Hesitance kills ideas. It kills progress. It kills momentum.
Hesitance kills your dreams.
If you constantly worship at the altar of hesitation, you forfeit.
I want to discuss many things with you, oh my faithful blog readers. The very nature of the topics I want to discuss make them difficult to bring up.
How do you discuss Trust and continue trusting people when somebody you once called “friend” breaks the trust you had and throws your darkest secrets at you like daggers?
How do you discuss guilt when you try to ignore the source of the guilt? It’s easy to lie to yourself and pretend it’s easily ignored. It’s not easy to ignore.
One group of verses I looked at earlier today was the following. Specifically, it’s discussing people who were Christians, but fell away from the teachings of God and no longer live according to the commandments God set forth in his Word (the Bible).
2 John 1:9-11:
“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”
Another set of verses addresses the importance of Christians seeking fellowship (time spent together sharing life and truth) with each other. It’s something I’ve been ignoring the last few months for a variety of reasons, but aim to change.
Hebrews 10:24 – 25:
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t make decisions on January 1, anyear A.D., because of guilt. Any other day of a year, however, guilt is an acceptable motivator.
On January 3, 2008, I made a decision: in 2009, I will be Samson. I’m not going to shave or cut the hair on my head, and I’m going to become a hairy beast.
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The story of Samson comes from the Book of Judges in the Bible – it starts in Judges 13 which you can read in the English Standard Version or any other version.
According to my last.fm charts, these are my most listened to artists and songs from 2008.
Top 20 Artists 2008
- Nuuro
- Radiohead
- Nightwish
- Fall Out Boy
- Coheed & Cambria
- The Weakerthans
- Sufjan Stevens
- Good Charlotte
- Yellowcard
- Metric
- Gnarls Barkley
- The Juliana Theory
- Matchbox Twenty
- Anberlin
- 宇多田ヒカル
- Starflyer 59
- Acid House King
- Thom Yorke
- New Found Glory
- The Rolling Stones
Top 10 9 Songs 2008
- Nightwish – Amaranth
- 宇多田ヒカル – Beautiful World
- 宇多田ヒカル – Kiss & Cry
- 宇多田ヒカル – HEART STATION
- 宇多田ヒカル – Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)
- Driving East – Beat It
- Nightwish – Cadence of Her Last Breath
- Nightwish – The Poet And The Pendulum
- 宇多田ヒカル – Stay Gold
The obvious trend this year is my fascination with foreign artists. The top four artists this year consist of Nuuro (Venezuelan electronica), Radiohead (British alternative-rock), Nightwish (Finnish orchestra-metal), and 宇多田ヒカル/”Utada Hikaru” (Japanese pop).
Towards the end of the year I acquired a lot of music through good deals on Amazon MP3 via a partnership with AbsolutePunk.net to provide “Cheap Music” from recommended bands.
Through the deals, I got good prices and picked up albums from City & Colour, Lydia, The Graduate, Anberlin, and Fall Out Boy.
I started of 2009 by picking up Astronautalis – “Pomegranate,” and albums from Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, and Snow Patrol.
My eMusic subscription kicked back in after Christmas and I grabbed albums from Brave Saint Saturn, Nightwish, and Pinback.
What do I expect for 2009?
I’m diving back into the pop-punk/indie scene music through AbsolutePunk’s recommendations and getting exposure to a lot of music I wouldn’t otherwise have time to track down myself. I expect that to continue.
I’m also buying a lot more digital music as stores are realizing they can sell more for cheaper prices. With my 120gb iPod, I can hold A LOT of music without taking up any extra space on my bedroom shelves. I still prefer to have the case, but if the price is $3.99 on sale vs. $9.99 or $14.99, digital will win my heart.
View a ScrapWall of some of my favorite photos of 2008. This site is pretty awesome – you can load up a bunch of photos and arrange them however you want. Similar to how Google Maps works, it lets you zoom in and out on the photos. In essence, it’s an easy way to make and share collages of your digital photos.