Magical Madrigal Musical Moments

The month of December is a busy time...especially if you're in a high school Madrigal group like me! It feels like I've been living in my uniform all month, wearing it every day for the plethora of performances we give during the Christmas season.

We've had so many memorable experiences as an ensemble already. And because this is a blog, I'm going to tell you about a couple of them. Prepare thyself.

Look at me go...I titled them all by myself. Yay!

Steamrollin'
We have some pretty great uniforms. Except for two things: the ridiculous amount of sparkles that the girls' shirts shed, and the patent leather (albeit shiny) performing shoes.

These shoes have a µ coefficient that's much too low. That's right, they slide everywhere. Everywhere.

So, we were performing one night on the Heber Valley Train. AKA the Heber Creeper. Loads of fun there...caroling to young families with lots of little kids and then acting excited for them when santa came aboard.

Anyway. After we got back from the first round and were getting geared up for another, I was running outside to get to the back car where my coat was because it was freezing. And a little kid, probably about four, meandered in front of me. I tried to stop, but alas, the shoes forbade it, and I knocked the poor kid to the ground. He didn't cry (at least, not until later), but he just had this shocked look on his face. His father picked him up, and I kept apologizing profusely to him, but he was all "don't worry about it".

So from then on, I earned the nickname "Steamroller".


Presley
You meet a lot of interesting people on public transportation.

One night, we were going to perform at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was great. However, to get downtown, instead of all of us driving, we opted to take the TRAX. The trip there was uneventful. Got our tickets, went downtown, walked...entered the building while two of the guys stood guard...like a boss (similar to an empoyer)...

sang, went and watched our teacher practicing with MoTab, saw some Christmas lights.

At the station while waiting for the next ride outta there, this random man came up to a couple of us. The conversation went something like this:

Random man: "Hello! What are ya'll dressed up for?"

Madrigal 1: Oh, we're a singing group, we just got done performing.

Random man: Oh really? You know, I took a singing class once. All I remember is that they told me to open my mouth a lot. (He then proceeded to stick two fingers in his mouth) Mnaa neeh ahh!...but of course, I could never sing anyway.

Madrigal 2: I bet you could if you tried!

Random man: Nah. But you know who could sing? Presley. Now there's a man who could really sing. Presley changed the world. Can you think of anyone else who changed the world as much as Presley?

Me: John Lennon?

Madrigal 1: Yeah, Lennon was a pretty important guy.

Random man: No! Lennon was bumpkins to Presley! You don't get it! (shaking his head) There are only about ten people who changed the world as much as Presley did. Ghandi, Reagan, Hitler...Martin Luther. But of course, you guys probably don't know anything about Martin Luther.

Me: Sure, he was the guy basically responsible for the Reformation. He had those 95 theses.

Random man: Exactly! You get it. (pointing at me)...you all need to go buy the centennial Presley album...then you would understand. Presley changed the world. It's called cultural change. He brought the rhythm and blues to the white man.

Me: Do you like rhythm and blues?

Random man: Oh, I like all sorts of music. But there's nobody who tops Presley.

Madrigal 2: Haha, yeah, Bieber has nothing on him.

Random man: ...Sorry if I'm a bit weird, I'm a Utah Mormon. (he had 2 beers sticking out of his bag)

Then another random guy came up. This many was very unkempt, and was wearing a neon-orange balaclava on his head, which he was sucking on with his upper lip.


Balaclava man: Merry Christmas, friend! (shakes hand of the presley fan man)


Random man: Do I know you?


Balaclava man: (sheepishly) No, but I thought I would say hi anyway...(walks away)


Random man: (by now we're leaving to get on the train)...remember what I said, kids. Buy the centennial! Then you'll understand!


And then we left. Forever those words will haunt me...telling me...buy the centennial...buy the centennial...

Oh, and we make some pretty good impressions.






More stories may follow...but until then...happy holidays!

Hello, I am a DEMON BIRD. FEED ME.

Hey.

It's story time.

A few weeks ago, someone *cough* was powerwashing the back patio. Why do we powerwash the back patio? We have ducks and chickens, and they like to wander, and they're very generous with their tithing. But I digress. So, someone was powerwashing the patio. When someone *cough* happened to see something that looked like a clump of dirt. So they sprayed it and it rolled under the barbecue.

It turns out that the clump of dirt was alive.

And it was young, and restless. And also a bird.

That's right. We rescued a baby bird, which had fallen out of its nest which is attached to the house near the roof. How birds do that, I'll never know. But its parents didn't appear to care, so we took the bird in.

We cleaned it up and set it up somewhere warm and basically saved its life.


Feeding the bird was interesting; Aubs and I had to make a midnight run to wal-mart to find worms in the fishing section, only to find out that the bird was not interested in worms unless they had the texture that food gets when mommy bird regurgitates it. So we used a blender. Not on the worms, mind you (they were alive, that would be rather cruel and unusual ), but on fruit and nuts and vegetables and grasses and stuff that birds eat. And eat, it did.

The baby bird's eating habits were simple. It cries out every now and then, you approach it, bird opens mouth/beak thing while still simaltaneously squawking, you deposit mashed up food, bird eats, opens up for more, and then decides that it's had enough until 30 minutes later.

Fickle thing, it was.

Anyway, the bird began to grow and mature, like a budding lilac but hungrier. Actually, nothing like the lilac. Forget the lilac.

It grew and grew, and eventually would eat solid foods, like the worms. Although it still relied on us to feed it by hand; it didn't show much interest in food unless you were holding it.

It got to the point where keeping the bird inside was silly. Although we had set it up in a laundry basket next to the window, with a bird swing included, it clearly wanted outside. So we cleaned up the old rabbit hutch and put little unnamed birdy in there. And it seemed happy. I called it Larka, because that sounds like a bird name. But I didn't tell my family that's what I was calling it. They just called it "that bird".


We think it's a European Starling. At least, it kinda looks like one.

One day, Aubrey was playing with the bird outside, and it was perched on her arm. She let the bird go on the lawn, and it was hopping around. Other similar-looking birds came and joined it, and it flew away with them. But it wasn't gone forever. No, it came back.

Whenever one of us went outside, it wasn't long before we hear the tell-tale squawking that by now we recognize as a call for food, and sure enough, there's little birdy, flying up to greet us. It has learned to eat on its own, but it still likes to come up to us and act like it wants more food.


We leave some food and water on the table in case it really is just hungry. I think it just likes attention.

The bird doesn't come up to just us, though. One day we got a call from a neighbor, "there's this bird that's at my window and it's making a lot of noise and won't go away and whenever I go outside it comes after me...is it Aubrey's?"

Aubrey has a reputation in the neighborhood for being the animal girl. Yeah, if you want someone to babysit your goat, call my sister.

The bird might fly at you if you're walking up the driveway. Or walking anywhere around the yard, really. It's quite friendly, and if you're deemed trustworthy enough it will perch on your arm or shoulder or something. It's really fun when visitors come, we can act like we've never seen this bird before and then they're all freaked out that it's so friendly and/or assertive.

It's a hoot!

The bird pretty much sticks close by. Whenver I've seen it fly away, it always goes to this tree:


And it likes to hang out up here in case we open the door and it can come in for a visit:


So there you have it. That's our wildly domestic bird. So if you come to our house and a bird comes out of nowhere, screaming and trying to find somewhere to land on your body with its sharp talons, don't worry. It's not the devil, that's just our starling, introducing herself.

One time...at band camp...

About a week ago I had the chance to go to BYU Young Musicians' Summerfestival for my fourth time. Besides it being one of my favorite weeks of the summer, and the incredible experiences I had and the amazing people that I met, I just wanted to make a quick post about a certain...hike.

Wednesday night was the elective activity night. In past years I've gone bowling, I've done a ballroom dance class, and other fun things. But this year, since it was probably my last year going, I opted to hike the Y.

What is the Y, you ask? Well, it's a large letter Y on the mountain, overlooking the university's campus. If you want to know more about it, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2vF3p1vNHs

It's a pretty tough little hike to get up to it. But the view was absolutely perfect. My little camera-phone with its whopping 2 mp can't do it justice at all.

That's Utah Lake in the distance.

Apparently BYU's football team hikes it, or rather, runs it, every year. And when they get there, the coach will tell them something along the lines of: The view is always better from the top. Always.

It's a pretty big letter, huh?

But I just like the thought of the whole idea. Yes, it was a tough hike, but it was worth it. And you can apply that idea to anything you set out to accomplish in your life.

Anyway, that's all. I really don't feel like telling all about my experience at band camp, especially since I've already told all my good stories to people I know. So I'll just that that it was the absolute best. I learned so much about music, about music history, about the gospel, about people, about myself, and about life, from the professors, the counselors, and my friends. Oh, did we ever forge strong friendships in that week.

Plus I discovered some great music jokes.

This is me making a weird face while wearing my nerdy composer shirt. Yes, I can name them all.

These were some of my piano friends. The camp was for a couple dozen types of instruments, but piano, violin, and voice were the most common, it seemed.

Building good memories like I did that week is a really good way to make your life happier.

And...that's all I feel like saying. I bid thee farewell!

Or perhaps now is an appropriate time to quote Beethoven's supposed last words. "Friends applaud, the comedy is finished."

Or Brahm's: Ah, that tastes nice. Thank you.

Or Chopin's: The earth is suffocating...swear to make them cut me open, so that I won't be buried alive. (Dying of tuberculosis).

How utterly depressing.

Here, have a humor. It's delicious.

Before the lightbulb you could only buy heavy bulbs. They were very difficult to screw into the ceiling fitting because of the weight, and it took many people to lift them up. That's where the saying "many hands make light work" came from.

The Moab Excursion

Time for another post? Sure, why not.

Story time!

So this past week, my family and I went down to Moab for a few days. Just to get out of town, celebrate the advent of summer vacation, that sort of thing. We were planning on going to Hawaii, but that didn't work out, so...4 hour drive, and there we were! Moab. It's an exciting little place.

If you've never heard of Moab, it's basically a desert tourist town in southeastern Utah, surrounded on all sides by red-rock cliffs, the kind that Utah is famous for, and right next to the Colorado River. Oh, and it has a uranium mine.

What do you do in Moab, you ask? Well. Pretty much a lot of outdoors-y stuff. There's a lot of good hiking/biking/4 wheeling/climbing terrain, it's really close to Arches National Park/Canyonlands National Park/Dead Horse Point State Park, and a lot of river to do river things in. Like kayaking.

What did WE do in Moab, you ask? I'll tell you, you curious hypothetical person, you.

The first day, in the morning, we went and did some horseback riding. Nothing too serious, just walking a trail for like 3 hours. Though if you tend to not ride horses all that often, like me, it sure does get pretty hard to walk right when you're finished. Involuntary waddling is grrreat.

My horse's name was Pillsbury. He was probably the laziest horse there, I swear. I just called him doughboy. And he was probably constipated, because he kept making these weird groaning noises and perfuming the air with his natural essence every few minutes. Otherwise though, not a bad time. Beautiful scenery.

And we saw a lot of lizards like this one.

And this heroic little ant. Go ant, go!

And then that evening, we did this Hummer adventure trip thingy. Basically, you get in a Hummer, and you drive over large rocks, often at precarious angles, and slide through sand and slickrock, often at questionable speeds.

If you ever get the chance to do this, do it.

This should kind of give you the gist of it. It was pretty crazy stuff. And the only way to actually feel how crazy it is would be to experience it. Because looking at pictures, you might think "that's not steep at all!". But when you're in the vehicle, looking over the edge, going up impossible angles, you realize, if this wasn't a hummer, we would be insane. And probably dead.

Pretty great sunset on top of the cliff, too.

Aren't we beautiful?


And then, the next day, we did some rafting. We took most of those pictures on a disposable water-proof camera, and the film hasn't been developed yet. So you're just gonna have to miss out on them. Although they had some guy on shore taking pictures, and we got one from him. We got in a raft and went down a part of the Colorado river. And this year, on account of the record snow and rain and late melt, the river is probably going to reach the highest it's ever been on record. I think it was flowing something like 40,000 cubic feet per second where we were at, which is about 8 times normal flow. And in some places, like Cataract Canyon, it was something around 75,000. And it's expected to go over 100,000 pretty soon. Pretty crazy stuff.

This was a boring part of the river, but still. Loads of fun.

Anyway, we were in the raft with some interesting people. Someone from Australia, someone from Germany, someone from England (from the same town in which I have some relatives living, incidentally), someone from South Korea, and a kind of quiet man who's origin I don't remember, probably because I never learned it due to his accent and quietness. And it's when you're going through whitewater with a bunch of foreign strangers that you realize that they're not so different from you. It was cool. Oh, and then the other rafts in our group declared war on us and we splashed them with our paddles, and I suggested we all pick up some pieces of driftwood (clubs) and board their vessals (enemy assailants), but we just stuck with the splashing. Probably a good thing, too, because we probably would've maybe inevitably failed at the beat-them-to-death-and-take-their-lands-and-women thing.

Moving on!

The last day, we did some hiking and rappelling. We hiked in for only like half a mile or so, and then attached ourselves to ropes and walked backwards down a cliffside. Two cliffsides, actually. First was only about 80 feet, and the second was about 130, give or take a few. And then we hiked out for about three miles. You know, pansy stuff. Though it WAS pretty hot out there.

But that's another thing that you should do if you get the chance.

This is us again, in front of a dead...desert...tree...thing

That's me, coming down. It's hard to get a sense of proportion, but I still had a long way to go.

Behind us is "Morning Glory Arch". And behind that are the cliffs we came down.

This is a cactus flower of sorts. Lots of these things in the Utah desert.
We found a lot of other cool plants too, like poison ivy (my sisters walked through it), wild onions (smelled very onion-y), and silver sage (a natural deoderant and mild decongestant). Oh, and we learned that there is such a thing as endangered dirt. Kind of. It has something to do with the existence of all desert plant life through the storage of water and formation of microhabitats or something like that. And if you step in this dirt it takes many years to regenerate. But it's not the dirt itself, it's more just the stuff that's in it. I dunno.

And then, on our way back, we stopped in Goblin Valley. And it's one of my favorite places in Utah during the summer, probably only second to Zions or Lake Powell. Ever heard of it? It's a really cool geological marvel.

Check it.
It's an awesome place for wandering around in, getting lost, climbing over things, playing a little hide-n'-seek. Just a very unique location.


If you look really closely, you can see me waving.

Oh, Utah. Gotta love it.


And...then we went home. Not a bad trip.

That about wraps it up. There were a whole lot more pictures we took of course, some of them pretty cool, but it takes too long to upload them for me to want to upload them.

I suppose I'll be seeing you around then. Bye-a :)

You talkin' to me?

Figured it was time for another post, mayhaps.

Hmm. So...one of the funniest things to me is what's commonly called "small talk". It's a whole world unto itself - the possibilities are endless (provided you use some ingenuity). You could talk about your school. Your job. The weather. Sports. Hobbies. Something crazy or hilarious that happened to you. Cats. Whatever. But it seems like the stigma is that whatever you do, you just have to keep it going...cuz otherwise it would be awkward, and heaven forbid, we don't want that :P

And I have been dragged into seemingly endless small talk before. Usually it's with people I like, good friends and such, so it's no big deal, and it makes things fun depending on what you talk about. But sometimes there's a person that just irks you a little bit...and if you're overly nice to them, they may want to keep talking...and talking...(provided they're not too shy). And...I dunno. I like to humor people sometimes. But other times it's like...go away now, please. I don't even know you. I don't want to talk about your aunt who owns three goldfish and plays monopoly on the weekends.

But then sometimes, there's the small talk with people that just make you feel all special inside, because they give you the feeling that they actually do care about you and what you have to say. And those are the people with whom I feel comfortable delving into deeper topics.

But...usually I can be somewhat reserved and quiet. Like, if you don't talk to me first, chances are I won't talk to you unless I really, really want to.

Same with talking on the phone. I'm not afraid to call people, and some people I do like calling, but it's not something that I do regularly.

And then there's texting...which is quite the interesting advent. I text more than I talk on the phone, that's for sure.

Whenever my dad sees me texting, he always says something like "Are all your friends behaving? Why don't you send out a global message to everyone, say something like 'All is well, the guards are fed and the castle is safe' or 'We have successfully routed the Lamanite invaders, do not worry'"...or something silly like that. He probably is thinking "what in the world are they possibly talking about?", and when he asks, usually I'll say "oh, just stuff" or "nothing". Which of course he sees right through, but he doesn't press the issue.

As far as habits while texting, I tend to use a lot of emoticons...because it's sometimes hard to express meaning if that meaning relies on emotion. Semantics are very limited in 160 characters. If I would be smiling in real life, chances are I'm texting you a :) ...I also tend to include a "haha" or, if it's really funny, a "paha", if I would be laughing. ...and I also use a lot of ellipses, but that's not too unusual.

Some of my favorite emoticons (disclaimer, none of these are orginally mine)!:

={) D "I have a big nose! And it makes me really happy!"

(}°_°{) "Are you as shocked about my big ears as I am?"

:?| Witch face (see the wart? and the weird nose? and the disappointed expression?)

\m/^_^\m/ Rock on, dude with the anime eyes, rock on.

(\)(\)
(o^.^o) Pikachu!

:P This one is pretty common, but I just think it's funny, because isn't it supposed to just mean "I'm being silly"?...and yet you're sticking your tongue out like a weirdy!

@_@ Hypnotized

XD I laughed so hard that I died! ROFLCOPTER!


(the following are from Hyperbole and a Half, which is funny and stuff)
*:0 = "MY FACE IS ON FIRE!!!!"

!,! = "Hi. I am a rabbit"

% = "I feel like I am a mosquito looking directly at you."

|:( = "I am displeased with my unibrow."

<:( = "Pointy hats make me sad." >:( = "Now my hat is upside-down and I don't feel any better about it."

:*( = "You make me cry sparkly tears."

{:| = "I am a Frenchman."

Q:| = "I'm Davy Crockett."

:$ = "I am trying to look unimpressed, but someone drew a squiggly mouth over my real mouth and this must be terribly confusing for you. I am sorry."



And...that's about all I got for now. So long, and thanks for all the fish. (if you can name that quote, you deserve a cookie)


*edit, some of these emoticons don't work as well on the actual post because of the font they're in, and I don't care enough to try to change it.

I'm not a toboggonist.

But I AM a skiier. And skiing is awesome.

I'm not a great skiier...I only go maybe half a dozen times a year. But it's one of my favorite things to do.

My dad started me out skiing when I was about...6?...something like that. I went without poles, relying on helpful pushes from my dad when we hit some flat spots. It was great. We'd go up to Alta and ride Sunnyside for a few hours, and then head home. I love it.

Then in elementary school, we had a ski-after-school program in which we'd ride a bus up after school to Snowbird, get divided into little groups, and follow instructors in a duck line, going back and forth down Mid-Gad for the whole 2 hours. It wasn't the most exciting skiing, but it sparked my interest a bit more. Plus the bus rides were fun. I believe I accumulated my first debts on that bus, by owing my friend money for some food he gave me (hey, I was hungry). I still haven't paid him back yet...

Now I never go up with my Dad because I could out-ski him with ease. But around here, there are tons of skiiers and snowboarders to go up with if you know who to talk to. And you can make some good friends in the process. I do like skiing alone sometimes, but it's also fun to race your friends down a chute and nearly kill yourself* in the process! *unless you know what you're doing, buddy.

Plus...I live in Utah. Best snow on EARTH! It's the truth.

And it's good to get up in the mountains and out of the smog of Salt Lake Valley. The mountains are beautiful. You can go up and feel like you don't have a care in the world.

Ignoring my brother and me (yes that IS grammatically correct. You wouldn't say "ignore I", would you?), see the pretty mountains? Haha. Yep. It's cool up there.

And...it's a bit of an adrenaline rush. And good exercise that I probably wouldn't otherwise get :P

Final words? The meek shall inherit the earth...but the aggressive shall dominate the slopes.



Well, that's all for now. Seven posts in a day should make up for a few things. Anyway, if I don't return, avenge my death!

Music

I like to say that I like everything from Aaron Copland and Bach to Yes and ZZ Top.
While that's not technically true, I do like a wide variety of music. My little playlist for this
blog is limited by the choices on the website. REALLY limited. But I enjoy most music provided that:
1. It's not rap
2. It's not screaming at me
3. It's not swearing at me
4. And of course, it has to be interesting. You say you like Moby? Get out. (just kidding...but he does like to take a couple measures and repeat it for 4 minutes, doesn't he?)

I enjoy playing music too. I play classical piano and like it very much. I play a little guitar and ukelele (need to practice those more though..). And I play in two bands. It's awesome.

Here are just a few of my favorite music quotes:

"A wrong note played timidly is a wrong note; a wrong note played with authority is an interpretation."

"Music is what feelings sound like."

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." -Berthold Auerbach

"You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow." -Oscar Levant, explaining his way out of a speeding ticket

"These seem to me so ambiguous, so vague, so easily misunderstood in comparison to genuine music, which fills the soul with a thousand things better than words. Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God." -Felix Mendelssohn

"Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny." -Frank Zappa

"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" -Sergei Rachmaninov



Godspeed. (I always wanted to say that)

Nostalgia

It's a powerful thing.

Can you guess which one is me?


Yep...the excited one to the left of Nana! (above and behind the cousin in green)
Ah...I love my family.

Elevators

I found this list on the internetz and it amuses me greatly.

Fun Things To Do In An Elevator:
1. Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside ask: "Got enough air in there?"
2. Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering: "Shut up, all of you just shut UP!"
3. Whistle the first seven notes of "It's a Small World" incessantly.
4. Sell Girl Scout cookies.
5. On a long ride, sway side to side at the natural frequency of the elevator.
6. Greet everyone getting on the elevator with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Admiral
7. When at least 8 people have boarded, moan from the back: "Oh, not now, motion sickness!"
8. Meow occasionally.
9. Wear a puppet on your hand and talk to other passengers "through" it.
10. Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers that this is your "personal space."

I've gotta try some of these.


Hasta la pasta!

Being a Nerd

You can call me a nerd. That's totally fine. I like classical music, I put a lot of time into my grades, I play video games, and I like intellectual discussion.

It's actually kinda fun being a nerd. Here are only some benefits.

-You get to express yourself more freely.
-Usually, only jerks don't like you.
-You can play games like Age of Empires or Team Fortress without shame. And make friends doing it!
-You're generally more intelligent than laypeople.
-You can say weird quotes and phrases all you want.
-Chances are you'll be more financially stable in the long run.
-Think of all the BOOKS you can enjoy!
-You can develop an appreciation for smooth jazz.
-Nerd humor is often cleaner and more sophisticated, and therefore funnier. See above example.


Shalom, y'all.

Pet Peeves

(quoting the internetz here)
The term is a back-formation from the 14th-century word peevish, meaning "ornery or ill-tempered."
"The precise derivation of "peevish" is uncertain, but it may be related to the Latin "perversus," meaning "reversed, perverse." The original meaning of "peevish" was simply "silly or foolish," but by about 1530 it had acquired the sense of "irritable, ill-tempered or fretful." Surprisingly, it then took several hundred years to develop "peeve" as the word for the irritating agent or action. "Pet peeve," meaning the one thing that annoys you more than anything else, first appeared around 1919. The "pet" (in the sense of "favorite") formulation probably owes its popularity and longevity to its mild perversity ("favorite annoyance" is a bit oxymoronic) as well as its snappy alliteration."

I'm generally pretty patient with people...but there are a few things I just can't stand!

-prejudice
-apathetic ignorance
-incompetence
-people who snoop incessantly (though friends are usually ok)
-vulgarity
-fake laughter
-disloyalty

That's all I can think of for now...anything that gets on *your* nerves?


Fare thee well!

Birds just wanna have fun (like girls and quakers)

'ello.

So this past week...one of the parakeets died. Lil' ol' Blueberry. (she was blue). It wasn't altogether unexpected. But it was still a little sad.

Over the years...I believe we've had a total of 6 different parakeets (well, technically, they're budgerigars). They're wonderful little birds, very small, very fun, and pretty easy to teach. The first four we got when I was like...four. There was a green one (which we named Lettuce/Leafy, depending on the day), a white one (Frosty), a yellow one (Sunny), and a blue one (Blueberry). Blueberry didn't like us. But they all seemed to enjoy themselves, and climbed around on rope toys, and pecked at themselves in mirrors, and whatever else budgies do.

Good ol' Leafy was a wonderful bird. He always would climb up and down your arm, chirp softly, and just do good birdy things. And then he died, because he was rather old when we got him.

Frosty was a good bird too. Always doing the finger-ladder and stuff. When I was around ten, my younger sister Sara, friend Mitch, and I all "married" Frosty to Blueberry. We had a toy car and a red "carpet" made of red construction paper (apparently in our young minds, good weddings had red carpets), and a whole lot of willpower, because Blueberry bit each of us several times.

The first Blueberry, as aforementioned, was never that nice to us. And someone put a strange plant on top of the cage, which she nibbled, and then she died. We got another blue bird and named her Blueberry as well. And she was prettier but even more feisty. And now she's dead. (not as a direct cause. We don't kill birds...)

The first Sunny was great, too. And then she flew into a wall and died. We buried her in a box in the back yard. And we got a new yellow bird, also named Sunny, who is the only one alive today. Since she's all alone, I like to turn on a classical music station on pandora for her during the day when nobody's home, so it's not too deathly quiet around, and she chirps seemingly happily.

So that would be all I've got for you now. I've made a whole list of things I wanna post about though. So...stay tuned? I mean...few people probably actually read this, and I don't always tend to write very interestingly or have anything good to say, but neither do most bloggers, so whateva.

Adios

Support your alliances.

Hey, a post in a somewhat timely manner. I'm on a roll!

First, an explanation. You may be wondering about this blog's title. Well, it's somewhat punny in 3 ways. First, seeing as my name is Kaden, my sisters like to call me "'den". Second, I've also been called a "piano ninja" by at least two people, and I quite like it :) and thirdly, I'm white...which is not a racial slur, but rather an observation that most ninjas you hear about are Asian. So, there you go. It's at least a little creative, no?

Anyway...on to the point of the post.
Recently, I came across this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po7k5O9LtBo&feature=player_embedded
(watch it if you want to know what I'm talking about).
...and it got me thinking a little bit (shocker, there). What is it about our country that we love so much? Is it the freedom, and the principles that it's built upon, that we love? Surely, we enjoy these blessings...though we probably don't appreciate them as we should. But what about people who live in those countries that don't ensure the freedoms we have? National pride is not just an American phenomenon, after all. Perhaps...we, as human beings, just feel more comfortable when we know that there are others around us who will work with us, side with us, protect us.
But it isn't just our country that we support. We may have school pride, or team pride, or even just good ol' hometown pride. These are all things that help contribute to one's identity. But what's the point of it all?
Without support, an institution cannot stand. And allow me to quote Lincoln; a house divided cannot stand. (70% of all people think of Abraham Lincoln during an awkward silence...not really, but now you will. The statistic is growing!!)
So you may ask, why should an institution remain standing? There are some that should probably go away...because they do harm to others. But the majority of important institutions are somewhat beneficial, no? A country should protect the rights of its citizens from those who are ill-intentioned. A town can bring friends and neighbors. A school should educate. A team should provide fellowship. A family should provide a loving home. We are socially-oriented beings, are we not? We get enjoyment from the companionship of others. So what's to stop us from supporting those around us so they can get a bit of enjoyment out of life, too?
And though we may not actually know everyone in a group to which we belong...it doesn't mean we can't be influential to them.
I commend that little boy in the video for standing up and supporting his country. If only everyone had that sort of dedication, I think we could make some social progress.
And you may not disagree with something, but it doesn't mean you're right. It doesn't mean they're right either. However, there is always some degree of coexistence to be found with those we differ from. Don't just support something because you want the other side to lose; support it because it's what you believe in.
Uphold your standards. Cherish your country. Get to know those new neighbors. Strengthen your family. And root for your team :) because without companionship...without brotherhood...without integrity, life almost just isn't worth it. And you are just another mouth to feed.

Adjö.
[Swedish is a cool language]


p.s. go BYU!

Introductions and Promises

Hi!

I've decided to actually justify the existence of this blog, and make a commitment to update it. So I'll just start telling you a little about myself...and we'll go from there.

Let's see...well, I'm a high school student who's lived his whole life in Utah. I've always identified myself among the "nerds" or whatever you wanna call em, and I've loved every single moment of it. I'm an Eagle Scout, have a 4.0 gpa, and I'm very happy to say that I'm LDS. I love reading, skiing, and making music.

My family (+ some extensions...):



So what else do I do with my life? Well...I spend a lot of time practicing piano. What kind of music? Classical all the way...yeah boii. You might say I'm a little bit of a concert pianist in training. I like it a lot.
Our family also loves to go boating during the summer...and it is a guarantee that nobody can hang onto the tube when Dad's driving.
We live on our "little farm" with 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 parakeets, some chickens, some ducks, and even a couple rabbits. It's great fun :)


Louie (who is very smart) and Timmy (who is a fatty).


A couple of the chickens and a plump, juicy rabbit.



That's Lexi in the back (she's my favorite), and Lucy is the one going "heeeey!"



So...that's a little bit of a start. I'm going to be thinking of ideas for new posts. Meanwhile, why don't you consider your own life? How did you get to where you are today?


Until next time...bai.