The Dance...

There are a few songs that I HATE hearing at dances...

...some because they are overplayed and retarded, like YMCA, Cotton-Eyed Joe, etc...

...but some I 'hate' because they make me depressed...

Garth Brooks 'The Dance' is one of them. 2 boyfriends broke up with me after we listened to that song...no offense Garth, but I REALLY despise that song now...

Tonight that song wasn't played, but another one was. I assigned it, with the approval of an ex, as 'our song' unless we came up with a better one.

It was one of the first songs played tonight.

Yeah, I officially hate YSA dances...thankfully I had Cody and Lindsey to talk to most of the night...

Long shot for Haiti...

Alright peoples...I know this is a long shot, but you never know who knows who...

I have a friend in Haiti right now who is traveling around finding all the orphanages, seeing if they have any supplies and such, and is trying to get aid to those who desperately need it. He went to Haiti on a whim, not knowing what to do but knowing that he needed to help somehow, and was led to start helping the orphanages. It's been a LOT of work just getting addresses and such for the orphanages there (evidently they don't believe in telephone books w/ addresses in Haiti...).

Anyways...he has started the process of evaluating needs of orphanages. His problem now is finding a long-term provider of supplies for these orphanages...food, medical, everyday needs such as diapers...

He is working with the Salvation Army, but they will be no good as a long term provider due to a lot of red tape that would be involved.

Any takers? Know someone that is already down there and is just looking for good places to land their supplies?

You can check out the work my friend is doing HERE.

On one hand, I think he is a crazy person for going all by himself to a country where he doesn't speak the language and where he could very easily run into trouble, considering all that is going on...on the other hand, I wish I was in a situation where I could go down and help in some way...so here I am attempting to help in some small way.

He has already made contact with the Church there, but they are not sure if it will go anywhere...if you know a higher up in the Church that could get things moving, that would be really really really awesome...or ANY organization that could get things moving for these kids. He found an orphanage that had over 200 kids, their building totally decimated, 6 adults taking care of them all, and NO supply shipments...and he found them YESTERDAY...UNbelievable...

Root Beer...Mozart?

Yes...root beer Mozart.

Just watch...and be entertained...and yes, this is real. He does these type of videos...with all kinds things, cups, rubber bands, etc.

For your viewing pleasure:

Practice makes blisters...

Practiced my cello today...

I now have a blister on pinky...

Angry about the blister, but I have practiced two days in a row...maybe I am on the right track? :)

I have missed playing Charlie...he is fairly low maintenance...although I am pretty sure all four strings need to be replaced and my bow is in dire need of new hair...3 strings for sure, not positive on the D string, but I might as well do all four...but it will have to wait for a bit...strings are expensive!!! Way more expensive than the last time I bought them! Geesh...

Alrighty...time to attempt sleep...good night...

The Non-Injury Report

I fell...

And I DIDN'T hurt myself!!!

(those of you who are new readers, this is an amazing feat, considering I am about the most accident prone klutz on the planet!)

It was raining, I came into a building with tile floor...wearing flats...

Slip:

(the following is what was running through my mind as time comes to a near standstill as I am falling)

"No!!! $$$$$$$$$$ I can't afford this! I can't break something now! I don't have money, I don't have insurance...sure I have the Aflac, but that won't cover everything!!! Oh, please, oh please!!! (VERY fast prayer to Heavenly Father) K, maybe I can land where it will just be a sprained ankle...no, I have to climb a gazillion stairs everyday, NO INJURY!!! Who am I kidding, I will probably have to have another knee surgery after this...DANG IT!!!"

I land looking like this:


Except without the right leg up...but it felt just like this looks...awkward!!! No one else was in the hall, so I slowly brought both legs in front, wiggled about waiting for the sharp pain indicating something broken...and it didn't come! Instantly I thought CRAP! It's worse!!! I can't feel anything!!!

K, not that bad, but I did freak out, cause in the past the pain of a dislocated knee didn't come until about a minute afterwards...

NO dislocation, no sprain, nothing! I got up and WALKED all by me-self. :)

My left ankle is VERY stretched out, and the left knee has a nice bruise and a bit of swelling, but nothing else...

I am writing my orthopedic surgeon and informing him that he did his job right...I fell, and in any normal circumstantial fall like this, Elizabeth would have a dislocated knee. But it stayed in place!!!

I think my muscles are in really good shape right now too because of all the 'Thriller' I have been doing... ;)

Picture Proof

Me teaching Thriller...I am the one in the red shirt...

Survived and New...

I ended up doing a platelet donation...which takes 1 1/2 hours and involves being stuck in both arms (left arm vein was playing hide and go seek so she had to wiggle it and poke and then gave up and had another lady 'catch' the vein), with blood going out one and in through the other...they spin it in a machine, and the platelets separate from the blood...they have a really bad shortage right now, so I figured why not. Watched Hitch while I was hooked up. And now I get to go to Disneyland for free! Woot!

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Updated the layout so it wasn't Christmassy...this may last til next Christmas...but we shall see.

Added a playlist...I have toyed around with the idea of making one, and I finally did. Sorry if it's annoying to you, just hit pause...these are all songs that I like and listen to fairly regularly cause I like them so much...it's kind of an odd mix, but hey, that defines me perfectly.

Some of them aren't my favorite version of the song/piece, but I only have so many choices on playlist...like the Gregorian Chant, I don't think I have ever listened to that one, but I love listening to it...didn't before my Medieval music history course, but after learning how to read and sing it, I LOVE it...and the Tchaikovsky...definitely not my favorite recording, nor the movement I would've posted, but I love those 4th and 5th symphonies...

Give a Day, Get a Day...

Great incentive for someone like me who is a child at heart...

Today I am doing a bit of service. I am donating blood (really hoping the iron level is nice and HIGH!). In return for this little bit of service, I am getting something in return...

Now, I have given blood a bunch of times before, without getting anything in return except a juice box and a cookie. I usually do a double donation, since I am O+ and they can really use double donations for that.

But today, I am getting something in return...a free ticket to Disneyland. :) Yay! Let me know if you would like to join me!

Check it out if you are interested in doing a day of service! LINK

Nope...

Either he read my post last night (unlikely, he was babysitting about 60 young men) OR he got a clue. He aggravated me a bit, but he didn't aggravate my President, so he is safe from the wrath of Elizabeth. Oh, and he didn't play Thriller, which at first was aggravating me, but as the night wore on, I was going to be mad if he did...I was SO done...everything from the thighs down is sooooooooo sore...that's what I get for teaching Thriller to a bunch of youth Saturday and being on my feet all day Friday...

(see previous post if you are totally lost)

No I would not have gotten someone to record it! But you would have been blessed with a picture of my hand after the event, probably in a cast knowing me...

Oh, but he would've totally deserved it, mark my words...

I am so sore and exhausted from conference...sleeping today, napping tomorrow...yay...

Might be...

I might be punching someone in the face tomorrow...

I will definitely let you know if it comes to pass...oh, he is totally ticking me off...

You do NOT aggravate/annoy/pester/nag/belittle/question/etc. MY president if I am her secretary, which he did all of tonight...especially during the middle of Winter Youth Conference, when she is already on edge...

I do not put up with crap like that...good thing I didn't know earlier, I would've done it then...

I don't want to hurt my hand, but I swear if he does one thing out of line tomorrow that gets her aggravated, WAMMO...

This will be a first...I have slapped a guy before, and for good reason...never punched one...

Hopefully I can pull him over to the side so the youth don't see...I don't want them to think I am a violent person...

After Two Long Years...

I had pretty much given up ever figuring out where I put my Popper Studies...it was driving me bonkers...I knew I practiced them 3 years ago...and when I quit my cello lessons I didn't throw them away...I never threw away music unless it was copyrighted music that I was using for my schoolwork which I had a copy of...and then I threw it away (yes, I really am that kind of goody-tu-shoes (sp?)...I BUY all of my music, recording or sheet, I delete any music that I do not own after I am done using it for whatever class I was using it for...unless I liked it and then I bought it...a total ninny)...

During my undergraduate the cello professor at ASU, Thomas Landschoot (great teacher btw, it just kind of threw me that he was so close to my age...and I probably drove him nuts as a student, for which I feel bad about after teaching college students myself) had everyone in his studio buy Popper's 40 Studies: High School of Cello Playing, Opus 73 for cello. We were supposed to come to our lesson the next week having memorized whatever one of the 40 he assigned us. I was pretty much the only one who didn't...

...now give me a bit of a break, I was a Music Education student...being a professional cellist was definitely not on my radar...that is not a great excuse, but it's better than saying I was a Performance student...I did change my degree to a Bachelor of Arts, music being the focus and music theory and composition the specialty...but still...

...and I have a severe difficulty memorizing anything...believe me, it took a great deal of brain power to do any scripture mastery which I quickly forgot after memorizing it, the YW theme only sticks because I did it every Sunday for six years (no good now, it's changed a good bit), and I once did the Proclamation because I would get a free meal out of it...hmm, now there's a thought...

Anyways, guilt has crept it's way into me, and I determined to memorize every single one of those freakishly difficult (for me) studies, even if it killed me. This determination came during the hey day of my masters program.

Problem: after taking a year of lessons at Alabama, I lost my Popper studies book. Hard to memorize when you don't have them.

Seriously, I probably looked through ALL of my stuff, including my music stuff in NM, about 30 times...thoroughly...

So today I am going through my binders looking for my set theory binder to do a refresher course on terminology...I pull out an unmarked binder, open it up (it's my Beethoven Sonata's course binder)...and what is sitting in the middle of the binder???

My Popper Studies...

Why is it there? ................................I am at a loss for words on that one. Can't even fathom why I would have stuck it in there in the first place. Or why I didn't see it when I packed up those binders the last 4 times...

Well...now I have it. I guess I can start taking a crack at them to make my undergrad teacher proud.

Over freezing...

I felt like I could go outside in shorts today...it was FINALLY over freezing...''

hoo.ray.

To celebrate, I went out to the mall to look at all the things I can't afford, Rite Aid for pencils, Publix for stamps and choc chip cookies (Rite Aid evidently does not sell stamps...grr), and Barnes and Noble for my sanity...it's one of my happy places...there is just something about the smell of books with a topping of coffee that does something for me...seriously, I would probably be all romanticized out if Mr. Really Right pops the question at Barnes and Noble...and I am so not kidding...I LOVE TO READ...

I am beginning to hate Stravinsky...and I really like him...

Just reading about his twelve-tone music ALL DAY LONG...yeah...love to read, but not when it makes me go cross-eyed...

Hopefully I will get used to it by the end of the week so it will be no biggie...just need to get back into the swing of things...

Sad Day!

Michael Buble is engaged...:( to a beautiful Argentinian actress...who was the girl in the music video that I posted a few months ago, now that I think about it...

Dang it...I am running out of options people...

Toys

I have finally set up and put together my Christmas presents/deals I couldn't pass up day after Thanksgiving

1) Epson Printer I bought for $25 at Best Buy day after Thanksgiving...it has this weird gray thing that until I screwed up and got a paper jam I didn't realize moves over to the side...but it works now, and much better than my older Epson...only problem with it now is that it is louder than my older one...

2) 1 Terabyte external hard drive...love love love love love love love it!!! I have SOOOOO much room!

3) The new laptop. Bought it way back in October. I can't believe I didn't post a blog about it...it is splendiforous. Comes with skyping capabilities, but more importantaly a 3GB RAM and 320 GB of space on the laptop itself, AND a keyboard with a separate number keypad...love love love love love...totally could've really used this last May when I was inputing all the girls info for girls camp! Too bad I won't be here long enough to put it to good use for that, but it has already proved RATHER useful to me!

I didn't do this on purpose, but they all match...they are all shiny and black. Yay for matching electronics...

Boy, I tell you what, typing alone is moving SO much faster on this new laptop. Typing my thesis is almost a real pleasure...just because of the kick I am getting from the lightning speed of this new laptop. It came with Windows 7 on it, and wow...I open the laptop, and it is up and running. No 5 minute waits for the laptop to warm up. Double click on anything, it is up a second later. No wait time.

Yay! :)

A Red Letter Day...

Today is a big day in the state of Alabama.

One...it's snowing...it NEVER snows here...so that automatically tells you that today is going to be a bit of a significant day.

Two...school is out...as in all the public schools in Alabama...because of the 80% chance of snow that we were going to have today...no snow on the ground when this was announced. Now, Alabamians will probably be some of the worst drivers I have ever seen on the road with snow on the ground, but canceling school? hmm...(no, I don't think the snow is the really real reason that they are canceling school...)

Three...The University of Alabama posted this on their website:

The University of Alabama will resume its normal operations on Monday, Jan. 4 as scheduled. However, given the number of students who have to be in Pasadena, Calif., to represent The University of Alabama on Jan. 7 and the number of faculty, staff and students who want to be there, we are dismissing classes on Jan. 6-8. Students should expect additional assignments to make up for the lost class time.

...yes...they cancelled school because a number of students need to be in Pasadena California for a very special reason...

Four...which to ALL Alabamians, including those who aren't Alabama fans is really number one, the University of Alabama is about to play Texas in their attempt to win their 13th National Championship.

Rollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Tide Roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swashbuckler...

Yeah, some of you may have seen this already, but if not, WATCH the following...it is AWESOME...