Take The Sky

Blog entry: What does Blue Wind mean when he says that Matt Stretton "wishes he 

came from this type of place."

Well. If this isnt an interesting question I dont know what is.

At first glance, i take it to mean that BW(Blue Wind) means to convey that Matt wishes he had a rough past, a good story, true hardass upbringing. Instead Matt has his rich parents, nanny pampered upbringing and a snazzy new car. BW lives in a rough area, where the families are self destructive, alcoholics, and thieves.  He sells stolen cars for a living, and basically has to do so to support his grandmother and his daughter. Matt sells drugs because its "fun"  BW knows what a hard life is, Stretton never has experienced anything like that kind of lifestyle.  So...yeah. There we go...

A Good Man

As an english assignment, i am to take a song, and tear it apart. In a good way, of course...

I picked Emerson Drive- A Good Man

***

I don’t need a whole lot of money 
But I wouldn’t turn a lottery down
I just need a little green in my pocket
So I can buy my buddies a round
All I want is a place to lay my head with the woman I love lyin’ in my bed
Kind of understated
My dreams aren’t that complicated…

I wanna be the one
When all is said and done
Who lived a good life, loved a good wife, and always helped someone in trouble
On the day they lay me down
I want everyone to gather ‘round
And say he was a father, brother, neighbour and a friend
He was a good man!

I used to dream of being a rock star
And seein’ the world in style
Used to dream of havin’ a fast car
And driving that miracle mile
But I’ve heard tales those streets aren’t paved in gold
They’re full of pot holes and empty souls
Who never learn…
Love is something you gotta earn

I wanna be the one
When all is said and done
Who lived a good life, loved a good wife, and always helped someone in trouble
On the day they lay me down
Want everyone to gather ‘round
And say he was a father, brother, neighbour and a friend
He was a good man!

When I’m gone, I wanna leave a legacy
Of love and laughs and honesty behind me
Behind me…

I wanna be the one
When all is said and done
Who lived a good life, loved a good wife, and always helped someone in trouble
On the day they lay me down
Want everyone to gather ‘round
And say he was a father, brother, neighbour and a friend
He was a good man…

Yaaaaa…I wanna be a good man…a father, a brother, a neighbour, and a friend
I wanna be a good man!

***In my opinion, its about a man who wants nothing more than to be a strong simple man everyone can look up to and respect. His aspirations are not above means, and he only desires to live life as a normal man. A good man.

1: What were the songs each of you choose individually (song name and artist)?

Emerson Drive- A Good Man

2: What was the song you choose as a group, and why (song name and artist)?

I wonder.

3: What is the song about?

In my opinion, its about a man who wants nothing more than to be a strong simple man everyone can look up to and respect. His aspirations are not above means, and he only desires to live life as a normal man. A good man.

4: How do you know? Support your assertion.

I may sound a bit idealistic, but i believe he straight up says he wants to be a good man. In all seriousness though. The things he wants in life are not those of the rich, powerful, or poor, or weak. He wants normality, a steady life of helping others, loving his family and friends.

5: Why was it worth choosing/writing about? What about the song appealed to
the group?

Its the song that i try to live by.  I only want a normal life. I want to have a family, I dont want a lot of money, and i want to be remembered as a man who tried to make everyone elses life better.

6: Does it have a video? Does this video alter or augment your perception of the
song? If so, how?

The video is in one part, very good at portraying the "Good Man" on the other part, its the band playing in a barn with splices of hard working real men in videos or pictures being thrown in. Sorry, but country songs arent the best for videos...then again nor is rap.  It doesnt alter my perceptions of the lyrics at all though.

7: How does the music affect how you interpret the lyrics?

Well, its country music with a nice twang in it. Normally i associate things like that to "Good 'ole country boy" or back woods redneck in AL. But, i like to stick to the former rather than the latter. The country music fits my mental image of a good man very well, being raised by people who grew up very southern, theres no way to escape that thought.

8: If you were to create a video of this song, what would it be like?

I would most likely remove the band entirely and only show "Good Men" It would give more support to the lyrics, and less from the band. Making the words more impactive.

Midtown

I've covered bases of most random aspects of my life, but i've left out something incredibly important. My church. 

It was called Midtown Community Church(MCC), now its Grace @ Midtown. Grace Fellowship church in snellville started up the church by supporting an older church in atlanta. An older crowd, older building, and baptist. Eventually after the older crowd began growing weary of financial difficulties they handed the church over to Grace. Midtown is a very young church, maybe three years old, and we are already a huge part of our community. I've been going there since the end of April. I've worked there to relandscape, rewire, rebuild, repaint, anything laborwise you can think of. I'm also a greeter and usher for at least one service every sunday. MCC has become such a part of my life that most of my friends have been made there recently.  God is moving so fluidly through the people at the church that we are dancing around worshiping, and tend to intimidate the older crowd from our intense worship and love of the Lord. When i say we get into it, i mean it. We Get Into It. We get into Him. The love that we have in and at MCC is amazing...

Whoa! What?! ANOTHER ALREADY?????

As I'm sitting here pumping these things out like a cow is sucked dry of milk whether it's willing or not, I realize that I keep the most bizarre set of furnishings in my room. I've got this enormous 28" black LCD monitor, black 5.1 surround sound, black keyboard, black/blue mouse, black PC tower. OK, so thats kinda normal right? I assume you're fine with the black office storage, black wireframe notepad holders, organizers, pencil holders, ect. How about the gunmetal Business card holder? So you're with me so far...

Now for the fun part.

Next to all this, on the white cherry and black particle board corner desk, i have this beautiful antique lamp. You know, the brass base, elegant slopes and curves, candleholder looking bulb casing. Well, behind it i have this awesome tribal pattern sheet that i use as blinds. Its tan with black tribal designs all over it...i'll see if i can find a picture of something like it later.  Its not quite done getting wierd. I've got a sleepnumber bed on a junky pine bedframe stained to look like red oak, and a cedar/black nightstand on wheels looking thing holding a silver plastic alarm clock.  Oh, and did i mention the entire room is trying to sqeeze itself around an awesome looking fireplace! Also, did i mention that it doesnt work!  Yeah, thats snazzy...i had to vacuum dirt and soot out of it and restuff fiberglass up the chimney to keep homeless people and small animals out to make it suitable to look at too...

Now if thats not enough of a "WTF" collection, i've got a 17" Miter Saw sitting in my floor staring at me along with a huge box of Craftsmen power tools and my tool best in the corner...leaning up against 2 spare matresses behind the door...with a mirror leaning agaisnt them...then theres my trusty Mossberg 500 with beanbag shells loaded in it sitting under my bed.

Like i said, Already ran out of ideas. Maybe there will be more tonight...2 down, 4 to go? at least i've got till tuesday :/

(or do i?)

Ok, so i've been behind.

Well. I've been a bit busy, so who's ready for an influx of massive blog entries? I know I'm not, but oh well, what has to be done will be done!

As an extension of my last post, my friends Brian and Josh.

I met Brian in middle school, but didn't really get to know him too well until high school. We had MULTIPLE art classes together, and became very close friends, even if he was mildly afraid of me xD  

Josh i didn't meet until senior year of high school, and met through Brian. Josh and I are almost inseparable, and are like a tag team ministry duo for our friends and those we meet. Both these guys have completely changed my life. 

I enjoy art even though i don't have the same skills they have. Brian is good with pen, pencil, and marker, as well as mouse. Josh is amazingly skilled as a graphic designer, and has some pretty good skill with a pencil as well. I can pretty much do geometric shapes and intricate, yet random designs.  Through Brian I learned how to be more outgoing, and then I taught Josh. Josh taught me how to truly love someone(no homo), and now we're both trying to teach Brian. We're all brothers, Josh's parents refer to me as their "Other Son" and Brian's parents treat me like they treat him as well. 

Another thing i learned through them, is how amazing we are at Halo xD

Friends

So, as a brief summarization of everything in my life, friends are everything *worldly* that i love. I'll take another best friend over a girlfriend any day. My friends in this picture brought me out of my family and shared thier own with me. Which did nothing but make my life better. If you ever ask me how much my friends mean to me, i will answer,"i'll die for them." Thats the pure truth to it. God has given me the experiences in my life to protect others over myself.  My friends mean the world to me(free for interpretation) I love these two in the picture like brothers, and in many senses, we are. Our friends shape our own lives, personalities, and psychology. We need to focus more on loving them for being who they are, and helping us find who we really are.

This picture was taken right after my baptism on August 16th 2009. My best friend Brian on the left, myself in the center, and the person who knows more about me than i do, and my brother, Josh on the right.  I love theses two more than i could ever put into words. God bless yall.