Seventy Times 7

I love music! Did you know that?

Directions for this post:

1.) Play this video




2.) Read this post while listening




I love how a song can transcend just being a song. It can be connected to a thousand memories. The song means so much more than just the original tune and lyrics that the artist records. Because of your experience with it you make it your own. It doesn't matter how many years go by or how your musical tastes may change. This song comes on and you can remember with almost perfect detail the moment that this song became something so much more. Unfortunately this can be a good or bad connection, and I have songs that qualify in both categories. But I certainly have more songs that remind me of some of the best times, friends and memories I have in my life than ones that remind me of the bad times.

I'm going to tell you about one of them.

While driving to work this morning Seventy Times 7 came on my iPod . . .

Immediately I was driving through the Smoky Mountains by the Little River en route to Gatlinburg. The car is full of my very best girlfriends. It is the perfect day in one of the most perfect summers of my life. All the windows are down, feet are hanging out the window and we are young, relatively carefree and anxiously awaiting our post high school lives. We weren't really sure what would happen come fall when we would all go our separate ways or how the years at college or wherever else we were going would change us, but I know at that moment we couldn't care less. All that mattered was that we were together and having an awesome time. I don't remember what we did in Gatlinburg, where we went that night, or even who's car we were driving, but I will never forget that drive and that song.

Using cell phones, water bottles or whatever we could find we sang (or maybe we screamed)

And is that what you call tact?

You're as subtle as a brick in the small of my back.

So let's end this call, and end this conversation.

and is that what you call a getaway?

well tell me what you got away with.

cause you left the frays from the ties you severed 

when you say best friends means friends forever

just as loud as we could into our "microphones".

It was definitely one of my infinite moments (see Perks of Being a Wallflower for explanation).

I will admit that if I heard Brand New's first CD for the first time today, I probably wouldn't think much of it. But Your Favorite Weapon and I have history, and I will certainly never forget it. How could I when it is the background music to practically every good memory from the summer of 2005? Or as I like to call it the summer of the Posh Elite complete with high school graduation, Warped Tour, hooker high heels, Kelsie's hot tub, Jessica's dad's pool, being water logged practically the whole summer, hanging out in Kelsie's basement, Tom and Blockbuster, my first job at Mr. Gatti's, scary movies and the circular conversations of which of us would survive in a scary movie situation, my brains falling out (i.e. nosebleeds) and perpetually loosing my contacts at Kelsie's house, driving down a curvy road at all hours of the night either to or from Kelsie's house, late night trips to Wal-Mart and late night meals at IHOP. 

Ahh . . . can't you just feel the nostalgia? 

Brand New...

Is playing in Salt Lake right now. I'm not there.

I'd prefer not to talk about it.

Remember Remember the 5th of November

Remember guys bonfire night is tonight. Today is one of those days where it would be fun to be British. However, My day was rather wonderful. How glorious was the Provo weather today? (Everybody nod those heads yes!) It was just one of those days when it seems like everything should just be cancelled so everyone can take the time to enjoy the sunshine before winter really sets in.

Even without the sunshine, today would have been a wonderful day! Bones took a 2 week hiatus, and today is was back baby! We celebrated this momentous occasion with pizza and cheetos. I forgot how much I love those crunchy little cheesy curls of puffed goodness!

I enjoyed work today also. We played frisbee for sports class today. It tops my list of this semester's most successful sporting endeavors. We did have a few tears, but nothing too serious. Mr. Marcus and I made a good teaching team. For the most part, I think all the kids enjoyed themselves, and I know I sure did. To be honest, this marked the first time I ever truly enjoyed playing ultimate frisbee! Next week I think we will tackle learning football. I just need to find some volunteers who actually know how to play football first.

Let me jump back to Tuesday for a moment. In art class we studied van Gough, one of my top favorite artists. Unfortunately, I think the lesson went right over the kids heads for the most part. I explained over and over how he used many different, short brushstrokes of different colors and let the colors mix on the paper. I showed them examples of his works, demonstrated on the board, and even took some children who were interested aside to get a closer look at the painting. Despite all this, once the materials were handed out most of the children grabbed their brushes and started covering their whole paper with large strokes of a solid color (sigh). It frustrated me to say the very least. A few turned out pretty decent though, despite the general confusion.

I really think this one up here would have been really good if it was finished.

Listen for the van Gough reference in Brand New's untitled 04 posted below!

This is Halloween!

First of all, I really really love Brand New. They are one of my favorite bands. However, I think I had my first ever negative experience with them this morning. I have aerobic dance at 8am, and per usual I was running a bit late. It was a cloudy, dismal kind of morning and I was really sleepy. This song really bummed me out when I heard it this morning. It is a beautiful song, but not necessarily appropriate at the time.

Also, Halloween is soon! I love Halloween! I love the fall. I love pumpkins and pretty much all pumpkin flavored foods. I love the fall colors, the fall weather, and fall attire. Basically, this is a very happy time of year. One of my favorite parts is dressing up. I have my costume all planned out so stay turned for pictures. 

In the spirit of Halloween, tonight for FHE we carved pumpkins. James and I did very well considering the fact neither one of us is very artistically inclined and we both had a complete block on what the do for the first 10ish minutes. We ended up placing second out of 10 in the FHE competition.

Oh, Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

Oh, did I mention I don't particularly care for Spongebob? Because I don't. But it did make for an awesome pumpkin!

And one last thing. Janell and I are throwing a pre-Halloween movie night party this Friday featuring none other than my very  favorite Halloween movie: The Nightmare Before Christmas!

Here's a little snip to get you excited! Oh and there will be cupcakes out the wazooooo!

Concert and a few other things

I went to see The Used tonight with my roommate Janell. It was probably the best Used concert I have been to (tonight made #4). I thoroughly enjoyed myself, got really sweaty (even some that wasn't mine), got my nose smashed a little, got elbowed in the face, had my head used as some random girl's personal tripod, got cracked in the back of the head by a crowd surfer, and danced and sang to my little heart's content. It only took about 15 oz. of mighty mango fruit juice, another 24 oz. of Smart Water, and a 3 Musketeer to completely recover from the slight dehydration and light beating. Plus Bert sang Blue and Yellow for the first time ever in concert. I was only a few people back from the front so that made it even better. I also have a collection of band memorabilia including set lists, drum sticks, and guitar picks. I never had anything from The Used....until tonight that is:

I found this little beauty on the floor after the concert was over. I may have picked it up and hid it in my pocket from the girl that was possibly looking for it, but hey who's to say whether that's what really happened or not? It also has Quinn's name on the back! Wooooo!

Yeah, it's a little blurry, but you can see how close I was.

My favorite member or the band by far is Quinn Allman. I think he is rather adorable:

I was supposed to go see Brand New last night. They are one of my favorite bands as well. How epic (not to mention a little ironic) a weekend would it have been to see Brand New one night and The Used the very next? Alas, the Brand New concert was postponed due to illness, wrecking my epic weekend in the making.

 Instead of Brand New, last night I ate sushi and went to see Whip It. I recommend them both. 

The Hurricane Roll at Sushi Ya is mmmmmmmm mmmmm good! (even more so that Campbell's Soup!)

I also loved Whip It! Ellen Page did a great job, and it featured Pot Kettle Black by Tilly and the Wall, a rather awesome band with a tap dancer as their main form of percussion. The movie wasn't the best made I have ever seen (it was Drew Barrymore's first attempt at directing), but she did a pretty decent job. Most importantly, I am now a firm believer that everyone should understand how roller derby is played because it is a pretty cool sport!