Dawn Xiana Moon: Melodic folk pop infused with passion and honesty. From Chicago.

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Saturday, August 31, 2002

Return of the Fairies

Just in case you weren't sick of A Midsummer Night's Dream yet, we're doing another 4 performances, starting tommorrow. Yes, I'm still beating up Mike....

^ Top | 9:54 PM | | |

Monday, August 26, 2002

Home Improvement

So I moved into my house on campus on Friday, only to discover that our landlady hadn't cleaned it! It was disgusting... my room smelled like cat urine, and it literally took Pine Sol, bleach, and another couple of deodorizers/disinfectants 18 times on the floor, twice on the ceiling, and 3 times on the walls, door, and closet to get the smell out. It got to the point where I was using the Pine Sol straight--none of that watering-down thing. And anyone that knows me knows that I'm pretty far from a neat freak.... The carpet was wet and stunk, so that was removed first of all and I'm going to buy a new one today. For a furnished house, we're not using much of the furniture... we're all bringing our own materesses, and in many cases desks, dressers, etc. Everything else is going in the basement. The upstairs plumbing doesn't work very well (hours after taking a shower, there's still water in the tub). When we moved in, the dryer was broken and Jun had the audacity to ask us to either pay a monthly fee for a new one or she'd put in a coin laundry! I talked to her about that, since according to the lease she's supposed to maintain everything that's in the house, and after complaining about how much cleaning we've had to do she said that she'd bring a new dryer for free: "That should make everyone happy, right?" Heh. She doesn't know the half of it. There's so much else I could rant about with the condition of the place, but my room should suffice as an example... it'll be nice when we get everything clean. For now, it's a hassle and incredibly frustrating. According to Ann Arbor laws the house was supposed to be "clean and sanitary" upon arrival, and we have a legal right to ask for compensation. We're going to ask for our time, cleaning supplies, and the first couple of days of rent (since we've spent the last three cleaning, and will hopefully finish tonight) out of next month's payment. And Jen thought our apartment last year was ghetto....

^ Top | 4:37 PM | | |

Wednesday, August 21, 2002

Miracles

The other day, a couple of friends asked me if I believe in miracles. I do. The doctors told my dad that his kidneys would give out in 6 months (which = death or dialysis or transplant). That was over a year ago. But I agree that doctors can be wrong--so here's where I think the real miracle is: A guy from my church, Tommy Beadle (one of the guys in the band Son of Adam--he's not that much older than me), gave my parents a call a few months ago, "I was praying for Andy, and I really feel that God wants me to donate my kidney." This was completely out of the blue. This Sunday, one of the older men from church came up to me and asked how my father was doing. "If he needs a kidney, tell him I'm willing to donate as long as my cardiologist gives the ok." These are miracles. These are examples of Christians--called the body of Christ--acting as he would, loving as he would. This is how we should treat each other. On our own, I don't think we can. "But with God, everything is possible."

^ Top | 2:29 AM | | |

Saturday, August 17, 2002

The Not-So-New

Ever listen to a new cd, decide that it's not very good, and then come back to it months or years later and discover that it's not bad after all? I just pulled out Eric Peters: More than Watchmen on a whim, and it's a lot better than I remember. I used to think his voice was terrible, but it's really not that bad... not amazing, but acceptable enough to listen to for a while. His songwriting and arrangements caught me by surprise. Something similar happened to me with Waterdeep and Chasing Furies almost a year ago. It's like going shopping in your own collection. :-)

^ Top | 4:36 PM | | |

Friday, August 16, 2002

A New Website and Lack of Sleep

So the "sleep" thing last night never happened... oh well. But I have a lot of energy right now (strange, huh?). I was working on the content for my upcoming website, DawnXianaMoon.com, when I got the brilliant idea of adding a TON more to the lyrics section of the site than originally intended... instead of the 4-or-so songs that were going on there (stuff from the upcoming cd and maybe a couple extra) I decided that I might as well list all of the songs I'm likely to be playing (a good 32 songs!). It'll be a nice resource for me, since I tend to lose/forget lyrics, but it's a lot more work than I'd bargained for. I was so excited about the idea I didn't feel like sleeping--although I'm sure that will catch up with me in a little bit. Maybe I'll take a nap. Overachiever. Argh.

^ Top | 7:06 AM | | |

Tuesday, August 13, 2002

Thought of the Day

"Evil is relentless; and anyone, if they tire, if they are not vigilant, can fall prey to it."
--Michael A. Stackpole in I, Jedi

^ Top | 11:53 PM | | |

Monday, August 12, 2002

On Truth

An excerpt from "Why are Christians losing America?" by David Kupelian:

Truth predates the incarnation of Christ, it predates the Bible. It's the substance of our bond with God. If you have a love of truth, you're just not ever really satisfied with anything else, and you want to know the truth about everything; especially about yourself. If you're wrong about something, you want to know it. If you've been living a lie, you're willing to see it, no matter what the cost.

If you don't have a little bit of this quality, you don't have squat... even if you call yourself a Christian.

At the core of this life-changing religion is the individual believer's love and appreciation and acceptance and embrace of Christ's sacrifice--the ultimate demonstration of God's love for His wayward children. But the problem with the way Christianity is "taught" today is that it doesn't require a love of truth. It doesn't require honest introspection, or courage, or self-denial, or patience. The only ingredient it needs is a guilty person who's sick of feeling guilty, who wants relief, wants to feel better about himself and doesn't want to go to Hell. But even the most insincere person wants to feel better about himself, wants relief from guilt, and fears death and what may lie beyond.

If we really believe, every area of our lives will reflect it--otherwise we are living a lie.

^ Top | 3:43 PM | | |

Sunday, August 11, 2002

Thought of the Day

"Everything expressed truly from your heart and soul is as pure as gold in the minds of anyone who listens."
--unknown

^ Top | 8:17 PM | | |

Friday, August 09, 2002

The Ring vs. the (Little) Wizard

From the Lord of the Rings movie website:

Yes, yes, yeeeeeeesssss!!!!!!!(note from the webmaster) Frodo Baggins and friends have pipped fantasy film rival Harry Potter for a DVD sales record. The first installment of the Lord Of The Rings series has conjured up the biggest one-day sale for a DVD in the UK. The Fellowship Of The Ring--already a box office smash--sold 1.27 million copies on its first day on the shelves on Tuesday.

Sweet.

^ Top | 5:42 PM | | |

Thursday, August 08, 2002

Quote of the Day

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
--Albert Einstein

^ Top | 3:59 PM | | |

Tuesday, August 06, 2002

Narnia On-Screen

Andrew Adamson, who directed Shrek, will direct the upcoming The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe film. "Narnia was such a vivid and real world to me as a child, as it is to millions of other fans. I share Walden’s excitement in giving those fans an epic theatrical experience worthy of their imaginations, and driving a new generation toward the works of C.S. Lewis. Making a film that crosses generations is a far easier task when the source material resonates such themes as truth, loyalty and belief in something greater than yourself...."

^ Top | 3:47 PM | | |

Answers

Sometimes the answer to prayer is not a simple yes, no, or wait but rather completely unexpected, even better and more difficult than what you could have hoped for.

^ Top | 3:45 PM | | |

Sunday, August 04, 2002

The Last Wedding I'm Playing Music for this Summer

Ok, I know it looks like I was yawning, but I was singing, I swear. My former roomie Jen got married yesterday in Kalamazoo--it was a fun wedding, and I finally had a swing dance partner when the DJ played some jazz. Boy did we tear up the dance floor! No one else was dancing--they all watched and applauded at the end. Good stuff. :-)

^ Top | 4:41 PM | | |

Thursday, August 01, 2002

I'm Home!

Hey all, I'm finally back! The flight home wasn't nearly as bad as the one on the way to Singapore--I slept better and had an engrossing science fiction series to read, so I was all good. :-) Orson Scott Card has some interesting things to say about faith (and no, he's not a Christian):

"If I wanted to doubt, then I could doubt endlessly," said Nafai. "But at some point a person has to stop questioning and act, and at that point you have to trust something to be true. You have to act as if something is true, and so you choose the thing you have the most reason to believe in, you have to live in the world that you have the most hope in. I follow the Oversoul, I believe the Oversoul, beacuse I want to live in the world that the Oversoul has shown me."

"Yes, Earth," said Moozh scornfully.

"I don't mean a planet, I mean--I want to live in the reality that the Oversoul has shown me. In which lives have meaning and purpose. In which there's a plan worth following. In which death and suffering are not in vain because some good will come from them."

"All you're saying is that you want to decieve yourself."

"I'm saying that the story the Oversoul tells me fits all the facts I see. Your story, in which I'm endlessly decieved, can also explain all those facts. I have no way of knowing that your story is not true--but you have no way of knowing that my story isn't true. So I will choose the one that I love. I'll choose the one that, if it's true, makes reality one worth living in. I'll act as if the life I hope for is real life, and the life that disgusts me--your life, your view of life--is the lie. And it is a lie. You don't even believe in it yourself."

^ Top | 3:19 PM | | |