Horrible Blogger

Argh! I am so sick of these interruptions to my regular blogging schedule. Last week, we had a power cut so I didn’t have access to my computer (it’s days like those I wish I owned a laptop so I could cadge off the wifi at Starbucks or Sven’s). In the morning, I like to eat my breakfast in front of the tv while watching the Rachael Ray show and then afterwards, I’ll make myself a cup of tea and sit down in front of the computer to blog and get the thoughts out of my head. It’s a little frustrating when I can’t do that.

But anyway, while the power was out it was my birthday and I was really sick for the whole of my birthday week. I woke up on Tuesday morning (the day before my birthday) and my throat was closing in on itself and my sinuses were all stuffed up. Theraflu to the rescue! Luckily, with a lot of sleep and some of the magic that is modern medicine- I felt a little better on my birthday. So Shannon took me out for breakfast and also bought me doughnuts. I got a sack load of cash this year- so I finally got to buy the one thing I have wanted since they came onto the market in 2001- an iPod!

Before then, all I had was my little tiny 512mb iPod Shuffle, and it’s done me well but it was definetely time for an upgrade. I really wanted the iPod Nano (as I think I mentioned before!) so I went to Target and bought the 8gb version. I was pretty happy with it, the only niggling problem was the fact that I had to charge the damn thing every night before I went to bed. As the days went by, other problems started to annoy me too (the video skipping, freezing) so after recieving another $100 gift from another relative, I decided that enough was enough and I went to Target to replace it. I had my heart set on replacing it with the 8gb iPod Touch…but when I got to the store, they were all out of it. Then out of the corner of my eye and in the same cabinet, I saw the iPod Classic. Now it’s easy to not notice this poor neglected model, but they just had the one model and it was 120gb for $250. I had spent $170 on the Nano, and had another $100 in my hands- so I just said ‘fuck it’ and bought the Classic. The Touch is very nice, but it doesn’t come in any large sizes and is flash memory based, not hard drive based like the Classic. I couldn’t see what the colours were like for the Classic, so I just went ahead and bought the black model. I honestly couldn’t be happier, it fits my whole music collection and a ton of my videos…with half the iPod to spare! Yikes! Well, this gives me a project to fill it up with some new music

I am waiting for Apple to release a hard drive version of the iPod Touch though. And you can bet that I will buy one to replace this if it ever comes down to it

It’s Made Me Realise…

So as you know, today was The Walk in Milwaukee with Hanson. And it was even more fun than last time because the three of them were in high spirits today- they were really grumpy in April. There’s no video on YT yet, but I’m sure that there will be some uploaded in the next few days as I spotted a few people with video cameras. Tay was cracking jokes left and right, and Ike pretended to be God…it was like a private stand-up comedy routine for us around them. The group was twice as big as April’s- I’m not sure if that’s due to the really nice weather we had or due to word-of-mouth. If it’s the latter, they should expect a crowd double to this one if they ever do another walk in Milwaukee.

   

But anyway, I did walk without my shoes on and it honestly wasn’t too bad because I’ve gone without shoes for about half of my life so my feet are used to walking on solid ground. I stepped on a rock about five minutes into the walk and it hurt like heck, I limped a little and then walked it off. My foot hurts now but I can still walk on it. So if I can walk after injuring my foot on a small rock, how do you think those people live in Africa that have no shoes and have to do this day in and day out? I’m sure they’re always injuring their feet and probably worse than stepping on small rocks. We’re so priviledged in this country having shoes and tetanus shots and decent healthcare, in third-world countries like Africa and India they don’t have any of that and it’s stuff we completely take for granted.

   

And because people in developing countries don’t have easy access to luxuries like healthcare, running water, a pair of shoes or even someone to teach them how to read- they feel like the rest of the world has left them behind, while we’re swanning around in our fancy cars and wearing our fancy designer clothes. Something that Tay said during his halfway speech really resonated with me: “I certainly don’t need $250 designer sunglasses- but they sure are nice!” Some people in the world honestly believe that they do need their expensive materialistic crap…but it’s a well known fact that we actually don’t. I know I don’t need this computer, I don’t need to be wearing shoes but I do because I live in the city and I have no clue what I could tread on out there. I know I don’t need to sleep in a bed, but I do because it’s comfortable. I know I don’t need my music collection- but I honestly don’t know what I’d do without it. When you stop to think about it, it’s all luxuries- I’ve lived for a week in a tent on hard ground with just a sleeping bag and a small camping stove, and I’m still alive. I know that I’m very blessed and lucky to have a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, food to eat and water to drink. Oh and clothing to dress myself with, of course.

That’s why I’ve decided that I want to do something about all this poverty in the world- and I want to do it NOW. I’ve been sitting on my butt for far too long and it’s something I feel very strongly about to want to put some action towards it. My main concern is AIDS/HIV and The Walk is also about that- Tay and Ike talked about it during the halfway walk and the figures never fail to amaze and stagger me. I feel very strongly about it all, especially childhood AIDS- no parent should ever have to watch their child die from something that other countries have the medicine for, especially if that country has the facilities to help the other countries in need.

I really wanted to talk to Tay about all this stuff, but I never got the chance. I didn’t get the chance to talk to any of them really..until the very end right when I was registering my mile walked. We got to pick what our mile went towards this time (healthcare, a new school, a pair of shoes or a well for fresh water) and I chose the school because I am huge believer that education is such an important thing- especially in countries where basic education is so expensive for them. So Tay is standing there handing out the cards for us to fill in and I ask him if I could get a photo. We try the first time and it’s blurred and far too close up. So I beg and plead with him for a second, and there’s a very nice girl standing next to me who says she’ll take the photo for me (Tay took the first one). So he grudgingly says okay to the second photo and he put his arm around my shoulders and scoots in close for an AWESOME photo. I couldn’t quite believe that Taylor Hanson of all people had his arm around me…but it just shows how much they all love their fans. It was quite seriously up there on my list of my life’s greatest moments. Now to hopefully get to another walk before the end of the year- there’s a couple down in Chi-Town that I might hit up

Excitement!

I’m going to walk with Hanson tomorrow! 2nd time round!

I’m honestly not too sure if I can sleep, I am so psyched about tomorrow. I mean, I should be able to because I did just fine the last time I met them…but this time I know not to make an arse of myself in their presence. And it won’t be so damn cold tomorrow, so I can even go barefoot if it stays dry Camera batteries are charged, cell phone is charged and my camera is still holding on for the last scraps of it’s well-fulfilled life…so I am all set to go. Now, since I won’t need a coat tomorrow (it’s going to be 58F and sunny all day!)- I just need to make myself presentable and not look like a hobo incase someone catches me on one of their photo. Or (heavens above!) I happen to be my usual clumsy self and fall down in front of one of them and they help me up or something.

Right. I have to fix my hair before bed- I won’t have time in the morning as I’ve got a pretty packed schedule tomorrow. Abby’s going with her aunt to some Harvest Fest, so I have the morning/afternoon to myself, and I already told Nick I was going to go out because I had this huge chunk of time to go do something.

Oh and I’m on Twitter now if anyone wanted to see what I did on a daily basis. You can find the link in the column to the right ->

Tee Hee :p

I was trying to talk to my dad over Skype earlier today and he couldn’t hear me for some reason (I don’t think they have Skype set up correctly)- so I made a sign and held it up to the camera. But now the more I look at it, the more it makes sense how I live my life- especially if a song comes on my iTunes that I love. So I made my new WP icon out of the picture, haha.

Turn it up, turn it up!

Light On

OMG OMG OMG!!! SQUEE!! *dies*

It is finally out! I have been waiting all summer to hear David Cook’s debut single and it was debuted on AOL two days ago…but I only found out about it today- thanks to the wonderful power of email I’ve already played it at least a dozen times and I’ll probably play it at least a dozen more times before the day is out. Check it out for yourselves

Light On- David Cook

Amanda Jenssen

I totally had a whole post about this subject, but for some reason the draft didn’t save. Let me try to remember the witty remarks I had made :p

As you may well know, I am a huge fan of music and I keep my ears open for anything new I may like. I’m not fussy really, as long as I consider it to be listenable. Most of my friends are confused by my music collection when they take a gander at my iTunes because I really do have a little of absolutely everything…from almost every musical decade :p

So I say with a huge thanks to Aurgasm.com for introducing me to the silky, dulcet tones of Amanda Jenssen. She is a young Swedish woman who came 2nd place in the Swedish equivelent of ‘Idol’ and with the talent she has, I am surprised she didn’t run away with the competition. Amanda to me is a cross between KT Tunstall (without the attitude) and Amy Winehouse (without the tragic drug problem)- ah that European water, you gotta love it I seriously cannot thank Aurgasm enough for introducing me to her, I’d sell them my soul if I hadn’t already sold it to Cadbury World at the age of 13.

So now I will pass on my good fortune and leave you with a video of Amanda’s second single from her debut CD- Amarula Tree. Hopefully ‘Killing My Darlings’ will appear on US shores soon enough, otherwise I’m going to be grovelling at my parents feet for them to buy me a copy in the UK- I love my parents :p

Chad James

This evening myself, Shannon and Shannon’s fiance Dave all went to a local church to see local Christian music artist Chad James. It was a nice informal setting outside with a marquee, food, snacks and drinks. It was also a UMC too so I didn’t feel all weirded out going to a church that was a different denomination than mine. I dislike going to churches that have a different denomination because I never quite understand what they believe or preach that is different to us. 

Anyway, before Chad was on stage the church band was singing and they made us look really bad. Me and Shannon came up with a lot of ideas that we could use towards our choir in our church. Their harmonies were so good and that’s something that we need to work towards in our music program. I’d also love to sing with the praise band in our church, but I already do choir plus the library and Sunday School. I don’t want to be taking on too much and stretching myself too thin. 

Finally, Chad came on stage and he had a very calming presence about him. His voice was amazing and his songwriting blew my mind. I love listening to groups like Casting Crowns, and his style of singing very much reminded me of the lead singer of CC. I decided that I wanted to get to talk to the man himself, so after the show I went up to him for a chat and how I was wondering if he would like to come and sing at our church. He seemed really enthusiastic about it, and he was just the nicest musician I’ve met in a while. 

So if you love inspirational, faith-based music- check out Chad James, our local home-grown talent right here in Wisconsin! Chad James Music

VBS is Great!

It was the third day of VBS today and I am enjoying myself so much. After my half hour with the kids, I don’t do anything else for a whole 90 minutes so I walk home and eat dinner with Nick while Abby is occupied with her classes. It’s nice because it gives us a little time to spend together doing things we’re not allowed to do while Abby is around, like watching Family Guy. We both love that show so much (I like American Dad too) but we can’t watch it while Abby is around because it’s not age-appropriate. Bummer :p 

I was a little uneasy about doing VBS at the start, but as the week’s gone on I’ve loved more and more of it. I love working with Brad because he is so easy to get along with and we have a blast together. Faith Fusion Finale is definetely my favourite time because the kids get to be involved and they have a blast with us. Brad’s also one of the Sunday School teachers so he’s automatically better with the kids than I am. I just get nervous in front of people I don’t know very well. I’ve learned with kids though that they don’t care if you screw up, because they don’t know what it’s supposed to be like in the first place. So being up on stage in front of them has turned out to be easy. 

Now, Pastor Kelly asked me tonight if I’d like to do a song with the kids on Sunday during Children’s Time and myself and the kids have to perform a song for the congregation. Ohhhhhhh crap. That’s what’s making me nervous. If I keep my back to the congregation I think I should be okay. So they get to watch me wiggling my butt in church….BIG DEAL, get over yourselves. I’m enjoying myself and so are the kids. Isn’t that the most important thing?

VBS, It’s A Learning Process

So tonight was the first night of VBS (Vacation Bible School), and it was about 50/50. At the beginning, I’m supposed to start off the whole night with some songs and a skit with ‘The Crazy Professor’. The skit went great, but my bits wern’t so great. I think it was because I was following the booklet that came with the CD for the music program and it threw me off so much. We were originally having the DVD projected up onto a big screen and then a separate CD playing, but we had a problem with them trying to cue up on one of the songs…so tomorrow I’m gonna scrap the DVD, and just go with the CD. We used just the CD at the end and it went much better because the kids wern’t distracted by the DVD. I’ve also typed up my own version of my music class so everything is going to be far less chaotic tomorrow. 

Abby also took part in VBS this year, since she was now old enough. She had loads of fun I can tell you, with red dots on her face and four cups of Kool Aid in her belly. I’m surprised she fell asleep that quickly with that much sugar inside of her. She did make me a cookie while we were there, and she was really proud of herself. I felt so proud of her in return because she was being such a good girl  

The most fun I had though was the Faith Fusion Finale because me and Brad (the guy that plays The Crazy Professor) got to do a science experiment for the kids using dry ice and dish liquid…and their eyes just lit up it was the most insane reaction. It made me so happy to see them enjoying what they saw, and I don’t know what the experiment is for tomorrow night but Brad says it’s going to be even better. So bring on tomorrow night because it’s going to be far better than tonight.

Heck, anything can be better than the shambles that was tonight

Time Slipping Away

So, like a fool I volunteered to be the music teacher for this year’s Vacation Bible School (or VBS for short). Luckily, I’m not thinking about stuff I have to learn for choir so that takes up that part of my brain. I have a whole CD to memorize including the actions. I have the CD about half way done, with no actions yet. VBS is July 21…that’s in 11 days. Eek. So to help me a little, I ripped the mp3’s from the DVD and put them on the computer…so I can listen to them on my iPod and I’ve also burned a CD for Diana, incase she wants to use the music at all. It makes it all a little easier with the fact that the tunes are pretty catchy, and some I actually want to sing along too. 

The actions are going to be a little harder to learn though, so I’m going ask Judie who did the music last year. She’s also the Children’s Choir Director so I think she’ll be a big help. I play with her partner Ann-Marie at the Tuesday volleyball game. I’m really nervous about standing up in front of a bunch of kids doing this, but in some ways it will be okay because kids don’t care if you screw up. They don’t know any better and they’re just following along with what you’re doing. Which is why I am now buckling down and getting this perfect. I refuse to screw up :p

To get an idea of what I’ve gotten myself into, this is the program we’re following at the church:

Group’s VBS Power Lab