Totoro Today

• I now own an ipod, Aubrey's hand-me-down. So feel free to send me songs from itunes as gifts.


• During the sacrament today I was leaning over to tell Rebekah to shut up. She saw it coming and beat me to the punch; she quickly said, "I love Jesus!" Then it was me struggling to shut up (my guffaws).

Jem - They

Song of the day. It reminds me of a musician I like called Mika. That leads me to the quotation of the day from out.com: "Mika’s preternatural cheeriness, seemingly boundless energy, and celebratory circus-stage imagery belie the traumas in his oft-repeated back-story: Born Mica Penniman to an American father and Lebanese mother in Beirut, Mika was evacuated with his family to Paris when he was just a year old. They later moved to London, where as a student Mika was bullied by peers and teachers at Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle.

'School was really hard,' Mika says. 'I had a lot of trouble with the kids in my class, but at the same time I had a lot of trouble with teachers because I had a lot of learning disabilities. I’m very dyslexic, and by the age of 11, I couldn’t read or write. My life was kind of falling apart. I was a complete outcast freak. I got into trouble for everything that I said, so I stopped talking. I got pulled out of school [and] didn’t go for about seven, eight months, and during that time I started to learn how to sing because I had nothing else to do.'”

Various

• It is darn early for the day after Christmas, but the blog bug bit my butt.

• Here is my new umbrella (ella ella eh eh eh). It is lovely and ever-so-Londonesque. Acknowledge it before it destroys you. If you ever have the chance to choose from whom you would like to receive a gift, a very good option would be Lela. Another would be Santa. But I would go with Lela.

• Here is my nephew Alex. He is so precocious that he is considering starting a blog. And to that I say, "Go boy go." See that link in the upper right hand corner up there that says "Create Blog"? Click on that, sign up, and you're blogging. And you too can post cute but possibly embarrassing pictures of other people, and there's not a thing they can do about it. Just don't ever mention your last name or where you live, right? And see that list of links to the left of this post? I am just wishing that I could add "Alex's blog" over there. [And on second thought Lela, I think that my blog IS child friendly for one as old as Alex.]
  

• Here is my whole fam damily, taken a few months ago in Las Vegas. All of these people stem from my dad (bald guy on the left) or his wife Chris (next to him), either by blood (eewww) or by marriage. You'll excuse me for not naming them all.
  

• Here is the same clan, years ago. (How many years, ya'll?) We purposely mimicked the people placement as much as possible, so as to exclaim over the differences. In the older picture I was so poor that I was wearing a butt-ugly shirt that was Jerry's (given to him as a hand-me-down). In the recent one I am wearing a nice hand-me-down from a friend with good taste. I have come so far.

• Here is Rebekah with the flu and red hair.
  
  
• So I apparently ruined an episode of House for my sister because she read one of my blog posts before she saw the episode. *wince* Sorry, Miss Amanda. I vow to put a spoiler warning in the titles of all spoiling posts from now on.

Video of Aubrey's Bahamas Trip

Here is Aubrey and classmates in San Salvador, Bahamas. I uploaded this video to YouTube myself! You can see her best in the last 20 seconds. She is wearing swim shorts and blue/white shirt.

No me gusta

• We had an enormous four-ward Christmas concert Sunday. I played flute in a duet with a violin, in an obbligato with the choir, and sang in the choir. A big snowstorm was expected that day, but people in all four wards were praying for good weather, as it was also an enormous missionary effort. It did not snow. Now jeer at me if you like, but it was a miracle. There is great power in a large group of people praying for the same thing at the same time, especially if it is for such a worthy cause. This was the first musical performance I have been in, out of my whole life, that I actually enjoyed. I know everyone says their ward/stake has so much talent in it, but I will say it too. Here I go: "Our stake has so much talent in it." It is a very affluent area, and the people come from privileged backgrounds. Lots of money went into the building of said talent. Several harps, cellos, a whole orchestra really. And the singing! Ahh... We blew the roof off. Performing beautiful music, and with spiritual intent, to me, is the most direct and active form of worship.
• Quotation of the past several months: "No me gusta!" --Aubrey H.
• I have been thinking a lot about Karen Carpenter. One hears a lot of her music around Christmas time. I watched the E! True Hollywood Story about her recently. 20% of people with anorexia die from it.

Dan Fogelberg : 1951 to 2007 - The Passing of a Legend

On my Christmas list this year I had a Dan Fogelberg CD. I heard a few days ago that he died of prostate cancer at age 56. His music is beautiful.

Big Girl

This video goes out to all my female readers. I can see you one after the other, doing a crazy penguin dance across the backs of my eyelids. You are all big in some way: big booty, big heart, big patience, big accomplishments, big endurance, big boobies. Rock on my sister homies. Don't let 'em get you down.

On joy and sundry

• Quotation of the day: "Don’t get me started on joy. When you’re older you’ll understand. Joy is a trick, a diversion. It doesn’t last forever. It breaks your heart every time. (honks horn) Damn joy!" --Adrian Monk, Monk


• Kitty (her name is Poubelle, but she goes by Kitty) exercises with me every morning. Seriously. Here is a picture we took of ourselves before some strenuous stair-running and some intent observation of said stair-running.

Pair of Daisies

• Quotation of the day: "That idea would make a stupid idea feel better about itself."--Emmerson Cod, Pushing Daisies. Have you seen this show, by the way? It is an artistic, creative feat. Eye candy. Every line is witty and well-thought-out. The opposite of South Park. Plus it includes some oblique Mormon references.
• Best duos/pairs (not necessarily couples) of all time: House and Cameron, House and Wilson, cherry pie and vanilla ice cream, Mulder and Scully, Booth and Brennan, Sabrina Fairchild and Linus Larraby, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz, Mick St. John and Beth Turner, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, Remington Steele and Laura Holt, Bert and Ernie, and (Jerry reminds me) Adam and Eve, Mike and Mike in the Morning, Buffy and Spike, Cathy and Heathcliff. Whom did I miss?