I've made a list of non-traditional ones for you guys. Some of these I think are amazingly beautiful while others are so ridiculous that I really just need someone else to hear this weird shit. And of course there are others somewhere inbetween.
1. Brandi Carlile - The Heartache Can Wait
2. Herbie Hancock ft. Corinne Bailey Rae - River (yep, the Joni Mitchell song. I prefer this version, and I'm not sorry about it)
3. Run D.M.C. - Christmas in Hollis
4. Tegan and Sara - The Chipmunk Song (ok, so you really just need to hear the first 30 seconds of it - The rest is kinda terrible)
5. Rachel Yamagata - Baby Come Find Me At Christmas
6. Rufus Wainwright - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?
7. Sufjan Stevens - That Was The Worst Christmas Ever! and Get Behind Me, Santa! (I mean these are honestly both for the titles. The second wins all awards ever for everything)
8. Ella Fitzgerald - Christmas Island and Good Morning Blues
9. Dean Martin - The Things We Did Last Summer
10. Wham! - Last Christmas (I mean this isn't a revolutionary pick, but come on. George Michael and other guy, this is the best Christmas song of all. Also, this video. The flashbacks are heart-wrenching. And they all packed so lightly for a weekend at the mountains! Maybe that's metaphorical for the light baggage he's carrying around for this woman that he's so obviously not attracted to. You can rest easy for a while, other guy)
11. Destiny's Child - Platinum Bells (oh hellz yes)
12. The Beach Boys - Melekal Ikimaka
13. Kem - A Christmas Song for You
14. Straight No Chaser - The Christmas Can-Can
15. Il Volo - Notte Stellata (The Swan)
16. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Christmas All Over Again (This song just reminds me of being a little kid when my parents would have Christmas parties...warm fuzzies, y'all)
17. Reba McEntire - The Christmas Guest (This song has so much dialogue and is probably the gouda-est thing ever, so be prepared. Also, "sit at the table and sup" is a real lyric in this song)
18. Elvis Presley - If Every Day Was Like Christmas Time
19. Norah Jones - Peace
20. Coldplay - Christmas Lights (don't you dare judge me)
21. Jeff Dunham - I Hate Christmas (Walter) and Jingle Bombs (Achmed)
22. Afroman - 12 J's of Christmas (this whole album is so offensive and ridiculous - this was the least incendiary one to put on my YAV blog - but so, so good. Don't listen to this one if you aren't okay with a little profanity)
So this concludes my recent binge of blog posts that come with a numerical list. I hope a couple of these songs will make you hate Christmas music a little less. Or at least you can imagine what Afroman would want for the last 2 days of Christmas that he didn't get to!
Friday, November 22, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Deep Thoughts
Here are the things I spend most of my time thinking about (these aren't in any particular order):
1. How consumerism and large corporations are destroying both the planet and all living creatures.
2. That humans believe that we are inherently greater than and masters of every corner of the earth. Things like killing bugs because they're a nuisance and plowing interstates through beautiful natural environments all come from the same horrifying, entitled place.
3. I'm always insatiably hangry these days, so what da eff am I gonna eat next?
4. I should put this cool experience I'm currently having in my blog.
5. In 5 years, in 10 years, in 20 years, I'm gonna be...
6. All of the people I've known throughout my life and how relationships wax and wane. How some crawl inside my heartspace and set up permanent little hammock-type situations in there. Others look in the window, say "meh," and keep swimming around looking for other heartsystems. The people I've allowed inside and the ones I've tried to give the boot.
7. Nonviolent Communication
8. I've worked so hard on being true to myself and how I feel while also bearing out that representation in how I look. I get shit for this on occasion. Read: I'm not very feminine and this is okay.
9. The Wood Brothers have a new album out! Check it.
10. I get to create whatever kind of life I want to. Guys, this makes me so giddy sometimes that I can barely stand it.
11. Who is God? Jesus? The Holy Spirit? How should I approach the Bible? What about omniscience, omnipresence, grace, salvation, judgment, and sacrifice? Sin? Eternity? The personhood of Christ? If he hadn't been a man, would he have mattered? A calling? Is that real?
12. If I fall off this scaffolding, I will be a pretty mangled mess of human.
13. Lots of FOMO about my time in New Orleans. I wanna experience it all, y'all.
14. How comfortable and warm and happy I feel at my YAV house with all my YAVmates.
15. That I should be better at keeping up with friends/acquaintances. I suck at it.
16. My parents and siblings.
17. How much I love beer. I really love beer. All kinds of flavors and hops and colors and yeastiness and alcohol contents and ingredients from all places of everywhere. One of my roommates just brought down her homebrewing kit!
18. Dating. Lez be honest - it's on the list.
19. I should be working out right now.
20. Money. I put this one next-to-last because I care to think about it the least but I probably think about it the most. And I had to end on a good note ya know, so next-to-last it is!! How greed is a gateway to depression and constant unfulfillment but how nice it would be to have juuuust a little bit more. Being financially independent. How am I going to go back to school and also be able to live?
21. How I can exist in this world without hurting anyone or anything and how I can change something in a good way.
1. How consumerism and large corporations are destroying both the planet and all living creatures.
2. That humans believe that we are inherently greater than and masters of every corner of the earth. Things like killing bugs because they're a nuisance and plowing interstates through beautiful natural environments all come from the same horrifying, entitled place.
3. I'm always insatiably hangry these days, so what da eff am I gonna eat next?
4. I should put this cool experience I'm currently having in my blog.
5. In 5 years, in 10 years, in 20 years, I'm gonna be...
6. All of the people I've known throughout my life and how relationships wax and wane. How some crawl inside my heartspace and set up permanent little hammock-type situations in there. Others look in the window, say "meh," and keep swimming around looking for other heartsystems. The people I've allowed inside and the ones I've tried to give the boot.
7. Nonviolent Communication
8. I've worked so hard on being true to myself and how I feel while also bearing out that representation in how I look. I get shit for this on occasion. Read: I'm not very feminine and this is okay.
9. The Wood Brothers have a new album out! Check it.
10. I get to create whatever kind of life I want to. Guys, this makes me so giddy sometimes that I can barely stand it.
11. Who is God? Jesus? The Holy Spirit? How should I approach the Bible? What about omniscience, omnipresence, grace, salvation, judgment, and sacrifice? Sin? Eternity? The personhood of Christ? If he hadn't been a man, would he have mattered? A calling? Is that real?
12. If I fall off this scaffolding, I will be a pretty mangled mess of human.
13. Lots of FOMO about my time in New Orleans. I wanna experience it all, y'all.
14. How comfortable and warm and happy I feel at my YAV house with all my YAVmates.
15. That I should be better at keeping up with friends/acquaintances. I suck at it.
16. My parents and siblings.
17. How much I love beer. I really love beer. All kinds of flavors and hops and colors and yeastiness and alcohol contents and ingredients from all places of everywhere. One of my roommates just brought down her homebrewing kit!
18. Dating. Lez be honest - it's on the list.
19. I should be working out right now.
20. Money. I put this one next-to-last because I care to think about it the least but I probably think about it the most. And I had to end on a good note ya know, so next-to-last it is!! How greed is a gateway to depression and constant unfulfillment but how nice it would be to have juuuust a little bit more. Being financially independent. How am I going to go back to school and also be able to live?
21. How I can exist in this world without hurting anyone or anything and how I can change something in a good way.
Bringing Sexy Back
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Halloween
What's up, little monsters? It's Halloween time!
If Lady Gaga can call her followers that, then I can too. Because that's what you all are, my little monster followers. So it's been a while! I hate it when I read blogs and people spend the first paragraph apologizing for not blogging in a long time. I even used to apologize to my diary like it had feelings and missed me.
Life has been so wonderful this past month and a half! I built a deck, repointed 3 massive chimneys on top of a very tall house with a silly steep roof, dropped my phone off of a balcony, fell off of a bucket on top of that same damned balcony, led 4 awesome volunteer groups, went to a beer and dogs festival in City Park, saw the Lumineers, went (several times) to a clothing-optional bar with a pool (I wore clothes), drove 3 hours to pick up flooring from two old Cajun men who gave me a jewelry box made of 1000 year old Cypress wood, got another haircut (no more rat tail!), carved pumpkins on the north shore, listened to the new Willie Nelson album of duets obsessively, worked at a pumpkin patch and missed meeting Will Smith by 5 minutes, gotten concrete in a wound, bruised almost every square inch of my legs at one point or another at work, seen lots of Saints games, driven to Nashville and Pensacola, cat-sat for my boss (is there a past tense way to say that?), tried all sorts of gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice and other delicious New Orleansy things, seen a Halloween parade in the French Quarter, and had entirely too many Abitas.
So, I have been thoroughly enjoying myself here. I get this warm feeling like I am supposed to be here right now doing this and the rest of my life will come when it comes. When I'm not feeling the warmness, I'm feeling the intense panic crazy anxiety insanity over what my next step will be and what I want to do with my life. I also feel lots of other things, just like my diary does.
Anyways, there will be lots of Halloween festivities this week! Bob the Builder will be back out in full force. It's amazing how handy having a screwdriver and 14 pockets is when you're out and about!
If Lady Gaga can call her followers that, then I can too. Because that's what you all are, my little monster followers. So it's been a while! I hate it when I read blogs and people spend the first paragraph apologizing for not blogging in a long time. I even used to apologize to my diary like it had feelings and missed me.
Life has been so wonderful this past month and a half! I built a deck, repointed 3 massive chimneys on top of a very tall house with a silly steep roof, dropped my phone off of a balcony, fell off of a bucket on top of that same damned balcony, led 4 awesome volunteer groups, went to a beer and dogs festival in City Park, saw the Lumineers, went (several times) to a clothing-optional bar with a pool (I wore clothes), drove 3 hours to pick up flooring from two old Cajun men who gave me a jewelry box made of 1000 year old Cypress wood, got another haircut (no more rat tail!), carved pumpkins on the north shore, listened to the new Willie Nelson album of duets obsessively, worked at a pumpkin patch and missed meeting Will Smith by 5 minutes, gotten concrete in a wound, bruised almost every square inch of my legs at one point or another at work, seen lots of Saints games, driven to Nashville and Pensacola, cat-sat for my boss (is there a past tense way to say that?), tried all sorts of gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice and other delicious New Orleansy things, seen a Halloween parade in the French Quarter, and had entirely too many Abitas.
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| This is the deck I built! It's for an AC unit; it's not just the smallest wooden situation in the universe |
Anyways, there will be lots of Halloween festivities this week! Bob the Builder will be back out in full force. It's amazing how handy having a screwdriver and 14 pockets is when you're out and about!
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Trend of the World
There's a lot going on these days! America is still in the throes of deciding its course of action (or hopefully, diplomacy) with Syria, Congress is dealing with (well, hopefully at all) a possible government shutdown, Seaside Park in New Jersey is in flames, and the whole world feels like it's all going to hell in something decidedly larger than a handbasket. Maybe an armbasket?
 |
| google imaged "arm basket" and "basket of arms" before trying "huge basket." would not recommend. |
But then again, I'm pretty sure that's what every generation says when crazy things start happening.
"The Spanish Inquisition is here! These blockheads are killing lots of folks and trying to force me to give bizarre confessions about my private life!" "I'm a plantation owner in the South! It's 1866 and I can't own humans!" "World War II is over! Communists are trying to destroy America! Things are red and scary!"
 |
| google imaging "world is ending" is much more successful |
I intended to write a post tonight about all of the cool things that I've learned at my job the past few days - how I've learned how to change and patch a tire, install windows, nail on house wrap and sheathing, set up pump jacks, and that walking on a rooftop is emotionally easier if you crabwalk but that you will lose all professional credibility if you do so.
I wanted to write about all of these cool and interesting things that make me come home exhausted and sweaty at the end of another training day during which I learn how to build things. One day soon I'll be managing my own worksites and I'll be taking volunteers to houses so they can help rebuild a small part of a broken but beautiful city in a brilliant but butchered world.
I don't have answers to the world's problems and sometimes it's hard to even come up with a rationale behind the chaos (e.g. this is God's will; sometimes things just happen; this world is messed up; it's all random and there is no meaning). I think all of these responses are valid in certain contexts. Mostly, I think that crazy things have been happening to people for millennia and to the rest of the universe for eons.
It's tempting at this point to formulate a response to all the craziness: we must try to fix everything while we're on this earth; we should look forward to heaven instead - the world is too far gone; we should focus on the good things in life; we must trust more fully in God; we must increase our love and decrease our hatred; we must each work in our own way to do more good than harm; we need to give more to non-profits; we should blame the government, etc.
Again, all of these have merit in certain situations. I'm not going to advocate a single one for fear of oversimplifying.
And that gives me great peace. I get to be one little confused and unsure piece of a much larger impossibly complicated 7 billion piece puzzle that has definitely lost a few of its edges.
But then again, maybe that's both my rationale and my response. I said I wouldn't and then I did. Sorry, y'all!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Starting Work!
So, I had my first day of work yesterday.
And it was awesome. Also, I cut about 10 inches of hair off and have a sweet new pixie cut. Gotta make it to the end to see it! Until then, here's a quick breakdown of what I'll be doing this year:
I'll be working for Project Homecoming, which is a New Orleans non-profit that grew out of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) response to Hurricane Katrina 8 years ago. We build houses for people who have been victims of contractor fraud or who have been subject to other terrible things as a result of Katrina (and by that I mean the levees breaking. The city flooded in the days after the hurricane when the levees were ripped apart). Anyways, I'm going to be a work site manager, which means that I'll be in charge of taking volunteer groups to worksites each week. The thing I love most about Project Homecoming is that it's centered on community building. We don't just jump in and build houses without consulting with the people. Their opinions and needs are paramount to our mission. I'm gonna be so handy, y'all! Since you've made it this far, I'll give you a preview to my new hair as a prize.
Haha just kidding. I didn't get new glasses.
I'll have about another month of orientation learning how to actually do my job before they unleash me on a house (still with much supervision).
Last weekend, we got to visit the bayou. It's pretty sad to see how the oil companies cut swathes in the marsh for pipelines that start out about 5 feet wide, but after 2 or so years, they are over 60 feet wide. This brings in huge amounts of extra salt water from the gulf which leads to huge amounts of erosion. People are getting displaced, y'all! There are lots of Native American tribes in the area (22 of the 29 in Louisiana aren't recognized federally for stupid reasons) and lots of them will lose their homes in the next 10 years due to the wetland erosion. Nothing like adding a little more poop onto the huge dungpile of American relations with native peoples.
After that downer, here's my new hair!
HAHA I couldn't resist. I promise I didn't get any new glasses, guys!
Have a great night, everybody!
And it was awesome. Also, I cut about 10 inches of hair off and have a sweet new pixie cut. Gotta make it to the end to see it! Until then, here's a quick breakdown of what I'll be doing this year:
I'll be working for Project Homecoming, which is a New Orleans non-profit that grew out of the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) response to Hurricane Katrina 8 years ago. We build houses for people who have been victims of contractor fraud or who have been subject to other terrible things as a result of Katrina (and by that I mean the levees breaking. The city flooded in the days after the hurricane when the levees were ripped apart). Anyways, I'm going to be a work site manager, which means that I'll be in charge of taking volunteer groups to worksites each week. The thing I love most about Project Homecoming is that it's centered on community building. We don't just jump in and build houses without consulting with the people. Their opinions and needs are paramount to our mission. I'm gonna be so handy, y'all! Since you've made it this far, I'll give you a preview to my new hair as a prize.
Haha just kidding. I didn't get new glasses.
I'll have about another month of orientation learning how to actually do my job before they unleash me on a house (still with much supervision).
Last weekend, we got to visit the bayou. It's pretty sad to see how the oil companies cut swathes in the marsh for pipelines that start out about 5 feet wide, but after 2 or so years, they are over 60 feet wide. This brings in huge amounts of extra salt water from the gulf which leads to huge amounts of erosion. People are getting displaced, y'all! There are lots of Native American tribes in the area (22 of the 29 in Louisiana aren't recognized federally for stupid reasons) and lots of them will lose their homes in the next 10 years due to the wetland erosion. Nothing like adding a little more poop onto the huge dungpile of American relations with native peoples.
After that downer, here's my new hair!
HAHA I couldn't resist. I promise I didn't get any new glasses, guys!
Have a great night, everybody!
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Disorientation
So we're finally back from orientation! We spent a week in Stony Point, New York at the Stony Point Center (very aptly named) and got to meet the other 60-some odd other Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs). We are mostly 20-something folks trying to figure out what our next step is in life who want to do meaningful work that will hopefully help the world. These are the hippie progressive Christian folks with beards that love social justice, talking about owning privilege, and have probably at least dabbled in liberal arts educations.
These are my people.
The first workshop we had to attend was about cultural awareness and competency. That is a nebulous phrase that encompasses living within and among other cultures and working to understand and respect them, not change or belittle them for their differences. Side note: my #1 reason for loving being Presbyterian is that we value loving, knowing, and respecting people of all walks of life, religions, and cultures over trying to convert and evangelize them. That's quite a break from the dogma I grew up with in more conservative religious settings outside of my home church. Embracing difference in belief is a wonderful thing, not a source of fear for someone's eternal destination. How liberating is that!?!?
Grace is a beautiful idea. We heard a lot of beautiful ideas this week and I met a lot of beautiful people. People that are open about who they are and others who have backgrounds that I will never be able to fully understand. I think grace has a lot to do with that; everybody deserves a place at the table, regardless of any of their adjectives.
We have another week of orientation, but this one will be in New Orleans. I'm finally back and it feels so good to be here. My 7 housemates and I will be living in "intentional community" which is a terrifying phrase for living with other people in a supportive place where we'll share a food budget and housing chores. It's also more than that; we'll be responsible to and for each other and we'll meet regularly to talk through things. I swear it's not a nudist colony or a nursing home for old maids in young bodies.
I've also been up all night traveling so this is probably reading more like James Joyce than Elizabeth Gilbert. Though I was really more going for a mixture of Joan Didion and Tina Fey with a respectful religious slant.
At any rate, watch this video and be merry.
These are my people.
The first workshop we had to attend was about cultural awareness and competency. That is a nebulous phrase that encompasses living within and among other cultures and working to understand and respect them, not change or belittle them for their differences. Side note: my #1 reason for loving being Presbyterian is that we value loving, knowing, and respecting people of all walks of life, religions, and cultures over trying to convert and evangelize them. That's quite a break from the dogma I grew up with in more conservative religious settings outside of my home church. Embracing difference in belief is a wonderful thing, not a source of fear for someone's eternal destination. How liberating is that!?!?
Grace is a beautiful idea. We heard a lot of beautiful ideas this week and I met a lot of beautiful people. People that are open about who they are and others who have backgrounds that I will never be able to fully understand. I think grace has a lot to do with that; everybody deserves a place at the table, regardless of any of their adjectives.
We have another week of orientation, but this one will be in New Orleans. I'm finally back and it feels so good to be here. My 7 housemates and I will be living in "intentional community" which is a terrifying phrase for living with other people in a supportive place where we'll share a food budget and housing chores. It's also more than that; we'll be responsible to and for each other and we'll meet regularly to talk through things. I swear it's not a nudist colony or a nursing home for old maids in young bodies.
I've also been up all night traveling so this is probably reading more like James Joyce than Elizabeth Gilbert. Though I was really more going for a mixture of Joan Didion and Tina Fey with a respectful religious slant.
At any rate, watch this video and be merry.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
All Moved In!
So, I just moved into my wonderful YAV house for the year. I'm living with 7 other women in a house on Zimpel Street that is in the Uptown area of New Orleans (read: not super shady and rather safe). This is the fourth city I've called home in the past 3 weeks, so I've been living out of huge suitcases and off of questionable airport chinese food for a while now. It's nice to be settled.
Last night we went to Frenchmen Street and heard John Boutté sing. This is a great link and, I mean honestly, what spiritual, middle-class white person doesn't love Hallelujah? Whether you prefer Leonard Cohen, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley, Brandi Carlile, or k.d. lang, you know you have a favorite. Well, this version was pretty powerful. There were people crying in the audience. I was mostly trying not to swat at the goobers that were singing along.
Anyways, we leave for orientation tomorrow in Stony Point, NY, and we'll be gone for a week. I don't think there will be internet there so I'll just have to store up lots of wisdom in the ol' noggin for my next post.
I can't wait for this year and the wonderful work we'll be doing. I know I'm going to grow, change, and trip up a lot in the coming months. As my favorite hymn says (sorry it's not more obscure, I'll do my best to show you how interesting I am later): "[I'm] prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love." I'm definitely inclined to do both of those things, but hopefully after wandering and leaving I'll eventually find my way to something worthwhile.
Until next time.
Last night we went to Frenchmen Street and heard John Boutté sing. This is a great link and, I mean honestly, what spiritual, middle-class white person doesn't love Hallelujah? Whether you prefer Leonard Cohen, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Buckley, Brandi Carlile, or k.d. lang, you know you have a favorite. Well, this version was pretty powerful. There were people crying in the audience. I was mostly trying not to swat at the goobers that were singing along.
Anyways, we leave for orientation tomorrow in Stony Point, NY, and we'll be gone for a week. I don't think there will be internet there so I'll just have to store up lots of wisdom in the ol' noggin for my next post.
I can't wait for this year and the wonderful work we'll be doing. I know I'm going to grow, change, and trip up a lot in the coming months. As my favorite hymn says (sorry it's not more obscure, I'll do my best to show you how interesting I am later): "[I'm] prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love." I'm definitely inclined to do both of those things, but hopefully after wandering and leaving I'll eventually find my way to something worthwhile.
Until next time.
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