Day (?): .................?

God is crazy. There, I said it. God is crazy.

Since I have started not buying awesome for 40 days (throughout the rest of this post, I will hereby refer to CD's as 'awesome'), I have noticed some cool changes in my life :).

It helped having a ridiculously convicting Local Outreach week this past week. God has definitely confirmed some things in my mind and has got me to think about other things that I have thought about, but not seriously enough to do something about it......until now.

Like, for instance, now when I go and grab some Tim Horton's or something, even though I have almost $200 left to pay off on my credit card, I always tip the remainder of whatever I pay with. At the start of the year, I started saving all of my tips and money I'd find on the ground to give to missions. Now, at the end of the day, I'm starting to put all of my change that's under a toonie in the same pot.

Lo and behold, buying cd's isn't bugging me nearly as much as I thought it would. Who'd'a thunk?

So, I'm thinking about volunteering at the Salvation Army now. That'd be pretty cool :).

Here now is why God is fricking crazy, repeatedly blows my mind, and why this post got started last night, was supposed to be posted last night, and ended up not being posted.

See, I've got a friend back home who used to be a HUGE jerkbag with the biggest ego this world has ever seen. I am not joking. Nor am I exaggerating or using any figures of speech. Only Kanye West's is bigger. When I was home back in August, when we were walking around after youth, he asked me, "So, how's your walk with God been?" It took me a little bit to respond because I was in shock that HE, of all people, would ask me this question. Of ANYONE I know, even those that DON'T know Jesus, he was THE LAST person I would've EVER guessed would have asked me that question. Ever. Two nights ago, he told me that God is leading him (with some obvious evidence) towards being a worship leader. That's pretty freaking sweet. When I, relative to this point, was halfway through typing this post, he got on msn and we started having a good conversation. This was around 12:20-30-ish. The Internet goes off at 1. We kept talking until 2. It was one of those conversations that needed to be attended to, thus this post did not get posted until now. We were doing some minor catching up, but most of it was about what God's been doing in his life and giving him some advice on what to do with his life to get where God wants him (he's in Grade 11 and is starting to think about schools). I'm going to be looking for a Bible college. I suggested Briercrest, but it's all about what God wants him to do, right? It's all good and it will definitely be pretty freaking sweet what God is going to do from here on in. He is almost a completely different person from what he was. That alone is God's doing. God is definitely doing some pretty crazy things in his life :). I, frankly, am quite excited to see what's going to happen in his life over the next while :).


I'm in the middle of your picture in a beautiful collision.

Day (?): Internet. Life. Oi.

Angels & Airwaves came out yesterday. I couldn't buy it. It made me sad, but not as sad as I would figure.

God's been doing some really cool things in my life lately. It's Local Outreach Week this week and it's been convicting me of some things. Some of which do with how I spend my money. Even though it will be a sacrifice, I'm going to do my best to start giving regularly to some charities. I'm thinking the Esther Fund (a fund set up through www.xxxchurch.com to help people who want out of the adult film industry get out, stay out, and help them get their lives back together) and possibly sponsoring a child through Compassion which is something I have wanted to do for a while, but never had a steady stream of income long enough to be able to, so it's all good now :)


Storm the gates of Hell.

Day Eleven: Sweet Bejeebus.

I did not buy any cd's today, nor was I tempted to buy any cd's today.

But I picked up some pretty sweet shoes.

I would like to declare here and now that I, Chris Lear, am the man.





(And pick up the new Angels & Airwaves on Tuesday because you will all be able to see the biggest hurdle in my 40 day trek through awesome and why it is that big of a hurdle. Or.....I WILL SMITE YOU ALL *grins and bares teeth* ;). Come Dec. 4 [or 5th. My memory is a shade foggier than normal at this present moment in time.], IT WILL BE MINE *grins, bares teeth, and cackles maniacally*.)

You're a spoiled brat. Oh, yes it's true. Fate fell short this time 'cause Your love never changes.

Day Ten: Just about, but almost.

Day Ten. The Day I Almost Failed.

So, I was sittin', chillin', drinkin' Coke, playin' Guitar Hero with some friend when I was on my laptop and saw that Switchfoot put a song up that you can get either with a financial donation to Habitat for Humanity, a time donation to Habitat for Humanity, or free if you're too broke. I was just about to pay for my donation, then I stopped myself? Would that be classed as paying for music, thus buying an album, thus breaking lent? Or, because it is a charitable donation, would that nullify the fact that I would, in essence, be buying music?

Interesting tidbits about that song. In the summer (the song is called 'Rebuild'), Jon Foreman and Matt Thiessen (from Relient K) wrote it for their current tour together. A few hours later, Relient K's bus burned down. Now, San Diego, Switchfoot's hometown, got largely destroyed by fires. Don't you think a song like that is even more fitting?

It's interesting, because I was in San Diego over New Year's this past, and some of the places we were aren't there anymore. It's just one of these times where you just have to sit back and think about how precious life is and how quickly it can be gone.

When they hide in the shadows of night, light 'em up.

Day Nine: Inch Nails.

Yesterday, I did the most retarded things I possibly could've done. I am one stupid child. This next little piece of information is most likely proof that I, Chris Lear, was dropped on my head as a child.

I actually was. Great Uncle's place. Got a wickedbad bloody nose (my apologies to all you Brits out there who were offended by my North American phraseology). Age four.

And I got the car trunk door accidentally slammed on my head the year previous by my dad because he didn't see me there while I was looking into the trunk with such child-like wonderment in my eyes. The twinkling was truly a sight to behold. Then again, if it was beheld for too long, it could quite possibly blind another, small, innocent, little child. Tragic. *shudders*

So, yeah, on to the stupid thing I did yesterday.

Remember how I wanted to buy the AVA record really, really, really, really, bad? Well, in my esteemed, near-infinite genius, I went on their myspace to see if they had any new stuff up. They had a minute and a half clip of Everything's Magic up. I listened to it. I shouldn't have. t reminded me how much I REALLY want to buy that album. Angels & Airwaves, WHY DO YOU HAVE TO CREATE SUCH FILLED WITH AWESOMENESS THAT MY SIMPLE, FEEBLE BEING CANNOT WITHSTAND A MERE TEMPORARY BLAST FROM YOUR MUSICAL SALVO!?!?!??!?!!?!?!!!?!?!!?!??!!?!?!?

Ugh.

That said, I've been throwing around the idea for the past few days of only listening to the music I have acquired since the beginning of the year in addition to not buying any cd's. I say this, because I've bought so many cd's in the past while that I haven't listened to all of all of them and I would like to get back to the point where I really take the time to sit down with an album and get enwrapped in all of its textures and unravel every layer to see and absorb all of its musical and lyrical complexities. One of the major downfalls of buying so many cd's in such a short period of time is that I almost don't get to really invest myself in an album anymore with very, VERY few exceptions.

Phooey.

If it does go like this, my playlist will go as follows: select tracks from the Advent Rising soundtrack, ApologetiX - Chosen Ones, the Bioshock Orchestral Score, Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People, David Crowder*Band - Remedy, Falling Up - Captiva, the soundtrack for Sam & Max - Season 1, Emery - I'm Only A Man [Deluxe Edition], Manic Drive - Reset & Rewind, The Offspring - Conspiracy of One, Radiohead - Com Lag: 2+2=5 [EP], Radiohead - In Rainbows, Relient K - Let It Snow Baby...Let It Reindeer, Thousand Foot Krutch - The Flame In All Of Us, Thrice - The Alchemy Index: Vols. I & II: Fire & Water, and U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind.


I'll keep saying what I've said before, this will be a glorious, glorious 40 days.

We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. What makes a man, a man?

Day Seven: Partie un.

So, in giving up buying cd's for 40 days, I assumed that it would save myself some money and hope to be able to pay off my credit card debt and things. Lo and behold, Sunday, I went on a little venture to EB and bought some games (Tony Hawk's Underground 2 and Same & Max: Season 1). Oh silly me that in thinking that, "Oh, because I'm giving up buying cd's, I'll have more money left over."

I am a silly, silly boy.

That said, in a lesson of teaching myself some financial responsibility, I have decided to reward myself. If I do succeed in paying off my credit card debt by the time lent is over, I am going to reward myself with an Xbox 360 for Windows controller, because I would like to have a solid controller to play various games and such :).

Day Four: I need more sleep.: The Sequel: I still need more sleep.

It's currently 1:41 AM and I just realized something I forgot to put in a package I mailed to one of my best friends for his birthday which was Wednesday. I included this because it is still relevant subject matter. You see, I picked him up a copy of Tyler Burkum's solo demo LP at Audio A's last Canadian Show ever..........LAST November. For Christmas. This is OCTOBER THE FOLLOWING YEAR. I am a rather silly fellow, I am.

It's really nice when you find out from a mutual friend that someone who you think is an incredible musical talent likes your poetry. At least six months to a year after they would've seen you read some. It's just a cool feeling and it's almost as if it kind of validates you as a writer that you might actually be kind of good at something that you love to do. It actually made my day to hear that even though it didn't take that long to converse :). Funny I'm typing this now. So far, this entire entry has been typed while listening to her stuff. I love her voice. She's almost got a Leigh Nash-ish vibe going on, with Leigh Nash having one of my favourite voices ever. I'm not even kidding. When Burlap to Cashmere was supposed to open when I saw Jars of Clay at Forward Baptist Church last year and then I found out that they couldn't and then I saw her walk out, I was seriously like, ":|.......No. Fricking. Way. :|.......:O..........8D"

One of my other friends is also giving up the purchasing of cd's for 40 days as well. He works at a record store and gets a ridiculous discount. Sucker ;). (Sorry Joel, but I can make cracks at that because I know that you will most likely never read this, so it's all good :P. And if you somehow [freakishly] do, then you know I mean it all in good fun ;).). But it's cool, because we were talking about what we're going to be doing with the money we're both not spending on cd's and I totally respect and admire where he's at and what he's going to be up to, so that's really cool :). I definitely tip my hat off to you, my friend. I tip my hat off to you. :)

You know what? Because I know that I have to give up buying cd's for 40 days and because I know it will be good for me (despite copious amounts of awesome that are being released within this timeframe that I would love to/probably will purchase anyway somewhere down the line), it won't be as hard as I thought it would be :).

In the awkward silence, my heart screams, "Your eulogy is like poetry, but your mouth is like a magazine."