There's a lot I could write about this week, having gone to This Is the Place park and having fed the missionaries on Labor Day, working long hours, and going camping in Fillmore this weekend.
But with church, a CES fireside, my grandparents visiting for fresh peach pie, and having to be at work at 7:00 tomorrow morning, I don't have time.
However, Labor Days, missionaries, historical sites, Fillmore Canyon, cemeteries, and long work hours come and go. But ten-year anniversaries don't, and I think I'd forever regret it if I didn't say something about 9/11.
I found my old journal for my entry of September 11, 2001. I rarely wrote in my journal then; my previous entry was March 17, 00, and my next entry was Sunday, January 6, 2002. (Which makes me realize I need to start writing in my current journal again.) Anyway, I knew it would be a significant day, so I wrote on that day. (I was really bad about spaces. I'll type my entry as it appears, except that I'll put in spaces. I knew where they belonged. You just couldn't tell that I put them there.)
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001
Today was the "second Pearl Harbor". Terrorists, most likely from th Middle East, got on a plane, killed the crew, and crashed into a World Trading Center tower. Several others were smashed into, and so was part of the pentagon. In the Middle East people were cheering.
I was not quite thirteen, early on in my seventh grade school year. I don't remember what my first two periods were (gym and Spanish?), but my third period was pre-algebra with Mrs. Sorensen. Mrs. Sorensen also taught eighth-grade U.S. history, so we talked about what was going on. That was the first I had heard of it. That was still early on, so there were all the rumors flying around; one girl kept insisting a high school had also been bombed. My fourth period science teacher, Mr. Brower, just turned on the news. That's all we did all period. I think I was walking home from the bus stop, and some neighbors, the Craigs, picked me up and took me home and asked if I had heard what happened. Of course I had. I think I was the first one home, so I opened up the Deseret News (it was still an afternoon paper then) and saw the headline "AMERICA UNDER ATTACK!" with the picture of the smoking towers.
I don't remember what I felt then. This week, there have been lots of stories about people who lost family members in it. These stories are so heart-wrenching. I feel so fortunate and blessed that I haven't had to go through any of that. I even feel guilty--why should I be spared when others have to go through such hard times? I know that's ridiculous, but that's how I feel.
I remember that all the major news stations showed nothing but news for at least three days straight. Which meant I couldn't watch The Simpsons.
I remember there was a sudden increase in patriotism. Suddenly people had red, white, and blue decorations up all the time. There were flag-colored Christmas lights. There were patriotic candies--red, white, and blue M&Ms, star-shaped Peeps with red and blue pieces, and others. Many of these candies continued to be made for the Fourth of July for years after, but most are no longer made. I was even more OCD then than I am now, and I had strange rules that if I saw a holiday decoration up before I started the holiday season, I would bump up the day I started. There were so many patriotic decorations that in 2002 I decorated for the Fourth of July in early April. (For 2003 I realized that was excessive and waited until Memorial Day, which I've done ever since--plus I don't go by that silly rule anymore.)
My brother David was on his mission in Taiwan. When we finally got his letter (this was before missionary email), he said he had heard about it. But I remember after he got home he finally got to see the footage, and it wasn't what he had expected (in a bad way).
Now, Osama is dead. We still have a long way for Islam to be welcomed, but I think it's better than it was. I'd like to think we're on our way to world peace. But that, of course, would be the biggest case of denial ever.
Why can't everyone just play nice?
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
What's New?
It seems a lot of new things occurred this week.
- I'm most excited for a new month. I always have this perception that once September arrives, everything will be better. I'm always disappointed come September 1, but a lot of good stuff does come in September. On the 15th, I officially get to start thinking about Halloween (yes, that is a mite early, and yes, it is completely arbitrary), and on the 29th, I turn 23. This month we also have the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and we also get 9/10/11. This month also starts fall. I believe that meteorological fall started on the first--which is also how I count it--but astronomical fall starts in a few weeks. I love fall, changing leaves, and cooler temperatures.
- I have several new coworkers. On Thursday we had a meeting, and they told us that they're hiring fifteen new people in the next month! It sounds like there will be a lot more people this year than there were last year for Annual Curriculum. Which means I won't have to stay so late :) but I also won't get as much money :( .
- My last post mentioned lovestrong., my new Christina Perri CD.
- Yesterday I bought new running shoes. I bought some in March and I can tell they're wearing out. I got two pairs for $93 at Famous Footwear. I think Famous is like Kohl's--expensive as it is, but they give you a lot of good deals. One pair is just like the pair I already have (except orange and black instead of green and grey) and the other one is a different kind--the cashier said her husband loves them. I'm excited to go running this week; I only got two full runs in this past week. I tried for a third day but I started coughing up acid reflux, which has never happened to me before while running.
Friday, September 2, 2011
I turn my music up
This week I have been listening to a new album I bought this week. After hearing Christina Perri's songs "Jar of Hearts" and "Arms" on the radio, I decided to buy her CD, lovestrong. It's pleasant enough, although I have the feeling that it's one of those albums that if I listen to it too much, I will get bored with it.
I added the songs on the CD (minus the first one, which has some mildly objectionable words in it) to my Windows Media Player playlist, "All (listenable) music." My favorite way to listen to music is on shuffle--the more variety the better. I have a lot of holiday music on my computer, and I don't like listening to it out of season (in part because that dilutes the seasonal feeling). So I made the playlist so that I can easily move holiday music in and out. It also allows me more control to take out music I don't like hearing in a shuffle setting.
So what is in my playlist? I will tell you, according to how many songs of the various musicians I have. (Please note that there is some discrepancy between what music I would like to have, and what I actually have.) This is how it stands at this moment, but it changes periodically.
Cherie Call, 64 songs. I wrote a blog post about Cherie Call last month. I have all seven of her albums but I only listen to six of them because one is a Christmas album. Her first album isn't very good, but I listen to it anyway.
Vince Guaraldi, 42 songs. Since fifth grade, I have loved the Peanuts franchise. Not only do you get the comic-strip brilliance of Charles Schulz, you get the jazzy genius of Vince Guaraldi, who did the music for fifteen Charlie Brown specials from A Charlie Brown Christmas to It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, as well as the feature length film A Boy Named Charlie Brown. I believe that I have every available musical cue from the specials. What I like about this is that it gives me a lot of holiday music; I'm pretty sure I have all but two musical pieces from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. But of course I don't listen to that when it's not in season.
Coldplay, 39 songs. I hadn't (knowingly) heard of Coldplay until my birthday in 2007, one day short of two months before I left on my mission. My sister got me their premiere album Parachutes. I liked it, but I did find it a little bland at times. I associate this album with that time. Early tracks like "Don't Panic" and "Spies" make me think of driving home from Walmart on October evenings, while the final track, "Everything's Not Lost," makes me think of November days when I was scared out of my mind to leave. These feelings are being diluted the more I listen to the songs, but they still come up.
On my mission, once I was with another companionship (long story there) and my companion and another elder were changing the CD in the car. For the brief moment between CDs, the radio came on, and the song happened to be "Viva la Vida," right at the line "my missionaries in a foreign field." I had never heard the song before, so I said, "Did that just say missionaries!?" When I came home, I remembered that incident when I heard the song on the radio. I really liked it, so last New Year's Eve I bought the Viva la Vida album, which also came with a bonus EP Prospekt's March (sort of a sequel album). I really like this album, much more than Parachutes. In July I was in an FYE (For Your Entertainment) store in Orem, just to browse, but there was a sale of "buy one used item, get one used item half off." I found a Vince Guaraldi CD that I was unlikely to get elsewhere, so I also decided to buy the Coldplay album A Rush of Blood to the Head. I like that one too--more than Parachutes but less than Viva la Vida. I really like their new single "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall," so I think I might get their new album when it comes out in October.
The Beatles, 25 songs. I got the 1 album my sophomore year of high school. It's pretty much the soundtrack of those awkward three years. My senior year I got the LOVE album for Christmas. I had both of these in my playlist but I removed LOVE because I was getting Beatled out and because it's not meant for listening to on shuffle. Interesting that both of these aren't actually original Beatles albums.
Michelle Tumes, 25 songs. She is an Australian Christian singer. A popular song among missionaries is "Healing Waters," and Michelle Tumes's album Listen floats around as a million burned copies. Once my companion and I were in a Christian bookstore, and I ended up buying The Very Best of Michelle Tumes. Most of my companions liked it like I did, although there were a few songs that were a little raucous for missionaries, but I can listen to them now. When I went back up last year, I decided to buy Listen. But Amazon didn't have it, and their sellers that were selling it new had it at ridiculously high prices. So I had to get it used. This made me realize that despite her popularity among Mormon missionaries, she's not that popular. Which is sad because she's a good singer.
Owl City, 24 songs. I first heard "Fireflies" on the way home from a fossil excavation last summer. The girl I was riding with had lots of songs on her iPod. I instantly fell in love with it and got excited whenever I heard it after that. It took me a while to find out who sang it, but I was content when I found out. In February this year, I bought Ocean Eyes and really liked it.
One day this past spring, I was thinking about modern music and musicians--Katy Perry's Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top, Bruno Mars's immoral lazy days, and such--and comparing them with Owl City, who lists "God," "optimism," and "G-rated movies" under his interests. I thought, "This is the kind of musician we should support." So I preordered his latest album, All Things Bright and Beautiful. It arrived the last day of spring classes, and I listened to it on my way home for that weekend before summer semester. I like it even more than Ocean Eyes. I don't understand it--I like all of his songs, yet "Fireflies" is the only one I've ever heard on the radio (excluding Pandora), although I've heard "Vanilla Twilight" in the grocery store and "Alligator Sky" in Kohl's.
The Monkees, 24 songs. I got a Monkees CD in my stocking on Christmas morning in 2004. I thought, "Why on Earth did Santa get me this?" but I listened to it and was pleasantly surprised. For my birthday in 2005 I got The Best of the Monkees which is what resides in my playlist, minus the theme song, which is just terrible. When Media Play closed down that year I bought their first album, which is just full of 1960s rock-and-roll cheesiness.
When I came home from my mission, after a week or two I was excited to listen to the music I'd missed the last two years. So I put on my Best of the Monkees--and was surprised. I couldn't believe I liked them so much in high school! Now I find them best in small doses.
Taylor Swift, 14 songs. Last Christmas I threw around a bunch of artists that my parents could get me for a gift. I think Taylor was the only one my mom heard of or remembered. I like her, but I honestly don't understand why she's so wildly popular. I don't think she's really contributed much that's unique to the music world, except for bridging the gap between country and pop music, and Lady Antebellum and some others have also done that.
I would like her more if she didn't have such a one-track mind. All of her songs have a very teenage-girl feel to them. I realize she started out as a teenage girl--but that's no excuse for her now!
Jarrett Burns, 12 songs. Jarrett Burns is or was a BYU student. I had a musician roommate who was playing in a friend's band at his EP release concert, and Jarrett Burns also performed. (This was at the Sammy's restaurant in Provo.) I'd been home from my mission six months, and I thought Jarrett Burns was good enough to be on the radio. Now that I've actually listened to the radio, I'm not sure I totally think he's as good as I originally thought, but I still think some songs are great and he has great potential as an artist.
Christina Perri, 11 songs. I had seen her album--plenty of copies--at the Target in Orem, but when I went back a few weeks later, I didn't see it anymore. I bought it at Smith's Marketplace last week, and when I put it on my computer, the info Windows Media Player found said the genre was folk. Maybe that's why I couldn't find it at Target--I was looking in the pop section. Then I played "Arms" for my mom, and saying how much I liked her sound. She said, "She sounds like a folk singer." I never would have made the connection, although many of her songs do remind me a little bit of Peter, Paul and Mary.
Briana McCurdy, 10 songs. She was a girl in my ward this past school year. She graduated from BYU last year in media music, and I home taught her. She put out an album this spring, so to be a supportive home teacher, I bought it. I think she has potential.
Danny Elfman (Corpse Bride soundtrack), 5 songs. I think Corpse Bride has some of the most beautiful background music ever. I had the whole soundtrack in my playlist, but I felt like it didn't really fit in that setting, so I took out everything but "Victor's Piano Solo" and the four jazz bonus tracks.
Lady Gaga, 2 songs. One Saturday morning in February, I was driving on I-15 to come home for the weekend, listening to the radio. The commercial break had just ended, so I was surprised when another commercial came on so soon. "It doesn't matter if you love him," it said, "or capital H-I-M." Shortly I realized it wasn't a commercial, but a song. A very strange song. Did she just say, "You're Lebanese, you're Orient"? When the My 99.5 voice said, "Born This Way. Lady Gaga," I thought, "That explains why it was so weird." The more I heard this song, the more it got stuck in my head. I think it's been stuck in my head ever since March. The more it was stuck in my head, the more I realized I kind of liked it. So I finally gave in and paid for my first ever download (all other downloads had been free). I might not agree 100% with all the lyrics, but I like the overall theme--"There's nothing wrong with loving who you are." My second download ever that I paid for was "The Edge of Glory." But I would never buy a Lady Gaga album. I think she's one of the most talented contemporary musicians, so why does she have to spoil her talent by singing inappropriate things?
Jessie Clark, 2 songs. Jessie Clark now goes by Jessie Clark Funk, but the album I bought, Clay in His Hands, was before she was married. I bought it at the Families Forever Bookstore in Lewiston, Idaho. I associate it with summer afternoon drives between Lewiston and Lapwai, the Indian reservation, although these feelings have been diluted. I had all of the tracks in my playlist, but I have reduced it to just the first two, "New Jerusalem" and "Clay in His Hands."
John Mayer, 1 song. Following some Amazon purchases last year, I got three free downloads. When I decided to redeem the downloads, it was Valentine's Day night, so I was excited when I found a song called "St. Patrick's Day." It isn't actually a St. Patrick's Day song (which means I keep it in my playlist year round), but it is holiday-related, which is my kind of thing. Do I like John Mayer? Well, I know he sings some less-than-appropriate things ("Your Body is a Wonderland"), and yet his music is really mild and laid back. There are lots of musicians like that. Why would I pick a dirty mild musician over a clean one?
Nik Day, 1 song. Nik Day was my roommate's friend who was releasing his EP at the concert mentioned with Jarrett Burns. I bought his CD to be polite--after all, it was his show. I had all five songs on my playlist, but there were four I just couldn't stand, so they got the boot.
"Various Artists," 1 song. When I got a Vince Guaraldi CD from Amazon this year, I got a free download. I really like the hymns in the hymnbook (I could write an entire post just about hymns) and I like to get to know them. The Church has made CDs and MP3s of recordings of all 341 of them, but they are horrible. Like, I really don't know how they could possibly make them so bad. They should have just had the MoTab sing. Then they would be good. Anyway, I would like to find legitimate recordings of all the hymns, so I got hymn #3, "Now Let Us Rejoice" from the Home Teachers soundtrack. But my hymn recording goal won't get very far--I can't find a single, solitary recording of hymn #4, "Truth Eternal," except for the abysmal Church-sanctioned recording.
Michael Franti, 1 song. I first heard "Say Hey (I Love You)" on that same post-fossil-excavation ride mentioned above. I have heard it other times on the radio and on Pandora. Strangely, one of my strongest memories of hearing it is traipsing around Salt Lake last October on a day I had three job interviews, one of which I ended up getting (and is the one I have now). When I ordered Owl City's All Things Bright and Beautiful on Amazon, I got another free download, and this was the winner.
I'm always up for new suggestions on good music!
I added the songs on the CD (minus the first one, which has some mildly objectionable words in it) to my Windows Media Player playlist, "All (listenable) music." My favorite way to listen to music is on shuffle--the more variety the better. I have a lot of holiday music on my computer, and I don't like listening to it out of season (in part because that dilutes the seasonal feeling). So I made the playlist so that I can easily move holiday music in and out. It also allows me more control to take out music I don't like hearing in a shuffle setting.
So what is in my playlist? I will tell you, according to how many songs of the various musicians I have. (Please note that there is some discrepancy between what music I would like to have, and what I actually have.) This is how it stands at this moment, but it changes periodically.
Cherie Call, 64 songs. I wrote a blog post about Cherie Call last month. I have all seven of her albums but I only listen to six of them because one is a Christmas album. Her first album isn't very good, but I listen to it anyway.
Vince Guaraldi, 42 songs. Since fifth grade, I have loved the Peanuts franchise. Not only do you get the comic-strip brilliance of Charles Schulz, you get the jazzy genius of Vince Guaraldi, who did the music for fifteen Charlie Brown specials from A Charlie Brown Christmas to It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, as well as the feature length film A Boy Named Charlie Brown. I believe that I have every available musical cue from the specials. What I like about this is that it gives me a lot of holiday music; I'm pretty sure I have all but two musical pieces from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. But of course I don't listen to that when it's not in season.
Coldplay, 39 songs. I hadn't (knowingly) heard of Coldplay until my birthday in 2007, one day short of two months before I left on my mission. My sister got me their premiere album Parachutes. I liked it, but I did find it a little bland at times. I associate this album with that time. Early tracks like "Don't Panic" and "Spies" make me think of driving home from Walmart on October evenings, while the final track, "Everything's Not Lost," makes me think of November days when I was scared out of my mind to leave. These feelings are being diluted the more I listen to the songs, but they still come up.
On my mission, once I was with another companionship (long story there) and my companion and another elder were changing the CD in the car. For the brief moment between CDs, the radio came on, and the song happened to be "Viva la Vida," right at the line "my missionaries in a foreign field." I had never heard the song before, so I said, "Did that just say missionaries!?" When I came home, I remembered that incident when I heard the song on the radio. I really liked it, so last New Year's Eve I bought the Viva la Vida album, which also came with a bonus EP Prospekt's March (sort of a sequel album). I really like this album, much more than Parachutes. In July I was in an FYE (For Your Entertainment) store in Orem, just to browse, but there was a sale of "buy one used item, get one used item half off." I found a Vince Guaraldi CD that I was unlikely to get elsewhere, so I also decided to buy the Coldplay album A Rush of Blood to the Head. I like that one too--more than Parachutes but less than Viva la Vida. I really like their new single "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall," so I think I might get their new album when it comes out in October.
The Beatles, 25 songs. I got the 1 album my sophomore year of high school. It's pretty much the soundtrack of those awkward three years. My senior year I got the LOVE album for Christmas. I had both of these in my playlist but I removed LOVE because I was getting Beatled out and because it's not meant for listening to on shuffle. Interesting that both of these aren't actually original Beatles albums.
Michelle Tumes, 25 songs. She is an Australian Christian singer. A popular song among missionaries is "Healing Waters," and Michelle Tumes's album Listen floats around as a million burned copies. Once my companion and I were in a Christian bookstore, and I ended up buying The Very Best of Michelle Tumes. Most of my companions liked it like I did, although there were a few songs that were a little raucous for missionaries, but I can listen to them now. When I went back up last year, I decided to buy Listen. But Amazon didn't have it, and their sellers that were selling it new had it at ridiculously high prices. So I had to get it used. This made me realize that despite her popularity among Mormon missionaries, she's not that popular. Which is sad because she's a good singer.
Owl City, 24 songs. I first heard "Fireflies" on the way home from a fossil excavation last summer. The girl I was riding with had lots of songs on her iPod. I instantly fell in love with it and got excited whenever I heard it after that. It took me a while to find out who sang it, but I was content when I found out. In February this year, I bought Ocean Eyes and really liked it.
One day this past spring, I was thinking about modern music and musicians--Katy Perry's Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top, Bruno Mars's immoral lazy days, and such--and comparing them with Owl City, who lists "God," "optimism," and "G-rated movies" under his interests. I thought, "This is the kind of musician we should support." So I preordered his latest album, All Things Bright and Beautiful. It arrived the last day of spring classes, and I listened to it on my way home for that weekend before summer semester. I like it even more than Ocean Eyes. I don't understand it--I like all of his songs, yet "Fireflies" is the only one I've ever heard on the radio (excluding Pandora), although I've heard "Vanilla Twilight" in the grocery store and "Alligator Sky" in Kohl's.
The Monkees, 24 songs. I got a Monkees CD in my stocking on Christmas morning in 2004. I thought, "Why on Earth did Santa get me this?" but I listened to it and was pleasantly surprised. For my birthday in 2005 I got The Best of the Monkees which is what resides in my playlist, minus the theme song, which is just terrible. When Media Play closed down that year I bought their first album, which is just full of 1960s rock-and-roll cheesiness.
When I came home from my mission, after a week or two I was excited to listen to the music I'd missed the last two years. So I put on my Best of the Monkees--and was surprised. I couldn't believe I liked them so much in high school! Now I find them best in small doses.
Taylor Swift, 14 songs. Last Christmas I threw around a bunch of artists that my parents could get me for a gift. I think Taylor was the only one my mom heard of or remembered. I like her, but I honestly don't understand why she's so wildly popular. I don't think she's really contributed much that's unique to the music world, except for bridging the gap between country and pop music, and Lady Antebellum and some others have also done that.
I would like her more if she didn't have such a one-track mind. All of her songs have a very teenage-girl feel to them. I realize she started out as a teenage girl--but that's no excuse for her now!
Jarrett Burns, 12 songs. Jarrett Burns is or was a BYU student. I had a musician roommate who was playing in a friend's band at his EP release concert, and Jarrett Burns also performed. (This was at the Sammy's restaurant in Provo.) I'd been home from my mission six months, and I thought Jarrett Burns was good enough to be on the radio. Now that I've actually listened to the radio, I'm not sure I totally think he's as good as I originally thought, but I still think some songs are great and he has great potential as an artist.
Christina Perri, 11 songs. I had seen her album--plenty of copies--at the Target in Orem, but when I went back a few weeks later, I didn't see it anymore. I bought it at Smith's Marketplace last week, and when I put it on my computer, the info Windows Media Player found said the genre was folk. Maybe that's why I couldn't find it at Target--I was looking in the pop section. Then I played "Arms" for my mom, and saying how much I liked her sound. She said, "She sounds like a folk singer." I never would have made the connection, although many of her songs do remind me a little bit of Peter, Paul and Mary.
Briana McCurdy, 10 songs. She was a girl in my ward this past school year. She graduated from BYU last year in media music, and I home taught her. She put out an album this spring, so to be a supportive home teacher, I bought it. I think she has potential.
Danny Elfman (Corpse Bride soundtrack), 5 songs. I think Corpse Bride has some of the most beautiful background music ever. I had the whole soundtrack in my playlist, but I felt like it didn't really fit in that setting, so I took out everything but "Victor's Piano Solo" and the four jazz bonus tracks.
Lady Gaga, 2 songs. One Saturday morning in February, I was driving on I-15 to come home for the weekend, listening to the radio. The commercial break had just ended, so I was surprised when another commercial came on so soon. "It doesn't matter if you love him," it said, "or capital H-I-M." Shortly I realized it wasn't a commercial, but a song. A very strange song. Did she just say, "You're Lebanese, you're Orient"? When the My 99.5 voice said, "Born This Way. Lady Gaga," I thought, "That explains why it was so weird." The more I heard this song, the more it got stuck in my head. I think it's been stuck in my head ever since March. The more it was stuck in my head, the more I realized I kind of liked it. So I finally gave in and paid for my first ever download (all other downloads had been free). I might not agree 100% with all the lyrics, but I like the overall theme--"There's nothing wrong with loving who you are." My second download ever that I paid for was "The Edge of Glory." But I would never buy a Lady Gaga album. I think she's one of the most talented contemporary musicians, so why does she have to spoil her talent by singing inappropriate things?
Jessie Clark, 2 songs. Jessie Clark now goes by Jessie Clark Funk, but the album I bought, Clay in His Hands, was before she was married. I bought it at the Families Forever Bookstore in Lewiston, Idaho. I associate it with summer afternoon drives between Lewiston and Lapwai, the Indian reservation, although these feelings have been diluted. I had all of the tracks in my playlist, but I have reduced it to just the first two, "New Jerusalem" and "Clay in His Hands."
John Mayer, 1 song. Following some Amazon purchases last year, I got three free downloads. When I decided to redeem the downloads, it was Valentine's Day night, so I was excited when I found a song called "St. Patrick's Day." It isn't actually a St. Patrick's Day song (which means I keep it in my playlist year round), but it is holiday-related, which is my kind of thing. Do I like John Mayer? Well, I know he sings some less-than-appropriate things ("Your Body is a Wonderland"), and yet his music is really mild and laid back. There are lots of musicians like that. Why would I pick a dirty mild musician over a clean one?
Nik Day, 1 song. Nik Day was my roommate's friend who was releasing his EP at the concert mentioned with Jarrett Burns. I bought his CD to be polite--after all, it was his show. I had all five songs on my playlist, but there were four I just couldn't stand, so they got the boot.
"Various Artists," 1 song. When I got a Vince Guaraldi CD from Amazon this year, I got a free download. I really like the hymns in the hymnbook (I could write an entire post just about hymns) and I like to get to know them. The Church has made CDs and MP3s of recordings of all 341 of them, but they are horrible. Like, I really don't know how they could possibly make them so bad. They should have just had the MoTab sing. Then they would be good. Anyway, I would like to find legitimate recordings of all the hymns, so I got hymn #3, "Now Let Us Rejoice" from the Home Teachers soundtrack. But my hymn recording goal won't get very far--I can't find a single, solitary recording of hymn #4, "Truth Eternal," except for the abysmal Church-sanctioned recording.
Michael Franti, 1 song. I first heard "Say Hey (I Love You)" on that same post-fossil-excavation ride mentioned above. I have heard it other times on the radio and on Pandora. Strangely, one of my strongest memories of hearing it is traipsing around Salt Lake last October on a day I had three job interviews, one of which I ended up getting (and is the one I have now). When I ordered Owl City's All Things Bright and Beautiful on Amazon, I got another free download, and this was the winner.
I'm always up for new suggestions on good music!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
When part-time turns into overtime
My job was supposed to be only part-time, twenty-something hours a week. But this week I think I worked something like 56 hours, although five of those were on Saturday, which started a new week, so I didn't get overtime pay for going in at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning. But all day Friday I got overtime pay, so I'll get a pretty fine paycheck. I got overtime and had to work Saturdays last December, when we were in the height of annual curriculum orders. But I didn't expect to get overtime in August.
The reason we got to work so much was because the Church is putting out a new book called Daughters in My Kingdom. I don't know who reads my blog, but if anyone out there is a Relief Society sister, when you get your book, you should know that sweat and blood went into this project--quite literally. Our warehouse is air-conditioned, but I don't know how, so with a heat wave this week, along with the physically demanding task of taking books out of boxes and then lifting the remaining book-filled boxes from a pallet to a conveyor belt, we got pretty warm. Once I accidentally hit a coworker's forehead with my elbow. Neither of us were hurt (yes, I just used a plural verb with a singular subject), but it did make my elbow wet!
As for the blood, this work makes us very thirsty. One coworker had a metal water bottle, and another coworker asked for him to throw the bottle to him. Coworker #1 said that it was heavy, but coworker #2 said to throw it anyway. Well, it ended up hitting him in the lip and it made him bleed. He was fine, though. There may have been other blood incidents, though, since pulling books out of boxes makes your fingers raw, especially if you don't wear gloves. (I'm surprised at how many don't--I'd be dead without them!)
Today in my ward someone was carrying in a few boxes of these books, which are plenty familiar to me. We have to be all done with the project by Thursday (September 1--I'm so excited for August's demise!), so I probably won't have overtime again--at least until annual curriculum starts up again. Monday and Tuesday were surprisingly busy (I think even without the project), but they hired four new people this week, and fewer people will be taken away to work on the project, so that should mean we won't have to stay as late. (I worked twelve hours on Monday.)
The reason we got to work so much was because the Church is putting out a new book called Daughters in My Kingdom. I don't know who reads my blog, but if anyone out there is a Relief Society sister, when you get your book, you should know that sweat and blood went into this project--quite literally. Our warehouse is air-conditioned, but I don't know how, so with a heat wave this week, along with the physically demanding task of taking books out of boxes and then lifting the remaining book-filled boxes from a pallet to a conveyor belt, we got pretty warm. Once I accidentally hit a coworker's forehead with my elbow. Neither of us were hurt (yes, I just used a plural verb with a singular subject), but it did make my elbow wet!
As for the blood, this work makes us very thirsty. One coworker had a metal water bottle, and another coworker asked for him to throw the bottle to him. Coworker #1 said that it was heavy, but coworker #2 said to throw it anyway. Well, it ended up hitting him in the lip and it made him bleed. He was fine, though. There may have been other blood incidents, though, since pulling books out of boxes makes your fingers raw, especially if you don't wear gloves. (I'm surprised at how many don't--I'd be dead without them!)
Today in my ward someone was carrying in a few boxes of these books, which are plenty familiar to me. We have to be all done with the project by Thursday (September 1--I'm so excited for August's demise!), so I probably won't have overtime again--at least until annual curriculum starts up again. Monday and Tuesday were surprisingly busy (I think even without the project), but they hired four new people this week, and fewer people will be taken away to work on the project, so that should mean we won't have to stay as late. (I worked twelve hours on Monday.)
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Pokey Guy
When my niece was younger--between the ages of two and four--she would make up names for me. Some of these nicknames were ones she heard us say, some were names she heard on TV, and some she just made up. One of the most lasting names, which we don't know where it came from, was "pokey guy." She would refer to me as pokey guy often. When my mom leaves the house, she will sometimes say to me, "Be a good boy," so once as they were leaving the house, my niece said to me, "Be a good poke!"
I don't think that my niece called me pokey to mean that I am slow, but sometimes I think that is appropriate. Like at work. One thing that is new this year is that there are TV screens that show how fast we are working. I am working too slowly. I know I just started up again, but I am the second slowest person. The only person slower than me has special needs or something like that. I'm getting better about doing more boxes at a time, but on Friday, I was still slower than I was even on Thursday.
I think part of this may be because of the station I was working at. We have stations in different locations, depending on where the first item on the list is. I have been working at station 3. Unfortunately, station 3 orders call for a lot of missionary water bottles and temple slippers. Why is this bad, you ask? Well, the tickets we have determine what size of box we should use based on the size of the items. But the bottles and slippers are sized incorrectly, so most of the time when you get them on a ticket, you have to go get a bigger box. So a lot of my time is spent not filling boxes--which is what is reflected in the speed--and is actually spent walking all over the place trying to find a sufficiently big box. But maybe this isn't actually slowing me down that much, and I am simply slow. I have always had a tendency not to be very fast.
On Friday night the YSA stake had a big event thing. It was obviously intended for you to meet people, especially since they gave us little slips with random questions to have people sign. (I was valuable for being able to answer "Find someone who has never seen any of the Star Wars movies." I saw a few of them as a kid, but I don't remember anything, so I figured that counts.) But it was also kind of a dance party thing, and the music was too loud to hear anything anyone said. What's the point in having an event to meet people when you can't hear anything they say? So I left early.
Saturday morning the stake activity continued with a service project. In addition to being slow, I have a great tendency of getting lost. This was especially true on my way to the service project. I accidentally ended up getting on the freeway--twice. We were meeting at a church building before going elsewhere for the project, and I figured if I kept looking, by the time I found the church, everyone would be gone, so I just came home. And I felt guilty going to any other activities if I missed the service activity, so I just stayed home all day.
So what did I do with my unplanned free time? I threw away papers. When I was younger I kept notes and things in a filing cabinet so if I ever needed to know something, I could look at an old assignment or handout or note. But today with Wikipedia and other things at my fingertips, and being in college, I figured I didn't need to keep most of that stuff. So I went through it all, saved the few things I wanted to keep, and threw the rest in the recycling box. I had stuff in there dating to elementary school. As I tossed old chemistry and math notes, it made me kind of sad. I will probably not have any more math, chemistry or physics classes (unless I decide to take some geology classes with those as prereqs, but there are plenty of classes I can take that don't need them). And even though I took calculus winter of last year, I can hardly remember anything. So when my teenage son asks me for help on his homework, I can't help him. I'll have to say to him, as I have done so many times, "Call your Uncle David!"
I don't think that my niece called me pokey to mean that I am slow, but sometimes I think that is appropriate. Like at work. One thing that is new this year is that there are TV screens that show how fast we are working. I am working too slowly. I know I just started up again, but I am the second slowest person. The only person slower than me has special needs or something like that. I'm getting better about doing more boxes at a time, but on Friday, I was still slower than I was even on Thursday.
I think part of this may be because of the station I was working at. We have stations in different locations, depending on where the first item on the list is. I have been working at station 3. Unfortunately, station 3 orders call for a lot of missionary water bottles and temple slippers. Why is this bad, you ask? Well, the tickets we have determine what size of box we should use based on the size of the items. But the bottles and slippers are sized incorrectly, so most of the time when you get them on a ticket, you have to go get a bigger box. So a lot of my time is spent not filling boxes--which is what is reflected in the speed--and is actually spent walking all over the place trying to find a sufficiently big box. But maybe this isn't actually slowing me down that much, and I am simply slow. I have always had a tendency not to be very fast.
On Friday night the YSA stake had a big event thing. It was obviously intended for you to meet people, especially since they gave us little slips with random questions to have people sign. (I was valuable for being able to answer "Find someone who has never seen any of the Star Wars movies." I saw a few of them as a kid, but I don't remember anything, so I figured that counts.) But it was also kind of a dance party thing, and the music was too loud to hear anything anyone said. What's the point in having an event to meet people when you can't hear anything they say? So I left early.
Saturday morning the stake activity continued with a service project. In addition to being slow, I have a great tendency of getting lost. This was especially true on my way to the service project. I accidentally ended up getting on the freeway--twice. We were meeting at a church building before going elsewhere for the project, and I figured if I kept looking, by the time I found the church, everyone would be gone, so I just came home. And I felt guilty going to any other activities if I missed the service activity, so I just stayed home all day.
So what did I do with my unplanned free time? I threw away papers. When I was younger I kept notes and things in a filing cabinet so if I ever needed to know something, I could look at an old assignment or handout or note. But today with Wikipedia and other things at my fingertips, and being in college, I figured I didn't need to keep most of that stuff. So I went through it all, saved the few things I wanted to keep, and threw the rest in the recycling box. I had stuff in there dating to elementary school. As I tossed old chemistry and math notes, it made me kind of sad. I will probably not have any more math, chemistry or physics classes (unless I decide to take some geology classes with those as prereqs, but there are plenty of classes I can take that don't need them). And even though I took calculus winter of last year, I can hardly remember anything. So when my teenage son asks me for help on his homework, I can't help him. I'll have to say to him, as I have done so many times, "Call your Uncle David!"
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Wake me up when September comes
Now that I don't have any homework, I don't have to wait until Sundays to blog. But I might still end up blogging on Sunday (plus other days) simply because I'm used to it.
Today I started my first day of actually working at my job (yesterday I filled out forms, etc.). There are a lot of new people, but a lot of people I worked with before, including my fellow coworkers who were hired with me as the temporary crew. The job is pretty much the same.
We get a pick ticket and go down a line with a conveyor belt, and select the appropriate quantity of items from a shelf, put it in a box, and send it to be taped and shipped. When I started last year, we did it all manually and initialed on our ticket when we finished it. Then they introduced "pick to voice," which involves wearing a headset that tells us where to go and how much to put in.
Last year we could only do one box at a time with this system (even though we could do multiple boxes when we did it manually). Now we can do multiple boxes, which is something I'm not used to. Sometimes the headset is nice because it counts for me. For example, today I had to count 500 vinyl covers for the Missionary Handbook. These were annoying to count and stuck together. It was nice because it said "Pick 500." I could count only three, say "three ready," and it would say "pick 497," and so on. It was very nice because I didn't have to remember how much I counted, and I didn't have to count all over again if I forgot.
But it can also be a little annoying. For example, a few times I had several boxes asking for multiple copies of The Friend. You know, the magazine that has President Obama on the August cover. It told me to count out the total number of magazines, and once I had them all counted, it had me put them in each box. That's like counting twice. The pick ticket was useful for that. I probably think the old-fashioned, all-human way is faster, but I could be wrong. It will just take me some time to get used to multiple boxes on voice. (I have no problem with it on my own.)
What's especially weird is the time of year. Last year I worked from the week before Halloween until Christmas Eve. As the radio plays, a lot of the songs are ones that I first heard, or else first became really aware of, at work (e.g. Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" or Taio Cruz's "Dynamite"). I have found that music is one thing that really transports me back in time. So I hear those songs and I think of November (my first week they mostly listened to country and after Thanksgiving they mostly listened to Christmas music). But I look outside and the trees are fully clothed, I have to have the AC on driving home, and I know there will be no pumpkin pie ice cream in the freezer when I get home.
I hate August. It's always hot and there's never anything going on except for Back to School, and what's fun about that? I think the sole good thing about August is that it's close to September. That, and I can eat popsicles.
September has traditionally been my favorite month. Fall and cooler temperatures start, it starts the series of holidays that don't end until the New Year, and, of course, my birthday. So I always think that once it's September, everything will be OK. But I'm always disappointed. September 1 comes, but the leaves are still green, it's still 90 degrees, and it's still a little early to start thinking about Halloween. I've decided I like November better because there's nothing to the month that disappoints.
But September is still ten times the month August wants to be.
Today I started my first day of actually working at my job (yesterday I filled out forms, etc.). There are a lot of new people, but a lot of people I worked with before, including my fellow coworkers who were hired with me as the temporary crew. The job is pretty much the same.
We get a pick ticket and go down a line with a conveyor belt, and select the appropriate quantity of items from a shelf, put it in a box, and send it to be taped and shipped. When I started last year, we did it all manually and initialed on our ticket when we finished it. Then they introduced "pick to voice," which involves wearing a headset that tells us where to go and how much to put in.
Last year we could only do one box at a time with this system (even though we could do multiple boxes when we did it manually). Now we can do multiple boxes, which is something I'm not used to. Sometimes the headset is nice because it counts for me. For example, today I had to count 500 vinyl covers for the Missionary Handbook. These were annoying to count and stuck together. It was nice because it said "Pick 500." I could count only three, say "three ready," and it would say "pick 497," and so on. It was very nice because I didn't have to remember how much I counted, and I didn't have to count all over again if I forgot.
But it can also be a little annoying. For example, a few times I had several boxes asking for multiple copies of The Friend. You know, the magazine that has President Obama on the August cover. It told me to count out the total number of magazines, and once I had them all counted, it had me put them in each box. That's like counting twice. The pick ticket was useful for that. I probably think the old-fashioned, all-human way is faster, but I could be wrong. It will just take me some time to get used to multiple boxes on voice. (I have no problem with it on my own.)
What's especially weird is the time of year. Last year I worked from the week before Halloween until Christmas Eve. As the radio plays, a lot of the songs are ones that I first heard, or else first became really aware of, at work (e.g. Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" or Taio Cruz's "Dynamite"). I have found that music is one thing that really transports me back in time. So I hear those songs and I think of November (my first week they mostly listened to country and after Thanksgiving they mostly listened to Christmas music). But I look outside and the trees are fully clothed, I have to have the AC on driving home, and I know there will be no pumpkin pie ice cream in the freezer when I get home.
I hate August. It's always hot and there's never anything going on except for Back to School, and what's fun about that? I think the sole good thing about August is that it's close to September. That, and I can eat popsicles.
September has traditionally been my favorite month. Fall and cooler temperatures start, it starts the series of holidays that don't end until the New Year, and, of course, my birthday. So I always think that once it's September, everything will be OK. But I'm always disappointed. September 1 comes, but the leaves are still green, it's still 90 degrees, and it's still a little early to start thinking about Halloween. I've decided I like November better because there's nothing to the month that disappoints.
But September is still ten times the month August wants to be.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
My Christmas vacation lasts four and a half months!
This week was the end of summer term. I was able to do a bunch of studying in my own apartment because after six weeks, my air conditioning got fixed. That was Tuesday. I moved out Thursday. It definitely was annoying. But it was also good. It kept me more social than I otherwise would have been!
So, yeah...finals. My archaeology final was ridiculously easy. The history one...well, I'm just glad I studied about the Islamic Caliphates in medieval Spain on Wednesday night, or else I would have been doomed on Thursday. I know I could have done better and should have known more, but I hope I did decently.
Friday sealed my fate for the rest of 2011. Last year I took fall semester off because I couldn't get a job in Provo and I didn't get a scholarship for the 2010-2011 school year. Taking last fall off had a lot of good advantages, one of the most prominent being that I ended up getting a scholarship for winter that I wouldn't have otherwise had.
This year I attended spring and summer because I had a full-tuition scholarship for those terms. I got a half-tuition scholarship for the 2011-2012 school year. But that extra $1000 per semester has to come from somewhere. I don't have enough to pay it (well, I could, but it would leave me broke), and my dad was laid off last May, and has been unlucky in finding a job. So I figured if he didn't have a job by the time fall rolled around, I'd take this semester off too.
Well, even if he does find a job in the next week before tuition is due (which is unlikely), I won't be going to school in the fall. That's because I got my job back from last year! I worked for the Church at the main Distribution Center, picking orders and packaging them up before sending them off all over the world. Last year I was only hired as a temporary crew (for "Annual Curriculum"), but it was an awesome job. It's easy, pays really well, everyone's nice, and we get Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.
Last year I had applied earlier on, but when the human resources lady found out that I was leaving to go back to school in January, she told me they were looking for someone more permanent for that position, but I could apply for the temporary crew. I figured the same thing might happen this year, since I'm applying for a non-seasonal position. But they hired me! In fact, they're still interviewing this week, but I start Tuesday.
I am somewhat disappointed that my education gets halted again. I'm a little sad because this means I can't go on the Yellowstone vacation that my family planned for me to go on. I'm very sad because I can't go to Tennessee to visit my adorable nephews. But working for four months will give me a bunch of cash, and I work a morning shift which will let me have an actual life, unlike last year when I worked in the evenings. Getting up early in the morning is no bueno, but I get off early enough (it's only part time) that I can take afternoon naps.
I think about how lucky I am to have this job. Last year it took me two months of applying before I finally got a job, and from all the dozens of applications I sent in, this was the one I got. It pays better and is easier than most jobs I would be qualified for! The environment is awesome. They treat us well. I'm lucky to get it this year. I was lightly monitoring the Church employment opportunities, waiting to see if this one happened to come up, and it came up at just the right time.
So, yeah...finals. My archaeology final was ridiculously easy. The history one...well, I'm just glad I studied about the Islamic Caliphates in medieval Spain on Wednesday night, or else I would have been doomed on Thursday. I know I could have done better and should have known more, but I hope I did decently.
Friday sealed my fate for the rest of 2011. Last year I took fall semester off because I couldn't get a job in Provo and I didn't get a scholarship for the 2010-2011 school year. Taking last fall off had a lot of good advantages, one of the most prominent being that I ended up getting a scholarship for winter that I wouldn't have otherwise had.
This year I attended spring and summer because I had a full-tuition scholarship for those terms. I got a half-tuition scholarship for the 2011-2012 school year. But that extra $1000 per semester has to come from somewhere. I don't have enough to pay it (well, I could, but it would leave me broke), and my dad was laid off last May, and has been unlucky in finding a job. So I figured if he didn't have a job by the time fall rolled around, I'd take this semester off too.
Well, even if he does find a job in the next week before tuition is due (which is unlikely), I won't be going to school in the fall. That's because I got my job back from last year! I worked for the Church at the main Distribution Center, picking orders and packaging them up before sending them off all over the world. Last year I was only hired as a temporary crew (for "Annual Curriculum"), but it was an awesome job. It's easy, pays really well, everyone's nice, and we get Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.
Last year I had applied earlier on, but when the human resources lady found out that I was leaving to go back to school in January, she told me they were looking for someone more permanent for that position, but I could apply for the temporary crew. I figured the same thing might happen this year, since I'm applying for a non-seasonal position. But they hired me! In fact, they're still interviewing this week, but I start Tuesday.
I am somewhat disappointed that my education gets halted again. I'm a little sad because this means I can't go on the Yellowstone vacation that my family planned for me to go on. I'm very sad because I can't go to Tennessee to visit my adorable nephews. But working for four months will give me a bunch of cash, and I work a morning shift which will let me have an actual life, unlike last year when I worked in the evenings. Getting up early in the morning is no bueno, but I get off early enough (it's only part time) that I can take afternoon naps.
I think about how lucky I am to have this job. Last year it took me two months of applying before I finally got a job, and from all the dozens of applications I sent in, this was the one I got. It pays better and is easier than most jobs I would be qualified for! The environment is awesome. They treat us well. I'm lucky to get it this year. I was lightly monitoring the Church employment opportunities, waiting to see if this one happened to come up, and it came up at just the right time.
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