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| I stole this from Bryan Yost and Nick Billet. I had to categorize my life into time periods/musical tastes to do this survey justice. I couldn’t keep it to just 15 so I kind of went past that limit… Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wazoo, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 15 others, including moi. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it! In fairness to all these albums, these are in no particular order…
CCM (middle school)
 Audio Adrenaline – Some kind of Zombie. As dumb as this band may seem now, back in the day these guys rocked! The tour for this CD was the first concert I ever went to and it was at this concert I was introduced to another top 30 band that started a chain reaction.
 DC Talk – Jesus Freak. Another band who apparently was lame but at that time they were awesome to me! I definitely remember jumping around and banging my head at their concert. This band helped expand my Christian bubble, while allowing me to stay in it, and see some Christian bands could be "cool".
Ska/Punk (high school)
 Danielson Family – Tri-Danielson. When I first started listening to this band I had no idea about how ground breaking they were and how their influence would impact my musical taste for the next decade of my life. This album is just one of many from their collection that allowed me to see music in a whole new light. True they are not "ska/punk" but it falls in my high school years.
 MxPx – Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo. It is because of this album that I was introduced to so many of my high school summer camp friends. It was bands like this and a few below that allowed me to create such a bond with friends. Without this album I would not have met some of my friends in high school, without them I would not be who I am today. This would have to be in the top 5 life changing album.
 Five Iron Frenzy – Our Newest Album Ever! Who could be an alternative kid in the Christian music scene during the mid to late 90's without loving this band? They did ska, they did fun, and they did it to perfection. To this day this album brings a smile to my face.
 90 lb Wuss – Where the Meager Die of Self Interest. This album introduced me to the darker side of punk. It started breaking down my idea of well put together music and started showing the dirty side of it. This album gave me a taste of the type of music I would dive into during my college years.
 The Supertones - Supertones Strike Back. I went to my first concert hoping to enjoy a good CCM band and came back a ska fan. I was very fortunate to have stumbled upon this band while they were out touring this album. They not only did ska but they did it at such a level that even non-Christians could enjoy it. This album is the best album one of the best groups ever put out and would easily be in the top 10 albums that changed my life.
Hardcore/rapcore/metalcore (college)
 Martyr Shop – I Slew the Giant. While the band itself was some what of an inside joke this group epitomizes my college years. They were funny, goofy, off the wall and hoping for greatness. Without this group my college years, and thus who I am now, would not have been the same. This album is easily top 5 albums that changed my life.
 Society’s Finest – The Journey… So Far. The vocals on this album is what I based mine off of. My band never did well and actually we sucked 90% of the time but I still had a great time and would not change any of the memories from that time. This album allowed me to enjoy those times and so should be on this list.
 Project 86 – Project 86. I bought this album on accident. I think when I purchased it I was picking up a Stephen Curtis Chapman like band. Obviously I was VERY shocked to hear what came out of my CD player when I got home. I actually was going to give it to a friend that I thought would enjoy it more but instead I kept it. Thank God I did because it was this album that allowed me to start enjoying harder music and really opened up my musical tastes. I didn't fully enjoy this album until I had started getting more into punk/ska BUT the fact I had it at all really influenced my tasted throughout high school. This would also be in the top 5 albums that changed my life.
 Blindside – A Thought Crushed My Mind. This album followed Project 86 as my second hardcore album in my collection. When I finally purchased it I was at a point I was able to fully appreciate the rifts and lyrics because of Project 86. A staple in my "favorites" for a long time.
 Norma Jean – Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child. This is easily my favorite hardcore album of all time. The songs and sound of this album is everything I remember loving about the hardcore scene. This album simply hit my hands at the height of my love for hardcore.
Emo/screamo (college)  Sergei Rachmaninoff – Sergei Rachmaninoff. If I had not had this album with me during my college years there is no way I could have made it through. This album played in my headphones while I wrote 90% of my papers. The way the album played out allowed it to be perfect for to focus on what I was wanting to say and write it out on my papers. Another top 5 album easily.
 Appleseed Cast – Low Level Owl: Volume One. I don't know if I can thank Bryan enough for introducing me to this band. This band helped counter balance all of the hardcore music I was into during college. It also kept my musical tastes board enough that I was able to branch out, once again, after I graduated. A solid album from a very solid band!
 Sigur Ros – (). I still feel bad about this one. I over played this album so much that I actually turned my roommate off of this band (sorry Nick!). I still consider this band, and specifically this album, to be one of the best of all times. You cannot really listen to this album, you experience it. Top 10 for sure!
 MeWithoutYou – [A --> B] Life. This album rounds out the top 5 albums that changed my life. It influenced my thoughts on hardcore music, stage performance, and lyric writing. I was a fan of this band before the CD came out but this CD solidified the group as one of my all time favorite groups.
 Radiohead – Amnesiac/ OK Computer/ Kid A. It was these three CDs that put me and my roommate to sleep almost every night my freshman year. I still cannot listen to these albums without smiling and remembering all of my times with Bryan. They will forever be associated with wild berry air freshener, late night ping-pong, hot dogs on the foreman, and our bed cave.
Indie/import (marriage)
 Fleet Foxes – Sun Giant EP/Ragged Wood LP. I fell in love with this band only recently but thanks to the kindness of Miss Parker have been able to fully enjoy their album(s). This band helped me realize my love for all things indie and that I could not only enjoy but love folk music.
 Damien Rice – O. Thanks go out to Mr. Krabill for this one. I got this album the last year or so of my college career and this set me up for all things indie. This was my gateway drug into Fleet Foxes, Mogwai, Peter Bjorn and John, Bon Iver, and Matt and Kim. Probably top 10 album here simply because it kept me searching for good music that was not widely known.
 Sufjan Stevens – Illnoise. I enjoyed this guy from the start but fell in love when I found out he used to be apart of Danielson Family. How could you possibly go wrong with happy-spiritual-folk music? You cannot that's right!
 Unwed Sailor – The Faithful Anchor. Beautiful in all of the right ways. This album is a like an old warm blanket. It's not always necessary but always wonderful on those damp cold fall ohio nights. I wish I had seen these guys in concert at least once.
Honorable Mention
• Jewel – Pieces of you
• The Dingees – Armageddon Massive
• Noggin Toboggan – Snapcase
• Dogwood – More Than Conquerors
• Luti-Kriss – Throwing Myself
• Sup the Chemist – Dust
• It Dies Today – The Caitiff Choir
• Fear Before the March of Flames – Odd How People Shake
• Figure Four – Suffering the Loss
• Living Sacrifice – Reborn
• Deathstar – We Are the Threat
• Underoath – The Changing of the Times
• With Honor – Heart Means Everything
• Led Zeppelin – BBC Sessions (Disc 1 and 2)
• Weezer – Blue Album
• Taking Back Sunday – tell All Your Friends
• Two Thirty Eight – Regulate the Chemicals
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Disc 1 and 2)
• David Crowder Band – A Collision
• Jars of Clay – Much Afraid
• Point of Recognition – Refresh, Renew
• Spitfire – The Dead Next Door
• Dashboard Confessional – The Swiss Army Romance
• Further Seems Forever – Moon is Down
• She and Him – Volume One
• M.I.A. – Kala
• Mogwai – Mr. Beast
• The Postal Service – Give Up
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i don't know how many of you know this but i have never met my real dad. i don't think it has scarred me too much but meeting ones dad does help a natural maturation of a person. i have heard plenty of stories about him and how wonderful he is but stories and actually meeting someone is completely different. i have hope that one of these days i will get a chance to meet him but only time will tell. some days holding onto that hope is easier than others but can you really blame me? i wasn't the one that left him.
i still don't know when my parents met but i do know it was a long time ago, and obviously before i was around. my mom has told me that it was love at first sight, that when she met my dad it was an experience like none other. she said it seemed like the air got sucked out of the room and in the vacuum all that was left was the fire of their love (romantic, i know!). but i think this amazing first spark really set her up for disappointment in the end. however great my dad may or may not have been the bottom line is that he left the two of us and that has drastically changed how our lives have been. for my mom it seems like that first great experience set her standard so high that it jacked up the next relationships she was going to have. she has told me about her different relationships, the ones i wasn't old enough to truly appreciate, and looking back on them i see how they have changed her. in the beginning my mom could not accept anything other than exactly what she had with dad. she remained true to him and honestly she thought she would live her life as if he was still with her (delusional as it was). as time went on she began to move on never forgetting that love with him, and maybe even letting it influence her next steps, but moving on nonetheless. she went through stages in the years to come. she went through a controlling stage, then an angry stage, a rebelling stage, experimenting stage, hopeful stage, stage after stage and yet none of them seemed to perfect for her. my mom tried a lot of different approaches to life and love after my dad. she was constantly trying to find what she had with my dad through other people. looking back on my moms past i honestly cannot say that i am proud of it. i see where she completely screwed up, where she sold herself short, where she sold me short, i see now that my mom is nothing perfect. she may in fact be the exact opposite of perfect but i still love her and she is still my mother, even with all of her flaws and shortcomings. all i know about my dad is what i have read through my moms diaries of their time together. i know that he was a kind and loving person. i know that he took care of those in need and he was a wise man. i have found out, through some research, that he came from an old royal family but apparently that didn't influence the way he lived his life. in all of the things that i "know" about him i still wonder how many are true. i wonder if maybe the diaries just make him look better because the love the writer had for the subject. no matter what may or may not be true i still hold onto hope. i hope that all of those things are true. i hold onto hope that by being a decedent of his i will take on a few of his characteristics, namely of love and compassion. i hold onto the greatest of all hopes that he will come back. my mother tells me that he will some day. that when he left, as sudden as it was, he said he would come back to her. now i realize that sounds completely stupid. that she and i are possibly holding onto a false hope that will never be realized, but she knew him and because she knew him i know him. as stupid as it sounds i hope because she hopes. because she loved(loves?) him i do as well. and that is my story. i am a child of a mother who has not made the best choices, but has tried all the same. i am a child of a father who left me but said he would return to us. i am a child of hope. ------------resources----------------
Here are the resources for this story. The church is my mother and Christ is my father. Read the story again with this knowledge. Ephesians 5:22-25
23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
"The Church is a whore, but she's my mother" - St. Augustine
Acts 2:1-4
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 1:9-11
9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
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| Well my work is having issues with their websense filter and to take advantage of this I am going to try and post. I am writing this post in Word and thus the reason for all of the capitalizations which normally are excluded from my posts. Mrs. Blair punted to me for a response to a recent story she had heard of. So I will oblige and give my opinion - since I always have an opinion on everything. From what I have read the basics of the story are: a girls basketball team beat another girls team 100-0. Both teams were Christian and the losing team was made up primarily of learning disabled students. The win garnered so much attention that the school apologized and fired the coach. For some this story begs questions of: should the girls have let the other team make a few points, is this proper representation of Christ by the winning team, should the school have kept the coach, etc etc. Jamie wanted me to respond to the story specifically from a Christian standpoint. So before any other question can be asked we must first ask “Is any form of competition Christ like?” At the root of competition is the hope/desire to put yourself above your opponent and win. A common teaching of Christ’s is that to follow Him you must humble yourself and make yourself a servant to others. Paul expands upon this teaching by saying that in his weakness Christ’s strength shines through. So is it possible to win and still be a Christian, or even better yet to dominate in a sport and still be a Christian. What type of Christian would Michael Pheleps be by completely dominating his competition and by putting his name as the greatest Olympian in history? But on the flip side we are commissioned to be good stewards of our resources, whether that is our time, money, or talents. Our purpose on earth is to bring glory to God and what better way to do that then to show others how God has blessed you with great things. If you are able to use your talents in sports and point others to God as a result of if then isn’t that a good thing? Back to the actually story. Once again it feels like the media has made a villain out of the leader, similar to what they did with President Bush, before getting the story straight. If the coach encouraged his team to completely dominate the other team, then he would be in the wrong. If the coach was so focused on winning that he cared of nothing else, then he would be wrong. If the coach slandered or made fun of the other team, then he would be wrong. But from what I have read none of that happened. The coach started the game as any other, which means he respected the other team, and once he realized they were playing too aggressively he changed their game plan. The coach continued to sub in bench players, play zone defense, and allowed the other team to get the ball across the court. He tried to run down the clock and control exactly how much his team scored. From what I can tell this coach respected the other team, the hard work his girls put into practice, and the competition. The media tried to place all blame at the coaches feet, but as before with Bush, not all blame should be put there. If something wrong happened in this game and there is blame to place around then it should be spread around to everyone. The coach of the winning team (because he allows his team to win by such a lopsided score), the losing coach (because he didn’t train his team better), the players of the winning team (because no matter what the coach says they ultimately control the pace and attitude of the game), and the group that said this disabled team should play against non-disabled teams. I don’t know how severe the disabilities were but a few of the stories I read highlighted this fact. If the disability was bad enough to keep them from scoring at all then this is what I am upset about. Who said that the disabled team should be allowed to play with the non-disabled teams? Just by setting up a league like that you are asking for issues or concerns to come up. It might be that they could not play against any other teams except Christian ones and thus joined this league but if that is the case then everyone who setup the league should have seen this coming at some point. I do not find fault in the players or coaches of either teams as they did their best, or at least respected each other. However, the group that setup the league completely dropped the ball by not expecting this to eventually happen. Either the coach of the losing team did not prepare his team properly OR the league organizers should not have allowed the team to join. From a theological stand point I think the ultimate purpose of life is to bring glory to God. I think the ultimate definition of Christlikeness is love, and the way to define an effective Christian is to ask if they are loving God and loving others. With those in mind I find no fault on the coach, I find no fault in the players, and I find no fault in the opposing team. From what I can tell of the story love was the bases of the team, they were utilizing their talent to bring God glory, and they respected (possibly loved?) their other team and their abilities, and they allowed those factors to impact the game. Alright that’s my two cents. | | |
|  if you don't know this about me i believe a lot of life is about balancing. this came to me in college when in a ministry class i realized that you need to make sure to balance evangelism and discipleship. it extends out into multiple other areas of life, but started with the church, as many things do in my thoughts.
i was thinking the other day that we don't play enough as a culture, or when we do play you are looked down upon. so to do my part i went outside and played in the snow. i took my daughter at first to justify the time. as soon as we started to play, according to her it was not playing but torturing, she cried and continued to do so until i took her back inside. upon taking her inside i had a choice to either go instead and do something responsible or to let my inner child have some fun. i decided to make snowman.
after attempts to make snow angels, snowmen, and consider how to make a fort it was painfully obvious how out of place i was. i settled on carving into the snow "dan loves sarah" in letters of 5 foot by 5 foot. once getting into the front yard to finish "sarah" it felt like every eye was on me as my inner child had a day to laugh and smile again, i realized this was because as a society we do not look kindly on those that take time to play.
as a society we encourage kids to become adults, for adults to become grandparents, and for grandparents to die. of course no one would be willing to say it out loud but it seems true enough to me.
we encourage kids to become adults by pushing them into sports (just in case they might be able to set the parents for life), push them into beauty contests (because what little kid doesn't need there self-esteem to come from their looks?), and push them to act mature. kids instinctively want to be like those that they look up to so they want to drink the coffee, or sit in a big kid seat, or to have a cell phone and maybe those things are great. but as a society we push kids so fast that many of them miss out on their childhood. we take away their carefree days and give them days of worrying about what people think of them or if they are as good as the kid down the street.
once we become old enough then we are expected to always be mature and responsible, never having time to play again. we have things to collect, and things to pay for, and debt to get into, and people to impress. we are so engulfed in what people expect of us that we do not take enough time to play. and in fact we are scared of it. we are so concerned with impressing certain people and appearing that we have it all together that we stay inside and busy ourselves with stuff rather than experience.
as with all things this must be balanced with a reality of responsibilities. there are some individuals who shrug off all responsibility and never come out of their child mindset. as a whole though i would say those are the exception and not the rule.
check out this post from the vblogbrothers to better understand what i mean. | | |
|  hi my name is waverly nicea smitley. i enjoy being held by anyone and i am pretty good about not throwing up on people. currently i am trying out oatmeal as well as a my soy milk but i haven't enjoyed it very much yet. i am also in size two diapers, just one size behind my big sister, and i think i am going to be a long baby like her as well. hi my name is london alyssa smitley. i enjoy running around my room screaming and giggling. i hate wearing shoes and will take them off as soon as i get in the car. i also have been known to continually say "hi" until someone/anyone says hi back and engages me in conversation. i will start attending daycare next week and i look forward to playing with the other kids. hi my name is sarah audrienne smitley. i enjoy the color silver, staying warm, and my children. i have recently become addicted to reading the twilight books and just finished the third book of the inheritance series. i am going to begin taking classes next week to become a nurse and i am very nervous about it. i also enjoy eating ice cream when it is -10 outside. hi my name is daniel roy smitley. i enjoy computers, gaming, and my family. i currently work at a telemarketing company and have no shame saying so. it is my life goal to get my PhD in theology and will hopefully begin taking classes for my masters this coming summer. i do not mind the cold and have recentlytaken the trash out while wearing shorts, when it was -20 (with windchill). welcome to the smitleys | | |
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