(This is in two parts. The first part from Tuesday night, and then the part from this morning. Starting with Tuesday's performances.)
Simon Fuller's Choice -
Jessica Sanchez - I Have Nothing - It was too mature, seemed like, in twenty years, maybe she could sing that. Didn't feel right, it was a yawner. Those last notes were by far the best.
Phillip Phillips - Stand By Me - Love the song, it was good, it was simple, I loved it.
Fave of Season -
Jessica Sanchez - Title Not Coming To Mind - Ballad. Old. Boring. Shouting. UGH.
Phillip Philips - Movin' On - Not great, firmly okay, sort of creepy.
First Singles -
Jessica Sanchez - Title Unknown - All right, but extremely boring. I nearly fell asleep, and then the SCREECHING.....all three of her songs sounded exactly the same on the playback.
Phillip Phillips - Home - Nice tune, I liked it. Simple, real, that was really good.
Phillip Phillips is the next American Idol. This was the most low-key, snooze-worthy of any finale I've watched. Shouldn't we have felt excited or something after it was over? That was just...boring. JayLo's outfit looked like she was coated in Venom's webs, it was weird-looking.
(Part two, recap of finale results show last night.)
Top 10 - Run Away - Very...white and shiny....Not very good. Those dancers were crazy! That was the best part.
Phillip Phillips/John Fogerty - Have You Ever Seen The Rain/Bad Moon Rising - Don't really like either song, but that was good. Phil looked at ease up there, comfortable, the second song was all right.
Joshua Ledet/Fantasia Barrino - Take Me to the Bayou - Awful. How can people stand to listen to that stuff?
Top 6 Girls Medley with Aretha Franklin - At first it was weird, then it wasn't very good, and then by the end it was awful.
Rihanna - Unwatchable.
Skylar Laine/Reba McEntire - Turn On Your Radio - Not a fan of the song, but it was pretty good, had a lot of attitude, Skylar didn't look all freaked out like Lauren did last season with Carrie, she looked right at home. (Yet another oppurtunity to contrast how Skylar is real and will be successful, while Lauren seemed fake all the way through and we'll never hear of her again. But this isn't the time for that discussion.)
Jessica Sanchez - I Will Always Love You - Okay, but not my thing.
Top 6 Guys Medley with Neil Diamond - Started out well, the middle was interesting, nice ending.
Top 12 - Phone Book Song - That was great! Hilarious, by far the best performance of the night.
Jennifer Lopez - Unwatchable.
Marriage Proposal from Ace Young to Diana DiGarmo was interesting. Would've been better if I'd been watching that season, so I'd have some background on them, but it was kind of neat.
Hollie Cavanagh/Jordin Sparks - You'll Never Walk Alone - Darkish and haunting, but I think I liked it...not sure.
Top 6 Guys BeeGees Medley - Dull. Very dull.
Jessica Sanchez/Jennifer Hudson - And I'm Telling You - BLEAH!!!!! I do not like getting shouted at, not in the rain, not in a tree/Not from a friend, not on TV...Screeching, shouting, barking and moaning. I thought it would never end.
Aerosmith - Strange. And kinda sad. These old guys in their sixties are still deluded into thinking it's the seventies, and they're young guys, on top of the world.
Jessica Sanchez/Philliip Phillips - Love Will Lift Us Up - All right, but very forgettable. It sounded like an ancient old ballad duet, which it was.
And the winner is...........
PHILLIP PHILLIPS!
Good night, America.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Reflecting on Blessings
Just been working on finishing up the thank-you cards from graduation, makes you reflect on the blessings in life God's given you.
Things like having a grandma who told me stories time without end, who'd take me fishing, or to visit the library where she worked, who let me tag along whenever she had to go to the feed store or grocery shopping, who sympathized with the small problems I had, or write a nice card when I broke my toe when I was eleven. Who taught me how to care for others when her cancer got too much to fight.
For her mother, my great grandma, who I've gotten to know a lot better in the seven years since Mimi died. Nano's faced her aging well, dealt with the frailties and sadness that comes with aging bravely. Lived her ninety years pretty much working to get by and make life a better place for others, trusting God for the needs that come up. Retelling stories of growing up in the late stages of the Depression, entertaining us for hours as we listen to tales of dating just before World War II, or sewing a sail for a boat with her sister-in-law, or the times around the house, or listening to her take on modern topics such as President Obama and various Senators and Congressmen, or why men these days don't seem to like brown-haired girls any more.
For the times spent with her husband, Dado, fishing, or working in the garden, shucking ears of speckled corn, riding the horses. The times I got to drive the truck, playing chess, or listening to war stories that I couldn't understand and thought were somewhat boring. The dry humor he had, and the wisdom contained in it.
Being able to get in the practice of keeping up the house when I was five and both Mom and Dad caught pnemonia during the Olympics, or the times Mom was on bedrest. For my parents, doing their best to raise us all in the right way, the things I've learned, the fun memories, like throwing a baseball in the backyard, or going to Drillers games, the Fourth of July fireworks battles, learning basic addition and subtraction while playing Monopoly, for teaching the love of animals, board games, camp, reading, well-told stories, critical thinking, and saving money.
Neighbors to play ball with, or shout encouragement, or offering use of their storm shelter when tornadoes came. Dogs, of all breeds and sizes and temperaments. Cats, each with their won distinct personalities. Horses, for teaching respect. Guinea pigs, for listening when I had a problem. Goats and chickens, for being so strange and hilarious.
For good music, old CDs that have been passed down, full of good melodies, good lyrics, and very nice guitar work. For an old guitar that was given to you as payment for cleaning up an ice storm's mayhem.
That you can have a church where people look to grow in Christ, figure out how best to serve Him, and show others the way to keep growing. That your pastor and his wife send a wonderfully thoughtful card on your graduation, that everybody pitched in when we needed some help with several big problems.
For sports, and the ability to freak out about big plays and close finishes, as well as being able to spin tales out of the action on the ball field.
For things unplanned like house fires, that you learn so much from.
That there's temporary frustrations that lead to better things later on, like getting braces as you head off to college, or the dad of a girl you liked chewing you out.
For the fact that there's friends to call up if you need to talk over a problem, or just want to hang out, the wackiness of conversations starting firmly rooted in reality and then spreading to munching dog food or fighting zombies. That you can email pals in Springfield or St. Louis for some advice and new perspective, or holler at your family in Wichita to debate the latest in American Idol, trends in food, or children's books.
And most of all, that God is directing which way we're going, and that He'll see us through whatever we need to go through.
(This probably makes no sense and has a readability level of near zero, but it's just some of the stuff I've been thinking about over the last couple days.)
Things like having a grandma who told me stories time without end, who'd take me fishing, or to visit the library where she worked, who let me tag along whenever she had to go to the feed store or grocery shopping, who sympathized with the small problems I had, or write a nice card when I broke my toe when I was eleven. Who taught me how to care for others when her cancer got too much to fight.
For her mother, my great grandma, who I've gotten to know a lot better in the seven years since Mimi died. Nano's faced her aging well, dealt with the frailties and sadness that comes with aging bravely. Lived her ninety years pretty much working to get by and make life a better place for others, trusting God for the needs that come up. Retelling stories of growing up in the late stages of the Depression, entertaining us for hours as we listen to tales of dating just before World War II, or sewing a sail for a boat with her sister-in-law, or the times around the house, or listening to her take on modern topics such as President Obama and various Senators and Congressmen, or why men these days don't seem to like brown-haired girls any more.
For the times spent with her husband, Dado, fishing, or working in the garden, shucking ears of speckled corn, riding the horses. The times I got to drive the truck, playing chess, or listening to war stories that I couldn't understand and thought were somewhat boring. The dry humor he had, and the wisdom contained in it.
Being able to get in the practice of keeping up the house when I was five and both Mom and Dad caught pnemonia during the Olympics, or the times Mom was on bedrest. For my parents, doing their best to raise us all in the right way, the things I've learned, the fun memories, like throwing a baseball in the backyard, or going to Drillers games, the Fourth of July fireworks battles, learning basic addition and subtraction while playing Monopoly, for teaching the love of animals, board games, camp, reading, well-told stories, critical thinking, and saving money.
Neighbors to play ball with, or shout encouragement, or offering use of their storm shelter when tornadoes came. Dogs, of all breeds and sizes and temperaments. Cats, each with their won distinct personalities. Horses, for teaching respect. Guinea pigs, for listening when I had a problem. Goats and chickens, for being so strange and hilarious.
For good music, old CDs that have been passed down, full of good melodies, good lyrics, and very nice guitar work. For an old guitar that was given to you as payment for cleaning up an ice storm's mayhem.
That you can have a church where people look to grow in Christ, figure out how best to serve Him, and show others the way to keep growing. That your pastor and his wife send a wonderfully thoughtful card on your graduation, that everybody pitched in when we needed some help with several big problems.
For sports, and the ability to freak out about big plays and close finishes, as well as being able to spin tales out of the action on the ball field.
For things unplanned like house fires, that you learn so much from.
That there's temporary frustrations that lead to better things later on, like getting braces as you head off to college, or the dad of a girl you liked chewing you out.
For the fact that there's friends to call up if you need to talk over a problem, or just want to hang out, the wackiness of conversations starting firmly rooted in reality and then spreading to munching dog food or fighting zombies. That you can email pals in Springfield or St. Louis for some advice and new perspective, or holler at your family in Wichita to debate the latest in American Idol, trends in food, or children's books.
And most of all, that God is directing which way we're going, and that He'll see us through whatever we need to go through.
(This probably makes no sense and has a readability level of near zero, but it's just some of the stuff I've been thinking about over the last couple days.)
Saturday, May 19, 2012
AI S11 Finalist Recaps
Here we are, at the finale of this horribly-judged, quite freaky season of American Idol. So, I'll just recap the finalists' performances week-by-week.
TOP 24 -
Jessica Sanchez - She's along for the ride with pals Eben and Jeremy, but I don't like her all that well.
Phillip Phillips - (I'm never going to get over that name, lol) He can play guitar like crazy, he can sing well, but he might not have enough memorable personality for people to remember he's out there...
Top 12 Guys/Girls -
Phillip Phillips - In The Air Tonight - Good song choice. It was a lot lower-key than I though it'd be, it was a good arrangement, but it seemed a little safe.
Jessica Sanchez - Love You I Do - Catchy song, hate her voice, it was forgettable. And the glitter on her chin...seriously?
Top 13 Contestant Profiles -
Jessica Sanchez, from San Diego, California - I'm not sure why America let her in. Not a fan of her voice, doesn't seem to have much personality.
Phillip Phillips, from Leesburg, Georgia - He seems like a good guy to know. He's quiet, so you don't remember him off personality, but isn't that kind of a good thing? Most talented this season at arranging his performances, he's a very good guitarist.
Stevie Wonder/Whitney Houston Night (13) -
Jessica Sanchez - I Will Always Love You - Should anyone else sing this? I couldn't tell much difference between her and the real thing, which I suppose means she's a phenomenal vocalist, but it was just okay for me.
Phillip Phillips - Superstition - Guitar! Great. Good song. Interesting voice. He was shouting too much, but I liked it.
Year You Were Born Night (12/11) -
Phillip Phillips - Hard To Handle - He had stage presence, it was very cool, I liked it. That was a great way to kick off the show.
Jessica Sanchez - Turn The Beat Around - "And they voted. They did, they elected all the diff'rint ones of 'em that they liked, and she wasn't on there. She wasn't. Because she did, friends, she did exactly what her song said, and she turned that beat right around and is in danger of going home! She is!" (Said in Andy Griffith type voice.)
It had a good beginning, from there...it was rough. Wild, all over the place. Shiny, shiny pants. Felt like a concert, and at that, it would've been all right. But we're not at a concert, we're trying to find the best singer in America that will sell records this year. And she ain't it. Judges' criticism sounded fake, like "We have to say something, and we need to say something encouraging, because if we said how we really felt about it, like Jimmy will tomorrow night, you'll be crushed." (This half of Jessica's critique said in my normal tone of voice.)
Billy Joel Night (10) -
Phillip Phillips - Movin' On - What kind of effects did they hook up to that guitar? That was cool! It was simple, kind of funky, pretty good.
Jessica Sanchez - Everybody Has A Dream - That was old. And pageanty(First time that adjective has been used this season. Amazing we got this far without it.) Yawn-inducing. Forgettable. And bad.
Their Idols Night (9) -
Jessica Sanchez - Sweet Dreams - The harp was an interesting change of pace, but overall, it was strange. I almost liked it, but I didn't. And I just figured out why I've never liked her: She's like one of those Chinese gymnasts, always thinking "I have to win, if I fall short..." Not having fun at all, just tense, trying to get every single little note perfect, and otherwise completely devoid of personality.
Phillip Phillips - Still Rainin' - Cool song! Good voice, it was good.
Eighties Night (8) -
Phillip Phillips - That's All - Cool opening. Nice. Very good, and it was awesome that he could play with his brother-in-law. It'd be so great to have someone you could feel that comfortable playing with.
Jessica Sanchez - How Will I Know - It had that awesome guitar-keyboard thing that I don't know the name of! Nice outfit, cool guitar, the background singer looked ridiculous, I kinda liked it. Enough to give her one vote this week.
Phillip/Elise - Stop Draggin' My Heart Around - Awesome. Loved the guitar, vocals matched the tone of the song well, it was cool.
Jessica/Joshua - I Knew You Were Waiting For Me - Bad outfits, I liked the music. She did pretty well, he was awful. Even DeAndre could have done better than Joshua on that one.
Top 7 Week - I missed this episode due to being in Louisville to the Together for the Gospel conference. But the judges saved Jessica.
Then and Now Night (7, again) -
Phillips Phillips - U Got It Bad - Boring.
Jessica Sanchez - Fallin' - Oh my gosh, was that outfit for real?! Weird stage setup, bad vocals, it was old. Bad old, like "There's a reason that music style is banished into the depths of history" old.
Phillip Phillips - In the Midnight Hour - Awesome. The stage was really neat, that was cool. After he was done, though, all sweaty and everything, his stage makeup wanted to take off; looked a little bit like a "Twilight" vampire.
Jessica Sanchez - Try a Little Tenderness - Dull. Old. Fossilized disco, and if possible, an even more stupid outfit than the one before.
Phillip Phillips - Beggin' - It started out atrociously, then it picked up. Kind of bluegrassy jazz or something. Pretty good, that was kinda nice. Downside: It was also pretty repetitive.
Phillip Phillips - We've Got Tonight - Very good. And (gasp!) I agreed with Randy! This was Phillip's best performance of the season, he just locked himself in as one of the finalists with the way he did that song.
TOP 24 -
Jessica Sanchez - She's along for the ride with pals Eben and Jeremy, but I don't like her all that well.
Phillip Phillips - (I'm never going to get over that name, lol) He can play guitar like crazy, he can sing well, but he might not have enough memorable personality for people to remember he's out there...
Top 12 Guys/Girls -
Phillip Phillips - In The Air Tonight - Good song choice. It was a lot lower-key than I though it'd be, it was a good arrangement, but it seemed a little safe.
Jessica Sanchez - Love You I Do - Catchy song, hate her voice, it was forgettable. And the glitter on her chin...seriously?
Top 13 Contestant Profiles -
Jessica Sanchez, from San Diego, California - I'm not sure why America let her in. Not a fan of her voice, doesn't seem to have much personality.
Phillip Phillips, from Leesburg, Georgia - He seems like a good guy to know. He's quiet, so you don't remember him off personality, but isn't that kind of a good thing? Most talented this season at arranging his performances, he's a very good guitarist.
Stevie Wonder/Whitney Houston Night (13) -
Jessica Sanchez - I Will Always Love You - Should anyone else sing this? I couldn't tell much difference between her and the real thing, which I suppose means she's a phenomenal vocalist, but it was just okay for me.
Phillip Phillips - Superstition - Guitar! Great. Good song. Interesting voice. He was shouting too much, but I liked it.
Year You Were Born Night (12/11) -
Phillip Phillips - Hard To Handle - He had stage presence, it was very cool, I liked it. That was a great way to kick off the show.
Jessica Sanchez - Turn The Beat Around - "And they voted. They did, they elected all the diff'rint ones of 'em that they liked, and she wasn't on there. She wasn't. Because she did, friends, she did exactly what her song said, and she turned that beat right around and is in danger of going home! She is!" (Said in Andy Griffith type voice.)
It had a good beginning, from there...it was rough. Wild, all over the place. Shiny, shiny pants. Felt like a concert, and at that, it would've been all right. But we're not at a concert, we're trying to find the best singer in America that will sell records this year. And she ain't it. Judges' criticism sounded fake, like "We have to say something, and we need to say something encouraging, because if we said how we really felt about it, like Jimmy will tomorrow night, you'll be crushed." (This half of Jessica's critique said in my normal tone of voice.)
Billy Joel Night (10) -
Phillip Phillips - Movin' On - What kind of effects did they hook up to that guitar? That was cool! It was simple, kind of funky, pretty good.
Jessica Sanchez - Everybody Has A Dream - That was old. And pageanty(First time that adjective has been used this season. Amazing we got this far without it.) Yawn-inducing. Forgettable. And bad.
Their Idols Night (9) -
Jessica Sanchez - Sweet Dreams - The harp was an interesting change of pace, but overall, it was strange. I almost liked it, but I didn't. And I just figured out why I've never liked her: She's like one of those Chinese gymnasts, always thinking "I have to win, if I fall short..." Not having fun at all, just tense, trying to get every single little note perfect, and otherwise completely devoid of personality.
Phillip Phillips - Still Rainin' - Cool song! Good voice, it was good.
Eighties Night (8) -
Phillip Phillips - That's All - Cool opening. Nice. Very good, and it was awesome that he could play with his brother-in-law. It'd be so great to have someone you could feel that comfortable playing with.
Jessica Sanchez - How Will I Know - It had that awesome guitar-keyboard thing that I don't know the name of! Nice outfit, cool guitar, the background singer looked ridiculous, I kinda liked it. Enough to give her one vote this week.
Phillip/Elise - Stop Draggin' My Heart Around - Awesome. Loved the guitar, vocals matched the tone of the song well, it was cool.
Jessica/Joshua - I Knew You Were Waiting For Me - Bad outfits, I liked the music. She did pretty well, he was awful. Even DeAndre could have done better than Joshua on that one.
Top 7 Week - I missed this episode due to being in Louisville to the Together for the Gospel conference. But the judges saved Jessica.
Then and Now Night (7, again) -
Phillips Phillips - U Got It Bad - Boring.
Jessica Sanchez - Fallin' - Oh my gosh, was that outfit for real?! Weird stage setup, bad vocals, it was old. Bad old, like "There's a reason that music style is banished into the depths of history" old.
Phillip Phillips - In the Midnight Hour - Awesome. The stage was really neat, that was cool. After he was done, though, all sweaty and everything, his stage makeup wanted to take off; looked a little bit like a "Twilight" vampire.
Jessica Sanchez - Try a Little Tenderness - Dull. Old. Fossilized disco, and if possible, an even more stupid outfit than the one before.
Queen Night (6) -
Jessica Sanchez - Bohemian Rhapsody - I like the real thing better. I liked Michael John's version of that better than the original, she wasn't great, but the black and white filming was pretty cool.
Phillip Phillips - Fat-Bottomed Girls - Strange. Very Phillip-like in style, I didn't like it much.
Jessica Sanchez - Dance With My Father - I learned a new color tonight: Mom said that was chartouse, which I had always thought was a pink-purple color. The dress still reminded me of banana peels, whatever color it was. The song was a LOT better than I've ever heard it(Seriously, why do guys always sing this?), I kind of liked it.
Phillip Phillips - Song Unknown - Weird, but sort of cool. Neat fiddle playing, that tuba-saxophone thing was odd, but interesting, the picking/strumming was neat. The girls making fun of him in the intro video was hysterical.
Sixties/British Pop Night (5) -
Philip Philliips - The Letter - There should be a limit to how many songs can share the same title, because just seeing this recap without watching the show, you'd think it was Collin Raye's piano ballad, which, btw, is one of the best and saddest country songs in existence. And what kind of group calls themselves "The Box Tops"? Richie Cunningham and pals? Anyway, did anyone else notice that he had a new guitar? The song was kind of jazzy, I think I liked it.
Jessica Sanchez - Proud Mary - Backup dancers? Beads? That weird looking dress? The odd dancing? UGH. Felt like a casino performer in an old spy movie.
Phillip Phillips - Time of the Season - It was restrained, the tie-dye background was cool. He had no chance on the high notes and knew it, that was good, very nice.
Jessica Sanchez - You Are So Beautiful - Can't top Alfalfa. (I was born in 1993, grew up watching movies like "Space Jam", "The Big Green","Air Bud", "Toy Story" and "The Little Rascals", which is always what I've connected this song to in that first scene where Alfalfa and Darla are on that date that Spanky and Co. crashes.) She did all right, didn't much like that run at the end.
Joshua/Phillip - Duet - You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - Awkward, old, pathetic, and boring. And quite painful to witness, honestly.
Hollie/Jessica/Skylar - Trio - Higher and Higher - The song was okay, Hollie was good, Jessica was off slightly, Skylar had way too much twang.
California Dreamin' Night (Final Four) -
Phillip Phillips - Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Don't like this song, it was okay, neither awful nor amazing, just somewhere in between.
Jessica Sanchez - Steal Away - Ugh. Old, bluesy, ridiculous outfit....
Phillip Phillips - Volcano - Cool sound, but I'm just not sure what to think of that one.
Jessica Sanchez - And I'm Telling You - Bleah. Shouted all the way through.
Phillip/Joshua - Song Unknown - Much better than last week. The dueling pianos were kinda cool, but it wasn't that great.
Hollie/Jessica - Eternal Flame - Okay. Forgettable. Very mellow.
Hollie/Jessica - Eternal Flame - Okay. Forgettable. Very mellow.
Top Three -
Jessica Sanchez - Song Unknown - Mournful picking. Mumbled lyrics. Dreadful.
Phillip Phillips - Beggin' - It started out atrociously, then it picked up. Kind of bluegrassy jazz or something. Pretty good, that was kinda nice. Downside: It was also pretty repetitive.
Jessica Sanchez - I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing - I love this one(the Mark Chesnutt version, or most of the AI performances of it, not so much the Aerosmith version), it was pretty good, but only like at a talent show good. For this far into the show, it was way too safe, would've worked well like at Top 24 or something like that. Kinda neat that she's homeschooled, but she's still annoying.
Phillip Phillips - Disease - For him, it was a good choice. It was interesting. And his dad seems nice.
Phillip Phillips - Disease - For him, it was a good choice. It was interesting. And his dad seems nice.
Jessica Sanchez - I'll Be There - (Verbatim from my notebook) Bleah! All wrong. Dismaying. And painful to the eardrums of the listeners.
Phillip Phillips - We've Got Tonight - Very good. And (gasp!) I agreed with Randy! This was Phillip's best performance of the season, he just locked himself in as one of the finalists with the way he did that song.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
American Idol Season 11 Top Three
That was not a very good show, for being this near the end.
JUDGES -
Joshua Ledet - Song Unknown - That was horrendous. How is it that black people can shout, squeal, and scream songs all the way through, and then people call it "wonderful", "mesmerizing", "voice of an angel", etc., when if a white person did that, they'd just tell them the truth: That they sounded awful and can't sing? And how did he get through Hollywood?
Jessica Sanchez - Song Unknown - Mournful picking. Mumbled lyrics. Dreadful.
Phillip Phillips - Beggin' - It started out atrociously, then it picked up. Kind of bluegrassy jazz or something. Pretty good, that was kinda nice. Downside: It was also pretty repetitive.
CHOICE -
Joshua Ledet - Imagine - I hate this song. It's boring. And David Archuleta tops Joshua Ledet on singing this. BUT, I kinda sorta almost nearly liked it.
Jessica Sanchez - I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing - I love this one(the Mark Chesnutt version, or most of the AI performances of it, not so much the Aerosmith version), it was pretty good, but only like at a talent show good. For this far into the show, it was way too safe, would've worked well like at Top 24 or something like that. Kinda neat that she's homeschooled, but she's still annoying.
Phillip Phillips - Disease - For him, it was a good choice. It was interesting. And his dad seems nice.
JUDGES -
Joshua Ledet - Song Unknown - That was horrendous. How is it that black people can shout, squeal, and scream songs all the way through, and then people call it "wonderful", "mesmerizing", "voice of an angel", etc., when if a white person did that, they'd just tell them the truth: That they sounded awful and can't sing? And how did he get through Hollywood?
Jessica Sanchez - Song Unknown - Mournful picking. Mumbled lyrics. Dreadful.
Phillip Phillips - Beggin' - It started out atrociously, then it picked up. Kind of bluegrassy jazz or something. Pretty good, that was kinda nice. Downside: It was also pretty repetitive.
CHOICE -
Joshua Ledet - Imagine - I hate this song. It's boring. And David Archuleta tops Joshua Ledet on singing this. BUT, I kinda sorta almost nearly liked it.
Jessica Sanchez - I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing - I love this one(the Mark Chesnutt version, or most of the AI performances of it, not so much the Aerosmith version), it was pretty good, but only like at a talent show good. For this far into the show, it was way too safe, would've worked well like at Top 24 or something like that. Kinda neat that she's homeschooled, but she's still annoying.
Phillip Phillips - Disease - For him, it was a good choice. It was interesting. And his dad seems nice.
JIMMY -
Joshua Ledet - No More Drama - That was a girl song, it was pretty bad. Strange sparkles on the shirt. And it was funny that he literally sang his headphones off, never seen that happen before since they started wearing those headsets a few years ago.
Jessica Sanchez - I'll Be There - (Verbatim from my notebook) Bleah! All wrong. Dismaying. And painful to the eardrums of the listeners.
Phillip Phillips - We've Got Tonight - Very good. And (gasp!) I agreed with Randy! This was Phillip's best performance of the season, he just locked himself in as one of the finalists with the way he did that song.
Round One - Phillip, easily. That was a horrible beginning.
Round Two - Draw. No one did especially great, but on the other hand, no one was extremely bad, either.
Round Three - Phillip. Wonderful way to end the show, stole A TON of momentum right there.
It'll be Phillip Phillips in the finale, against Joshua Ledet.
Also, I heard on the news after the show that according to E!, sources say JayLo is done with the show after next week. Good idea, seems like. I'm tired of hearing about the goosies and that annoying laugh. Fire Stephen from full-time judging, but allow him to continue to judge auditions, and give Randy a huge bonus or plaque or title or something for being the last original judge, then start over with just Ryan and a whole new judging panel.
Joshua Ledet - No More Drama - That was a girl song, it was pretty bad. Strange sparkles on the shirt. And it was funny that he literally sang his headphones off, never seen that happen before since they started wearing those headsets a few years ago.
Jessica Sanchez - I'll Be There - (Verbatim from my notebook) Bleah! All wrong. Dismaying. And painful to the eardrums of the listeners.
Phillip Phillips - We've Got Tonight - Very good. And (gasp!) I agreed with Randy! This was Phillip's best performance of the season, he just locked himself in as one of the finalists with the way he did that song.
Round One - Phillip, easily. That was a horrible beginning.
Round Two - Draw. No one did especially great, but on the other hand, no one was extremely bad, either.
Round Three - Phillip. Wonderful way to end the show, stole A TON of momentum right there.
It'll be Phillip Phillips in the finale, against Joshua Ledet.
Also, I heard on the news after the show that according to E!, sources say JayLo is done with the show after next week. Good idea, seems like. I'm tired of hearing about the goosies and that annoying laugh. Fire Stephen from full-time judging, but allow him to continue to judge auditions, and give Randy a huge bonus or plaque or title or something for being the last original judge, then start over with just Ryan and a whole new judging panel.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
"Let's See, Umm..." A Work in Progress
This is my high school graduation speech, titled A Work in Progress, because I couldn't think of anything better with four minutes to think of a title. The "Let's see, umm..." was my first response to stall for time to come up with something. Given on May 12, 2012.
You know, I
probably shouldn’t be here right now, giving this speech, because you’re not
supposed to live when you’re born seventeen weeks early. Not live normally, at
least. I was born four months early, a little under nineteen years ago, I
weighed one pound, ten ounces, and you could set me inside a QuikTrip cup.
The doctors said
I’d have cerebal palsy, but I don’t. So many people, from all over the country,
were praying for me, that I’d be okay, they said God had a purpose with my life,
most of them I’ve never even met. And He does have a purpose for my life,
answering those prayers. Had a ton of surgeries, didn’t come home for the first
time until October, but mentally, I’ve always been ordinary, the only lasting
effects from being such an early preemie are physical – I’ve always been a
runt, and there’s a few scars. And my eye, of course. But they weren’t sure if
either of them could be saved, so to have one working, that’s a huge blessing.
My parents were
youth pastors til I was eight years old, so we moved often, in both our homes
and our churches, and I usually hung out with the cool teenagers, so I had some
trouble making friends near my own age until I started doing choir, and later
drama, with the homeschool group in fifth grade for about three years.
I’m grateful for
the time I got to do that, and the friendships I made in those practices. Being
out there on the stage helped me get over my shyness, thank you all for that.
God used those skits and programs as a means to grow me as a person.
And yes, I put WAY
too much effort into every show, thanks for putting up with me. One of the
biggest lessons I learned from you all was to just relax, step back and realize
that it doesn’t really matter if every single little detail is perfect. You
should still aim for that, but the world (probably) won’t end if you mess up.
Another tool God’s
used in my life so far has been writing, starting with a spur-of-the-moment entry
into sportswriting for newspapers in eighth grade. I’ve had great teachers
explaining how I can improve my writing, first in Valerie Rice and then later
on the staff of a website I got to do some work with.
Whether it’s for
newspapers, Facebook stuff nobody reads, or stuff for my blog, I’m trying to
tell stories well, hoping to glorify Christ in those. And if people like
reading them, or if they’re funny, that’s a nice side benefit. I learned about
reliability, meeting deadlines, tact and empathy, just to name a few things
from writing.
Another piece of life that God’s used to shape
me would be the Sovereign Grace Youth Camp in Missouri .
I went for the first time just after eighth grade on a dare, basically, just to
see if I could make it for a week without my family nearby.
I found that I
could, and I’ve grown so much over the years spiritually with the people I’ve
met there, making some great friendships with some awesome guys and girls, kind
of an iron sharpening iron thing, like Solomon said in Proverbs. It’s
definitely played an important role in shaping me to where I am now.
My church family at
Tulsa ’s Grace
Bible Church
Took a while to get
used to, but after awhile I developed a lot of great friendships with both
teens and adults; Lord willing, some will continue for quite a while longer. Just
learned so much, had some great times, and I really appreciate all they’ve
done, thankful that God’s placed them in my life.
My freshman year of
high school, we had a house fire two weeks before Christmas, we moved to
Tahlequah while rebuilding.
It was a tough
time, but it’s those times when all you can see are smoke, stud nails and
deadlines that you grow closer to God, become more mature. It was a stressful
time, it was hard, but it was worth it, somehow; I’m still amazed by God’s
grace and strength to get us through it. Found some verses in Isaiah 43 that I
love, verses one through three: “But this is what the Lord says – He who
created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel; “Fear not, for I have
redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through
the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will
not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the
flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel ,
your Savior.”
GBC people helped
in so, so many ways, with the house and prayer, Okmulgee-area folks helped a
lot in the rebuilding, giving me news of what was happening close to home, and my
camp friends provided tons of encouragement. We got to know my mom’s family a
lot better, it was great to be so close to them. Those ten months were some of
the hardest times in what some would view as a long string of them, and I
wondered pretty often exactly how I’d get through it, but God had a reason He
planned it in our lives, and He saw us through it all.
For some reason,
people come to me pretty often for advice, which is cool, and more than a
little scary. That’s usually followed by a quick prayer: “Lord, help! I need
some good words here!”, and then I’m never really sure if what I say is helpful
or not, though it’s hopefully godly and Biblical.
In the first
Spider-Man movie, Ben Parker cautioned Peter once that “These are the years a
man changes into what he’s going to become for the rest of his life. Be careful
who you change into.” I’ve tried to heed that advice, whether it’s my web of
mistakes I’m walking through, or trying to help pals fight through theirs.
“It’s our choices that make us who we are,” Peter says at the end of the third
movie, “and we can always choose to do what’s right.” I’ve tried to make the right choices in what
I do, sometimes I haven’t, they’ve gotten me into some pretty sticky
situations, but overall it’s turned out okay.
Over my life so far,
I’ve met a lot of good people, had some good friends, and known some great
animals. Had some terrific experiences, visiting Washington ,
D.C.
Another Spider-Man
reference; in that scene in the first movie where Peter’s taking out the trash,
and he and Mary Jane have that conversation about the future after graduation,
she hesitantly expresses her dreams of acting on Broadway and hopefully getting
married. He reminds her how much he’s admired her past acting, tells her she’ll
do great. She asks him what he sees in his own future. He pauses, then says, “I
don’t really know, exactly. Whatever it is, it’s somethin’ I’ve never felt
before.”
I’m headed back to
Tahlequah for the third time in nineteen years in August, a Northeastern State
RiverHawk studying Mass Communications, but beyond that, I have no idea how the
next few years, the next few months will turn out. I’ll probably make some new
mistakes, meet some new friends, grow stronger as a Christian, but I’m just
human, I don’t know. But God does, and He’s gotten me through life, He’ll guide
me through my future in just the way He’s planned out for me.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
American Idol Season 11 Final Four - California Dreamin' Night
CALIFORNIA -
Phillip Phillips - Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Don't like this song, it was okay, neither awful nor amazing, just somewhere in between.
Hollie Cavanagh - Faithfully - All right, it built up slowly, wasn't her best, but it was solid.
Joshua Ledet - You Raise Me Up - This was pretty good, I enjoyed it.
Jessica Sanchez - Steal Away - Ugh. Old, bluesy, ridiculous outfit....
Ranking round one:
Joshua,
Hollie,
Phillip,
Jessica.
Phillip/Joshua - Song Unknown - Much better than last week. The dueling pianos were kinda cool, but it wasn't that great.
Hollie/Jessica - Eternal Flame - Okay. Forgettable. Very mellow.
SONGS I WISH I"D WRITTEN -
Phillip Phillips - Volcano - Cool sound, but I'm just not sure what to think of that one.
Hollie Cavanagh - I Can't Make You Love Me - Good. Very good.
Joshua Ledet - It's a Man's, Man's, Man's, Man's World - Horrible and Joshua-like.
Jessica Sanchez - And I'm Telling You - Bleah. Shouted all the way through.
Ranking round two:
Hollie,
Phillip,
Jessica,
Joshua
Who knows who's going home? I think it'll be either Jessica or Joshua, but Hollie fans might not vote for her enough tonight. And there's always the chance that Phillip's votes could evaporate for one night and send him packing....side note, on that song they all did together, they sounded awful.
Phillip Phillips - Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Don't like this song, it was okay, neither awful nor amazing, just somewhere in between.
Hollie Cavanagh - Faithfully - All right, it built up slowly, wasn't her best, but it was solid.
Joshua Ledet - You Raise Me Up - This was pretty good, I enjoyed it.
Jessica Sanchez - Steal Away - Ugh. Old, bluesy, ridiculous outfit....
Ranking round one:
Joshua,
Hollie,
Phillip,
Jessica.
Phillip/Joshua - Song Unknown - Much better than last week. The dueling pianos were kinda cool, but it wasn't that great.
Hollie/Jessica - Eternal Flame - Okay. Forgettable. Very mellow.
SONGS I WISH I"D WRITTEN -
Phillip Phillips - Volcano - Cool sound, but I'm just not sure what to think of that one.
Hollie Cavanagh - I Can't Make You Love Me - Good. Very good.
Joshua Ledet - It's a Man's, Man's, Man's, Man's World - Horrible and Joshua-like.
Jessica Sanchez - And I'm Telling You - Bleah. Shouted all the way through.
Ranking round two:
Hollie,
Phillip,
Jessica,
Joshua
Who knows who's going home? I think it'll be either Jessica or Joshua, but Hollie fans might not vote for her enough tonight. And there's always the chance that Phillip's votes could evaporate for one night and send him packing....side note, on that song they all did together, they sounded awful.
Playlist G
This started out as a few songs I thought seemed right for graduations. So, I gathered them all up, and then realized "a few songs" were twelve, a whole CD's worth.
Track One - Welcome to the Future, Brad Paisley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Yg9wjctRw
Why I picked it: You're graduating from high school, stepping out into the future. Shouldn't we at least try to welcome it in?
Track Two - Don't Blink, Kenny Chesney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f0p5KqdU9U&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: Because "Life goes faster than you think/So don't blink...no, don't blink." Good reminder to enjoy what we have while we have it.
Track Three - Find Out Who Your Friends Are, Tracy Lawrence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jyafQe_2Do&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: We find out who our friends are when we hit absolute bottom, great song, reminds us of this fact.
Track Four - Follow Love, FFH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyAHBzqzBwM
Why I picked it: Melancholy hopeful song about starting over somewhere new. "I've got a heart that full of dreams, and a little bit of crazy/I can feel it pulling me to somewhere I have never been/I'm packing up and leaving home/To travel into the great unknown/It's time, I have to go..."
Track Five - You're Gonna Miss This, Trace Adkins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBDN8yWyNYU&ob=av2n
Why I picked it: The chorus' message. "You're gonna miss this/You're gonna want this back/You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast/These are good times, so take a good look around/Cause you may not know it now/But you're gonna miss this..."
Track Six - Who I Am, Jessica Andrews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd9zYKLepCw&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: "Me, I'm clueless and I'm clumsy/But I got friends that love me, and they know where I stand/It's all a part of me/And that's who I am..." Perfect theme song for nearly anything, (See "Sue Thomas, F.B.Eye") and it's just a good song.
Track Seven - I Hope You Dance, Lee Ann Womack http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-Z1YwaOiw&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: You can't get any better a graduation song than this. Simple as that.
Track Eight - My Wish, Rascal Flatts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_zi4OxJpY0
Why I picked it: It might just be a homecoming song around here, but, well, I don't know what a homecoming is like to be part of. But it works very well for a graduation, too.
Track Nine - The House That Built Me, Miranda Lambert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQYNM6SjD_o&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: It's sad, but sweet. Looking back over a special place where memories were made, it lends itself well to going on a playlist like this.
Track Ten - Long Live, Taylor Swift http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhBIJtrvG0c
Why I picked it: It's a great send-off song.
Track Eleven - Vessel, Chris Sligh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEaT5AGjcuw
Why I picked it: We should all be praying this. We also don't do it enough.
Track Twelve - Dive, Steven Curtis Chapman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXqXIicm8uU&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: Senior year can be kinda scary...so many decisions, both big and small. Me and some friends kind of adopted this as our theme song, since it fit our lives over the last eight months so well.
Track One - Welcome to the Future, Brad Paisley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Yg9wjctRw
Why I picked it: You're graduating from high school, stepping out into the future. Shouldn't we at least try to welcome it in?
Track Two - Don't Blink, Kenny Chesney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f0p5KqdU9U&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: Because "Life goes faster than you think/So don't blink...no, don't blink." Good reminder to enjoy what we have while we have it.
Track Three - Find Out Who Your Friends Are, Tracy Lawrence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jyafQe_2Do&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: We find out who our friends are when we hit absolute bottom, great song, reminds us of this fact.
Track Four - Follow Love, FFH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyAHBzqzBwM
Why I picked it: Melancholy hopeful song about starting over somewhere new. "I've got a heart that full of dreams, and a little bit of crazy/I can feel it pulling me to somewhere I have never been/I'm packing up and leaving home/To travel into the great unknown/It's time, I have to go..."
Track Five - You're Gonna Miss This, Trace Adkins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBDN8yWyNYU&ob=av2n
Why I picked it: The chorus' message. "You're gonna miss this/You're gonna want this back/You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast/These are good times, so take a good look around/Cause you may not know it now/But you're gonna miss this..."
Track Six - Who I Am, Jessica Andrews http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd9zYKLepCw&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: "Me, I'm clueless and I'm clumsy/But I got friends that love me, and they know where I stand/It's all a part of me/And that's who I am..." Perfect theme song for nearly anything, (See "Sue Thomas, F.B.Eye") and it's just a good song.
Track Seven - I Hope You Dance, Lee Ann Womack http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-Z1YwaOiw&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: You can't get any better a graduation song than this. Simple as that.
Track Eight - My Wish, Rascal Flatts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_zi4OxJpY0
Why I picked it: It might just be a homecoming song around here, but, well, I don't know what a homecoming is like to be part of. But it works very well for a graduation, too.
Track Nine - The House That Built Me, Miranda Lambert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQYNM6SjD_o&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: It's sad, but sweet. Looking back over a special place where memories were made, it lends itself well to going on a playlist like this.
Track Ten - Long Live, Taylor Swift http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhBIJtrvG0c
Why I picked it: It's a great send-off song.
Track Eleven - Vessel, Chris Sligh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEaT5AGjcuw
Why I picked it: We should all be praying this. We also don't do it enough.
Track Twelve - Dive, Steven Curtis Chapman http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXqXIicm8uU&ob=av2e
Why I picked it: Senior year can be kinda scary...so many decisions, both big and small. Me and some friends kind of adopted this as our theme song, since it fit our lives over the last eight months so well.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
AI-S11 60's-British Pop Night Results, Independence Day Rewrite
Well!
Yes, I know it's just a TV show, and it doesn't really matter. But still, I'm not happy. At all.
The intro tonight was cool, the judges' clothes all look pretty cool this time.
Joshua was up first, he was safe. Then Phillip and Hollie were called up, Hollie was sent to the bottom three. (Loud complaints were yelled at the TV screen here.)
Coldplay performed their song "Paradise", it was unremarkable. Carrie Underwood performed next, the title track off her new CD, "Blown Away", it was all right as a song, but she was way flat. Coldplay then did another song, that was better.
Skylar and Jessica were the last to be called on, JESSICA was SAFE???!!!!, making the bottom two HOLLIE and SKYLAR. (Very loud ranting at America's picks commenced at this point.)
After Ryan asked the judges for their thoughts, all three responded in wonderful coachspeak, something like this: "This season is so great, you all are so talented! Blah, blah, blah." Which means, translated; "Yes, they made the right decision, we can't let our pets Jess and Josh leave so soon, and we don't like you two, anyway, because you have mass market appeal right now, and we don't; but we can't say that because we aren't allowed to offer any real criticism this year." SKYLAR WAS SENT HOME. (Extreme clamor sent towards the stupidity of this elimination.) So, she fired back with Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder and Lead" as her goodbye song, she better get a record deal, I want to hear her on radio.
# # #
The homeschool group we used to do some stuff with had a talent share this evening, I didn't really mind missing it, but if we would have remembered it was coming up, I would have done this tweaked rewritten version of Martina McBride's Independence Day, and since we didn't go, I would have posted a video of it instead, but allergies decided to attack me this week. So just the lyrics will have to do.
Yes, I know it's just a TV show, and it doesn't really matter. But still, I'm not happy. At all.
The intro tonight was cool, the judges' clothes all look pretty cool this time.
Joshua was up first, he was safe. Then Phillip and Hollie were called up, Hollie was sent to the bottom three. (Loud complaints were yelled at the TV screen here.)
Coldplay performed their song "Paradise", it was unremarkable. Carrie Underwood performed next, the title track off her new CD, "Blown Away", it was all right as a song, but she was way flat. Coldplay then did another song, that was better.
Skylar and Jessica were the last to be called on, JESSICA was SAFE???!!!!, making the bottom two HOLLIE and SKYLAR. (Very loud ranting at America's picks commenced at this point.)
After Ryan asked the judges for their thoughts, all three responded in wonderful coachspeak, something like this: "This season is so great, you all are so talented! Blah, blah, blah." Which means, translated; "Yes, they made the right decision, we can't let our pets Jess and Josh leave so soon, and we don't like you two, anyway, because you have mass market appeal right now, and we don't; but we can't say that because we aren't allowed to offer any real criticism this year." SKYLAR WAS SENT HOME. (Extreme clamor sent towards the stupidity of this elimination.) So, she fired back with Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder and Lead" as her goodbye song, she better get a record deal, I want to hear her on radio.
# # #
The homeschool group we used to do some stuff with had a talent share this evening, I didn't really mind missing it, but if we would have remembered it was coming up, I would have done this tweaked rewritten version of Martina McBride's Independence Day, and since we didn't go, I would have posted a video of it instead, but allergies decided to attack me this week. So just the lyrics will have to do.
Somewhere a few years ago, while first playing with the idea of tweaking songs, one of the top candidates was Martina McBride's "Independence Day", it's a classic, everybody knows it, and if you examine it carefully, for such a happy melody, it's incredible tragic. So I looked around a bit for four-syllable words that could be holidays, until I thought of 'graduation". After that, nothing was coming up, so I just left it alone for awhile. Then about the middle of March, about the 14th, I re-inspected the idea, and thought of a line, which led to another line, which led to half a chorus....pretty easy and fast project to complete once I got started.
Verse One -
Well, it was just another mundane morn,
Though she looked a little worried and sad;
She tried to pretend it wasn't happenin',
He looked quite a bit like his dad.
I was eighteen years old that summer,
WIth no idea to where my future lay;
So I took myself down to the church near town
On Graduation Day...
Verse Two -
Well, word gets around in a small, small town,
They said I was a handsome young man;
My Mama was proud, and she stood her ground,
Though she knew this was the start of the end.
Some folks whispered, some folks talked,
But not a dry eye stayed that way;
Near one about, they were all turned out
On Graduation Day...
Chorus -
Let freedom ring, let reality sting
Let the whole world know that today is a day for memories
Let the weak be strong, let the fear be gone
Throw that hat away, let the band play
It's Graduation Day...
Verse Three -
Cameras lit up the sky like the Fourth of July,
As they marveled at how we'd grown;
They watched the slideshow, sayin' "Do you know,
Can you believe how fast the time has flown?"
Now I ain't sayin' it's right or it's wrong,
But it's bound to happen some day;
Part of our evolution
Is Graduation Day...
Chorus x2
American Idol Season 11 Top Five - 60's-British Pop NIght
Overall, last night's show was okay. Or maybe I'm just sick of these awful
allergies, tired of having these spacers on my teeth, and slightly
mad at myself for allowing my sister a chance to hack my Facebook.
Judges' wardrobe: Steven - Strange. Jennifer - June Cleaver. Randy - Himself.
60's Pop -
Hollie Cavanagh - River Deep Mountain High - I've always thought that sounded fake, like the setting of some forgettable WB teen drama on Tuesday nights. It was an odd entrance, with the background singers(what was up with them tonight, anyway? Strange, unusual and weird all the way through.) and band all following her like it was some kind of parade. Vocals not great, but they were all right, it felt too showy, but she was having fun.
Philip Philliips - The Letter - There should be a limit to how many songs can share the same title, because just seeing this recap without watching the show, you'd think it was Collin Raye's piano ballad, which, btw, is one of the best and saddest country songs in existence. And what kind of group calls themselves "The Box Tops"? Richie Cunningham and pals? Anyway, did anyone else notice that he had a new guitar? The song was kind of jazzy, I think I liked it.
Skylar Laine - Fortunate One - That was a high energy concert song. For a competition, though....you couldn't understand half the lyrics.
Joshua/Phillip - Duet - You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - Awkward, old, pathetic, and boring. And quite painful to witness, honestly.
Jessica Sanchez - Proud Mary - Backup dancers? Beads? That weird looking dress? The odd dancing? UGH. Felt like a casino performer in an old spy movie.
Joshua Ledet - Ain't Too Proud To Beg - For this song, it was okay, much better than I've heard it on the show before. But, I don't like the song, the outfit was ridiculous; pinstripes? Again, were the dancers really needed? And his flower looked like a rubber duck.
Round One - Hollie, followed by Phillip.
British Pop -
Hollie Cavanagh - Bleeding Love - This is one of the dumbest songs, lyrically, that's been written recently, in my opinion. But she did it very well.
Phillip Phillips - Time of the Season - It was restrained, the tie-dye background was cool. He had no chance on the high notes and knew it, that was good, very nice.
Hollie/Jessica/Skylar - Trio - Higher and Higher - The song was okay, Hollie was good, Jessica was off slightly, Skylar had way too much twang.
Skylar Laine - You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Miranda Lambert doing a Lawrence Welk song, which was unfortunately placed over the credits on some early 90s chick flick.
Jessica Sanchez - You Are So Beautiful - Can't top Alfalfa. (I was born in 1993, grew up watching movies like "Space Jam", "The Big Green","Air Bud", "Toy Story" and "The Little Rascals", which is always what I've connected this song to in that first scene where Alfalfa and Darla are on that date that Spanky and Co. crashes.) She did all right, didn't much like that run at the end.
Joshua Ledet - Song Unknown - Forgettable. That should be placed on the special edition AI CD of "Lullabies We Viewers Have No Memory of These Artists Singing".
Round two, Hollie, followed by Phillip.
Me doing Alfalfa: "PLEASEpleasePleaseOhPlease send Joshua home this week, and Jessica next week! And can we please fire Randy as a judge?"
Buckwheat: "Hmm....pretty good pleading...."
Judges' wardrobe: Steven - Strange. Jennifer - June Cleaver. Randy - Himself.
60's Pop -
Hollie Cavanagh - River Deep Mountain High - I've always thought that sounded fake, like the setting of some forgettable WB teen drama on Tuesday nights. It was an odd entrance, with the background singers(what was up with them tonight, anyway? Strange, unusual and weird all the way through.) and band all following her like it was some kind of parade. Vocals not great, but they were all right, it felt too showy, but she was having fun.
Philip Philliips - The Letter - There should be a limit to how many songs can share the same title, because just seeing this recap without watching the show, you'd think it was Collin Raye's piano ballad, which, btw, is one of the best and saddest country songs in existence. And what kind of group calls themselves "The Box Tops"? Richie Cunningham and pals? Anyway, did anyone else notice that he had a new guitar? The song was kind of jazzy, I think I liked it.
Skylar Laine - Fortunate One - That was a high energy concert song. For a competition, though....you couldn't understand half the lyrics.
Joshua/Phillip - Duet - You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - Awkward, old, pathetic, and boring. And quite painful to witness, honestly.
Jessica Sanchez - Proud Mary - Backup dancers? Beads? That weird looking dress? The odd dancing? UGH. Felt like a casino performer in an old spy movie.
Joshua Ledet - Ain't Too Proud To Beg - For this song, it was okay, much better than I've heard it on the show before. But, I don't like the song, the outfit was ridiculous; pinstripes? Again, were the dancers really needed? And his flower looked like a rubber duck.
Round One - Hollie, followed by Phillip.
British Pop -
Hollie Cavanagh - Bleeding Love - This is one of the dumbest songs, lyrically, that's been written recently, in my opinion. But she did it very well.
Phillip Phillips - Time of the Season - It was restrained, the tie-dye background was cool. He had no chance on the high notes and knew it, that was good, very nice.
Hollie/Jessica/Skylar - Trio - Higher and Higher - The song was okay, Hollie was good, Jessica was off slightly, Skylar had way too much twang.
Skylar Laine - You Don't Have to Say You Love Me - Miranda Lambert doing a Lawrence Welk song, which was unfortunately placed over the credits on some early 90s chick flick.
Jessica Sanchez - You Are So Beautiful - Can't top Alfalfa. (I was born in 1993, grew up watching movies like "Space Jam", "The Big Green","Air Bud", "Toy Story" and "The Little Rascals", which is always what I've connected this song to in that first scene where Alfalfa and Darla are on that date that Spanky and Co. crashes.) She did all right, didn't much like that run at the end.
Joshua Ledet - Song Unknown - Forgettable. That should be placed on the special edition AI CD of "Lullabies We Viewers Have No Memory of These Artists Singing".
Round two, Hollie, followed by Phillip.
Me doing Alfalfa: "PLEASEpleasePleaseOhPlease send Joshua home this week, and Jessica next week! And can we please fire Randy as a judge?"
Buckwheat: "Hmm....pretty good pleading...."
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Aimless Musings on May
Here it is, the second day of the fifth month of the year, more commonly called May. It's when both horses and horsepower gear up to go as fast as they can, in order to win the biggest race of them all.
It's when tornadoes whip through the air, causing chaos and disaster to those whose properties and/or lives they ran over.
It's when plants start growing in earnest, and the first crop of hay is baled.
It's where all over the country, millions of kids are out on the Little League diamonds, convinced that this sport is fun and that they'll play in the big leagues one day. It's where businesses along Main Street sponsor the teams full of gap-toothed second-graders. It's where grown-ups volunteer to coach those kids the fundamentals of baseball and softball, it's where that loudmouth dad that everybody hates being around yells insults at everyone because Tim isn't hitting well enough, or because that #@$!% umpire blew that call, calling Pam out when she was really safe on that slide by two feet. It's where the local paper runs it's Little League special issue, with forty-six bad team pictures in it's own section, which signals to the kid writing the sports news that it's time for his annual summer vacation.
It's where treks to see friends in another state are made, spending a weekend with friends you enjoy before having to think about the different ways and paths that each of you will take soon.
It's where you spend Saturdays traveling all through the county, looking for great deals at garage sales, with that next sale over on Washington Street being even better than this one. Or it's where you spend all week helping your wheelchair-bound mother-in-law get ready for hosting a garage sale that you don't really think anyone will go to, just because it's the right thing to do.
It's where high school seniors finally realize that the world they knew is about to be left behind forever, and they either look towards their graduations with joyful expectancy or anxious, wistful foreboding. It's where a select group of high school juniors excitedly get ready for a trip of a lifetime.
It's where middle schoolers count the weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds until they leave for camp.
It's when allergies make everyone's lives miserable, with a slight breeze, partly-cloudy sky and seventy-five degrees and the windows staying shut.
It's when one of the dogs has puppies for the first time, and having to guide her on how to be a mother. And it's gazing happily at the furry little canines and thinking up names for them.
It's when the summer movie season kicks off, filling theaters with gunfights, explosions, car chases, superheroes, sequels, and the newest Pixar project.
It's where American Idol crowns it's most recent winner, and having to let the discussion group with the cousins languish until Thanksgiving, where the steam gathers up for the next season.
It's a time of birthdays, seen as interesting and exciting things when at five, where you don't totally understand the concept yet, or as a natural right to request things like a .22, tank, car, cell phone or helicopter and fully think you'll get them at eleven, or as a low-key thing that's mostly just another day at nineteen.
It's where little boys go fishing with their grandmas, having the time of their lives whenever they could spend the weekend on the farm.
It's all these things, and many, many more. May is a good month.
It's when tornadoes whip through the air, causing chaos and disaster to those whose properties and/or lives they ran over.
It's when plants start growing in earnest, and the first crop of hay is baled.
It's where all over the country, millions of kids are out on the Little League diamonds, convinced that this sport is fun and that they'll play in the big leagues one day. It's where businesses along Main Street sponsor the teams full of gap-toothed second-graders. It's where grown-ups volunteer to coach those kids the fundamentals of baseball and softball, it's where that loudmouth dad that everybody hates being around yells insults at everyone because Tim isn't hitting well enough, or because that #@$!% umpire blew that call, calling Pam out when she was really safe on that slide by two feet. It's where the local paper runs it's Little League special issue, with forty-six bad team pictures in it's own section, which signals to the kid writing the sports news that it's time for his annual summer vacation.
It's where treks to see friends in another state are made, spending a weekend with friends you enjoy before having to think about the different ways and paths that each of you will take soon.
It's where you spend Saturdays traveling all through the county, looking for great deals at garage sales, with that next sale over on Washington Street being even better than this one. Or it's where you spend all week helping your wheelchair-bound mother-in-law get ready for hosting a garage sale that you don't really think anyone will go to, just because it's the right thing to do.
It's where high school seniors finally realize that the world they knew is about to be left behind forever, and they either look towards their graduations with joyful expectancy or anxious, wistful foreboding. It's where a select group of high school juniors excitedly get ready for a trip of a lifetime.
It's where middle schoolers count the weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds until they leave for camp.
It's when allergies make everyone's lives miserable, with a slight breeze, partly-cloudy sky and seventy-five degrees and the windows staying shut.
It's when one of the dogs has puppies for the first time, and having to guide her on how to be a mother. And it's gazing happily at the furry little canines and thinking up names for them.
It's when the summer movie season kicks off, filling theaters with gunfights, explosions, car chases, superheroes, sequels, and the newest Pixar project.
It's where American Idol crowns it's most recent winner, and having to let the discussion group with the cousins languish until Thanksgiving, where the steam gathers up for the next season.
It's a time of birthdays, seen as interesting and exciting things when at five, where you don't totally understand the concept yet, or as a natural right to request things like a .22, tank, car, cell phone or helicopter and fully think you'll get them at eleven, or as a low-key thing that's mostly just another day at nineteen.
It's where little boys go fishing with their grandmas, having the time of their lives whenever they could spend the weekend on the farm.
It's all these things, and many, many more. May is a good month.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Weird Fact Saturday, Episode Four
- As much as I like to be early for things, I'm usually ten minutes late(Which given the people I hang out with, that's like right on time, but anyway...)
- I love cleaning! Laundry, sweeping, dishwashing, vacuuming, just about anything. It makes the house so much less stressful to be in if it's mostly clean.
- I DO NOT like bugs. Or mice. They freak me out.
- I've always wished I could play either harmonica, drums, or piano, but I don't have the lung power to play harmonica, the funds to get a drum set or the patience to learn piano.
- If milk is even close to its' expiration date, I'm not drinking it.
- I can recite almost all of The Princess Bride from memory, a trait which my siblings don't especially like.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Random Status of the Week Award Winners, Part Two
It started out as a way to keep myself busy with nothing to write about, a year later, that's still pretty much the point, but a ton of other people came to look forward to the selection of each new post every Monday. And so, 52 weeks later, I've given out a total of 67 Random Status of the Week awards, to 44 people, two groups, three collections, and one week without an award.
(I'm exhausted to the point of thinking about taking a nap, so the math might not be perfect on this.) But, anyway, it's mainly stayed close(ish) to home, going to the far borders of the state sometimes, but the RSW Award wound up staying in Oklahoma 42 times. The next-often visited state was Missouri, with ten trips to the Show-Me State, six to Mississippi, once to Arkansas, one trip south to Texas, and it needed to bring its passport along one time, headed up to Manitoba, Canada.
My friend list is mainly made up of high school/college students, the awarding follows this trend, only six of the winners(sixty in all) were past their college graduation.
Forty-four people won over the year, by numbers it was 21 guys to 23 girls, when you add in the repeats, though, it becomes a female-dominated award, 22:38.
We had eleven reapeat winners, Madelyn D and Sam J led the way with four wins apiece, Ash H close behind with three awards, while Kyle C, Annette W, Jon L, Mikyla C, Rae P, Grace H, Brenna H and Justine M each won it twice.
There's been two parent/child sets of winners to receive the award, Shelley B and daughter Julie and Steven C and son Bennett.
Sibling rivalry can be destructive, or constructive, competition is always a good thing, in my opinion. When one of your sisters does something really well, you want to try to top it, if possible; the reasoning behind the fact that Madelyn and Marshall D, Annette and Levi W, Corinne and Justine M, Quinton and Brenna H and Wesley and Courtney C all thought of clever things to write about.
American Idol Season 11 Top Six - Queen Night
(Typed Wednesday night, just never got around to post it on here until now.)
I was hoping it'd be good tonight, since they had a cool theme to work with, it was better than some others they've had this season.
JayLo looked weird, was that a C-3PO suit? Steven looked pretty normal, Randy was Randy, weird, but it faded off into the background. That medley with those two guys from Queen was awesome.
QUEEN -
Jessica Sanchez - Bohemian Rhapsody - I like the real thing better. I liked Michael John's version of that better than the original, she wasn't great, but the black and white filming was pretty cool.
Skylar Laine - The Show Must Go On - The violins were a little creepy, but it was a neat song. Her voice does shows emotion really well. Think I liked it.
Joshua Ledet - Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Nice guitar, good band instrumental, as far as vocals went, it was karaoke, and it was bad. He was shouting the entire way through that, and halfway through I searched around the past season yearbooks to find somebody else I'd WANT to hear sing that song, so I had Scotty McCreery singing along. He was weird, also, but it was at least a better weird.
Elise Testone - I Want It All - GREAT choice, it's a good song, fit her voice well, and it sounded authentic:Terrific performance.
Phillip Phillips - Fat-Bottomed Girls - Strange. Very Phillip-like in style, I didn't like it much.
Hollie Cavanagh - Save Me - It was a pretty song. It was good, but that suit made her look like she was about forty from the wide camera angles.
Elise flew away with best of the round award this time.
CHOICE -
Jessica Sanchez - Dance With My Father - I learned a new color tonight: Mom said that was chartouse, which I had always thought was a pink-purple color. The dress still reminded me of banana peels, whatever color it was. The song was a LOT better than I've ever heard it(Seriously, why do guys always sing this?), I kind of liked it.
Skylar Laine - Tattoos On This Town - THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that song, love the way she did it, the bridge needed a lot of repair, but that was great. "She's very thick-boned, I guess you could say....strong-boned..." "HOLLIE! You just called me fat! I'm gonna cry now(giggle, giggle)" "What's that...? Jimmy just said it was thick-skinned, oh. Lost in translation, I guess." "I can't believe you just called me fat!' "I am SO sorry....one of those American phrases I'm not used to yet." "Still..."
Joshua Ledet - Song Unknown - Boring and forgettable, somehow unsettling, the only thing I could think of to praise on that was his jacket, which isn't saying much.
Elise Testone - Bold as Love - Nice beginning, from there, it went downhill fast. Not good at all. Phillip: "She does that thing with her hand....it's like she's a sniper, she's going to kill that note, and all the ones that come after it. And not in a good way, either."
Phillip Phillips - Song Unknown - Weird, but sort of cool. Neat fiddle playing, that tuba-saxophone thing was odd, but interesting, the picking/strumming was neat. The girls making fun of him in the intro video was hysterical.
Hollie Cavanagh - The Climb - Miley's best song(Actually, her only good song), Hollie gave her a huge run for her money right there, I loved it. That was really, really good. Loved how they were making fun of her accent, it's always fun to see whether it'll be the English or the Texan.
This round Hollie and Skylar tie for best performance.
Going home - Man, this is tough. I'm going to go with....Joshua, I guess, at this point it's nearly impossible to tell who America's gonna vote for.
America votes weird. This fact was already known, but proved yet again last night. I was mowing, so I missed the show, but my cousin Trish texted me updates. Stefano Langone and Katy Perry performed, along with a Queen tribute band(fancy way to say impersonators), the bottom three was Elise(Good idea), HOLLIE(What the heck??!!!) and SKYLAR(Again, what the heck???!!!!). How can people keep voting for Joshua or Jessica ahead of Hollie and Skylar? It's irritating. Side note, disappointing that Colton left last week, but that was a great lesson in how to leave a lasting impression as you exit the competition stage for the last time. Looking forward to seeing him in Christian music after the tour this summer. This week, though the bottom three was two-thirds wrong, they sent the right person home, as Elise leaves and heads back home. I can live with that.
I was hoping it'd be good tonight, since they had a cool theme to work with, it was better than some others they've had this season.
JayLo looked weird, was that a C-3PO suit? Steven looked pretty normal, Randy was Randy, weird, but it faded off into the background. That medley with those two guys from Queen was awesome.
QUEEN -
Jessica Sanchez - Bohemian Rhapsody - I like the real thing better. I liked Michael John's version of that better than the original, she wasn't great, but the black and white filming was pretty cool.
Skylar Laine - The Show Must Go On - The violins were a little creepy, but it was a neat song. Her voice does shows emotion really well. Think I liked it.
Joshua Ledet - Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Nice guitar, good band instrumental, as far as vocals went, it was karaoke, and it was bad. He was shouting the entire way through that, and halfway through I searched around the past season yearbooks to find somebody else I'd WANT to hear sing that song, so I had Scotty McCreery singing along. He was weird, also, but it was at least a better weird.
Elise Testone - I Want It All - GREAT choice, it's a good song, fit her voice well, and it sounded authentic:Terrific performance.
Phillip Phillips - Fat-Bottomed Girls - Strange. Very Phillip-like in style, I didn't like it much.
Hollie Cavanagh - Save Me - It was a pretty song. It was good, but that suit made her look like she was about forty from the wide camera angles.
Elise flew away with best of the round award this time.
CHOICE -
Jessica Sanchez - Dance With My Father - I learned a new color tonight: Mom said that was chartouse, which I had always thought was a pink-purple color. The dress still reminded me of banana peels, whatever color it was. The song was a LOT better than I've ever heard it(Seriously, why do guys always sing this?), I kind of liked it.
Skylar Laine - Tattoos On This Town - THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that song, love the way she did it, the bridge needed a lot of repair, but that was great. "She's very thick-boned, I guess you could say....strong-boned..." "HOLLIE! You just called me fat! I'm gonna cry now(giggle, giggle)" "What's that...? Jimmy just said it was thick-skinned, oh. Lost in translation, I guess." "I can't believe you just called me fat!' "I am SO sorry....one of those American phrases I'm not used to yet." "Still..."
Joshua Ledet - Song Unknown - Boring and forgettable, somehow unsettling, the only thing I could think of to praise on that was his jacket, which isn't saying much.
Elise Testone - Bold as Love - Nice beginning, from there, it went downhill fast. Not good at all. Phillip: "She does that thing with her hand....it's like she's a sniper, she's going to kill that note, and all the ones that come after it. And not in a good way, either."
Phillip Phillips - Song Unknown - Weird, but sort of cool. Neat fiddle playing, that tuba-saxophone thing was odd, but interesting, the picking/strumming was neat. The girls making fun of him in the intro video was hysterical.
Hollie Cavanagh - The Climb - Miley's best song(Actually, her only good song), Hollie gave her a huge run for her money right there, I loved it. That was really, really good. Loved how they were making fun of her accent, it's always fun to see whether it'll be the English or the Texan.
This round Hollie and Skylar tie for best performance.
Going home - Man, this is tough. I'm going to go with....Joshua, I guess, at this point it's nearly impossible to tell who America's gonna vote for.
America votes weird. This fact was already known, but proved yet again last night. I was mowing, so I missed the show, but my cousin Trish texted me updates. Stefano Langone and Katy Perry performed, along with a Queen tribute band(fancy way to say impersonators), the bottom three was Elise(Good idea), HOLLIE(What the heck??!!!) and SKYLAR(Again, what the heck???!!!!). How can people keep voting for Joshua or Jessica ahead of Hollie and Skylar? It's irritating. Side note, disappointing that Colton left last week, but that was a great lesson in how to leave a lasting impression as you exit the competition stage for the last time. Looking forward to seeing him in Christian music after the tour this summer. This week, though the bottom three was two-thirds wrong, they sent the right person home, as Elise leaves and heads back home. I can live with that.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Being a Glad You Ate
Well, I just tried on my graduation gown.
It's about ordinary, I guess, shiny thin black fabric, with the funny hat. Fits pretty well.
Felt like Snoopy pretending to be a vulture or the Red Baron, though; "Here comes Wesley the graduate, all set to take on the world and go off to college..."
There's this paragraph from "Upchuck and the Rotten Willy", by Bill Wallace, that is really good. Actually, the whole book is great; it's pretty short, only 101 pages, this cat's the narrator, one of his best friends, Louie, got smushed by a car crossed the highway one day. Then his other best friend, Tom, moves away, and THEN, to make things even worse, His Katie leaves and goes someplace called "college". And there's this enormous dog the size of a bear who moves in nearby....It's a book for kids, he used to be a school principal. I read it for the first time when I was about six or seven, probably fifteen times in the years since, it's that kind of book, filled with great descriptive paragraphs like this:
"I wonder how long forever is.
It was a people word. The first time that I heard it was when my Katie and Chuck held paws and played kissy-face on the front porch. They told each other that they would be together - forever.
Chuck didn't stay around that long.
My Katie and Jimmy said the same stuff about being in love - forever. Jimmy had been around for a long time. A lot longer than I liked.
Come to think of it, I didn't really know how long forever was. I thought that it was a long, long time. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe people didn't know how long forever was, either - and people animals know a lot. They can talk with mouth noises and they can even read signs and stuff.
That's a lot. But maybe nobody knows how long forever is.
Maybe it wasn't as long as I thought.
On the way back home, we didn't bound and leap across the vacant field behind my house - we waddled. At the street, Tom stopped and looked both ways. Then we waddled across. We waddled clear to his front porch where we sat and washed our faces with our paws.
To be honest, I didn't wash my face too well. I had sucked a really long piece of spaghetti into my mouth. The tail end of it flipped me on the eyebrow. I cleaned that off, as well as the gooey red stuff near my ears. But I left some of the meat sauce on my whiskers. That way, when I licked my lips, I could taste it all day. We curled up and slept in the sun for the rest of the afternoon.
It was the very next day when "forever" started getting shorter and shorter.
My Katie left.
My Katie had left before. I had come to live with her when I was just a kitten. Almost every day, she had left for a place called school. She told me she was a Senior and that "seniors are really cool." I didn't know what a senior was, but being one made my Katie happy - so I was happy, too.
Going to school had been okay. When my Katie had come home, she played with me. She dragged an old sock round and round on her bed while I chased it. She hugged me and petted me and rubbed behind my ears. At night I slept on her pillow, next to her. Then, after a few months, my Katie had told me she was a "Glad You Ate." Now, I had no idea what a glad you ate was. My Katie had told me that she was happy to be one - only us cats don't just listen with our ears. We watch and feel and smell. My Katie made mouth noises that said she was happy, only the feel she gave off was happy and sad and worried, all rolled together. She smelled confused and uncertain - like maybe being a senior had been more fun than being a glad you ate - only she didn't know for sure."
It's about ordinary, I guess, shiny thin black fabric, with the funny hat. Fits pretty well.
Felt like Snoopy pretending to be a vulture or the Red Baron, though; "Here comes Wesley the graduate, all set to take on the world and go off to college..."
There's this paragraph from "Upchuck and the Rotten Willy", by Bill Wallace, that is really good. Actually, the whole book is great; it's pretty short, only 101 pages, this cat's the narrator, one of his best friends, Louie, got smushed by a car crossed the highway one day. Then his other best friend, Tom, moves away, and THEN, to make things even worse, His Katie leaves and goes someplace called "college". And there's this enormous dog the size of a bear who moves in nearby....It's a book for kids, he used to be a school principal. I read it for the first time when I was about six or seven, probably fifteen times in the years since, it's that kind of book, filled with great descriptive paragraphs like this:
"I wonder how long forever is.
It was a people word. The first time that I heard it was when my Katie and Chuck held paws and played kissy-face on the front porch. They told each other that they would be together - forever.
Chuck didn't stay around that long.
My Katie and Jimmy said the same stuff about being in love - forever. Jimmy had been around for a long time. A lot longer than I liked.
Come to think of it, I didn't really know how long forever was. I thought that it was a long, long time. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe people didn't know how long forever was, either - and people animals know a lot. They can talk with mouth noises and they can even read signs and stuff.
That's a lot. But maybe nobody knows how long forever is.
Maybe it wasn't as long as I thought.
On the way back home, we didn't bound and leap across the vacant field behind my house - we waddled. At the street, Tom stopped and looked both ways. Then we waddled across. We waddled clear to his front porch where we sat and washed our faces with our paws.
To be honest, I didn't wash my face too well. I had sucked a really long piece of spaghetti into my mouth. The tail end of it flipped me on the eyebrow. I cleaned that off, as well as the gooey red stuff near my ears. But I left some of the meat sauce on my whiskers. That way, when I licked my lips, I could taste it all day. We curled up and slept in the sun for the rest of the afternoon.
It was the very next day when "forever" started getting shorter and shorter.
My Katie left.
My Katie had left before. I had come to live with her when I was just a kitten. Almost every day, she had left for a place called school. She told me she was a Senior and that "seniors are really cool." I didn't know what a senior was, but being one made my Katie happy - so I was happy, too.
Going to school had been okay. When my Katie had come home, she played with me. She dragged an old sock round and round on her bed while I chased it. She hugged me and petted me and rubbed behind my ears. At night I slept on her pillow, next to her. Then, after a few months, my Katie had told me she was a "Glad You Ate." Now, I had no idea what a glad you ate was. My Katie had told me that she was happy to be one - only us cats don't just listen with our ears. We watch and feel and smell. My Katie made mouth noises that said she was happy, only the feel she gave off was happy and sad and worried, all rolled together. She smelled confused and uncertain - like maybe being a senior had been more fun than being a glad you ate - only she didn't know for sure."
Random Status of the Week Award Winners, Part One
This is a list. Not your ordinary, fact-laden list that runs on for half a page of newsprint and makes your eyes glaze over in boredom; no, this is a list creative approaches in writing. You see, taking a common occurence, that of writing Facebook statuses, turns out anyone can be a good writer, even if they never thought of themselves that way.
So, I created the Random Status of the Week Award, to commemorate the most original updates I found from my FB friends.
(THE OFFICIAL CRITERIA FOR WINNING THE RSW AWARD-otherwise known as the rules)
1- It must not be too personal.
2- I must have met you, otherwise we wouldn't be FB friends.
3- It must be entertaining.
That said, now to the winners(with editorial comments)
1 - Mariah C - "I hate shoes." Um, okay....That is not something you hear that often...especially from a female...
2 - Madelyn D - " "April showers bring May flowers'? More like April apocalyptic storms of death..." Might be just a touch exaggerated, but that does come pretty well to describing all that rain that came pouring down around Easter...
3 - tie - Annette W - "I singlehandedly succeeded in almost killiing the archery teacher." Well, yeah, you did. But, we all turned out safe, the teacher's still in alive, all you got was a bruise on your arm, and it makes a terrific story. So, I'd say it ended up okay. Just be sure to yell so we can hide whenever it's your turn to shoot.
- Grace H - "Just found a very soggy carrot that survived a horse show, my pocket, and the wash." Hold on a minute. I can understand how it can survive a horse show, but it seems like you would have noticed it in your pocket, either on the way back to before you washed you jacket...that must have been nasty. And hard to clean up.
4 - Kyle C - "Exploring the great mysteries of my room, and finding great treasures!" First off, applause to Kyle, the first male winner of the award. Second, what a great way to say that you cleaned your room. Third, your room should contain great treasures, but it shouldn't be mysterious to you, the room's owner. Is there a Don Aslett book hidden somewhere?
5 - Ash H - "I got a job at Dairy Queen today...however, the manager did a double take on my age, decided I was too young, and promptly fired me fifteen minutes later." Ouch....but that's the best backstory of any of these...and it's pretty funny, in a "I'm so glad that wasn't me" way...
6 - Justine M - "Left her pillow in Missouri." It's easy to forget things, like where you left your car keys, or where your sister set her glasses. And being on a trip, it's easier than usual to forget something small. But leaving something the size of a pillow in a whole different state, that's something else entirely.
7 - tie -Shelley B - "I'm so sensitive to caffeine, my kids drank energy drinks and I can't sleep." This is why it's all right to be FB friends with your friends' moms. You get even more good material for laughing at!
- Kirsten J - "Figured out why my asparagus plants wouldn't grow last year. I planted them upside down." HAHAHAHA....the trials of gardening...
8-Kyle C - "Humans are weird." Yep, we are. As proof of our weirdness, I kept track of these statuses. And anyway, he became the first repeat winner.
9 - Sam J - "Yeah, I still rock out to my favorite music with a hairbrush microphone." Don't we all, we just don't like to admit it? This set off both a new friendship and never-ending headaches for six months, which started from the 127 comments that followed. I'll blame Shakespeare, we'd just finished reading through "A Midsummer Night's Dream". I like Puck's line, "Lord, what fools these mortals be.."
10 - 2011 Oklahoma Youth Tour. I didn't check FB all week, and besides, there were some amazingly strange(and surprising, and silly) and hilarious conversations on this trip.
11 - Mikyla C - "Went golfing with my mom today....and a crow hit our cart!" That's weird...New spin on a birdie, too...Why can't that happen all the time?
12 - Levi W - "I got paid $150 for letting these guys use my car in a movie!" Cool, definitely not an everyday experience around here. It'll be called Yellow, it's supposed to be directed by the guy behind The Notebook, and I think it's a getaway car.
13 - Dennis G - "My grandson is playing with a Mr Potato Head in one hand, and eating potato chips with the other. I think I detect fear in Mr P.H's eyes." Yeah, I'd be scared, too, being an edible movie star....hope he doesn't know what Lays are made from...
- Madelyn D - "When my sister takes Benadryl, she's like a five-year-old on Mountain Dew." Not particularly outlandish or strangely funny, but a terrific description, which is why it co-won this week.
14 - Adam F - "I've just been informed that 'Rawr' means 'I love you' in dinosaur." I've always wondered what that meant...
- Michael V - "I just fixed the A/C in my truck, and now everyone wants to ride in it. Coencidence? I think not." When this was posted, we were in triple digits for two months straight.
15 - Kaitlyn P - "There's four frogs in my room!" I was having a horrible week, and couldn't find anything even nearly as funny. and besides, she's scared of frogs. However, her brave sisters rescued her from the amphibious intruders, and everything went back to normal.
16 - Sovereign Grace Youth Camp 2011 - I could go on and on, and on, about how much I love spending time with all the assembled people that show up, but this just isn't the time. If spending time with other believers is this good here, what will it be like in heaven?
- Annette W - "I had never put deodorant on another person's head before. Come to think of it, I've never put deodorant on another person, period." Little brothers can get so messy sometimes...let's just file this under "What Happens On Vacation..."
17 - Jon L - "The only thing wrong with eating huge spoonfulls of peanut butter is that your throat gets all sticky and then you can't swallow...maybe I should rethink this." Eh, maybe, but then you wouldn't have quite as good snacks...PEANUT BUTTER RULES!!!
18 - Sam J - "Note to self: Beware of reaching into the dishwasher...there may be knives awaiting to attack you." Ouch. Good sentence, though. That's why dishes should be done by hand...
19 - Jake B - "So...I totally fell off my bunk bed and broke my nose..." OWWWW......that can only happen to JAke. great way to start off college.
20 - Josh F - "Overheard while getting my permit...'Do you wear hearing aids?' 'What?' " Eavesdropping is so much fun.
21 - Bennett C - "Last night we were eating some cereal, and my sister finds two dead moths in her bowl. Raisin Bran doesn't sound so good right now." Ewww......
22 - No award was given, in commermoration of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Too serious a time for pointless things like this, I figured.
23 - tie - Clay D - "It's a bad idea to cut your own hair with your eyes closed." BAHAHAHAHAHA......er, sorry about that, I was falling out of my chair laughing. Most of us above the age of three know this already....
- Madelyn D - "Snake 1, Cheer and dance teams 0." This is an great example of what E.B. White always preached: That the more concise, the better sentence. Can't you just picture the panic?
24 - Jon L - "Just dropped my headpones in jelly yogurt...awkward...." Yuck. Mixing jelly and yogurt? And then dropping your headphones into it, even by mistake? They'd get all sticky, and how on earth would you clean them?
25 - Sam J - "I was eating some peanuts today, and I thought, 'Wow, these taste just like peanut butter.' And then it dawned on me..." What can I say?
26 - Quinton H - "Today, I find myself building an outhouse out of fencing materials, tarps, wire and duct tape." He could do it, too...I'm just curious as to why exactly it was necessary to construct one, especially if you're close enough to civilization to be able to check Facebook while doing so.
27 - Brenna H - "When chickens eat, they look like chickens eating." No, REALLY? Anyway, this marked only the second time that siblings have won this coveted award, and the first time they won in back-to-back weeks.
28 - Jose H - "ACT in the morning...I'm gonna show this test who's boss! (Sixteen hours later...) ....Hmm, I think the ACT showed ME who was boss..." Was it really that bad? We're smart teens, we should be able to get into college on our first try at these tests, at least. IF we don't do as well as we'd like, we can try again.
29 - World Series collection. There were some great posts all week during the World Series, and it was especially interesting this year - this, coming from someone who detests baseball. Thursday night, was AWESOME. Or AWFUL, depending on whether you were a Cards or Rangers fan. Everyone was talking about it. Here's some samples: "This is the craziest World Series I've ever seen in my entire life!" (Alex L), "The kid who was going to go to bed early? Yeah, she's still awake, and has bitten all her fingernials off!" (Brandi C), "I wish I could get paid millions of dollars to miss ground balls like that..." (Brandi again), "This game is taking years from my life." (Luke N), "I just sat in Wal-Mart's parking lot for over an hour, listening to the game. I couldn't leave, it was so exciting. People were staring at me, it was awesome!" (Terry B). That sounds like something I would do...
30 - Earthquake collection. How often does an EARTHQUAKE hit Oklahoma??? Crazy...I lost count at 17 posts related to them over the weekend. Unfortunately, they were all generally so alike that I can't be sure who posted what. Samples: "EARTHQUAKE!!!!" (Kaitlyn P), "Earthquake-related status" (Tre McP), "I do not like earthquakes..." (Me). In my opinion, if we have to have bad weather, let's stick with tornadoes, ice storms and droughts: We know how to deal with those.
31 - Courtney C - "This is a boring status, not what you were hoping for as you scrolled down the screen. It has nothing to do with earthquakes, better luck farther down." Yawn...I mean, "Wow! A status NOT about earthquakes!!!" If it's non-tornado or ice storm damage, it counts as news here.
32 - Corinne M - "Since nobody volunteered to make our famous Christmas Cookies, I had to do it. I broke the handle off the mixing bowl, and while measuring sugar, the fell off the cup into my hand(Both of those items my mom's had forever.) I guess this just isn't my day for scooping things." Doesn't sound like it, nope...but at least there were cookies afterward, that makes any day better, right? Especially a crummy one when everything falls apart.
33 - Katelyne W - "Goin' huntin'! (Five hours later...) Welp, didn't get anything, but I did see a lot...of trees." Humor is important to keep intact. Specially when hunting.
34 - Bedlam collection - Too many highlghts to post, so I'll just pick a few: "Bedlam: A place of confusion and insanity; what happens when our Pokes show those Sooners who's boss. RIDE "EM COWBOYS!!!!!!" (Chrystal P), "Status involving the OU-OSU game" (Christian P) "WE DID IT!!!! YES!!!!" (Bailey R), "Cowboys: #DuhWinning! Sooners: #NotSoMuch." (Chrystal again), "I finally kind of understand what it's like to be an OSU fan....I don't much like it." (Adam F) "I just nearly died while tearing down the goalposts! It was awesome!" (Joe B).
35 - Marshall D - "My teeth are cold." Yeah, that brings back the "Random" in Random Status of the Week...and dude, it's winter. EVERYONE's teeth are cold!
36 - Jennifer D - "Just saw a car with a HAWAII license plate! You don't see that every day..." Awesome...but how exactly does a car get from Hawaii to Oklahoma?
37 - Beth P - "I have successfully super-glued my fingers together! Got it off, but for a minute there, the kitchen counter, scissors, my hand and the paper were one...good thing I didn't pet the dog!" The perils of Christmas...falling off the ladder while stringing Christmas lights, house fires, falling off a ladder while painting the family room, super gluing your fingers together....
38 - It was a three-way tie, which made RSW history. This trio was very good.
- Ash H - "I rode my bike from Grandma's back to my house in high heels and a skirt this morning." This sounds hard.
- Christian P - "My dog has a phobia of forks..." This sounded funny.
- Amanda T - "Going outside in shorts in December? It's a bad idea.". She was chasing her dog back inside, but still....
39 - Derek G - "It costs $10.20 to ship a coconut from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, apparently...the things you learn working at a post office..." I've always wondered how much the shipping was on thngs like that...okay, not really, but I just love off-the-wall facts like that.
40 - Steven C - "Things to do between LSU-Bama touchdowns...1: Read War and Peace. Twice. 2: Mow your lawn with scissors. 3: Memorize the peridodic table of elements. 4: Find your soul mate online, propose, plan the wedding and get married." Was it really THAT awful a game? Judging by what everyone said, it was. Glad I missed it.
41 - Madelyn D - "The only place with enough space to do my homework is the floor, and my stupid dog Ladybug keeps laying on top of my paper!" Weird, that's usually a feline trait...At least you had some help with the project...
42 - Ryan W - "I'm mowing my grass. In January. I must live in Oklahoma." Yep, he does.
- Joe B - "My brother got himself stuck in a mudhole...I get to pull him out. And the fact that his tractor's radio is only playing Katy Perry is NOT helping." Man, that sounds like a blast. Not.
43 - Rae P - "I just discovered that earrings make great thumbtacks!" This comes from a girl who microwaves CDs to use for wall decorations; a MacGyver of interior design.
44 - Julie B - "That moment when you feel something in your shoe, so you take it off, shake the whatever-it-is out, and it turns out to be a dead cricket." Ew. Had to win this week.
45 - Colton D - "I kicked my soccer ball today, and I broke the net." Dude, stop kicking so hard, then!
- Mikyla C - "If poison expires, is it more dangerous or less lethal?" The unanswerable questions my friends ask...I'd go with being deadlier, but I'm not sure.
- Paige S - My little brother walks up and slaps an R2-D2 sticker on me. "What was that for?" "I don't know, you just kind of reminded me of him." "...How?" "You make noises like him. You know, squeals and beeps and chirps and things like that." "Um...okay, thanks?" This wasn't supposed to be a three-way tie, I just couldn't decide betweeen them, so I put it up ofr a vote, and they each got voted for once.
46 - Rae P - "My hairbrush broke. While it was still in my hair. Apparently it was more tangled than I thought?" Ouch. Seems painful.
- Grace H - "That was a good way to end the (soccer) season. I scored two goals, and the ref gave me this comment: "Number 3, there's a player there, you aren't allowed to run through her to get to the ball." Sounds like a great game.
47 - Brenna H - "Um...I caught a possum...I was trying to catch my rabbit...." I wonder what she did with the possum? Fry it up for possum innards to go with some hog jowls? You know, the thing about possum innards is, they's just as good the second day.
48 - Baleigh H - "Felt great to be out on that track again...even if I did eat a bug in the process." Just think of it as extra protein.
- Sam J - "Future tip for myself: Don't put socks in the microwave, they burst into flames!" First off, I think I need an award for being willing to give an award to something involving fire. Second off....never mind, I'm not even going to try to dissect the humorous aspects out of this one. It'd take way too long.
49 - Agatha L - "Getting IDed when buying an energy drink? That's crazy! I just need my life support so I ca nfunction and make it to work on time, why make it so complicated?" That is ridiculous.
50 - Ash H - "I gave blood for the first time today. It was a total waste of my time. Apparently I have small veins, so to get a good bloodflow they took off some tape securing the needle while one nurse held it in place.THe needle came loose, my blood was now spewing everywhere and the were frantically stuffing paper towels into my wound. After clean-up, I discovered it wasn't my fault, and that I was only about three minutes away from completing my first pint ever. To make matters worse, I got to feeling sick and light-headed. So now my arm is cold and sore and I just typed this entire thing left-handed. Go me." This was a very good status, it was strange, it was funny, and it was well-written.
- Eva S - "This is totally sleeping-on-the-roof weather!" Never heard of anybody sleeping on the roof before.
51 - Wesley C - "My little brother: "How long is it until you're twenty?" Me, after thinking a minute: "About a year and a month, I guess." "Wow...I can't believe it...my brother being TWENTY....you'll like, have kids by then or something...." "Well, yeah...don't think I will, but yeah, maybe...might happen." Awkward..." I couldn't find anything capable of winning the RSW award this week, so I was going to not give one out, or just postpone this week's. But then Ash and Courtney decided that I should win my own award, which feels slightly wrong. But anyway, that was a hilarious conversation, which just had to be posted on here. When you're eight years old, everything's so simple...
52 - Justine M - "Teach Myself to Rollerblade, Day One: Two grass-stained kneecaps, one busted capillary, innumerable sweaty palmed adrenaline rushes - and that was just in the driveway! How do kids make this look easy!?" I've wondered that myself...usually when I'm running into a wall to stop.
Stats to follow.
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