Category Archives: music

A few little thoughts…

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1. I love sushi. I went last night with my dad and sister. I’m quite impressed with how good it was considering I am in a landlocked state. My love of sushi began in Utah when my friend, Katrina (aka Niki) introduced me to it after my mission, but I guess I thought that, now that I’ve had some seriously amazing sushi, it wouldn’t be as good…but it is, if you go to the right place. I recommend The Happy Sumo. It’s a little pricey, but delicious.

2. After sushi we went to see “The Pursuit of Happyness”. I really liked it. I know people have written bad reviews about it and I’m not saying that you should go see it. In fact, I rarely recommend movies to anyone. I have such random taste. Moving on…The movie really drove home two points to me (I believe that a movie can be quite a personal experience)…First, I am so blessed. I have never had to go through anything close to what Chris Gardner experienced (assuming those parts were true). Second, as I’m getting ready to apply to grad school and I look at my undergrad GPA, it gives me more hope. I have felt hopeful, but to watch a guy with nothing but a high school education make it with Dean Witter is inspirational. What I like is that he didn’t just strike it rich by winning the lottery, he worked hard and used his talents.

3. I’m really glad to be at a point in my life where I don’t feel the need to cater to everyone around me. Not that I want to be rude. I don’t and I like to be liked. I just don’t feel that it’s necessary to bend over backward to keep the peace anymore. If there’s tension because someone is creating it and I have no control over that person…well, let there be tension. I can always walk away.

4. I’m reading Stephen R. Covey’s, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and it is quite good. I’m learning quite a bit. I really like how he doesn’t set anything up as a quick fix. To be successful (and I mean deep, personal success) you have to get your priorities in line and you have to be willing to work hard.

5. If you haven’t read “Freakonomics”, you should. It is so interesting. I just started and I already have it listed as a favorite. Connecting crime rates with the legalization of abortion…if that doesn’t intrigue you, I don’t know what will. Or maybe you just don’t find those things interesting.

6. I’m so happy to NOT be listening to Christmas music. KOZY 100 (or whatever the name of the station is) needs someone to give them some new Christmas music. The stuff they play is horrendous. How many times can one really be expected to listen to Kenny Rogers belting out “Mary Did You Know?”? Seriously! And we don’t have any other option here at the BYU, so it’s that or nothing…and I’m all for nothing.

7. I love iTunes and days when it is so quiet at work that my little speakers are actually loud enough to here my music. Happy, happy day!

8. Technology amazes me everyday. Our dependence on it is a little frightening, though. The network was down this morning at work and I seriously didn’t know what to do with myself. Which made me think about the other day, when I was at some store purchasing something and the total was something like $16.78 and I gave the girl $22.00 and she looked at me kind of funny and then I realized I had three cents in my wallet and told her to hold on, that I had three cents. The blank stare that appeared in front of me was amazing. She didn’t know what to do. At this point, she had already entered the $22.00 into the system and it was too late to change it. It made me sad. Kids don’t know how to do basic math anymore. That’s just basic subtraction. I took my three pennies and put them back in my wallet and she handed me the $5.22 and that was that.

9. I love my new laptop. That’s what I got for Christmas. It is so handy. I love not having to go into the house to use the internet. Speaking of technology…one computer with the internet in a house with more than one person just doesn’t seem to be enough. How sad is that??? I remember when we didn’t have the internet (aren’t we all so glad that Al Gore invented it). I remember going into one of the computer labs on campus as a freshman and watching someone “chat” on a black screen with a green font and thinking it was amazing (it was 1995), and now my nephew niece who’s eight knows how to get online and chat.

10. I love my new sunglasses. They were a gift to myself. Aren’t they fabulous? A little trendy, I’ll admit, but they make me happy. Yes, I have a problem and recognizing that is the first step to recovery.

and there was music…

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I started voice lessons last week. It is an interesting experience just doing something for me, with no real goal in mind, but just because I enjoy it. Every little girl has dreams. My dream was to sing. My poor siblings have endured long hours of my harmonizing to any song playing on the radio. What I finally decided, once I decided not to get married, is that I have all of these dreams (not hundreds, but a few) and now is the time to live them out. I don’t imagine that I will ever be a famous vocalist nor do I plan on making a career out of it (dreams change over time), but to be able to record a CD just for me would be fantastic. So, I’m going for it. I sing my heart out in my little apartment over the garage (it has fabulous acoustics). And someday, in the relatively near future, I will record my first song. Over time, I hope to record a few.

The perfectionist in me struggles because I am not that good and I have to sing for this woman who is so very talented. I have to make funny noises and faces all in an effort to improve. I spent almost half the first lesson just laughing at myself. It feels good. It feels good to do something that takes work. It feels good to be courageous and know that I have a long, long way to go. It feels good to want something just for me, not to make me popular, not to make me successful, not to make me loved, but just for me.

So here’s my advice for the week…figure out what your dreams are and start living them. It is so worth the effort.

titillating technology

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My latest technological discovery–the webcam. Well, actually, my iPod is the latest and I’m in love with it. I sleep with it every night. But the webcam was the discovery just previous to the iPod.
Technology truly is amazing. It makes it so easy for us to stay disconnectedly connected. I read an article today about how Kate Spade doesn’t use email…ever. Seriously. I remember coming home from my mission and swearing that I would never own a cell phone. Yesterday I forgot it at home and I really felt like I had forgotten to brush my teeth. Kind of pathetic, but true. Our computers were down at work the other day and no one could function. No one. We are so dependent on these machines. And yet we love them and get excited about all of the new technology that comes out. We scramble to purchase the latest and greatest and it really does bring some level of happiness…albeit ephemeral, but a rush nonetheless. And the rush lasts until we realize that something better is out there, that your sister’s nano holds 4 gigs, while yours holds only 1 gig, or that your brother has an auxiliary port in his car so his iPod plugs right into his stereo.
To those of you relishing in the rush of your latest purchase I say,

“Enjoy it while it lasts…because it won’t last long.”

As for my iPod and I, we are getting along smashingly, and the pangs of sadness that hit on occasion when I think that I could’ve held out for the 4 gig nano (had the death of my 156 MB mp3 player that I purchased three years ago for $200 not necessitated the purchase of an iPod) aren’t so great as to totally diminish the enjoyment of having all those songs at my fingertips, or ears, as it were.

And the love/hate relationship with technology continues…