Wednesday 18 November 2009

"About Me"

Wrote this for my facebook profile but it seems too lame to actually have it on my profile, so why not here? I can be as lame as I want on my blog that no one reads!!!

This came to me because I'm 80% finished with my anthem, "Blank-Hearted". I'm trying to stick to my guns with the concept, but my doctor said it isn't realistic. Whatever. The song will be the song, but this is the truth:

My heart isn't blank, but it isn't broken either.
I've never seen true love, but I am a believer.
If that's the way I am, then that's the way I will be.
I surrender to the war that's been raging in me.
What I seek is unattainable and defeating;
My heart will be blank when it is no longer beating.
I will never be perfect, but will always be free.
I am wholly, and will forever only be, Me.

Wednesday 11 November 2009

Didn't Make the Cut

It's easy to write songs about boys and relationships and heartache and all that jazz. There have been some good ones and bad ones and ones I really dug and ones who were eh. A couple of the ones I was eh about made it into a song, and a few of the ones I really pined away for never got a song. It's weird.

Sunday 8 November 2009

Lightnin' Salvage gig

Played at that adorable venue behind Satchel's this past Thursday. I love that place. It was easily the best gig I've done, ever. So much fun, so relaxed, had great friends and family there, obviously the food was amazing, etc.

The best thing was debuting new songs. Three in particular: But You Were But A Dream, I'll Just Smile, and Blank-Hearted.

I first wrote the lyrics for YWBAD (haha, cool acronym) on January 6, 2006 about no one in particular. The melody and the arrangement took a while and it was a challenge to craft it and get it just right because it's one of those songs I feel is beyond my capacity to write. So basically it's a gift. It's on piano and is so gut-wrenching with its forlorn heartache! I love it!

Blank-Hearted I was nervous about. The lyrics are posted here and it still isn't quite done, but I wasn't sure if anyone would understand, but a guy said he liked it! And hearing it over the PA and just how powerful it feels to sing something I feel strongly about is pretty neat. Even though my shrink says the concept isn't realistic, I think it's my new anthem. =)

I'll Just Smile is only two weeks old. It wrote itself on my way home from Raleigh on 10/25/09 about a friend of mine I've had a mild crush on for about a year now. It's purdy. :) Not a ballad, not really a love song, but writing it helped me better understand the way I relate to this kid and organize my thoughts about the (non)situation. No big deal - it isn't really finished either, but here's what I have so far:

The thought of you amuses me in a smile-inside-my-heart kind of way
And you may never be mine someday
But I'm just glad that you are being you
Out there, somewhere, today

This feeling I have inside of me will stay hidden away as time goes by
But I optimistically believe
That you may be just as sweet on me
But also just as shy

It just feels good to know you, I'm happy just saying hello
I'm not sure how to show you what I think you already know
So I'll just smile


It was a great time and a perfect opportunity to share my new stuff with a crowd and they seemed to go over pretty well! God gave me one of the best gifts in the world and it's such a privilege to share it with other people.

Thursday 5 November 2009

Heroic Parents

Reading the Alligator the other day I saw in the Classifieds that some cat-lover organization needed someone to drive cats to Gainesville from Old Town to get spayed/neutered and bring them back. Since my dad, a cat lover himself, lives in Suwannee I sent him an email letting him know about it and who to call and so forth. He called me later that afternoon and said, "Well, I called the cat people and they think I'm a hero." I was really proud of him for doing something unselfish and charitable that would give him an excuse to come see my sister and me.

Then I thought about my mom. She single-handedly took care of my ailing aunt Linda, after not being at all close to her for the last 30 years. Mom saw her younger sister die of Lou Gehrig's disease, and all the while, 24 HOURS A DAY, fed her, gave her medicine regularly, bathed her, her helped her use the bathroom, let her keep the thermostat at 73 degrees, watched only the TV shows Linda wanted to watch, got her in and out of her chair and bed, etc. THAT was heroic. Mom showed her true colors, a heart of solid gold. I'm still in awe of the patience and compassion she displayed through the whole ordeal and am inspired by the way her faith was strengthened throughout the trial.

Sorry Dad, but Mom wins this one.

Sunday 1 November 2009

What's In My Name?

Name Haylee

Gender female

Origin Old English

Meaning "from the hay meadow"



ugh  [oothinsp.pngkh, uhkh, uh, oo; spelling pron. uhg]

–interjection

1.

(used as an exclamation expressing disgust, aversion, horror, or the like).

–noun

2.

the sound of a cough, grunt, or the like.


Word Origin & History

ugh

1765, imitative of the sound of a cough; as an interjection of disgust, recorded from 1837.




Definitions of slaughter
v. t. - The act of killing. 2
v. t. - The extensive, violent, bloody, or wanton destruction of life; carnage. 2
v. t. - The act of killing cattle or other beasts for market. 2
v. t. - To visit with great destruction of life; to kill; to slay in battle. 2
v. t. - To butcher; to kill for the market, as beasts.