Gotta Be Somebody

I'm gonna do another song this week - it's been a couple weeks since I decided to analyze a song. Another Nickelback song, Gotta Be Somebody, to be precise.

This time I wonder what it feels like
To find the one in this life
The one we all dream of
But dreams just aren't enough
So I'll be waiting for the real thing.
I'll know it by the feeling.
The moment when we´re meeting
Will play out like a scene straight off the silver screen
So I'll be holdin' my own breath
Right up to the end
Until that moment when
I find the one that I'll spend forever with


Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There's gotta be somebody for me like that.
Cause nobody wants to do it on their own
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.
There's somebody else that feels the same somewhere.
There's gotta be somebody for me out there.


Tonight, out on the street out in the moonlight
And ****it this feels too right
It's just like déjà vu
Me standin' here with you
So I'll be holdin' my own breath
Could this be the end?
Is it that moment when
I find the one that I'll spend forever with?


Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There's gotta be somebody for me like that.
Cause nobody wants to do it on their own
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.
There's somebody else that feels the same somewhere
There's gotta be somebody for me out there.


You can't give up!
Lookin' for that diamond in the rough
You never know but when it shows up
Make sure you're holdin' on
Cause it could be the one
The one you're waiting on


Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
And everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There has gotta be somebody for me
Nobody wants to do it on their own
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.
Is there somebody else that feels the same somewhere?
There's gotta be somebody for me out there.

How many of us actually WANT to live a lonely existence, without friends, love, or support? Human beings are social creatures. Even the most introverted person has some friends and family that they spend time with. This song illustrates one of the deepest desires of the human heart - to be loved.

We all want someone to be there for us, no matter what happens. Someone to share our hopes, dreams, and fears with. Someone to love us, even at our worst. Someone to hold us and tell us that they love us, even when we're at our most unloveable. Someone to love us even when we can't love ourselves.

None of us is perfect. We all have failed. But we can continue to love.

The best example of this love?

"This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." -John 15:12-13


Embedding was disabled on the video for this song, but you can still find it by going to this link.


-enna

a spiritual bouquet

*NOTE* In this post, I will be using the real names of a school and person.

For those who are unaware, the homeschooling movement is sweeping the nation. Approximately 1.5 million kids were homeschooled in 2007, and this number has continued to grow. Many, though not all, homeschool for religious reasons. Many books and curricula are available for the homeschooling mother, as well as accredited schools that their children can receive diplomas from.

One such school is Mother of Divine Grace Academy, MODG for short. Based in Ojai, California, the school was founded by Laura Berquist in 1995 for Catholic homeschooling mothers. Currently, over 3,500 students are enrolled, from multiple countries and most, if not all 50 states.

For those who did not know, I graduated from this school. I know Mrs. Berquist well, as well as several of her children. And because of this, I have a plea to make for the Berquist family.

Laura's husband, Marcus, has been struggling with a severe illness for about the last six months. He had to return to the hospital about a week ago, and received a verdict - he has a fungal lung infection and days, maybe weeks, if he's lucky months, left to live. The whole family, which is involved in the running of MODG, is working extremely hard to continue business as normal.

I would like to offer them as many prayers as I can, both for his healing, a peaceful death, and strength for the family. In the Catholic Church, when these prayers are bundled together like I'm trying to do, we call it a spiritual bouquet. See, each prayer or sacrifice is like a spiritual flower, and a bunch of flowers is a bouquet.

If you would like to contribute to this bouquet, please comment and tell what you're doing - if you're fasting, giving a donation to a charity in their honor, saying an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, just an intercessory prayer...just state what you are going to do for the family.

I truly hope that you'll prayerfully consider helping the Berquist family with your prayers. May God bless you.

-enna

four letter words

How often do you hear people swearing? Maybe I'm overly sensitive, since I'm not fond of cussing, but it seems that this form of language is very common. I hear it in the hallways, in the cafeteria, at work, in the lounge...it's everywhere. Even in writing. I can't help but notice something that all of these words have in common.

They are almost all four letters with the exception of the alternate word for donkey, more frequently used to refer to the buttocks.

Isn't that odd? Who was it that said 99% of swear words should be four letters long? And who was it who decided that these words - that have perfectly acceptable definitions - should become dirty words? I'm not saying that I'd USE these words, but I'm pointing out a discrepancy within the point. Why are some things "bad"? Couldn't we start saying "from" is a swear word?

And if you are constantly defaulting to using these four letter words as adjectives, how much are you missing in terms of vocabulary? Why can't you just state "no" emphatically? Or say "I had a really good time" rather than "I had a **** of a good time" or "I had a **** good time"? Our English language (though it's very strange) is full of different words to describe fully what we are thinking - instead of saying "really good", you could say phenomenal, stupendous, invigorating, enlightening, enjoyable, amazing...the list goes on. Those words don't have to be the only adjectives in your vocabulary - most of them aren't adjectives at all, but rather verbs or nouns.

Even in context, I choose not to use these four letter words. I do not wish to be misunderstood, and I know I can express myself sufficiently without resorting to crude words of less than two syllables.

I do, however, choose to use one four letter word quite frequently. What is it?

And so faith, hope, and love remain, these three, but the greatest of these is love.  -1 Corinthians 13:13 


-enna

upon the humdrum

This won't be wildly philosophical or anything. I'm sorry. I just wished to comment on a bit of life. It's been a while since I've said anything whatsoever about what insane things I've been doing recently.

I did lose my mind when I signed up for the fall semester. I am currently taking 6 classes, 17 credits. (OK, I did finish my speech class already, so I'm down to five classes and 14 credits, but hey...I still lost my mind.) The crazier part? I'm planning on taking another 6 classes and 17 credits NEXT semester. (Only four days a week instead of five though...yay!) I also figured out that if I want to keep doing this insanity thing, doing at least 17 credits a semester, add that to the 14 credits I started with, and add in the three CLEP tests I plan on taking (freshman english, psychology, and sociology), I can graduate - with a full bachelor's degree - in three years. THREE YEARS. Then I'll be DONE with school FOREVER AND EVER!!! (At least, going to school myself.)

I do love my classes, though. I'm also tutoring in math. I THOUGHT I was done with that evil subject (taking it, I mean), but obviously God has a great sense of irony. Ha ha. Between tutoring, classes, and homework, can you guess what I do most of the week? I do love my internship at the radio station, though. I get paid in candy and edibles! :D I'll be glad, though, when my braces come off and I can EAT more of the stuff I get paid in. :P ;)

My weekends are normally filled with chores, church, and seeing my boyfriend and other friends. Not necessarily in that order. My free-writing has kinda disappeared. I miss it...I may have to start writing soon.

That is the current life of this crazy college student. I promise another philosophical post in the near future to make up for the humdrum-ness of this post.

-enna

silent auction, live auction...abortion auction??

I do not hide my pro-life stance. I strongly believe that life is sacred and begins the moment the sperm breaks the edge of the egg's wall. I will not apologize for my stance.

I mentioned in a previous post that October is Respect Life month. You don't hear about this because of everything pink. Yep, breast-cancer awareness as well. We have a veritable EPIDEMIC of it today, whereas it wasn't very common 60 years ago. That, however, shall be the subject of another post.

As a member of the Live Action movement, I receive updates on Facebook and emails from the organization. Just yesterday, I received a link to a story that shocked me - NARAL in Washington held its 30th Annual Liberty Ball & Masquerade. Ok, so even if I strongly wish that this organization didn't exist, I can't complain because they simply held an annual event, right? WRONG!

Jill Stanek, a prominent pro-life blogger, provides the link provided by NARAL to a blog that offered a shout-out about the event. In the post, the first paragraph states that NARAL auctioned off a first-trimester abortion. The Afternoon Jolt (blog) calls it "audacious", and praises the move. The Morning Fizz, not to be outdone, expounded on the topic, saying, "one prize stayed true the politics at hand: 'Fund a first-trimester abortion at Aurora Medical Services for a woman in need.'" They further say that they offered a vasectomy in the auction. (I will address my issues with all forms of contraception in a later post.)

It makes me sick.

May God have mercy on our country.

-enna

Long-overdue

I know this post is far overdue. The Battle of Zephanaia was published in August of 2009. You can get it at my Lulu storefront or from Amazon - just search The Battle of Zephanaia. The paperback version is available on both websites, as is an eBook version - especially for Kindle on Amazon - and you can get a hardcover at the lulu website. I am currently in the process of working on Draila's Return, which is the sequel to The Battle of Zephanaia. I can unfortunately not give an approximate date yet for its release, but I will say it will hopefully be out before we reach 2020. I know this is not much consolation for you Zephanaia fans out there, but it is the best I can do. I'm not like some of those authors who can thrash out a 400-500 page book in three to four months. It takes me a tad bit longer than that. I can say with confidence that Draila's Return will be the last book starring Fredrich, Ilena, Prasworth, and Nenia for a while. I know many of my readers would love to hear more about these characters, but after this, the focus will go forwards and backwards to different points in time - some about former rulers of Zephanaia, others about later generations. Someday I may even get around to writing the story of Riathamus, Helath, and everything else that happened at the beginning of time. I'm not sure yet, but you can be sure I will try to keep you updated.

the diary of an unborn child

This little story can almost make me cry. (I'm not a crier.) I'm posting it in honor of Pro Life month.

May God have mercy on this country.

Diary of an unborn child:
September 19:
Today my life began. My parents do not know it yet, but it is I already. And I am to be a girl. I shall have brown hair and eyes. Just about everything is settled, even the fact that I shall love flowers.

October 3:
Some say that I am not a real person yet, that only my mother exists. But I am a real person, just as a small crumb of bread is yet truly bread. My mother is. And I am.

October 7:
My mouth is just beginning to open now. Just think, in a year or so I shall be laughing and later talking. I know what my first word will be: MAMA.

October 9:
My heart began to beat today all by itself. From now on it shall gently beat for the rest of my life without ever stopping to rest! And after many years it will tire. It will stop, and then I shall die.

October 17:
I am growing a bit every day. My arms and legs are beginning to take shape. But I have to wait a long time yet before those little legs will raise me to my mother's arms, before those little arms will be able to gather flowers and embrace my father.

October 27:
Tiny fingers are beginning to form on my hands. Funny how small they are! I'll be able to stroke my mother's hair with them.

November 4:
It wasn't until today that the doctor told mom that I am living here under her heart. Oh, how happy she must be! Are you happy, mom?

November 9:
My mom and dad are probably thinking about a name for me. But they don't even know that I am a little girl. I want to be called Marianne. I am getting so big already.

November 24:
My hair is growing. It is smooth and bright and shiny. I wonder what kind of hair mom has?

November 27:
I am just about able to see. It is dark around me. When mom brings me into the world it will be full of sunshine and flowers. But what I want more than anything is to see my mom. Mom, what do you look like?

December 8:
I wonder if mom hears the whispering of my heart? Some children come into the world a little sick. But my heart is strong and healthy. It beats so evenly: thup-thup, thup-thup. You'll have a healthy little daughter, mom!

December 12:
Today? Today my mother killed me.

-enna

If Everyone Cared

I'm going to start on my search for meaning in song lyrics. I'll start with If Everyone Cared by Nickelback. Before I get started, here's the lyrics:

From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars for satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight


Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive


If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died


And I'm singing


Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive


And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along


Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
(I'm alive)

If everyone cared and nobody cried

If everyone loved and nobody lied

If everyone shared and swallowed their pride

Then we'd see the day when nobody died

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be


If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died
When nobody died...


We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died

So, my thoughts? Well, I really like the way they did the music video too, for one thing. I've posted it below the post, so you can watch it when I'm done musing. But they intersperse your typical music-video-shots of the band with video, words, and pictures of different lesser-known civil activists. It works really well, I personally just wish that there wasn't so much dead space at the end of the video. But mebbe that's just me being picky.

Anyway, I'm especially gonna focus on the refrain. If everyone cared, and nobody cried, if everyone loved and nobody lied, if everyone shared and swallowed their pride, would we see the day when nobody died? Ladies and gents, welcome to the Garden of Eden. If this were to truly be within our world, Christ's message would have truly become the byword of the world.

But is this even possible? Can we attain this kind of perfection?

But in the end the fireflies are only light in Paradise. Nope, those aren't the actual lyrics, but it's what I'd first thought they were when I listened. There is still truth within those words, though. Remember chasing fireflies as a kid? I know I did. It was one of my favorite things to do. Even now, on summer nights when I get home from work or spending time at a friend's house or Phinwe's, I look at the yard and will sit for a bit, just watching the fireflies. It looks like someone dumped a huge thing of gold glitter on the grass. They don't have much light. But in Paradise (another term for Heaven), the light from those little fireflies would be enough to do anything - read, dance, walk...those little bugs would be enough. But here, in our imperfect world, we cannot necessarily light up great halls and get our names into history books like Martin Luther King Jr.

So what's the point?

We should be like fireflies.

We should light up our little corner of the world. Every one of us has a light to shine, no matter how large or small it is. If we put a basket over it or try to dim it, the only ones we're hurting are ourselves.

And as we lie beneath the stars, we realize how small we are; if they could love like you and me, imagine what our world could be.

We're not very big. In the grand scheme of things, we're a little dot running amongst other little dots. But we can make a difference. If we consciously love whom we meet, we might see the world

Where everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
We'd see the day...

When nobody died. 

"His lord said to him: 'Well done, good and faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of thy lord.'" Mt 25:23 (Douay-Rheims)








-enna

upcoming!

This is not really a "post" post, simply a preview of upcoming topics. I need to write them down before I forget, so why not write them where everyone can read them? I may also do some other topics, but I know for sure I'll do these.

Basically, what I'm looking at doing is starting to look at lyrics of songs and philosophizing about them, and the relevance. I'm currently contemplating Never Be Alone, Gotta Be Somebody, and If Everyone Cared by Nickelback, as well as Welcome to the Masquerade by Thousand Foot Krutch (shortened to TFK by 99% of the music industry), Broken by 12 Stones, State of Mind by 11th Parallel, Life Starts Now by Three Days Grace...I'll probably eventually do every song in my playlist, but those are definitely in the cue of posts for you. :) I will also attempt to find a music video for each of these to go with the post so that you can also hear and listen to the music.

Oh, and also expect a discourse on life soon. I'm going to a pro-life rally tomorrow afternoon, and October is pro-life month. Didn't know that? Well, now you do. ;) I'll try to do something about the pro-life cause and such during my October posts.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

-enna