People Get Ready

This week I discovered something. It explains a lot.
I was driving in the car with my brothers, Ty and Treb, and I realized that the music was turned up pretty loud. And that rather than turning it down, we were all yelling over it. At least talking very loudly. And I realized that this is what I always want to do and can't because courtesy doesn't permit it. Suddenly I remembered that the night before, Treb and I were swapping music and he put on some Mingus and it was also loud - a little too loud to comfortably talk over, but not loud enough that it bothered me because I wanted to be able to actually hear the music.
So I brought it up, and we came to the conclusion that we are a rare breed of people for whom time in the car is sacred music time. We are willing to be a little inconvenienced in the conversation department (and believe me, we still talked plenty - although I think part of this has to do with the fact that we are quite often talking about the music) because unless you have it at a certain level you can only hear the drums - sometimes you can't even tell what key the music's in, if you know what I mean. And as Treb pointed out, you can always talk quietly over dinner.
Of course, over dinner (actually over dessert after the movie the next night) we talked about the suckiness of country music today - not the kind my dad brought us up on (although even some of that is a bit much for me) like Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash - but the sappy crap that was going at the steak house. (Treb: "The difference between what Dad brought us up listening to and this is like the difference between Coltrane and Kenny G." Well said, big brother.)
Anyway, Treb, Ty and I hit I Am Legend and Juno on Wednesday, and the whole fam (minus Spence and family, since they were in CA) went to see The Great Debaters on Thursday night. I still haven't seen The Golden Compass or The Kite Runner, but I guess there's still time for that. I Am Legend was seriously creepy, but I was really impressed with Will Smith. Juno was funny and sweet even if the feeling was a little Napolean Dynamite-esque at first - I liked it more by the end that I thought I was going to at the beginning. The Great Debaters was quite wonderful all around - I think I can recommend that one to anyone.
Today traded the copy of Pirates 3 I got from Santa for a Brandi Carlile CD and Double Indemnity. A good trade, I thought. Also, staring at the two books I got for Christmas and thinking about the huge stack that's sitting upstairs. I wish that I wasn't always so anxious to read everything. Almost done with Dragonhaven, but then will I read one of the new ones (Saturday, Tender is the Night, The Bridge of San Luis Rey) or one of the older ones (The Kite Runner, Thunderstruck, The Road . . .) or finally finish Dracula? Hard question.
The following video is one I found of an amazing song Ty played for us in the car the other night. It's kind of a cool video, and the song is WOW. "People Get Ready" by The Frames. Amazing.
Merry Christmas/Happy New Year, etc.

Mmmm.... Christmas...

So I'm going to pull a Janssen and post a recipe here. I hope Dr. Dean won't mind, but hey - she gave it to the whole class, and why wouldn't you share the wealth when you have an amazing recipe like this one? I made these for the first time today and they were a huge hit at the Madrigal reunion (which was weirdish, but that's a story for another time) and Melanie wanted the recipe, so here we go.

Dr. Dean's Amazing Pumpkin Bars:

4 eggs
1 16oz can pumpkin (or if you only have huge cans like I did, 2 cups. Yay for converting things.)
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp soda

Mix ingredients thoroughly. Pour batter onto large, greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for about 20-25 minutes. When cooled, frost with the following frosting.

1 pkg cream cheese
6 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
5 cups powdered sugar (really)
2-3 Tbsp milk (or enough to thin the frosting to spreadable consistency)

So easy, so good. Happy holidays, and thank you Dr. Dean for teaching me so many things, but especially for this recipe. :)

I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain...

Things that are happy:

• I just took my last final EVER unless I go to grad school. And I am glad, because I came out with a numb hand. Although I think I would be feeling happier about the semester overall if I felt better about my work overall, I am really excited (finally) for student teaching.
  
• Tonight is roommate Christmas! I love giving my roommates presents. I love shopping for them with Miri - we are way better at giving presents when we go shopping for them together. Our brilliance combined is astounding. We've been waiting to give Jennie her present for more than a week now, because we got her related birthday and Christmas presents. And we are excited.
  
• Treb is coming home on Sunday! We're making lists of movies to hit.
• Yes, we watched a whole lot of Gilmore Girls this week. I finished season 5 and Jennie got season 1 for Christmas.
  
• Marci figured out why her jaw has been hurting/swelling, and it will be fixed soon. Hurrah!
• I'm still excited about the amazing journal from Lindsey, and I'm actually writing in a real journal now! It's been awhile since I've had a desire to write in a normal human-style journal (not a blog, that is) and it's fun.
  
• Linda made me a Bella bracelet. Which I thought was a wise alternative to spending $60 on the real one. It's pretty amazing - trust me. :)
• Last night I finally listened to The National. "Didn't anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room?" I think I'm a fan.
• I only have two more Christmas gifts to buy - Mom and Dad. And before that was Miri. Why are those three always the hardest?
• Lili and Whitney are moving in soon! Lili's DVDs are already sitting on our front room, where, no doubt, they will all be until Drew gets home in March, which is also a happy thought.
• I'm going home tomorrow!! And there are Christmas parties to go to and eat at! And I just used two awkward prepositions!

Happy holidays.

So true it's almost scary.

So I've been thinking about all kinds of things lately and freaking out a little about graduation - the evidence lying in the fact that I've thought about going to Ghana and Cambodia and Thailand and London and anywhere that isn't Provo. Anyway, I was talking to Nate Kartchner (click on the link - I promise it will be worth your time) about it today and he sent me this song, which seemed incredibly accurate (except for the parts about beer) so instead of posting any more I'll just post the lyrics.

"TwentySomething" - Jamie Cullum
After years of expensive education,
a car full of books and anticipation,
I’m an expert on Shakespeare and that’s a hell of a lot
but the world don't need scholars as much as I thought.

Maybe I'll go travelling for a year,
finding myself or start a career.
I could work for the poor though I’m hungry for fame
we all seem so different but we're just the same.

Maybe I'll go to the gym, so I don't get fat,
aren't things more easy with a tight six pack?
Who knows the answers? Who do you trust?
I can't even separate love from lust.

Maybe I’ll move back home and pay off my loans,
working nine to five answering phones.
Don't make me live for my friday nights,
drinking eight pints and getting in fights.

I don't want to get up, just let me lie in,
leave me alone, I'm a twenty something.

Maybe I'll just fall in love that could solve it all,
philosophers say that that’s enough,
there surely must be more. Ooooh

Love ain’t the answer nor is work,
the truth eludes me so much it hurts.
But I’m still having fun and I guess that's the key,
I'm a twenty something and I'll keep being me.

doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah

I’m a twenty something.
Let me lie in, Leave me alone.
I’m a twenty something.

doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah

Tis the season to be jolly and joyous...

I thought it was time that I created my own Christmas playlist - just in case you've all been looking for something new and exciting or old and still exciting. :) So here we go.
In no particular order:

• "Christmas" - Blues Traveler
• "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)" - The Decemberists (hahaha)
• "The Man in the Santa Suit" - Fountains of Wayne
  
• "I Like a Lion (Always Winter)" - Relient K
• "I Saw Three Ships" - Sting
  
• Something for Sufjan Stevens's extensive Christmas collection. I was going to decide on one, but my computer is being ridiculous. Sorry.
• "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" - Bing Crosby and David Bowie
  
• "Christmas Song" Dave Matthews (Lindsey is SO right on this one)
• "Comfort and Joy" - Simon and Garfunkle
• "Some Children See Him" -written by Alfred Burt, sung by James Taylor
  

Sadly, I am far too annoyed with my computer to do more than that right now. I'll add to it later. In the meantime, enjoy this:

I'm sick of that last post.

So I'm trying to plug through to the end, and I am so close I can taste it, but I am sick of the library already. I feel so bad for the people who have to spend all semester, every semester here.
Meanwhile, I'm approaching my last couple of days of hard core homework! Ever! (Unless I go to grad school. At the moment that prospect sounds less than appealing, but maybe after I have time to rejuvenate a little I'll be more amenable to the idea..) Anyway, I have 4.5 lesson plans, the rest of my unit planning assignment, the remaining 6 pages of my Hitchcock paper (and a LOT of revising on the first 9) and a few paltry tests and then I'll be the teacher. Mwahaha.
Not going to lie, I am not sorry at the thought of being through writing giant papers for awhile, no matter how scared of student teaching I am. Besides, I have cute new clothes to teach in, so it can't be all bad, right? (Mostly I'm just in a good mood about teaching because Dr. Thursby LOVED the unit that I planned last week - which is going to evolve into the unit I turn in this week, so that bodes well I think.)
Tomorrow is our lovely Jennie's birthday, so I've already blocked out the evening hours to go to the Bombay House and to watch Harry Potter 5, which Jennie is thinking of buying for herself. But since I will, no doubt, not be done with my project yet, and since Jennie also has a project, we decided to have the after-party in the library. We fully intend to close it out, (2 AM BABY! I'm SO glad I get to do this once more before graduation) and I really hope that by then I will be finished. I am so grateful that I had the option of doing my Hitchcock final on Thursday so that I could wait to turn that paper in until Monday - it saved my bacon and my mind. I'll be working on it during the Friday reading day and some of Saturday (and let's be honest, probably part of Monday too) with the MO TAB CHRISTMAS CONCERT jammed in there somewhere. Yay.
I'm actually looking forward to finals week - by 5:00 Monday at the latest (the last possible time to turn in my paper) I will only have a few pretty easy finals to worry about, and you know what that means!
Or maybe you don't, so I'll tell you. It means Gilmore Girls marathons! Soon to become a finals week tradition, we are prepared this time, because Miri just bought season 5, and since we are humanities-ish majors, we are pretty much home free once we get through the projects. I'll probably go to the movies a few times too. :)
I just realized that this is a very boring post. I'm putting off writing my lesson plans. In fact, I'm in the middle of one, but they aren't really useful because they are plans for what I would have taught if I'd been able to work things out with my cooperating teacher (but will never actually teach), and I have issues with things that aren't going to do anything but get me points. When did that happen? I used to do anything just for points! Am I a better student now that I am taking my actual learning seriously, or was I a better student when I got all of my homework done no matter what? I feel like it's the latter, but why?

Time with me is wasted time...

M

agnetic

E

xcited

G

rumpy

A

pproachable

N

umber one

My facebook-generated name analysis for today. I think it's pretty appropriate- grumpy, yes, because I have to do homework and it isn't working very well (as evidenced by this post) BUT I am also approachable and number one. Of course.

Your Birthdate: February 1

You are a natural born leader, even if those leadership talents haven't been developed yet. You have the power and self confidence to succeed in life, and your power grows daily. Besides power, you also have a great deal of creativity that enables you to innovate instead of fail. You are a visionary, seeing the big picture instead of all of the trivial little details. Your strength: Your supreme genius Your weakness: Your inappropriate sensitivity Your power color: Gold Your power symbol: Star Your power month: January

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

This makes me laugh. My strength is my "supreme genius" and my "power grows daily." Wow. Dramatic. Do you supposed the "inappropriate sensitivity" thing refers to my dating neurosis?
Meanwhile, I shall embroider a gold star on everything I own. For power.

Asleep, my love? What, dead my dove?!?

I just found this on David Grover's blog and had to share it with those of you who don't know Grover. This pretty much made my entire life.
The Beatles present the play within a play from A Midsummer Night's Dream: Pyramus and Thisbe. The picture you see below is George as the moon.

Maria de Guadalupe

I wasn't sure this was going to happen when I first met Maria, but she's kind of sweet when you get to know her. Just thought I'd share. Jonathan was at least nicer about introducing us than he says Sea-bass is.
I should be getting major cool points with the nephews for this.
Also, the more I look at this picture, the more I can't believe I was okay with this. Oh well. Yay me.

Are You Havin' a Laugh?

Last night I made a list of all of things I have to do before the end of the semester.
And then I burst into tears, because I am an idiot and severely procrastinated the day of my repentance.
Okay, I didn't cry. But this is going to be fun. Tonight I'm anticipating closing out the library because I have FIFTEEN lesson plans to write. I was planning on 5. Whoops. (Clarification: we're on extended library hours now, so I've got until 2! Whoohoo! Is it sad that I was genuinely excited when I saw that?) It should be okay once I figure out how the unit is going to go . . . and in the good news department, after tonight it will be really easy to write the other 6 I need and to revise the 1 that was not so awesome. Right?
Also, I wish my teachers would stop killing trees and then expecting me to organize them into binders and files. It's not that I'm not grateful for all of that information, it's just that I have no idea where to put the giant stack of papers that is now lurking like that weird creature in LOTR (you know the one...before they go into the mines...and it flails around for awhile...that one), just out of sight on the keyboard shelf of my desk, waiting to latch onto my wrist when I least expect it and pull me under. It is truly a terrifying stack of information that I'm supposed to know to be a good teacher and haven't had time to do more than skim (if that).
One more week of this. And then I do it for the rest of my life. But at least I do it on my terms then?
Is it too late to rethink my life?

Also, on a relatively unrelated note . . . I want to go to see A Christmas Carol: On the Air at the Shakespeare Festival. I've wanted to go every year, but like anyone has time for Christmas at Christmastime. Is it wrong of me to think that a reading day would be a really good day to go? Because once I finish all of these projects, it will be smoooooth sailing. Sigh. Is anyone feeling irresponsible enough to take a Saturday in Cedar City?

Songs of the Year

Since it's the end of the year, I thought it was about time to start a list of my top songs for the year, the ones I really fell in love with. Since I fall in love with songs every day, this could be quite a list, but I'm going to try to keep it to the ones that have continued to work for me - these are winners, folks. If you haven't checked them out yet, please do so immediately. (Note: these songs did not necessarily come out this year - I just discovered them this year.)
In no particular order:

• "A Comet Appears" - The Shins
• "Australia" - The Shins
  
• "Grey Room" - Damien Rice
• "Falling Slowly" - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
• "Let It All Out" - Relient K
• "Don't Stare" - Pilot Speed
• "Grace Kelly" - Mika
• "The End's Not Near" - Band of Horses
• "Funeral" - Band of Horses
  
• "Paper Doll" - Rachael Yamagata
• "Baby, It's Fact" - Hellogoodbye
• "Starlight" - Muse
• "Butterflies and Hurricanes" - Muse
• "Don't Go to Pieces" - Hope of the States
• "The Fear You Won't Fall" - Joshua Radin
• "Honey and the Moon" - Joseph Arthur
  
• "Breakable" - Ingrid Michaelson (this one is recent, but I really think it's going to stand up to the test of time)
• "Love's Lost Guarantee" - Rogue Wave
• "Are You On My Side" - Rogue Wave
• "Hamburg Song" - Keane
• "Waiting For A Superman" - The Flaming Lips
• "A Little's Enough" - Angels and Airwaves
• "Crown of Love" - The Arcade Fire
• "Intervention" - The Arcade Fire
• "The Sound of Pulling Heaven Down" - Blue October
• "Love Me Like the World is Ending" - Ben Lee
• "Falling" - Ben Kweller
• "Still" - Ben Folds
• "Learn to Live With What You Are" - Ben Folds
  
• "Halo of Eyes" - Happy Cactus
• "The Crane Wife 3" - The Decemberists
• "Another Believer" - Rufus Wainwright
• "Made Up Love Song #43" - Guillemots
• "Lost On Yer Merry Way" - Grandaddy
• "DOA" - Foo Fighters (How did I miss this song in all of the time I spent living in the same house as Spence? How?)
• "Please Forgive Me" - David Gray
• "All the Same" - Sick Puppies (really)
• "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" - Bob Dylan
• "The Story" - Brandi Carlile
• "Welcome to the Black Parade" - My Chemical Romance
• "Winning A Battle, Losing the War" - Kings of Convenience
• "Save" - The Rocket Summer
• "What Light" - Wilco
• "Chinese Translation" - M. Ward
• "People Get Ready" - The Frames
• "Vienna" - The Fray
• "For You" - The Format
• "Dry the Rain" - The Beta Band
• "Two Weeks in Hawaii" - Hellogoodbye
• "Sleeping With the Lights On" - Teitur
• "Cold December" - Matt Costa
  

(I'll be adding to this when I don't have a paper to write. Enjoy.)

To forget about life for awhile...

Dear people who felt it was more important to not wait in traffic than to hear the encore pieces at the Billy Joel concert tonight,
You are ridiculous. You missed "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," "Only the Good Die Young," and "Piano Man." Of course. And they were amazing, and I didn't wait in any traffic at all. Silly, silly people.
Tonight's concert was unbelievable. I thought it was appropriate that Billy opened with "Angry Young Man," not only because it let us know right off that he still has the fingers for this stuff, but because the lyrics are somehow even more potent coming from an older artist. "I believed I'd passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage/ I'd found that just surviving was a noble fight. And I once believed in causes too - I had my pointless point of view/ Love went on no matter who was wrong or right . . . " He followed the first couple of songs with jokes about being old: "I'm Billy's dad. Billy couldn't come tonight, so I'm just here...warming up the stage..." He also made several references to his lack of hair (including a funny one later when he was singing "The Entertainer" - "Another serenader, and another long-haired band," and he ran his hand over his bald head.)
Lots of favorites, lots of surprises - for me the highlight of the night was probably "Vienna," but I also thoroughly enjoyed singing along with "We Didn't Start the Fire." I once spent a week learning all of the words to that song, and I felt funny about it until I found out that more than one of my brothers knows the whole thing as well, clear through from Harry Truman to rock and roller cola wars. Actually, I'm always a little bit amazed when I go to concerts of people I grew up with but haven't listened to lately - I still know all of the words to tons of his songs. The same thing happened at U2. Certain music just fits like an old shoe - you just slide right into it and it still fits; some of the lyrics just resonate a little differently than they used to.
I was a little sad that he didn't play "The Longest Time," (which, for the record, is one of my very favorite songs of all time) but there are so many of his songs that are favorites that I didn't expect to get them all. The light show was fun, the rotating piano surprising, the roadie's rendition of "Highway to Heaven" delightful. Billy was impressively rock and roll with a sideways baseball cap for "Big Shot" and with his microphone tricks on "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me." (He actually chucked the mic across the stage at the end of that song - it was exciting.) "Root Beer Rag" was also a special treat that I wasn't expecting. Remember when I used to be able to play that song? Well... I was a little ashamed that I ever pretended that I could after I saw him play it. Yikes.
Billy, you are still rock and roll to me. Don't take any . . . you know . . . from anyone.

Lest any of you thought my taste in music was NOT well-rounded, I offer the following proof: Today I was walking home with my iPod playing its songs in order, and I went from "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" by Bob Dylan to "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse. :)

In my defense...

So yesterday I definitely forgot to call the twins and wish them a happy birthday. I thought about it Tuesday night, and then forgot until I got a funny text from Ty this morning asking if I remembered when I used to love him, and wondering whether having the new Format CD would get him birthday wishes. (Answer: yes.)
In my defense, yesterday was pretty crazy. I had class, work, an impromptu pizza with some high school friends, a couple of hours spent working on my Hitchcock paper on campus, a trip to IC to see As You Like It (with sumo wrestling! Kenneth Branagh really is my hero.) a trip to the gelato place, a fun stint helping a friend with the MLA format of his Italian paper (first time I've worked with another language, but apparently MLA is just as ridiculous no matter what language you use) which all came to an end at about 11:15. It was an exciting day, but I never once thought about the date. Sorry Spence and Ty. I still love you.
A word or two about As You Like It: I know that a lot of people have issues with non-traditional interpretations of Shakespeare. I say, there are hundreds of traditional interpretations going on all the time, and they have been going on for hundreds of years. Since every production is an adaptation anyway, why not make it more fun? I absolutely loved the creativity involved in setting this play (one of my favorites) in 19th century Japan. Instead of sword fighting we got sumo wrestling, and samurai warriors banished the old duke - how can you go wrong? I also love Bryce Dallas Howard, and I am increasingly impressed with Romola Garai (even though she was a little obnoxious in the forest. I suppose she's supposed to be). I liked Alfred Molina as Touchstone, but I didn't feel like there was enough of him - he's by far my favorite of all of Shakespeare's fools, and his presence was scanty in this film. I enjoyed Kevin Kline as Jacques (is he really that old??) and I really liked Orlando even though I didn't know the actor. Patrick Doyle's music was as glorious as ever - so yeah. I thought it was fun. Kenneth Branagh remains amazing in my eyes. (Are we surprised? No.) Side note: it takes a serious suspension of disbelief to really think Orlando doesn't know that Ganymede is really Rosalind, except when you remember that he fell in love with her from seeing her eyes above a fan. But really? She's not even wearing a hat for half of it. She just has shorter hair and is wearing what looks like a sport coat. If he can't figure it out from this, he needs to reevaluate his love.
Tonight - Billy Joel. Hurrah!

Sooo nerdy.

For my methods class, I am finally reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves in earnest. And it is hysterical.
This is the quote of the night (mostly because it applies to me and my dislike of overusing commas): "People who put in all the commas betray themselves as moral weaklings with empty lives and out-of-date reference books."
I also particularly enjoyed the reference to commas as "the friendly little tadpoley number-nine dot-with-a-tail," and the assertion that the only constant for people who try to decide whether to put an s after possessives that end in s is that they all use Keats as an example. "'It is Keats' poems (NOT Keats's)," they thunder. Or alternatively: 'It is Keats's poems (NOT Keats').' Well, poor old Keats, you can't help thinking. No wonder he developed that cough."
Later, in the comma chapter, she refers to this again in an example: "John Keats, who never did any harm to anyone, is often invoked by grammarians."

What, this isn't funny to you?

Also, did you know that Starburst used to be called Opal Fruits? At least in England? "What a loss to the language it was, incidentally, when they changed the name of Opal Fruits to Starburst."

Barcode Battler

Thanks to Matt for pointing out this little gem of a video. This is a device that came out about the same time as Game Boy. Just wait until there's more than the brown couch in the screen.

The General Specific

Stuff you should probably check out (because I have recently, and you know you want to be like me):

• Band of Horses new CD, Cease to Begin. Fantastic. I particularly like "No One's Gonna Love You" (not depressing, but it sounds like it's going to be, yes?" and "Islands on the Coast."
  
• Ian McEwan's Atonement, which I just finished. The whole book is worth it for the effect of the last page. It was so good, and I actually got my blog's new name from it! McEwan is a lot of fun to read(I have to admit, though it may ruin my credibility, that I enjoyed imagining Robbie as James McAvoy, since he's playing him in the movie. But that doesn't mean I didn't recognize the actual merits in the book - it's kind of like the way To Kill a Mockingbird got better when Atticus became Gregory Peck.)
  
• Enchanted. Adorable, made fun of Disney without really making fun of the good things about it, had two very attractive men. (I'm sorry Jennie, but I think James Marsden is great, and he was hysterical in this one.)
• Let It Snow, Baby, Let It Reindeer - Relient K's new Christmas CD. This is why: "What's a partridge? What's a pear tree? I don't know, so please don't ask me - but I can bet those are terrible gifts to give." Also, the Narnia reference that is track 9.

Things you shouldn't check out:

• Next, starring Nicolas Cage. Sorry friends, but there's a reason you didn't hear about this movie when it came out earlier this year. Just don't even bother.
  

So we have a CD, a book, a movie, and a Christmas CD, plus I steered you away from a waste of time - I think we've covered our bases for today. Yes? Good? On we go.

Little Wonders

(Thanks for the post title, Rob Thomas.)

Things that made me happy today:

• Yes, I had to go back to school, and yes I had to go to dance class even though I was sick and couldn't dance because I didn't want to infect people, but afterward a cute boy in my class asked me if I was okay and told me he hoped I felt better. It was nice that he noticed. (I feel a little pathetic saying that - it really wasn't pathetic! It's just when you're sick and someone is concerned for you when they don't have to be...and they're also a cute boy... you know!)
  
• Some sweet soul brought me cookies tonight and wrote me a very nice anonymous note. We also had hearts on our door, and the service scavenger hunt people did our dishes and took out our garbage.
  
• I got to talk to both Sheldon and Jonathan on the phone today - two of my very favorite people. I was at home so I didn't get to go to lunch with Sheldon, but I think we're going to get gelato later this week, and Jonathan and I took the first steps toward planning the Muppet Christmas Carol extravaganza for 2008 - fun (and tasty!) things to look forward to despite the terrifying amount of homework that lurks around the corner.
• The phrase "on the bum," which I read in The Art of Alfred Hitchcock today. Midge says it in Vertigo. It is used thusly: "Scottie meets Gavin Elster, who is certainly not 'on the bum,' as Midge suspected." Also, I have a very mature sense of humor/language.
  
• Getting carried up the stairs in a wheel chair by the boys in my FHE group. Don't ask - not even I understood the reasons for this. I think it was a pride thing for the guys - they wanted to prove that they could. Anyway, I was happy when I reached the top alive.
• Being with my roommates today - sharing music with Miri, girl talk with Jennie and Marci, etc.
• The 32 ounces of V8 Splash I have consumed today in the name of getting better.
• Lots of new music I stole from Spence on Thanksgiving, esp. Ingrid Michaelson, Chris Stills, Laura Veirs, and the new(ish) Band of Horses and Alexi Murdoch CDs. Hurrah.
• The comic that is my picture for this post.
  

Now back to the homework, which is less happy, but better now that I've made this list.

Elf Yourself

Thank you, Sheldon, for this.

The cows are barren, the sows are barren, everything's going to ruin...

I've seen some pretty fabulous movies in the last couple of weeks - thought I'd share.


First- Amelie. I've wanted to see this movie for SO long, and they showed it at International Cinema this week. It's so happy and brilliant and wonderful - I'm sad about the number of people that won't see it because of the rating - the editing at IC was a little annoying, but not too distracting. I'm a big fan.


Annie Hall. My first Woody Allen movie. Hysterical, and so true. I put a quote from it in my sidebar. Woody Allen is a little obnoxious at times, but I'm pretty sure this movie hits my relationship issues right on the nose. At least some of them. :)


Cold Comfort Farm. Oh my gosh. I couldn't even believe how much I loved this movie. I laughed out loud several times, but I think my favorite moment was when Stephen Fry presented his thesis that Bramwell Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I want to own this movie. Amazing cast, amazing movie. Yay.

The Godfather. I watched it with my friend Kellie, who just swore off R-rated movies and had it edited, when they canceled the showing of Behind the Sun we were going to hit. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. Um . . . yes. What do you say about that movie? It was amazing.

High Fidelty. I've been dying to see this movie for YEARS because my brothers told me it was pretty much a movie about us - music snobs. I finally found it edited in Kellie's collection and it made me SO happy! Nick Hornby is brilliant, and so is John Cusack.


Marty. I've wanted to see this movie since I saw Quiz Show this summer. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I liked it anyway.

Offside. A movie about female soccer fans in Iran who sneak into the stadiums dressed as boys. Not what I was expecting either (apparently my expectation valve is broken) but really good.


A Room With a View. Saw it at IC a few weeks ago - love love love. E.M. Forster, I love you a lot. Not sad when Kellie told me that what they cut was a couple of minutes of full frontal male nudity.


Stardust. Fun and happy with a very attractive main character and Robert DeNiro dressing in drag. I don't see a down side. (Plus I got to see it twice with a cute boy, and Lindsey and Miri came along the second time, so double bonus plus.)

Volver. Penelope Cruz, murder, ghosts, attempted rape . . . this movie had it all and was funny too. 10 points.

Thanksgiving

In honor of the upcoming holiday:

Awesome:

• "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie
  
• family time
  
• making/eating pies
• white meat
• Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving song ("Sammy Davis Jr. only had one eye...)
• last day before Christmas music becomes legal
• place cards/candy corn cups
• ROLLS
• mashed potatoes
• turkey rolls
  

Not so much:

• cooking the turkey (ewwwww! turkey guts!)
  
• cleanup
• yams
• cranberry sauce
• stuffing
• dark meat

Adventures in Plumbing

So about a week and a half ago, our kitchen sink was clogged in a big way. We don't have a garbage disposal, so naturally food wiggles its way down into our pipes and then we get a bog of standing water in our sink under the piles of dishes. Not awesome.
So Krissie's brother Aaron brought us a tiny bit of leftover Drano to try, but it clearly wasn't enough, because the malaria pit came back the next day, and Aaron had mentioned that you can actually plunge a sink . . . with a plunger . . .
So yeah. We made him do that, and it worked marvelously, and all was well in Zion.
But THEN, my friends, my eyes were opened to the glory of the plunger. So the next week, Jennie and I were looking with disgust at our bathtubs, which (despite some very amazing hair catchers) wouldn't drain for hours and left all kinds of nastiness behind. Jennie finally bought our own bottle of Drano, but her tub wouldn't drain enough for her to pour anything down, and it had been literally HOURS.
So I got out the plunger.
Two things happen when you plunge a bathtub: 1) it drains, 2) it frees up the disgusting masses of hair that are clogging the drain so you can pull a lot of junk out before you use the Drano. I used it on Jennie's bathtub and then put a little water in mine so that I could pull out some of the hair in it as well. (I don't know if the water is really necessary because I don't really understand the physics of the whole thing, but I couldn't bring myself to plunge without water.)
Last night I was cleaning the vanity for our cleaning checks this morning (had to be last night because of the PRAXIS this morning, which was NOT hard) and one of the things we have to do is pull out the drain plugs and pull off the hair. SO much more disgusting than the bathtub. There is something grimy and black down there . . . ewww. So I was poking around down in the drain (and trying not to throw up) and suddenly the sink wouldn't drain anymore! How can it drain less well AFTER I clean it out? Yeah. No idea.
So I got out the plunger. And Jennie took a picture. And it worked beautifully, as I knew it would.
Note: If you ever use this method, don't forget that plungers are disgusting. Sterilize the sink or bathtub afterward.

Friday Never Hesitates

So Fridays and I are still not really good friends.
There are some Fridays that are good and happy, but somehow when I get to Friday at noon with nothing in mind to do except international cinema, I don't have high hopes for the night.
I usually do a decent job of figuring out things for myself to do - I don't believe in sitting around moping unless I absolutely can't help it, but for the last few weeks I haven't really been able to think of anything to do, and my roommates all seem to have outside interests these days ("boyfriends").
At the moment my plan is to see if I can get Annie Hall from the Provo library and go to bed early so I can get up for the PRAXIS tomorrow, but I'm open to suggestions.
When did I get to be so lame sauce?
In an attempt to reconcile myself with the day, I am posting this video. It's more than bizarre, but I love the song, and you know you do too.
Happy Friday.

This is probably my future.

Thanks to Katherine, I just fell in love with postsecret I definitely need to check out the books. But this one hits pretty close to home. :)

It May Come to Fisticuffs

I miss Lindsey.
It was so much fun having her here - amazing how easy it is to slide into the places where you used to fit. We did the usual stuff - staying up until ridiculous things taking silly pictures of ourselves, NAPC, dollar movies, giant journaling - and it was so nice having her back with us where she belongs.



Truly, I must visit her soon.

I thought I would have more to say about this, but Lindsey knows I love her and will miss her hilarity exceedingly. :)

There are lots of other things I want to write about right now, but that will have to wait until I figure myself out.

Catch My Disease

I think I've gone too far. Last night I went to a concert, not because I particularly loved the bands, but because they were okay and Dain was going and I needed a good concert.
And it was that.
I went to see Ben Lee, with Cary Brothers and the Kahn Brothers opening. When we got there the place was pretty much empty - maybe 30 or 40 of us there for the Kahn Brothers. (To prevent confusion-which was rampant at the concert-the Kahn Brothers are actual brothers. Cary Brothers is a man whose last name is Brothers. Clear? Good.) I've been listening to Ben Lee more extensively for the last couple of weeks in preparation, and although I don't love everything he does, a lot of it is fun and clever - good enough to give me an excuse to leave Provo. Cary Brothers is fabulous - I love his song "The Glass Parade" SO much.
The Kahn Brothers were a pleasant surprise. First, they were a fun, low key group - pleasant to listen to. They were also cute, which helped a lot, and they were from Australia (like Ben Lee) so they had fun accents. The one who sang the most had on a shirt that said "Only Love is Real," so you can imagine the kinds of songs they were singing. I bought their EP, which is fun.
Cary was pretty darn fabulous and played all of my favorite songs - "Ride," "Who You Are," "The Glass Parade," and "Blue Eyes." Also, his live version of "Honestly" was absolutely captivating for me, so it was unfortunate that In the Venue doesn't lend itself very well to intimate songs like that. The talking everywhere and especially the stupid girls behind me ("He has such a hot voice. I'd totally sleep with him for his voice. Are they really brothers? They don't look like brothers . . . BLUE EYES! YOU'RE THE blah blah blah KEEP!") really cut into the magic. Still good though.
Ben Lee was the biggest surprise. When he got on stage he was moving a lot - kind of obnoxiously. I was already a little sketchy on him, so I wasn't sure how this was going to go down. Then he jumped on the amp for his (acoustic) guitar solo and said, "Did you see how I broke out that rock star move in the second song? I've set the bar pretty high for the rest of the show!" And part of me was thinking what a moron but the other part of me completely bought into his energy and infectious smile. Not to mention the fact that he played "Into the Dark" early on and I just fell in love with "Love Me Like the World is Ending" this week. He also played "Bruised" from The Bens EP, and he followed that up with Ben Folds's "Brick," to which every person in the venue knew every word. By the time he pulled out the Silverchair song and brought on all of the other performers, we all had silly Ben Lee grins on our faces.
Meanwhile, I remain completely in love with the feeling I get at a good live show. And that's the way I like it.

Update on Lindsey's visit coming soon.

A Really Long Post

I'm going to do something weird. I wrote a paper (more like an article) for my Teaching Writing class, and it's about something I've been thinking about during the last week, especially after some of the response I got to my opposition to Referendum 1 this week (you'll see what I mean.) I'm going to post it. I was going to abridge it, but I like it, and even if no one reads it all the way through, I'll feel good about it.

Those Who Can, Teach

The stereotype stems from second-hand memories of one room school houses and the old maid school teacher who runs a tight ship and wears a tight bun and keeps her mouth in a tight, unsmiling line. Bitter because she couldn’t get married, the teacher is so immersed in her books that she has no concept of love, life, humanity. The old adage rings in the collective conscious like a school bell: those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.
I didn’t realize until recently, during a discussion about a piece of education legislation with a friend, that some people still think of their school experience in terms of slates and potbellied stoves. “I’m not saying this is or will be you,” my friend said earnestly, “but most teachers (I know this is a stereotype, so don’t hate me) have never been married, and they don’t really know what it’s like to raise kids. They hear other teachers talking about what a bad idea something is and they just jump on the bandwagon without understanding what’s going on.”
His roommate chimed in. “I’m for [this legislation] for one reason: the teachers’ union is against it. My policy to always go against what the teachers want has served me well so far, and I don’t plan to change it.”
Aghast, I wondered why I was training to be a teacher if people whose children I would be teaching were already against me, were sure that my (and my colleagues’) view was less educated than theirs, were determined to undermine my efforts to create an educated population, were still willing to believe that teachers are nothing more than a group of bitter old maids who have no special abilities and therefore have no choice but to stand in front of a classroom. Tight lipped women who crave the attention of young minds because they don’t get it anywhere else, and who know nothing about children but that they must be taught to read and write. My future.
All commentary about how many teachers are mothers or male aside (I can only remember two teachers who came anywhere close to fitting my friend’s outdated description), teachers are, as a group, qualified, caring, informed individuals. Who knows more about children than teachers, who see hundreds of them every day and who are specially trained to work with the students—all kinds of students—who turn up in their classes?
Despite the all-too-apparent fact that, as any parent will tell you, children do not come with an instruction manual, teachers take classes to learn things (important ones) about the development of a child that many parents never even think to research, either because they believe that they need merely use a little trial and error until they unlock their innate parenting ability or because (more likely) they are simply busy and tired and hard working and don’t have the time. Thankfully, it’s part of a teacher’s training program to learn these things. They take classes about child or adolescent development; they study the reasons that teens are angsty or reckless (stupid) or emotional, and they learn the best ways to teach those still-developing brains. And the days of writing themes and diagramming sentences or lecturing from textbooks and writing equations for the students to copy are largely things long since past; teachers are trained to teach to “multiple intelligences” using Howard Gardner’s theories about the different ways people learn and the many ways that people can be smart. Despite the obligation teachers have to prepare their students to take standardized tests, most do not restrict their teaching to bubble sheets and multiple choice.
Teachers in training take multicultural education classes that help them to understand the problems facing some of their students and the challenges they will face teaching students who don’t speak English. While some parents’ solution is “Deport them!” good teachers—teachers who truly love their students regardless of their shape and size and color—know that every child deserves a chance to learn, the chance to be something special; this fact does not change in accordance with the place they or their parents were born. The problems associated with teaching to multiple cultures in a system that supports hegemony are not small and have no easy solutions, but presenting the elimination of the other cultures from the picture is neither helpful nor responsible (not only because it isn’t possible, but because it is unjust and unreasonable to expect one’s children to be educated while denying another child the same privilege). Teachers are taught, not to “deal” with multicultural students but how to give every student as much chance of success as possible. They know and understand the issues facing education as well as (and probably better than) most of the parents of their students, and for most it is more a matter of caring about the students than caring about their own interests.
Teachers are taught to teach to students with special needs, students who will appear in their classrooms, whether parents think that inclusive classrooms are a good idea or not. The government legislates that students with disabilities will be place in their least restrictive environment, and that doesn’t mean putting those students in a home or even putting them in a special education classroom. Additionally, not all students with disabilities are visibly or obviously disabled: teachers are taught ways to accommodate for students with learning disabilities of all kinds, ADD, visual and hearing impairment—anything that would prevent a student from functioning “normally” (an increasingly meaningless term) in the classroom.
In addition to being trained to give as much help as possible to every kind of student, teachers are trained to manage their classrooms effectively; although not every teacher is good at management, most parents are unaware of all of the work that goes into making a classroom run smoothly, of the procedures that must be in place for a class to function successfully, of the lesson planning that must consider everything from the needs of the students to the layout of the classroom.
Teaching, far from being a profession populated solely by those who could do nothing else, is not for the faint of heart. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “A 1996 study in North Carolina found that 17 percent of the state's teachers leave the profession after the first year in the classroom, 30 percent by the end of 3 years and 36 percent by 5 years” (http://www.ed.gov/). Teaching is hard work, and many teachers go out into the field without much support, largely because the need for teachers is so desperate in our country right now that there isn’t time for school to offer additional help and training. If those teaching are only “those who can’t,” how are they surviving in a field that is losing so many?
Teachers are, for many children, the first gateway into the world. English teachers open the doors of reading and writing, provide students with a sense of world citizenship and a voice with which they can express themselves; science teachers unlock the keys to the way the world works and reveal the unsolved mysteries left for the students to attempt to solve; history teachers give students a sense of where we come from and open the doors of possibility for the future; math teachers help students to make sense of their world and its complexities.
When I was in 8th grade, I took my parents to a conference with my science teacher. I got good grades in his class and other classes, and he asked what I wanted to do with my life. Even then, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. “Oh no,” he said, “You need to be a doctor or lawyer or something.” As if those were more valuable professions. As if the higher salary I would be paid would mean that I was more educated. As if teaching the next generation of doctors and lawyers and scientists and politicians and writers would not be a worthwhile use of my time.
As if there would be another generation of doctors and lawyers and scientists without capable, hardworking teachers who choose to teach because they want to make a difference—and not because they can’t do anything else.

Remember, Remember...

Last year I didn't participate in my friends' Bonfire Night celebration, but I was determined that this year should be different, so this afternoon I sent Krissie (aka Mama Krissie) a text and asked if we could have Guy Fawkes night for FHE. Of course she was up for it.
If you don't know who Guy Fawkes is, you aren't up on your British history and you haven't seen V for Vendetta. (I am guilty of the latter, but fortunately I'm pretty up on the former...at least for an American.) In short, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the British Parliament in what was called the "Gunpowder Plot." His plan was foiled and he was killed, and now he's burned in effigy every year on the fifth of November, which is now called "Bonfire Night." (It's on my British calendar and everything.) If you'd like a more poetic explanation, I can offer it.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring,
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

So tonight we ran around Provo until we found some firewood, and Krissie and I went up beforehand to start the fire, but we realized once we got to Vivian Park just how dark and scary it is when you're just two girls with no boys, but it was okay because the other people up there were another FHE group (and they tried to steal our fire, but we foiled their plans.) Some guy who worked up there helped us to start it with diesel fuel or something that was in an orange juice bottle, and it was the smokiest fire ever, but I felt really good about it because I didn't start it. ("Ryan started the fire!")

Marci brought up a little paper guy, and we burned him last, but we took up some paper and burned all kinds of things. Krissie burned her Elang syllabus and a boy's name, I burned my insecurities and BYU marriage culture, Scott burned (in effigy) a book he was supposed to finish for a class and hasn't yet. It was all very exciting and therapeutic.
As for my own personal celebration, I read "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot (which has "a penny for the old guy" at the beginning) which I think everyone should read on this day of days.
This must be a tradition from here on out.

No words.

Rob Toft sent me this today and it kind of made me laugh, so I'm sharing.

In Your Darkest Time, It's Just Enough To Know It's There...

First, the title of this post is in honor of the "emerging artist" Jimmy Eat World. I went to Borders on Thursday night, and on a rack marked "emerging artists" I saw a Jimmy CD and very nearly died laughing. I sent a text to Miri about it and she asked me if Elvis was on the rack. I told her yes, and also the Beatles.
But that wasn't actually the purpose of this post.
This weekend was one of severe funkiness. I'm not exactly sure why it hit so hard this weekend, and the reasons aren't really important. I apologize to the friends who had to put up with me for two days of bleah. But today was great - one of the best days I can remember at church.
Relief Society was fabulous (possibly because we didn't have a lesson about marriage or the amazingness of women or any of those other subjects that can be taught well but so often are not.) We talked about God's love, and we read a scripture that I absolutely LOVED.
Romans 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the ^alove of Christ? shall ^btribulation, or distress, or ^cpersecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are ^akilled all the day long; we are accounted as ^bsheep for the slaughter.

37 Nay, in all these things we are ^amore than ^bconquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to ^aseparate us from the ^blove of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wow.
The day continued awesome. In conjunction with my new calling, I am supposed to go to mission prep now, and it was really great to be able to just talk about the gospel and look for answers to questions in the scriptures. (We had a meeting as ward missionaries earlier in the day and I got really excited about that too. Definitely going to the referral center next week.)
And then there was testimony meeting, and basically everyone talked about feeling the love of the Lord (I kind of get the feeling that everyone is coming out of a funk) and I felt all kinds of warm and fuzzy about myself. So even though I'm kind of bummed in general, I am happy because I think that sometimes we feel really alone so that we remember we aren't, you know?
I don't really remember what else I was going to say, so I'll just stop there since this has already been a pretty cheesy post. But I feel much more peaceful tonight than last night - thought y'all should know.

Don't Run Away...It's Only Me

My Halloween costume in all its glory - thought you'd like to see what I came up with for "Thriller."

Krissie was a huge help with this costume. She helped me get started with the process of distressing the dress, and she did the makeup - vair vair scary, no?


I found Matt at the dance lab and we danced a lot - so fun. I almost didn't recognize him when he came bopping on over.

I think the socks are my favorite part of the costume.
The dance was a HUGE success. You would not believe the reaction we got when they all realized that we were actually going to dance to "Thriller," especially after the very traditional cha cha that came right before us. We all came zombie-ing out of the audience and then hit our half moons with spin, and they were ours, especially when we broke into the actual Thriller dance. It was a blast - definitely one of the best Halloweens for awhile.
Also, the playlist got used a lot today, and I declare it a success as well.
Happy Halloween.

Poem of the Month

As if this is something I actually do. But I was introduced to this poem in my Teaching Reading class and it hit a little too close to home for me not to share it. Apparently Richard Brautigan and I are more alike than either of us would like to admit. Enjoy!

It's Raining in Love

I don't know what it is,
but I distrust myself
when I start to like a girl
a lot.

It makes me nervous.
I don't say the right things
or perhaps I start
to examine,
evaluate,
compute
what I am saying.

If I say, "Do you think it's going to rain?"
and she says, "I don't know,"
I start thinking: Does she really like me?

In other words
I get a little creepy.

A friend of mine once said,
"It's twenty times better to be friends
with someone
than it is to be in love with them."

I think he's right and besides,
it's raining somewhere, programming flowers
and keeping snails happy.
That's all taken care of.

BUT

if a girl likes me a lot
and starts getting real nervous
and suddenly begins asking me funny questions
and looks sad if I give the wrong answers
and she says things like,
"Do you think it's going to rain?"
and I say, "It beats me,"
and she says, "Oh,"
and looks a little sad
at the clear blue California sky,
I think: Thank God, it's you, baby, this time
instead of me.

-- Richard Brautigan

Because there's nothing else to do in Provo...

We throw flour at each other. Amazing.

Random/Disorganized Thoughts/Updates

Good news. I survived.
I finished my giant paper that was due at 4:00 at 4:00 (I was just putting the last touches on the works cited page) and got it in about 10 minutes late. Dr. Dean didn't care, so all was well. I must say that any paper that I wrote in two days should probably not be impossible to staple (13 pages plus drafts and grade sheets) but what are you going to do? Many thanks to Brad and Jonathan for saving me from throwing my neck and back out with stress.
I pretty much did nothing for the rest of the weekend - I so needed it. We had an amazing ward party on Saturday which I didn't dress up for, but I enjoyed everyone else's costumes. (I went to DI looking for costume ideas that morning, but although I got a great idea, I'm not quite there yet. Krissie is helping me today.) Surely only in Utah at a ward party could someone be a Catholic priest for Halloween? And carry an inspired version of the Bible? Because that was incredible.
We also had an awesome family Halloween party - I'm hoping that someone in my family sends me pictures soon, because my nephews and niece were adorable. I think the highlight was when Cooper was actually scared of Jake in his costume. (Jake is Dracula and pulls it off really well for a 4 year old.) There was chili and justice for all, and Mom outdid herself as usual.
I'm pretty excited for FHE tonight, mostly because it will afford some fabulous photo opportunities. We're having a California snowball fight (we're chucking flour balls at each other) and I am way more excited than I would have expected. Maybe it was because it was a socially fulfilling weekend and I'm enjoying feeling like I'm actually a part of the ward now, but I can't wait to peg and be pegged with cooking supplies.
I'm feeling much less crazy than I did last week. The playlist and the social interaction and some moments of dwelling in reality writing papers are making me feel less stupid. I look forward to at least a few days of sanity. I'm pretty excited about those days, because I don't have quite as much on my plate this week and I can't wait for the Thriller dance and the extravagantic Dracula book club meeting (oh my gosh that book is TERRIFYING), actually being able to go to institute, the choir concert on Friday (anyone want to go?), Doug's photography class, the football game, the ballet . . . Lots of stuff to keep me in the realm of the sane and busy without quite as much school stress.
Clearly I have nothing more to say (and I didn't really to begin with) so I'm going to go and buy batteries for my camera so that I can post some amazing pictures of flour covered people tomorrow. Have a lovely week, one and all.

Have You Seen This?

The Edward/Bella Mutts comics this week. Not really funny...but this was my favorite. Thought I would share.

Pray for me...

...because I have a giant paper due tomorrow and I haven't had time to do much of it. This is partly because last week I spent every waking moment trying to do my Hitchcock annotated bibliography (which I finally finished on Tuesday - it was due the Thursday before) and partly because life is just crazy. And also partly because I am just TIRED.
So I'm in the library and I'm ready to spend the next several hours here, and probably most of tomorrow. Wish me luck and a miracle.

I'm an m&m!

hehehe. This makes my heart happy. You should all try it here.
Thanks Lindsey.

Our New Friend

Jennie and Miri adopted a pet tonight. We named him Elliot.
At last - someone to cuddle.

Aha!

Today I had a very long and very enlightening conversation with my oldest brother, Treb. (Some of you may know him as trub - I believe that's how he posts on my blog. There's a story about that which I'm not going to write here.)
Apparently, all of my relationship ineptitude is genetic (not that my parents are genetically inept... maybe it was recessive). Despite the fact that my brother and I are 14 years apart in age, we are currently living parallel lives (at least in our heads). We both over think everything to the point of frenzy, are crap at playing the game, and then plunge ourself into despair over nothings. (And make playlists. Don't forget that.)
We decided that we are anachronisms. We have longer attention spans than most of the people we know, and consequently are interested longer and also read books, which means that deep down we would be okay with the romance of a Cyrano-esque wooing or with just bearing our souls. We're searching for a soul to soul connection - the kind that seems to be more difficult to find than some would have you believe.
So today I drove to Payson (Why Payson? Why not?) and tried out my new playlist - it fit the bill perfectly. I feel much more myself today than I have in a week, and since talking to my brother I've realized that last week was me too - I may as well get used to it, because it's in my genes.
I've also decided I need to see Annie Hall for real. I need some perspective on my life. :)
I also love this picture. I first found it on Katherine's blog - it's amazing. The end.

In honor of my recent insomnia...

I may have a complex, but I can define it in 80 minutes of music or less.

A new playlist. I'm not exactly sure what the theme of this one is - it works in my head, (kind of a progressive how-I-feel-in-an-I-don't-know-how-I-feel sort of way) but you'll just have to see if it works for you. Either way, it's been a couple of weeks since I posted one, and these are all good songs. I think maybe there's something skewed about the fact that sometimes I can articulate how I feel about things with playlists, but Rogue Wave tells me that, "The music that I want is cheaper than therapy." So here you go:

• "Homesick" - Kings of Convenience
• "Nothing Happening" - Ben Kweller
• "It's Only Fear" - Alexi Murdoch
• "Starting Over" - Ashton Allen
• "How to Survive a Broken Heart" - Ben Lee
• "Grey Room" - Damien Rice
• "Une Annee Sans Lumiere" - The Arcade Fire
• "If I Fall" - Aqualung
• "My Song" - Brandi Carlile
• "St. Augustine" - Band of Horses
• "Nice to Fit In" - Josh Rouse
• "Are You On My Side" - Rogue Wave
• "On Your Side" - Pete Yorn
• "Save" - The Rocket Summer
• "Poison Cup" - M. Ward
• "What Light" - Wilco
• "Learn to Live With What You Are" - Ben Folds
• "Congratulations" - Blue October
• "After the Bombs" - The Decemberists
• "Say It to Me Now" - Glen Hansard