Music

I love music. Music has power to edify, inspire, calm, excite, pacify, encourage; I can be as angry as I'll get out, but play a song I like and in 3 minutes and 36 seconds (give or take) I'm a renewed man. :) That's pretty amazing in my book.

Here's a bit about me and music. First, it's a select group of songs that can have the magical effect described--not just any music will do. Second, I've discovered that I usually need one of two things to like a song--a positive connection or time. Allow me to explain. While I would never probably have liked "Apologize" by One Republic on my own, my roommates in Sparks designated it as our apartment theme song, so because in my head I connect the song with those roommates I love, I also love the song. This explains why I love soundtracks--because they are connected to movies. The other thing I need to like a song is time. I've discovered that I need to hear songs several times--I rarely love a song from the first time I hear it. But as I hear it more, the song grows on me, and I often end up loving it.

Finally, music and me go through distinct phases. First is the acquaintance phase, where I get to know a song and see if we're going to mesh. If we do, then comes the honeymoon phase. I can't seem to get enough of the song, and I listen to it over and over, at home, in the car. Then after listening to it so much, I'm tired of the song and it it usually moves into the Christmas card phase--I still like it, but I'll listen to it only occasionally.

I've added a little music player to my blog. I'm gonna try it out. My current favorite music is by Owl City. I remember when I first heard his music I thought the lyrics were nonsensical and I didn't like any of it. His music has, however, grown on me, and I'm definitely in the honeymoon phase right now. I actually like how the lyrics are totally random--they're quite poetic if you think about it. I've laughed out loud several times hearing some of his song lyrics for the first time. Enjoy!

Christmas

This was a great Christmas, as they always are. Here's me by my incredible stash. Thank you, Santa! I got more than I deserved, for sure.

The gift I was most excited for, however, was one I was giving (isn't that often the case?). Our family has the tradition of watching family home videos to pass the time in the evening before going to bed on Christmas Eve. Our videos were on little old 8mm tapes we could only play through our old camcorder which hardly worked. We would always rummage around to find the right cords, and then spend most of the night trying to find the our favorite parts. Well, somewhere I got the idea to move all of that footage onto DVD, and I knew that there was a lab at BYU to help me do that. I even created neat DVD menus and scene selections. Turns out it was a larger project than I envisioned, but the final product was really great: A 5-DVD set of 8 1/2 hours of family fun. I was giddy all week to give it to my family, and for my sister in Alaska to open her copy and have a piece of family on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Spirit

You know, with projects, papers, and presentations, not to mention finals, I haven't really gotten into the Christmas spirit yet like I usually do. Today, though, was an incredible day--I'm now in the Christmas spirit. First, this morning I got in the spirit of giving by making a cream-cheese danish for my wonderful friends in Apartment 209. I put on my festive green sweater, and Dan wore my red one--everybody loved our sweaters!

Then at church I participated with the ward choir in the Christmas Program, and loved it. Things kept getting better. In preparing for my home teaching message, I came across a great little video about the Christmas spirit. It made me happy to talk about Christmas with my home teachees. Then, the greatest Christmas miracle of the day--I come home and my roommate says, Hey, there's something for you in the living room. It's a Christmas tree! My roommate and his girlfriend heard about my sadness in not having decorations this year (I forgot them all at home) and had gotten a tree and decorated it, complete with my name. I was so touched. My Christmas Spirit-o-meter was full. Merry Christmas!

Master Ethan's Poetry Night

The other evening my friend organized a poetry night. The only requirement was that you bring a poem, either that you wrote or otherwise, and share it with the group. His original plan was to have it outside around a campfire, but because we didn't want to freeze, we improvised--I came up with the idea to have a crackling fire on our laptops, which we then put in the middle of the circle. To complete the illusion, occasionally I would lean forward and warm my hands in front of the screen.

It was surprisingly enjoyable. One of my favorites was when my roommate read a composition by M. Cyrus, which turned out to be the words to "Party in the U.S.A." He was so serious reading it, we all pealed over in laughter. Probably my favorite author of the night though was my friend Ellis. I asked her for some of her poems afterwards, which I've received permission to include below.

Spork
They tell me
I'm a bastard child.
What's it to them
If one night,
The washing done, my mother,
Nested with her sisters, defied
The constraints of compartmentalization
And slid to lie beside my father with a scandalous clink?
Let them scoff at my stubby tines
And incomplete curvature.
I'm proud to be a mutt.
Let those stuffy segregationists
Toss me in with the tea strainer,
The asparagus tongs,
The cracker scoop: other freaks
Who won't stack. They'll change their tune
When the chicken noodle
Soup is served.

Autumn Smolder

When the first flames
Break out in the scrub oak
I live head turned, neck craned,
Eyes devouring the mountain's
Smoldering shoulder, seized
By pyromania.
Soon I hear dulcet
Tones from the canyons, calling
To a deeper, brighter burning.

In the canyons, autumn
Spends itself in one wild conflagration,
Ignites pyres of crimson maple and blazes
Of golden aspen
That lick at the hillsides.

I breathe this fire in,
A Joan D'Arc clinging
To the stake, knowing too soon
Autumn will burn itself out,
Leaving only charred black
Branches stretched up to receive
The first white flakes
Like falling ash.

Christmas Tango & Cha Cha

Twice a semester the Social Dance program puts on a dance lab, where all of the social dance students come to cha-cha, waltz, fox-trot, swing, and more. All the upper-level classes put on a performance at one of the labs--my class performed a tango and cha-cha. It was so much fun!