Choklit Blog #41: What Makes Music "Christian"?

The definition of “Christian music” has always been a little hazy.  Some think of hymns and old church choruses, while others would call anyone who claims religion a “Christian artist”.  Many teenagers have argued against their parents for the latter, while many “Christian artists” have been bashed for not keeping the standards of the former.  But what is this undefined thing known as “Christian music”?

The most common assumption I’ve heard about “Christian” music is that it always says “God”, “Jesus”, “Lord”, “Christ” or some variation in every song.  I’ve been asked plenty of times “How is this Christian?  What does it have to do with God?”  Well I know this may be a huge shocker to some, but a song can still be considered “Christian” without including the word “God” or any variation.  

Second Timothy 3:16 says “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”  The entire book of Esther does not mention God one time!  

So how can you call a song or band “un-Christian” for not specifically naming God, when an entire book of the God-breathed Bible doesn’t even do that?  Well, by being wrong.  But that’s not really the goal here.

Another thing that’s often used to define “Christian” music is its sound.  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “That doesn’t sound Christian!”, usually in reference to some style of rock.  

Well, when you show me the passage of scripture that says “Thou shalt not distort thine guitars”, “Thou shalt not scream”, or “Thou must conform to the style of music that sounds most peaceful and calm to thine ears”, then I’ll listen to that argument.  But for now, I’m sticking with Psalm 150:2-5: “Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.”

The clash of cymbals?  Resounding cymbals?  That doesn’t sound like Amazing Grace to me.  These verses tell us to praise the Lord with all different styles of music, so how can we say that a sound is “un-Christian”?

There are also four different verses -- maybe more -- that command us to “sing to the Lord a new song” (Psalm 96:1, 98:1, 149:1; Isaiah 42:10).  The old classics in the Baptist Hymnal are great, but we’re told to sing a new song... to use the creativity God has given us, and not just go along with what Christians have always considered to be the holy style of music.

So now that we know what does not define “Christian” music, what does define it?

My first rule of Christian music is that it’s made by a Christian artist.  Am I saying that all secular music is bad to listen to?  No, but why would you even call it “Christian” music if the artist, and therefore their music, has absolutely nothing to do with Christianity?  It just would not make sense.  Thanks, Captain Obvious.

I’m gonna go slightly off-topic for a minute here.  Now I know I said that not all secular music is bad to listen to; and it’s not.  But I do think it’s a bad idea for Christians to be too supportive of and involved with a secular artist.  Music has an impact on most people; it can affect the way we dress, the way we talk, the way we walk, the way we think.  I mean, how many stories have you heard of the girl who didn’t kill herself because her favorite band said not to?  Or she did because her favorite singer did it?  In today’s society, people depend on music for their identity, for motivation, for opinions.  And bands depend on fans to support them.  Most people think of marriage when they read 2 Corinthians 6:14-16: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.”  That doesn’t just apply to marriage; it applies to every aspect of life, including the dependency between you and your favorite band.

Back on topic.  Ephesians 5:1 basically defines a Christian’s goal in life: “Be imitators of God”.  As I mentioned earlier, the “God-breathed” Bible is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).  As imitators of God, our words should also be useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, and so should the words of Christian artists.

Sometimes a formerly Christian artist will decide to go more mainstream by incorporating ungodly things into their music, like inappropriate content or profanity.  At this point, it really can’t be considered “Christian” music anymore because it goes against God’s word.  Does that mean their old CDs you bought 5 years ago are now “un-Christian”?  No.

A common misconception is that “Christian” lyrics always have to be happy, because depression and sadness don’t glorify God.  Take a look at the book of Psalms.  David, a man after God’s own heart, was depressed sometimes... and he wrote songs about it!  Or look at the book of Lamentations.  Just the name of the book sounds like a downer.

The idea of “Christian” music isn’t to disguise or hide all the bad things in life; the purpose is to glorify God, despite those things.  A “Christian” song can be about anything from crying to God in a time of hopelessness, to expressing affection for something or someone.

I’ll end with this: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8)... and sing about them, too.

Choklit Blog #40: Celebrity Apprentice Recap!

The task this week was remodeling an apartment.

RockSolid was Sharon (manager), Curtis, and Maria. Tenacity was Holly (manager), Bret, and Cyndi.

Curtis wore a shirt that looked like he stole it from 1978. In his interviews, all of the hair on the right side of his head was standing straight up.

Tenacity wanted to do a super relaxing Buddhist-zen-type apartment with a giant Buddha, because obviously that can't offend anyone. They also wanted one crazy red room designed by Cyndi as their required "celebrity room."

Cyndi was hard to work with, so she was assigned to design the crazy room.

RockSolid designed a modern-and-expensive-looking apartment full of awesomeness and such. They got a little behind, but they called their friends to help them.

Curtis made the kitchen look really awesome. He also proved himself right when he had said the week before that Sharon and Maria didn't like him because they hadn't worked with him. They fell in love with him.

Tenacity's apartment looked small and cluttered, but the representatives liked their celebrity room. RockSolid's apartment was awesome, but their celebrity room was kind of normal.

Sharon seriously needed to keep her hands and lips off of Curtis in the board room. She's way too old for him. Maria was clearly jealous because Sharon kissed Curtis, and Maria thinks Curtis is hot, although she's insisted for several weeks that she's always disliked him.

Maria was happy, though, because Curtis had given her "the biggest hug ever" so she stole half of Sharon's hug, too. Which is probably why Sharon felt the need to kiss him and make Maria jealous. Do not steal hugs from Sharon Osbourne.

Sharon also wants Curtis to marry her daughter. Supposedly. She really wants him for herself.

Cyndi had on too much makeup. She looked a bit scary.

Donald had fun watching Holly and Cyndi argue, while Bret calmly waited for them to shut up. Donald got bored with Bret and decided to drag him into it. Cyndi was lame and doesn't play well with others, so she got fired. No more money for her activist group.

I tried REALLY hard not to squeal.

Choklit Blog #39: Eight Important Elements of the Hospitality Industry

[It's my final paper for HOS 140]


As the fast-paced life of the typical American becomes more stressful, more of us are looking for ways to get a quick, easy meal or take a relaxing week off.  Enter the hospitality industry.  Many people count on the hospitality industry to cater to their every whim whenever they feel like taking a break-- and the industry aims to do just that.  Pampering people may not sound like a complicated task, but there are many important concepts to remember when you’re working with hospitality.

Exceptional Service.  When you go to a restaurant, what kind of service do you expect?  Probably good service-- you want the employees to meet your requests.  When a person experiences good service from a hospitality company, they’re likely to be satisfied and maybe come again.  However, if you want to ensure repeat customers at your establishment, you must provide them with exceptional service.  This means going above and beyond “good” or even “great.”  Your customer should feel relaxed and at ease; they should feel pampered, like you truly care about them.  Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and treat them the way you would want to be treated.  Looking at things from a different perspective every now and then will greatly improve the quality of your service, which will positively affect your number of customers and amount of profit.  Whether it be a friendly server, an extra amenity, or simply a pleasant atmosphere, exceptional service will not go unnoticed

Organization.  If you're not organized, you can count on never getting anything done.  I recently participated in a group management project, in which a group created an employee handbook for a fictional restaurant.  With this one simple project, I had about fifteen different files on my computer, which I constantly had to refer to or email to someone.  It was essential to the success of my group that I keep all the files organized properly, or our handbook would have been a disaster!  Creating an employee handbook is only a small part of running a business; hospitality managers have so many other things to keep track of, such as finances, menus, and employees.  Without good organization, a company can fall apart.  Of course, “good organization” doesn’t just mean keeping track of information.  A good manager will also properly organize his schedule, keeping tasks prioritized and allowing time for mistakes.  The hospitality industry can be stressful, but good organization will lighten the burden significantly.

Business and technical knowledge.  Know your industry!  Two reasons why many restaurants fail are lack of business knowledge, and lack of technical knowledge.  The hospitality industry is competitive, and you can’t expect to survive if you don’t know what you’re doing.  As far as business knowledge, you should know things like what to pay your employees, how much to charge for services, how to market your business, and what you can and cannot do legally.  Technical knowledge is required to successfully select a restaurant site, plan a concept and menu for your company, and purchase necessary materials to produce your services.  Without this kind of intelligence, you cannot run a hospitality business while avoiding risks of being shut down due to illegal practices, running out of money, lacking customers, and completely failing.  It’s also important to keep up with industry trends, as no one wants outdated services.  As I said before, the industry is competitive; you have to know what customers want, and know how to give it to them successfully.  Without business and technical knowledge, you cannot expect to accomplish that.

Balanced cost and quality.  If you spend all your money, you won’t make any money.  If your products are too low-quality, you still won’t make any money.  It’s important to keep cost down and quality up in the hospitality industry.  However, cost and quality often present a great conflict in any industry; typically, low cost produces low quality, and high quality requires high cost.  The key to controlling costs while maintaining good quality is to plan menus with as few ingredients as possible, and with inexpensive ingredients.  If you offer products that require normally expensive purchases, it may be difficult to afford quality ingredients.  You must also be sure to calculate prices for your products that are low enough for your target market segment, yet high enough to produce necessary revenue.  This is one area where business and technical knowledge come into play.  While balancing cost and quality can be difficult, it is a vital part of success in the hospitality industry.

Marketing.  One of the more obvious needs of a good hospitality company is marketing.  Without marketing, a great business can fail miserably just because no one knows about it!  However, marketing is not as simple as it may seem.  You can tell people about your business all day long, but that does not guarantee that you will actually have customers.  A good marketing campaign should grab potential customers’ attention and promise them something they can’t resist.  It should be a combination of offering them what they want, and telling them what they want; offer them a product or service they want, and tell them they want to get it from your establishment.  Advertisements should look appealing to your establishment’s target market and be easy to spot; they should be in locations that are common to your target customers.  It’s important to have a marketing budget, as marketing can be expensive.  Basically, marketing should grab people’s attention, convince them to purchase your product, and stay within budget.

Ethics.  One of the biggest issues in the hospitality industry is discrimination.  Discrimination can occur on the basis of race, sex, religion, age, disability, appearance, or many other personal characteristics.  Some discrimination is legal, but it is important for hospitality managers to know what discrimination is legal and what is illegal, as illegal discrimination could be very costly  to the company.  There are other ethical issues in hospitality, such as harassment.  Sexual harassment is a growing problem in the hospitality industry, possibly due to the large numbers of male managers over female employees.  Hospitality companies should make an effort to educate their female workers about ways to avoid harassment and what to do if it happens.  The companies should also do what they can to help prevent harassment and other ethical problems.  Social responsibility can be expensive, and the benefits are hard to measure, but it can help a company to steer clear of legal issues and unnecessary expenses associated with fixing problems.  In addition to preventing problems, some hospitality companies choose to be socially proactive by donating time and money to charitable foundations.  There are many different issues concerning ethics in the hospitality industry, and while practicing good ethics may appear to cause unnecessary expenses, it can greatly benefit a company.

Selecting and training employees.  A company’s success depends largely on its employees.  A company must have an effective employee selection process and training program.  If a company hires bad employees, they will either lose money because of bad service, or they will lose money from constantly having to hire new employees.  It is far more expensive to keep firing and hiring than to get someone good right off the bat.  Before the selection process begins, of course, the company must advertise open positions in the right places.  Hiring may be done internally or externally; the important thing is that the company knows where to look for good employees, and knows how to select the best applicants.  Once the employee is hired, they most likely will not be able to do their job correctly without proper training.  There are some dangerous work environments in the hospitality industry, and it is vital that employees be able to safely perform all the tasks required on the job.  Good employee selection and proper training can help hospitality companies avoid excessive firing and hiring as well as legal issues associated with work-related injuries, and it will improve the quality of the company’s service.

Reducing turnover.  The hospitality industry has a very high turnover rate.  This may be for any of several reasons including discrimination, unfair pay, poor management, or bad lower-level employees.  There is not just one issue that can be addressed to fix the problem of high turnover.  Turnover reduction, often referred to as employee retention (as many companies feel they can better begin to solve the problem by referring to it in positive terms), must be solved on a case-by-case basis.  One restaurant may need to hire a new manager, while a hotel may need to pay its employees higher wages.  Some turnover is desired, as a company will most likely always have a few poor employees.  A good way to deal with this problem is to focus on making an ideal work environment for the average and above average employees and to encourage the poor employees to work for competitors.  Every hospitality manager should evaluate his own company and figure out how to best satisfy his employees.

The issues I’ve discussed here are crucial for any hospitality company.  Without exceptional service, proper organization, business and technical knowledge, balanced cost and quality, good marketing, ethics, effectively selecting and training employees, and reducing turnover, any hospitality company is at risk of failure.

Choklit Blog #38: Leadership

"Natural born leaders are few and far between. Self-made leaders are everywhere. - Make it happen." --Jesse Watson
I just saw that on Twitter, and it seemed appropriate to put in a blog about leadership. So I did.


So, I recently had to do a group project in a Hospitality Management class. It wasn't fun, but it was a really great learning experience and I think the purpose of this class is to teach about management, not to be fun. And so I pretty much want to recap the project and all the things I learned from it about leadership. I'll try not to make this boring!


The project was to form a group, pick a group leader, find several employee handbooks from restaurants, and use the best policies from those handbooks to create an ideal employee handbook for our own restaurant. It's a lot harder than it sounds.


We had about 2 months to do this project, and I got in a group right at the beginning with mostly people I knew. Someone volunteered to be group leader, she seemed to know what she was doing, and everything seemed good.


Before long, we all ended up really confused, the group leader was mad at us, we were mad at her, untrue things were said, people were insulted, and a lot of pointless emails were sent out. Some people tried to cooperate, some people tried to prove that they knew everything. It was pretty clear that the group leader wasn't being a very good leader. So I decided she should be fired. The groups were allowed to fire people if the majority of the group voted for it. I contacted a few group members, got enough votes, and sent out the emails letting everyone know she was fired. And then the position of group leader fell to me.


Now, a month before, I would have died if I thought I had to be group leader. But at this point I knew what needed to be done for the project, and I wasn't taking anymore attitudes from anyone who didn't want to cooperate. I spent a few weeks as group leader before finishing the project, and during that time, I learned several important rules for being a good manager.


Communicate
The very first problem we had with our original group was that people weren't sure what they were supposed to be doing. We would all get one email from the group leader saying "This person needs to do this, that person needs to do that, and it needs to be done by this date." Obviously, all of us our college students, meaning all of us are BUSY. When a busy person gets an email on February 1st saying "Have this done by March 31st", they're likely to forget. So as group leader, I made sure to send out reminder emails and text messages often enough for everyone to remember that they're working on a project. The result was that everyone got everything finished in time.


Delegate
Another big problem in our group was that the group leader wanted to pick up everyone's slack if she felt they weren't getting done fast enough. She ended up doing over half the project by herself when she had an extremely busy schedule, which contributed to her getting mad at everyone and ultimately being fired.
In most of the culinary lab classes at my school, we have a chef of the day for each class period who basically assigns cleaning tasks to everyone, and sometimes has other responsibilities depending on the class. The first time I was chef of the day, I was really freaked out that I would have a ton of other stuff to do, and I wouldn't get my product finished. My chef instructor said something to me that I'll probably never forget: "Remember, Violet, the word of the day is 'delegate'." I had so much fun that day telling people what to do.
If you don't delegate, you'll get overloaded, and nothing will get done.


Prioritize
This actually needs to be done before the delegating. You, as the manager, have to decide which tasks need to be done first, and which ones can be done later, skipped if necessary, or done by yourself. In the case of this project, it would have been ridiculous to have everyone editing sections 1-4 of the handbook when sections 5 and 6 had yet to be done, eh?


Know your employees
One of the reasons we originally ran into so many problems is because a lot of the group members didn't know each other. The group leader didn't know most of us very well; she didn't know out work ethic, our strengths and weaknesses, what responsibilities we could handle, etc. We never had a face-to-face meeting as a group, and all the communication was impersonal. Not everyone communicates the same, and not everyone works the same. Since I knew everyone in the group, I was able to delegate the work according to what I knew people would get done in time, and I was able to communicate clearly with everyone. As a manager, you most likely won't be employing a bunch of your friends, so take time to get to know your employees.


Set high goals
Not completely unrealistically high. If you set unrealistic goals, employees will feel that they have no chance of reaching those goals, and they'll give up. For example, the original group leader wanted to have the entire project completed a month early. No one else was up for that. Once I became group leader, I set our goal for one week in advance. Did that happen? No; that was the purpose of setting a goal higher than necessary. People are not perfect and a lot of the time, people don't exactly reach their goals. Set high enough goals that there's room to make mistakes and still end up with a good result; but don't set unrealistic goals.


Always be professional/respectful
No one likes to feel disrespected. Our original group leader made everyone feel that way; she basically insulted us because we didn't meet all of her expectations and do everything exactly as she wanted. Several group members communicated with her professionally and respectfully, always giving her the benefit of a doubt, but she would send back emails like "You're so rude. I have no interest in working with you. I'm kicking you out of the group." In the end, when I emailed her to let her know why she was fired, one of the reasons listed was her unprofessionalism. Most of the group members complained about it, and with just cause. If you want to be a professional, act like one; if you want to get fired, don't.


Compromise
This can be one of the hardest things to do, yet one of the most important. This was a problem I ran into in my experience as group leader. I'm a perfectionist... everything with me has to be absolutely perfect. During this project I had to learn to trust my co-workers' judgement a little. I assigned each group member a section of the handbook to edit, and it was really hard not to just do it all myself, but I found I had a lot less pressure on myself when I allowed them to be responsible for some things.


Be positive
Positive encouragement is a good technique to remember. There are a lot of times when discipline is necessary, but there are also a lot of times when it's not. If your employees don't seem to be getting things done, don't just get mad and punish them; always use a positive approach. Don't make it like "You did something bad so I'm disciplining you"; it should be more of "I'm trying to help you become a better person and employee by getting rid of this negative behavior." Always show your employees that you're willing to work with them to help them improve.


So that's it for now. I've got an early morning, and I need to go to bed.


EDIT:


So, I remembered two things today that I forgot to put in here. And I know no one has read it yet, so I can add them now. This is one of those times when I'm glad no one reads my blog unless I tell them to.


Organize
If you're not organized, you can count on never getting anything done. With this one simple project, I had about 15 different files on my computer that I had to keep organized enough that I could find each one when I needed it and email the right ones to the right people; I had to keep all the different sections of the handbook in the right places and make sure everything got added into the final document; and I had to put the final project in 3 different documents because of formatting. Now, that was pretty easy for me since my computer is way too organized already. Before I went crazy and cleaned up all my folders, I would have to re-download files every time I needed them, and it made things very inconvenient! I would have like 5 copies of the same file. Bad idea. Be organized.


Manage your time well
This is actually a problem I ran into. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of us didn't even work on the project for quite a while. At least, I think I mentioned that earlier. Anyway. Once we fired our group leader we had about 3 weeks left, so we really needed to get working. Did we do that? No, of course not, it was spring break. Did I end up rushing around at the last second getting information from people and worrying that we would never get done in time? Yes. No one needs the added stress, or the unnecessary risk of failure.


I'm really done this time. And I turned in the project today.

Choklit Blog #37: Some songs I wish wrote + some songs I did write

I'm sure this won't be the most interesting blog ever, but whatever. I just happened to be thinking yesterday "Wow, I wish I had written that song!" about a few different songs, and I also just happened to be writing a song yesterday and finishing another one. And so I thought I would post them on my blog. Here we go...


SONGS I WISH I WROTE:


About A Burning Fire - Blindside


I thought about fire in the sky.
I thought about fire.
I thought about love burning in Your eyes.
I thought about fire. 

It hurts that drops of fire would fall so precise,
And how everything else would lose its meaning.
What a beautiful, what a painful surprise.
There is no peace outside if there is nothing within.
It hurts, but like coming home, once dried up.
I guess this is what you get when a heart expands.

I thought about...

Love is destructive for the ego.
And Your voice is the only thing
That speaks rebelliously in this world of claiming your own.
There is no peace outside if there's nothing within.
Love is addictive for the spirit.
And Your voice whispers with a roar,
That fire rises up, refills.
Place the right King on the throne.

I thought about...

I thought about a burning fire
I thought about a loving fire
I thought about Your love
I thought about Your love
(x3)

I thought about a burning fire
I thought about a burning fire
I thought about Your love
I thought about Your love
I thought about love
I thought about love
Your love


On The Wings of Integrity - MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE


Bitter thoughts test morals and encourage bitter action.
Pride comes before a fall
Think before you speak, if you even speak at all,
Speak at all

I'll relinquish your heavy hearts of pain and sorrow,
Healing sutures.
An unguarded queen pursues, 
Oblivious of her future

I don't expect anything, we are all hopeless, but I stay confident
With willingness to take control, we'll make our time well-spent
Let it sink in, every word that I said
Let it sink in, every word you heard me say

Conquering anything and everything thrown at us
We will not be torn, our hearts will stand, they will stand as one
(Repeat)

WE WILL SOAR
My victory in sight, a steady heart will not collide with misfortune
Oh the integrity


You Are Not The End - Pillar


Another time and a place
Another slap in the face
And I don't know what it takes
To be loved by you

Another shot in the dark
And now it's falling apart
But I won't let my heart
Be broken by you
I feel for you

You can try to break me down and then
Like a phoenix I will rise again
I always do
I ALWAYS DO

I won't let you win
You are not the end of me (You are not the end)
I won't let you win
I won't let you bring me to my knees

Another simple mistake
It's Causing hearts to break
And stirring up a wake
That was left by you

I don't think I can wait
Because I'm setting the pace
I'm going to finish the race
'Cause I started to
I always do

You can try to take the rest of me
But you'll never get the best of me
I won't let go
I WON'T LET GO

I won't let you win
You are not the end of me (You are not the end!)
I won't let you win
I won't let you bring me to my knees

Until that final day
I won't walk away
You're not the end of me
Won't get the best of me

YOU ARE NOT THE END!

I won't let you win
You are not the end of me (You are not the end!)
I won't let you win
I won't let you bring me to my knees 


Red Sam - Flyleaf


Here I stand, empty hands
Wishing my wrists were bleeding
To stop the pain from the beatings
There You stood, holding me
Waiting for me to notice You

But who are You?
You are the truth
Out-screaming these lies
You are the truth
Saving my life

The warmth of Your embrace
Melts my frostbitten spirit
You speak the truth and I hear it
The words are I love you
And I have to believe in You

But who are You?
You are the truth
Out-screaming these lies
You are the truth
Saving my life

My hands are open
And You are filling them
Hands in the air
In the air, in the air, in the air

And I worship
And I worship
And I worship

You!

You are the truth
Out-screaming these lies
You are the truth
Saving my life 


Going Under - This Beautiful Republic



Doubt has never proven anything

And redemption will never come if the question lives.
Hesitation will keep you away. 

I am finally free from the burden that was slowly drowning me. 
How long until you reach the hand that rescued me?
You're going under.
You're going under.

There's uncertainty with every choice,
But faith and fear are mutually exclusive.
His assurance will bring our confidence, 
And that confidence will bring you home.

Break free, look up, reach out, hold on tight.

SONGS I DID WRITE [which are not as good]:

Showdown [inspired by the book by Ted Dekker]

You've invaded my world, you've got everyone fooled

But I've got you in my sights [I don't wanna trip]

I can see past your eyes, I can feel through your poison

And you're going down tonight

Cuz there'll be a showdown tonight

Everything's going crazy now, ever since you came around

Decked out in black to match your soul

But it seems the residents of this forsaken desert

Have fallen for the devil, thinking you're a god or angel

You've invaded my world, you've got everyone fooled

But I've got you in my sights [I'm not gonna trip]

I can see past your eyes, I can feel through your poison

And you're going down tonight

Cuz there'll be a showdown tonight

Everybody's mind is gone, you think I'm out here on my own

But you don't know the power I hold

You don't know the authority your creator has given me

And you can never guess what we've got coming for you next

You can kill, but I can destroy

You've invaded my world, you've got everyone fooled

But I've got you in my sights [I'm not gonna trip]

I can see past your eyes, I can feel though your poison

And you're going down tonight

Cuz there'll be a showdown tonight

Saint [also inspired by the book by Ted Dekker]:

Set us free

I'm trapped inside this body

I don't know who I am

My mind is gone and I don't think

I ever want it back

I long for dark deceit

Cut off from every hurt

This blackened pit of agony

Is the only place I feel secure

They call me Saint, but I don't feel like one

Death is all I've ever done

I feel like I'm lost, but they tell me I've won

Someone tell me who I've become

I'm lying at night awake

This tunnel is starting to fade

I thought I had reached my potential

But I fear I'm beginning to break

If I could remember my name

Please tell me from where I came

I'm fighting the longing, pursuing my calling

Dreaming of running away

They call me Saint, but I don't feel like one

Death is all I've ever done

And in the end I've never won

Someone tell me who I was

Confusion has strengthened my senses

I've fallen from numbing bliss

I'm blocking out lies, I've forgotten the truth

But they say that I'm more than this

I tried to kill the righteous

But I stopped myself short

If I could reach the hand that broke my will

That's all I need, I'll never ask for more

Now I look like I only write songs about books. Well, that's not true. I've written other songs. These just happen to be the two that had never been posted anywhere, and therefore must be posted on my blog. I know they're not great, sorry. :P

Choklit Blog #36: Americans obsess over lame things

First off, the Americans mentioned in the title exclude myself. Bands are not lame. And some other people are also excluded, like most homeschoolers and some smart people.
Anyway.
As you may have figured out from my blog about going to culinary school ate age 15, I go to culinary school and I'm 15. By the way, I haven't blogged in forever. I know. I've been busy... with culinary school. 
... Anyway...
Apparently the whole culinary department is supposed to be notified if a student is under 16 (I don't think it's ever happened before at my school, though) because of labor laws requiring students to be 16 before they use any heavy machinery. I'm about halfway through my second semester right now, and a lot of people who should have known... didn't know. Someone is probably in a lot of trouble now...
So now half the people in my classes are finding out that I'm 15, and I really don't like that because some people get really annoying about it, and I'm not allowed to use heavy machinery in class (like the 60-qt. mixer and I'm assuming the dough sheeter... because mixers are so dangerous...) until I turn 16 next week. Well I have a question. If people aren't expected to go to college until they're 18, and obviously the few people going to college before then will probably be a little bit intelligent and mature.... WHO WAS THAT LAW MADE FOR?
I mean, really, it doesn't make much sense.
[This does relate to Americans obsessing over lame things.]
I also have another question. [Here it comes...] Why are Americans so concerned with how long people have been alive? Age means a lot in this country, and I don't mean like if you're really old you get the respect you deserve. That's the way it works in other countries. In America, if you're really old you get euthanized because it's too expensive to keep you alive.
But this isn't really a blog about euthanasia...
Americans have this thing called "public school." It's supposedly where kids go from the age of 5 to 18 to get educated. It's really where kids go to get institutionalized and sing praises to Obama.
Ok, no more politics.
But public school is just an institution where kids' minds can be ingrained with whatever the American government wants them to believe, and if anyone dares to teach them anything else they get fired. [Well I guess that was a little bit political sounding...] When you're 15, you're expected to go to 10th grade and have a certain amount of knowledge and nothing more. Less is ok... no child left behind! But you can't learn anything above and beyond the American expectation for a 15-year-old. So if you go to college when you're 15 because you finished 10th grade when you were 13, people go crazy!
WHY?
If you're smart enough, why not go to college? I think more people my age should be in college, because I know there are plenty of people out there who could do it. The problem is that Americans focus so much on age that someone's personality, intelligence, and maturity don't count for anything anymore. Fifteen-year-olds are expected to fit in with 15-year-olds, and 30-year-olds are expected to fit in with 30-year-olds. But it doesn't always work that way.
THE NUMBER OF YEARS YOU'VE BEEN ALIVE DOES NOT DETERMINE YOUR MATURITY, INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, CHARACTER, OR MENTAL CAPACITY.
But in America, it does. In America, it's disrespectful to ask a woman her age because she might not want to reveal that she's "old." When people have to be embarrassed by the number of years they've been alive, you know there's a problem with your culture. I should be able to go to culinary school and tell whoever asks "I'm 15" with no strange looks or annoying questions.
Or lame laws.