Latest Obssessions

Florence + the Machine "Drumming Song" video screenshot

I know, it's been a while. Since graduation, I've been all over the place. I had to linger in New York for a few days to be a canary-nun-esque bridesmaid in my BFF's wedding (I think at one point in the distant past, I had assigned her a mythologically derived name for usage on my blog, but then it was never relevant again and so I seem to have since forgotten it). I stayed with another friend who lived nearby for those few days, and mostly I spent my evenings bawling my eyes out over how much I'm going to miss all of my friends. You really grow close to people when you spend so much time for four years with them, and goodbyes always suck. Some of the people I cut ties with post-graduation—to include deleting more than a handful of numbers from my phone, although I'm remaining FB friends with most—but some of my friends, the ones I voluntarily spent time with outside of that time which was mandated due to training or administration or our jobs or classes, I do hope to see again. Many of my closest friends will be moving to Washington when I go to Texas, and a good dozen or so will be in Alabama learning how to pilot helicopters. Most of us also have long careers ahead of us. Hopefully, our paths will cross again sometime.

The relocation of all my stuff (and I seem to have required a lot of stuff over four years in New York) to Virginia has resulted in my temporarily misplacing some of my favorite toys. Namely, I haven't yet located my collection of candles and incense and crystals and other goodies I like to use in my practice, such as it is, amid the pile of post-grad paraphernalia. I think I remember which bag they were stowed away in, but there are so many of them and everything is so disorganized that I'm almost afraid to even touch the pile lest it collapse on top of me. Thus, in addition to being a bad blogger, I've also been a bad Pagan.

In positive updates, I have two new obsessions. Yes, that's positive. The first obsession is my new tattoo. I finally got my graduation present to myself yesterday afternoon! It's tiny and pretty and brimming with symbolism that only I understand. Well, except for those I've explained it to, anyway. When it's finished healing up nicely and all the scabbing and peeling is done, I'll post pictures and a detailed explanation. Until then, I'll just let this little blurb about my new body-art whet your appetite.

The second obsession is a fabulous indie-rock duo, Florence + the Machine. More specifically, I am obsessed with their album Lungs, and especially with two songs off of it: "Howl" and "Drumming Song." Both songs feature driving beats and primally charged lyrics, not to mention Florence's gorgeous vocal style. One of my best friends turned me onto the music shortly before we graduated, and I shall be eternally grateful to him for that (among other things). He's a stand-up kinda guy. Of course, I could be biased, considering he also follows my blog and just recently finished visiting me in Virginia :)

"Howl" is, hands down, my favorite song in the whole wide world right now. I've listened to it a solid ten times a day since I downloaded Lungs from iTunes, and I've already memorized every word on that album. These lyrics in particular from the song get me:

Now there's no holding back, I'm making to attack
My blood is singing with your voice, I want to pour it out
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound
I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hollow ground

And then, there's also these lines:

Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers
Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters
A man who's pure of heart and says his prayers at night
May still become a wolf when the autumn moon is bright

However, there are no good music videos of "Howl" as it was not released as a single, and the visual imagery of "Drumming Song" is absolutely breathtaking. Furthermore, the thought of dancing wildly in a church entered my own brain upon more than one occasion back when I still masqueraded as a good Catholic girl, so seeing Florence do just that so dramatically appeals to my sense of dreamy nostalgia. Thus, you can watch the video here on YouTube since embedding was apparently disabled.

And, in case you want to listen to "Howl" and happen to also like live performances, YouTube would let me embed this video: