DFESA 6 - Artist Dump 1 (Jon, Keane, and Sara)

Davina has many, many favorite English-speaking artists.
Davina doesn't have very much time for blogging nowadays.
The previous format for DFESA was pretty comprehensive, but incredibly time-consuming.
Therefore: I'm putting a few artists into one post here, with shorter descriptions and stuff, because I don't want to discontinue the series. (Although, I have no idea if people even read DFESA. Heheh.)

~~~

Jon McLaughlin
A singer-songwriter from Indiana, Jon has been sharing his music with the world since around 2003. He plays the piano phenomenally well and writes lyrics that sound like he actually thought about them. Also, his songs are ultra-catchy. Also, he sings "So Close" from the movie Enchanted, which is totally awesome.
Check out: ^ that, all of the album Indiana, "Beating My Heart," "Four Years" (this one is about high school and I love it so much), and "We All Need Saving."
I am still in the process of listening to all his music, so I may add to this favorites list in the future.

Keane
These guys are a British alternative piano rock band, formed in 1997. They're pretty darn popular--Strangeland, released in May of this year, reached No.1 on the UK Albums Chart, following the trend set by their previous three albums--and for good reason. The piano-driven rock is such a delight to listen to, and the beautiful music and lyrics give off this surreal-ish dreamy feeling that I love.
Check out: "You Are Young," "Silenced By The Night," "Disconnected," "A Bad Dream," "The Frog Prince" (this is probably my absolute favorite), "Somewhere Only We Know" (if you haven't already heard it), "Bend & Break," "Everybody's Changing," and "Bedshaped."

Sara Bareilles
Another American singer-songwriter and pianist, Sara is most well known for her 2007 hit "Love Song," which you've probably heard at some point in your life. The rest of her music is equally excellent, or more, though that does depend on your tastes. But yeah, aldkgabbldkfhg I love her so much she has such a good voice and writes such beautiful songs and is just so wonderful maqlwekrh okay recommendations before I fangirl too much--
Check out: "Uncharted," "Gonna Get Over You," "Hold My Heart," "Let The Rain," "Breathe Again," "City," "Gravity," "Love Song," "Once Upon Another Time," and "Bright Lights and Cityscapes."





ALSO, if you like them, check out "Summer Is Over" by Jon McLaughlin ft. Sara Bareilles. I almost died of joy when I found out this song existed. (Plus, it's finally applicable to the season. I've been listening to it all summer and felt kind of guilty every time, but no longer!)

Typical Conversations #18

I am working on a computer with two monitors.

Dad: Wow! Look at the girl with her two screens. Her friends would be jealous.
Nathan: There'll be three monitors soon.
Dad: When you give her two screens, she will be bipolar. If you give her three, she'll be schizophrenic.

Silence.

Nathan: What?
Dad: Don't you get it? Two is bi, so bipolar, and then--
Me: But schizophrenic has nothing to do with three!
Dad: It's more than two, so it's like wooo... (makes wavy motions around his face)

Silence.

Dad: Never mind. I guess you two don't get pharmaceutical jokes.

Thoughts on John 6:60-71

Like Peter, I do not want to leave my Lord.

The world I see around me is dark, frightening, and powerful. In looking at myself, I have come to understand my own weakness--my helplessness to control anything around me. How, then, could I venture into that place without the protection of my Father's mighty hand?
The thought terrifies me.

The pleasures of this world are plentiful and persuasive in their promises. It would be easy to submit to their allure and let myself be drawn in until I hardly know myself. But I know from the stirrings of my soul that it will not be satisfied with such meager fare. I have tasted of a greater joy than the world can offer me. I will not leave the source of living water to drink at broken cisterns.

The Creator of the universe does not disappear simply because I turn away from him.
I am not guiltless. I am not shameless. I deserve eternal punishment.
To flee from the arms of my Savior is to expose myself for the judgment my sinful soul requires. Without my Redeemer, the knowledge of a holy God's existence is the most horrifying thing I can imagine.

Like a lost child come home, I do not want to leave this shelter my soul has found.
I am not afraid that I will. I know this:
Like steel melted onto steel, my Lord will never, ever let me go.

Frogs and Christians

Letter to an Incomplete, Insecure Teenager
by John Piper

click me!

Almost Forgotten

Worn wooden table. Chairs scraping against the floor, children's chattering, laughter. Hot chocolate in old mugs, cupped by little hands.

We made the hot chocolate with microwaved milk, instead of using boiled water like I did at home.
It was never quite as hot, but always warmer on my insides as we sat there, cheeks pink from the snow outside and all of us thinking hard what to do next.

Tents, or houses, made from blankets. Some of them were so heavy, we had to use our schoolbooks to pin them to the couches. There was barely enough room underneath for even our smaller bodies to crawl, especially after we padded the carpet with cushions. It was okay because we were being Cats, and cats don't stand up inside anyway.

Sometimes we made hot chocolate with only half the powdered packet, and ate the other half, which I never did at home. It stuck to my teeth in little gooey lumps, and I thought that was funny.

When we got tired of talking, we lay down and tried to read in the dimness of those quilted shadows. Eventually we took the books and migrated back upstairs to where the winter sunlight poured in through the window.

Sometimes we didn't make hot chocolate at all. If we had played long enough, if the house was warm enough that we didn't care about the cold, we had cups of apple juice instead.

We asked to sleep under those blanket-houses, so we could keep playing even in our dreams, but ended up in proper beds anyway.

Still it was the roads that

caught our attention and

my recollection: there, 

reality blurred, and we found 

a doorway into our own world.

On the roads, we were

adventurers, explorers,

or warriors as we wished--

what exciting journeys

to remember! and how

simple to forget the quiet

comfort of the house that

waited, waited patiently

until the weary travelers

returned.

oh, journals

I found this in my notes today. It's something I wrote back towards the end of June, a brief descriptive journal of the summer thus far. I made myself laugh a little.

--

The wind outside is blowing enough to toss the tree branches from side to side, and it looks like they're playing with each other. The sun is brilliantly gold on every bit of green and not too hot today. All the same, I shall probably soon be called to water the flowers outside that my mother has been planting in recent weeks. There are daisies, lilies, and many others of various shapes and colors whose names I do not know. They are beautiful as long as the sun does not shrivel them and the deer and beetles do not eat them up. Both situations are in constant danger of happening, which makes my mother upset.
If it happens that all the flowers should die, we shall at least have the tomato plants still living, as long as the rabbits and groundhogs do not dig under the fence and eat them, and as long as the ants do not go around building anthills nearby and getting ideas. The ants really have quite the audacity. A few months ago we found an anthill actually inside the house, which was appropriately horrifying to everyone. Thankfully, there are also lots of spiders in the house, so the ants are mostly dead now. I like spiders as long as they are not crawling on me, biting me, or sitting in forbidden places like my clothes drawers.
That is basically the sum of my current summer existence--sunlight, flowers, and insects.
No, I am probably lying. There are other things happening as well, but they don't matter so much to me right now.

--

I particularly like the line about spiders. It's true.

eep

I've neglected this poor little blog for more than a month. I feel terrible.
However, the neglect is about to end! A new Blog Challenge is starting up in September, so Rainstorms is probably going to get some posting nuggets of joy soon.
I say 'probably' because I've decided to challenge myself further and try to accomplish The Challenge primarily on my other blog, but I may still post on Rainstorms from time to time (especially because I foresee myself running out of inspiration for poetry at some point or another).

And now, I have chores to do, so farewell, my dear followers and blog-stalker! I shall return, I promise.