Here’s wishing you a happy new year from Cumberland, MD!

technorati tags:happy, new, years

I confess that at one point, I was a huge XBox fan. My freshman year of college I spent hours upon hours of precious studying time killing the alien Covenant instead (like I would play anything other than Halo. Seriously.) But after taking a two year hiatus from gaming, I’ve never really gotten back into playing. There is one thing that might do it for me: the XBox 360 coupled with a really expensive friend. You see, at this point, I’m less concerned with the actual entertainment value of the game. Instead, I want to see some really, truly, amazingly awesome graphics. Imagine hooking up a new XBox 360 to a giant new widescreen plasma tv with an HDMI cable. But wait! The XBox 360 only does component out? Nothing like analog to ruin my party.

And that’s why my hiatus from gaming continues to this day. Or something like that.

technorati tags:xbox, hdmi, plasma, bigscreen, halo

It’s been a while since I last posted, probably because my life has been a whirlwind of activity for the past couple of weeks. For those of you who don’t know, I survived finals. Thank you, thank you. So here’s the log of events.

Immediately after finishing my finals (5 PM), I jump in a car to drive down to Vegas for the Pioneer PureVision Bowl to watch BYU crush Oregon with my friend Jenn. After a leisurely drive, we get to Vegas in record time and go straight to bed like the hip twentysomethings we are. We get up the next morning and catch the fantastic breakfast buffet at the Paris, do some shopping (always bad for me), and then drive out to UNLV’s Sam Boyd stadium to watch us administer a pretty sound beating to a decent Pac-10 team. Very satisfying, especially when the opposing coach tells us that we’re overrated.

10:30 PM - After battling our way through ridiculous traffic to get out of the Sam Boyd Stadium parking lot, We drive straight back to Utah after the game (After eating at In-n-Out, of course.) We roll into provo about 6:30 AM.

10:30 AM, later that same morning, Kristen and I leave Provo to catch our flight to Maryland. We have no problems catching a flight we probably should have missed because the airport is so busy with holiday travelers. Upon arriving in Maryland, I decide that I hate hoiday travel as I wait on the tarmac for half an hour for a gate to become available. Frustration mounts as we spend another hour waiting for the luggage to show up at the baggage claim.

All day December 23-24. Family shops. I sleep.

December 25 - Merry Christmas!

December 26-28 - I’m sick. And there’s really not much else to say about it.

December 29 - (That’s today) We drop my sister Alicia off at some kind of all-day church function. We then drive out to Antietam battlefield. I learn all kinds of crazy stuff about the battle, gain a newfound respect for the cost of war, and tour the battlefield. We then head into Washington DC to check out some of the monuments at night. We see the Korean, Lincoln, FDR, WWII, and Washington monuments at night. Very spiff. I find myself perpetully reminded of hilarious jokes from the Colbert Report. Curse this addiction! We then go see the lights at the Washington DC temple. It’s no Temple Square, but I’m still impressed. I also run into a friend from an apartment complex I lived in last year who is now serving a mission. Sometimes this big planet gets real small. It’s 11:45 when I get home, I write a quick blog post to let my reader know where I’ve been the past week and go to bed.

technorati tags:christmas, vacation, vegas, byu, antietam, washington, lights

Sitting in Hogi Yogi for lunch today, I was once again reminded how much I hate pop 80’s music.

I’m not sure what it is about the music that I hate so much.

Is it because the artists can’t seem to sing?

Is it because if they can sing (on a rare occasion), they’re always slightly flat?

Is it the overdone echoey effects?

Is it the lame-o synth instruments?

It’s hard to say exactly why I hate 80’s pop so much, but suffice it to say that I do. So much.

technorati tags:80s, music, rant

Some days I just want to give school the finger and walk away. Consider this post to be my internet equivalent of the double deuces. That is all.

Looking better and better all the time…

I’m going to apologize in advance. I don’t usually spew my deeper thoughts onto my blog, so this is a little out of the ordinary. This post is long and philosophical, and almost completely selfish and self-indulgent, so feel free to pass on by. And if you choose to read it, please be gentle. Thanks.

Whenever I get stressed or discouraged, it really makes me miss making music. There was just something about making music that was soothing and challenging and joyful all at the same time.

Sometimes I feel like I just pound my life out. I pound out ad campaigns, I pound out assignments and papers, I pound out websites, but frankly, none of it is beautiful. It just is. There’s not much elegance to it. It doesn’t grab you on an emotional level. It serves its purpose and I move along.

I don’t mind this, it’s the nature of work and school and life, and I’m ok with it most of the time. But sometimes I miss making something beautiful. There was just a certain elegance to making music that I don’t really have in my life anymore. There’s a concern for the aesthetic and the emotional that’s somehow unique to the experience of making music. i miss sitting at the back of the orchestra and watching a sea of strings bowing in unison before me while chills run up and down my spine. I miss hearing the careful weaving of melody and harmony together and then pouring golden, pure sound into the mixture.

There’s something liberating about creating something beautiful. It represents hours of sacrifice, discipline, and concentration. But when beauty comes at your bidding, there is a joy all its own. It’s triumphal and reverent and emotional. And that’s what moves people.

I’m not questioning the value of what I do. I live for it, and I love it. But sometimes I miss making that emotion. I miss making people smile. I miss making beautiful things.

You see, the problem with making something beautiful is that it can’t be taken lightly. It’s demanding. It comes at a cost, sometimes terrible to be paid. It requires a depth of soul and dedication that requires everything. I once made that commitment, and was richly rewarded for it. But it was too difficult, too exacting to be compatible with the rest of my goals and desires. So I walked away. Most of the time I don’t regret my decision, but every once in a while I feel like an exile, someone who has forsaken paradise for the thorny way.

I realize that this post appears to have a rose-hued tint, but I also remember the long, long hours in the practice room and in rehearsals, I remember the frustration of inadequacy, I remember the bitterness of the defeat which would sometimes come, which is why I don’t go back. And I’m satisfied that I made the right decision. So I content myself to the role of a music appreciator and look for other ways to create elegance and beauty. And while I don’t think I’ll ever find something that affects me the same way that music does, I know that there are alternatives.

In the end, I think that we need to create elegance and beauty somewhere in our lives. Maybe it’s in the way we interact with people. Or how we go about our duties. Maybe it’s in how we solve problems and overcome obstacles. It could be in the things that we do and say and are. It’s not the same as creating beautiful music, but it doesn’t have to be. And maybe one of these days when I get some time, I’ll be able to go back to my first love. In the meantime, I guess I need to work on making my life more elegant.

OK, some of you will remember a post I wrote a while ago entitled “Engagements,” wherein I talked about the need to go big or go home. Well, I came across a guy who is the very embodiment of the idea. How, you ask?

This guy is raising money to propose to his girlfriend - with a Super Bowl ad.

The sheer audacity of the plan is more than enough to win my respect. I mean, who does that?

So here’s my contribution: will you?