Thursday, September 1, 2016

Top 20 Favorite Songs of Coldplay




Hello guys! I've been hiatus for nearly a month, but anyway, hello September! I owe myself and you guys with a post. This update should've been up 2 weeks ago, when I watched a livestream (sponsored by Globe) of Coldplay's concert in LA, California, which made me inspired to make this. We all have our favorite bands right? And hey, mine's Coldplay!

P.S. It took me some time to finish editing all the lyric art in this post, and the background photos are not mine, and the lyrics belong, of course, to Coldplay.

Twenty years of Coldness

Coldplay (for those who don't know them, saaad) is a British rock band composed of four members: Chris Martin (vocalist), Johnny Buckland (lead guitarist), Guy Berryman (bassist), and Will Champion (drummer). Such band was formed when they were still in college way back 1996!! Guys, 1996! HAPPY 20 YEARS OF COLDPLAY! Imagine how bands nowadays have a very short span of showtime, and Coldplay has maintained their cool for 20 years. Indeed, they had proven that they are worthy of their band name! (iykwim) Below is a list of my top 20 favorite songs of Coldplay, as a tribute to them!

There ain't a problem that a Coldplay song can't fix

The way the following is ranked is just an opinion of mine. I usually am more bias on the sensible meaning of the song than its rhythm or beat, though it still has a big factor. Nevertheless, here it goes! I just want to share their songs to you guys, so badlyy! Sure, you have listened to their classics "The Scientist" and "Yellow", but in here you'll discover more! You can listen to these songs on the Spotify playlist I made, "Coldplay Picks".

20. SHIVER


One of their first songs in their first album "Parachutes". I really like its beat on the first note, I feel like I am swaying to it while listening. This song is about a person (or a guy) who really likes someone who doesn't even give a damn about him, that "always gets her way". The guy clearly is willing to wait for her, no matter what, waiting for her to give in-- waiting for her to shiver.

19. DON'T PANIC



Still one of the first songs of the band, and one of the chillest and coolest. I first heard it on the livestream of their concert, though and what swooned me so much by this song is that a part of it was sang by Johnny Buckland! It's just refreshing to hear other voice than Chris's. This song emphasizes that "we live in a beautiful world" that even though the "bones that we've fought for" are "sinking like stones" (that even if we fail at times after all the effort we had given in), we don't need to panic because after all we have "somebody to lean on".

18. A SKY FULL OF STARS



A song from Ghost Stories. Truth to be told, I'm not fond of songs that are loud and fast, but this song is an exception. I just can't not be in love with this song especially when it's like reaching out to you, "You're a sky full of stars, and I'm gonna give you my heart". My self-esteem boosts whenever I listen to this song! Imagine how beautiful stars are and then that person gets reminded of you whenever he/she sees them. Awee

17. US AGAINST THE WORLD



Belonged to Mylo Xyloto. This song just gives me so much feels, of melancholy and nostalgia, because of its beat and music. Started with a cool tune, and ended so perfectly. This song tells us that life is so full of hardships "the tightrope that I'm walking just sways and ties" and evil "the devil, as he's talking, with those angel's eyes", but it also tells us that "whatever you do, don't let go". This is Coldplay, giving out hopes since 1996.

16. LIFE IS FOR LIVING


This track, Life is for Living, is a very short song hidden at the end of Parachutes's Everything's Not Lost. Short it may be but it is already meaningful that it really took my attention to listen to it and to wait till the end of it. The song started by someone who's reasoning out that he never meant to do wrong and that if ever he did, he wants to ask for forgiveness. I want all people to hear this song and get the message of it. We must let down all of our pride to have that person back-- we just can't live alone. The line "As my head just aches, when I think of the things that shouldn't have done" is just so sweet. Is it too hard to say you're sorry?

15. INK


I really find the tune of 'Ink' so danceable that I haven't noticed the lyrics much, until I focused onto it while doing the dishes. You think at first that this song is a heartbreak song, but it's totally the opposite. He is so inlove with the girl that he's "dying of thirst" and that he loves her so much his heart hurts from the constriction. This is just so romantic.

14. TRUE LOVE


Tell me I'm not the only one who thought this song is a love song. I was so ready to get all the mushiness from the song, and then tada... The title is such a 'clickbait'! Haha. The first lines will tell us that he even had lost the love he had once, and he still can't get over with the fact that his lover was gone that he's even willing to hear lies. Tell me, he's desperate. If you don't, then lie. Sigh, things you sacrifice for love.

13. AMAZING DAY


I thank God for Coldplay, because even though I (currently) don't have someone that makes my heart beat faster than normal, Coldplay will eventually do it for me. This song makes me imagine all the beautiful things that happen when you're in love or when you're with your loved one-- always an amazing day. "Oh thanks God, must have heard when I prayed, 'cause now I always want to feel this way."

12. CHARLIE BROWN


I admit that I first heard this song just two weeks ago, still while watching the livestream, and I was really disappointed of myself of how could I ever overlooked this beautiful song! The lyrics and the meaning of the song is everythinggg!! The guitar riffs in the intro were perfect! I really liked its tune! I loved that the song is suggesting so much hope, that we should be the ones carrying it, that WE ARE THE HOPE. The first lyrics prove it, "In my scarecrow dreams, when they smash my heart into smithereens, be a bright red rose come bursting the concrete." Be so positive that you could grow a bright red rose out from a concrete, or you can think of it like this: be the best you can be out from your hardships (concrete). Light a fire, a motivation, a purpose, to your heart.

11. EVERY TEARDROP IS A WATERFALL


It seemed like the song title is exaggerating the tiny teardrop to a waterfall but from what I understood is that a thing like a teardrop, which we can relate to something that's saddening or trials, can result to something that's beautiful and majestic as a waterfall. Even if we're "in the black" or "in the gap between two trapezes", there's always light at the end of the tunnel that will tell you that "it's alright". This song gives so much willpower to people that they should never give up.

10. SWALLOWED IN THE SEA


I immediately loved this song the first time I heard it on Spotify, because of its clarity and its blaring stream of calmness-- like the calmness of the sea. But I never thought this song has a sad story; another song with a person left behind by his lover, which is I think because of his shortcomings to his lover. My favorite line (on the lyric art) turned out to be very disheartening, because sometimes it's indeed true, "what good is it to live with nothing left to give", when the one that held everything has left you with nothing, feels like swallowed in the sea.

 9. CLOCKS


This song came off a very jolly tune, and we all love to sing with it but actually I had a hard time decoding this song, of what it really means. One time I even concluded that I can't understand it. But now, here's my theory. The person is running out of time and for him everything seems to go against his way, the lights going out, the tides, the closing walls and ticking clocks. I think he was trying to get his lover back, because for him, she is home and he wants to be at home.

8. UP&UP


One of the best songs in A Head Full Of Dreams album released last year, 2015. This gives out so much positive vibes and sends out hopes and assurance that life keeps moving on, that you have to stand up whenever you fall down, that you should bring yourself UP even if it is as impossible as "emptying an ocean with a spoon", just don't give up because there is always hope, and second chances and "see each sunrise as a gift."

7. PARADISE


She'd say, oh, ohohohoh I know the sun must set to rise

I can super relate to this song since I can see myself as the girl who closes her eyes during stormy nights. There are just times when you can't handle everything that's going on in your life, problems here and there rocking the boat, that you would badly want to take a break and escape to Paradise.


6. VIVA LA VIDA



This song has been famous ever since it has been conceived! The slash of the first tune by the violin is the start of the story of a king who was victorious at first but became miserable as time went by, and realized that his "castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand." Sounds familiar? Remember that time in your kindergarten/elementary years, when you used to be the kid who got it all, from ribbons to medals, but you realized when you entered middle school/ college that those victories didn't matter anyway, that the world is a big competition and you find yourself losing? You think of them and you sighed, "That was when I ruled the world" and now I "sweep the streets I used to own." There, there.. It's okay.

5. EVERGLOW



What I wouldn't give for just a moment to hold 
Yeah, I live for this feeling, this everglow 

THIS SONG! I was really hooked to it when I first heard it on Discover Weekly on Spotify. That marked the moment I became a Coldplay fan. I only knew a handful of Coldplay songs, the classics, and this song made me want to discover more. The song meaning is so damn golden! The piano part swoons me real hard and I always feel like crying whenever I listen to it. It is about remembering someone, a loved one, that has died or has left. "They say people come, they say people go", but that person considered that someone as "celestial." It tells us that even though we feel sad and empty and cold from the fact that someone has left, we just need to remember the light that person had given us, let it everglow in you. I discovered this song sometime when my batchmate, Jacob, died last year, such a timing, and this song always reminded me of him.

4. IN MY PLACE



Most people would relate to this song. I don't know why, but the air around me usually gets heavier whenever this song is played, like its tune is forcing you to meditate or to think of it all, your problems, all your regrets, etc.. At the first lyrics, "in my place were the lines I couldn't change", you suddenly realize how a debacle person you are. Whenever I want to be alone, I just plugged in my headphones and just drown with "In My Place."


3.  THE SCIENTIST



Of course, who doesn't know about "The Scientist"? Almost everybody sings with it whenever it is blaring on a speaker somewhere. When the first piano chord was played, it always sends a chill on my place. Like it is a cue of something so phenomenal, and indeed, it is. This is a song of nostalgia, of sorrow, of homesickness, of terrible longing, that's why I always sing and emphasize the part "Nobody said it was easy" with such grief and loneliness. For all the hopeless romantics and brokenhearted people out there, this is for you.

2. FIX YOU



Lights will guide you home,
And ignite your bones,
And I will try to fix you

Funny how Coldplay makes you feel everything with their songs. At one moment, you were engulfing with your sadness by listening to The Scientist, but then the next on your playlist "Fix You" will lift you up again tremendously. Either Coldplay will bring you to the pits or lift you high in spirits, there is no in between!! It's like every line of the song is like staking a knife on your heart but all you can do is nod and cry: "When you try your best, but don't succeed" Ack. Nods. Cries. "When you love someone but it goes to waste." Ack. Nods. Cries. The cycle goes on until the chorus part, the lift-you-high-in-spirits part. Huhuhu I love you Coldplay, you always know what to fix.

1. YELLOW



We're down to the last one! You know the magic word! It's YELLOW. It's not my favorite color but it's my most favorite song. This song never fails to make me fall in love in every line it sings to me. I think this is the 'father' of the song 'a sky full of stars', but not only the loved one is compared to the stars, but he also states all the things he could do to his lover.  He would even bleed himself dry for her, in short he is willing to die for her. How amazing that love is?! (Like Jesus Christ did for us ♥) I hope someday someone could sing this to me. This is a perfect song and I'd like to scream my heart and lungs out to it if it's being played. I hope if ever I could to their concert live, this is really my most awaited part.


There you go! My top 20 songs. I'd actually come up with 25 favorites but I just had to pick 20. Please do checkout their Strawberry Swing, Fun (ft.Tove Lo),  Parachutes, and etc. For all the great songs of Coldplay that aren't in the list, I hope you forgive me, I still all love you though. I'd love to hear from people what they thought of this. Are there other Coldplay fans out there? Do you also have a favorite Coldplay song? Please do tell me, thank you!

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Fellowship 2k16




Fellowship is an annual event in YFC celebrated to kickoff the start of a new year of pastoral formation. It’s the first cluster activity where old and new YFCs bond together. 

This is already a late post but nevertheless, here it is. Our fellowship happened last July 24, 2016, just a week ago.

Cluster 3



I’d like to present you my family in YFC, Cluster 3 - Palao!! Combined forces, we are so much stronger. Palao-1 consists lots of guys while Palao-2 has lots of ladies, that’s why we need each other so much to lend some hand because surely there are work and chores that are just for boys and just for girls. Especially during youth camps, both chapters serve on both camps to add some people on their service team. I’ve heard that other sectors & clusters fear and get intimidated to our big number of active youth.

Palao 1 + Palao 2 makes Cluster 3! And we are meant to be! <3

Palao 1



They have a superb music min!! And in their chapter we could really use some masculine. What’s making this bunch unique is that they always make the atmosphere fun and bright, always in the frontline of pranks and jokes and laughter. They are also known for their awesomazing presentations whenever they are requested to perform. 

Palao 2



My first family that welcomed me in this society. And as you can see it consist of more women in here. Hihi. Our chapter is known for its great logistics and for the ICON-like Youth Camp this year, thanks to our chapter head Ritt Librado!! Leaders from different YFC groups also come from Palao 2. This chapter is still starting to stand on its own and is still building foundations. We just built our own music ministry this midyear with the help of music min of the said former chapter. We owe it all to Palao 1. I guess I would be tasked to be our music min’s leader. So help me God.


“FOR MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN.” - Matthew 22:14 

Monday, July 11, 2016

Happy 35th Anniversary CFC


Every month of July, anniversary of Couples for Christ (CFC) is celebrated. Lots of events were prepared for the month, and one of these is the Night of Music. This event is somehow an outlet for the different groups of movements that are also in line with CFC, to perform and share their talents and music to the community. These groups include Kids for Christ (KFC), Youth for Christ (YFC), Singles for Christ (SFC), Handmaids of the Lord, and Servants of the Lord.


Couples For Christ is a Catholic Movement intended for the renewal and strengthening of Christian family life. There were bands that represented each group (KFC, YFC, etc). The couples have committed themselves to the Lord and to one another, in their ultimate goal to raise families grounded in Christian values, in service and love of God. CFC aims to bring God's strength and light to those who are struggling to be truly Christian families in the world. 

So last July 8,2016, Friday, Night of Music was celebrated in Iligan City Plaza. I always look forward to these kind of YFC gatherings because I want to be refreshed with God's love and Holy Spirit again. Sometimes, when life makes me busy and unfocused, I tend to forget that I needed to pray and glorify His name. But through these YFC gatherings, my soul is bathed again with grace and peace of mind.



It was really fun to be reunited with my brothers and sisters in Christ, super filled with love and fun, together we sang and praised with the songs. Each group were given some time to present the songs they prepared for the crowd. And of course, what I waited was for the YFC band represent's turn to play. And daaaamn, they played "Only Hope" and I can't help but be thrilled!!! 

We also handed out flyers to the people in the City Plaza. One thing that's odd though and quite awkward was that the Plaza was a place of 'recreation' where people usually have beer towers, cigarettes, and then food on their tables. That's why we're reluctant sometimes to give out flyers for they might be offended, because it may be so out of their league. Nonetheless, we hope and pray they'll get the message we're trying to share. 




Most importantly, I really looked forward to seeing these people again. Nothing beats the feeling to be with Christ-centered people! I don't know why, but everytime I'm with them, even though I was just in YFC for a year, I feel like I can be me, and I feel safe and not judged because I think these people had the best intentions for other people for they're also filled with God's love. Yey! 

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Kickoff!


Finally, I decided to try Blogspot! It took me a long time to figure out if I should transfer to Blogger, to try a whole next level blogging. I've been into blogging since ages ago through Tumblr's platform. Now, I am giving a try on blogspot.

Tumblr vs. Blogspot 


One thing that I wanted to try in Blogger that isn't in Tumblr is the professional look. Tumblr is great in terms of convenience and freedom of tweaking, as a person who really likes to share lengthy posts, Tumblr is not really a suitable platform for me. I also longed to make a blog that can influence and has a bigger purpose. Of all the blogs I've made before, they were all just personal as they only served as albums for my special moments or diaries for my unspoken words. 

I've been in Blogger before but I find the themes very complicated unlike Tumblr themes which only contain CSS and HTML codes, much easier than XML, the language Blogger templates use. But since I want to fully bring out this dream blog I have in mind, I guess I have to endure and figure out how to make it work. And yes, finally! The time has come.

Blog Goals


I've been brainstorming lately on what to post here, and I'd like them to be organized and focused with a goal. At this point of time, this is a lifestyle blog, but maybe someday I'll change it. I hope I'd be religious in this 'profession' and I pray that bloggers here will eventually welcome me. I am accepting suggestions and recommendations and advices since I am still confused with all these new features. Anyway, as for now, cheers, self!

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