On the brink...

Just so you all know, I'm standing on the edge, about to watch two of the more religiously controversial movies in recent cinematic history. Details to follow...

Wow...

I know the last post is still pretty fresh, but I came across this when looking at Elise's favorite videos on youtube, and was blown away! I mean, I can understand that Corinne's talent took me by surprise, I really just don't know her all THAT well, but I have no excuse for not realizing Cami had it in her! Fantastic! Especially for a ward function. It reminds me of when Cami played Sister Mary Leo in Nunsense. I just burst with pride every time I watched her dance ballet in a habit.



It is also a pleasant surprise that Cami is enough a fan of Wicked to put this together. Well done, both of you, and good job for the nice intro, Jake.

The agony of defeat...

I almost never post things about actual politics-politics, but here goes...


So, over the weekend, Hillary Clinton announced her concession from the presidential race, and urged all of her supporters to turn and support Obama in her stead. Now, I don't pretend to know uber-amounts about politics, and I was absent for a lot of the beginnings of this political drama, but I have caught up enough to know that: 1) I'm glad that Hillary is out; and 2) It seems kind of churlish to suddenly ask her friends to support the person who has been her primary competition for the last several months. All she's done for ages is debate with this person as to why he's an unfit candidate for President, and now she's telling everyone to vote for him. I guess that's how it goes, when you bow out of the race, but seriously, the whole game seems so contrived. Unfortunately, there's not a clear good choice this time around, but I'm pretty sure that Obama would be a veritable political mess in office. No matter what he does, if things turn out sour and people criticize him, everyone will pull the race card, whether or not it has anything to do with the issue at hand. People always say his candidacy has nothing to do with race, but then bring it up anyway! (Especially his wife, oh pur-lease!)

Honestly, I don't think I ever really took Hillary seriously as a presidential candidate. She seemed like a teenager running for student body president rather than a senator running for President of the United States. Some of the Hmong people I talked to about this really had quite a few good points as to why this woman could not run the country, but I won't post them at the risk of igniting a flame of indignation, especially for the super-feminists among you. Besides, Hillary has already basically served two terms as President, it wouldn't be fair for her to get another go!

Here's hoping she doesn't brown-nose her way into a VP spot in the Obama campaign. That's just what we need, Obama AND Clinton in the office...

Back to school?...

Well, after a long talk with Mom and Dad last night, I think I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I'm going back to school. I do want to work in the animation field, but as yet, it doesn't look too promising, at least not right away. I lost a lot of graduation momentum taking two years off right after I left school, and my demo reel is sadly lacking for the standards that most studios require, even smaller local ones. So, at the risk of finding myself a completely unmarketable person in the world, especially in the future when a family might be involved, I have decided to study in the field of Psychology. I feel like I have certain artistic skills that could be put to good use in the world, but I also want to help people, and because of my background and history, and my interest in the amazing nature of the creation of the human mind, I think this is up my alley. I would want to study family psychology, and eventually have a degree in clinical work and therapy. (Incidentally, I had in the past considered law and medicine, but I don't know if those are really for me.) In some ways, I feel like this is a concession, giving up the dreams I've always had, but at the same time, I can't help thinking this might be a reason things aren't quite working out so far. In the arts, I've always felt I was good at a lot of things, but not really GREAT at anything. Maybe it's time to study something a little less visual... I did take the Intro to Psych class for a general requirement way back when, and really enjoyed it, I even considered continuing a little more into psychology for some electives. So, today I've been on the phone with Admissions at BYU, figuring out if a student with a BFA can go back to school before getting into a graduate program, and they said that I should be able to, all it requires is an abbreviated version of the admission application, a renewed ecclesiastical endorsement and a letter of explanation, telling why I need to go to school in between degrees, etc. They even waive the application fee for such cases! They said if you have a 3.0 and you went to BYU before, the chances are pretty good of getting back in. There are just a few prerequisites required to apply to the Psych graduate program, and if I get accepted for the post-BA status, I can start taking classes as early as Summer term this year, and maybe be done with the prerequisites by January.

So, I think that's what I might do. Yea? Nay?

I mean, really, if I could make a living singing, I would do that in an instant, but you know, I need to think about the future.

iPod Update

So, as for update #2 (in re: this post)...

As yet, my iPod is still woefully unresponsive. As directed by several sources, I let it sit for several days (nigh a week), even in front of a desk fan for added circulation and drying, but even then (even now, actually), the poor thing just will not turn on. I hear from many people that sometimes a month, or even months later, the thing will just suddenly start working again, when its parts are all finally dry, but you know me... I can't wait that long. Dad was ever so nice enough to loan me an extra little mp3 player so I can go on my runs, but I still held out hope for my beloved iPod. And I still kind of do.

But then, in a strange and surprising turn of events, an elder still serving in my mission contacted me to let me know that he had by a series of circumstances come to own a new 16 gb iTouch (at a bafflingly reasonable discount, due to a damaged product previously purchase), and was no longer in need of the player that he had bought back when we were in Appleton together in December. In the end, he offered it up to me, and I ever so eagerly accepted. In return, he sent me his iTouch so that I could load it up with all the missionary-appropriate music that the boy could ever ask for. I even put a few church videos on there (heaven knows the thing had enough space). I still felt like I should pay him something for it, since it is practically new, so I sent some cash when I sent back his fully-loaded iTouch.

So now I am the proud and happy owner of an 8 gb 3rd Generation iPod Nano video!


Elder... You know who you are. You know I already loved you, but now I add my thanks. You're a life-saver!

"Celebrity" Update

Regarding this post, I have finally gone ahead and called to sign up. The girls at the Scera office were a little short with me, but perhaps they had had a long day? Anyway, they asked the usual questions, including my phone number, address, T-shirt size, and my song choice. This rather came as a surprise to me, since I thought perhaps there would be a sort of list of songs the band has in their repertoire to choose from. They said a song choice was required upon registration, so on the spot, I decided to go with the classic Bridge Over Troubled Water. I have sung it so many times that I can perform it on a moment's notice, and besides, I always think it's an audience-pleasing number. I suppose if I had to, I could adjust it, but I think that's a good one to go with.

For those who are interested, this event is a public affair, performed in the outdoor Shell theater at the Scera, and anyone and everyone is hereby invited to attend. There are six competition dates to choose from throughout the summer, and the one I picked is 16 July. There's a nominal entry fee ($4 per, I believe), but afterwards, beginning at about dusk, they will show an included outdoor movie. The movie on the night of my is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (secretly, I think that had something to do with the night I chose... or maybe not so secretly anymore I guess...).

Anyway, that's the update! Everyone come! It will be great fun and then we can join Harry and Co. in their fifth cinematic adventure!

To whom it may concern...

At Elise's request, I have uploaded over 100 pictures of the blessed day onto facebook. If you don't have an account, you might still be able to access them. If not... well, eventually she may put them up somewhere accessible. Or just sign up already. Regardless, I put them up there, organized into three albums (At the Temple, At the Luncheon and At the Reception). As a teaser, here are a few choice ones, along with my one-word captions:

happy

photogenic

precious

fierce

artistic

Disney

floral

typical

bittersweet