I'll teach you something

Today I taught my very first clarinet lesson. It was delightful. I taught Jodilyn's daughter a few things. She learned very quickly and should be ready for a recital by week's end. I don't know how much credit I should give myself, because I think most of the credit goes to her. She's ridiculously smart and was very excited to learn. Teaching someone something is really easy when they're as excited as she was. I'll be showing her a few more things tomorrow.
Speaking of lessons, I will be starting guitar lessons on Friday. I took a beginning guitar class years ago and absolutely loved it. I've been wanting to improve my skills ever since, but I kind of got stuck and then my playing decreased until it stopped. My short term goal for my guitar skills is to learn well enough to use the guitar frequently in my classroom. I graduate in the spring and want to spend part of my summer making up silly songs to teach my class curriculum. I also plan to use songwriting frequently for class assignments. I will teach my students about meter and have them write lyrics for a pre-written melody based on this meter. I will use songwriting for review or to introduce a new topic. The guitar will be much more practical than a piano. Although, I've already invested in a keyboard for similar reasons.
My long term goal will be to learn the guitar well enough to create more complex/creative music so that I can live my dream of being a singer/songwriter. I have a great desire to write music and to perform. I don't want to perform for sell-out crowds, but I'd love to be able to sing a song mid-lesson at church, during a visiting teaching lesson, or to perform for family or friends whenever. I'd play/sing for anyone who would listen. (This is all part of my plan to continue to become less and less shy.)

After all these years

I've lived in St. George for 9 years. Lake Powell is less than 3 hours away. Until Friday night, I had never even been. I went on a late night fishing adventure with three friends. We got there a little after midnight. I'm not sure what temperature it was, but the weather was perfect!
The moon was full, so I was hoping to see the lake. The lights of the marina, however, were too bright for me to see much of the area.
The two boys fished off the side of the dock. They got skunked. They had a few bites but no catches. Nonetheless, I had a great time.
We got home shortly before sunrise.

Missing my heebie jeebies

Last night I got home at 12:30 after spending the evening at a friend's house. It was storming most of the night and was still a little rainy when I got home. I pulled up to my apartment complex. The apartment on the backside of my building is inhabited by boys (I think--I've never seen anyone enter or leave the apartment). They always have their windows open. As I pull up, I notice a dark figure through the partially open blinds. The light in the hallway of their apartment was on giving enough light to see only the silhouette. I kept my eye on the window as I got out of my vehicle and walked toward the building. Just as I got right next to the building, the person in the window quickly pulled the blinds closed. It scared the heebie jeebies out of me.
I always walk with my keys in my hand. Arriving at my door in a rush, I was able to quickly put my key in to unlock the door. Except I found that the door was not locked. Creepy McCreepster could have come in my apartment.
I couldn't shake the fear as I walked down the hallway to my room. Some creepy dude could be in my apartment in any of the five other bedrooms or the two bathrooms.

Fortunately, my roommate and her fiance were in her room. I unlocked my bedroom door and locked myself inside. Had my roommate not been home, I would have grabbed my pajamas and headed back to my friend's house for a sleepover. That is if I dared go back outside to my car.

You see, I have this strange fear. Whenever the clouds are around the moon like this, I get ridiculously scared. I don't know why. So with fear already in my heart, I get out of my car and find myself in the middle of a scene from a Lifetime: Television for Women original movie.
Now that I think about it, it's kind of a dream come true. I always wanted to be in a Lifetime movie. I'm glad it happened.

If you already knew this and didn't tell me...

...then we are no longer friends.
Actually, I won't be that harsh. You probably figured that I already knew since I'm usually up on this kind of thing. The minute I found out about this, I vowed to not keep it a secret.
My brother told me about a free 411 service from Google. I had used another service but was forced to listen to a couple ads before I got the number. Google is ad free. The phone number is 800-Goog-411. I tried it and love it.
I mentioned it at work yesterday, and my coworker, Kim, informed me that I could text Google. Send a text to Google (466453) and you will receive information back almost instantaneously. For example, I entered "Hungry Howies" into the body and received this information. "Local Listings: Hungry Howie's Pizza 144 W Brigham Rd St. George, 84790 435-656-0011"
AMAZING!
She gave me a whole salesmanship presentation. "Do you have unlimited text? Of course you do. Free! It's free!" There is no charge for the service. It only uses text messages from your bundle.
Send "W" and you'll receive the weather forecast. "M" is for movie listings. "S" is for sports.
It's one of those things that soon enough I won't know how to live without it.

Not for the faint of heart

If you don't think these are funny, then you aren't American.
I filmed (if you can call it filming when using a digital camera) all but the first one.









America is a safer place because of friends like this one.

If you like what you saw, vote funny on this site.

Freedom

I had other thoughts in mind for my Independence Day post until I watched this broadcast. It was the Patriotic Service from the Freedom Festival in Provo.
I was touched by the stories that Michael Ballam shared as part of his two musical numbers in the middle of the program. I transcribed one of the stories.
"When I was a boy of 6 years of age, the greatest African American singer of all time came to Logan, Utah. Her name was Marian Anderson. The greatest contralto of all time. She didn't need to come to Logan. She sang in Paris and London, Moscow, and sang for Kings, Presidents, and Popes. But she chose to come to the people.
"I loved her recital especially the final number, 'He's got the whole world in His hands.' She sang it in such a way that I believed she knew what she was talking about. I wondered what would a person experience to have that ability to communicate like she did.
"I would find out, twenty years later, when I moved to New York City and had the same agent that Miss Anderson had. His name was Sol Hurok. He told me why she was the way she was. You see it seemed she was to give a historic concert in Constitution Hall, the largest room of assemblage in the Nation's Capital. Mr. Hurok had booked the concert, but just before the concert was to happen, the organization that booked the auditorium determined that it was not fitting for her to perform there because of her heritage.
"She was black. That great race of people stolen from their homes and brought to this nation who survived, more than survived, triumphed those challenges. Sol Hurok was told that that she couldn't perform there.
"He called Marion and she said cancel the recital. He said, But Marian, you are the most famous black person in the world. We need to fight this. You have the power to fight this.
"She said something very important, You can't fight hate with hate. There's only one thing stronger than hate and that's love and my love for this nation will never be injured by a committee's decision about anything.
"He said, Marian, there's 25,000 people with tickets. They need to hear you.
"Well, there was no auditorium with 25,000 seats, but there was the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And so on an Easter Sunday morning, in the crisp early hours, she came out wearing a heavy coat to the piano to sing a recital.
"There were not 25,000 people. There were 125,000 people. And there was a bouquet of microphones because every radio station in America wanted to know what she would say about this event in her life. She said nothing then or ever until the day she died. But she did more for civil rights by her graciousness than anyone in history. She walked to the piano asked for a chord and sang this.

My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims' pride. From ev'ry mountainside Let freedom ring!
My native country, thee, Land of the noble free, They name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, They woods and templed hills. My heart with rapture thrills Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze And ring from all the trees Sweet freedom's song; Let mortal tongues awake; Let all that breathe partake; Let rocks their silence break, The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God, to thee, Author of liberty, To thee we sing; Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light. Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King!"

Maybe you had to be there

This story will require a lot of information to set it up. I feel like that will take away from the beauty of it. Maybe you have to know Jared and maybe you had to be there. Regardless, I'm sharing it anyway.
Casey has a friend named Jared. He happens to be a yell leader (man cheerleader).
Amy has a Pomeranian that she brings over to my parents' house when she comes to visit. My brother claims Kodi is possessed by the spirit of a Chinese immigrant miner from Silver Reef. I can tell you that this dog is possessed and has puppy disorders. He may even be the devil's dog.
My mother also has a small dog. Scout is half Pomeranian half dachshund. She doesn't like new people. She will bark non-stop when someone new enters the house. There are a few visitors that still get barked at no matter how many times they stop by the house.
Jared is one of those visitors. Scout and Kodi bark at Jared every time he comes over. After a while, they'll calm down, but sometimes they start up again when Jared moves to a different part of the room.
Jared and Casey were sitting on the back porch this afternoon. Kodi was barking at Jared. Jared said to Casey, "Kodi and Scout always make me feel unwelcome here. I don't understand why Kodi thinks he can challenge me. I'm bigger than he is."
Then Jared turns and starts talking directly to Kodi. "I can lift cheerleaders over my head. You should fear me."

Could you pass the latest citizenship test?

MSNBC posted this quiz as part of their July 4 special. I scored 95%. I wasn't sure who the Chief Justice of the United States is currently. For my classmates studying for the PRAXIS, this quiz should tell you where you are in your US History preparation.
I had a speech prepared about the significance of Independence Day, but I'll save that for Friday.

Birthdays are the Best

I'm all about a party. I like bringing people together and acting silly. My birthday was definitely a party.

On Friday night, some friends and I went to the Honolulu Grill for Karaoke Night. I pretended like it was for my birthday hoping to convince more people to come. That didn't work. The turnout was meager but the talent was abundant.
I sang all Whitney Houston all night long. Her music is intense. I tried to channel that intensity. You can see that all over my face.

I need to learn some showmanship from my friend, Trevor. He worked the small crowd even as everyone was cleaning up.

The morning of my birthday, my brother and younger sister took me out for breakfast. There's nothing better than a Cat Head Biscuits.

Saturday night, I hosted a birthday bash at my folks' house. I had a great turnout despite the fact that I didn't plan it or start inviting people until Thursday afternoon. The party featured Karaoke, Guitar Hero, Volleyball, Croquet, Great Food, and Amazing Friends.




Brooke favored us with a little Tiffany. My sister doesn't seem entertained, but she's a tough critic.

Awww, fetch. This isn't a fun game anymore. I'll finish this post later.

Birthdays are the Best: Continued

The story continues...

I'm ashamed of how few pictures I took. I was too caught up in the moment to remember that I even had my camera.

One of the best things that happened on my birthday was Vinnie! Vinnie is a best friend from high school that I haven't seen in a few years. Oh, goodness, I was so thrilled when he responded to my mass birthday invitation text. It was such a joy to spend the evening with him. Oh, yeah, and with everyone else, too. All my friends deserve some love.


My favorite brother, Will, joined the party halfway through and provided plenty of entertainment. Nobody sings Crocodile Rock better than he does, not even Elton.


My younger sister, Casey, had a great time. You can see that on her face.
Oh, and Sister Horlacher was right when she stopped mid-lesson during Mia Maids to tell me that my nostrils have a great shape.


If Casey's face doesn't tell you how rockin' this party was, then this picture of Josh surely will. He had fun. I promise.

Birthday Booty
Acting silly with family and friends is the number one reason I love my birthday. Number three on the list is getting way cool gifts. I'm not sure what comes second.

Even little donations bless many nations.
Josh and Trevor blessed my nations when they gave me the treasures they found at D.I.
The pictures do no justice, especially not these little figurines. They are amazing and somewhat disturbing all at once. They are in a place of prominence in my room. I was going to display them in the living or dining room, but I don't want any commandment breaking happening in this apartment.

Trevor described this Trash to Treasure book as the gift that will keep on giving. In case you can't read the bottom it says, "The Recycler's Guide to Creative Crafts." If I ever get called to the Enrichment Committee, this will be my primary reference.
The other book, Better Roller Skating for Boys and Girls, makes me sad. I wish that the roller rink in Veyo hadn't closed. On our way back from Pine Valley on Christmas Eve, my family stopped at the gas station/building that houses the roller rink. They were having a sale on random junk upstairs. I was flooded with memories as I entered the room. They still had all the roller skates ready to be rented. Maybe I'll call up and ask if I can rent the rink for a night. I'd pay good money for that. That was quite a tangent. Back to the book. Contained inside are some absolutely amazing pictures. What a gem!

The ultimate birthday booty was this amazing collection of costume jewelry. You can see in the picture above with my sister that I didn't hesitate adorn myself with these jewels. When I proudly showed off my fashions, Casey said, "I think I read about you in Isaiah."

Jodi and her kids hit me with a bag full of prizes. My favorites were all the homemade bookmarks. It's a shame I don't even have that many books. (Just kidding. That's a serious understatement.) Even if that were true, Aaron added this book to my collection and Kari hooked me up with a Barnes & Noble Gift Card.

Casey fashioned this spelling bee plaque to give me a Great Sister award. She is such a lovely sister.

I had such an amazing birthday. I can hardly wait for next year to come.