Sunday, November 25, 2007

Music, music, music...



There were a couple of times over the Thanksgiving break that I was reminded of the power that music has over our emotions. They made me reflect upon different occasions in my life that I have been "moved," so to speak. I've been to jazz concerts where I couldn't stop smiling and I wanted to go home and listen to more. I've been to symphony halls where I couldn't feel myself because I was so lost in what was going on. After seeing uplifting movies on the big screen, I always walk out with my head held higher and feeling ten times taller as the mighty movie score is playing. Singing hymns has usually had the power to cheer me up whenever I'm sad. And then, there's the music that can move you to tears...

That's what happened this week. I took a friend to a favorite pretty spot of mine where I had been sad once upon a time. For some reason, there was some really pretty piano music playing in the car as I began to tell the story. I couldn't finish it before we both began to shed tears.

I've discovered that I have to be careful with music like that. There are songs that if played when I'm in a blue mood will invoke crying no matter what. That song normally wouldn't have made me cry, but given proper circumstance (like a painful memory) it did. I've been on the verge of tears all day today. As a result, I didn't listen to any music by choice. On days like today, I can't listen to Regina Spektor, or Sissel, or Phil Collins (ha!), or Tchaikovsky (however you spell that), or Josh Rouse, or Mason Jennings, or the Chipmunks (just kidding...wait, maybe not..) or...wow, the list is quite long.

So...what are your thoughts? What music do you like to listen to when you're happy? When you're sad? What's your song of the day? What did you have for breakfast this morning?

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Reaching for the floor



I would like to announce to those of you that see this that I finally touched my toes! This journey has been long and painful at times, but it feels really good to have accomplished a goal.

I originally planned on being able to touch my toes by graduation, but I wasn't very diligent in my nightly stretches. However, thanks to a quick ten minute stretch almost every night for the past two weeks, I was finally able to do it.

I can't go right down and touch my toes yet; I usually have to warm up for several minutes first. But still. I've never done this before, and now I can check it off my list of goals in life. Next step: palms to the floor! Or maybe the splits! There's no stopping me now!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

A Midsummer Discovery

All parking spaces at the Sandy Civic Center ("The end of the line, as far as we go.") Trax stop are created equal.

There's not a shady spot in the lot.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

A Post-Mother's Day Post

This past Sunday, I learned that dads don't understand Mother's Day. They seem to think that it's about flowers, and chocolate, and pretty cards, and all that material jazz. Little do they know that if they bring contention into their homes in an attempt to create a perfect day for their wives, they've missed the boat.

A few days before Mother's Day, my dad gave me some money and asked me to pick up a little gift for my mom and a nice card for all of us to sign. I tried to pick up the stuff on Friday, but I couldn't find the cards in the store and ended up staring at candy and snacks for almost an hour. Hungry and low....not exactly a good combination. Anyways, Saturday night came by, and my dad caught me in the garage to ask if I'd fulfilled his assignment. I hadn't. I told him that rather than go to the store with the truckload of others who had forgotten cards, I could just make something for everyone to write on. That idea was shot down as preposterous. Why would Mom like some dinky thing that her kids had made for her? I'd ruined everything, apparently. Of course, who should come by to see us arguing than Mom. Do you think it pleased her that Mother's Day was causing contention in our family? Even if the intentions to make her day were good? I think not.

My Sunday school teacher, Connie Ballou, told our class the next day that that morning there had been a fiasco at her house in an attempt to create her perfect day. Someone had let their big yellow lab into the house, and it ended up tracking mud through their kitchen, into their living room, up their stairs, through her room, and up onto her bed. Her husband went downstairs, and yelled at the kids for letting the dog in the house and ruining Mother's Day. Even though a pancake the size of Connie's head was made to help make up for the mud, two of her young girls felt so bad that they went to church in tears. Am I the only one seeing a problem here?

So, there you have it. Dad's don't really get it. It's really not about the stuff or the frills of it all. It's about saying I love you. I'll have to keep that in mind for the future.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

February 25th


George already has a picture somewhere on this blog, but it's his birthday today, so we'll give him another. Actually, there's some uncertainty as to whether Feb 25 is his birthday or not. He said once that he thought it might have been the 24th. I guess it doesn't really matter when or if you celebrate your birthday, so we'll say it's the 25th.

Back to George...he would have been 64 today. He was the ugly Beatle, but in my opinion, the second most talented. I rather like listening to his guitar solos, and some of his songs weren't half bad. The funny thing about the songs he wrote is they were either really good (like Something, or While My Guitar Gently Weeps, or Here Comes the Sun) or really not so good (like Blue Jay Way, and Only a Northern Song, and I Want To Tell You). George died at age 58 on November 29, 2001. His death was ascribed to lung cancer that had metastasised to the brain (thanks Wikipedia!) I remember hearing about his death on the radio either that day or the next while getting dressed to go to school. It was a sad day.

I was reminded that George's birthday was coming up because I found my Rubber Soul CD that Melissa burned for me on February 25th, 2005. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. I went to Michelle's basketball game with her family, and afterwords we went out to eat at Golden Corral. I sat across from David and Melissa and watched them talk to their aunt and uncle about politics, and some dentist somewhere that has his office decked out in Star Trek stuff. I remember thinking to myself that Natalie had told me about the very same guy. Michelle had hurt her ankle in the game that night, so she was a bit limpy and unable to play foot tag with me in the parking lot. Again, it was a sad day, but perhaps she was happy for the excuse. I also discovered that night that David is really good at that game, even with sandals.

Melissa didn't give that CD to me until Feb 26. That was a sad day too, because the Lady Miners lost to Layton in the state championship final. It was the first game I had ever seen Bingham lose. After it was over, the team's families waited for over an hour to meet them outside the locker room. I occupied myself by watching David and his cousin run around chasing each other with invisible guns. It was also during this wait that Melissa bestowed upon me probably the best of all the Beatles albums.

After muchos tears and hugs went around when the girls came out, Michelle's parents took her grandparents out to the car, and her siblings walked her to the bus. It was really cool to observe, actually. I looked over to see just Daniel, Jonathan, Melissa, David, and Michelle walking and talking together. I bet that doesn't happen much these days. Anyways, I took Michelle's place for a bit and rode home with her siblings. They drove to KFC to grab some stuff to take home, and formed a "No Chicken Left Behind Pact" in the car to make sure no food would be wasted. Melissa had run 23 miles that day, and her knees being sore became evident when David and I tried to include her in our backseat game of Tag, You're It. When we got back to the ranch, we ate dinner and watched 101 Dalmations with the chilluns. A friend came by the house to take Melissa and David to see Hitch, and she gave me a ride home on their way out.

Wow. I didn't mean for this to be a boring journal-like type entry about days gone by, but that's the turn it took. Some things just stick in the brain. The moral of the post was going to be: No matter how good you are at the guitar, don't smoke. It'll getcha.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

The World's Best Babysitter...EVER


SCENARIO! Your leaders decide to babysit the ward babes on Valentines Day to give parents a night off for romancing and such. You show up to the combined activity, and there's a primary room full of children that seem content to run around chasing each other for the rest of the night. By some miracle, you organize them into groups and send the groups rotating to different activity stations throughout the stake center. The next hour or so is spent playing RedLight GreenLight, Don't Eat the Heart, Bingo, Tic Tac Toe and Mother Goose, frosting Valentine cookies, coloring animal pictures, and making bracelets with a bunch of eight year olds. Towards the end, all the kids meet back in the primary room. Parents will be arriving soon, you need to entertain the monsters for about thirty more minutes, and they're starting to make paper airplanes with their coloring book pages. You don't want the parents to see this chaos. What do you do?

SCENARIO! You go over to a friends house to assist with babysitting her niece and nephews. The kids are adorable, but a handful. As you walk in, the father greets you and says, "Welcome to Madness!" You see that he says this because his grandkids are running around, and he's not even gone yet. Their grandparents leave, and you realize that this energy they're taking out on the furniture might not burn out for awhile, and you're not going to be able to keep up. What do you do?

Believe it or not, these scenarios aren't from a Sunday School lesson where you give the answer to your strip of paper in front of the class. They actually happened to me. It was during these scenarios that I discovered who the best babysitter in the world is--the television. In both cases, the kids stopped running around almost immediately and gathered around to watch the movie as soon as the trailers started to play. That's amazing! No matter what I do, no matter how many piggy back rides I give, and no matter how crazy I act, there's no way I could have kids attention that quickly and for that long. While it was nice to have them quiet and settled, I didn't like seeing their blank eyes glued to the TV. That just can't be good for their brains! Or anybodys for that matter. It made me seriously consider how much television I'll let my kids watch, if I ever have kids someday. But, it's so easy to just turn it on and have them taken care of so you can do something else. I don't know. Commence the end of this random post....now.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

They're back...

I remember when people would email these things all the time back in 9th and 10th grade. There was one girl in particular (the "Big Lantern") that would send me at least one a week. It became kind of fun after about a month to read them and see how many I'd get right. I thought they'd died out until I checked everyones blogs for the first time in over a week, and WHAM! Melissamerica allowed us an easy post! Copy, paste, delete, fill in, and there you go- you're set for a few weeks. Thanks Melissa. Guess I'll join your craze...

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
I ate a sucker stick once. It disintegrated in my mouth. Nasty.

What’s something you do that you wish you didn’t do?
There's a million things I wish I didn't do. I wish I didn't grimace when making mistakes in a performance.

What was the last song you sang when no one else was around?
Through the Fire and Flames--Dragonforce

In the movie about your life, which actor would you choose to play you?
Kim Possible

Where’s the last place you went on vacation?
Disneyland

If you were arrested, who would be your “one phone call?”
My parents I guess. Who else?

What book are you currently reading?
Using Both Sides Of Your Brain

What historical event would you like to have been present for?
The arrival of the pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley. I would have told them to keep going till they found the green of Washington or Oregon.

Name something you can’t do very well.
I can't do physics very well at all. I'm not used to thinking at school. It's been a weird change.

What's the worst injury you've suffered?
I haven't really suffered any tremendous injuries. No broken bones, nasty cuts, or cavities even. I'm pretty healthy all around.

Name one thing that makes you a “freak of nature.”
I have an abnormally chubby face that turns red a lot due to some skin disease. I also bruise real easy.

What day in your life would you like to go back and watch as a spectator?
I'd like to watch my auditions from last Saturday as a spectator.

What song currently tops your “most played” list in iTunes?
Jerk It Out--The Caesars

Name something you intend to do but haven’t done yet.
Do my homework, write my scholarship essay, and read the five books I checked out from the library. They all count as one.

If you could do anything you wanted today, then rewind the day and start over fresh—no consequences—what would you do?
I would have sluffed school and spent the entire day hanging out with my friends somewhere cool.

What was your most recent purchase?
A ticket to the winter play "The Curious Savage." Highly entertaining.

Name one thing you’re looking forward to doing this week.
I'm looking forward to Concerto Night being over tonight!

Monday, January 15, 2007

For the sake of the day

On this Martin Luther King Day, I’d like to post one of my favorite stories about my great grandparents. Bit of background: They’re my father’s mother’s parents. I knew them quite well. Grandpa Chipman spoke slow and preachy- like. He always told me, “Roses are red, violets are blue. Angels in heaven say I love you!” Grandma was real fiery, esp. in her old age. She just spoke her mind. They were married for over 76 years, and were given an award from the governor of Utah for being the longest living married couple in the state in 1999. Grandpa’s advice for a long, happy, and successful marriage: "KNOW THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND LIVE THEM. THAT'S THE BEST ADVICE I CAN GIVE." Both Grandma and Grandpa lived to be about 95 years old.

About ten years ago, my aunt Annette went down to American Fork to visit my great-grandparents on Martin Luther King Day. I imagine that they sat down around the kitchen table and pulled out the Rook cards. At one point, their conversation turned to the holiday. I cried when my aunt told me this part, because I was laughing so hard. It went something like this (Annette in green, Grandpa in red, and Grandma in blue):

Grandpa, it’s Martin Luther King Day!

Ah yes! I have a dream!

Beans!? Why do you always talk about beans!?!

No Grandma! I Have A Dream!

We just had beans! I’m not making you anymore beans!

No Grandma! I HAVE A DREAM!!

Well, I’m not making more beans. If you want some, you’ll have to get them yourself. Beans…

Needless to say, they were hard of hearing by the time 90 rolled around. It was hilarious, and sad at the same time.

*Bit of advice- don’t tell stories like this in your English class. It won't translate well in such a setting, even if you just read the poem The Bean Eaters as a class. Not that I speak from experience.