Day 3. What were your top 3 favorite movies growing up?

So we didn't really watch TV when I was little, nor a lot of movies. So I guess this post is easier because there aren't a lot of options to choose from.

We'll start with the #3 favorite movie and then work to the top.

3. I think I'd have to put Mulan here. Not necessarily because it was my brother's and my favorite per se. But it was probably the movie we watched the most. See, my dad would buy us whatever kids movie was big at the time, and we'd watch it with him, and then when we went back to our mom's we'd bring it with us. But when Mulan came out, he really loved it. He loved it so much that he wouldn't let us take it back to our mom's with us. So it became the one kids movie that he owned. And since both of us were too young to drive or go out on our own, and we didn't have any games or toys at our dad's house, watching movies was all we had to do all day while dad was at work. Which meant that when we went to visit him, if we didn't make it to the video store early on in the trip, all we had to watch was Mulan. Over and over and over again. Luckily, we both really liked Mulan. To this day I think Dan and I can probably quote 78% of the movie word for word. Below was our absolute favorite part. Start at 2:57.

2. I'm gonna say this one is The Brave Little Toaster. My mom gave me a copy of The Brave Little Toaster a year or two back for Christmas and my brother and I watched it again. We were left with the conviction that Blankie is literally the most annoying character that has ever been, Lamp and Radio are by far the best characters in the movie, and whoever thought of a movie about a little boy's household appliances Incredible Journeying it back to him was definitely high on crack. Also, as with all our movies that weren't bought for us by our father, this one was a recording off TV by someone who was...over-zealous in their determination to skip commercials, and with an incredibly short attention span. So about 20% of the movie was cut out around the commercials, and then they just stopped recording when the appliances hit the city. Or maybe they were just doing some judicious editing, because when my brother and I watched the DVD we were suddenly seeing all these scenes we'd never seen before, including a horrifying dream sequence and a terrible pre-Toy-Story-3 junk yard scene ending that were legit disturbing. Seriously, watch this and tell me this was not made by a bunch of people out of their minds on cocaine

1. The number 1 movie is  by far.....Mickey and the Beanstalk. Also recorded off TV, but with a lot less [accidental] editing, this is hands down both my brother's and my favorite movie of our childhood. We still quote it constantly. And unlike The Brave Little Toaster, this movie holds up into adulthood. I literally just rewatched it a few weeks ago because I still love it. Apparently there were two versions of the movie, with two different framing devices. I never saw it, but I guess there's a version where you have live action people on a picnic or something, telling the story of Mickey rescuing the magic harp through the use of puppets which then turn into the cartoon? It is terrible, or so I've been told. On the other hand, the One True Version, which is the one we grew up watching, is all animation; Ludwig Von Drake (Scrooge McDuck's brother I believe because that's how accents and names work in families) telling the story to his best friend, Herman the Cricket (no relation to Jiminy). Professor Von Drake is explaining to Herman how fairy tales are expressions of the unconscious and attempts to explain unusual phenomena, hence the existence of magic. Herman insists that he believes all the stories actually happened exactly as they are told, including the magic. Herman is, of course, proved right at the end when Willy the Giant himself shows up, lifting the roof off Ludwig's home. Ludwig has a mental breakdown. Seriously, if you've never seen this movie, you should watch it. It is delightful. And the scene of the vine growing up to Willy's castle in the sky while Mickey, Donald, and Goofy sleep, remains one of my favorite animation sequences of all time. But the whole thing is amazing. I offer you this clip:

Seriously. every line is quotable. "If it was one man and three beans...but one bean, AND THREE MEN! Anyway, what a nice thing there are no bones in it!"

Achievement Unlocked: Life Orientation Obtained!

So...here's a thing.  I have decided that I want to pursue a career in teaching.

I spent 10 minutes writing a big explanatory preamble to that statement because, it turns out, I find it strangely difficult to announce this decision.  I am embarrassed to admit it.  I am embarrassed because after all my existential whining I have settled on what might arguably be the world's most obvious choice.  I'm embarrassed because I don't know if this is an idea that is going to work out and I don't want to publicly fail.  And also I'm embarrassed because this decision comes kind of suddenly and out of nowhere, but I am really really invested in it.

The reason I'm really invested in this idea is because, for the first time, I feel like I have found the way that I can help to make the world a better place.  Every day I see new ways in which the world is utter shit, and traditionally my strategy is simply not to think about it.  Because if I think about it I get aggressively depressed.  I am depressed about how terrible everything is and I am depressed about how helpless I feel to improve it in any way.  But the other day I was chatting with Callie and she was telling me about how much she has enjoyed her unexpected year teaching high school math.  And for the first time pretty much ever in my life I actually considered teaching as a thing that I might do.  And I just kept thinking about it, all that day and the next.  And then one day I suddenly realized I had made the decision.  I wanted to be a teacher.  I had found my way to make the world better.

My entire adult life, and even a few times in high school, I have been asked if I wanted to be a teacher.  I have always answered decidedly no.  I said I didn't want to deal with apathetic students, crazy over-protective parents, and unsupportive administration.  You might be surprised that a college freshman even considers unsupportive administrations, but remember that I went to high school in Union and I was very good friends with several of my teachers.  I was pretty familiar with the idea before I ever graduated.

This, of course, begs the question: why have I suddenly decided that I DO want to deal with all those things?  And the answer is....I haven't, necessarily.  I'm still quite worried that I ultimately won't be able to deal with these things.  But I am comforted with my years of customer service experience.  Years of unsupportive upper management and aggressive and entitled customers have, I think, given me some slight preparation for a teacher's life.  The biggest struggle remains, as it ever has been, the apathy of students, which I think will be the hardest thing for me to deal with.

But I like the idea of trying.  I like the idea that maybe I'll be able to transform one apathetic kid into a crazy voracious reader.  For years I've dreamed of how great it will be when I can share all my favorite books with my kids.  Unfortunately, my own children remain a thing of the unknown future.  But as a teacher I have the opportunity to share those stories with other people's kids, which is almost as good.

And on top of all that, on a personal level, I like that teaching is a way to spend my time that I can feel good about.  I'm not simply passing the time doing an ultimately meaningless task just to earn some money.  The idea of spending my life like that has always bothered me.  Which is ironic, considering my enjoyment of pointless, repetitive tasks.  The qualification, of course, is that even the most repetitive of tasks eventually comes to an end.  But a lifetime of them is too much even for me.  Ultimately I am an intrinsically motivated person.  And without a spouse or children to invest my emotions in, the only other thing left is my work.  To do that I need a job I can care about.

But let's be honest, the appeal of teaching is not just altruistic.  It also has some very real benefits, such as...actual benefits.  At some point Obama is going to force the issue and make me get health insurance and a job that supplies it for me is looking pretty appealing at this point.  And while teachers are not known for their lucrative earning prospects, they do earn more than I do right now (and a heck of a lot more than I will be earning next week, when I will become officially unemployed).  I've never wanted tons of money; I just want enough, and for where I am in my life right now, a teacher's salary is enough for me.  Double plus good is the fact that if you can survive spending 5 years teaching in officially declared underprivileged schools the fed will forgive quite a lot of your student debt.  And then of course there's the schedule.  I would be lying if I said that summer vacation and Christmas break didn't sound pretty great.

If this post sounds like I'm trying to justify myself and my decision, well...I kind of am.  The day I realized that I'd sort of inadvertently made the decision I felt really great about it, but being an anxious person, I very quickly began to worry that I was actually mad.  Not to mention, the more I think about it the more I think of obstacles and difficulties.  One of the major problems is time.  The country may be suffering a dire shortage of teachers, and there may be a myriad of "alternative" routes to teaching certification, but I suspect that neither of those facts will translate into a great job by February, which is when I will abruptly run out of money.  The unbearable reality is that I will pretty certainly have to move out of my beautiful little apartment and back in to a place with roommates.  I have yet to come to terms with that reality and continue to pretend that I'll find some way around it.  Even if I do, I'm still not sure how exactly I'll make ends meat.  My plan is to sign up as a substitute teacher, but here in Provo they don't make a ton of money.  But these are worries for another post.  This post is all about the excitement of finally having a goal, even if I don't really have any idea how I'm going to achieve it.  Knowing where you're going is the first step to getting a handle on your life and for the first time in several years, I feel like I do.

So wish me luck!

Several Peas in my Podcast

This week has been a headlong dive into the world of NPR podcasts.  Previously my engagement with the medium was limited to the occasional Wait Wait Don't Tell Me episode and Serial.  But since Monday they're almost all I have listened to all day at work.  I've listened to all of Invisibilia, and many hours of Radiolab, This American Life, 99% Invisible, and Theoretically Speaking (these last two are technically not NPR podcasts but definitely of the same genus).  I learned about the decline of the American automobile industry, filming on location in LA, infant organ donation (eyes in particular), the international American Visa lottery and consequent process of emigration from Kenya to the US, echolocation and the way it gives literal sight to the blind, the largest animals ever to walk, fly, and swim on earth (the blue whale, btw, is the overall winner of that game and amazingly still exists today), the Mau Mau uprising against British Empire, and the history and importance of the "Freudian couch" to the world of psychology.  These are a few of the things I have learned.  

this, by the way, is the answer to "what is the largest animal to ever fly?"
it is an azhdarchid pterosaur and they were comparable in size to giraffes
and I'm sorry that you won't be able to sleep tonight.

Traditionally I have helped myself pass the time at work with TV shows and movies.  I have been known to blast through entire seasons in one day if circumstances line up right, and I'm ok with this.  Y'all know I love stories.  And I'm sure I'll go back to watching all the different shows I'm working on (Buffy, Blue Bloods, ST:TNG, The Office, Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, Once Upon A Time, Bones, Supernatural, and Criminal Minds, among others) eventually.   

In my initial enthusiasm I tried out several additional programs that I quickly discarded.  I find that what I really enjoy are the shows that pick a specific idea, theme, or item and dig into it.  Though there are only 6 episodes thusfar, Invisibilia has become my favorite.  It focuses on "the invisible forces which influence human behavior".  Every episode was engrossing!

As I've steeped myself in them for the last couple of days, I have discovered that the podcasts I'm listening to are an entirely different experience than my usual TV marathons.  It must be admitted that I view TV passively.  I almost never break a show down and analyze it.  Rarely is my mind sparked by an interesting idea.  On the contrary, my brain has a tendency to simply shut off and I am mindlessly entertained.  In contrast, I have found myself invigorated by the shows I've listened to this week.  

It's a combination of several factors I think.  I have the initial enjoyment of learning something new, often on a topic I'd never have otherwise encountered.  My secondary enjoyment is in thinking further on the ideas I've just learned about--finding my own implications and possibilities not necessarily elaborated on the show.  And lastly, I am rediscovering my own love of information which has been dormant for kind of a long time I'm realizing.  I listen to these shows and I want to make my own.  Pick my own obscure topics to research and report on.  I'm remembering my interest in fairy tales and storytelling mechanics and wondering if I could put together a show about those things.  I'm writing this blog post after two months of blog neglect.

this has nothing to do with anything, but its funny and I couldn't find
a Heart and Brain about going to the gym.

Sometimes I see people on facebook posting statuses about how they've been slacking on their workouts, but they finally got back in the gym, and it feels so great!  I don't think I'm ever going to be one of those people.  Going to the gym will always suck.  But diving into hours of information for the love of information is reminding me that I do love working out my brain. 

And that I've been slacking on that for a while.  

And it feels really really great give my brain a little stretch.

Sir Maxwell Octavius and Shaw

basically...these are for mom and aunt Vickie
If you are confused what this post is, then go read the first one from yesterday.

Sir Maxwell Octavius

Role in Story: Mirabel’s best friend

Occupation: octopus

Physical Description: Max is a stuffed blue octopus about 12 inches long that Mirabel has had her whole life. He wears a floppy top hat, monocle, and mustache.

Personality: Sir Octavius prefers to be referred to by his title by all but his closest friends. Mirabel is the only person allowed to address him as Max (though he wishes she’d call him Maxwell). He is a stickler for etiquette and formality. He and Mirabel frequently butt heads as he cannot approve of her “ends justify the means” life philosophy. That said, he is terribly loyal and under questioning by the authorities he will always back her up. He, like Mirabel, struggles to be taken seriously by the people around him. No one but her is able to look beyond the fact that he is a stuffed octopus and appreciate anything else he has to offer. He is, in fact, extremely intelligent and particularly good with the more complex, nuanced ideas Mirabel is often guilty of over-simplifying

Habits/Mannerisms: I’m not sure yet

Background: Sir Octavius was given to Mirabel’s mother by one of her friends from college when she announced her pregnancy. He was the first and only animal to be born of a sewing passion that quickly settled on clothing over toys.

The Tooth Fairy

Role in Story: antagonist? Anti-hero?

Occupation: collecting teeth

Physical Description: dark slinking creatures with long skinny arms and knobbly joints, particularly elbows and knees. Their hands are long, flat, and thin to slide undetected under your pillow. They have incredibly hard, broad, pointed teeth made of something not quite metal nor quite stone, but something in the middle, that is able to crunch up human teeth, and acidic saliva that helps to dissolve the bits. Their bodies are squat and pear shaped. They look like an orangutan mixed with a spider with the hide of an elephant. Their eyes are large, extremely pale, and sunken. They have no hair at all.

Personality: What we call “the tooth fairy” is in fact a race of demons known as Hortz Demons, which eat human teeth as their primary food source. They are extremely solitary, and each has its own territory that typically comprises 200-300 children (as population density varies, so does the geographical size of the area covered by each demon to take in enough children) and if another demon tries to invade their territory they have been known to get into fights—the goal of which typically is to break the other’s fingers, which are very long and spindly, as this virtually guarantees their opponent will not be able to successfully collect any teeth till they heal.
The particular demon of this story is named Shaw. I don’t know precisely who Shaw is yet

Background: In the Dark Ages demons were hunted and despised. As folktales and superstitions waned amongst humans, however, demons were forgotten or rejected. Wary of returning to the days when they were hated and hunted, demons typically encourage the skepticism of humanity. Co-opting stories like the toothfairy have allowed them to eke out a subsistence below human radar. Most of them don’t even leave the money for the teeth anymore as parents, rejecting even the harmless mythos of the toothfairy, have begun taking on that job. Those demons who DO leave money typical steal it out of purses and wallets or under car seats.

External Conflicts: Shaw needs the teeth to stay alive. He also needs to remain hidden from the humans. He has to find some way of stopping Mirabel from discovering the truth about “tooth fairies”.

Notes: I don’t know yet if Shaw is going to be a legitimate villain or if he’s going to be sympathetic. Part of me wants to go unabashedly scary, but part of me wants him ultimately to team up with Mirabel.  

Mirabel

Whilst I was in Oregon over Easter weekend I got this idea for a story about a little kid who gets freaked out about the idea of the Tooth Fairy.  I, of course, did nothing about it, but last night as I was falling asleep I suddenly got this idea for just a moment out of the story.  I swyped it into my phone and fell asleep, but tonight I decided to pull out Scrivener (since my mom so very kindly bought it for me last Christmas) and see if I had any more ideas.  And it turns out that if you open a story document in Scrivener it has all these nifty little writing tools, including character sketch sheets.  I just now roughed out my main character, her best friend, and the tooth fairy.  It was great fun and since who knows if I'll ever come back to the story again (my enthusiasm for projects is all too often terrifyingly brief), I wanted to at least share little Mirabel with you because I think she's kind of fantastic.  So here's a cut and paste of her "character sketch" straight from Scrivener.  Perhaps, if anyone wants, I'll post the other sketches later.

Mirabel

Role in Story: protagonist

Occupation: 5 year old child

 

Physical Description: very compact child, small for her age, but solid. Like a little brick. She has very short curly brown hair and grey eyes.

Personality: intense and businesslike. She doesn’t like people talking down to her or not being taken seriously. She has a nose for condescension and flimflammery. She is shrewd and curious and pragmatic to the point of seeming cynical. She wants to know how and why before she does anything.

Habits/Mannerisms: she pulls on her right ear when she gets frustrated. She shakes her head violently when angry. She has a very slow, rare smile. She walks just a little sideways and clutches a stuffed octopus in her left arm. He goes with her everywhere and is her most trusted confidant.

 

Background: Mirabel was born on September 1, 2010 just before 8 am. She lives in an as yet undetermined city with her parents in an apartment downtown just a block from the city library. She has three older siblings, Joshua, the eldest boy who is 15, 13 year old Anne, and 9 year old Schroeder. Schroeder should have gotten over it by now, but he is still a little bit resentful that he is no longer the baby of the family (in fact, in many ways he still is, as Mirabel has no interest in being coddled). As such he tries to ignore Mirabel whenever possible. Mirabel’s mother teaches 2nd grade and her father works as a middle manager in an advertising company. Mirabel has just started kindergarten this year and is not entirely sure how she feels about it.

Internal Conflicts: Mirabel is very confident and sure of herself, but no one, not even in her own family, takes her seriously. She can’t figure out how to make them listen to her. In her attempts to gain legitimacy she once took her mother’s sewing scissors and cut off all her hair after she heard someone say it made her look like such a doll. This has gained her a reputation as somewhat of a problem child and, contrary to her hopes, did not inspire the people around her to treat her like an adult.

External Conflicts: Mirabel is very uncomfortable with the idea of someone or something coming in the night and stealing away her teeth, even if it does leave her her some spare coins in exchange. Thus, on the verge of losing her first tooth, she is on a quest to discover just who or what this tooth fairy is and what exactly it is doing with all these teeth. 

Nesting in the Nest

Well, as it's been just shy of two weeks since I moved into my new place, I suppose it's time I posted an update about it.  I tried to come up with just the right name for it and I was drifting towards "treehouse" but then I remembered that my friend Katie Pilkington calls her place her treehouse and even though I'm sure she wouldn't mind me using the name too (especially since she lives literally all the way across the country), I still felt like a fourth grade copycat.  So instead I've settled on calling it my nest.  And while a part of me rebels against that name as being far too cutesy for me, another, louder part of me says that cutesy can go screw itself because I can use whatever words I want.  So "nest" it is.

And guys, can I just say...I absofreakinglutely love it.  

I never realized just how disconnected I've been from all of my communal homes until I had one that was all mine that I could really invest in.  It actively makes me happy to wash my dishes and to fold my laundry and to do all the other chores I've typically hated.  Because I know that I am doing them for myself, and if I leave and come back home, everything will still be in exactly the same state I left it.  It is seriously unbelievable what a difference it turns out that makes to me.

And part of my love is the specific apartment I've found.  If I was in a generic modern place I don't think I would feel half so happy.  But I'm not in a generic cookie-cutter apartment.  I finally stopped a few days ago and actually looked at the historical plate beside the door.  This building was built at the end of the 19th century.  That's right, not the last century, but the one before.  That is amazing!  And as a person who has always dreamed of living in an old building, I cannot imagine a more perfect place for me.

Which is not to say that my little nest doesn't have it's...eccentricities.  As I've said several times, the small irritations make the overall enjoyment all the sweeter.  And my little nest does indeed have it's few annoyances.  Mostly these exist in the bathroom, the one aspect of my little home that I find difficult to deal with.  I was going to enumerate on this point, but I decided that if you really want to hear my struggles, you can just ask me.  Otherwise we'll just say...it is an ongoing adjustment, and leave it at that.

Interestingly, a very large part of what I love about my place is all the plans I have for improving it.  Every time I think about this I hear the line in Leap Year when Amy Adams is talking about the apartment she's trying to get and she says "It's perfect, and I already know exactly how I'm going to change it."  But I think the prospect of being able to have home improvement projects is a significant part of the appeal of this place.  All part of that investing I was talking about. 

Anyway, currently, my list of major projects for this place is as follows:

• paint the main room
• build a loft stand for my bed
• either buy a bookshelf or install shelves to get my boxes of books and movies off the floor
• put shelves in the bathroom

The last item is important, but not pressing so I don't really worry about it.  But the first three have been stressing me out since I moved in.  Obvious as it seems, I had to sit down the other night and specifically list out and order my projects so that I could start to come to grips with them.  Simply realizing that I had to paint first before I did anything else was a big deal.  It gives me a place to start and a timeline: I want my dad to help me build my bed stand, and my parents are planning on coming down for a visit in May, so that means I have to get my apartment painted by the end of April.  Ok.

So that is where I am right now.  My plan for tomorrow is to go to the Sherwin Williams next door and pick out the colors I want to paint and bring them 'round for a final sign off from my landlord (if she approves my colors then she will reimburse me for the cost of the paint).  I'm also hoping to start the process of taping everything off tomorrow.  Possibly.  I might just get the colors finalized because baby steps help me not get overwhelmed and just give up.  If I can break the painting task up into micro tasks then hopefully I can actually accomplish it.  But I will say, it is nice to have actual projects that have actual value and discernable results.  One of the perpetual struggles of my life the last few months is an overwhelming sense of "what is even the point of this???"  But fixing up my apartment?  I can definitely see the point to that! 

So...yeah.  That's what is up.  Unfortunately, it's kind of impossible for my place to look clean and neat right now, so I don't really want to post any pictures yet.  Not till they can be the before of the "before and after" series.  But eventually, if you are interested, you shall have some.  

If you're not interested then I have to ask you why you're even here reading this post...?

Thoughts on a night out...

Did you listen to that song?  If not, please stop reading for a second, scroll back up, and click play.  Then you may continue reading.

Tonight I attended the Punch Brother's show in Park City.  The song you should now be listening to was the song with which they opened their set and it was, if you can believe it, even better in person than that recording.

I was able to attend because of the truly magnificent generosity of my dear Matt, who decided that I needed to experience Punch Brothers live and so bought me a ticket as a birthday gift (somewhat prematurely, as my birthday is not till September).

Technically he bought me two tickets, though I intend to repay him for the second.  The goal was for me to bring someone to the show with me.  Unfortunately, it turns out that none of my friends love me enough to come see a band in Park City that most of them have never heard of, which hurt to discover, btw you guys (or, in the case of a few, they HAD heard of the band, they just had lame excuses like poverty or hanging out with their wife's sister who was in town for a short while).

As such, I ended up attending alone.  Which was fine except for the part where all of my witty conversation and observations were wasted with no one to hear and inevitably appreciate them. Which is why I'm sharing them with you all now.

So, without further ado, here is a small selection of the conversations I WOULD have had tonight, had I had anyone to have them with....

....wow...it turns out I did not need to leave nearly so early to get up here.  How shall I pass the hour and 45 minutes until the show starts?  Staring at nothing?  Sounds good....

....these people in front of me literally just pulled out 5 bottles of wine...

....This opening act is so boring that I'm daydreaming about getting a blood clot in my leg from this chair so I can leave to go take care of it...

....HOLY COW I LITERALLY CANNOT HANDLE WHAT AMAZING MUSICIANS THESE MEN ARE!!!....

mostly a picture of the drunk people in front of me, but also of the band all tiny at the front

....dude seriously, this song is so great....

....Chris Thile!  So nerdy!  So adorable!  Might very possibly be the most awkward dancer in the entire world.  Half the time he dances like Scott Pilgrim, the other half like he just needs to pee reeeeeally bad.  He is an even more awkward dancer than Chris Martin....

....Dear Utah, please stop being so tacky and leaving 10-40 minutes early so you can "beat the traffic"....

....And THAT is how you play a bass solo!....

....My mind is still being blown by these guys.  Totes 100% worth it!....

....WHAAAA????  Is he seriously busting out his Bach right now?!  From memory of course.  And this huge crowd of drunk people is actually digging it?  Aw yissssss....


....they drank all five bottles of wine, one bottle per person.  How are they getting home?....

....SHIRT!....

....Oh crap.  I may never get home.  I am 1000% lost on this mountain.  I will die here.  I wonder if anyone besides my mom will miss me.  Oh, this is the road I'm supposed to be on.  Ok, we're good....

....Dear Heber McDonald's:  You might have very fancy bathrooms and a confusing layout, but you gave me diet Dr. Pepper (so nasty) and onions on my hamburger.  We are not friends.....

....Who knew driving Heber canyon at night would be so fun!  I should maybe slow down?  I'll probably definitely get a ticket if a cop sees me.  And animals?  But...Gypsy Kings are singing "I Did It My Way" in Spanish and my speeds remain marginally safe and if I do crash at least there's no one else in the car to die with me! WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prompt 13: My Favorite Musician and Why

This is pretty much of the worst genre of question.  "Your favorite" questions are evil because how many people are there out there who are so resolved and passionate and sure that they have one single favorite anything?  So I refuse.  And this is my blog, so I can do whatever I want.  So I'll give you a selection of artists that I like

I'll begin with the first musician I have any memory of loving...

Yes, when I was about 8 I was completely obsessed with Michael Crawford.  Specifically the soundtrack to Phantom of the Opera, but it wasn't limited to that.  I had these two CDs of him singing various famous Broadway hits and I loved them.  I listened to them all the time and could probably still sing them for you today.  And before you mock me, because I know you will, I just want to make it known that it was none other than my incredibly music-snobby uncle Jesse who introduced me to Crawford.  It was his enthusiastic teenage praise of those two high notes in this very song which converted me to my adoring status.  So Jesse, if you read this, feel free to judge, but know that you must also judge yourself.

Next is the second musician I feel in love with.  I believe I was 9 or 10.  And truly I still love her today.  She holds a place in my heart no one else could fill

I must begin with this song because it was my first love.  This is the song which converted me to Celine.  Also the song which granted her precedence over Michael, as he, too, sings a cover and I infinitely prefer Celine's version to his.  But I also must include two others.  When I asked Kara what song I should post of hers she said "'I Love You,' obviously."  And while I do adore that song, I instantly realized that, while I did always listen to that particular song, it was always on the way to the song that came right after.  So, just as it was on my CD so long ago I first give you "I Love You"

And then

No one can belt out love song like Celine.  And in case you don't believe me when I say that I still love her, this was a large part of the drive up to Union a few weeks back with Kara


Now, after Celine it gets a bit harder to pick my favorite musicians...I've typically tended more to specific songs than to all of any given musician's entire body of work.  I think that, post Celine, the first actual artist I really fell in love with was this guy...

It was the summer I worked at the Boise Cascade Particle Board plant.  I would have been around 19/20. I was working graveyard and that song came on the radio in one of the operator's shacks.  I fell head over heels in love with that voice (how can you not?) and as soon as my shift was over I headed straight over to Wal-Mart to buy the CD.  They weren't open yet (our Wal-Mart was not yet 24/7) so I actually sat in the parking lot and waited for thirty minutes for them to open so I could buy it.  And I have bought every CD since (though I think I've fallen behind and there's one I need to pick up).  Last summer I scored two free tickets; I took Kara and we listened to this song sung live

After my freshman year of college I went on a study abroad to London.  It was there that I met one of the greatest musical loves of my life.  I am speaking, of course, of none other than the legendary Mr. Freddy Mercury.  Broadly, I fell in love with the whole band (Roger Taylor, Brian May, and John Deacon) but most of all did I love Freddy.  It started with a show.  Before I saw We Will Rock You I was about as little  familiar with Queen as it is possible to be in this day and age.  That is to say...I knew "We Will Rock You" and "Another One Bites the Dust" and had a vague familiarity with "Bohemian Rhapsody" but I didn't even realize that all those songs were by the same band.  After We Will Rock You I came home and stayed up all night reading every Queen related wikipedia page I could find.  I discovered that somehow I owned to CDs of Queen's greatest hits (up till that point completely unappreciated and unlistened to).  For the rest of my study abroad and, indeed, the rest of that year I entered what can only be called a Queen coma.  I listened to nothing but Queen.  There was never a time when Queen wasn't playing in my head.  I remember I actually started getting worried about the length and intensity of my obsession.  Then I realized that there was a queen song called "I'm Going Slightly Mad" and just embraced the inevitable.  I eventually surfaced from complete immersion, but to this day they remain a true love.  If Queen comes on you sing.  At the top of your lungs.  Till your vocal chords give out.

This will forever be the anthem of my study abroad and my favorite Queen song.  

This post has turned ridiculously long.  If you're looking for a light at the end of the tunnel, there's only three more to go...that I'm aware of...

So the Queen mania lasted for over a year.  But all things must come to an end, even your obsessive repeat listening to your favorite band.  So eventually I began listening to other music.  I believe it was during my time in Glenwood that I discovered Mika.  Aside from my general love of him music, Mika holds special value to me because it was a long night of singing his music together driving back from Logan to Provo that Taka, aka my surrogate Japanese brother, and I became friends.  Mika writes the happiest, silliest, most brilliant music and I have loved all three of his albums.  This, however, is my absolute favorite of his songs.  It is literally impossible for me to listen to this song without feeling happier.  Ironically.  Because it's actually kind of sad lyrics.

About the same time I also discovered a completely different sounding band called Punch Brothers.

Now, specifically the artist in question here is Chris Thile.  It is possible that I have the kind of crush on him that it's only possible to get on famous people you know you'll never meet--you know, they're the perfect mixture of hopelessness and passion and conviction that if you were somehow ever to meet you would absolutely hit it off.  I have that kind of crush on Chris Thile.  And I love him in every different endeavor he has been involved with.  From his years with Nickel Creek to his absolutely phenomenal collaborations with people like Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer, to his recent covers of Bach on his mandolin.  But above all of those things I love Punch Brothers best.  I love them because every member of the band is just as talented as Thile, but they also haven't quite reached the level of someone like Yo-Yo Ma so they're interested in making music that sells.  The combination of those two factors means that you have absolutely majestic, sweeping pieces like the "Another New World" above or "The Blind Leaving the Blind" (a damn bluegrass concerto Thile wrote after his divorce...go find the 3rd movement and listen to it because it's amazing) and then you have songs like Alex

I've been listening to that song for six years now and I love it every bit as much as I did the first time I heard it.  Also, this is the video that made me fall in love with him.  He's so adorably nerdy!

And at last we make it to the final and most recent of my "favorite" musicians.  And if you've known me for the last several years then you know who I'm talking about and how much I love these guys...

And because they're probably the best contender for my current true favorite musicians, I'm just going to give you lots and lots of songs to listen to because there's no way I can just pick one

there are literally no words for how beautiful I find this song...

Just listen to their voices!!!!!!

Please forgive the ridiculousness of the video and just enjoy this song.  It's from their new album under their new name and it is just the best!

As many videos as I have posted they have so many more wonderful songs.  Go get on Spotify and look them up (Guggenheim Grotto and Storyman).  Listen to every single one of their songs.  They have the most beautiful voices and their songs are catchy and gorgeous and sometimes funny ("Her Beautiful Ideas" will make you laugh if you have any sense of humor at all).  Seriously, buy all their albums and listen to all of their music because it is so so good.

Next up for tomorrow we have: A TV Show You're Currently Addicted To

Prompt 10: The Prompt Was Stupid So I'm Making Up My Own....

...and it is to write my own 30 prompts.  Because these ones have been super ridiculous.  I think that next month I'll try this challenge again, but with these prompts because this way I know they'll be interesting (at least to me)

1. Where did you grow up?  Share some memories...
2. How do you best demonstrate your cooking skillz?  If you literally have zero skillz, then what is your best food-related story?
3. What were your top 3 favorite movies growing up?
4. What is your favorite fairy tale and why?
5. What is your favorite non-big-5 holiday (not Christmas, Halloween, New Year, or Easter) and why?
6. Which literary world would you pick to live in instead of reality, and why?  Remember, you get alllll the parts of your chosen world, good as well as bad.
7. What books are you most looking forward to sharing with your children and why?
8. What superhero do you wish was your best friends with and why?  Also, which version of him or her?
9. What are the bottom five most shameful songs in your collection?
10. What always makes you cry? Song/movie/story/commercial/etc
11. If you were to suddenly develop a mental illness, which is most likely for your personality?
12. If you had to have a mental illness, but you got to pick, which would you pick?
13. What are your top 3-5 favorite jokes?
14. What is your dream career (regardless of its actual existence)?
15. What is one random, non-touristy place you want to visit?
16. What are your top 5 secretly favorite features/abilities/attributes about yourself?
17. Is there anything you wish people knew about you?
18. What is your weirdest food eccentricity?
19. What are your five favorite fantasy wardrobe items?
20. What is your best story?
21. Which Disney film is your favorite and why?
22. What's the best meal you've ever eaten and why?
23. What is one skill you wish you had the time/money/resources to learn?
24. If you could instantly change one single thing about yourself what would it be? How do you feel about that?
25. What are your top 5 biggest pet peeves?
26. Is there anything you secretly love/want that you're afraid to admit because you don't think people will think it is "you"?  (does this even make sense?)
27. Where are your top 3 dream cities to live in and why?
28. You showed up to work with a black eye...how did you get it?  
29. The Doctor shows up.  After the obligatory world-saving, where is the first place you'd go?
30. What are 5 songs you love to belt out in the car?  

Prompt 9: A Picture of the Item I Last Purchased

It just so happens that I made a trip out to Target today.  This means that I purchased several things.  To determine the very last thing I purchased I suppose I must consult my receipt

Even though I distinctly remember the cashier scanning these quite early (he was deeply confused by the fact that they were called hobo bags) they are the last items listed on the receipt.  So we shall say they're the last items I bought.  So here is a picture of them.  Slightly irresponsible a purchase as they may have been, I am quite happy with them

I had initially thought to give the green and white striped one to Kara, but the more I look at it the more I like it.  Not to mention she just snapchatted me that it looks like me.  Which is a nice way we have of saying that we would never wear/carry/have whatever the other is showing us, but we appreciate that the other person likes it.  So looks like two new purses for me!  After I'm done writing this I think I'll check if I can fit my laptop into them.  If so, that will make a very awesome purchase indeed.  Always looking for ways to cart around this giant laptop...

Coming up next we have #10: A photo of my favorite place to eat...

Prompt 7: My Dream Wedding

This post is a day late, but only because I really got into this prompt.  Planning a fantasy wedding when you don't have to consider constraints of money or your fiance's taste turns out to be a whole lot of fun (with just the slightest hint of bitterness because we're being honest and contrast makes everything taste better).

Perhaps this should have come first, but it wasn't till we'd both spent an unnecessary amount of time searching for the perfect dress for me that Kara asked me what the "essence" of my wedding would be.  Once I figured this out it really helped me settle some of the "but I like allllll of them!" quandaries.  Like what dress I would hypothetically wear.  So without further ado, the "essence" of my wedding: organic, dreamy evening wedding with touches of Southern Gothic.

This leads us first to the venue.  My ideal venue would be a southern plantation with a long avenue of southern oaks draped in Spanish moss, absolutely covered in twinkly glowy lights.

photo by Marc Walter

Imagine that just covered all over with glowy lights!

The tables would all be decorated with moss and flowers and vines and such.  And there would be tables because, as this is a fantasy, I can afford to put on a big dinner like we had at Ralf's wedding.  Full catered dinner for my close family and friends.  Delicious food...in fact, I'd be willing to have exactly what Ralf had, because that food was freaking delicious!  Anyway, I can't find any good pictures of what I'm imagining but imagine soft moss, candles, and windy twisty vines and woods.  And the dishes are all clear glass that catch the light and are beautiful.  This is where I would have it

Which leads to my colors.  Here is a link to look at them (ish).  It's hard to make exactly the right ones, but that's a pretty close idea.  The primary colors would be the orange and charcoal, with the blue, heather, and green as accents.  I deeply deeply long to have orange poppies involved in this, but I just don't know if they'll fit.  But I will absolutely have roses.  Because I love roses.

this is possibly the most perfect thing I could ever imagine

So we've got an evening wedding covered all over with lights, with the colors down.  As far as things go, I guess we're just missing the dress and ring.  Here you go:

I don't even want to know how expensive this dress is, but I could buy it here:
http://www.allurebridals.com/products/8901

I could buy this here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/96725424/lovely-elvin-organic-flow-band?ref=market

So, obviously the dress would need to have a sleeves of some sort.  I have some ideas, but I'm not sure exactly how I would do that.  Also, I would want the bodice to be less crusty, more embroidered.  And for the ring, I would just want to add a raw sapphire on the left in that space.  A dark blue one.

So that's that for things.  I also would say that my ideal wedding would also have a specific feeling.  My favorite thing about Ralf's wedding was the way every single person came there with the intention of staying and having fun and dancing.  It was literally a celebration.  Not like so many of the weddings I've been to here in Utah where it's more like a ritualized meet and greet where people come, eat some food, hug the bride and groom, sit for a set number of minutes, and then leave.  I want a real dinner, and I want actual dancing where all of the people dance, not just my dance friends.  I want us to party late into the night.  I want people to make new friends and talk to each other.  That is also one of the most important parts of my dream wedding.

prompt 8 is a song to match my mood...so keep your eyes peeled today for that

Prompt 6: An animal I'd love to keep as a pet

I'm just going to point out...none of these are so much "writing" prompts as they are picture prompts.  Annoying.

We're going to do this in two categories, actual reasonable pets, and fantasy pets you only get to have if you're a rajah in turn of the century India.  First, normal pets

My current dog obsession is a blue brindled French Bulldog or Boston Terrier.  Basically dogs with bat ears who look like they got their faces smashed in by a door.  Look at these guys!

Look at him!  They're so compact and squatty!

another frenchie

I literally cannot handle Frenchie puppies

Boston terriers have longer legs and are a little less powerfully built

puppy!!!

I would also like to have a cat.  I don't really have a particular type in mind exactly (Russian Blues are pretty, as are Ragdolls) it's more of a personality thing.  I'd need to meet the cat and see how we get on.  But because cats rule the internet, here are some cute pictures of various cats for you to enjoy

Russian blue

ragdoll

black cat of indeterminate species

As for unrealistic pets...well...

obviously the slow loris

pygmy elephant, equally obvious 

miniature giraffe...why are you still even questioning these....

a freaking tiger!  Really any big cat, but especially a tiger

a hedgehog!

a real, normal sized elephant.  It would not be my pet so much as my friend

a freaking river otter!!!

"'sup"
yes, an owl.  Because I am part of the Harry Potter Generation

I'm pretty sure there are many more animals I have longed to own as a pet, but that's probably enough for one post.  If you come back tomorrow you can find out what my dream wedding will look like!

*Edit*
Literally the minute I hit publish I thought of one more that needs to be included

Prompt 5: A Photo Of Myself Two Years Ago

This is, quite possibly, the best picture of me to exist in the entire world.  It was inspired by this blog post from The Bloggess.  If you don't know who the Bloggess is then I really have to question our friendship.  Well, I say inspired by, but who are we kidding.  The minute I saw this gigantic metal chicken just hanging out on the side of the road I knew I was going to have a picture with it.  It was whole minutes after that that I remembered The Bloggess and Beyonce.  There was actually a whole series of photos taken that day, featuring, in addition to myself, the wonderful Callie and Summer.  We literally drove out to Home Depot with no other goal in life but to take pictures with this vast menagerie of cast iron/aluminum (the chicken was aluminum) creatures that this man had put out for purchase.  It was the best possible use of a day.  And for good measure, here are pictures of Callie and Summer posing with some of the other, slightly more reasonably sized animals

This was Summer and the Bear's engagement shoot

Callie cradling a baby t-rex...presh!

Come back tomorrow to find out what kind of animal I wish I had for a pet.  Feel free to post guesses in the comments...

Prompt 3: My Idea of the Perfect First Date...

I suppose I should link to this blog post on my tinder profile...

Let's see...what would be my perfect first date.  Aside from April 25...

Ok, so, to begin with, let's be honest, the perfect date must obviously start with the perfect guy.  A high-seas adventure in piracy can't save a night with a guy you just aren't in to.  Conversely, getting arrested by a Honduran drug cartel could be the best night of your life if you have the right partner in crime in the cell with you.  Strangely, both of those scenarios involve crime...

That being said, this is the best I can do without a specific guy in mind:

First, all major activities of the night would be disclosed in advance.  Surprises are well and good, but elephant rides and swing dances require very different clothing and I am very big on dressing for the occasion.  The only time this rule is negated is if you are Logan Huntzberger and can simply supply ballgowns  etc, in correct sizes, as needed.

Second, and this is especially important since it is the first date, the guy may strive to take me out of my comfort zone if he's big into that, but I have a comfort zone of out of comfort zone and he best not take me out of that.  Which is to say, rollercoasters: ok.  Haunted houses/horror films: not ok.  Awkward and absurd social interactions with strangers: ok.  Sports: not ok.  That last one is entirely to preserve my dignity and nothing he says or does will change my hatred of him if he tries to force me against my will.  He can deal with it.

But enough of what shouldn't be done.

Ok, I'm imagining the best night I can...and I think it begins with him picking me up and taking me over to his place where we would cook dinner together.  As this is a fantasy, we're going to make him a non-college student without roommates and with a decent, taken care of place.  Cooking together (I have no patience for sitting awkwardly whilst he cooks) will give us something to talk about to break the ice and by the time we sit down to eat we are comfortable with each other.  If we're trying something new and exciting I want it to be new and exciting to him to.  I don't want him to be doing that patronizing "let me share my world wisdom with you" thing.  If we both hate it he doesn't get embarrassed, he just laughs with me and we go get fast food or something.

After that we could go see a movie if there is anything good showing.  This is important not for the sake of the movie, but because after the movie we go get ice cream for dessert and talk about it.  And I mean really talk about it.  He never tells me that I'm over thinking things or that it's just a movie and I should just enjoy it.  Nor does he sit there with no opinions of his own, nodding dumbly while I talk.  He listens to me and he also shares his own ideas.  We have an actual conversation.

Now, since this is the perfect date, not just a pretty good date, the evening doesn't end here.  Instead, after our ice cream and conversation, we finally go blues dancing.  This gives us both the opportunity for some physical connection, but also a bit of a respite as we mingle with everyone else at the dance.  Blues is nice because I am more and differently at ease there than anywhere else.  And since I'm fantasizing, the two of us will have a really great dance connection.

After blues dancing we shall excuse ourselves and he shall take me home.  Since this is a first date by no means should he kiss me at the end of it.  But a nice, solid hug would be quite lovely.  Having hugged me, however, he then mustn't linger because I hate when I can't end a social interaction and it gets drawn out into pure awkward.

And that is that.  Somewhat uninspired, I'll admit, but it really does sound nice to me.  Really nice.  I think I nailed this prompt pretty solidly.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Prompt 4: My Favorite Photograph of My Best Friend

Day 1: Are Writing Prompts Always Stupid? I Hope Not...

You guys, I'm already behind.  This is so sad.

Ok, so I am officially starting the 30 days of prompts.  Prompt #1 was to post a picture of something I ate today...or, in this scenario, something I ate yesterday.  That is the world's stupidest prompt and since facebook is already swamped in food selfies, I refuse.  Also, I ate very little yesterday and have pictures of none of it.  So I shall instead write about...

Day 1 [as suggested by Kara]: my most poignant/evocative smell

I've never really considered my sense of smell to be terribly keen, to be honest.  But I can tell you that there were two smells that instantly came to mind when Kara gave me this prompt, and they both come from my grandparents' old place in New Mexico.

The first is the smell of my grandma's food room.  Imagine a dark, mysterious room out in the barn that you've only ever been inside a few times.  In my memory it was lit with a single low-wattage bulb, giving me only partial view of lines and lines of jars from ceiling to floor.  Those jars held magical things like canned peaches and pears and cherries and surely many many others though I have no idea, now, precisely what.  We lived in New Mexico, but that room was always cool, no matter how hot it was.  I'm realizing now, thinking back on it, that she must have packed oodles of insulation on the walls, which would explain why I remember the door being so thick, like the door to a vault.  Somehow it smelled cool in there.  I don't know how.  But it was the smell of cool, just ever so slightly damp soil, mixed with glass, and a hint of dust.  As a child it was purely exciting to me, signaling my presence in a room as mysterious and promising as Lucy's wardrobe must have felt.  Now that I'm an adult, I still get that same feeling of expectant excitement, as though I can find a treasure if I explore long enough, but I also feel utterly comforted and at home.  I judge all food rooms based on the presence or lack of that smell.  My mom's food room in Union has it.  The last time I was in my aunt Marge's it also had it.  Those are the only other places I have found it.  But it makes them two of my favorite places in the world.

As for the second smell...let me tell you a story.  Perhaps the most revolting of all of my habits as a wee toddler was the intense joy I had in sucking on my grandpa's watch.  Mind you, my grandfather's primary business, as I remember it, was selling bolts and nuts, and his spare time was devoted to manly tasks like clearing land or simply washing his hands with grease and machine oil.  Thus, his watch was absolutely caked in years of collected oil, dirt, and other grime.  Sitting on his lap and sucking on that disgusting watch I apparently absorbed, all unknowing, the scent of machine oil straight into my amygdala where it lurked in secret till last year, when Caleb bought his CnC mill.  He put it in his garage, where it sat for a day or two seeping the smell of machine oil into the entire room.  I opened the door and it was as though I was walking into a hug from my grandpa.  I literally stood in the doorway inhaling deep breaths for minutes.  It smells a little bit like gasoline mixed with dirt.

Thusfar, those are the two smells that have had the most profound visceral effect on my memory.  Interesting that they both are related to my grandparents, and I described both as reminding me of dirt.  I don't know what that means.

Coming up next time (later today) is prompt #2: Post a picture of yourself and describe your day (seriously, who is writing these???)