stepping out

so as i was buying a bag of "FUN SIZE" Butterfingers the other day I was thinking... why call this little mini-sized candybar "FUN SIZE"? To me, the "FUN" size is not the 1 inch piece of candy... i would think that it would make more sense to call the KING SIZE candybar the "FUN SIZE". I don't know, maybe it's just me... but i think that the more candy you get, the more "FUN" it is. They should call this little 1 inch bar the "JUST ENOUGH". Everyone knows that this is the size that you buy to hide in your desk drawer at the office or in the kitchen cupboards...

Ever have those moments when lights of clarity go off and flicker in your head?? Maybe while listening to a song, while singing a song... or while talking with a good friend?? I've experienced some of those moments- some of those "lights" lately... while doing those 3 things. Don't you love it when that happens? Those are the moments that keep me going... the things that i have to remember when i feel like i'm literally battling... blood, sweat, tears stuff. I pray that God keep you & guide you as you battle whatever you're facing. I pray that you have little lights and moments of clarity that make it all make sense... make it all come together in your head to give you the bigger picture of what it is you are fighting for or against...
or maybe you're not fighting anything at all... i hope you can still experience those flickering light of clarity moments regardless of where you're at in life right now. those moments are important.
speaking of fighting, i read a quote today that almost brought me to a Braveheart battlecry.
even though it may not make sense out of context, i'll share it with you:
"If you are willing to do a frightening thing, if you are willing to run toward the sound of the guns, if you would fight with all your strength against self-righteousness: step out of yourself and see the truth your adversary sees." -Roy H. Williams

no, i'm not a Roy H. Williams groupie... seriously... those people weird me out. any and all groupies weird me out... not just the Roy groupies.

awesome

Lightning photo courtesy of spaceweather.com

So I'm taking this audio techniques class on Monday nights now.

Much to my surprise, the professor is actually going to the trouble of teaching us the VERY fundamentals of sound... for example, we're learning about at what frequencies the human ear hears and things like wave paths. It is fascinating stuff... I'm not sure any of us were ready to leave when class was over.

GET THIS: Do you know what the sound of thunder is??

The sound of thunder is the sound of all the notes in the musical scale at once.

I cannot tell you how cool that is for me... all the notes in the scale... all at once... thunder is... not just noise... it's music. how can all the notes in the musical scale all at once be an accident? Reminds me of the string theory and the theory of everything.

it's awesome... I am so excited about the things I'm learning in this class. And I thought all I was going to be getting out of the class was how to do audio mixing!

and get this: the end of the course project is to record/produce a song.

sounds way more fun than most of the classes i took in college.

hope everyone is having a great week.

later.

coordination skills

just in case you missed this rockin' awesome live performance from the OK GO boys on the VMAs...
here it is: OK GO.

i need more

the long weekend is winding down. bummer. oh well, at least that means that we'll have a short work week. :)
last night i drove down the highway on my way home with the windows rolled down, sunroof wide open, and the music turned way up. and i was happy... i was happy for the invention of cruise control and the invention of the sunroof. the wind was blowing my hair all over the place... it was a wonder i could see anything... it was so therapeutic. it was really great.
i own a pink chair. it's an antique. i acquired this chair from my grandmother... and i love it. i think i've almost decided that it's my most favorite piece of furniture that i have. i got to thinking about why i love it so much... and i think i've uncovered why i love the old pink chair. call me sentimental... but i think i love it so much because i know that my grandfather once sat in it... reading his newspaper... or sleeping... or watching tv... or smoking a cigarette. it was a part of his life... and now it's a part of mine. since he died when i was 1-year-old... there weren't whole lot of opportunities in that one year to get to know each other... and so you take what you can get... and for me, it's the chair. i guess you could say that the pink chair brings us together in a way... it's a part of the family. hmmm... who knew all that could be wrapped up in a chair? seriously haven't ever thought about it until today. funny...

p.s. found a fun blog if you're interested: http://hughe2030.blogspot.com/

nicole, steph, & me

from Steph's visit... out on our girl's night. :)

2 things

1
the scripture of the day:
Many plans are in a man's mind, but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand.
Proverbs 19:21 (Amplified Bible)

2
the dictionary.com word of the day:
tete-a-tete \TAYT-uh-TAYT; TET-uh-TET\, adjective:
1. Private; confidential; familiar.
2. A private conversation between two people.
3. A short sofa intended to accommodate two persons.

Tete-a-tete??? i've never once heard this word used in conversation. anyone? anyone?
I'm going to go sit on a tete-a-tete now and have a tete-a-tete. that's right you heard me... a tete-a-tete on a tete-a-tete.

the Fray

have i mentioned that i like THE FRAY? and Issac Slade?
since i missed their concert here, i'm really thinking about traveling a great distance to go see them in concert in September. why not? i need a vacation!! why not make a vacation out of it? man, if i could only pull it off... we'll see.

get this, according to AOL, Isaac mentored a crack-addicted teen, providing the inspiration for the title track How to Save a Life: "I wrote the song about how there's no formula for bringing somebody out of that."

from page 18

so i'm reading this book, Bird by Bird. it's pretty good stuff...
funny thing, i read something in it the other day that sounded very similar to something i wrote here in June... my another fog blog.

anyway... here's the paragraph from page 18:
E.L. Doctorow once said that "writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard.

is that good or what? because it's so true.

i'm listening to The Fray right now... i love music.

Adam & Melissa's wedding

remember my little brother? yup, it seems

jared's all grown-up... weird. :)

i like icecream...

yes, i like ice cream...
and i LOVE guacamole...
but i'm not sure i would have ever thought of Icy Hot Avocado Ice Cream.
hmmm... sounds interesting... i just might try it.
i also found Alton Brown's recipe for Avocado Ice Cream... but i'm thinking the icy hot recipe sounds better.

new

i recently bought some new towels. i love them.
yesterday i bought a new toothbrush. i love it.
this morning my motivation for getting up was the thought of my new bath towels and my new toothbrush. i love the feeling of new. but i have to say that as i was getting ready for work and realized that my reason for getting up was a towel and a toothbrush...
i started to get a little depressed.

but new is good... right? i should be excited about my day regardless of whether any new towels or new toothbrushes are involved... right?
speaking of new, i got a new job... well, same place... just a different job... and yeah, it's a good thing... it's a happy thing.
so now i've got my new job to get me up in the morning... my new bath towels... and of course, don't forget the new toothbrush. but something tells me i'm out of focus... cause as cool as all this new stuff is and as grateful as i am... none of it really matters in the long run. there should be something else getting us up outta bed... i'll stop here before i get too serious & philosophical... i think you all know where i'm going and what i mean. refocusing... i need to do more of it... daily.

back to the toothbrush... seriously... don't you just LOVE the feeling of a new toothbrush or is that just me?

last week Rebecca introduced me to Sudoku.
i've played 5 games so far. i don't remember how long my 1st game took... my 2nd game took 15 minutes... i gave up on my 3rd game... my 4th game took 20 minutes... and gave up again on my 5th. they say the average is 6 minutes. what? average for who? who are they talking about?
you know what? i'd like to see Raymond go after a sudoku puzzle. i'm thinking he'd have it solved in a minute or less... he'd blow the record.

drip... drip... drip...

i recently added the following two quotes to my little quote book… and thought that they were both worth sharing:

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.
-Henry David Thoreau

Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
-Helen Keller


could it be that most go to the grave with the song still in them because they’re too busy trying to attain self-gratification? no, I’m not preaching at anyone… well, maybe a little to myself...
geez… apparently I’m a fan of both Thoreau & Keller… a lot of their quotes have really struck a chord in me.

it’s not a matter of whether or not there’s a song there… it’s a matter of bringing it out… bringing it to the surface... finding your music, your instrument, your rhythm, your voice, your style.
what’s my unique contribution? what’s yours? when do you notice your song playing?
what is it that makes music leak out of your soul?

I can’t believe it’s the end of July already! what?! speaking of which, it's freakin' hot!

p.s. STEPH & MATT are coming for a visit soon! yeah for visits from friends!

burritos, clocks, and billy joel

it's almost been a month since i've thrown a line or two up on here... so i thought i'd go ahead with an update. my gosh! how time freakin' flies! anyway, i'll keep this short and sweet.
woke up this morning and decided to sleep in a few extra minutes... it turned into about 20 minutes. ended up being only a couple minutes late to work. :)
an old friend stopped by to say hello...
had lunch with some coworkers... discovered that Emily eats burritos starting in the middle. she always starts eating them from the middle. hmm.
discovered that another one of my coworkers sets every single one of her clocks exactly 25 minutes fast. another hmm.
had a weird afternoon... but made it to 5pm.
had dinner with my parents.
listened to "easy listening" on the way home tonight... and actually enjoyed a tune from Billy Joel of all people!? what?
decided to jump online and shop for a new phone... still can't find a phone that i wanna buy... but in the meantime i made another impulse buy & bought another ring tone. geez! they get me everytime! (and no, it wasn't Billy Joel!) peace out.

today's Monday Morning Memo

Thought I'd throw in an inspiring excerpt from today's Monday Morning Memo... it's definitely worth sharing... and worth reading a couple times.

While speaking at the Sorbonne in Paris, April 23, 1910, audacious Teddy Roosevelt looked the French coldly in the eyes and delivered his famous admonition, "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

And you wondered why the French tend not to like Americans.

now, is that good stuff or what?

Old Glory Day

Happy Flag Day everyone!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Day_in_the_United_States

another fog blog

I was driving to work through some fog one day last week. I love driving through fog. it seems like I always have some sort of spiritual breakthrough every time I drive through it.
here’s how it went: I was driving and thinking: dang, I can’t see very far past the fog… can’t see where the road leads… I see several feet ahead… enough to feel safe going ahead… but can’t see the entire road and/or landscape. and then I started thinking… that’s how I feel about life right about now. I can only see so far… can’t see past the fog… I don’t know what’s ahead but I can see enough to feel safe moving forward. this sucks… but it’s kinda cool in a way…
moving into the unknown requires trust & faith that there’s actually something or some road in front of you to go to. as I was thinking about this… I was thinking about how I knew where it was I wanted to go(I knew the location of my destination) but could only see a little bit in front of me at the time. and then all at once it seemed that God was trying to tell me something & a light went on. I know your destination- I know the road in front of you. I know how you’ll get there. You just focus on what’s in front of you right now and I’ll lead you down the road you need to go. You know where you want to go and I know how to get you there. Trust Me.
sounds easier than it is though... it requires a daily decision to trust Him... a daily decision to believe that God knows what He's doing no matter what it feels like & He is strong enough & big enough for anything that might come my way. But like He reminds me, I just need to focus on Him- right now- and let Him take care of the future.
so there you go everybody. :)

I just received some sad news.

Russ Tatro, a great man of God, passed away this afternoon. Russ served through foreign missions since 1985. He and his wife, Wendy, served as missionaries in the nations of Guatemala, Liberia and Sierra Leone pioneering Bible training centers during their years in West Africa. Well over 100,000 students have graduated from LWM-affiliated Bible training centers and many of these graduates now serve as missionaries leading ministries throughout Africa and other parts of the world. They established Living Word Missions in 1993.He is survived by his wife and their two daughters. Pray for Wendy & the family that God will give them strength & comfort to continue the missions work that she & Russ started so many years ago.

http://www.livingwordmissions.org/

rain

i'm at the coffee shop across the street utilizing their wifi.

it's raining outside... it's been raining a lot lately.

several weeks ago one of my friends was talking about kids and discipline. anyway, she said something about finding out what the child's "currency" is so that you could discipline them in the most effective way. each person has a different "currency". each person is different. somethings are more important or less important to others.
the day after we had that conversation, i asked my wise friend what she thought my currency might be... and i've continued to think about it off and on. what is your currency? what do you live by? mine is friendship.

Rebecca mentioned about a week ago that she thought people were trying to live their lives like Laguna Beach. what a good observation... i hadn't thought of it until she brought it up... and it's sad but true. so many people are trying to play the part... have perfect lives... have the look... have the image that everything is in control and everything is perfect. guess what? it's not. you're not on tv and people don't hear a theme song when they see you walking down the street. but i have to say that i do think that it's okay to have your own internal theme song playing in your own heart, soul & mind. pick a good one. pick one that helps and doesn't hurt. ultimately the only thing that can make you happy is a real relationship with God. when you can accept His love for you... things will be a lot easier...

thought i'd point you in the direction of one of my favorite blog reads.
http://www.xanga.com/mochaspree/486722050/loathing.html

fun times

Cyndi has been after me for weeks to update the picture on the blog... since it's a couple years old...
so here's a new pic that she took yesterday. :)

Grambling

i saw an amazing thing on Saturday night... the Grambling State University Marching Band. they performed at the arena football game that i went to. yeah, i said arena football... it was actually fun to watch... believe it or not. http://www.gram.edu/band/default.asp
This is the same band that has performed for Presidents and First Ladies, Kings and Queens from the USA to Zimbabwe... they've been seen at numerous Super Bowls and Presidential inaugurations. I guess the GSU band has even starred in their own Coca-Cola commercial. Who knew that a marching band could be so cool?
yup, the band WAS cool but this is somewhat of a cop-out entry because i've got nothing but seriousness floating around in this head... for about 2 weeks now... not exactly blog-friendly thinking... it wouldn't be blog-friendly writing.
but yeah... very cool & impressive marching band. the had the coolest guy leading it... not sure what his official title is but he was COOL. guess i should go rent Drumline... haven't seen it yet.
maybe i'll write a more substantial entry soon... i hope... :)