We're waist-deep in the christmas season now, and as a result one of my favorite (and at the same time one of the most annoying) annual occurances is happening: The exact same set of christmas songs are playing on the radio EVERYWHERE you go. While sitting at work I was listening to the radio online, and was frequently finding myself thinking about how much I liked or disliked certain seasonal tunes, and so I decided to put together my top 5's in each category.
Favorites: (in no particular order)
1- "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)" performed by Nat "King" Cole
What a voice! I don't know who originally worte this song, but Nat absolutely perfected it!
2- "Little Drummer Boy" performed by Bing Crosby and David Bowie
I love this version of this song! Sure, Bing's past his prime and not at his best here, but David IS, and together they sound fabulous!
3- "Merry Christmas, Darling" by The Carpenters
Such a pretty song by such a skinny woman!
4- "Sleigh Ride" performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra
Possibly my favorite Christmas song, nothing gets me more in the Christmas mood than hearing the orchestral version of this classc.
5- "Christmastime is Here" by Vince Guaraldi
A great jazzy little tune from one of my favorite Christmas Shows ("Charlie Brown's Christmas").
Runners up: "The Night Before Christmas" by Amy Grant, "This Christmas I Spend With You" by Robert Goulet.
LEAST Favorites: (again, in no particular order)
1- "Sleigh Ride" performed by Johnny Mathis
I really, really dislike Johnny Mathis' voice, and in this song he accentuates everything I dislike about it. From his sliding to pretty much every note to his astoundingly annoying "Giddy-YUP"s, I just can't stand this stinker.
2- "Blue Christmas" by Elvis Presley
WHY?!? Who told Elvis he could sing slow? Come on, fess up to it! Yeesh...just awful.
3- "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid
The British Music Performers sad attempt to duplicate the awesomeness of "We Are The World", this song was thrown together in one 24-hour recording session, and with lyrics like "Tonight thank God it's them instead of you", it shows.
4- "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" performed by The Beach Boys
I could just have easily put "Little St. Nick" or "Santa's Beard" in here, which are each about the same level of annoying as this one, but the combination of bizzare circus music in the background the pretty awful-sounding solo voice who sings most of the song just push this one over the top for me.
5- "Baby It's Cold Outisde" performed by Dean Martin
Okay, now I actually really like duet-ness of this song, but the Dean Martin version just kinda creeps me out. The dude sounds like a predator!! Leave her alone, man! "No" means "no"!!
Runners up: "Jingle Bells Boogie" by The Jingle Dogs...This extends to any christmas song comprised of nothing but meows and barks or other sound effects.
What songs can you not wait for and what ones do you dread this time of year?
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
So Sleepy!!
I'm not sure at what point, exactly, my life became a game of "Let's see how little sleep Jared can function at", but it's exhausting!! It's kinda funny (okay, mostly sad) that I've had past semesters where I had hardly any homework and could kinda just breeze through my classes, and then the semester when I switch to a full time job I get two of the most time-consuming classes I've ever had. Yeesh!!
Anyway, I don't have much time to post, 'cuz I need to go to my next class, but since it's almost been a month since my last post I figured I should say something to let those who don't see me on a semi-regular basis know I still am alive.
*sigh* well, time for class. I least I can sleep for 50 minutes in there before I have to get back to homework...maybe I'll have an interesting dream to post about!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Pumpkin Walk is upon us!
The Syracuse City pumpkin walk begins tonight and will continue through Saturday (the 27th). It's open from 7:00pm-10:00pm each night and is free of charge, although usually the city has some sort of cheap concessions (typically cookies & cocoa or something along those lines).
If anybody's interested in checking it out, it's located at Centennial Park, right behind the Syracuse City Office Building: 1800 S. 2000 West, Syracuse, Utah.
To get there, travel on I-15 until you get to pretty much any Syracuse, Clearfield, or West Point marked exit (I'd tell you exact exit numbers, but since they re-numbered the exits there not too long ago, I really don't know what they are), and head West until you reach 2000 West, then just turn whichever way you need to go to get to 1800 S. Yes, these are probably the most general directions ever, but since I'm not giving a specific exit to get take, it's kinda hard to be more specific. Sorry!!
If you need more specifics, gimmie a call or email me or something!
If anybody's interested in checking it out, it's located at Centennial Park, right behind the Syracuse City Office Building: 1800 S. 2000 West, Syracuse, Utah.
To get there, travel on I-15 until you get to pretty much any Syracuse, Clearfield, or West Point marked exit (I'd tell you exact exit numbers, but since they re-numbered the exits there not too long ago, I really don't know what they are), and head West until you reach 2000 West, then just turn whichever way you need to go to get to 1800 S. Yes, these are probably the most general directions ever, but since I'm not giving a specific exit to get take, it's kinda hard to be more specific. Sorry!!
If you need more specifics, gimmie a call or email me or something!
Friday, October 12, 2007
What an exhausting week!
When I was a student at SDL I often wished I could work a few more hours each week to give me a little financial boost, but now that I'm working 30-40 hours each week, my GOODNESS!!! I had no idea how exhausting working full time and taking classes could be!!
Happily we're at another Friday, and I've got big plans. First I need to go to school...that'll be shortly...in about a half hour. Then I'll sit in class for 2 hours and try not to sleep. Next I'll meet with my project partner for one of my classes and we'll do homework for about 3 hours, and I'll try not to sleep. But THEN!! Woo!! Pumpkin Carving Party!! What I like to call, PCP! ..aw yeah...that's the good stuff.
I stayed up super late last night because once I'd finished all my homework I, of course, needed to find some ideas of things to carve. After scrouging around a bit I found 3 pictures on my computer that I converted into pumpkin carving patterns...if ya wanna see what they are, you better come carve a pumpkin at our house tonight!!
Tomorrow's also going to be a fun-filled day, as I am going down to West Point for a planning meeting for this year's pumpkin walk (where there's going to be a reporter from one of the local papers). Also tomorrow night my brother, my cousin, my best friend, and me are going to have a Halo 3 party! We're excited. In Halo 3 you can, apparently, have up for 4 people all playing through the story-mode of the game cooperatively...and that's always super fun! I'm a big fan of co-op play.
I can't believe it's already pumpkin carving time!! Such fun! Here's a pumpkin I carved 2 Halloween's ago. It took MUCH longer than I thought it would, and really didn't turn out a cool as I thought it would (considering how much time I spent), but I still thought it was a pretty good one. ...Good enough to share on here, at least. ^^
Happily we're at another Friday, and I've got big plans. First I need to go to school...that'll be shortly...in about a half hour. Then I'll sit in class for 2 hours and try not to sleep. Next I'll meet with my project partner for one of my classes and we'll do homework for about 3 hours, and I'll try not to sleep. But THEN!! Woo!! Pumpkin Carving Party!! What I like to call, PCP! ..aw yeah...that's the good stuff.
I stayed up super late last night because once I'd finished all my homework I, of course, needed to find some ideas of things to carve. After scrouging around a bit I found 3 pictures on my computer that I converted into pumpkin carving patterns...if ya wanna see what they are, you better come carve a pumpkin at our house tonight!!
Tomorrow's also going to be a fun-filled day, as I am going down to West Point for a planning meeting for this year's pumpkin walk (where there's going to be a reporter from one of the local papers). Also tomorrow night my brother, my cousin, my best friend, and me are going to have a Halo 3 party! We're excited. In Halo 3 you can, apparently, have up for 4 people all playing through the story-mode of the game cooperatively...and that's always super fun! I'm a big fan of co-op play.
I can't believe it's already pumpkin carving time!! Such fun! Here's a pumpkin I carved 2 Halloween's ago. It took MUCH longer than I thought it would, and really didn't turn out a cool as I thought it would (considering how much time I spent), but I still thought it was a pretty good one. ...Good enough to share on here, at least. ^^
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Hospitals: Fact or Fiction?
So this last week I had two hospital experiences: One in real life and one in a dream (Fact & Fiction, get it?!? HA!). Both are somewhat wordy, though, if you may wanna stand up and stretch for a minute before delving into them.
Let's start with that dream:
*** Dreamt Sept 24-25, 2007 ***
I'd just gotten a new job to work at the same place my roommmate Michael P Christensen work, namely in the lab where they clean surgical instruments at Logan Regional Hospital. I was informed that my job was going to consist of two main activities: (1) Cleaning instruments and sending them to the ER when they were needed, and (2) manning the cash register at a little pharmaceutical store that was located above a little mexican market. The kicker was that the store and the Hospital were about 2 miles away from each other. I'd tried asking my new boss about my responsibilities, but he just kept making jokes and wouldn't give me any straight answers...it was really annoying.
My first night on the job I went over to the store and looked on the schedule to find that I was scheduled to work at BOTH places that night...at the SAME TIME!! I panicked. What was I supposed to do!?! No one would tell me. My co-workers didn't seem to have any pity on me, but since the ER seemed like a more important place I decided to go there. Upon arriving at the ER I found my boss again and told him about the double booking thing and he told me, "Oh yeah, that happens sometimes. If you ever get scheduled to be at both places, ALWAYS go to the ER!" So at least I did the right thing!!
As I was there, though, I started to freak out a little because there wasn't ANY close parking. ...I think I'd left my car at the little store 2 miles away. So I asked my boss where I should park in the future and he said, "Okay it's easy, get a piece of paper and write this down..." I grabbed a piece of paper and pencil, but didn't really have to write anything down because the directions he was giving me were already printed word-for-word on the paper I had. Upon closer inspection, I realized that this paper wasn't just typed-up notes on where to park...it was the script for my dream!! Next to his lines was the printed "Boss:" and he was - of course saying exactly what was on the script. His directions on where to park was something like this: "walk 2 blocks west, then turn right and walk about 3 quarters of a mile before turning right again..." this went on for a while, and then the last line of the script was "Everyone together: Then run the last 70 feet to your car as fast as you can." Of course, everybody in the room said it all together ('cuz that's how it was in the script), but the REASON they said it all together was because that's how he always ended the instructions. Incidentally, the reason for the "running as fast you can" was because the parking lot was in a really slummy neighborhood, and if you didn't RUN to your car, you'd probably get mugged.
After all this I really started to freak out! The parking lot he'd described was over 3 MILES away!! I was supposed to work swing shift, park in the worst part of town, then walk THREE MILES to work!?!?! My boss could tell I was freaking out, so he bade me follow him outside so he could show me something. I followed him out to a little patio that was on the back of the ER and he said "watch", as he picked up a golf ball sitting on the ground. He turned to the north and threw it as far as he could...but it didn't get lost...it bounded on houses and cars and buildings etc., until it finally came rolling back to us. He turned to me and said "See!?" Clearly I didn't, so he did the experiment again. He tossed the golf ball as far as he could, but sure enough, it came back to us. "No matter how far you throw it, it ALWAYS comes back", he explained. Suddenly it all made sense. Parking wasn't a big deal at all. I was going to be okay working there at the ER.
***
Are you confused? SO WAS I!! What the HECK did I eat for dinner that night, I ask you!!
Well, 2 days later, I had the opportunity of going to the REAL Logan Regional Hospital to take a drug test and have a pre-employment physical for my new job. You know, I've had to take drug tests and had pre-employment physicals for past jobs, and it was always sort of a "Pee in a cup and make sure you don't have high blood pressure" kinda thing. This was a SERIOUS physical! I was at the hospital for almost an hour and a half!!! After the usual drug test stuff, I had my blood pressure checked, color blindness check, sight test, and then the full physical including the ever exciting hernia test, as well as a myriad of really bizarre little muscle tests.
You know, nothing is more humbling than a full physical. For an hour I had people poking, proding, inspecting, and doing anything else they could think to me, the whole time with the mindset: What can we find wrong with this person?
Bleh. Not the funnest of days ever.
Let's start with that dream:
*** Dreamt Sept 24-25, 2007 ***
I'd just gotten a new job to work at the same place my roommmate Michael P Christensen work, namely in the lab where they clean surgical instruments at Logan Regional Hospital. I was informed that my job was going to consist of two main activities: (1) Cleaning instruments and sending them to the ER when they were needed, and (2) manning the cash register at a little pharmaceutical store that was located above a little mexican market. The kicker was that the store and the Hospital were about 2 miles away from each other. I'd tried asking my new boss about my responsibilities, but he just kept making jokes and wouldn't give me any straight answers...it was really annoying.
My first night on the job I went over to the store and looked on the schedule to find that I was scheduled to work at BOTH places that night...at the SAME TIME!! I panicked. What was I supposed to do!?! No one would tell me. My co-workers didn't seem to have any pity on me, but since the ER seemed like a more important place I decided to go there. Upon arriving at the ER I found my boss again and told him about the double booking thing and he told me, "Oh yeah, that happens sometimes. If you ever get scheduled to be at both places, ALWAYS go to the ER!" So at least I did the right thing!!
As I was there, though, I started to freak out a little because there wasn't ANY close parking. ...I think I'd left my car at the little store 2 miles away. So I asked my boss where I should park in the future and he said, "Okay it's easy, get a piece of paper and write this down..." I grabbed a piece of paper and pencil, but didn't really have to write anything down because the directions he was giving me were already printed word-for-word on the paper I had. Upon closer inspection, I realized that this paper wasn't just typed-up notes on where to park...it was the script for my dream!! Next to his lines was the printed "Boss:" and he was - of course saying exactly what was on the script. His directions on where to park was something like this: "walk 2 blocks west, then turn right and walk about 3 quarters of a mile before turning right again..." this went on for a while, and then the last line of the script was "Everyone together: Then run the last 70 feet to your car as fast as you can." Of course, everybody in the room said it all together ('cuz that's how it was in the script), but the REASON they said it all together was because that's how he always ended the instructions. Incidentally, the reason for the "running as fast you can" was because the parking lot was in a really slummy neighborhood, and if you didn't RUN to your car, you'd probably get mugged.
After all this I really started to freak out! The parking lot he'd described was over 3 MILES away!! I was supposed to work swing shift, park in the worst part of town, then walk THREE MILES to work!?!?! My boss could tell I was freaking out, so he bade me follow him outside so he could show me something. I followed him out to a little patio that was on the back of the ER and he said "watch", as he picked up a golf ball sitting on the ground. He turned to the north and threw it as far as he could...but it didn't get lost...it bounded on houses and cars and buildings etc., until it finally came rolling back to us. He turned to me and said "See!?" Clearly I didn't, so he did the experiment again. He tossed the golf ball as far as he could, but sure enough, it came back to us. "No matter how far you throw it, it ALWAYS comes back", he explained. Suddenly it all made sense. Parking wasn't a big deal at all. I was going to be okay working there at the ER.
***
Are you confused? SO WAS I!! What the HECK did I eat for dinner that night, I ask you!!
Well, 2 days later, I had the opportunity of going to the REAL Logan Regional Hospital to take a drug test and have a pre-employment physical for my new job. You know, I've had to take drug tests and had pre-employment physicals for past jobs, and it was always sort of a "Pee in a cup and make sure you don't have high blood pressure" kinda thing. This was a SERIOUS physical! I was at the hospital for almost an hour and a half!!! After the usual drug test stuff, I had my blood pressure checked, color blindness check, sight test, and then the full physical including the ever exciting hernia test, as well as a myriad of really bizarre little muscle tests.
You know, nothing is more humbling than a full physical. For an hour I had people poking, proding, inspecting, and doing anything else they could think to me, the whole time with the mindset: What can we find wrong with this person?
Bleh. Not the funnest of days ever.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Power Showers
Do you ever take a shower that makes you feel EXCEPTIONALLY clean? I'm not just talking your normal run-of-the-mill, use soap = don't stink type of showers. Every now and then I'll take a shower that just seemed MORE cleansing than normal, and for several hours afterward I'll still have that minty fresh feeling.
Yesterday I took a shower like that, and it made my day! Well...the rest of it. I took it in the afternoon, and I think maybe that's part of the trick. In the mornings I'm too sleepy to appreciate the power shower and at night I go to bed too quickly following it. That midday shower, though...it's really the prime time to appreciate the power shower's effects.
What time is it? Oh my gosh! I have to work tomorrow!! Why am I still up!?!?
Yesterday I took a shower like that, and it made my day! Well...the rest of it. I took it in the afternoon, and I think maybe that's part of the trick. In the mornings I'm too sleepy to appreciate the power shower and at night I go to bed too quickly following it. That midday shower, though...it's really the prime time to appreciate the power shower's effects.
What time is it? Oh my gosh! I have to work tomorrow!! Why am I still up!?!?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Persuing Other Opportunities...
The title of this post is the same as the title of the email I just sent to my boss and my current project manager here at SDL. As many of you know, at the end of last week I was offered (and I accepted) a programming position at Dupont Holographics here in Logan. I was so excited for the change, excited to work at a new place, excited to get out of the looming project that's just around the corner here at SDL that I've not been excited for, but as I just wrote and sent that email officially resigning from the lab, I've suddenly (and quite unexpectedly) become quite melancholy about the whole thing.
I've been at SDL my entire college career. It's kinda become my home...it's certainly been much more stable that my living conditions in Logan. While employed at SDL I started my college career, I graduated with my bachelor's, I bought my first car, and I've lived in 4 different houses AND 4 different apartments with a total of 29 different roommates. I've been through a lot while employed at the Lab, and it's kinda sad to see the era come to an end.
But "All good things...", right? In every way that I can see, this is a good move. I am excited for things to come and especially for the opportunity to get out of the "student employee" title that I've held so masterfully for lo these many years. It's been a long, good run, but the call of gainful employment that I've been ignoring since I got my B.S. has finally annoyed me enough to get me to answer. See Kendra...you just gotta keep calling for another year or two, I'll eventually answer the phone.
I've been at SDL my entire college career. It's kinda become my home...it's certainly been much more stable that my living conditions in Logan. While employed at SDL I started my college career, I graduated with my bachelor's, I bought my first car, and I've lived in 4 different houses AND 4 different apartments with a total of 29 different roommates. I've been through a lot while employed at the Lab, and it's kinda sad to see the era come to an end.
But "All good things...", right? In every way that I can see, this is a good move. I am excited for things to come and especially for the opportunity to get out of the "student employee" title that I've held so masterfully for lo these many years. It's been a long, good run, but the call of gainful employment that I've been ignoring since I got my B.S. has finally annoyed me enough to get me to answer. See Kendra...you just gotta keep calling for another year or two, I'll eventually answer the phone.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Rubicks Cubes and Pumpkin Carving
I can't remember my dream from a few nights ago well enough to really give a full account of all of the details like I would a normal dream post, so it's going to have to suffice that I share just the tiny part of my dream that I do remember well.
I seem to remember my entire dream taking place inside a mall (for some reason this isn't a particularly unusual locale in my dreams...come to think of it, I've had LOTS dreams that took place entirely in malls...weird).
*** Dreamt Sept. 2-3, 2007 ***
I found myself looking in an interesting store with several little odd things in it. There were mostly brain teasers and magic tricks in the shop, and I found a shelf where they had rubicks cubes. Now I'm a big fan of rubicks puzzles, so I grabbed one off the shelf, and it was the most bizarre rubicks cube I'd ever seen. Instead of being a solid NxN cube, it was made of string and beads and as such didn't hold the shape of a cube incredibly well. I fiddled with it a bit, and finally asked what the deal with it was, and the person working in the shop told me that it was just for show; not really a puzzle at all. I was quite disappointed, but that disappointment didn't last long as I found they had a pumpkin carving section to their store. They had several really interesting pumpkin shavers, and some tools that looked like they'd be SO useful for smoothing. They also had a big selection of patterns, but I think I was more intrigued by the tools.
Sadly, I really don't remember much beyond that, except that it made me VERY excited for the upcoming Halloween season.
***
I'm not sure how many of my blog readers know this, 'cuz last October I'd only been at ButterKnife Estates for a month or two, and I still didn't know many of you, but I am what we call a "pumpkin carver". You see, what we do is around halloween time we go out to a pumpkin patch and find a good pumpkin and then we hollow it out, and then carve something into the front of the pumpkin. But that's not all! We then put a light or candle INSIDE it!! So you can see the carving on the pumpkin even at night!! You should all look into it...I hear it's starting to catch on.
Since having that dream I'm WAY excited for October! Unfortunately, I can't really start carving until about 2 weeks before Halloween, or they'll rot before the big night. But I definately need to start getting ideas for cool pumpkins to make. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, do share.
I was going to post pictures of several of my pumpkins from past years, but I'm sure that I'll make more posts in the month of October regarding pumpkin carving, so I think I'll wait and slowly release the pictures. To hopefully whet your interest, here's a picture of one I did 3 years ago.
I seem to remember my entire dream taking place inside a mall (for some reason this isn't a particularly unusual locale in my dreams...come to think of it, I've had LOTS dreams that took place entirely in malls...weird).
*** Dreamt Sept. 2-3, 2007 ***
I found myself looking in an interesting store with several little odd things in it. There were mostly brain teasers and magic tricks in the shop, and I found a shelf where they had rubicks cubes. Now I'm a big fan of rubicks puzzles, so I grabbed one off the shelf, and it was the most bizarre rubicks cube I'd ever seen. Instead of being a solid NxN cube, it was made of string and beads and as such didn't hold the shape of a cube incredibly well. I fiddled with it a bit, and finally asked what the deal with it was, and the person working in the shop told me that it was just for show; not really a puzzle at all. I was quite disappointed, but that disappointment didn't last long as I found they had a pumpkin carving section to their store. They had several really interesting pumpkin shavers, and some tools that looked like they'd be SO useful for smoothing. They also had a big selection of patterns, but I think I was more intrigued by the tools.
Sadly, I really don't remember much beyond that, except that it made me VERY excited for the upcoming Halloween season.
***
I'm not sure how many of my blog readers know this, 'cuz last October I'd only been at ButterKnife Estates for a month or two, and I still didn't know many of you, but I am what we call a "pumpkin carver". You see, what we do is around halloween time we go out to a pumpkin patch and find a good pumpkin and then we hollow it out, and then carve something into the front of the pumpkin. But that's not all! We then put a light or candle INSIDE it!! So you can see the carving on the pumpkin even at night!! You should all look into it...I hear it's starting to catch on.
Since having that dream I'm WAY excited for October! Unfortunately, I can't really start carving until about 2 weeks before Halloween, or they'll rot before the big night. But I definately need to start getting ideas for cool pumpkins to make. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, do share.
I was going to post pictures of several of my pumpkins from past years, but I'm sure that I'll make more posts in the month of October regarding pumpkin carving, so I think I'll wait and slowly release the pictures. To hopefully whet your interest, here's a picture of one I did 3 years ago.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Blogging for Blog's Sake
Well I've not had a good dream recently to write about, but I couldn't let the entire month of August slip by without so much as an entry on my blog, so I'm going to share about one of my favorite new things.
Johnathan Coulton!
Johnathan Coulton is a singer/songwriter who did one of the coolest things I've ever heard of. He made a weekly podcast called "Thing of the Week" where he released a new song via the internet every week for an entire year. But here's the kicker: They're actually pretty darn good! He wasn't just throwing garbage out there, they're actually some really good songs. Another pretty awesome thing is that he charges $1 per song to own, but then you pretty much own the song. You're free to use it whatever you want without fear of getting sued or anything. I'm a fan. And he's definately a tech geek, as is evident by the subject of many of his songs.
The last few days at work I've been listening to a lot of his songs, but BY FAR my two favorite are "Code Monkey" and "Flickr".
For the uninitiated, a "Code Monkey" is kindof a derogatory term for a computer programmer who can grind out computer code, but probably doesn't have the higher-primate skills of software architecture, analysis, and design. I love this song, and there's a kinda cool video somebody made for it on youtube. You can check it out here. Now remember, Jonathan Coulton just made the song, not the video (which, incidentally, was made using the videogame "World of Warcraft"). This may not be as cool to other people as it is to me since I am a computer programmer myself, but even so, I think most people would appreciate the cleverness of the lyrics style and recognize it as a pretty good song overall. As a warning, however, right near the beginning of the song, he does curse once, so you may not want to blast this song where sensitive ears may be.
"Flickr" is also a great song, but more than a song, you GOTTA watch the video. Flickr.com is a photo-sharing website where anybody can stick their photos up there for people to view. Johnathan Coulton went out there and viewed a couple of pages of random pictures and made this song & video about what he saw. Again, this video is watchable on youtube here, but I'm pretty sure that Johnathan actually made this video himself. It's crazy how it's super random, and yet such a good song! Even if I couldn't see the pictures, I think I'd still love it, but having seen the pictures it's just that much better. Again, there's 1 or 2 little moments that may make you blush, but nothing too bad. They could definately play this song on the radio without having to edit it. And watch for my favorite part: Dwyer! haha.
Mmm-K. Go watch, listen, and enjoy!
Johnathan Coulton!
Johnathan Coulton is a singer/songwriter who did one of the coolest things I've ever heard of. He made a weekly podcast called "Thing of the Week" where he released a new song via the internet every week for an entire year. But here's the kicker: They're actually pretty darn good! He wasn't just throwing garbage out there, they're actually some really good songs. Another pretty awesome thing is that he charges $1 per song to own, but then you pretty much own the song. You're free to use it whatever you want without fear of getting sued or anything. I'm a fan. And he's definately a tech geek, as is evident by the subject of many of his songs.
The last few days at work I've been listening to a lot of his songs, but BY FAR my two favorite are "Code Monkey" and "Flickr".
For the uninitiated, a "Code Monkey" is kindof a derogatory term for a computer programmer who can grind out computer code, but probably doesn't have the higher-primate skills of software architecture, analysis, and design. I love this song, and there's a kinda cool video somebody made for it on youtube. You can check it out here. Now remember, Jonathan Coulton just made the song, not the video (which, incidentally, was made using the videogame "World of Warcraft"). This may not be as cool to other people as it is to me since I am a computer programmer myself, but even so, I think most people would appreciate the cleverness of the lyrics style and recognize it as a pretty good song overall. As a warning, however, right near the beginning of the song, he does curse once, so you may not want to blast this song where sensitive ears may be.
"Flickr" is also a great song, but more than a song, you GOTTA watch the video. Flickr.com is a photo-sharing website where anybody can stick their photos up there for people to view. Johnathan Coulton went out there and viewed a couple of pages of random pictures and made this song & video about what he saw. Again, this video is watchable on youtube here, but I'm pretty sure that Johnathan actually made this video himself. It's crazy how it's super random, and yet such a good song! Even if I couldn't see the pictures, I think I'd still love it, but having seen the pictures it's just that much better. Again, there's 1 or 2 little moments that may make you blush, but nothing too bad. They could definately play this song on the radio without having to edit it. And watch for my favorite part: Dwyer! haha.
Mmm-K. Go watch, listen, and enjoy!
Monday, July 23, 2007
By Way of Announcement...
The Official GarlickDance film festival took place on Saturday July 21, 2007, and was a HUGE success. Tons of fun. We had a good turn-out of about 40 people at the Utah Chapter of GarlickDance, and about 30 met for the Oregon Chapter, which took place at the same time.
Now for Logan! Since my movie features several Loganites and several others helped in one way or another, there has been much demand to see my movie. Here's the deal, though...just watching my movie would be fun, but to really appreciate the whole GarlickDance thing, you gotta watch several movies. If you read my last post, you know the deal about the shared-script. The first few movies shown in the festival, unfortunately, suffer somewhat, because the audience is often not very familiar with the script, but after watching a few, half the fun of watching becomes waiting to see how the next movie is going to use a given line of dialogue, or what crazy stuff they chose to fill-in-the-blanks that were provided in the script. So rather than just watch my movie, for the Logan premiere of my film we're going to watch all (or at least most of) the movies from the film festival. "Where" and "when", you ask? Well here's the plan...
Our friend Janey works over at the Cine-Four theater by Winger's, and she told us that she can let us watch the movies there!! Isn't that awesome!?! Here's the only catch...it has to be late, and due to several scheduling conflicts, we can't do it on a weekend unless we wait 3 or 4 weeks. So here's what we're planning. 1 week from today (Monday, July 30) we're going to watch the movies at Janey's theater. We're meeting there at 11:30pm, and should start fairly shortly thereafter. Yes, it's a work night, yes, it's late...There's nothing we could do about it. But here's the deal: If we watch all the movies it's only about an hour long (and we'll probably skip a couple of them), and since you know well in advance you can make sure you get plenty of sleep the night before and even plan on taking a nap that afternoon or something, so you'll have the energy to come watch!
I'm really excited for this! I think it's going to be way fun! Hopefully anybody who's interested can make it! Oh, and this is really open to anybody who wants to come. If you know someone who might be interested, invite 'em. I don't want hecklers - remember that the films are all made by amateur filmmakers...for some this was their first movie project ever - but the more the merrier, I say.
Now for Logan! Since my movie features several Loganites and several others helped in one way or another, there has been much demand to see my movie. Here's the deal, though...just watching my movie would be fun, but to really appreciate the whole GarlickDance thing, you gotta watch several movies. If you read my last post, you know the deal about the shared-script. The first few movies shown in the festival, unfortunately, suffer somewhat, because the audience is often not very familiar with the script, but after watching a few, half the fun of watching becomes waiting to see how the next movie is going to use a given line of dialogue, or what crazy stuff they chose to fill-in-the-blanks that were provided in the script. So rather than just watch my movie, for the Logan premiere of my film we're going to watch all (or at least most of) the movies from the film festival. "Where" and "when", you ask? Well here's the plan...
Our friend Janey works over at the Cine-Four theater by Winger's, and she told us that she can let us watch the movies there!! Isn't that awesome!?! Here's the only catch...it has to be late, and due to several scheduling conflicts, we can't do it on a weekend unless we wait 3 or 4 weeks. So here's what we're planning. 1 week from today (Monday, July 30) we're going to watch the movies at Janey's theater. We're meeting there at 11:30pm, and should start fairly shortly thereafter. Yes, it's a work night, yes, it's late...There's nothing we could do about it. But here's the deal: If we watch all the movies it's only about an hour long (and we'll probably skip a couple of them), and since you know well in advance you can make sure you get plenty of sleep the night before and even plan on taking a nap that afternoon or something, so you'll have the energy to come watch!
I'm really excited for this! I think it's going to be way fun! Hopefully anybody who's interested can make it! Oh, and this is really open to anybody who wants to come. If you know someone who might be interested, invite 'em. I don't want hecklers - remember that the films are all made by amateur filmmakers...for some this was their first movie project ever - but the more the merrier, I say.
Friday, July 20, 2007
GarlickDance Info & A Dream
After several months of work, I'm THRILLED to announce that my 2007 GarlickDance Film Festival entry will have it's premiere showing tomorrow night at the Official GarlickDance Film Festival in West Point, Utah. It's awfully short notice, but anyone interested in attending can contact me for details. Sometime in the next week or two a Logan showing will take place...we may not watch all of the films at the Logan showing...maybe just the best few and mine...We'll see what people want to do.
For anybody unaware of what the GarlickDance film festival is, it's my family's version of a yearly family reunion. We've never been much for just getting together and having a BBQ...we prefer to be entertained...and who's more entertaining than us!?! So each summer for the last three years our family has organized this mini-film festival. "Mini" in that (A) the festival is small, and (B) the films are short. There's a 12 minute time limit on each film (including credits, previews, outtakes, etc.) but I think this year the average film length is only about 7 minutes. This year there are 11 entries in the film festival. Entrants include: myself, my sister, both of my parents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, a cousin, a nephew, and 2 family friends. Yes, if you count that up there's 12 people, but two of the directors collaborated to make a single film. In the film festival, each film uses the exact same script. The trick is that the script is riddled with mad-libs-esque blanks. These blanks allow the filmmakers to fill-in the necessary customizations to adapt the script to their unique idea.
Originally this shared-script idea made all of us a bit nervous that we'd end up with nearly identical movies...this has never even come close to happening. It's amazing how the exact same dialogue can be used in such completely different situations! Last year's film festival ended up with many of the movies being some sort of action film. This year it sounds like comedies are the predominant genre...of course, I've not seen them yet, so I can't be sure.
Okay, well that's about it for GarlickDance information. Let's talk about my latest dream!
*** Dreamt July 19-20, 2007 ***
It was time for school, but I really didn't want to walk up to the university, so I decided to take the recliner (yes, the recliner). Next thing I knew I was whizzing up 200 West on a light brown recliner. The only tricky part about driving a recliner, it turns out, is that they spin, so you really gotta keep your balance as you're crusing down the road or you might get spun around backwards and not be able to see where you're going.
Eventually I got to a dead-end (which I don't remember ever encountering on 200 W in Logan in real life), so I got up and picked up my recliner and ran into the HUGE house that was blocking my path. My idea was to cut through the house then I'd be back at the road and could continue on my way. Unfortunately there was a very narrow stairway in the house that led up to the front door, and my recliner simply wouldn't fit. At about this point I realized that there were several people in the house looking at me..I tried to ignore them as I started heading back out. It was also then that I noticed how remarkably light the recliner was...maybe 20 lbs tops. Not bad at all considering the engine and wheels and stuff that must have been attached under/inside it. I got back outside where I'd entered and mounted the recliner and headed back to ButterKnife, trying to think how else I could get up to campus. I thought about taking my bike, but I didn't know where to put it up on campus, then suddenly I thought, "Oh man, where would I have put the recliner?! It'd be way harder to find a safe place to keep it than a bike."
I made it back to ButterKnife Estates and when I entered it was now dark outside. I greeted Thad and started to chit-chat with him, when I noticed that several people (none of whom I recognized) were coming in and congregating in our front room. I tried to ask Thad about it, but he kept shushing me. Apparently he owed some of these people something, so he was letting them use part of our house for the evening.
I went downstairs to my room and noticed that I'd been followed my parents' cat, Gus. "Get out of here, Gus!" I shouted. Unfortunately Gus is a very old cat who's pretty much deaf and quite stubborn, so he wouldn't leave. I picked him up and took him out a couple of times, but he kept running back in. I really didn't want him in there, because he's kinda not fully with it these days and sometimes has bladder control issues. Again I went to pick him up, and when I did he latched onto my right hand. Thankfully I was wearing a bowling glove, so it didn't really hurt, but he kept attacking the back of that hand, and it was just really annoying. I finally got him off and kicked him out of the room long enough that I could close and lock the door. I was trying to figure out why he'd been so keen on attacking my right hand, so I took off the glove, and that's when I remembered that I'd dripped some barbeque sause on the back of that hand, which is what he must have been going after. I started off to find a sink where I could wash the barbeque sause off my hand, but I woke up before I made it there.
***
For anybody unaware of what the GarlickDance film festival is, it's my family's version of a yearly family reunion. We've never been much for just getting together and having a BBQ...we prefer to be entertained...and who's more entertaining than us!?! So each summer for the last three years our family has organized this mini-film festival. "Mini" in that (A) the festival is small, and (B) the films are short. There's a 12 minute time limit on each film (including credits, previews, outtakes, etc.) but I think this year the average film length is only about 7 minutes. This year there are 11 entries in the film festival. Entrants include: myself, my sister, both of my parents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, a cousin, a nephew, and 2 family friends. Yes, if you count that up there's 12 people, but two of the directors collaborated to make a single film. In the film festival, each film uses the exact same script. The trick is that the script is riddled with mad-libs-esque blanks. These blanks allow the filmmakers to fill-in the necessary customizations to adapt the script to their unique idea.
Originally this shared-script idea made all of us a bit nervous that we'd end up with nearly identical movies...this has never even come close to happening. It's amazing how the exact same dialogue can be used in such completely different situations! Last year's film festival ended up with many of the movies being some sort of action film. This year it sounds like comedies are the predominant genre...of course, I've not seen them yet, so I can't be sure.
Okay, well that's about it for GarlickDance information. Let's talk about my latest dream!
*** Dreamt July 19-20, 2007 ***
It was time for school, but I really didn't want to walk up to the university, so I decided to take the recliner (yes, the recliner). Next thing I knew I was whizzing up 200 West on a light brown recliner. The only tricky part about driving a recliner, it turns out, is that they spin, so you really gotta keep your balance as you're crusing down the road or you might get spun around backwards and not be able to see where you're going.
Eventually I got to a dead-end (which I don't remember ever encountering on 200 W in Logan in real life), so I got up and picked up my recliner and ran into the HUGE house that was blocking my path. My idea was to cut through the house then I'd be back at the road and could continue on my way. Unfortunately there was a very narrow stairway in the house that led up to the front door, and my recliner simply wouldn't fit. At about this point I realized that there were several people in the house looking at me..I tried to ignore them as I started heading back out. It was also then that I noticed how remarkably light the recliner was...maybe 20 lbs tops. Not bad at all considering the engine and wheels and stuff that must have been attached under/inside it. I got back outside where I'd entered and mounted the recliner and headed back to ButterKnife, trying to think how else I could get up to campus. I thought about taking my bike, but I didn't know where to put it up on campus, then suddenly I thought, "Oh man, where would I have put the recliner?! It'd be way harder to find a safe place to keep it than a bike."
I made it back to ButterKnife Estates and when I entered it was now dark outside. I greeted Thad and started to chit-chat with him, when I noticed that several people (none of whom I recognized) were coming in and congregating in our front room. I tried to ask Thad about it, but he kept shushing me. Apparently he owed some of these people something, so he was letting them use part of our house for the evening.
I went downstairs to my room and noticed that I'd been followed my parents' cat, Gus. "Get out of here, Gus!" I shouted. Unfortunately Gus is a very old cat who's pretty much deaf and quite stubborn, so he wouldn't leave. I picked him up and took him out a couple of times, but he kept running back in. I really didn't want him in there, because he's kinda not fully with it these days and sometimes has bladder control issues. Again I went to pick him up, and when I did he latched onto my right hand. Thankfully I was wearing a bowling glove, so it didn't really hurt, but he kept attacking the back of that hand, and it was just really annoying. I finally got him off and kicked him out of the room long enough that I could close and lock the door. I was trying to figure out why he'd been so keen on attacking my right hand, so I took off the glove, and that's when I remembered that I'd dripped some barbeque sause on the back of that hand, which is what he must have been going after. I started off to find a sink where I could wash the barbeque sause off my hand, but I woke up before I made it there.
***
Monday, July 2, 2007
Lost: The Musical...sortof
*** Dreamt: June 30 - July 1, 2007 ***
I was at the performance of a musical being put-on by my highschool drama teacher. In fact, the performance was in my high school auditorium, except that it had somehow been converted into an amphitheater; basically it looked EXACTLY like my highschool auditorium, except that (A) it was quite a bit bigger, and (B) there were no walls nor a ceiling. I have no idea what was supporting the stage curtain or backdrops. Surrounding both the seats and backstage was a HUGE grassy field...it was actually quite cool.
Right before the performance (which was to be of "State Fair") my brother's friend Rachel, who was apparently in the musical, ran out and asked if I'd come up and be in the show because it didn't have a full cast. This was no surprise to me, because the director had often done this to make rehearsals easier, then would grab random people at the last minute to fill in the rest of the roles. I said, "sure" and went up on stage and pretty much immediately the show began.
I don't really remember what happened in the musical, but it was more like "Lost: The Musical" than "State Fair". There was a plane crash, and my character had been hit with some shrapnel in the gut during the crash, so I actually spent much of the first act lying on my back acting as though I was in grave pain. Then the song "The Wells Fargo Wagon" - yes, from Music Man - began, and my friend Rachel came and grabbed me and pulled me up to be her dance partner. I kept trying to tell her that this was completely unbelievable, because my character had some large chunks of metal in him, so he really shouldn't be up dancing, but she insisted that some time had passed so my character was much better by now. We sortof danced off stage and she told me, "okay, I'm going to run out there and you follow me; I'm going to jump up and you need to catch me and lift me up high over your head." "WHAT?!" I gasped, but it was too late, she'd already started cruising out on stage again, so after her I went. We got near the center of the stage where she raised up her arms to her sides and lept up into the air fully expecting me to be there to lift her even higher. Being that I'd never fully caught up to her, however, I didn't quite catch her in time to lift her up. Rather, I just sort of got my hands on her waist and she immediately came back down with me not really doing anything to even slow her fall. I apologized, but she seemed okay with it.
Then it was intermission. I walked a little way out into one of the grassy fields off to the side of the backstage area, and Ferrell Cool (an elderly man who lives up the street from my parents) came over from the audience to congratulate me on a job well done, and even gave me an Halmark 'congratulations' card. I thought it was an extremely nice gesture.
Just then Ray, another older fellow from my parents' neighborhood shouted over to us, but then realized that he'd probably interrupted Ferrell congratulating me, so he kinda got embarassed and apologized, telling us to continue our conversation, and that he'd tell us what he was going to say when we were finished.
I never did hear what it was, though, because I - as always seems to happen at the end of my dreams - woke up.
***
Being in musicals is a rather common dream for me. I'd say at least once a month or so I dream about being in one musical or another. It's interesting to me, however, that it's usually for an impromptu performance, and yet I feel no anxiety over it. This - of course - isn't always the case, as you know if you happen to be one of the lucky people whom I told about my dream where I was supposed to be in an all-french version of West Side Story.
The most distressing thing really about this dream was that the musical was set to be "State Fair." Ugh, if you have never seen this stinker of a musical, consider yourself lucky and steer clear of it. The only people known to like it are those who saw the movie version when they were little kids, and since they were too young to realize how horribly stupid and cheezy it is, they grew to love it, and they still hold a special childhood affinity for it in their hearts.
My favorite part of this dream was how the director was known for not fully casting the musical, then just grabbing additional people from the audience at performance time. Wouldn't it be fun if that's how shows really were? Just think, you Wicked fans, if you went to see your beloved witchy musical, only to find yourself getting pulled on stage before it started to be part of the ensemble!
Monday, June 25, 2007
A Common School Dream
*** Dreamt June 23-24, 2007 ***
It was nearly the end of the spring semester at school and I was thinking about how grand it would be when summer was here. It was then that my old high school buddy and former bandmate Eli asked, "How's your spanish class coming?" Suddenly the horror of the situtation hit me. I forgot I'd signed up for 2nd year spanish! Not only had I not attended a single time this semester, but I also took it last semester and never attended then either!! How could I have forgotten?!?!
"I'm sure you can make it up," Eli consoled me, "it can't be that hard for you." Now Eli's a pretty darn good spanish speaker - he took it all though high school and when he got to Chile on his mission in his first area people were known to comment on how strange it was that he spoke better than his trainer...much to the chagrin of his companion - so him telling me that made me feel pretty good, 'cuz if he thought I spoke spanish well enough to still pass the course, I thought I probably was. I had to find Señor Mansfield (my spanish teacher, who in real life was my 9th grade spanish teacher) and explain to him the situtation...I have no idea what there really was to explain, I mean, I'd been absent from class for months with absolutely no excuse, nevertheless I was sure that he'd understand.
I ran down the halls of the university - which somehow as I ran turned into my Junior High School - and out the doors to the portable where Señor Mansfield class was held. I burst through the doors, gasping for breath, only to find no one there. It was such a disappointment, and the reality that I was going to have two F's on my permanent record overcame me. It was at about this point that I, quite gratefully, woke up.
***
Why is this such a common dream? Isn't it kindof bizarre that there is a such a thing as "common dreams" at all? I mean, dreams seem so random and yet there are many dreams (such as the Realizing-That-You-Forgot-To-Attend-A-Class-All-Semester dream) that seem to be experience by pretty much everybody from time to time.
Another super common one is that you're in public and find that you accidentally left the house without any clothes on. Why do we all have these dream? I really don't think that we have these fears.....not once have I ever been out in public and suddenly had the panicky thought, "Oh my gosh! Did I remember to put on clothes after I showered today?!?"
It's a strange phenomenon, but alas, I guess there's nothing we can do about it.
It was nearly the end of the spring semester at school and I was thinking about how grand it would be when summer was here. It was then that my old high school buddy and former bandmate Eli asked, "How's your spanish class coming?" Suddenly the horror of the situtation hit me. I forgot I'd signed up for 2nd year spanish! Not only had I not attended a single time this semester, but I also took it last semester and never attended then either!! How could I have forgotten?!?!
"I'm sure you can make it up," Eli consoled me, "it can't be that hard for you." Now Eli's a pretty darn good spanish speaker - he took it all though high school and when he got to Chile on his mission in his first area people were known to comment on how strange it was that he spoke better than his trainer...much to the chagrin of his companion - so him telling me that made me feel pretty good, 'cuz if he thought I spoke spanish well enough to still pass the course, I thought I probably was. I had to find Señor Mansfield (my spanish teacher, who in real life was my 9th grade spanish teacher) and explain to him the situtation...I have no idea what there really was to explain, I mean, I'd been absent from class for months with absolutely no excuse, nevertheless I was sure that he'd understand.
I ran down the halls of the university - which somehow as I ran turned into my Junior High School - and out the doors to the portable where Señor Mansfield class was held. I burst through the doors, gasping for breath, only to find no one there. It was such a disappointment, and the reality that I was going to have two F's on my permanent record overcame me. It was at about this point that I, quite gratefully, woke up.
***
Why is this such a common dream? Isn't it kindof bizarre that there is a such a thing as "common dreams" at all? I mean, dreams seem so random and yet there are many dreams (such as the Realizing-That-You-Forgot-To-Attend-A-Class-All-Semester dream) that seem to be experience by pretty much everybody from time to time.
Another super common one is that you're in public and find that you accidentally left the house without any clothes on. Why do we all have these dream? I really don't think that we have these fears.....not once have I ever been out in public and suddenly had the panicky thought, "Oh my gosh! Did I remember to put on clothes after I showered today?!?"
It's a strange phenomenon, but alas, I guess there's nothing we can do about it.
Monday, June 18, 2007
So You Think You Can Direct...
I'm a big believer that dreams are roughly comprised of 2% of our inner thoughts, fears, etc, and 98% random stuff influenced by what we've seen/heard/done lately. Before last night's dream, one should first know a few things: (A) I've recently been spending a lot of time working on movie for my family's annual summer film festival "GarlickDance", (B) a new reality show entitled "On The Lot" has recently begun in which a group of young filmmakers are vying for a movie deal with DreamWorks Studios....I watch regularly, and (C) two night's ago my brother came home with a poster book of stills from the movie "Labyrinth", which I looked through.
*** June 16-17, 2007 ***
I was in a filmmaking competition in which all of the contestants had been divided-up into two teams. As fortune would have it, my mom was also on my team, and my buddy Corey was on the other. In this challenge, we were playing a version of the classic TV show, "Supermarket Sweep." Our teams were to run through a grocery store, grabbing items and bringing them back to our team's bin, then at the end the winner would be the team who had the ingredients to make the most sandwiches.
When time ran out and we went back for the official ruling of which team had the most sandwich-making supplies, our team was shocked to see that most of our stuff that we'd grabbed wasn't there! In fact, we now only had 3 loaves of bread (compared to the dozens in our opponents' bin)! That's the worst thing to be short of, because you can't make sandwiches if you don't have bread! Of course, the accusations immediately began flying, and members of the other team were actually quite quick to confess that they'd hidden much of the sandwich loot that we'd found.
Right about then, a voice came over the store's intercom system announcing that David Bowie (rock singer and star of the movie "Labyrinth") was outside in his trailer and that he would be signing autographs and giving instructions for the competition's next event. Of course everyone bolted for the doors. I never did see David, however, because I woke up right about then.
***
By far my favorite part of this whole thing was that in a movie-making contest we had a task to see who could come up with the most sandwich-making supplies.
What a fun show that supermarket sweep was, though, wasn't it? Alright, it was actually a pretty hokey show, but I always wanted a chance to run through a store like that, madly grabbing stuff off the shelves and throwing it into my cart. I remember as a child some contest - I'm thinking it was put on by Kool-Aid - in which the grand prize was a 2 or 3 minute shopping spree in KB Toys. My brother and I actually drew maps of our local toy store and would plot what course we'd take and write down the top few items that we'd be sure to grab...Of course, it wasn't much of a course through the store, since it was basically just bee-lining it to the video game section and grabbing all that we could.
...Good times.
*** June 16-17, 2007 ***
I was in a filmmaking competition in which all of the contestants had been divided-up into two teams. As fortune would have it, my mom was also on my team, and my buddy Corey was on the other. In this challenge, we were playing a version of the classic TV show, "Supermarket Sweep." Our teams were to run through a grocery store, grabbing items and bringing them back to our team's bin, then at the end the winner would be the team who had the ingredients to make the most sandwiches.
When time ran out and we went back for the official ruling of which team had the most sandwich-making supplies, our team was shocked to see that most of our stuff that we'd grabbed wasn't there! In fact, we now only had 3 loaves of bread (compared to the dozens in our opponents' bin)! That's the worst thing to be short of, because you can't make sandwiches if you don't have bread! Of course, the accusations immediately began flying, and members of the other team were actually quite quick to confess that they'd hidden much of the sandwich loot that we'd found.
Right about then, a voice came over the store's intercom system announcing that David Bowie (rock singer and star of the movie "Labyrinth") was outside in his trailer and that he would be signing autographs and giving instructions for the competition's next event. Of course everyone bolted for the doors. I never did see David, however, because I woke up right about then.
***
By far my favorite part of this whole thing was that in a movie-making contest we had a task to see who could come up with the most sandwich-making supplies.
What a fun show that supermarket sweep was, though, wasn't it? Alright, it was actually a pretty hokey show, but I always wanted a chance to run through a store like that, madly grabbing stuff off the shelves and throwing it into my cart. I remember as a child some contest - I'm thinking it was put on by Kool-Aid - in which the grand prize was a 2 or 3 minute shopping spree in KB Toys. My brother and I actually drew maps of our local toy store and would plot what course we'd take and write down the top few items that we'd be sure to grab...Of course, it wasn't much of a course through the store, since it was basically just bee-lining it to the video game section and grabbing all that we could.
...Good times.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
A Disclaimer & A Dream
I'm not a blogger. I'm not! Now I know what you're saying, "But look! You're writing a blog! Therefore by definition you ARE a blogger." My response: "Next time I see you I'm gonna punch you in the neck!"
I tried once before to maintain a blog, and it failed miserably. Not only did no one have any interest in it at all so I was the only one reading it, but after about 3 days I, myself, lost interest and never wrote again.
I still have no interest in blogging, however, for quite some time I've had an interest in keeping a dream journal, but what fun are dreams if you don't share them (at least the non-inappropriate ones)? Well in the last few days several friends of mine have created blogs, and going on the assumption that since they're currently "into" the blog scene that if I link them to my blog they'll actually read it, I'm giving this whole blog-thing another try.
So without further ado, here's last night's dream:
* * * June 12-13, 2007 ***
I was at church with my parents in the building they used to attend, and there was a young man having an extremely difficult time blessing the sacrament. In his first attempt or two he mis-spoke just one or two words, but as he went on he got more and more flustered until he started just throwing in his own words and entirely new phrases. At one point I think his version of the sacrament prayer started out like so: "Our Heavenly Father, thank you for this day...".
At about this point a member of the bishopric went over to help him, but the young man was such a mess by now that he really was beyond help. Apparently thinking that the bishopric member was going to say the words of the prayer into his ear for him to then repeat, just as a young child gives a prayer with their parent supplying the words, his next attempt (unintentially with the bishopric member's help) was delivered straight into the microphone as, "Just the words on the card. No improvisation." At this, much of the congregation let out an audible (although unintentional, I think) laugh.
Finally, coming to the struggling youth's aid, a Polynesian man in his mid-twenties approached the front of the chapel and blessed it himself. Imagine my surprise, however, when I realized he was blessing it in ilonggo - the primarly language spoken in my mission! The problem was, that his polynesian accent was so thick that whether he was speaking English or Ilonggo, I could barely understand him. I DID, however, distinctly hear in his version of the sacrament prayer "Ikaw nga amo ang Dios ni Zarahemla", which would roughly translate to, "Thou who are the God of Zarahemla". Now I KNEW that this wasn't in the sacrament prayer, but when he was finished he just turned around and gave a thumbs-up to the bishopric, who of course don't speak Ilonggo, so they just presumed he must have said it right!! *sigh*
When the meeting was over I tried to find the Ilonggo-speaking Polynesian to ask how he knew how to speak the pure Adamic language that is Ilonggo. But I was having the hardest time at it! First of all, the building - although I had gone to it many times in my youth - had been completely remodeled, so I kept getting turned around. Then on top of that, there were a REMARKABLE number of Polynesian men in attendance that day, all about the same age & build as the Ilonggo-speaker. I finally tracked him down to one of the foyers, but he somehow snuck (it's a real word! http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/snuck) away into the building's cultural hall. Right after I realized he was gone, I overheard some of the people who'd been speaking with him say, "That was an amazing language! What was it called? Ilonggo?" "Ah ha!!", I thought, "It WAS ilonggo! Now I just need to find him again and ask how to learned it."
Well, once again, that task turned out to be easier said than done. I - as any sensible person would - entered the cultural hall to try to find him, only to discover that another ward was in there setting up some quite large decorations for some sort of graduation ceremony or dance or something. Also there was a photographer with a backdrop, lights, and a camera completely set up and a group of people, in quite formal attire, had formed a line leading up to him waiting to get their pictures taken. It was quite a bizarre scene in retrospect but, as is so often the case in dreams, nothing about it as the time struck me as being unusual. I left the cultural hall on the side opposite from which I had entered, however, I never saw what was on the outside because I woke up.
* * *
Definately not the most interesting dream ever, but that poor kid's sacramental prayer rapidly degenerating made me laugh out loud with the rest of the congregation.
I tried once before to maintain a blog, and it failed miserably. Not only did no one have any interest in it at all so I was the only one reading it, but after about 3 days I, myself, lost interest and never wrote again.
I still have no interest in blogging, however, for quite some time I've had an interest in keeping a dream journal, but what fun are dreams if you don't share them (at least the non-inappropriate ones)? Well in the last few days several friends of mine have created blogs, and going on the assumption that since they're currently "into" the blog scene that if I link them to my blog they'll actually read it, I'm giving this whole blog-thing another try.
So without further ado, here's last night's dream:
* * * June 12-13, 2007 ***
I was at church with my parents in the building they used to attend, and there was a young man having an extremely difficult time blessing the sacrament. In his first attempt or two he mis-spoke just one or two words, but as he went on he got more and more flustered until he started just throwing in his own words and entirely new phrases. At one point I think his version of the sacrament prayer started out like so: "Our Heavenly Father, thank you for this day...".
At about this point a member of the bishopric went over to help him, but the young man was such a mess by now that he really was beyond help. Apparently thinking that the bishopric member was going to say the words of the prayer into his ear for him to then repeat, just as a young child gives a prayer with their parent supplying the words, his next attempt (unintentially with the bishopric member's help) was delivered straight into the microphone as, "Just the words on the card. No improvisation." At this, much of the congregation let out an audible (although unintentional, I think) laugh.
Finally, coming to the struggling youth's aid, a Polynesian man in his mid-twenties approached the front of the chapel and blessed it himself. Imagine my surprise, however, when I realized he was blessing it in ilonggo - the primarly language spoken in my mission! The problem was, that his polynesian accent was so thick that whether he was speaking English or Ilonggo, I could barely understand him. I DID, however, distinctly hear in his version of the sacrament prayer "Ikaw nga amo ang Dios ni Zarahemla", which would roughly translate to, "Thou who are the God of Zarahemla". Now I KNEW that this wasn't in the sacrament prayer, but when he was finished he just turned around and gave a thumbs-up to the bishopric, who of course don't speak Ilonggo, so they just presumed he must have said it right!! *sigh*
When the meeting was over I tried to find the Ilonggo-speaking Polynesian to ask how he knew how to speak the pure Adamic language that is Ilonggo. But I was having the hardest time at it! First of all, the building - although I had gone to it many times in my youth - had been completely remodeled, so I kept getting turned around. Then on top of that, there were a REMARKABLE number of Polynesian men in attendance that day, all about the same age & build as the Ilonggo-speaker. I finally tracked him down to one of the foyers, but he somehow snuck (it's a real word! http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/snuck) away into the building's cultural hall. Right after I realized he was gone, I overheard some of the people who'd been speaking with him say, "That was an amazing language! What was it called? Ilonggo?" "Ah ha!!", I thought, "It WAS ilonggo! Now I just need to find him again and ask how to learned it."
Well, once again, that task turned out to be easier said than done. I - as any sensible person would - entered the cultural hall to try to find him, only to discover that another ward was in there setting up some quite large decorations for some sort of graduation ceremony or dance or something. Also there was a photographer with a backdrop, lights, and a camera completely set up and a group of people, in quite formal attire, had formed a line leading up to him waiting to get their pictures taken. It was quite a bizarre scene in retrospect but, as is so often the case in dreams, nothing about it as the time struck me as being unusual. I left the cultural hall on the side opposite from which I had entered, however, I never saw what was on the outside because I woke up.
* * *
Definately not the most interesting dream ever, but that poor kid's sacramental prayer rapidly degenerating made me laugh out loud with the rest of the congregation.
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