Music?

I am seriously worried about the musical taste-buds of this country. When a song has retarded lyrics, it's like being at Disneyland and sitting in a bathroom stall all day. When a quote unquote "famous" singer is horribly mediocre or has no idea how to really sing, it's like going to Coldstone and licking the garbage can. It seems that few popular or famous singers these days could give a live concert because all of their songs have undergone extensive surgery using technology. "Oh, you don't know how to sing? That's OK. That's why we've got reverb honey!" "What? You have no concept of vibrato? Don't worry sweetie, no one does these days!"

What inspired this post? Justin Bieber. If you don't know who he is, I applaud you. I heard about him through the grapevine and wanted to hear him for myself. I typed his name into YouTube and the first video that came up was called 'Baby'.  I could NOT believe my eyes. Before I even started watching the video I saw that it had 359,686,628 hits. WHAT?!?!?! I had never known one clip to be watched so many times. My expectations were rising quickly. If this video had been watched over 350 million times it had to be pretty good right? Well, let's just say that if it had been good I wouldn't be posting right now.

Fail #1 came as soon as he opened his mouth to sing. I do not...I can't...there are not even words to convey my horrified amazement. He sounds like a 10 year old imitating a bad pop singer.

Fail #2 was his appearance. He looks like a 10 year old dressed up as a wannabe jock. The driving beat does not fit his baby face.

Fail #3 was blazingly apparent as he began singing words. (At first he's only singing "oh".)  The lyrics were absolutely a joke.

You know you love me, I know you care. 

Just shout whenevuh and I'll be there. 

You want my love, you want my heart 

and we will never ever ever be apart. 

Are we an item? Girl quit playing. 

We're just friends, what are you saying. 

Said there's another, look right in my eyes. 

My first love broke my heart for the first time. 

And I was like baby baby baby, 

ohhh, like baby baby baby 

no like baby baby baby 

ohh I thought you'd always be mine mine.

I predict that if those lyrics were turned in as a seventh grade poetry project it would get an F. 

Fail #4 hearkens back to #2. I couldn't take a song seriously that was talking about love when the singer himself probably still thinks girls have cooties. He should've been singing about pokemon cards and dinosaurs and playing tag. 

Disclaimer: I am not attacking Justin Bieber as a person. I'm sure he's a nice kid. I just think it's ridiculous that millions of people are spending money buying his music.

In conclusion: I adore listening to talented musicians that produce beautiful music and when the media picks a poster child who captivates millions and that child doesn't produce good music, it irritates me. I wish people could experience what I experience when I hear a truly exquisite piece of music. It's inspiring; my soul feels fed. Good music enhances my life. I wish the music industry would produce more of it.

Justin Bieber

Note: To fully appreciate this post, I suggest you watch the first little bit of his music video "Baby." I promise it will make you laugh. Especially if you watch it long enough to hear the chorus.

Real English

Maybe I'm a fanatic but I love old English. And by old English I mean I love varied vocabulary that conveys a depth of feeling that definitely lacking in our day. This is exemplified in the following quote. It is taken from the book The Character of Jesus, a compilation of sermons given by the Christian scholar Charles Edward Jefferson in 1908. It is writing like the following that makes me breathe more deeply and smile more contentedly.

"The amplitude of Jesus' ideas is evidenced by their perennial freshness and applicability to all kinds of men and conditions. How wonderful it is that Jesus' ideas are broad enough to cover all the nations and all the centuries. Many ideas shrivel and dry up with the lapse of time...But the ideas of Jesus have such breadth that they can cover the world and the ages, and although nineteen centuries have swept away almost everything which was believed and taught in Jesus' day, his ideas are still alive and the very words in which they are expressed seem destined to outlive the stars." (p125)

My Special Love Note

I embraced the sunshine and the early release from work by trekking up to the Portland Rose Gardens. I didn't anticipate any roses being in bloom but, serendipitously, there were quite a few. I chose a weathered, wooden bench to sit on. Directly behind the bench was a tall, stone wall covered in moss. Looking out from my bench I saw rows and rows of varied roses all set in front of the backdrop of Portland. It was an inspiring, soul-breathing view. I sat Indian style on the bench and pulled out my book.

I had not read 2 pages when the sun suddenly sparkled brightly and warmed me through. I gazed up at the sun to see how it bravely peeked through the clouds. To my surprise no where around me was illuminated save for my little wooden bench. I instantly felt like it was a love note from God. "Dear Emily, Thanks for taking the time to love my creations. I agree that they are very beautiful. I knew you'd appreciate a burst of sunshine to warm you up. Sending my love, Your Father in Heaven." I was humbled and honored to enjoy my 2 minutes of personal sunshine afforded to me directly from the Creator. My Creator. I told Him thank you and that I love Him too.

Couldn't have planned it better

So you know when you have so much to write about that you don't even know where to start? Yeah. That's me right now. One thing at a time. I want to write about thriftiness and how my mom is the queen of it.

Story #1: I have a favorite pair of shoes. They are gold and silver flats. They go with any outfit whether casual or formal. They're comfortable and cute. Sadly they were getting worn and even I was admitting that they needed to be retired. I got home from work a few days after that and Mom had been to Goodwill. She came home with a new pair of those exact shoes. In my size. New. From Goodwill.   

Story #2: At my house is a book from the library with descriptions of a bunch of beautiful "Portland walks". On the weekend we, the family, ventured out for one of these aforesaid Portland walks. After walking in the West Hills (and seeing GORGEOUS houses) we were all pretty thirsty. There was no water in the car and although Mom, Dad and I could have toughed it out, when an 8 year old is thirsty...there's no waiting for the 30 minute car ride home. Being in a very typical downtown Portland neighborhood, we saw an organic grocery store. "Let's go buy some lemonade from that store," said Mom. We walked through the automatic doors and what to our delight was waiting on the other side? Free lemonade samples.

First day of school, I mean, work

The Lord has given me not one, but two part time jobs. That equals one full time job but with more variety. Today was my first day of Job #1. I'm working in a vault. Yes. A vault. It's a company that owns all the washers and dryers in Oregon and southern Washington (ie laundromats, apartment complexes, etc). My job is to count the quarters. Well, I pour the quarters into a machine to get counted then I do some paperwork and stuff. You wanna know how many quarters I processed on my first day? About $25,000's worth. In quarters. That's 100,000 quarters.

"What did you learn?" you ask. I learned that (collectively) quarters are extremely heavy. I learned there is an American Samoa quarter. And I learned that working at Gringotts WOULD be ridiculously awesome. But I'm glad I'm not a goblin.

During the 12 o'clock lunch hour I got my lunch out of the fridge. There were about 6 other people in the lunch room. Some of them had Subway. Some of them had spaghetti and meatballs. Some of them had canned chili. And there I was: the new girl with her sack lunch. PBJ sandwich, carrots, apple and zucchini bread. I felt like a kid on their first day of first grade. Maybe second grade. I don't know if those people had ever even heard of a paper bag.

I listened to my favorite Pandora station while working and that made all the difference. (Sigh.) Good music just makes everything wonderful. So to sum it all up, I had a great first day in spite of feeling a little out of place when it came to lunch.

I think the moral to working at this place is going to be that every little bit counts. A quarter doesn't seem like that much. But get a bunch and you might just have thousands of dollars. On a spiritual note, it's important to do the little things everyday like pray and read scriptures because those little daily things equal unmeasurable amount of spiritual strength.

Inspiration

Yesterday, something beautiful happened. I felt inspired to made dinner. This is a big deal. Mom said we had a lot of chicken, so I cracked the cookbook to the poultry section and picked out Easy Chicken Enchiladas. I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship between me and cooking. In about 30 minutes the timer will ring and out comes my homemade bread :)

"Emily? Cooking?" you might think. "From whence did this transformation occur?" I'm a huge believer in the scripture that says it is by small means that great things are brought to pass. The small means for me was that my sister (who I look up to so much and is my best friend) shared a little tidbit about cooking that made it easier for her. She said it's easier to cook when you get out all the ingredients first. Look at the recipe and set out everything you're going to need: ingredients, measuring cups/spoons and obviously the recipe. My biggest qualm with cooking before was that it was such a hassle to do a step and then look for more stuff. "Oops, I actually DON'T have any eggs. Wish I would've known that before I started." Now that that problem is solved, I feel a long standing barrier has been broken down. I actually WANT to cook. I'm excited to try new foods and explore which recipes I like best. So a big THANK YOU to Celeste for sharing a seemingly insignificant thing with me that led to being inspired.

"By small and simple things are great things brought to pass."
Alma 37:6

Food

As any blood relative of mine can attest, food is an important aspect of Mower life. Yesterday and today I have taken some time to peruse through the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. What an inspiration! The recipes are varied and exciting and not intimidating and sound amazing. So I have decided to have the dream of being a good cook someday. I have never even hoped this up to this point in my life because I didn't think it was possible. But this cookbook is just so user friendly. I'm excited about it.

In contrast with that food inspiration, let me share with you an experience I had tonight.

I went to a YSA (young single adult) activity tonight that was patterned after the Amazing Race. I was put on a team with 2 boys. The first task? Consume a HUGE bowl of Ramen. Now, when I say bowl, what I really mean is like a punch bowl. I asked the lady who made it how many packets of Ramen she used for each team. "9." N-I-N-E ridiculous, disgusting, slimy, unhealthy and retarded packets of Ramen that Bradley, David and I had to eat. UG. I am still feeling disgusting. I never ever want to eat Ramen again. Ever. I didn't want to let my teammates down and I didn't want to look like a wimp next to the boys so I definitely pulled my share. By the end I was literally gaging at least 4 times before I could swallow one bite of noodles. Yeah. Disgusting. I know.

Then I wondered, "Why does Ramen exist?"

I don't have an answer.

All I know is that someday I want to be a good cook...and never eat Ramen.