Sorry

So I haven't had a chance to post anything in a while. As you all know I procrastinate everything and the past two and a half weeks I have had 3 midterms and two papes to do. I am finishing my last midterm tonight and hope to post some of the fun stuff I have done when not cramming. So in a near future blog there will be tons of pics from the Thriving Ivory concert, the Halloween party at the homeles shelter I volunteered at, and a summary of what has been up in the life of B-rad.

The art of judgement

I apologize beforehand to all who read this, please do not take personal offense to what I am about to write. This is not directed at any one person but to all as a whole. What follows is a ranting and a plea. I want to hear what you think about this so please feel free to comment, this time it is a completely judgment free zone, we can judge eachother on my next political blog entry.

The famed philosopher John Locke, once wrote,“He that judges without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable, cannot acquit himself of judging amiss” I submit he is only partially correct. I would further add when judging a person's morality and relationship with Divinity, unless authorized and inspired by Divinity, one is always incorrect.

The culture that I live in and am a part of, as good as it is, in generality fails tremendously on this subject. I live in a culture where, speaking again in generality, peoples lives revolve around the way they worship. I consider this a great thing, my life does as well, especially since that devotion is centered around always striving to become a better person. One sad thing that I have noticed is that the striving to become better is starting to shift to being better than what we perceive others as. That by somehow thinking that if you are better than those around you; you are somehow exempt from harsh judgement because there are those that are perceived as worse. You can reserve your seat in heaven by not being your best but just moderately better than what you perceive your neighbor as. I regret to inform you that this is obviously not the case for the following observations:

1. You cannot and are not judged by the merits of others. You can only be judged by your own actions, thoughts, and inactions. Other's actions cannot restrict you from or guarantee your right to celestial glory.

2. One item that is so often mentioned but rarely internalized is that, with the exception of Divinity, no one is perfect. What I mean by this is simply no one is perfect. Definately not me, not you, not your mom, and as much as I love her not even my own mom. That's right, I just said that about my own momma.

3. Again, you are probably saying, "Brad, we already know this, why are you rambling saying the same things over and over again?"
This is the point I am trying (probably badly) to express, why then are we so quick to tell someone when they are wrong? We all have imperfections, we are all striving to do better, in general we are trying to progress but we need to recognize that everyone does it differently. I do it differently than you and you do it differently than me. Is my way better than yours? No. Is your way better than mine? Again a resounding no.

4. I am under the impression that we all have the ability to have a unique and deeply personal relationship with Divinity. Please note the usage of the words "unique" and "personal" in correaltion to "relationship with Divinity." My relationship with Divinity is inversely different than yours. Does that make mine better than yours or vice versa? We would all, unless responding sardonically, echo no. Then why are we so quick to tell someone that they are wrong?

5. I also believe life and eternal progression is hard. Very hard. Why then, would we want to make it that much harder for other people by condeming them by standards that we have decided are correct? In any sociology class that I have taken the theory of a self-fulfilling prophecy is always discussed. What this means is that when someone is conutinually assigned a label the chances of fullfilling that label are exponentially higher. When you give the label as sinner, charlatan, slut, overall bad person, you are helping to enable a person to fulfill that assigned label.

So to keep in line with the command, "Judge not," let us all put aside our spiritual judgements of others, and instead focus on how we can better ourselves as individuals. My life, as hard as it can be at times, would be so much better if others would keep what they think of what I do to themselves. Believe it or not I know the difference between right and wrong. It is left up to me, not anyone else, to decide what is right and wrong for me. If you do this for me I will definately do this for you. I will do it for you even if you don't do it for me.

What a weekend: figer tighting, movie night with me padre, flooded basements and a car that won't start

Figer tighting is an inside joke for those who were at Denny's after LAgoon friday. I don't know what we were on but it was fun. Saturday I went home to pick up my new phone and Saturday night my friends in o-town were too busy to chill-lame, see if I come to otown any time soon- so I chill-axed with my dad and watched I am Legend with him. I don't get to spend enough time with the pops so I am glad I did. That however was the only highlight of the weekend. The parentals basement flooded a little bit due to a leak in the water softener. Luckily I was spent the night there and caught it at seven in the morning before it had a chance to do extremely serious damage. Just some carpet padding and some books and some stuff we had in our storage. So Sunday I spent the day cleaning and getting the water out of the basement. I did that until three took a nap ate dinner and then did it some more. Exhausted I spent the night again there and woke up to my car not starting. Coldness killed my battery. Nothin like droppin a hundie before ten, good thing I got a job promotion or else I would have needed a parental bailout. Then I got to go to work and hear secretaries tell me how I need to do my job better. Gotta love my life... or not. So fun night with friends who turn lame the next day to flooded basement to bad battery to doing an apperently bad job at work. Yup sums up an awesome three days.

October and maybe November Playlist

Yeah it is a good one this go around. And I am a bit late with this so this may do for November, we'll see.
1. Human by The Killers: Awesome song. Really deep with some religious undertone, something I appreciate by the band a lot. "Are we human or are we denser?"
2. Love Lockdown by Kanye West: Kanye can sing, cool song, cool beat. I like it a lot.
3. Wild Horses by Alicia Keys and Adam Livine: Maybe my favorite Adam Livine (Maroon 5) Very soulful and a just an all around solid song.
4. Live Your Life by T.I. ft. Rihanna: T.I. is becoming a favorite rapper by me and no one is better to do a song with than Rihanna.
5. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz: This one is the better version of the two. Listen to the song at the bottom of the blog. There is one that is out on the radio a lot but this one is different. It features Joshua Radin.
6. I'd Rather Be With You by Joshua Radin: New artist I found playing on itunes indie pages. Great song.
7. Tell You Something (Nana'a Reprise) by Alicia Keys: Powerful. In my top four Alicia Keys songs. Has a whole lotta meaning.
8. The Resolution by Jack's Mannequin: Great song.
9. Father and Son by Cat Stevens: This song tells a story of a father and a son and the contention that exists between the two. I love it because I think that everyone can relate to it so well. I have only had maybe two serious arguments with my dad or with my mom for that matter but this song can totally tell how I feel sometimes. I am at a dramatic point in my life where decisions have to be made. I can feel both the dad's voice in the song and the son's voice pulling me in different directions. Each have an unknown and semi-scary outcome for me. Just don't quite know which one to follow.
10. Everything Will Be Alright by Joshua Radin: Seriously check this guy out, my pick for the next Jason Mraz.
11. All These Things That I've Done by The Killers: I've got soul but I'm not a soldier. Words I live by. ha ha
12. Better In Time by Leona Lewis: Just a good song, she has a cool voice.
13. Lucky by Jason Mraz ft. Colby Coleit: Awesome colaberation. good song.
14. Disturbia by Rihanna: freaky song but cool.
15. My History by 16 frames: My new Hills band I found and like a lot.
16. Perfect (Acoustic) by Army of Me: Again another Indie find on itunes. "These days it feels that everything is changing. Used to be that every stride, you were standing by my side. But now it feels I’m walking on a tightrope, As I try to balance out how to make you proud. One day I’ll be perfect, I’ll be so extraordinary. I will shine, I will radiate"
17. I Don't Care by Fall Out Boy: Basic song from a decent band. Worth listening to.
18. Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day: I swear September never ended.

New Tina Fey Sarah Palin Parody

Randomness. . . the subtitle of a future autobiography

A Sunset




I know that when some of you read my blog you are probably thinking what in the schitzo is this kid on. Well if you have thought that, that is rude. JK. I usually only post on this thing if there is something that pops into my mind and need to get it off my chest and don't quite know who to talk to that will get the proverbial it, and hope that someone who views this will be like, "what the schitzo? I get it!"
1. I dig sunsets. I dig sunrises even more but due to a need of sleep, sightings of these are rarer than a lib at BYU. Let me explain. . . about why I dig sunsets, not about libs and BYU, I am laying low off politics until something outrages me enough to post an apologetic tyraid of my own politco philosophy.
2. Back to the point at hand: Sunsets/rises are one of the great equalizers in our society. I derive this partially from one of my favorite books, The Outsiders and partially to my own thought. If you have read this book or seen the movie you may remember how Ponyboy and Cherry and later how Pony and Johnny talk about sunsets. During Pony and Cherry's discussion Ponyboy talks about how he likes to watch sunsets. After ranting about all the breaks rich kids get Cherry says something like, "Pony things are tough all over." Ponyboy disagrees and she asks, "Can you see the sunset on the southside?" Pony replies, "yeah." As she leaves she says, "Yeah, you can see them real good from the north side too." Later on in the narrative you have on the run criminals Pony and Johnny hiding out in an old abandoned church in the country on a hill. One morning they wake up early and see the sunrise. It is the first time Johnny has ever taken the time to notice one. He says that it is golden. Then Pony recites a poem by Robert Frost, that to this day after reading this book so many times I have memorized:
Natures first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold
Her early leaf a flower
But only for an hour
Then leaf setside to leaf
And so Eden sank to grief
As dawn goes down today
Nothing gold can stay.
3. As sad as it is, these moments of the true granduer of God are fleeting and are at an apex for such a limited amount of time that it is so easy in the hustle and bustle of modern day life to miss it. That is what makes Johnny's request of Pony at the end of the book to stay gold so poignant because the ability to stay gold is so universal, so tangible, but so often and easily missed that one needs to be reminded that "things are tough everywhere," but the ability to overcome lies in all if we allow it to. If we choose to stay gold.
4. I have not been to a lot of places in my life but the few places that I have been are tantamountably different. One common theme in all is that they all have killer sunsets/sunrises. Whether it is watching the sunrise over a snowcapped Mt. Ogden from under a blanket on my parents deck to watching the sunrise over Lake Michigan and the city of Chicago. Or watching it set over the cornfields of Indiana,or from the twelth floor of a fenced off balcony of a housing project in the inner city, or watching it set over a lake in the serene mountains oustide of Cedar the common theatric visage is possible to see everywhere. Echoing the true physiognomy of God, that he is there and the silenced plea to stay golden, to endure well, is echoed in the chromatic hues so effortlessly spread across the sky.
5. So sunrises, the one thing that we all got to remind us to keep on keepin on. If you are in Alaska I am aware that there are times that it stays sunny all day long so attatched are some pictures that I have taken to help remind you of what I just went a little overboard explaining.

A Sunrise

My life as a soundtrack Sept. '08

Here it is finally. The complete September '08 soundtrack finished and ready for your listening pleasure. Because I enjoy procrasitnating studying I found time to create the playlist for you down at the bottom of the screen so now you can listen to my September '08 playlist. Hope you enjoy it. I know I do. Thats what she said.

• "Just Stand Up" -Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, Natasha Beddingfield, Leona Lewis, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Ethridge, Rihanna, Ashanti, Ciara, Keisha Cole, Fergie, and a few others. Awesome colaboration song about fighting cancer. Also a good pick me up song. Here is a part thar sticks out to me, "The heart is stronger than you think, It’s like it can go through anything. And even when you think it can’t it finds a way to still push on, though Sometimes you want to run away, Ain’t got the patience for the pain And if you don’t believe it look into, your heart the beat goes on I’m tellin’ you that,
  Things get better, Through whatever. If you fall, dust it off, don’t let up"
• "Vindicated" - Dashboard Confessional. Explains a few things in my life so well. " I am Vindicated. I am selfish I am wrong. I am right, I swear I'm right. I swear I knew it all along. And I am flawed ... But I am cleaning up so well. I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself." In my life there have been a few people who have, even at my worst moments tried to make me feel good about myself. I am now just beginning to clean up so well - you know trying to come into my own again. Its hard but I will pull through.
• "Wake Up Call" - Hayden Panetierre. Basically only on because I heard it on a commercial she is doing for Candy's and I kinda liked it but needed to hear more of it. I am beginning to think that I just liked watching her in the commercial. Just a generic pop song.
• "So What" - Pink. I appreciate her honesty and she has a cool voice. It is just her newest song.
• "She Had it All" - Panic At the Disco. This is sort of a trippy song from Panic's latest album but it is really catchy if you listen to it more than once. I really like it. You will think it is weird at first but let it run through a few times.
• "Almost Lover" - A Fine Frenzy. I am not going to lie....I saw/heard this on an episode of the Hills. It explains a lot about my old dating life. Sigh.
• "Landslide" - Smashing Pumpkins. The best version of the song. Followed by the Dixie Chicks version.
• "Stolen" - Dashboard. I was in a Dashboard mood at the beginning of this month so there is another song as well by them on this list.
• There's Hope" - India.Arie. The reason I love her in song form. Also reminds me that I need to just be happy with what I have.
• "Pieces of Me" - Ashlee Simpson. I know what you are thinking, did he just turn into a 14 year old girl? No, it is just a good song.
• "Sugar We're Going Down Swinging" - Fall Out Boy. Their best song.
• "Dark Blue" - Jacks Mannequin. Cool song.
• "I'm gonna Find Me Another You." -John Mayer. Who would have known he could sing the blues like that. Awesome break up song.
• "Screaming Infedelities" - Dashboard. I was just in the mood to hear a lot of them.
• "California" - Phantom Planet. This was the theme song to the O.C. I never watched it but I am told I should. Awesome song that makes me want to go back to Cali.
• "Pressure" - Paramore. Alright song from an alright group.
• "Listen" - Beyonce. Wow this song proves that Beyonce can SANG. That is ghetto for someone who can sing really good. Everyonce and a while I will question my love for her and then I listen to this song and it makes me fall in love with her all over again.
• "If I Fail" - Cartel. One of my favorite newer bands. Not my favorite song by them but it is awesome.
• "Dreaming With A Broken Heart" - John Mayer. Probably his best song....ever.