Merry Christmas from the base of the Grand Tetons

Well I was finally able to get onto the internet out here. It's not the most stable thing, but here I am. I figure I'd take this opportunity to put up a small post. Sorry, no pictures. I don't want to push my luck.

It's nice just sitting here, looking out the window in front of me as I type, and seeing the beautiful mountains, covered in pine and snow. Sometimes you just need to take a break from the regularities of everyday life. Christmas should be a time that fosters that. It should also be a time that fosters family relationships.

That being said, I should probobly mention that I am not spending this Christmas with my family. As things would turn out, I didn't make it all the way up north this year. I know my family misses me, but there were a number of things that just made sense to me at the time as to why I might not go. So, here I am...sitting in a cabin in Jackson, Wyoming with my best friend and his family (one of my several second families), typing away at a blog entry and looking out a set of several massive windows at a range of several Massive mountains.

I love Christmas. Mostly because it facilitates families coming together, building relationships, traditions, and memories. For those of you (both family, and friends) whom I'm not able to physically share this day and time of year with...know that miss and love you. Merry Christmas.

it's been awhile

since my last post...and it might be awhile longer seeing as how I'm not sure if I'll have internet in a couple days. :(
I spent last night and today kickin it in Rexburg, Idaho. Yes, glorious Rexburg. It is butt cold here.

Tyler and I will head up to Jackson to meet up with his family tomorrow when he gets off work. I'm looking forward to enjoying Christmas vacation. I'm actually hoping that I'll get some "quiet time" to myself to just sit and enjoy "being" and breath.

But before that happens, I need to finish grading papers and submit grades and all that business. Why don't I stay on top of things during the semester!? Arhg...I'm going to do better this winter. Yes, I am going to be so on top of things my final semester at BYU. Just you wait! :)

How could you be so careless

So, Thursday night I went with a friend to an Amos Lee concert in Salt Lake for her birthday. I had never heard of the band before she introduced them to me, but I enjoyed the prep cd she gave me the day before the concert and was looking forward to the music and spending time with her.

In Summary, my overall thoughts regarding the concert: lets just say that the concert was amazing for a number of reason.

Amos has an amazing singing voice, and the members of the band are great musicians. (Mom, I think you and Peter would have really enjoyed the concert. This is me telling you to check them out.)

My friend (her name is Emily) and I ran into some old friends of hers which was fun. And then we were invited back to the "After Party" in the VIP lounge area (translation...the security guard figured if he invited people back they would spend money at the bar and word of mouth for the venue would be good.) The security guard informed us that he was going to try to get the band to come back so we figured...why not. Well, he did, and they did. And it was cool, cause Emily and I were able to talk to the band members and she got a picture with Amos. Happy Birthday Emily!

Here's a pic of us at the concert. We had some random crazy girl take it. I think the conversation went something like this:
"Hey, could you take a picture for us?"
"Yeah, I'm great at taking pictures. Are you on myspace?"

Let it snow...let it snow....

It's snowing outside as I type this. It's absolutely gorgeous. It's been coming down pretty heavy and the world outside is covered in white. The window next to my desk looks out onto the front of the house and the street we live on. I decided I'd open up the blinds so that I can look outside and just enjoy what it looks like.

LOL! So, I'm sitting here chatting with a friend as well as typing up this post and talking with a roommate that just popped in to say goodnight...He and I looked outside and just saw a car drive past pulling someone as they lay on top of an inner tube. How funny is that?

Oh Provo...you're just lovely sometimes.

Thanks Sis!

I arrived home today after a long visit to the BYU library (actually my longest uninterrupted stay in the library for some time) to several things.:

• Sean in spandex after a ride on his trainer
• A package on my bed
  

The first of my two finds is not too uncommon, although it's definately something that hasn't occurred for awhile; it's been awhile since Sean's last ride. The second find however was more interesting. "Hmmm.....a package," I thought to myself. "I wonder what's in it."

Well, I decided to satisfy my curiosity and open the darn thing...I mean, it was addressed to me. It was a shirt, and a cool one at that. I wondered, as did my half naked roommate, who was responsible for sending me such a cool shirt. It had been sent directly from the company from wence it had been purchased so the address label did no good...aha, but inside there was a packing slip of sorts with my sister's name on it. Ah...sweet!

So, I just want to say: "Thanks for the shirt Sis! I freakin love it! In fact, I put it on as soon as I took it out of the package and I'm wearing it now as I type this."

that's interesting

So, my Gregorian chant (The Opening) has gotten over 100 plays since we posted it Friday afternoon. That's just crazy.

Band of Annuals: Thought I'd Learn by Now

Christina and Adrienne, thank you for introducing me to this beautiful song. I thought I would post it on my blog as well in the hopes of sharing it with more people. -check out their myspace page-

Sushi anyone?

My friend Christina flew into P-town from NY for the weekend. She flew in late late LATE Friday night...(I should just say early Saturday morning cause that's pretty much what it was...hurray for delayed flights.) Bless Adrienne for going to pick her up from the airport so that we could all enjoy her company.

It's sad when friends move away (or you move away) and you don't see them very often. This is how I feel about several friends from high school who are spread throughout the country now, as well as friends now graduated and being grown-up-sorts-of-people in NY.

A pretty small group of us met up and had dinner at The Happy Sumo which I had never eaten at before. It wasn't what I expected, but was super enjoyable nontheless. For some reason I just thought the atmosphere would be more like Panda Express or something like that (which it totally isn't). Anyways, it was nice. We had some deep friend Calamari and then each ordered a sushi roll.

I have had sushi before...I think. I mean, I've had a California roll and things like that. I liked those, so I wasn't too worried about having a raw version. Turned out, I liked it just fine. If you click here you can see the menu of Sushi avaiable there. I had the Venus Roll, Christina ordered the Vegas Roll, Brandon ordered the Cosmopolitan Roll, and Adrienne ordered the Surf and Turf.

I liked them all, but I think I liked the Cosmopolitan the best. The lemon and lime was a nice touch of flavor.

Overall, it was an enjoyable evening. Very enjoyable.

who hath ears to hear...

New bands I was introduced to today and I think I might just really fall in love with:


The Bad Plus (check out their cover of the Chariots of Fire theme.)
Band of Annuals

Little Drummer Boy

Announcements, Announcements, Announcements!

FYI: The Plan had someone audition this morning and let's just say that we know have a drummer. Jacob is an amazing drummer. He's got a heavy jazz background and we are all really excited for him to join us.

Gregorian Chant (with slight modifications)

Ok, so for my History of Creativity class final project I decided to write and record a Gregorian chant...only this Gregorian chant would be slightly different. It needed to include some sort of lateral creativity in order for it to fulfill the requirements of the project and recieve a good grade.

I started out with the idea of having electric guitar accompaniment....hmmmm...yes, that might be considered lateral thinking considering the electric guitar wasn't a contemporary instrument and Gregorian chant did not typically have accompaniment. Then I decided that instead of Latin text from the Bible I'd use Arabic from the Holy Qur'an....ah yes, now we're getting somewhere.

Sean helped me with the Arabic text and pronunciation (the text for the chant is the first chapter or sura of the Qur'an, also known as Al-Fatiha or The Opening).

Taylor helped me out with a little guitar work and recording. It sounds pretty crazy, weird, ethereal, buzy, dissonant, um...reverbatorial, etc...you pick your adjective.

If you're at all interested in what this sounds like you can see...err, hear for yourself by going here.