you all!!!

En Espanol: Yo testifico que la iglesia de Jesu Cristo de los Santos de los ultimos dias es verdad. Yo se que el espirtu es real y nuestro el salvador amor nos. Yo se que el evangelio de Jesu Cristo es verdad. Estoy agredecido por el don de lenguas tiene ayudar a mi a aprender el espanol. Amoro tu todo y estoy agradecido por todos y cada uno de ustedes. En el nombre de Jesu Cristo. Amen.

In English: I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I know that the spirit is real and our savior loves us. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I am grateful for the gift of tongues that has helped me to learn Spanish. I love you all and I am grateful for each and every one of you. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

-- Elder Dalton Hall

[danaeekh3573-blog]

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To obtain in contact along with your ideas on significant work write everything that enters your mind regarding what the general agreement of the term significant work is actually. That could be useful to list labels of individuals that appear considerable and why. Uses can easily begin with the DOPU model, and also if the situations expand beyond Meaningful Use along with HealthVault, they can easily back then change to utilize a document authorization-based style.

[letitbechristinme]

New Seasons

Been wanting to write a post but just haven't found the proper time too! 

Thinking about it, 2017 is really a time of new seasons in my life! I am graduating from school (still feeling slightly sentimentallll), I am preparing myself for a relationship.. hehe and I even got water baptized!!!! (My bro came to church for the first time!) Time really doesn't wait for anyone, felt that 2017 began not long ago, but it is already May! And yesterday was Mother’s day, I’m just really grateful for the year thus far.

Though yes, I could have done better in some areas, worked harder for my final GPA, and definitely, push myself to grow more in church - I cannot be satisfied with where I am know! Just a random thought when I walked to MRT the other day as really feel that I need to progress myself more in church. Adjusting into a newer season of my life isn't an excuse not to! 

I really hope that in the near future, I would be qualified enough to give follow up lessons, and have the capacity to join a new ministry! :) 

Right now, I shall just document this moment of myself where I am kind of free? No job, no job responsibilities yet, but also feeling a little lost about my next step in life.. the few opportunities that I have, that I am considering are so different.. in terms of outreach and impact - but are these what He wants me to look at and consider? I just really really pray, that not my own will but Lord, Your will in my life! 

I remember Yee Si’s prayer for my during CG last week that really ministered to me. She prayed over me saying that she feels God saying that He knows the cry of my heart and she prayed that my spiritual eyes can be opened. 

the cry of my heart... that has always been people. To see them accept Jesus in their lives and experience true joy and love. To be able to be a part of their lives and see how God can move in their lives, to hear their stories, to love them for who they are. Obviously I cannot do that in my own strength, or with my selfish kind of love, I need God, every step of the way, so that I can make the right decisions, love the right way, even to feel, see and think the way that He does I need Him so much more.

Wanted to find lyrics to the song I worshipped this morning that really spoke to my heart.. but somehow when the internet wasn't working at my grandma’s place, the song I was hearing to at the background suddenly just registered with me so much more. 

And the cry of my heart 

is to bring You praise

from the inside out 

Lord my soul cries out.. 

(From the Inside Out - Hillsong)

Thinking about it, while my heart has always been for the salvation of people, ultimately, it should be about glorifying God and bringing a song of praise to Him wherever I go. 

Lord I pray for a revelation, I pray that I can be sensitive enough to hear the Holy Spirit speaking into my heart to take the steps that You have already planned for me. Lord open my spiritual eyes so I can see more clearly! Amen!

[marcusgnosis]

Twenty-Fourteen

          Have you ever noticed that certain experiences in your past, subconsciously shape the way you are in the present? Although many of us do not understand why certain events happen, everything in life is meant to be helping us grow from every lesson we learn. The best educational experience in my life was the year 2014. This was the year where I grew up mentally and spiritually. The year started off with my mother losing her car and my family being evicted from the apartment in which we had lived for a couple years. Then, after moving to a brand new neighborhood surrounded by people I didn’t know, I acquired a plethora of new skills. A few of those skills that I acquired are independence and gracefulness. Two of my good friends died during that year. It was the first time I experienced the death of somebody close to me. I let go of the love I had for basketball and transitioned it into making music. Also during that summer, my mother was diagnosed with cancer, and it changed my perspective in life. It was the last the week of school, the sun beamed on my face as I walked home only to be surprised with the bad news that my mom had to be rushed to the hospital. I was worried, thinking to myself “How can the strongest person I know possibly get sick?” My father told me not to worry about it and go play basketball, and that he would later tell me what was going on. After running many tests, the doctors diagnosed my mother with stage 4 Chronic Leukemia. After being told the news, I was in shock and couldn’t believe what was happening. Was I about to lose the person who gave birth to me? Was I about to lose the person who knew me best out of everybody in the world? I remember severely breaking down after a basketball game, I told my coach “I don’t want to play ball no more.” He then proceeded to tell me this story about his friend who lost his dad in high school and used it as motivation in everything he did in his entire life. I thought to myself “Not me, why is this all happening to me at once?” I couldn’t understand any of it. I couldn’t even understand what happened next, I fell in love for the first time. One girl changed my entire perspective in life again, she gave me hope. What I experienced throughout that entire year molded my persona into the person who I am today.

          Even though it wasn’t the first time I experienced the death of a person I once knew, it resonated more with me because it was somebody close with similar goals. His name was Armani English, a 15-year-old freshman from South Florida. The last time I was with him was on a Friday afternoon in the basketball court during practice, prior to that, he had called me over in the locker room and said “Yo Melo come check this verse out. Let me know if it’s good.” After rehearsing his verse to me I replied, “It’s dope bro, keep working on it and let’s make a song together.” That was my last memory with him, he died on April 27, 2014; on a Sunday afternoon he drowned in a lake. To this day it still feels surreal. I didn’t know how to cope with it, I even had a couple nightmares of me drowning. After having the same dream, I researched what it meant to drown in your dreams, and what I found was that “I was struggling as a person.” Exactly six months into the future, on October 27th, another friend of mine died electrocuted. He died in the park where I grew up playing ball, we were supposed to hang out when I returned to my old neighborhood but the tragedy happened. After these chain of events, I started asking myself “Do people just die randomly in accidents or is it written in the stars?” I began to sit back and analyze everything that was going on around from a different perspective, a higher dimension. Around that same time, I began to research more about chakras, prana energy, meditation, and spirituality. My interest into this madness began when I kept hearing the phrase “Third Eye” in rap songs by Joey Bada$$, Ab-Soul, and the deceased Capital STEEZ. I took a deeper dive into their lyrics and started researching what it meant. After finding the true meaning behind their lyrics, it was a force that resonated with my soul.

The most beautiful thing that happened to me that year was in the summertime; I fell in love for the first time. I didn’t know what love was, I was never really exposed to it. In fact, my brother told me to stay away from falling in love, but it’s not something you choose, it’s something that just happens. An inexplicable force of nature that has you looking at the world from a different perspective. All the trouble I did just to see this one girl for a couple of hours, it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Her parents didn’t allow her to have a boyfriend, but she really liked me so we snuck out at night just to see each other. It was a summer adventure, something that many people never get to experience. She really helped me grow as a person by introducing me to Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. Even though I already knew about Common, she reinforced me to really listen to what he was saying and I started appreciating him instead of overlooking how simple but beautiful his songs were. Shortly, after my junior year in high school started, I quit the basketball team in early December. Many people couldn’t understand how a person who had started on the varsity basketball team since his freshman year could just quit like that. Many people I knew looked up to me but they didn’t know what was going on, they didn’t know I was failing my classes, they didn’t know I wouldn’t have a chance at college without studying for the SAT and getting my grades up. I distanced myself from everything that was going on, I focused on what I had to do, and accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. Without growing from those experiences I wouldn’t have the courage to chase my dream in New York, even though you might not understand this, I am thankful that everything happens for a reason.

          In retrospect, I didn’t really understand why those certain events happened that year, or why it happened in that sequence, but I did understand I had to work hard and have a vision for a better future. Don’t ever be scared to do something just because you might know what’s going to happen. There will be certain things that will happen inexplicably but when you look back, you’ll understand more.