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Saturday, November 4th, 2006
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7:06 pm - IL Divo
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You know..... in these current times, where too much crap (excuse my language) music is produced and released, it's such a blessing to find a new group that truly gives you goosebumps when you listen to them. Personally I can't remember the last time I found a new favorite group.... I don't think I've had a new favorite group or artist since oh ... I don't know ... I can't even remember..... probably sometime in the 90s. Maybe 89s.
Anyway. I was fast forwarding through Dancing with the Stars... it's a result show and who am I kidding... I don't need all the recaps and the interviews, I just wanna see who got the boot. (And yeah even though I fast forward, I still need to SEE the end result... hearing or reading it isn't the same.... :))
However, I do like to see what the entertainment is going to be, and when these four guys started singing, it truly gave me goosebumps, it was like walking through the desert for weeks and finally reaching an endless pool of nice, clean, cool water.... (Free water of course...) (And not that I know what that would feel like.... never been much of a desert wanderer myself....)
Now what's cool about these guys is that they're seriously talented.... They don't need boosted sound effects and loud guitar play to cover up their voices and/or drown out their voices and still making the band as a whole sound good... Let's put it this way, if the power went out during one of their concerts, they'd still be able to put on one heck of a show.
(Although in the dark.....:D These guys were pretty FINE too might I add.... so visuals are a plus..)
Well.... so mark the date... I finally found a new favorite group. It may be 20 years till next time ;)
current mood:  nostalgic
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| Sunday, June 4th, 2006
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6:29 pm - Sparkpeople
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So I have to start losing some weight. HAVE to!
One thing I am good at is counting. Counting carbs.
Now I've decided that instead of counting carbs I want to count calories. Sure it'll be slower, but I can have more good food.
I found this great web page called sparkpeople.com ... it has calorie counters, articles on health, it has a meal planner which can plan out your healthy meals for you every day (you can choose whetehr or not to use it) and it creates a personal profile for you on how many calories you can have every day etc. AND it generates a week's grocery list for you, listing everything that you need in order to follow the meal plans for the week.
I mean...it doesn't get more convenient than that!!
The best part? It's FREE!
So we'll see.... I really have to lose some weight, I can't move back up to where I was before Atkins, then all my work was done in vein! So I think I can do this calorie thing... my self discipline is excellent once I put my mind to something.
Anyway ......... I hope it works.
Damn it's hot here.......I think I gotta hit up the pool again.
current mood:  hot
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| Tuesday, January 10th, 2006
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10:23 am - Elton John
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I have a newfound respect and admiration for Sir Elton John.
I've always been a big fan of his, I love his music & respect him tremendously for being who he is & staying true to his own self...
People who are such originals, who stick to their own fashions and personalities despite nasty comments from tabloids and whatnot... they rock. I admire these people! I wanna be like that!
Anyway.... back to my newfound admiration for Elton John.
I was watching an interview with him the other night. At the end of the show, he said he can take any piece of text and make a song out of it, then he asks the people in the audience if anybody has a book on them.
One student hands Elton John a copy of "Peer Gynt" (One of my favorite plays by the way, written by Henrik Ibsen...). Elton opens the book to a random page, sits down at the piano and starts singing the book.
It was beautiful! I'm not sure what I expected, perhaps I expected some random music notes to go with the text, but I certainly didn't expect him to produce something that could easily have been his next million dollar hit. Just like that, right out of the blue from some random piece of text, he created a beautiful ballad, it was just amazing to watch him work!
I was seriously in awe. This man is definitely a musical genius. Mozart probably saluted him from his grave. I was just so impressed, I can't stop thinking about it. I knew the man was a musical gift to the world, but he certainly blew my mind with his Peer Gynt stunt.
Cheers to you Sir Elton!
(I should probably be listening to Elton while writing this, but I'm listening to another musical genius instead ;))
current mood:  impressed
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| Tuesday, December 27th, 2005
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11:59 am - Babies!
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First of all...YAY! My internet is back, which means I'm back from the stone age and whew, I hope I never have to go back there.... it's a pretty freaky world out there with no internet, let me tell you .... *shudders*
So at this one Christmas party I went to, there was this adoreable little teeny weeny baby. And he was cute, believe me....very cute. However, just the sight of this baby seemed to give green light for everybody who has been biting their tongue this whole time (including my mom, who hasn't said a peep about wanting grandkids this whole time...). I'm suddenly bombarded with comments and outbursts "oh won't you hold the baby" and "don't you want one of these" and "when will you have one" ....
It's not like I haven't felt the stares and heard the wheels grinding before, but it seems that if someone brings a baby to an official gathering, it instantly makes it a "Free-for-all" night of baby bombardment of any married females who hasn't yet given birth to anything! (Let me emphasize the word YET as I've still got plenty of time ahead of me and all hope is not lost... I should've threatened with adding another year for each time someone asked me about having kids that night, maybe it would've helped:))
Anyway, December 26th, the day after the party, we go to see "The Chronicles of Narnia". (GREAT great movie by the way...absolutely wonderful!) A woman carrying a baby came in, and everyone holds their breath and expands their seat vicinity by placing jackets and gloves on every seat around them, waiting for her to pick a row to sit in....and guess who was the lucky winner of their exclusive company.
The kid was holding 2 balloons, and I knew trouble was brewing once the balloons started slapping us in the face as the pair of them squeezed by us to sit in the seats next to us. There was no "I'm sorry" or "Excuse me" or even an attempt on the mother's behalf to keep the balloons out of our faces...not that they were that much trouble but it's the principle of it you know? If I hit someone in the face with a balloon I'll apologize at least. (Then laugh.... because it's funny after all...)
As predicted, once the movie starts, the baby starts crying. I'm not talking about a little teeny baby-whimper. This was full-out red-faced-future-tuba-player-lungs- foghorn type of crying. The mother just says "Ssssssh"...as if the baby would understand it...and ignorantly keeps watching the movie, whereas the rest of us in the entire theater miss the beginning. People start saying "Please take the baby outside"... she just sits there... "Ssssh....."
Ok...the baby does NOT understand the concept of SSSSSH yet! He's like 4 months old, maybe 5....at the most....all he's worried about is his next meal and his next diaper change.
After about 30 minutes of constant wailing, people start shouting "GET THE DAMN KID OUT OF THE THEATER!" Finally this person gets the hint and starts gathering the baby's balloons and I'm just eagerly waiting to be slapped in the face on their way out. All of a sudden a loud BANG echoed throughout the theater and I knew I no longer had to be concerned about the balloons. At this time the entire audience is so frustrated with the mom, we all burst out in laughter at the sound of the popping balloons, and the baby's cry, who I didn't think could possibly get any louder, escalates to amazing decibel levels and quickly ended the short amusement we all experienced from the balloon incident.
Finally they make their way out of the theater and the rest of the movie was amazingly quiet. My point being that any little nudging and persuasion that was performed on the 25th at the Christmas party was definitely annulled and probably put back on the minus side by the movie theater incident, confirming my suspicion... I'm not quite ready to sacrifice my moviegoing experience quite yet...
So I'll be an old parent...who the heck cares.
Well...I better go see what else I missed during last week's time-travel.
current mood:  frustrated
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| Tuesday, November 29th, 2005
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8:42 pm - Soldiers' Angels
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Today, I wanted to talk about something that I really love.
A few months ago, I joined an organization called "Soldiers Angels". It was founded by a lady whose son was stationed in Iraq. As she sent him care packages, she found out that there were a lot of soldiers there who didn't get care packages or letters from home at all, whether it was because they didn't have family/friends at all or perhaps their families were financially unable to send them things, it was sad that these heroes out there in the desert didnt receive anything from home. Therefore, she started "Soldiers Angels".
Through Soldiers Angels, you can adopt a soldier, to whom you send care packages, letters and cards, and if they have an email address, you can also send emails. I have through the months adopted 4 different soldiers, 2 of them have already been sent safely home from Iraq. I had 1 soldier who I was sending packages to already, and since it is Christmas, I figured it wouldnt cost me much to adopt a 2nd soldier and surprise him for the holidays with a couple of boxes with goodies in them. I get these wonderful "flat rate" priority boxes from the post office, which you can pack full of stuff and it costs very little to send them, no matter how much they weight. (Thanks to USPS for providing these boxes, it definitely makes it much more affordable to be able to do something like this...)
I have just finished loading my car up with boxes that tomorrow will be going out to a couple of soldiers in Iraq. I just finished shopping for them today, and when I taped and labeled the last box, I felt so good. No matter what people's opinion is regarding the war, the men and women that are fighting in Iraq are merely employees doing their job, regular human beings like you and me, who for various reasons joined the military as their chosen career.
I am by no means rich...not at all...but I can definitely afford to spend a few dollars to brighten a soldier's day now and then, whether it's just through the investment of a stamp and a piece of paper for a supporting letter or a little extra for a carepackage. I felt that by joining Soldiers Angels and personally adopting a soldier, I was able to support somebody on a more personal level. Sure I can donate cans, toys and other things to foundations who ship these things overseas, but this feels like it means a lot more to me personally.
This isn't a propaganda type of a blog, but it does promote something that I really think is a very good program, and I can't spread the word to enough people about this, because I think it's such a great idea.
Anyone interested in more information about Soldiers Angels, feel free to contact me or go to http://www.soldiersangels.org for more information and perhaps to adopt a soldier of your own. Just remember that if you adopt a soldier now, you're not only adopting him or her for the month of December, you're adopting them for as long as they are stationed overseas... its an obligation, but its a happy one :)
Take care everyone and thanks for stopping by...
current mood: happy
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| Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005
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2:32 pm - Tattoos and Happy Endings...
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So I've been wanting a tattoo for like 2 years. Maybe it's more than that, I don't know. All I know is... it's time. This year for Christmas, if anybody asks me what I want, I'll say: "Add to my tattoo fund please," then I'm done with it. Isn't that kind of a cool gift tho? It'll definitely be a Christmas gift that's with me forever and everybody will be a part of me... for life. And even after, until the maggots are done nibbling it off... :)
Anyway, I've been writing on a new book, and now that I'm getting close to the end, I'm stalling. You see, when I write, I get so close to my characters, I have a hard time giving them up at the end. What's worse, I haven't even gotten to that part yet... right now I'm at the point where I've got to break up the couple in my story & break their hearts before I can reunite them in a big happy hollywood ending... (Yeah yeah, this particular story is a sappy romance novel, get over it... =P Even I like happy cliche-filled endings now and then... ) It's funky though, getting so involved in someone's life who doesn't even exist... this must be why authors go insane... too many imaginary friends and they all leave you in the end, no Christmas cards, no birthday presents, no nothing...
I hate goodbyes.
current mood:  weird
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| Sunday, November 20th, 2005
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3:37 pm - If we were all nudists...
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If we were all nudists...
Current mood: chipper
So I'm cleaning up my house for multiple purposes. One, my mom is coming for a visit... first time I see her in 7 years, and first time she sees this house. She'll probably wonder what the heck is wrong with me once she sees it this spotless... after all, she lived with me pretty much 24/7 for the first 18 years of my life. She knows I'm not exactly what you'd call a "clean freak". Regardless... I'd at least like for her to see the color of my floortiles, so I've been cleaning...
I'm also packing, even though we don't know where the heck we're moving quite yet, it doesn't hurt to put away stuff that can be put away while I'm up to my elbows in clothes... mostly mine.
I mean, most of the stuff I've been cleaning for 2 days have been clothes!
So I started thinking, what is wrong with us?
If we were nudists, my work here would be cut in half, if not even less.
If we were nudists, people wouldn't have those "tummy tuck" panties and stuff to hide their flab behind, I think we'd eventually give up on perfection & just show the world who we are...flab and all!! (Or...on the contrary...it'd inspire us to work out and eat healthier so we'd look better!)
If we were nudists, imagine how damn comfortable we'd be!!! Geez...the best time is when you're home alone and ya can shed all clothing & not care.
If we were nudists.....oh what the heck, it's pointless... the tabloids earn way too much money every time someone accidentally shows off a boob to promote nudity... not to mention clothing manufactureres, there would be a lot of people out of work. I guess that wouldn't work after all...
Besides, I guess ultimately some things really are best left to imagination...
Well, it's time for me to dump 3 bags of clothing off to GoodWill... maybe tomorrow I'll see someone walking around town in my old t-shirt.
Free diet coke to anyone who wanna help me clean out my closets... (Forget the diet coke, it's all about Coke ZERO in this household...that stuff rockz!)
Ok girlie, time to quit stalling and get back to work. These rooms don't clean themselves....
current mood: chipper
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| Friday, November 18th, 2005
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3:31 pm - Dedicated to Jim Reeves
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Who...???
(Actually, if you hate country music, you probably wanna skip this blog... if you even had any intentions of reading it in the first place ... :-))
Jim Reeves is the one who brought country music to Norway, which is the country in which I grew up. He came for a visit with his suit jacket and tie, guitar in hand, and his deep velvet voice cast a spell over our land and became the inspiration for an entirely new genre of music ...
Then I move to the United States...Jim's home country... and people don't know who he is. Now, I don't blame people who aren't interested in country music for not knowing who he is... but I've talked to people who are into country music, and they've got no clue who he was! How can a man go from being the sole reason for an entire country's devotion to C&W to being completely unknown and anonymous ... in his own homeland. Now... I know some people knows who he is...I'm just surprised at how many people call themselves country music fans and know nothing of Jim Reeves.
I'm right now listening to one of "I love you because", which inspired me to a random blog about Jim. He's the reason I'm into country music today.
So Jim.......here's to you buddy and to keeping your spirit alive!
To anyone who's still with me, if you know Jim, then have drink with me & restore my faith in American country music listeners!
......... ok im done ranting ..........
current mood: thoughtful
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