end of tv for 2009

Well, last night marked the end of our watching television - at least for another eight or nine months. And what have I learned, after four months of faithful viewing? Kris Allen is the American Idol and Juliet "I changed my mind" Burke detonated a hydrogen bomb at the Dharma Swan station. Umm...yep, that pretty much sums it up.

But the journey this season has been fun. It was fun to see Norman Gentle return to the stage during the AI finale; I nearly had forgotten about him and some of the earlier contestants like Tatiana del Toro. And I'm so glad that Adam Lambert sang Queen. I've been waiting for that. I'm sure that performance would have made Freddie Mercury proud. (And wasn't it kind of sad to see KISS performing? Those guys are way past their prime - even their face makeup can't hide that fact.)

I'm disappointed that Adam lost, but I don't think the best singers have won American Idol over the past few years (e.g. David Archuleta and Melinda Doolittle). The thing that I found most disconcerting, though, is that Kris was unprepared to win. When the results were announced, his slightly-prolonged stammering and shock made me start to feel awkward. J wonders how Kris will do in the music industry, since he doesn't seem to have an aggressive enough attitude to accept his idol title. I think it's fine that Kris is so humble and unassuming, but it also makes me worried that he won't push himself to do well. It will be interesting to see how he and Adam do in their careers. I hope they are both successful.

So now, J and I won't be watching television very much for the rest of the year. I wonder what we'll do after Sam goes to bed. Read? I guess that sounds fun, even though I feel like I read all day long. Maybe I'll need to do other things during the day, and save my reading for the evenings. Hmm. Or I guess I could start working again on some of my art history research projects. Yeah, maybe I'll do that.

If you don't watch TV in the evenings, what do you do? And what did you think of the AI and LOST season finales? (You can read my thoughts on the LOST finale here).

seriously so blessed

I'm sure that many young LDS bloggers are familiar with the blog "Seriously So Blessed." The blog essentially parodies the blogging phenomenon that's popular with young Mormon moms. I think it's a spot-on mimic. (If you've never read this blog before, go to the "About Me" section on the main page to get a flavor for what this blog is like.) I think that today's post is great. My other favorite posts are TAMN's (Tiffany/Amber/Megan/Nicole - pick whatever popular name you like best) thoughts on the presidential race and the economic situation.

If you haven't read this blog, you should check it out. It will make you laugh - especially if you are familiar with other blogs by Mormon mommies. I just hope my blog never becomes like the ones that are parodied on this site! (I write that, knowing that the reason I find today's post so funny is because I occasionally blog about American Idol. Yikes!)

things falling apart

If you had asked me a while ago, I would have said that this past year has been the most difficult one of my life. Despite all of the good things that have happened, I have also faced a lot of problems, disappointment, and deep concerns. At times when I felt like my life was falling apart, I often thought about when I saw the ruins of the Temple of Zeus (destroyed by a massive earthquake in ancient times):


However, I don't really feel like things are so desperate and horrible anymore. The difficulties and problems haven't resolved themselves completely or changed, but I feel like I have changed. There are a couple of things which have helped me out, and I have found some particularly sound advice in When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron (thanks for the book, Ant Bee!). This book is founded in traditional Buddhist teachings and has given me a better perspective on fear and difficult times.

Chodron writes that we shouldn't call occurences in our life "good" or "bad." Really, we just don't know what they are. And it's true - these so-called horrible experiences can be great opportunities for me to become stronger and more capable. She writes, "When things fall apart and we're on the verge of we know not what, the test for each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize" (1997, p. 11).

I'm looking at things differently lately. Even the past 24 hours have been remarkably different, and I can feel a change in myself. Instead of yielding to fear and trying to "sit things out," I'm going to embrace this time in my life and see how much I can get out of the experience. I feel like I'm really growing, and frankly, I'm excited to see what "new me" is going to come out of this chaos. Although my life and attitude have not formed into this yet:


I'm content (and kind of excited?) about this:

weekend adventures and sam pics

After graduating from college last year, I was amazed at the prospect of doing whatever I wanted on the weekends. No homework. No study sessions. No thesis. No stress.

It's amazing. And I still enjoy the freedom of waking up on Saturday with no obligations or projects.

With the warm weather, we have found several fun things to these past few weekends. Last month we went to a local farm for a sheep shearing festival.

Sheep dogs rounding up the sheep

Sam can't understand why these sheep only have had their heads shorn

Sam's first haircut

The final product and picture with Barber Dad

Sam doesn't like shoes. At all. He'll only wear them for a few minutes. I try to put shoes on him and then distract him so he won't try to kick them off. This time, I tried to distract him with a flower. I think the look on his face is so funny: "Seriously? You're trying to distract me with this flower?!?"

We went to the Seattle Aquarium on another recent weekend. Sam loves to open and close his mouth, gaping like a fish.

I think Sam got tired of making fish faces by the end of our trip.

"Talking" on his toy phone

I see a lot of J in this picture of Sam. It's interesting to see how Sam's facial features change as he gets older.

plagiarized posts

I don't imagine that I have an immensely huge following on any of my blogs, but I found out today that my art history posts are being copied and re-posted on a couple of other blogs. I've contacted the person who has been doing this (the same person is behind all of these blogs), and asked him/her remove all of the posts. I kind of doubt that this person speaks English, though, since the posts are re-worded with slightly bizarre synonyms and figures of speech. Some of the word choices have made the sentences almost nonsensical. We'll see if they can translate my email. (Or maybe they'll just reword it and upload it as another post...)

If anyone wants to check and see if their blog is being copied elsewhere online, I would recommend Copyscape. You can also put a little Copyscape footer on your blog page, which may help to ward off potential copycats.

Has anyone else had to deal with plagiarizers taking blog material? What have you done?

the ecstasy

I have been waiting a long time to hear Adam Lambert sing some Robert Plant. With Adam Lambert's range, I knew that he could sing in Plant's upper range with ease.¹ It was a glorious moment to hear Led Zeppelin sung so well last night. Yay!

Whenever I hear music that I really enjoy, I laugh. Often I laugh because the singer has done something clever with his/her diction or the delivery is just too incredible for words. I also laugh because the music is so fun and interesting. I often will laugh during a raucous jazz concert. And I would like to laugh when I attend the opera, but I try hard to restrain myself.

I laughed twice during American Idol last night. Once during Adam Lambert's awesome performance. And once when Kris Allen did a cool thing by semi-swallowing the word "please" on his performance of "Come Together" (about 00:28 in this clip). Since I know Beatles songs so well, that change was so expected and fun that I laughed. Plus I could tell that Kris was genuinely enjoying himself as he sang that phrase ("do what he please") - which made me feel like I was having fun with him.²

Do you ever laugh or do something silly when you really enjoy music?

1 From what I've seen, in live performances Robert Plant sang an octave lower than the Zeppelin studio recordings. I wonder if it was to save his voice (that's a lot of screaming for a singer who is on tour), or if it was difficult for him to sing that high on a consistent basis. Along these same lines, I read in a couple of places (like here) that the Zeppelin songs needed to be transposed into a lower key for the band's recent reunion. I guess Plant can't hit those notes like he used to. But I still think he is a really competent, tasteful, and relevant singer, as indicated by his totally awesome album with Allison Krauss, Raising Sand (2007).

2 I hope that Kris doesn't leave tonight. I have several friends who don't like him, but I thought that he did a really good job, especially given that rock and roll isn't his genre. He really put his own spin on the song and made it sound original, which is hard to do when you sing something by the Beatles. If I was basing judgment solely on last night's performances, I would have to say that Danny Gokey needs to go home. That performance was sloppy, scary, and sad. And that final scream? Yikes.

age

Do you like people to think that you are older than you actually are? Or younger?

I never really thought much about my age until Sam was born. I've always felt that I look a little young for my age, but I didn't really care until I started to tote around a baby. Do I look old enough to be a mom? Or do people start to look older once they have a kid? Does that other mom in the mall look older or younger than me? Am I not "dressing my age" (or "dressing like a mom") if I wear brightly-colored clothes from H & M?

I know of few people who are happy with their age and/or think that they actually look their age. My friend Ixoj lies about her age so that her Korean students will respect her. My cousin Zillah sheared her locks before her PhD program, partially in hopes that she would look enough to be a doctoral candidate.

I wonder when I'll stop wanting to seem/look older.