Album Review: Delirious?, The Mission Bell

Enter the latest studio album from Christian Brit-rockers delirious?. Prominent themes are vulnerability and human frailty, the “last days” and imminent return of Christ, and surrender to divine purpose. This is definitely a message album, in which delirious encourage us to “ring the mission bell and storm the gates of hell” (“Paint the Town Red”). It is an album to rally the church together unto the banner of holiness. The songs are not so much congregational worship pieces as they are intimate poems meant for us to hear and be inspired by. Thematically, the lyrics go from save-the-world invincibility to utter brokenness, due to the weakness of human flesh. The Mission Bell is all not about a front-row seat to God’s final show on earth. It’s about getting out of the front-row seat and laying down our lives to be in the show, to demonstrate the glory of God to the world.

Stronger – A mysterious string vibration opens up this slow-tempo album-opener. The strummed acoustic guitar that provides rhythm for the song is nice and punchy, accentuated by the matching, in-sync drums. The most stunning thing about the song is Martin Smith’s vocals, which seem to explore more uncharted territory, with every new delirious album. The utterance of “Hallelujah” reaches such a high note, it seems the sky might split open. The song slowly builds. It’s a slow-burner, making it an odd choice for an album-opener. The nice thing is that it has the effect of “warming up” the listener and preparing us for the rest of the album, rather than launching us into an up-tempo rock attack. It’s a busy track, with the constant acoustic guitar/drums, and some nice fuzz guitar in the background. Strings meander in and out of the mix. It’s a pretty song that feels like the quiet before the storm. It’s a brave-spirited song that shouts out confidence in the power of unity and the need to push on into new spiritual territory, a sort of divine discontent. Musically, think Coldplay. It’s a unique album-opener, yet there’s really not much substance to the song. Delirious have done better, and I’m sure they know it. It’s the soaring vocals that carry the song and hint at a more raucous rest-of-the-album. 5/10

Now is the Time – A thrashing drum beat and several layers of punchy guitars open up this rocker about the church fully becoming like Christ and displaying glory for the world to see. The verses are poetic and escape cliché-ism. Musically, the band could not have worked this track any more. They’ve squeezed every possible drop of life-blood from it. One of their best numbers in years, which will prove stunning in a live setting. The guitars are raucous and the drums are pounding. Martin practically screams the words in the bridge, where the drums slow down, before a stunning guitar solo erupts. There are many different guitar solos and sounds in the song, accompanied by a surprising sequence of crashing piano chords in the chorus. If there’s a song that would make this album famous, look no further. Each member of the band contributes perfectly. The song gains more and more volume and instrumentation, meaning the listener never gets bored. The guitar in the chorus has an odd “diddle-dee, diddle-dee” effect that provides rhythm just as much as the drums do. This is a modern-day hymn to call the Church to rise up and fulfill its purpose. No doubt, by the end of this 4:05 minute song, you will be wondering if you’ve heard one or three songs. It is that good. 9/10

Solid Rock – A Johnny Cash-sounding acoustic guitar twang starts things off with a slow, steady drum beat. A really rocky electric guitar rhythm carries the verse melody, which explodes into another typical, well-loved, anthemic delirious chorus with several guitars going off at once. The most exciting part for me is the guitar rhythm in the verses. This is a re-vamping of an old hymn, “On Christ the Solid Rock.” The bass guitar is very funky. Woo-hoo’s after each chorus add to the “western” style of this song. Guest vocalist Tobymac raps the bridge, which fits perfectly. The song is hard to classify stylistically because it’s so eccentric. It’s got Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, western/country, and gospel influences. It takes repeated listens to hear every aspect of this slow-burning rocker. A little too slow-going at times, but new ground for the band and definitely a good song. 7/10

All This Time – Rock ballad time. 5:26 minutes of just pretty guitar. You can almost envision guitarist Stu Garrard stepping back, squinting hard, and closing his eyes as he plays the chords. The song is quite soft most of the time, with a slightly-louder chorus, and a sudden raucous guitar solo mid-song. This song wins best lyrics on the album, in my book. Look at some more of the lines: I’m a father and a son / I’ve been a lover with just one / But this world can get me all undone … / Please don’t leave me stranded here / With a head of lies and a heart of fear / My life’s a show on God’s TV / The world an audience, watching me…It’s a song of vulnerability, of desperation that God help us not mess up the chance He’s given us to serve Him. Martin and Stu share the singing of the verses. Stu’s ghostly vocals add a haunting air to the already haunting guitar. It’s a very beautiful song, and the guitar riffs will dance around in your head for quite a while. The guitar in the verses seems improvised, giving the song the feeling of not knowing quite where it’s going. The same with the lyrics. It seems like Martin started singing what comes into His head and it somehow comes together in perfect verse-structure. Some have said this sounds U2-esque. I would say it’s in a class of its own, my favorite track on this album, one of the best songs I’ve ever heard, and possibly my favorite delirious song ever – which is saying a lot. 10/10

Miracle Maker – A beautiful worship ballad that starts off with almost-whispered vocals and a few leading gentle piano notes from Tim Jupp. The vocals in the beginning are frail and beautiful. Then come louder piano notes, a slightly-edgy guitar, some cymbal-tapping and eventually a regular drum beat. Very reminiscent of Mountains High and I Was Blind from World Service. This is dark, brooding worship that screams out lines about the holiness and endlessness of God in a desperate, almost manic way that maintains a sacred beauty. Eventually strings and a guitar riff enter, making this an epic song. The song has grown on me a lot since I first heard it. The only problem I have with it is that when it reaches what is supposed to be its climax, it never has enough…something. Volume, complexity, something. It kind of reaches the climax mid-song, and tries to keep going for about two minutes, like it’s forcing the listener: “You will keep up this level of excitement now that we’ve reached it!” The beginning is great, when the song feels fragile and beautiful…and again when it ends with half-a-minute of piano notes. Maybe this was “Mountains High”’s strength, it was a bit shorter. “Miracle Maker,” though, should not be taken for a dimwitted track. The lyrics of adoration are full of the most conviction I’ve ever heard in Martin’s voice and the song has some stunning aspects. I think it’s a grower. Maybe the mid-section will sound less samey as time goes on. 7/10

Here I Am Send Me – This almost ties “All This Time” for best song of the album. Strangely, it was “Paint the Town Red” that was marketed as the “rock track” of this album, when I think it is “Here I Am Send Me,” which contains the punchiest guitars on a delirious track to-date. The opening guitar, Martin’s woo-hoo, and the little electronic noise signal a wild ride. Stu G sings the verses about the likes of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jacob and others crying out for a more intimate experience with God, so that God could send them to go out and work. The verses are stronger than the chorus. Stu G’s vocals are sassy-sounding and near perfection. Musically, this is very powerpop. The dance-beat drums and guitars sound like Franz Ferdinand on steroids. The little electronic noises in parts of the song remind me of The Killers. You couldn’t ask for more from a song. The message is spiritually potent, the verses citing the prophets’ experiences with God and such. And then the song musically is a triumph for the world of modern rock. Oh, if we could get this on the air-waves and replace the other garbage on the radio! Guitar-wise, I didn’t know delirious had it in them to do a song like this. After chorus2, Martin’s screaming and that guitar solo are insane. Song simmers down as Martin sings some random lines …and then another guitar solo?...The song ends with the guitar in overdrive. It’s simply incredible. 10/10

Fires Burn – Delirious said the influence of the opening line was the scene from Lord of the Rings when the fires are lit across the mountains. Powerful inspiration. An atmospheric opening of keys and bongo drums leads the song. A powerful song about the longing for Christ to return and the need for the Bride of Christ to prepare herself for this occasion. This is a very moody number. Sounds like something from a movie soundtrack. Again a nice guitar solo…this album is full of them, a welcome return after their notable absence on World Service. Very clever when the strings enter pre-final chorus, as rapid violin notes provide the melody. Jesus, born to take us home. An interesting perspective. Jesus came to a place that wasn’t His home so we can be restored to our true home. 8/10

Our God Reigns – Reminiscent of “Intimate Stranger” from Glo, this is an album that deals with AIDS, abortion, and other sins/problems with this world in the verses and then turns around and utters the simple truth “Our God Reigns….forever your kingdom reigns” in the chorus. Martin sounds like he’s both groaning and pouting as he sings the verses, accompanied by eerie atmospheric sounds and a strummed acoustic guitar. The pictures of abortion and other injustices painted in the verses are quite disturbing, but we are comforted by the belted-out promise in the chorus that “our God reigns!” Powerful. Again, the vocals are a strength here, showcasing Martin’s ability. He can half-sing/groan/mutter the verses and then turn around and sing beautifully in the chorus. Piano, cello, a choir, and weird whistling-noises dominate the second part of the song. Toward the end a guitar reminiscent of that in the song “King of Fools” comes in as Martin feverishly sings over and over “He reigns, he reigns, he reigns, there is only one true God, forgive us all…as we fight for this broken world on our knees!” “White Ribbon Day” meets “King or Cripple.” A stunner that is nearly perfect. 10/10

Love is a Miracle – Among fans, this has been a criticized, even ridiculed, track. I’m not sure why. It’s a decent track, which I happen to really like. The bassline is funky, and the verse guitar is cool. The verses themselves are a bit boring, though. Theologically, it’s something we’ve all heard before, a bit cliché. The best part is the gospel choir in the chorus. It comes out of nowhere. The verses are sullen and subdued, and the choir just erupts and brings a smile to my face. And yet it is this gospel choir that turns some other fans off. I love it. Love it, love it. It holds the song together. A feel good song with a bit of a guy preaching in the middle, which is really stirring. A slappy-happy-clappy number. Martin singing along with the choir works surprisingly well. Again, though, it’s one of the less-prominent songs on an album of stunning songs. 6/10

Paint the Town Red – Hailed as the rock track for the album, with good reason! This contains the album’s mission statement. Up-tempo, powerpunk guitars accompany Martin’s stubborn-sounding voice and the shouted chorus “Oh, here we come” that begs for the listener to sing along with. The song is only 2:19, but it packs in a fast-paced urgency in it unlike any other track on the album. Very well-done, well-polished and well-produced. “Paint the town red with the blood of Jesus” was taken directly from a Reinhard Bonnke sermon the delirious boys heard. Musically, this is a blood-pumping number, but with good reason. It’s about righteous indignation; it’s a war cry. And you’ll likely play this one over and over. My only complaint is the length; 2:19 is stingy for a delirious song. 8/10

Take Off My Shoes – One of the best delirious songs ever. There is a full one-minute introduction where Stu G plays around with the e-bow, creating a haunting musical environment that leaves the listener enchanted and begging for more. The longest track on the album, it feels much shorter than it is, and you wish it would just go on forever and never end. The e-bow is more intense than when Stu used to use it in the Cutting Edge days, which is a definite plus. This song picks up where “All This Time” left off. It’s more talk of frailty, but advances into the Holy of Holies with the first verse talking about the rope wrapped around the priest being removed, the rope with bells attached. It used to be that if the bells stopped shaking, the other priests knew that that priest who had entered the Most Holy Place had died, so they’d use the rope to pull him out. Martin referring to this song shows the Biblical depth of the band of this song, specifically. The second verse introduces some beautiful keys and strings. The “hold me” in the chorus is mesmerizing. Some heavy guitar in the middle of the song accentuates the intense sense of longing, yet doesn’t disturb the tenderness of the moment. This is worship ballad meets “the jam.” If you like it when musicians “jam out,” this song is for you. And Martin’s random utterances are powerful; the song feels live. He’s belting out lines about God commanding us to stand on our feet, and “we’ve got to finish!...finish! [the race]”. Sure to be a fan favorite, this song is a reminder of why so many delirious songs are sung in churches today. 10/10

I’ll See You – Acoustic song. It is what “What a Friend I’ve Found” was to King of Fools. “I’ll See You” is much more emotional, though. It’s there’s a delirious song that would make you cry (and I don’t mean due to bad musicianship), it’s this one. It’s so beautiful and the subject is someone singing to a lost one in heaven, wondering what it will be like to meet them on the other side. Martin wrote this imagining what it will be like to see his unborn child who perished due to miscarriage. A haunting singer singing a prayer in Gaelic in the background creates an angelic mood. Martin yells some random “woohoo!’s” that summarize his anticipation of the unbelievable joy of being reunited with his lost child and seeing Jesus face to face. Tears turned into joy. The song is like a poem that is set to music. It feels very intimate, as if we’ve stumbled upon Martin having a private conversation with someone. 7/10

Is this the best delirious album to date? Hmm, that’s a matter of opinion. That’s the wrong question to ask, though. The right questions are the ones the album asks of us. Are we, in fact, “an army of God, who are ready to die”? In any case, musically, Mission Bell provides what we’ve come to love from delirious: something totally different from past offerings but with the trademark attitude and songwriting approach that could only be delirious. The guitars are punchier than ever, and there are more guitar solos on this album than any other delirious album I can think of. Yet is an album of extremes. The high-octane choruses are much louder and urgent. The softer moments are more frail than ever. Piano/keyboard is used a lot more than usual. I feel that, more than in previous works, each member of the band has made a viable and indispensable contribution to the sonic soundscapes represented in this 55 minutes of powerful melodies, ballads, anthems, rockers, and utterances. And another thing: you’ll need headphones to pick up all the subtleties of this brilliant album. Is it a “grower”? Nope. Even better, more than with past works, I pretty much loved every song from the first listen. Now is the time for us to shine. Now is the time.

USA Release date December 27.

Official Delirious? Website

Best Delirious? Fansite on the Web, including d:scussion forums

Music Clips from the album

Working at the Cafe

A few pictures from the Chi Alpha Photo Gallery of me working at Cafe Chi Alpha...and of some of my friends hanging out there too.


Out in front of the cafe, in the chilly night air. Left to right: John 'the Recka' Barreca (my roomate), Tollie Martin Coates IV, Derek Paul Jackson, and my homegirl, the little Sadie dog. And of course Emily Buller floating overhead, playing guitar.

The crowd enjoying a concert. I am in the back right behind the counter enjoying a drink I've made myself.

Another cafe angle. I hold Emily's guitar while she does something cool to prepare for her set.

After Emily's set, I do announcements.

Diversions

Ever since I replaced my car battery Sunday, my life has been filled with diversions. Hey, it's Thanksgiving week, that's my excuse for not being focused on school.

Monday night was grrreat. In lifegroup, we went about 2 hours worshiping and interceding. It was an incredible time in God's presence. That was followed by Chi Alpha water baptism in the University REC Center pool. 4 people were baptized, one guy, Jeff, having been an agnostic and recently come to faith. Awesome guy that I'm getting to know, with an awesome testimony. Then I went to Jonathan Buras' and Dustin Ellingburg's apt. and ate, like, 10 chocolate chip pancakes. Then I went to Scott's apt. I have discovered the joy of Halo. I am not trendy, as most of you know. I was content to stick with old school Nintendo, thanks very much. But I saw Halo 2 sitting there and asked Scott to give me a crash course in X-box. I was doing really...really bad. Got 3 hours of sleep that night, due to this newfound love. Even if you're bad at it, it's so fun to play.

Also, through the end of November, I've been fully utilizing the Blockbuster unlimited movie pass. Today Cody and I watched One Hour Photo, a creepy Robin Williams movie. Ultimately, I found it to be a movie with a positive family message. For this expressing this view, I was given odd looks by three different people today.

I went back to Scott's and me Scott and Cody played about 4 hours of Halo. After a couple hours, I had thoroughly picked up the game, and I was teaching Flood the meaning of the energy sword. Actually, I'd much prefer to pick off those dragonfly things with a Ghost. Anyway, yeah. And I'm leaving for my folks' house at noon. And it's almost 5 am right now. And I have studied enough for Chemistry quiz in a few hours. And bed. Yeah.

Live from the pickup truck

Transposition

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

I’m reading a spell-binding book by C.S. Lewis. The Weight of Glory compares the puny natural pleasure with the eternal splendor of the life Christ offers us.

One issue that arises is that of heaven, and our perception of it. The Bible describes a heaven with golden streets, pearly gates, and other beauties. This partially excites our natural senses; however, the human mind conceiving of eternity can lead to a negative spectrum of emotions. As fleshly creatures driven by the desire for food, adrenaline, pride, joy, sex, ambition, and other flighty experiences and needs, we perceive heaven as lacking these things. Those of us who are born again can feel an inexplicable rejoicing from within at the mention of an eternity with Christ. There’s not much logic to it, but we’re inwardly happy. Our humanity, though, is let down by heaven: no food, no sex, no normal human relationships, no vacationing, etc. Unfortunately, our fallen nature makes us define heaven in the negative, if we’d admit to secretly having these feelings.

Lewis gives a nearly impeccable analogy revealing the infinitesimal importance of these natural pleasures compared to the glory that follows in eternity:

Let us construct a fable. Let us picture a woman throw into a dungeon. There she bears and rears a son. He grows up seeing nothing but the dungeon walls, the straw on the floor, and a little patch of the sky seen through the grating, which is too high up to show anything except the sky. This unfortunate woman was an artist, and when they imprisoned her she managed to bring with her a drawing pad and a box of pencils. As she never loses the hope of deliverance, she is constantly teaching her son about the outer world which he has never seen. She does it very largely by drawing him pictures. With her pencil she attempts to show him what fields, rivers, mountains, cities, and waves on a beach are like. He is a dutiful boy and he does his best to believe her when she tells him that the outer world is far more interesting and glorious than anything in the dungeon. At times he succeeds. On the whole he gets on tolerably well until, one day, he says something that gives his mother pause. For a minute or two they are at cross-purposes. Finally it dawns on her that he has, all these years, lived under a misconception. “But,” she gasps, “you didn’t think that the real world was full of lines drawn in lead pencil?” “What?” says the boy. “No pencil marks there?” And instantly his whole notion of the outer world becomes a blank. For the lines, by which alone he was imagining it, have now been denied of it. He has no idea of that which will exclude and dispense with the lines, that of which the lines were merely a transposition—the waving treetops, the light dancing on the weir, the coloured three-dimensional realities which are not enclosed in lines but define their own shapes at every moment with a delicacy and multiplicity which no drawing could ever achieve. The child will get the idea that the real world is somehow less visible than his mother’s pictures. In reality it lacks lines because it is incomparably more visible. So with us. “We know not what we shall be”; but we may be sure we shall be more, not less, than we were on earth. Our natural experiences (sensory, emotional, imaginative) are only like the drawing, like pencilled lines on flat paper. If they vanish in the risen life, they will vanish only as pencil lines vanish from the real landscape, not as a candle flame that is put out but as a candle flame which becomes invisible because someone has pulled up the blind, thrown open the shutters, and let in the blaze of the risen sun.

Autumnal Heat

Alice Wack, LSU Daily Reveille.

I was just about to post something about the weather, and lo and behold, in today's paper. We're having a heat wave in autumn. That makes me very sad. I have an unnatural love for biting cold weather; unnatural because I have lived in the temperate-tropical climate of southeast Louisiana for my whole life. I only get a 2-3 month margin of cold weather, that which I love and treasure, every year. And now we're still having to wipe the sweat from our foreheads and wear shorts during the day. Que terible!

Bama Goes Down

Saturday was fun. I went with a bunch of people to Kristin Shipp's house in the rural town of Zachary, LA. We had a jambalaya lunch, watched LSU beat Alabama on the big screen TV, played flag football and had a bonfire.


Shielding my eyes from the piercing heat, I roast a marshmallow.

Here we are watching the exciting (and at times nail-biting) game. Dangit, I have that usual spaced-out look.

This is Jasmine. She is a really cool dog I met. When she stands up, you see how big she really is...almost as big as a horse.

About to play flag football. I'm on the far right. Don't worry...I didn't really contribute. I just ran around and tried to look involved.

Eating jambalaya and trying to not be too crass with the ladyfolk. Shoot, man, my hair is really ghetto in the back. Maybe those 10 girls who told me I should get some "shape" or "body" or "geometry" or something at a salon are right.

In the background, I contemplate how to sneak in and steal 75 and one-half bowls of jambalaya for myself without anyone knowing.

Um...yeah.

Um...yeah. The question has been asked, "Why haven't you posted lately?" Well, I haven't had anything worthwhile to post. Usually I try to post stuff that's cool/relevant/inspirational/extremely absurd. So...

...okay, um. I had a test Thursday, test Friday, quiz Monday, test Tuesday, and test Wednesday. A full week of tests. So I was sick of academia yesterday and declared a holiday after noon. I watched 4 movies in a row. Training Day, Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, and Office Space.

Have you seen my stapler? I c-could burn the building down, I...

XA Scavenger Hunt!!

Friday night was intense. It was the 3rd annual Chi Alpha Human Scavenger Hunt. For those of you who haven't heard of a "human" scavenger hunt today, here's the rundown. People playing the game were looking for people, not token items. The people they were looking for were different characters, spread out all across LSU's campus. Imagine yourself playing the game:

You start off at Cafe Chi Alpha and your team (there are several) is given a sheet of clues, each clue revealing the identity of a character. You must then figure out as a team where on campus this character would be. For example, you read about an internet cartoon character and figure out this person must be stationed at Middleton Library, because it has a computer lab. You traverse the campus and arrive at the library to find ...Homestar Runner and Strong Sad! You must chase down each of the characters you find. No points unless you physically apprehend them. If you catch them, your team gets points, based on whether or not you caught the character(s) before other teams did. Watch out, because some characters are worth negative points! All this takes place at night, after dark, so you never know what new character will be lurking around the next corner.

Anyway, I was Homestar Runner and my roomate, John Barreca, was Strong Sad. I don't know who had more fun: the people playing the game or those putting it on. I apparently did decent voice/character impersonations of good old Homestar as several people afterward told me they were "freaked out" about how in character I was. After several groups caught me I also chased after them saying various Homestar-isms. One passer-by I approached threatened to hurt me if I didn't leave him alone. Anyway, it was a fun night. I'm already wondering who to be next year...


"Aw-wight, Aw-wight! Homestarwwwww! ...Wunnerrrrwww! If I had to use one word to descwibe myself, it would pwobably be....fluffy puffed marsh-ma-wohs. Tooons! Games! Chaw-ac-tewrs. Down-loooads!..."

Luigi becomes quickly alarmed as Homestar mutates, sprouting arms to eat the plate of food in front of him.

My roomate, John "the Recka" Barreca, who did a frightfully good imitation of the woeful sullenness of Strong Sad. John is actually a skinny guy, if you can believe it!

A look at the costume. First of all, it was really torn up here. By the end of the hunt, running around and having people try to tackle me had taken their toll. The shoes: fabric spray-painted blue at the bottom and safety-pinned to the pants. The pants: thrift-store baseball pants. The "shirt": Cody Berry, Cody Berry, and Cody Berry. He sewed the arms up and then we took wire coat hangers and pulled the bottom of the shirt over them. He did a seam around the bottom...all by hand. It took him literally all night to tailor this while the shirt was on my body. The star: sewn on, too. The face: face paint. The hat: a visor and a propeller cap I bought (which unfortunately you don't notice in any of the pictures as it was pushed back on my head. My propeller even turned when I ran!)

The after party. My smiling friend Derek Naquin in the background was overwhelmed with requests to make frappucinos.

Madea (Zach Mitchell) from "Diaries of a Mad Black Woman) was my favorite.

Marilyn Monroe (Jennifer Broadwell), Lucille Ball (Crystal Legendre), and Daphne from Scooby-Doo (Angelique Ortego).

Scrat the Squirrel (Adam Stephenson), TJ (TJ), and Steve Irwin (Dustin Ellingburg).

Peter Pan (Josh Harvey) and Tinkerbell (Rachel Walker).

Crikey! Steve Irwin, the Croc Hunter (Dustin "Money" Ellingburg).

Before the hunt, receiving instructions.

Santa Claus on roller blades (Derick Brumley).

Strong Sad (John Barreca) and Homestar Runner (Me).

Arrrrrgh! One pirate may cut off your wooden leg (Lisa King) and the other (Monica Filgo) will shove golden doubloons down your throat (but they're made of chocolate).

Deanna as the Princess and John as Luigi.

Crystal Legendre as Lucille Ball and Michelle Scott as Billie Holiday.

Having no arms is bogus! Monica feeds me a plate of food at the after party.

Brian Holloway as GI Joe.

Which one doesn't belong?

And yes, this does mean that I shaved Friday night to be in costume.

Thanks to Ashley Jackson and Angelique Ortego. Because I ripped these photos from their websites.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Kid

I first heard about the East Laville Hall 3rd Floor "sleepy kid" a couple weeks ago. I was talking to the party animals at the end of the hall about something nondescript, and one of them pointed out a guy halfway down the hall, hunched over, leaning against the wall, with a sullen look on his face. Ryan said that the guy was angry that the rest of the hall was keeping him awake. He was just staring at everyone. Granted, we do have people who play football and ride their bikes down the hall at 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning. As time passed on, I kept hearing the phrase "sleepy kid" laughed down the hall, so I finally asked a guy named James what this was all about. Apparently, it's just a dude who lives on the floor and (it is said that) he seems to be asleep all the time. At night, during the day....he's always asking for everyone to keep it down, as he's trying to sleep. I don't know why, but every time I hear somone outside my door saying, "sleeeeeepy kid!", it makes me chuckle. Heck, he's probably a cool guy, but I still think it's nice to have a legendary sleepy kid on our floor. Maybe I'll be as cool as (get as much sleep as) him one day. So there you have it, my Halloween story. Not very scary I'm afraid... (did you get that? Huh? That pun?..."not very scary I'm AFRAID" ....eh?)

In other news, I costumed early, on Friday night, the scavenger hunt, homestar runner. Many people have been asking to see pictures. I will post them as soon as someone else posts the pictures they took, so I can rip them off.


Also, I did not watch a Halloween movie last night (what a silly idea!). I watched Shawshank Redemption (I'll admit for the first time) and thought it should be considered as maybe the best movie of all time.