I’m, like, musically-minded or something

I like music, but I do not like tags… Usually.

BUT THIS ONE LOOKS FUN.

Rebekah Elle recently posted this fine fine music tag cough 4K&C fangirls, where are you where you talk about your music and ask others too because we all like each other and music, right? 🙂  She nominated anyone who wanted to do it, and, since I’m 74.39% music, I thought I might as well.

Thankfully, I have tons (84 currently?) of playlists to help me out with categories, but there are some categories that just don’t fit (like, I don’t really listen to music from video games) and ones I want to add, so I’m making it my own. 🙂

Click on the category links for my Spotify playlists that probably fit or have the song(s) on them… there are too many songs to do YouTube links, sorry!

3 songs that:

1. Come up when I put my phone on shuffle:
   1. Lazarus – Bellarive
   2. It’s My Life – Bon Jovi
   3. Only Human – MisterWives
2. Make me cry or just want to cry:
   1. Six (Waiting for Love) – David Dunn
   2. Walking Her Home – Mark Schultz
   3. Just a Dream – Kurt Hugo Schneider, Christina Grimmie, Sam Tsui
3. I was recently obsessed with:
   1. Vehi Sheamda – Yossi Azulay
   2. Christmas Canon Rock – Trans-Siberian Orchestra
   3. What About Us – P!nk
4. I know thanks to my parents:
   1. Mamma Mia – ABBA (Mom)
   2. Desert Rose – Whiteheart (Dad)
   3. Hashem Melech – Y-Studs (Step-dad) [it’s a cover because I love the Y-Studs, haha]
5. I didn’t expect to like but eventually loved:
   1. Hymn For the Weekend – Coldplay
   2. Perfect – Ed Sheeran
   3. Meant To Be – Kurt Hugo Schneider, Kirsten Collins, Will Champlin
6. Get me in the Christmas mood:
   1. The First Noel – Owl City & Tobymac
   2. How Many Kings – Downhere
   3. Christmas Eve / Sarajevo – Trans-Siberian Orchestra [we played this in band and I still love it a lot :)]
7. Are my guilty pleasures:
   1. Steal My Girl – One Direction
   2. Hate (I Really Don’t Like You) – Plain White T’s
   3. Treat You Better – Shawn Mendes
8. That resonate with me:
   1. Car Radio – Twenty One Pilots
   2. Tuesdays – Jake Scott
   3. Edge of Eden – Jake Scott [previously Tossing Coppers…]
9. I want at my funeral:
   1. When I Say Farewell – Acappella
   2. Life Is a Celebration – Rhythm & News
   3. It Is Not Death To Die – Sovereign Grace Music
10. I want at my wedding:
    1. Marie’s Wedding – The High Kings
    2. Co-Pilot – Andy Grammar
    3. It Was You – MY RED + BLUE
11. I want to dance with my love to:
    1. I Love You Will Still Sound the Same – Oh Honey
    2. 1, 2, 3, 4 – Plain White T’s
    3. When I Look Into Your Eyes – Firehouse
12. Songs I have to sing along to:
    1. Heads/tails – Hotspur
    2. Don’t You Worry Child – Swedish House Mafia, John Martin
    3. Jesus Freak – DC Talk

Remind me of:

1. Summer (camp) and vacation:
   1. Sweatshirt [ironically]– Jacob Satorius
   2. Theme From Summer – All-Star United
   3. Nice Piece of Art – FM Static
2. My family & friends:
   1. Swing, Swing and Move Along – The All-American Rejects
   2. Hard To Say I’M Sorry / Get Away – Chicago
   3. Fading – Vallis Alps | Emotional Crank – Tomppabeats
3. Fictional characters:
   1. Numb – David Archuleta {Vin – Mistborn}
   2. I Refuse – Josh Wilson {Kaladin – The Stormlight Archives}
   3. Nightmare – eleventyseven {Sydney to Vaughn – Alias}
4. Of my childhood: (in addition to Rebekah’s, which I totally would list here too!)
   
   1. No Weapon Formed Against You Shall Prosper – Joel Chernoff
   2. In the Light – dc Talk
   3. Best Day of My Life – American Authors
5. Never fail to get me pumped up:
   1. ADHD – Truslow
   2. Heart Attack – Cmd/Ctrl
   3. Death of a Bachelor – Panic! at the Disco
6. I keep quoting:
   1. Existence – Kevin Max
   2. New Rock Bottom – eleventyseven
   3. Sunlight on Her Face – Remedy Drive

Favorite:

1. Old songs:
   1. Lean on Me – dc Talk
   2. Beyond Belief – Petra
   3. Awesome God – Rich Mullins
2. Songs of 2017 (ones I liked or that defined my year, not necessarily ones that came out then):
   1. Adonai Ahuvi (The Lord, My First Love) 
   2. Beautiful Soul – Jesse McCartney [but the Boyce Avenue cover is amazing too]
   3. Live Like You Were Dying – Tim McGraw
3. Non-English songs:
   1. Modeh Ani – Yonina
   2. Ya’alili – 8th Day
   3. Malchei Hamelachim – Maccabeats
4. Songs to drive to:
   1. Ride – Twenty One Pilots
   2. June: Good Days Start Here – Tim Myers
   3. We’re a Band – Audio A(drenaline)
5. Songs from a movie or TV series soundtrack:
   1. Dragon Racing – John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon)
   2. Rockin’ the Suburbs – ‘Over the Hedge’ Version –  Ben Folds, William Shatner (Over the Hedge)
   3. Sticks and Stones and Where No One Goes – Jónsi (The How to Train Your Dragon movies)
6. Funny songs:
   1. Dramatic Song – Toby Turner & Tobuscus [comedic gold]
   2. The Houseplant Song – Audio Adrenaline [has a great message too]
   3. Particle Man – They Might Be Giants [just awesome]
7. Worship songs:
   1. Dear Ex, You Don’t Own Me – Disciple (rock)
   2. In Awe – Hollyn (atmospheric worship)
   3. Startling Mystery (feat. Quinten Coblentz) – Shai Linne, Quinten Coblentz (rap)
8. Parodies:
   1. Chozen – Six13 (Passover remake/mashup of songs from Frozen)
   2. A Hamilton Chanukah – Six13 (I don’t like the story of Hamilton, but I love the sound of it when put to the story of the Maccabees!)
   3. Uptown Passover – Six13
9. Study songs:
   1. Shackleton – Adam Young
   2. When Elephants Fly – Marcus Warner
   3. Generator ^ First Floor – Freelance Whales

Songs I really want my followers to know (for reasons other than all those above):

1. Holding On To You – Twenty One Pilots
2. Rugs From Me to You – Owl City
3. Coldfront Heatstroke – Capital Lights

Guys, I’m gonna be honest… I spent tons of time on this.  Like, every moment I could work on it or if I was listening to a song that I thought could fit one of the categories…….. it was insane.  It was also really fun and thought-provoking.

Hope you guys enjoy, and if you want to do even a few of the categories, leave your answers in the comments or do your own post and link back here.

-Squidtea 🙂

Holy Sonnet XIV

This struck a chord in my soul this morning as I read it for school.  Takes a little bit of time to get past the antiquated phrasing, but it’s worth it. 🙂

Squid

Naples Trip Pics

Hey, guys!

Our family recently took a mini vacation for the weekend at a beachfront condo in a town not too far from here but far enough away to feel like far away. 🙂  

While we were there, it rained.  But, it didn’t just rain, it deluged the entire area for a short period of time.  

This made for awesome cloud cover!! Naturally, I took pictures. 

These are the lower-quality versions, so, if you want to see the high-res originals, head over to my Flickr page (link on the side widget with the pics!) and check them out!  

Squid

A Few of My Favorite Things

I feel like such a nerd, looking at my stuff.

And then I realize, I’ll never have enough

Of sticky notes and erasers, 

Clear thumb tacks and used stamps.

If I’m a nerd, then so be it,

And please pass me my tabs.
Squid

Donald J _____

Stump!  
Betcha that wasn’t what you were expecting me to say!  (If you actually were, you might have either heard me tell this story before or have incredible mental faculties… And by that I mean you saw the picture. 😋)

Earlier this year (which doesn’t narrow it down at all as that could be any of the other 11 months), my dad, Carrie, and I went kayaking at Weeki Wachee Springs in Northernish Florida.  As we rounded a bend, we saw some sunglasses and “poled” over to investigate. (I may have just made the world’s worst pun ever, given the fact that you use paddles, not poles, to steer and propel kayaks.  Also, you don’t pull a kayak over like you would a car.  So, apologies all around but I’m keeping it there because I can.  Also, can you believe how long this parenthetical statement is??)

We made this amazingly true-to-life sculpture of our President-elect using part of an onion we found lying around (I kid you not) and a leaf.  Bonus points if you know the Latin name of the plant from whence the leaf came to us on a bonny breeze (OK, we picked it up off the ground, but I will still be impressed).

In light of today’s importance, I thought I’d share this now. 🙂

Squid

P.S. Yes, I know the cypress knee we used isn’t a stump.  Why do you have to be so critical!  We were just making a pun and having fun. (hehe, rhyme) (shoutout to anyone who got that Ultimate Spiderman reference).

Where Do I Go From Here?

© Squid’s Cup of Tea 2016

Photo Challenge, Day 1

A couple days ago, Bri the Missionary in the Making challenged me to join her in a photo challenge that she found on Blogger.  As soon as she said my name and photo in the same post, I was in! 😀  Today’s prompt word is Intricate, so I immediately thought of nature (which I almost capitalized… thanks a lot, Gabriel 🙂 ). My first subpoint on that outline was spiderwebs, but as it was already mid-day when I found out the prompt, all webs had disappeared.  I had just finished reading a book about a family of French weavers, and it had me thinking.  If we found a piece of cloth on the ground, we wouldn’t assume it was just a pile of yarn that had miraculously tangled itself just so as to be a sturdy textile, would we?  No, of course not.  In Florida was have these giant stalks of grass incorrectly called Palm Trees.  No, I’m not making this up.  Go Google it.  I’ll wait.  OK, now that you’re back (or are a Floridian and knew it already), let’s continue.  These tall stalks are very fibrous. Each layer has been woven together to create its tough exterior.  Yet, most people you talk to on the street will say that it is just a well-evolved plant. Hm, I’m not sure I see that logic.  So, today, I decided to highlight the intricate weaving of the palm trees that God so perfectly designed.  The sunburst was a nice bonus too. 🙂

Now, unfortunately, there are some, *gasp* rules.

RULE ONE: The photo has to be taken on the day of the post, i.e. you can`t use old pictures. (This is the hardest rule for me, because I’m the kind of person that if, by a rare chance, I do upload my pics to my laptop on the same day I take them, I put off editing and sorting them for weeks.  So, this is a good disciplinary challenge too. 🙂 )

RULE TWO: No Plagiarism. Must be your pic and yours alone.

RULE THREE: You must follow the five prompts that I`ll be posting my along with my pictures, unless, you know, you find another photo challenge prompt site and decide to do theirs instead. *dramatic lonely sigh*

Alright, now for my nominee.  *drumroooooool*

Joy!

I’ve seen what you can do on Flickr, so I can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with for this challenge! (If you accept, of course. 🙂 )

Squid

P.S. Did anyone catch 6+10=16? I was wondering if I had gotten anyone trained yet, so I didn’t do a post.