Music for your Midweek: Mew

Here's a band that's been breaking my heart lately: Mew

A little bit of Jonsi, a little bit of pinback, a little bit of the flaming lips.

Also, their lyrics are endearing and oddly prescient:

"If I don't make it back from the city
Then it is only because I am drawn away
For you see, evidently there's a dark storm coming
And the chain on my swing is squeaking like a mouse

So are you my lady, are you?
So are you my lady, are you?
The rain, the rain, the rain is falling down
The cars remain"

He's singing to Sandy.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween you weirdos.

All Hallow's Eve Mix 2012 and a "make-it-work" moment

Last night a few of these kids I know threw a masquerade. It was formal, and considering I have   almost never went to prom/any formal event whatsoever, I did not have a dress. Although D.I was pretty picked over, I managed to find something. Take a look:

This is me looking sulky pre-transformation. It's just a blah, beige house coat, hiding a great leopard print lining. So I just turned it inside out, cut off the tags, rolled up the sleeves, broached up the neckline, added a belt andVOILA! A dress!

Not quite a formal, but I don't mind. It was only $6!

AND

Here's your Halloween mix for the freakin' weekend. Creep on creepin' on.

1. I Dream of Burning Buildings - Southern Tenant Folk Union
2. Please Don't Follow Me - James Murphy
3. Satin In A Coffin - Modest Mouse
4. Ashes - Dark Dark Dark
5. In The Room Where You Sleep - Dead Man's Bones 
6. Chicago At Night - Spoon
7. Paranoid Android - Sia
8. The Ghost Who Walks - Karen Elson
9. Evil - Interpol 
10. Toxic - Yael Naim
11. Bad Ritual - Timber Timbre
12. Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
13. Somewhere In Your Heart - Jessica Lea Mayfield

You can listen to this mix on Spotify as well:


NOTES:
1. these guys are so great, and so far away.
2. Just now realized this is the guy from LCD Soundsystem. Doy.
5. Yes, this is Ryan Gosling.

Haunted Hottie.

Still don't have your Halloween costume?

These girls have the best costume advice!

Gotta trust these girls, they love Grey Gardens. 

And I can totally vouch for costume technique. 

As a girl who has NEVER looked hot on Halloween, I really think it is the best way to go. 

For realsies.

Music for your Midweek: Chet Baker

I love Chet Baker. 

His voice is heaven, he plays one of my favorite instruments, and he has a troubled soul. 

We girls go CRAZY for that.

I could listen to him all night and day.

Rio Tinto, here we come!

Finally going to a game in almost a year! So overdue. Are any of you guys going? 

In other news, I went to a viewing party last week with the bruddahs, and we won some things! Here's a pic from my lame-o phone. Christian:

And I won a Nick Rimando bobble-head! And Jeremy won a beer glass. I stole it from him as we have no proper drinking receptacles in our home. Drinking from plastic tumblers grosses me out. blech.

Christian wouldn't let me steal the photo. He was surprisingly feisty about it.

Anyways, see you at the game!

waytogo attaboy waytogo

My brother is in a band.

He plays the drums.

And sings...? (We're still not sure)

And they just released their EP!

Give it a listen and download it for FREE here!

A Poem for Thursday: "The one thing you must do" - Rumi

The one thing you must do

There is one thing in this world you must never forget to do. If you forget everything else and not this, there's nothing to worry about, but if you remember everything else and forget this, then you will have done nothing in your life.

It's as if a king has sent you to some country to do a task, and you perform a hundred other services, but not the one he sent you to do. So human beings come to this world to to a particular work. That work is the purpose, and each is specific to the person. If you don't do it, it's as though a priceless indian sword were used to slice rotten meat. It's a golden bowl being used to cook turnips, when one filing from the bowel could buy a hundred suitable pots. It's like a knife of the finset tempering nailed into a wall to hang things on. 

You say, "But look, I'm using it. It's not lying idle." Do you hear how ridiculous that sound? For a penny and iron nail could be bought. You say, "But I spend by energies on lofty projects. I study philosophy and jurisprudence, logic, astronomy, and medicine." But consider why you do those things. They are all branches of yourself and your impressiveness.

Remember the deep root of your being, the presence of your lord. Give yourself to the one who already owns your breath and your moments. If you don't, you'll be like the man you takes a ceremonial dagger and hammers it into a post for a peg to hold his dipper gourd. You'll be wasting valuable keeness and forgetting your dignity and purpose. 

Music for your Midweek: CRO

When it comes to rap, I don't discriminate. Here's some German:

I'm embarrassed about how much I love this.

Doctor! We need a glitter ribbon, STAT!

I love the urgency of this Pinterest comment:

You hear me. I SAID I NEED A GLITTER RIBBON NOOOOOWWWWWW.

Priorities - Books

These books are weighing on me....

So many things to read, so little time!

Have any of you guys read these books? 

Any suggestions as to what to read first???

the balance

She

     She

          She 

               She

only ever ver ver ver ver 

want wants 

to 

count count 

her steps

-

Eighteen teen strides and she 

stops to abide by the 

law that she herself has set

-

Thateighteen steps is one complete set 

andbeforethe

next nine right and nine left

-

She looks up up at the bluuuuuuuue

and whispers to all of the above

-

DON'T LET ME DROWN

Don't be alone

no kicks no pangs no broken bones

-

Never let me sink

Always feel at home

no sticks no shanks and no stones

-

Never leave it too late

Always enjoy the taste of the 

great great great grey world of hearts

-

As all

dogs

everywhere bark

                         bark

                              bark

                                   bark

it's worth knowing...

-

     Like all good fruit, the balance of life 
is in the ripe and ruin.

-

AAAAHHHHHHH!

I live in constant fear. If you've ever been in my room, you understand why.

A Poem for Thursday: "Fear" - Rumi

Fear

Everyone can see how they have polished the mirror 

of the self, which is done with the longings

we're given.

          Not everyone wants to be king!

There are different roles and many choices 

within each.

          Troubles come. One person packs up 

and leaves. Another stays and deepens in a love 

for being human. 

          In battle, one runs fearing

for his life. Another, just as scared, runs

and fights more fiercely.

FINALLY

Guess how many Real Salt Lake games I've been to this season:

ZERO

Tragedy.

But not to worry, this will soon be remedied! Living Social had a deal, so I grabbed a ticket for just $15! Click here if you want to get some tickets yourself.

Oh Tony. I've missed you.

Music for your Midweek: RJD2

This song has all my favorite things:

It references my favorite tv show

It features one of my favorite instruments

And it samples one of my favorite musicians.
P.S. I just bought that shirt he's wearing.

One for the record books!

Oh man.

I love General Conference.

October Mix: "If you wanna party down, you gotta RSVP"

Super punctual this month.

And just in time for General Conference too! Enjoy.

1. Riverside - Agnes Obel

2. Someone Out of Town - Yuna

3. Empty Streets - Suspicious for the Winter

4. Paddling Ghost - Dan Deacon

5. Little Secrets - Passion Pit

6. Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It - Stars

7. Regret - New Order

8. Go Right Ahead - Sondre Lerche

9. Breezeblocks - Alt-J

10. Do You Want It All? - Two Door Cinema Club

11. I Am the Antichrist to You - Kishi Bashi

12. Limit To Your Love - BADBADNOTGOOD

13. New Ceremony - Dry The River

14. Playground Love (Air Cover, Acoustic) - Phoenix

You can listen to some of the mix here:


NOTES:

1. Agnes Obel is the best at fall music

4. Dan Deacon is coming to Kilby soon so, we should go

5. Blast fromt the recent past

7. This song could have been released today, easy

14. I recently finished reading "Virgin Suicides" so that explains that. This song has an Elliott Smith feel and it hurts my heart.

A Poem for Thursday: "A night full of talking hurts" - Rumi

A night full of talking hurts,

my worst held-back secrets: everything

has to do with loving and not loving.

This night will pass.

Then we have work to do.

Please don't tell my relatives...

I just found out that I'm part of President Obama's secret army. I have several family members who would be none-to-pleased if they found that out, so let's keep it under-wraps, ok?

To be honest, I'm part of that tiny, tiny percentage who doesn't know who they'll be voting for. So that's why I'm really looking forward to the debates tonight. Feel free to tell me who to vote for in the comments, and I will consider your evidence. Also, we don't have a TV, so I'm looking for a place to watch. If you invite me over, I'll bring the Diet Coke, and we can play this game:

I predict a caffeine overdose.

Music for your Midweek: The Magnetic North

Thanks to Spotify, yet again. I found some good, fall driving music. 

Don't know much about these folks, but I like 'em.

The best part of having a grown-up job:

Confronting mansplaining on an almost daily basis.

It's real folks. In fact, one of my supervisors actually warned me about it and said they've had to face it a lot too. Some things you say will be ignored by certain people. It's not because the things you say are wrong or unimportant, but simply because you're a girl. 

It really makes me miss school. I had lame guys in my classes too but we were essentially on equal footing. They were easier to ignore since their opinion of me didn't really matter. I CANNOT WAIT to be back in school again.

BUT there are a lot of other things I like about working too! I'm trying to be more positive/grateful, so here are my top ten things I like about my job:

1. I know I'm doing something good everyday. I'm so lucky that I can go to work and know that in some little way, I'm making a positive    contribution to the world. We do good work.

2. Our office is stellar. We truly are a team. I like pretty much everyone. A lot of my coworkers started off as VISTAs as well, so they can provide helpful advice. 

3. Lunch. It's a thing of glory. A respite from the day.

4. I've met the best people in Provo. They are the residents we serve who do more for us then we could for them. They're the volunteers who dedicate hours every week, even though they have so many other responsibilities

5. Vacation, Sick Days, and Comp time. Feel like you just can't hack it? Take a day! This privilege cannot be abused, but I've loved not being forced to slog through a day while my mind is a million miles away and your nose is like the Niagara Falls of snot. Wasn't like that at school; you HAD to be in class.

6. The office is two blocks away. I'm a walking queen.

7. Meals on Wheels. OMYGOODNESS. I can't believe I've told you about this yet. Twice a month I deliver meals, and it is the best. thing. ever. The people we deliver to are characters and they are so sweet.

8. I get to work with the best kids in the world. Oh man, they're the best. 

9. We get to go to interesting conference on community service, non-profit work, etc. Oh! And Vital Smarts trainings. I love those.

10. One of the things I love most about my work, is that it will end.  On January 25th, I will be done as a VISTA. I choose to stay and do another year with the South Franklin Community Center. Or I could find a job in Salt Lake and work for a bit. Or move to an alpaca farm. Or go live in Spain. Or go back to South America. Or just wander around for a bit.
I'm actually tempted to do another VISTA year since it feels like I'm just getting the hang of it, but part of me feels like my time in Provo is over...

yeah, time to move on.