Saturday Scavenger Hunt: Blue

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This is my favourite photo of Little Red, I just love the contrast of his hair against the blue.

Random Friday

Last night we went down to Orange County to visit some friends who were visiting family before they went back to Milwaukee. Because of things we had to do earlier in the day, we didn’t get out until 3 pm and no amount of wishful thinking and happy thoughts would save us from the inevitable: rush hour. We crawled through the city at 5 miles an hour and the three of us were at our wits ends by the time we got out of LA. By the time we were on the parkway nearing our friends parent’s house we were sick of the radio and turned to our cds. Up came “The Greatest Song in the World/Tribute” which was followed by “Wonderboy.” By the time those two songs were over the previous two hours had washed away and we arrived happy. The moral? It won’t solve LA’s traffic problems, but road rage would be greatly diminished if more people listened to Tenacious D.

*****

Tonight we had a practice with the youth for the song they’ll sing tomorrow at Jessica’s funeral. I had made my typical mistake of looking at the first page of some music I found online and said, “oh this looks easy enough, the kids can learn it.” I didn’t realize it was 8 pages long and that I had one hour with a bunch of teenagers on a Friday night. So I arrived at the church early (10 minutes?) to look over the piece and see what I could do to make it manageable for the kids. Splicing it together with the basic hymn seemed like a good idea at the time, except for the fact that they were written in different keys, but I didn’t have any more time, so I would have to transpose in my head for the practice.
Paging Doctor Allen . . .
I hadn’t used any of my keyboard harmony skills in seven or eight years. It wasn’t very pretty and I was so embarassed. It was good enough for a rehearsal, but not good enough for me. Anyway, by the end of the hour we were all figured out, and the first thing I did when I got home was print off the hymn in the right key — thank you flash technology!

*****

The healthcare system down here is broken and once again I’m stuck between the pieces. It makes me so angry, but I don’t really know what the solution is. We can’t exactly just follow Canada — not only would the Americans not embrace the idea, but with the shortage of Doctors in Canada it’s clear that isn’t the solution either. I don’t have much to say on the subject except that it’s a broken system and I hate it.

*****

While I’m ranting I want to put in my general rant on California. Everything is so overpriced here that only 15% of the residents of LA county can afford to purchase a house. Keeping in mind that Beverly Hills, Malibu and other such swanky locales are part of the county, what does that tell you about the demographics of the rest of us? Yep, we’re leveraged up to our eyeballs just trying to make rent and pay for gas. Let’s not forget what a scam the energy corporations are. We just got our power bill for the summer (they bill every two months) to discover that a rate hike went into effect July 1st and with the month-long heat wave our bill was twice as high as it has ever been before. It’s really hard to not feel ripped off for living here, I mean, really, what’s the payoff? The weather? Thank you, but I’d prefer a little more diversity in my weather, and a little more precipitation. This is mighty expensive weather.
Rant over, I know that this is a good place for us right now and I really do like most things about it. The trick I’ve learned this summer is that I’m best off not analyzing things, the more I think the more unhappy I become.

*****

To end on a happy note: my Dad is coming to visit in four days!

Computer Graveyard

Our living room has resembled my brother’s high school bedroom since Saturday. That’s when our motherboard, after five years of hard labour, finally died. The timing could not have been worse and I was pretty worried that my husband would go over the edge, but he managed to keep it all together.

We had built the computer, and he’s pretty savvy with the innerds, so we trekked off to spend the afternoon at Fry’s, finding the right new parts that we hoped would be all we needed. Two computers later, and an hour after the store closed, my husband finally decided that our beloved hard drive just was too old to support all the upgrades and we would have to bite the bullet. With all these back-to-school sales it would actually be cheaper for us to purchase a pre-built computer.

So that’s what we did yesterday. The good news is that everything fits better on the desk and with our wireless keyboard and mouse we can move them up out of reach when not in use. And now that we’re back online we can try to catch up from the weekend. The bad news is that now I have to find storage and disposal for the old stuff.

Happy Birthdays and Merry Christmas to us.
But you know? the Visa Corporation owes us a thank you card, at the very least…

Saturday Scavenger Hunt: Youth

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Most of my photos are boxed up in Canada, but I found this, my grade 12 photo.

Reflections on Mortality

When the Bishop died this summer I reflected on what a wonderful opportunity it was for our ward to prove that our testimonies did not lie with the man, but with the Lord, and that we understood and had faith in the Plan of Salvation. It was an opportunity for our ward to come together and pull through. We did. In the month that followed before a new Bishop was called and sustained our ward continued on as normal. We each did our part, never wavering or despairing, and we did a little extra where we saw the need.

Six weeks later when Jessica died I was struck with the pain that our youth must once again endure, having barely healed their grief from the loss of their beloved friend and Bishop. But it also made me realize that we had a second opportunity in one summer to really prove that we trusted the Lord and that all would be well. I knew it would be hard for the kids to understand that their invincible band was one member short, but I knew if ever they had the chance to really understand life that this was it.

I don’t mourn the dead, but I grieve for those left behind. This summer has been one of strength, as I see those who’ve lost the most stand tall. It is such a blessing to be in the company of such giants. There’s so much beauty in this world, but beauty most of all is seeing a person’s true character as even better than you had imagined.

Death of a Pedometer

The poor thing, it never really had a chance, anyway.

A pedometer is a highly sensitive piece of equipment, it can not survive the test of new canines from a toddler. Nor can it survive being submerged in whole milk.

Let us have a moment of peace.

Jessica

She was stunningly striking,
standing out not just because
of her height
or her race
but because of who she was.

She was daringly different,
at times a little gothic
at times purely princess
but always genuine.

Out of the group
I thought she would do the most
(not because of potential
but because of purpose)
and that humanity would be healed
by her life.

I guess I just thought more people
would have the opportunity
to know her.

She was scarcely seventeen

GoofyJ said…
very nicely done! 🙂 Great use of alliteration, and it flows very nicely without feeling forced. 🙂