Space and Stars

I'm gathering material/research for this post that's going to take a while to write (nothing big, just something I thought would be fun) so it may take a while to post again.

We finally moved out of my house of 9 years. It's incredible to think I spent all of my early adolescence to my early young adulthood there. I don't have time to start missing it because my main worry now is that the house buyer might back out from the deal, which might face us with not just losing the sale, but also losing the house since an empty house can't generate the [rent] income to pay mortgage.

Right now I've been reading through sections of Jesuit Br. Guy Consolmagno's Brother Astronomer:The Adventures of a Vatican Scientist. I like how he says that theology is in fact the first science and how it calls us to embrace the natural sciences (since through these natural sciences we come to know creation, and in turn, God), maintaining a balance that avoids the bad science of fundamentalist biblical literalism on one side (6,000 year old earth, etc.) and atheist scientific materialism on the other end.

I thought his tone toward atheists seemed a little smug/sure of himself though (I've been guilty of it myself before, but I understand them better now). I do believe Aquinas' proofs strongly prove or at least strongly support a first mover: if you stand in a circle of people and are told to tap the person next to you, but only if someone tapped you first--there'd have to be an initial "untapped tapper", in a notable example Fr. Jim Martin says a nun professor of his did in My Life with the Saints. However, how do we know this first mover and uncaused first cause is the Catholic "version" of God? The complexity of the universe gives credit to the mover being intelligent, but what about the mover being omni-benevolent and personally invested in (i.e. loving of?) each and every being and able to intervene in their life?

That's a lot to answer in one post, but all the talk of space and stars and hard situations here on earth can fill anyone with questions like that.

9-11

It's really rainy and windy outside, a blatant reminder of what happened 8 years ago while sitting in my Global History class during my second day of high school.

I'll keep it short because I don't want to write something insincere or awkwardly sentimental, but I thought I'd write a short blurb to say I remember and in honor of my cousin F.B...

Songs of the Summer Gone

It's incredible how different my music tastes have changed (and remained somewhat the same) through high school and college. In high school I was really into pop punk bands (Sum 41, Blink 182, Green Day and slightly more grungy Treble Charger) and a lot of mainstream alternative (Third Eye Blind for example), whereas in college I got into more toned down and easy listening "indie" stuff (whatever that means) like Sufjan Stevens and Liz Phair (during her pre-pop indie days). I don't listen to those genres exclusively (I have Eminem, Porcupine Tree, and even a Backstreet Boys song or two in my playlist---LOL) but they were the ones I felt most predominated.

I guess it was because I shifted from the high energy feeling of high school (both angsty and happy) to one that more reflected a time in my life where I was gaining a lot more self control as well as getting closure with a lot of the things I dealt with in high school. Plus, all those retreats and Taize chanting across the river were bound to trip me out into spiritual hippitude sooner or later [plays Gregorian chants on music player but then secretly switches back to Beyonce].

Anyway, on to the title of this post. The summer after college graduation is officially over and I'm still discovering (or re-discovering) some great music. The particular artists and/or songs that got me through the summer (in no particular order):

Vainica Doble was probably my favorite (ok maybe there was a particular order) musical discovery this summer. Vainica Doble was a duo that hailed from Spain formed by Carmen Santoja (r.i.p. +) and Gloria Van Aerssen. I discovered them by accident when I was searching Youtube for a song called "Caramelo de Limón" by Argentinian pop punk band Dos Minutos. Instead, I came across a really trippy video of the same name and right away fell in love with these two ladies of lyrical wit and trancey melodies. Their songs can be hard to find since they have been active since the 1970s, but luckily I found a lot of their songs on imeem, more Youtube searches, and a recent album in the Amazon mp3 store.

Some of my other favorite songs by them are Mariluz, La Ballena Azul, Alas de Algodón, Yo le Imagino, and Habanera del Primer Amor. I've been looking for related artists to get into but think these ladies are pretty much unmatched in originality.

My movie watching this summer led me to some other Spanish language "discoveries" like Peruvian band los Zopilotes (see songs A Quien and Tu y Yo) and unfamiliar songs from familiar artists like Miguel Bose's El Amor Después del Amor and to segway onto the English language front, a soundtrack appearance of U2's Zoo Station on About a Boy with Hugh Grant.

Unfamiliar songs by familiar artists this summer came in its biggest form with Third Eye Blind's release of Ursa Major. As with many comeback albums I thought it was going to be lackluster, but I ended up racking up a lot of favorites such as high energy let's-enjoy-life kind of song Can You Take Me (crisp live version at Central Park concert I missed, this song makes me happy and reminds me of Blue's high energy 1000 Julys), Dao of St. Paul, One in Ten (a very Chasing Amy-esque song), and About to Break. I don't have links to all the songs so you may have to look them up or use the Amazon $3.99 special lol.

My most embarrasing discovery this summer has been the Smashing Pumpkins, embarrasing in a how-could-I-not-notice-sooner kind of way. I was familiar with the band but have probably only listened to one or two songs in passing. Now I have songs like Rocket, Soma, Stumbleine, and Hummer (regular and acoustic) on repeat. After a somewhat long instrumental bridge, there's a line in Hummer where Billy says "do, you feel...love is real?" It sounds like a trite line, but they can pull it off enough to make me smile the first time I heard it.

Finally, a special mention for 10,000 Maniacs and Natalie Merchant. 10,000 Maniacs was on a Halloween episode of Sabrina (don't judge) I watched a long time ago playing a song I really liked called Rainy Day. They have other good songs like These Are the Days and Among the Americans. I don't know how to describe their sound other than as feel good folky 90s alternative-ishness. Natalie Merchant, who I guess went solo after being in the band, has a good song called Frozen Charlotte.

Happy Labor Day!

September Air

This one's a short one.

I have been sleeping a lot better at night now that the air is cooler (we couldn't use our a/c all summer because this part of the house seems to have screwed up electrical wiring), which means fall is not too far away.

One thing I like about the fall is that I get to go back to wearing hoodies. I still haven't grown out of them, so I think it must be a mixture between the fact that they remind me of olden religious habits and the way they make you feel all snuggled up and in the mood for a good discussion over apple cider (lol maybe I'm taking this too far).

My other favorite thing about the fall is the mystical kind of atmosphere it gives certain places, one of the reasons I'll miss going back to school in the Hudson Valley and most especially leading (or just being on) those candle lit retreats in Esopus. I can just smell the piney smell and the dimly lit corridors.