What dreams are made of

I always forget about this song, and then I rediscover it every year or two. And each time, I listen to it all the way through, and each time, I’m shaken by it. The lyrics, the instrumentation, the harmonies, the conflicting verses, the way the song moves from a delicate intro to the climbing verse and first real chorus down to the soothing bridge and back up to the turbulence of the later verses and choruses and concluding with a simple but haunting final verse, the emotion. The emotion. All of it. 

Such a powerful song.

“Last night I dreamt they dropped a bomb 
Oh the seas ran dry and the winds had calmed
Skyscrapers fell, they crumbled to dust,
And their skeletons of steel were covered in rust

And everything I loved and feared had all at once disappeared
Oh everything I loved and feared had all at once disappeared

I woke from the dream in a cold, cold sweat
I was full of doubt and deep regret,
For suddenly it was so clear to me;
There was nothing left in which to believe”

 

Oh man, guys. What a beautiful song. Please enjoy it as much as I have been.

streetlifewayfinding:

Rob Atkins - Week 4, Not Feeling the Love

I was nervously excited for this week’s wayfinding challenge of talking to a stranger. I am very much a fan of meeting new people and getting to know them, but even more so a fan of being awkward and doing awkward things. However, I find that I only act strange and deliberately awkward when I am around my close friends and family, and when I am with people I don’t know very well or strangers, I tend to be very reserved and soft-spoken.

But what is life if you never leave your comfort zone every once in awhile? I decided that I wanted to hug a stranger. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on the day that I was going to conduct this experiment on the Northrop Mall with several people to explore the varying results from person to person, so I was forced to find a stranger tonight instead.

 

It was interesting to document the results; he seemed to be a rather shy person, and hesitant when I first asked him to high five me. But after a short amount of convincing eye contact, he did high five me. It felt like I was building his trust by asking him to do 3 things, and he seemed to get less hesitant as this interaction progressed. However, as soon as the other stranger stepped in and interrupted our interaction, the guy at the desk lost focus in our exchange and instead interacted with the other stranger. As soon as the second man started walking away, the guy at the desk did not agree to an air hug, even though he did indeed agree to one right before the other stranger showed up. I think this is, again, due to the amount of trust I was slowly building in him with each question and action. 

 

This was intimidating and fun, and I’d like to try it again sometime, probably with more people next time.

Guys, I tried to hug a stranger. He was not having it.