It's Time!

My friends, the time has come... I leave for London tomorrow!!!

Thus, welcome the the official beginning of my travel posts in my same old blog!

Yes, in just about 12 hours from this very moment I will be taking off on my first of two planes en route to Newark then Heathrow! My eminent departure means that basically all of today was spent in a mad packing whirlwind. Of course I didn't start packing earlier and of course I didn't put any thought into the prospect other than to pack underpants... planning ahead, who does that?

This is how my day started, prospects looked grim.

This is no vacation I'm going on. No, I am basically moving to a foreign country for a few months and despite my mom's constant reminders that there are stores with things like shampoo and socks in London I couldn't help but feel that I need a solid supply of all the basics. It doesn't help that I am a sentimental person who derives joy and comfort from inanimate objects so I felt like I was dissing some of my favorite t-shirts when I had to leave them out of the suitcase... yeah, I know that's weird. I had to give myself a few sentimental allowances so I've got my crazy looking charming stuffed owl that my mom bought me just because she knows I like things that are borderline ugly because I think they're "charming" and owls. He makes me happy. I've also got a rock that I randomly picked up on the grounds at the Renaissance Faire one day during the parade, drew a face on, and dubbed Cliff MacLeod. He's coming with me to see the sights of London and report back to all of our faire friends.

Cliff is more ready to go than I am.

At first I thought I'd have plenty of room in the suitcase for all my stuff. For being away for three months and having to be prepared for all kinds of occasions and weather I thought I did pretty good at sticking to just the essentials... I was wrong. Mike was quick to point out to me that I had way too much stuff but I chose to not believe him and just keep going. In this particular case his expertise as a single suitcase wielding boy turned out to be spot on because with out him and my space bags my giant suitcase would still be 3.5 lbs. over the 50 lb. limit!



It doesn't matter if you have all the space in the world,

get some space bags just for the joy of watching your stuff

shrink into dense, misshapen blobs!

Good news, somehow I managed to fit it all in there with out even having to expand the suitcase to its full size! So now I'm officially done packing and all that is left is to heft my giant suitcase, stuffed shoulder bag, and bursting purse to the airport tomorrow morning and hope that I have enough entertainment to keep me alive for the 11 hour plane ride I have ahead of me.


Plus Angry Birds and a new movie on the iPod...

So with all my rocks packed and owls smashed flat I guess I am finally ready to go... in theory that is. Of course in reality I'm completely freaking out that I am about to leave my house and my family, pets, and friends for a very long time to be in a very far away place. But the thought of all the old rock stars that I will potentially get to stalk in London is good consolation!

I arrive in London at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday (their time) where my most amazingly wonderful friend Sarah is going to meet me at the airport and take me on the tube to my residence hall. From there I will have the rest of the day to get settled in and hopefully sleep off a bit of the jet lag that I am so dreading. Then, on Wednesday the official orientation activities begin and the rest will be history!

Thanks for reading and the next time I post it will be from Merrye Olde, see you then!

Remembering 9.11.01

The attack on America, a decade ago today on September 11th, 2001 is most certainly the greatest tragedy I have ever witnessed. Undoubtedly, countless Americans feel the same way. Today is a day for all the people of this great nation to come together to share and grieve. While many will share memories and offer condolences, today I would like to simply put together a short list of the things that I feel shine a little hope on the shadows of that day.

1) FDNY

An iconic photo of courage

Hundreds of New York firefighters responded to the call and ran into the very thing that everyone else was running away from. 343 of them died that day while working to get civilians to safety. It's all part of the job that they committed themselves to. I know that my dad would have done the same thing had it happened in Denver. Despite having their entire department ripped apart in a matter of hours, those remaining worked tirelessly, seemingly driven on by their fallen brothers. FDNY is a stronger department today because of all they did that day. The same goes for NYPD and all the NY EMTs.

2)  The beautiful memorial and ceremony at Ground Zero.

Were you to fly over ground zero today, from above you would still see what may look like a shadow of the the Twin Towers which once stood there. Today, two enormous fountains stand in the exact foot prints of the two towers where thousands of gallons of water rush down two tiers and seemingly straight down into the earth in the center of the tower's foundation. All around this are carved in brass the names of the people who died there that day painstakingly grouped together with those of friends and family. This memorial is truly a beautiful sight where there was once only chaos and devastation and a testament to our country's strength and perseverance. For the tenth time in as many years the names of each victim were read aloud by friends and family, today was the last time this ceremony will formally take take place at Ground Zero. As three New York police officers played Taps in a perfect and pure chorus, families both present and around the world payed their respects.

3) The way a crisis can bring out the best in people



It was not just the professionals who went to the aid of the people who were injured or trapped. All over New York, people helped other people simply because they cared and they knew it was the right thing to do. I watched a short piece today on CNN that showed a great example of this called Boatlift. When the towers fell no one knew what was going on or how to handle it, all the subways and trains in Manhattan were shut down. This left a huge number of people literally trapped on the island and standing at the sea wall after fleeing as far as they possibly could. The regular ferry service was far from equipped to handle that volume of people so the call went out, "all available boats report." According to the captains of the first boats on scene the next sight they saw was a horizon filled with an army of tug boats, private boats, and party boats all speeding their way to the aid of the people who wanted nothing more than to get out of Manhattan. In what has been dubbed The Great Boatlift of 9/11, 9,000 people were rescued in 9 hours thanks to the efforts and quick thinking of "Regular Joes" and there are similar stories from nearly every facet of that terrible day.

4) The strength and bravery of the American people

Thousands of Americans lost loved ones that day and although the days and years that followed have been incredibly difficult, we as a nation have come out of it even stronger than before. The countless ways that people have expressed their feelings and reached out to others have built up over the past ten years like an invisible support system that we can all turn to when we find ourselves in need. One year after the attacks, an eleven-year-old girl named Brittany Clark wrote this poem for her father who was lost the year before:

I give you this one thought to keep/
I am with you still, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glint on the snow.

I am as sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in morning hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight,
I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not think of me as gone,
I am with you still in each new dawn.



I am amazed and inspired by the courage and strength (not to mention writing talent) such a young American could find in such a terrible time.

5) the overwhelming sense of patriotism that followed

Do you remember how for weeks after 9/11, everywhere you went you saw American flags and proclamations of "God Bless America"? I clearly recall a distinct and deeply rooted sense of patriotism throughout every community in America as we strangers came together as a nation to send a message of unity and strength to our attackers just as much as to ourselves. I wish that we could feel that sense of pride in our country more readily since that day, it shouldn't take an attack on our people and the deaths of thousands of innocent citizens to remind us how lucky we truly are to call ourselves Americans.


Please remember.

Counting on my phalanges!

Did you know that the bones that make up both your fingers and your toes are called phalanges [fuh-lan-jeez]. Fun fact and fun to say! And here's another fun fact; you and I have 20... probably. And guess what else there are 20 of? There are 20 days until I embark upon an epic adventure! What adventure is this you ask? Let me give you a hint:

Hint #1

Got it figured out yet?

If you don't know by now... well there's just no helping you.

Did ya guess? Did you guess that my adventure will involve climbing to the top of that big pointy clock thingy to rescue that well dressed old lady who will then be so grateful to me that she leaves me her tea fortune? You did? Well then my friend, you have a very vivid imagination, congratulations!

That's not my adventure.

No, my adventure is more like moving to London all by myself and going to school there for three months!!! 

*for those of you playing the home game those hints were actually tea, the Queen, and Big Ben thus... London*

Sounds like an adventure to me especially for someone who's never lived more than 20 minutes from home... ever. Am I nervous? Oh god yes! Am I excited? WAY BIGGER YES! And I leave soon, so very soon I can count the days on my phalanges!

I bet you were wondering where the phalanges thing was going to tie in, huh?

This post has been your first warning of the things to come. I am not starting a new blog strictly for my study abroad experience, that will all become part of this blog. On the other hand, this blog won't become all about my study abroad time either, there will still be plenty of pointless silly posts. With this new information in mind, I invite you to subscribe to follow me on this adventure or delete this blog from your favorites. Which ever will make you happy!    

Novocain Shame :-(*** <-- that's drool

If you, for whatever reason, were up reading my blog at 12:44 last night you will have already heard about my impending dentist appointment. If not, I have a dentist appointment today and I am a complete wreck.

Every time I have to go to the dentist I seem to cause a substantial amount of emotional grief and pain throughout my family and even extending into some close friends and neighbors. I don't know what my problem is, I really don't. I wasn't always like this. There was a glorious time in my past when I could go into the dentist’s office with a minimal amount of fear or even stress knowing that I would eventually emerge relatively unscathed. Sadly, those days have gone. Now the days leading up to even a simple cleaning cause stress induced, dentist related dreams, anxiety, paranoia, and plain fear. I think I really just want pity, for someone to understand my pain and fear. However, that's not going to happen because this particular fear clearly has no basis in logic so no amount of trying to make me feel better will work and that much pity just seems fake. And guess what my friends! Tomorrow, at 10:45 a.m. I have to get a filling!!! If only you could hear the dramatic way I say that and the terrifying background music that goes with it!

I’m screwed.

So not only is this a trip to the dentist, this is a super scary trip to the dentist where I have to be drilled upon by the mustachioed dentist himself instead of merely scrapped at by the ponytailed hygienist. This trip will involve my two very least favorite and absolute most terrifying parts of any dentist appointment ever: Novocain and power tools. Everyone hates the noise a dentist drill makes, I'm not going to try to tell you how awful it is because every human being is born innately knowing that the screeching of a drill through the enamel of teeth is the worst sound that can ever be inflicted upon one's eardrums. To combat this noise I plan to anchor my earphones firmly in my ear holes (technical term) and crank up a special dentist playlist of rock and roll. However, I do not kid myself that this will block out all of the noise because, as any good singer knows, any vibrations in your mouth/throat will also vibrate all the other bones in your head/jaw and you will hear those too.

The other most awful part of this trip is the Novocain. Now I know you are all thinking, "No, Novocain is good! Then you don't feel the drill!" Yeah, that is nice. Don't get me wrong, I certainly wouldn’t want to get a filling sans Novocain but I'm assuming that there are laws that prevent that from happening in the first place so I'm just going to consider it a part, a very big part of this procedure. I hate basically everything about Novocain. For starters it's a freaking shot into your gums! Ew! And they have to numb you with that crappy topical numbing stuff before they can even really numb you with the Novocain. Does that seem wrong to anyone else? And how horrific is it that you can taste the bitterness of the drug through the flesh of your gums?! Again, ew. Not to mention, Novocain makes you numb. I hate being numb! In nature, if a part of your body is numb you're going to die! Or, at the very least, that part is going to fall off of you. That's a bad thing and that's why your body makes it such a disconcerting sensation, so hopefully you notice and take the rubber band off your wrist before your hand falls off. And when all of that is going on in your mouth of all places not only do you feel like your face is falling off, you drool too. And you look like you're having a stroke. Oh the shame!   

These are the things I think of most in the dentist's chair while the minutes crawl by, taking their sweet time, and then stop to have a look at the girl who got bit in the face by a snake... oh wait, that's a different dentist story for a different day. Enjoy these people’s dentist humor... and think of me...pity me.



Also,

-I CAN'T FEEL MY FACE!!!         <-- Click on it!

I still have all of my fingers!

It's been a quiet summer around these parts. I'm not sorry.

Well, maybe I'm a little sorry.

Before I took the plunge into the already jam packed, luke-warm from body heat, virtual version of a Japanese swiming pool that is "the blogosphere", I decided that I would only write when I was feeling inspired or had something really good to write about. This tactic was to prevent this blog from becoming too much like all the other luke-warm blogs that are actually little more than diaries and journals that any poor soul can stumble upon. Because, let's face it, that is a recipe for disaster... and extreme boredom verging on who-gives-a-flying-fart-in-space-ness.

So, that's why I'm not sorry I haven't posted in a while. Clearly, I have not felt all that compelled to write. Therefore, anything I would have written in the parallel universe where I actually contributed to the blogosphere this summer most likely would have been completely sub par. Much like this post is now, but I don't feel bad because it's late and this is mostly fueled by an extreme will not to go to sleep because doing so will only bring tomorrow morning's dentist appointment, and all of its affiliated doom and terror, around all the more rapidly. Well, maybe I feel a little bad because you spent 2 minutes (give or take depending on how fast you read) reading this drivel and you can never get that time back. For that I am sorry.

The only reason that I'm maybe a little sorry for my lack of posts is that by no means have I had an uneventful or uninspiring summer. There were certainly an abundance of moments and events and ideas that I was compelled to write about. But I didn't. Probably because I forgot... or I was being lazy... or a honey badger ate my typing fingers. Yeah, proabably one of those things happened. (Hint: I'm typing this with my own fingers). So for being that lame, I am sorry. A little.

The good news is now I have a backlog of stories to write about in case of future dry spells (not that I'm foreseeing any of course). Plus, I'm getting ready to do a lot of cool stuff in the very near future so there's a lot of (hopefully) entertaining material there too!

My point is, I haven't forgotten about you (Mom) and this blog hasn't been completely abandoned so stay tuned because I'm gearing up for some big things!

*This is a hint as to what exactly I'm gearing up for, click if you dare!*

Old Rockstars #1: Robert Plant and Band of Joy

I have a "thing" for old rockstars. You know; Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Paul McCartney, etc. I am pleased to announce that a new name has earned its place in my ranks. That name is Robert Plant. Yes, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame, we're talking about the man behind Stairway to Heaven! Furthermore, Mr. Plant appears to have an edge on the other members of my rockin' old guys list  because, as of yesterday, he became the first member of The List that I have ever seen perform live!

First, a little context. This is Plant and the rest of Zeppelin rocking it out at the Knebworth house, "the stately home of rock", an amazing venue in the UK that has hosted pretty much every great rock band you can think of. Watch and revel in the sheer glory of vintage rock.



Mmmmhmmm, that is good stuff right there. Now fast forward approximately 13.781 days* (that's how long he told us it has been since the first time he played the Fillmore Auditorium, apparently he's a little OCD). Same song, same singer, new band, new sound.

This video isn't actually from the concert I saw because it is literally impossible to take a good discernible photo in the Fillmore Auditorium. So I have a few blurry pictures and I didn't even bother to trying for video because that never works out. It's kind of a bummer that I didn't get that one great picture that will always remind me of the show but I'm pretty confident that this is one I won't soon forget!

The first thing that struck me about this band was the variety in their show. The majority of their set was what I might call "rock and roll bluegrass", it wasn't the hard rock of Zeppelin but it certainly wasn't Telluride Bluegrass stuff either (even though I hear they are playing there). It was like the chords and harmonies of bluegrass but with the style and and feel of rock. This style was most of the show but there was also a good bit of straight up Rock and even a very little bit of Country.What made this show so cool, and makes the group so great, is the way they are able to honestly take each other's musical tastes and inspirations and fuse them together to create their own sound. It's obvious that musical tastes vary greatly amongst the band, every time Plant would introduce a member they would take the lead on a song they apparently chose which were all over the style and genre spectrum.

That brings me to my next point. Every one in this band is crazy talented! I know it seems like a given but think about all of the old rockers who go solo after their bands brake up backed up by mediocre musicians who are just along for the ride because everyone knows it's all about the big name front man and his already established fame. That is stagnant repetition. Band of Joy is not one of those groups. Every time a different member stepped up to take the lead on a piece I was impressed, any one of them had more than enough talent to carry on a show of their own. What sets Band of Joy apart is that instead of being a group of solo musicians who play together, they are a band in the purest sense of the word. The way they interacted and responded to each others musical input was seamless and inspiring! There is just something amazing about a small group of people, each on their own instrument with their own unique sound, putting aside their different ideas and tastes to really groove together and create. I have always felt that this is one of those things that can only really happen Rock and Roll. Sure, groups of talented people come together in choirs and symphonies and combine their talents into a beautiful result. But 9 times out of 10 these groups are being guided and their sound is being directed by a single conductor. In a rock band there may be an unspoken (or spoken) leader but his job isn't to stand there and direct, the music comes from truly hearing what your band mates are putting out and responding to it and contributing to what they have given you. It's that connection that radiates out from top notch groups like Band of Joy and infects the audience to get 2,500+ people in a room together doing nothing but hearing music. Good stuff.

The other thing that made this concert so much fun was the audience. I actually went with my Dad. This was for two main reasons; 1) He is basically the one who got me into Plant when he was really into his song "Angel Dance" causing me to buy him the record for Christmas and thus it ended up on my iPod (yeah I'm a bad daughter) and 2) because most of my friends don't know who Plant is let alone like his music! Let me just state that I was definitely on the far young end of the age spectrum at this event. The vast majority of our fellow concert goers were middle aged people who probably saw Plant when he toured with Zeppelin, maybe they were at the Fillmore 13,781 days ago! Out of this group it seemed to further split into at least 2 more groups. The first was those who just wanted to go out and see a concert by an artist they liked (e.g. the man behind me at the merch. booth who couldn't see how much the posters cost because he lef his glasses at home). The other group is what Dad and I affectionately dubbed the "perpetual high schoolers" these guys looked like they came right from their stuffy office jobs but the second the opening act went on they wasted no time in blazing up a joint. Which was just funny to me! Overall it was a pretty mellow crowd but they were into the music so that was great.

In the end all I have to tell you is that Robert Pant and Band of Joy are ridiculously amazing and they put on one hell of a show! And here I give you literally the best picture I got there (don't hate me when it just looks like a blob to you!) 

Walking 5 miles to school... in the snow... up hill... both ways

Long time no post. Sorry! I've been busy, I'm a college student, sue me!

I've been a little uninspired lately but behold, today an interesting thought hit me. Wanna hear about? You do? Great!

When was the last time you heard a college student (or any student for that matter) complain about how stressed, tired, and busy they are? No I mean before you started reading this post. Not long right? Well I can attest that it is in fact a ridiculously stressful and exhausting experience. There are indeed days when I would rather attempt to earn my living singing on a street corner than study for my next test or finish the homework which seems to rain down upon me like I hear luck does on Irish people. But here's a better question: when was the last time you heard a college student (or any student)  tell you how thankful they are for their overflowing course load and copious amounts of homework?

Alright you can stop scouring your memories. Just read on.

I am so very glad that I am in college buried under what often feels like a mountain of things to do! Let me tell you about my day. I started off in French class. I kind of hate that class because I do not posses what you would call a knack for languages. But, I learned how to say fork so I guess it wasn't a total loss (fourchette- if you're wondering). Then I went to my 20th Century Musicology class. Today was one of those rare days where a simple lecture turns out to be riveting. You find yourself hanging on every word while your mind pieces things together quietly and you marvel at the connections you see. I then continued on to my biology class whose scientific nature I've been relishing these last few days.

I had just been learning about how music, one of human kinds most expressive and abstract arts, had responded to the changing times of the early 20th century. The world was changing all around them and some people had the presence of mind and musical abilities to put a nation's worth of people's feelings of fear of change mixed with their hopes for the future into music. A lot of troubling things were happening at the time. Einstein's theory of relativity showed people that time was not in fact a constant, unchanging entity free of all outside influence. And then Darwin went and told them that we all grew out of a single cell in the primordial slime. That seemed to mean that we weren't all descendants of Adam and Eve and if that wasn't true could anything else the bible told them be true? How could the things they had accepted fact and lived their lives by suddenly change? It must have been a pretty scary time for these people. And then you get people like Copland and Stravinsky who used their amazing human gift of capacity for thought and were able to put these new ideas into such an abstract art form as music. They and their 20th century composer comrades rejected the old "facts of music" like 7 tone scales and major/minor modes and forged ahead into the new and unknown. Just when the world was beginning to feel like it had all been done before and there was no where to go but down lo and behold, here come great thinkers and musicians and scientists to put what we already knew up on a shelf and charge ahead into the unknown. There was hope for the future yet!

Now rewind 2.1 billion years. That's what I did when I went into my biology lecture. The only thing living on our planet was pre-cambrian microfossils, that is to say slimy cells covered in mud. And that was it for the next several hundred million years. That's it, just prokaryote filled mush, not even mitochondria for Zark's sake! Then, slowly but surely, things started to change and evolve. Before you knew it trilobytes were swimming around and evolving into amphibians with legs and crawling out of the sea! Then there were terrestrial reptiles which turned into birds so very slowly that it is hard to say where the shift really is. Is that fossil a dinosaur with bird features or a bird with dinosaur features? Then, even more slowly there were mammals and eventually people! I mean it didn't go exactly like that but still... the wonder of it all!  That bio class turned out to be another one of those truly engaging lectures, two in one day! To think that this dusty old planet stared as nothing but minerals and atmosphere and then some spark of life that grew from one slimy cell photosynthesizing in the ocean to a vast society of human beings who work and play and think and create!

And what's more is that I get to learn all of this. This rich history of music, of humans, of life itself becomes part of me when I learn it and store it in my memories and expand upon it with my own ideas and perspectives. And then, as the cycle goes on, I can share it with others (with you!) and thus exponentially it all grows. I never cease to be amazed at the interconnectedness of everything and it is days like these when it comes to the forefront of my mind and preoccupies my thoughts for a while in rapt astonishment.

That is just one of the many reasons that I know that I am so very lucky to be one of the depressingly few people in the world who get the chance to go to college and have days like these. So for all the whining I do about the homework and exams deep down I do know why I do it.

Now if you'll excuse me I have a test in an hour that I need to memorize facts for.