the one where you get musically culture-ified

eric whitacre.

if you already know who i'm talking about, then you basically know what i'm going to talk about.

sheer genius.

he's a choral composer and his pieces are incredible! talk about dissonance. talk about craziness! you can't even hear everything that's going on with all of the 50 kajillion parts singing at the same time.

now, i don't pretend to know anything about choral music, but thankfully i was exposed to several of his pieces in my cute little high school choir.

i randomly heard one of his songs at work today, so it reminded me of this whole genre of music that, let's be honest, i don't listen to very often (but should, because it's great).

so i decided you all should be exposed to some of eric whitacre's pieces.

the first one - sleep - my high school choir did this. there are parts in this song where literally 14 different notes are being sung. is it even possible for our brains to process all 14 of those notes at the same time? i don't know - listen for yourself. eric whitacre did this giant, global-wide, virtual choir. so you'll see people singing from all over the world and he matched them all up and made it into one choir. if you don't get chills at 3:40ish - 4:06, then you need to take a step back and listen more carefully.

another eric whitacre song we did is water night. the lyrics are infinitely weirder, but the dissonances might be even cooler. now think about it - try singing a note when someone next to you is singing a note like a half step down from you! also, not to mention that i sang first soprano, and to this day i still don't know how i ever sang that high.

on another nostalgic, choral sidenote, my choir also sang this song. by the amazing spiritual arranger moses hogan. here it's sung by the motab! (gotta love 'em) remember how i said i was first soprano?? check out 1:44. the really high part. yeah, that was the part that i sang. (it was the C above the C above middle C. eeeeek.) i don't know how i ever did that. haaaa! the quality's not that great, but it's short!

now, one last culture-ification. this was another high school classic. if you have never A) heard this song or B) watched the video, you are seriously missing out. it's hilarious. also, kind of creepy. i assumed everyone knew this song, until recently when i met people that had no idea what it was. enjoy! oh, and don't get too creeped out by the weird purple shag thing. you gotta make it to the end when they end up victorious and defeat the giant space-squid. yeah, it's epic.

well, there you have it for today. it's been real, it's been fun. who knows what i'll blog about next!

the one where i talk about pots

this is not a dating blog.

and yet somehow, i am writing another post about dating. i suppose it is an occupational hazard of being a student in provo, utah, that a mini-portion of our lives revolve around dating. it is the vision and priority of a large majority of byu students to find someone they can call an eternal companion. deny it all you want, but that's what we're most of us are looking for.

in the meantime while the 'game' proceeds, there are massive amounts of casualties - broken hearts, unfulfilled expectations, reorganization of one's priorities. even common sense and rationality are completely thrown out the window.

so as a group of friends and i were talking about some of the battle wounds and strategic tactics of dating, naturally we started discussing dating analogies. these bad boys are so perfect in their explanations, it's hard not to share with everyone.

now, have you ever asked yourself one of these questions?

how do all the weirdies get married off so quickly?!?
what do i have to do to get a boy's attention?
why don't boys get the hint?


well my friends, i might just have an analogy for you.

THE POT AND LID ANALOGY


so just imagine that you and i are pots. nice round, cooking pots. and it is our lifelong goal to find our corresponding, matching, perfect lid. the hard thing about being a round pot is that there are like five kajillion circle lids floating around the kitchen. so you have to search through them all, try it out, see how it fits, one at a time, until finally the perfect circle lid is found.

the weirdies on the other hand, let's say that they're not the typical round pot. they're all star-shaped and crazy-like. and it turns out there's only one other star-shaped lid in the kitchen. so hello, how hard is it to find? it's not.

now, am i trying to insinuate that because i haven't quickly found my lid, that i'm as normal as a round pot? no. who knows what shape we really are. but also, i'm not saying that the weirdie that's still single doesn't exist. but for the most part, the analogy sticks. go with it.




THE FISH AND FISHERMAN ANALOGY


fish and fisherman. fisherman tries his hardest to get the fish to take a bite. he'll bait his hook with the perfect little doo-dads and what-nots. now, you're probably thinking that the fish is the girl and the fisherman is the guy trying to lure in said girl.

FALSE.

the fisherman = the girl. fish = the boy.

why? because the girl has to conveniently place the hook right in front of the boy's (aka fish's) face otherwise he'll never take the jump and bite. guys must be just as self-conscious about asking girls out because they just don't do it like they used to. unless we drop the hint so blatantly, it's like they just don't get it.

so like i said, girls gotta bait their hook and get it all ready otherwise boys won't even know that there's a hook for biting a mile around.




alright, alright. that's enough analogy-goodness for one day. come back later for more!

the one where we hiked

so you know that awkward moment when you realize your mom (who you love dearly) has just told one of your friends (who happens to be a new guy friend) a really embarrassing story about you??

i'm sure i'm not the first one it's happened to, but it was pretty awesome either way.

so this last saturday, my dear mother was in town and she had never climbed the Y. we decided it was time to change that, so early on saturday my mother and i and two other friends drive up to the Y parking lot, ready to hike the 12 or so steep switchbacks.

we get up to the top. it's awesome, mainly due to the fact that you know you did it, more than the fact that the view is awesome, because honestly, it's the exact same view from the parking lot. nothing too exciting.

anyway, we're on the way down and from previous experience i know that walking down is especially painful on my knees, just because of the steepness and what not. controlled-running down is my preferred method of de-scaling the mountain. and because i know my mom, i knew she'd be 100% totally okay with my running down with one of my friends that came with me. i'll call this friend friend a. but friend b (a fairly new guy friend), being the incredibly nice guy he is (more of my thoughts on that will come -- turns out, there's such a thing as being too nice), decides to stay with my mom and walk down the mountain with her.

so we parted; friend a with me and friend b with mi madre. which i should have known wasn't the best idea.

later that day when i was with my mom going grocery shopping, i remembered that she had a good 20 minutes with this boy. i was curious as to what she talked about with him. she told me that they talked about his schooling. how he's planning on going medical school and so my mom naturally talked about how it was when my dad went through medical school. she even mentioned the fact that my dad got to deliver lots of babies during his residency rotations, which led to how he got to deliver me. and how i was the last baby he delivered.

cute, right?!?

yeah.

and then she mentioned about how when i was born, my dad thought i had some sort of congenital malformation, like a brain abnormality or cleft palate or something along those special lines.


eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew;ejkf;jkw;lejak;lwwfejkw;aj!!!!!!


haahaa, i laughed out loud, whether out of embarrassment or shock or just because the situation is so darn comedic, i'm not sure, but i definitely laughed.

just one of those funny things that happens. and it's totally fine, totally funny, but hopefully it totally never happens again.


oh and by the way, it turns out that i'm completely fine - no brain abnormality, no cleft palate, nothing. maybe i'm a little bit special, but that makes me awesome, right?!

the one where i advise against rash decisions

why is it that in provo there is always an over-abundance of dating mishap stories?? 


seriously, none of us are immune! i've got loads of them - the time i passed out on a first date, the time a giant 32-inch pizza fell on me (might i add that it those first two were on the same date), the time no plans were made and we walked around a mall for two hours, and the ever-so-awkward "hey my sister and her husband are coming with us too". 


so like i said, we've all got them. 


well, i think i've discovered a new category of dating mishap - where it all goes horribly wrong before the date even begins.


and this is where i begin to advise against overanalyzing and make rash decisions.  


to make my advice painfully clear (and to show exactly what NOT to do), i will relay the following anecdote:


once upon a time, boy (boy from my mission) asks me out over facebook. well in advance. like a good two and a half weeks in advance of the actual proposed night. i was not super thrilled about it, so said i wasn't sure if i would be in town that weekend (because i honestly didn't know!) and told him i'd get back to him as soon as possible.  during this period of time it just so happens that my laptop dies. like completely dies a death - both externally and internally (RIP old lappy). so the only time i was on the internet was at work, and it turns out i actually was doing work and completely forgot to write the boy back. 


not because i was trying to avoid him, or reject him, or be rude at all. in fact, i was planning on saying yes. but i kept putting it off because i had other work things i had to do. 


so a week passes by like this and the boy writes again and asks what kind of decision i have arrived at. i'm still in the same sans-computer situation and it's a few days before i get to be able to write him again. but before i even get the chance to do that, what happens??!? welp, let me tell you...


boy posts a link to my facebook wall. it's to his very own blog! he writes me and says, "read the second entry". i'm excited, but maybe a little apprehensive. what could this awkward boy be blogging about?


well ladies and gentlemen, to sum up his blog post in one word, the title of the blog post is rejection. 


yeeeeaaaaaah.


it's basically a little ditty about how you shouldn't ignore people and that lies hurt and honesty is the best policy. and how going "cold shoulder is like target practice and a cruel trick". (his words, not mine.) 


although he has the right to blog and vent his particular feelings in any which way he chooses, his chosen method to, dare i say, retaliate, was not quite appropriate. especially the whole posting it to my facebook wall where anybody in the world could see it. to me that was saying hey, you suck. and this is why. read away! 


y bueno...


so what do we learn from this?

1. do not, under any circumstance, ask somebody out via facebook - if absolutely necessary, you can ask for a number over fb, and then proceed to call, but man, even that is pushing it.
2. do not jump to conclusions. easy to say, hard to do, right? but really, you never know what's going on with somebody else or what situation they're dealing with, so don't automatically assume the worst. 
3. do not lash out with your first reaction. my first reaction was to write him back and give him a large piece of my mind. i can be very straight forward and sometimes my non-sugar-coated honesty is like a ninja death star. it stings un poco. but, who would that help? nobody. so i didn't respond until the next day when i could reasonably write back and explain my situation, apologize for not replying sooner, and respectfully decline his date invite (yup, that's what i did). but this goes both ways, he probably should not have lashed out with a hate-blog in the first place. or at least should not have publicly posted it to my wall.
4. do not hold grudges. i am happy to say that i tried my very best to not leave things all awkward-like with him. i invited him to a paraguayan party i'm having next week and he is very excited to be coming.

lessons learned? yes.
another good story to add to my list? haha, oh yeah. 

the one where i talk logisitics

summertime.

is there anything else that makes you quite as happy? i mean, peanut butter and pedicures rate up there pretty high, but think about it - summertime means green grass, long runs on the provo river trail, flip-flops and shorts. it means the farmer's market is open. school's out (well, for some). it means swimming and being outside and vacations and lightning bugs (well, not in provo) and camping and hanging out with friends every night.

since this is the first summer i will be spending entirely in provo, i decided to up its epicness by creating a provo summer BUCKET LIST!!!

are you ready for this?? (*insert 90s jock jam music here*)

• run 412 miles
• learn how to play the guitar
• learn how to longboard
• go on vacation with my family
• volunteer
• warped tour
• go camping
• train for grand teton relay (aug) in preparation for the las vegas ragnar (nov)
• start a blog

okay, well that's all for now. if there's any other fun things that i should do, someone please tell me so that summer 2012 is the most best ever.