The Readiness Is All

This week I discovered something. It explains a lot.
I was driving in the car with my brothers, Ty and Treb, and I realized that the music was turned up pretty loud. And that rather than turning it down, we were all yelling over it. At least talking very loudly. And I realized that this is what I always want to do and can't because courtesy doesn't permit it. Suddenly I remembered that the night before, Treb and I were swapping music and he put on some Mingus and it was also loud - a little too loud to comfortably talk over, but not loud enough that it bothered me because I wanted to be able to actually hear the music.
So I brought it up, and we came to the conclusion that we are a rare breed of people for whom time in the car is sacred music time. We are willing to be a little inconvenienced in the conversation department (and believe me, we still talked plenty - although I think part of this has to do with the fact that we are quite often talking about the music) because unless you have it at a certain level you can only hear the drums - sometimes you can't even tell what key the music's in, if you know what I mean. And as Treb pointed out, you can always talk quietly over dinner.
Of course, over dinner (actually over dessert after the movie the next night) we talked about the suckiness of country music today - not the kind my dad brought us up on (although even some of that is a bit much for me) like Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash - but the sappy crap that was going at the steak house. (Treb: "The difference between what Dad brought us up listening to and this is like the difference between Coltrane and Kenny G." Well said, big brother.)
Anyway, Treb, Ty and I hit I Am Legend and Juno on Wednesday, and the whole fam (minus Spence and family, since they were in CA) went to see The Great Debaters on Thursday night. I still haven't seen The Golden Compass or The Kite Runner, but I guess there's still time for that. I Am Legend was seriously creepy, but I was really impressed with Will Smith. Juno was funny and sweet even if the feeling was a little Napolean Dynamite-esque at first - I liked it more by the end that I thought I was going to at the beginning. The Great Debaters was quite wonderful all around - I think I can recommend that one to anyone.
Today traded the copy of Pirates 3 I got from Santa for a Brandi Carlile CD and Double Indemnity. A good trade, I thought. Also, staring at the two books I got for Christmas and thinking about the huge stack that's sitting upstairs. I wish that I wasn't always so anxious to read everything. Almost done with Dragonhaven, but then will I read one of the new ones (Saturday, Tender is the Night, The Bridge of San Luis Rey) or one of the older ones (The Kite Runner, Thunderstruck, The Road . . .) or finally finish Dracula? Hard question.
The following video is one I found of an amazing song Ty played for us in the car the other night. It's kind of a cool video, and the song is WOW. "People Get Ready" by The Frames. Amazing.
Merry Christmas/Happy New Year, etc.

So I'm going to pull a Janssen and post a recipe here. I hope Dr. Dean won't mind, but hey - she gave it to the whole class, and why wouldn't you share the wealth when you have an amazing recipe like this one? I made these for the first time today and they were a huge hit at the Madrigal reunion (which was weirdish, but that's a story for another time) and Melanie wanted the recipe, so here we go.

Dr. Dean's Amazing Pumpkin Bars:

4 eggs
1 16oz can pumpkin (or if you only have huge cans like I did, 2 cups. Yay for converting things.)
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp soda

Mix ingredients thoroughly. Pour batter onto large, greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for about 20-25 minutes. When cooled, frost with the following frosting.

1 pkg cream cheese
6 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
5 cups powdered sugar (really)
2-3 Tbsp milk (or enough to thin the frosting to spreadable consistency)

So easy, so good. Happy holidays, and thank you Dr. Dean for teaching me so many things, but especially for this recipe. :)

Things that are happy:

• I just took my last final EVER unless I go to grad school. And I am glad, because I came out with a numb hand. Although I think I would be feeling happier about the semester overall if I felt better about my work overall, I am really excited (finally) for student teaching.
  
• Tonight is roommate Christmas! I love giving my roommates presents. I love shopping for them with Miri - we are way better at giving presents when we go shopping for them together. Our brilliance combined is astounding. We've been waiting to give Jennie her present for more than a week now, because we got her related birthday and Christmas presents. And we are excited.
  
• Treb is coming home on Sunday! We're making lists of movies to hit.
• Yes, we watched a whole lot of Gilmore Girls this week. I finished season 5 and Jennie got season 1 for Christmas.
  
• Marci figured out why her jaw has been hurting/swelling, and it will be fixed soon. Hurrah!
• I'm still excited about the amazing journal from Lindsey, and I'm actually writing in a real journal now! It's been awhile since I've had a desire to write in a normal human-style journal (not a blog, that is) and it's fun.
  
• Linda made me a Bella bracelet. Which I thought was a wise alternative to spending $60 on the real one. It's pretty amazing - trust me. :)
• Last night I finally listened to The National. "Didn't anybody tell you how to gracefully disappear in a room?" I think I'm a fan.
• I only have two more Christmas gifts to buy - Mom and Dad. And before that was Miri. Why are those three always the hardest?
• Lili and Whitney are moving in soon! Lili's DVDs are already sitting on our front room, where, no doubt, they will all be until Drew gets home in March, which is also a happy thought.
• I'm going home tomorrow!! And there are Christmas parties to go to and eat at! And I just used two awkward prepositions!

Happy holidays.

So I've been thinking about all kinds of things lately and freaking out a little about graduation - the evidence lying in the fact that I've thought about going to Ghana and Cambodia and Thailand and London and anywhere that isn't Provo. Anyway, I was talking to Nate Kartchner (click on the link - I promise it will be worth your time) about it today and he sent me this song, which seemed incredibly accurate (except for the parts about beer) so instead of posting any more I'll just post the lyrics.

"TwentySomething" - Jamie Cullum
After years of expensive education,
a car full of books and anticipation,
I’m an expert on Shakespeare and that’s a hell of a lot
but the world don't need scholars as much as I thought.

Maybe I'll go travelling for a year,
finding myself or start a career.
I could work for the poor though I’m hungry for fame
we all seem so different but we're just the same.

Maybe I'll go to the gym, so I don't get fat,
aren't things more easy with a tight six pack?
Who knows the answers? Who do you trust?
I can't even separate love from lust.

Maybe I’ll move back home and pay off my loans,
working nine to five answering phones.
Don't make me live for my friday nights,
drinking eight pints and getting in fights.

I don't want to get up, just let me lie in,
leave me alone, I'm a twenty something.

Maybe I'll just fall in love that could solve it all,
philosophers say that that’s enough,
there surely must be more. Ooooh

Love ain’t the answer nor is work,
the truth eludes me so much it hurts.
But I’m still having fun and I guess that's the key,
I'm a twenty something and I'll keep being me.

doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah

I’m a twenty something.
Let me lie in, Leave me alone.
I’m a twenty something.

doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah
doh dah duh dah, do duh dah dah dah

I thought it was time that I created my own Christmas playlist - just in case you've all been looking for something new and exciting or old and still exciting. :) So here we go.
In no particular order:

• "Christmas" - Blues Traveler
• "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)" - The Decemberists (hahaha)
• "The Man in the Santa Suit" - Fountains of Wayne
  
• "I Like a Lion (Always Winter)" - Relient K
• "I Saw Three Ships" - Sting
  
• Something for Sufjan Stevens's extensive Christmas collection. I was going to decide on one, but my computer is being ridiculous. Sorry.
• "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" - Bing Crosby and David Bowie
  
• "Christmas Song" Dave Matthews (Lindsey is SO right on this one)
• "Comfort and Joy" - Simon and Garfunkle
• "Some Children See Him" -written by Alfred Burt, sung by James Taylor
  

Sadly, I am far too annoyed with my computer to do more than that right now. I'll add to it later. In the meantime, enjoy this:

So I'm trying to plug through to the end, and I am so close I can taste it, but I am sick of the library already. I feel so bad for the people who have to spend all semester, every semester here.
Meanwhile, I'm approaching my last couple of days of hard core homework! Ever! (Unless I go to grad school. At the moment that prospect sounds less than appealing, but maybe after I have time to rejuvenate a little I'll be more amenable to the idea..) Anyway, I have 4.5 lesson plans, the rest of my unit planning assignment, the remaining 6 pages of my Hitchcock paper (and a LOT of revising on the first 9) and a few paltry tests and then I'll be the teacher. Mwahaha.
Not going to lie, I am not sorry at the thought of being through writing giant papers for awhile, no matter how scared of student teaching I am. Besides, I have cute new clothes to teach in, so it can't be all bad, right? (Mostly I'm just in a good mood about teaching because Dr. Thursby LOVED the unit that I planned last week - which is going to evolve into the unit I turn in this week, so that bodes well I think.)
Tomorrow is our lovely Jennie's birthday, so I've already blocked out the evening hours to go to the Bombay House and to watch Harry Potter 5, which Jennie is thinking of buying for herself. But since I will, no doubt, not be done with my project yet, and since Jennie also has a project, we decided to have the after-party in the library. We fully intend to close it out, (2 AM BABY! I'm SO glad I get to do this once more before graduation) and I really hope that by then I will be finished. I am so grateful that I had the option of doing my Hitchcock final on Thursday so that I could wait to turn that paper in until Monday - it saved my bacon and my mind. I'll be working on it during the Friday reading day and some of Saturday (and let's be honest, probably part of Monday too) with the MO TAB CHRISTMAS CONCERT jammed in there somewhere. Yay.
I'm actually looking forward to finals week - by 5:00 Monday at the latest (the last possible time to turn in my paper) I will only have a few pretty easy finals to worry about, and you know what that means!
Or maybe you don't, so I'll tell you. It means Gilmore Girls marathons! Soon to become a finals week tradition, we are prepared this time, because Miri just bought season 5, and since we are humanities-ish majors, we are pretty much home free once we get through the projects. I'll probably go to the movies a few times too. :)
I just realized that this is a very boring post. I'm putting off writing my lesson plans. In fact, I'm in the middle of one, but they aren't really useful because they are plans for what I would have taught if I'd been able to work things out with my cooperating teacher (but will never actually teach), and I have issues with things that aren't going to do anything but get me points. When did that happen? I used to do anything just for points! Am I a better student now that I am taking my actual learning seriously, or was I a better student when I got all of my homework done no matter what? I feel like it's the latter, but why?

agnetic
xcited
rumpy
pproachable
umber one

My facebook-generated name analysis for today. I think it's pretty appropriate- grumpy, yes, because I have to do homework and it isn't working very well (as evidenced by this post) BUT I am also approachable and number one. Of course.

Your Birthdate: February 1

You are a natural born leader, even if those leadership talents haven't been developed yet. You have the power and self confidence to succeed in life, and your power grows daily. Besides power, you also have a great deal of creativity that enables you to innovate instead of fail. You are a visionary, seeing the big picture instead of all of the trivial little details. Your strength: Your supreme genius Your weakness: Your inappropriate sensitivity Your power color: Gold Your power symbol: Star Your power month: January

I just found this on David Grover's blog and had to share it with those of you who don't know Grover. This pretty much made my entire life.
The Beatles present the play within a play from A Midsummer Night's Dream: Pyramus and Thisbe. The picture you see below is George as the moon.

I wasn't sure this was going to happen when I first met Maria, but she's kind of sweet when you get to know her. Just thought I'd share. Jonathan was at least nicer about introducing us than he says Sea-bass is.
I should be getting major cool points with the nephews for this.
Also, the more I look at this picture, the more I can't believe I was okay with this. Oh well. Yay me.

Last night I made a list of all of things I have to do before the end of the semester.
And then I burst into tears, because I am an idiot and severely procrastinated the day of my repentance.
Okay, I didn't cry. But this is going to be fun. Tonight I'm anticipating closing out the library because I have FIFTEEN lesson plans to write. I was planning on 5. Whoops. (Clarification: we're on extended library hours now, so I've got until 2! Whoohoo! Is it sad that I was genuinely excited when I saw that?) It should be okay once I figure out how the unit is going to go . . . and in the good news department, after tonight it will be really easy to write the other 6 I need and to revise the 1 that was not so awesome. Right?
Also, I wish my teachers would stop killing trees and then expecting me to organize them into binders and files. It's not that I'm not grateful for all of that information, it's just that I have no idea where to put the giant stack of papers that is now lurking like that weird creature in LOTR (you know the one...before they go into the mines...and it flails around for awhile...that one), just out of sight on the keyboard shelf of my desk, waiting to latch onto my wrist when I least expect it and pull me under. It is truly a terrifying stack of information that I'm supposed to know to be a good teacher and haven't had time to do more than skim (if that).
One more week of this. And then I do it for the rest of my life. But at least I do it on my terms then?
Is it too late to rethink my life?

Also, on a relatively unrelated note . . . I want to go to see A Christmas Carol: On the Air at the Shakespeare Festival. I've wanted to go every year, but like anyone has time for Christmas at Christmastime. Is it wrong of me to think that a reading day would be a really good day to go? Because once I finish all of these projects, it will be smoooooth sailing. Sigh. Is anyone feeling irresponsible enough to take a Saturday in Cedar City?

Since it's the end of the year, I thought it was about time to start a list of my top songs for the year, the ones I really fell in love with. Since I fall in love with songs every day, this could be quite a list, but I'm going to try to keep it to the ones that have continued to work for me - these are winners, folks. If you haven't checked them out yet, please do so immediately. (Note: these songs did not necessarily come out this year - I just discovered them this year.)
In no particular order:

• "A Comet Appears" - The Shins
• "Australia" - The Shins
  
• "Grey Room" - Damien Rice
• "Falling Slowly" - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
• "Let It All Out" - Relient K
• "Don't Stare" - Pilot Speed
• "Grace Kelly" - Mika
• "The End's Not Near" - Band of Horses
• "Funeral" - Band of Horses
  
• "Paper Doll" - Rachael Yamagata
• "Baby, It's Fact" - Hellogoodbye
• "Starlight" - Muse
• "Butterflies and Hurricanes" - Muse
• "Don't Go to Pieces" - Hope of the States
• "The Fear You Won't Fall" - Joshua Radin
• "Honey and the Moon" - Joseph Arthur
  
• "Breakable" - Ingrid Michaelson (this one is recent, but I really think it's going to stand up to the test of time)
• "Love's Lost Guarantee" - Rogue Wave
• "Are You On My Side" - Rogue Wave
• "Hamburg Song" - Keane
• "Waiting For A Superman" - The Flaming Lips
• "A Little's Enough" - Angels and Airwaves
• "Crown of Love" - The Arcade Fire
• "Intervention" - The Arcade Fire
• "The Sound of Pulling Heaven Down" - Blue October
• "Love Me Like the World is Ending" - Ben Lee
• "Falling" - Ben Kweller
• "Still" - Ben Folds
• "Learn to Live With What You Are" - Ben Folds
  
• "Halo of Eyes" - Happy Cactus
• "The Crane Wife 3" - The Decemberists
• "Another Believer" - Rufus Wainwright
• "Made Up Love Song #43" - Guillemots
• "Lost On Yer Merry Way" - Grandaddy
• "DOA" - Foo Fighters (How did I miss this song in all of the time I spent living in the same house as Spence? How?)
• "Please Forgive Me" - David Gray
• "All the Same" - Sick Puppies (really)
• "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)" - Bob Dylan
• "The Story" - Brandi Carlile
• "Welcome to the Black Parade" - My Chemical Romance
• "Winning A Battle, Losing the War" - Kings of Convenience
• "Save" - The Rocket Summer
• "What Light" - Wilco
• "Chinese Translation" - M. Ward
• "People Get Ready" - The Frames
• "Vienna" - The Fray
• "For You" - The Format
• "Dry the Rain" - The Beta Band
• "Two Weeks in Hawaii" - Hellogoodbye
• "Sleeping With the Lights On" - Teitur
• "Cold December" - Matt Costa
  

(I'll be adding to this when I don't have a paper to write. Enjoy.)