On music and thumbprints

Let me start with the thumbprint. So I had to get get a thumbprint...and no, I was not arrested. It was for the much less glamorous task of getting a form notarized. Anyway, I was super excited when she told me, because I love giving thumbprints. She opened the pad of black ink and my thumb dove right in. Before I was able to flip my thumb over and see its ink-black skin, the notary informed me, "It wipes right off." I flipped my thumb over and it was already gone. My thumb looked exactly as it did pre-dip. I looked back down at my print, the swirling lines in black ink. It was amazing. It doesn't even just wipe off, it just disappears. I have never seen this before, and I am stunned and wondering about who developed this technology and how it works. It's like an advanced form of disappearing ink, I guess (which, I also love and can be sometimes found writing in -- courtesy of my pen from the D.C. International Spy Museum).

Now the music: I've been listening to the new The New Pornographers album, Challengers, lately (yes, I am aware of the word repetition). I felt like writing about it for some reason, I guess because I like it a lot. I don't really want to write about the music itself or what's great about it, but I must say that it seems to fit perfectly with the season and place that I am at right now, both physically and figuratively. It's nothing groundbreaking or electrifying, but I find myself playing it over and over again and loving the melodies, lyrics and the feeling of it all. It's one of those albums that is a great listen all the way through.

Here is a sample of some of the lyrics that have been playing in my head as of late:

From "Go Places":

Yes a heart will always go one step too far
Come the morning and the four corners I see
What the moral of the back story could be
Come with me, go places

And a heart will always stay one day too long
Always hoping for the hot flashes to come
For the glue to dry on our new creation
Come with me, go places

Come head on, full circle
Our arms fill with miracles
Play hearts, kid, they work well
Like classics play aces
Stay with me, go places
Once more for the ages

... (this verse comes later)

Come one now, come all ye
This story breaks free here
Tales from the back pages
From somewhere, Encida
Deus ex machina
Good morning, Christina

It's much better to actually hear it and the way these words come out, the cadence of the lyrics and music...but I love the "Come with me, go places" line.

"Adventures in Solitude" is a beautiful, sad song with simple lyrics full of meaning, and the contrast of the sweet harmonies with the lyrics is wonderful:

More than begin
But less than forget
But spirits born
From the not happened yet
Gathering there
To pay off a debt brought back from the wars

We thought we lost you
We thought we lost you
We thought we lost you
Welcome back

Sleeping for years
Pick through what is left
Through the pieces that fell and rose from the depth
From the rainwater well
Deep as a secret nobody knows

I know you want to
Run far away from one more
And that it’s comin’ at a bad time
Some cold place
Heartless ways
For all we know

I know you need to
Breathe through
Come back
Come too
But it’s comin’ at a bad time
Tangled day
For all we know

I know you want to
Run far away from one more
And that’s comin’ at a bad time
Some cold race
Heartless ways
For all we know

I know you want to
Breathe through
Come back
Come too
But it’s comin’ at a bad time
Old scarred face
Survivor’s guilt
For all we know

The switch from "We thought we lost you, welcome back" to "We thought we lost you, it will all come back" is heartbreaking and gets me every time.