lewis and clark had a journal. you, beth-annie, have a diary.

Thursday, December 19, 2002
TOP TEN NEWSBOYS SONGS
10.  Thrive  (Thrive)
       --the best song off their latest album
9.  It's All Who You Know  (Take Me to Your Leader)
       --I don't know what it is about this song, it's just good
8.  Shine  (Going Public)
       --a better song than I remembered after a million+ listenings
7.  Joy  (Shine:  The Hits)
       --nice of them to finally release this obviously Going Public era gem
6.  Lost the Sky Again  (Not Ashamed)
       --twice as good as anything else off Not Ashamed
5.  Truth and Consequences  (GP)
       --just try to sing along to this one if you don't have every word memorized.  I dare you
4.  Going Public  (GP)
       --probably their second-best song musically
3.  Lights Out  (GP)
       --the rockingest song they've ever done, and amazing
2.  Lost the Plot  (TMTYL)
       --if both the lyrics and mood of this song don't kill you, nothing will
1.  Elle G.  (GP)
       --do I really need to explain this one?  I think not

HONORABLE MENTION (alphabetical order)
Dear Shame  (NA)
Hallelujah  (Step Up to the Microphone)
I'm Not Ashamed  (NA)
Live in Stereo  (Thrive)
Spirit Thing  (GP)

Wow, um, I didn't do a very good job of keeping my favorite album a secret there, did I?  You will also notice there is nothing from Love Liberty Disco on this list, and that's because I've only heard roughly two songs off it.  But I doubt any of them would make it anyway.  Who knows, though?  I suppose I really should listen to it at some point.

Anyway... discuss.
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Wednesday, December 18, 2002
--"He's also the god of earthquakes.  He'd stick his trident in the ground and shake it."
--"Oh, that's very scientific.  Let's hope he doesn't flush the toilet."
This whole writing one cohesive, coherent blog entry thing is just too hard for me today.  You'll have to live with more randomness, as that's all my brain can handle.  (And, by the way, for every non-Kaly person out there, that was a random seaQuest quote.  See?  Random.)

Have you heard this song called "No One Knows" by this band called Queens of the Stone Age?  It has such a beautiful classic rock sound you just don't hear anymore.  Me like.

*****

Have you heard this song called "Apple of My Eye" by this guy called Ed Harcourt?  It makes me happy.

*****

I am in love with Phil Keoghan.  I will be very sad if there is not an "Amazing Race 4."

*****

I seem to recall being in love with something else, too, but I don't remember what right now.  Maybe I'll remember tomorrow.

*****

This song list thing has proven to be quite fun, if mostly pointless.  Maybe I'll get another list done by tomorrow.  If I do, it will most likely be Newsboys.  And I realize not all my lists will generate quite the interest my Sixpence one did, because not all of you listen to all the same artists I do.  How stupid of you.

*****

It is good to insult your readership every now and then.  Weeds out the wimps.

*****

From the Huh? Department:  it is 54F and it thunderstormed last night.  What happened to all that lake effect snow we got in NOVEMBER?  Huh?  I want my snow!  And if I don't get it by Christmas Eve (and I'm talking about sticking-to-the-ground snow here, not that stupid melts-as-soon-as-it-touches-any-surface stuff), my wrath will be unleashed.  After all, what goes better with the holiday season than a good dose of wrath?

*****

Oh, now I remember.  I am in love with Howie Day's album Australia.  It is my second favorite album I've bought this year, behind only Divine Discontent.  I even like it better than the new Counting Crows album or the Moulin Rouge Soundtrack, both of which I absolutely adore.  If you know me at all, you know that is a very major statement.

*****

Dear Entertainment Weekly editor:  Sometimes a close-up is a little too... close up.  I have no real desire to be bombarded with anyone's pores, even Denzel Washington's.  Thank you.
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Tuesday, December 17, 2002
The first of many musically-dictated Top [Insert Number Here] lists.
Most will be Top Tens.  Some will be Top Ten plus 5 or 6 honorable mentions.  Some will only be Top Fives.  All will be lists of my favorite songs from artists by which I own/know at least two albums of material.  Are you ready?  Can you handle this kind of excitement?  Let's hope so.

TOP TEN SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER SONGS
10.  Disconnect  (This Beautiful Mess)
9.  I Can't Catch You  (Sixpence None the Richer)
8.  Drifting  (This Beautiful Mess)
7.  Anything  (Sixpence None the Richer)
6.  Eyes Wide Open  (Divine Discontent)
5.  Love  (Sixpence None the Richer)
4.  Bleeding  (This Beautiful Mess)
3.  Falling Leaves  (The Fatherless and the Widow)
2.  The Lines of My Earth  (Sixpence None the Richer)
1.  Love, Salvation, the Fear of Death  (This Beautiful Mess)

HONORABLE MENTION (alphabetical order)
An Apology  (The Fatherless and the Widow)
Meaningless  (The Fatherless and the Widow)
A Million Parachutes  (Divine Discontent)
Moving On  (Sixpence None the Richer)
Paralyzed  (Divine Discontent)
We Have Forgotten  (Sixpence None the Richer)

I welcome any and all discussion of the rightness or wrongness of my lists, including your own personal versions, should you feel so inclined.  Please, let us engage in delightful conversation.
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Unexpected gift of the day.
Alex of the infamous "Alex's Bloggish Thing of Sorts" link to the lower right has bestowed upon me (and, now, you lucky folks) the lyrics for Divine Discontent. Please thank him accordingly with Danielson Famile concert tickets or curling computer games.
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Monday, December 16, 2002
Hi.
This is my first blog entry using the program Josh created for me instead of just pasting each entry directly into my page's html.  This is supposed to be easier, and I'm sure it will be eventually, but right now it's just weird because I'm not used to it yet.  And you have no idea what I'm talking about, so I'll stop.  (Incidentally, as a result, you will also notice I now have fully functioning archives and not a bazillion entries on my main page.  How nice.)

*****

We saw Maid in Manhattan last Friday.  I think that may be the first time I've ever seen a movie on its opening day.  Actually, probably not, but I can't remember an instance at least.  It was very predictable and had several other flaws, but for the kind of movie we knew it was going to be, it was charming and enjoyable enough.

*****

We are now done done Christmas shopping.  Well, except for maybe a little something for my grandparents.  Shoot.  I guess my first sentence was a lie.  I'm sad now.

*****

The last couple days I've had that very blechy feeling of just not being happy with anything.  You know, you don't feel like going anywhere, but you don't feel like staying home; you don't feel like being active, and you don't feel like just laying around; you don't feel like watching TV, or listening to music, or just talking, or doing anything on the computer, or playing games, or doing housework, or reading, or really doing anything at all, whether productive or non.  It kind of makes you want to scream.  And then you think about how much you have absolutely no right to not be happy because there are millions and millions of people in the world who have so much less, or who have, you know, REAL  problems, and so you really suck for feeling the way you do.  And that just makes you feel suckier.

*****

I am going to make rosettes for our choir Christmas party on Saturday.  Yay me.  Then I will also make rosettes to take to Ames for Christmas, or at least take my rosette irons so I can make them there.  Yay me again.  I realize some of you may not know what I'm talking about, but at least I know a couple of you do.  Yay you.

*****

Haircut tip to anyone who might dislike the inevitable strangerstylist chit chat:  buy yourself a home haircut kit and have your wife cut your hair instead.  (If I can do it, trust me, it's easy.)  You'll have paid for it in about two-and-a-half haircuts, and if you get a roll of disposable plastic sheets to use as a sort of drop cloth, it's not even messy--no sweeping required.  It is very worth it.

*****

Josh's new homemade commenting program is frighteningly close to being ready to implement.  We will hopefully be testing it on my blog within the next few days, and if it works can then farm it out to others of y'all (basically Kaly and Matt, I guess).  Cross your fingers, please.

*****

Al Gore was much funnier on "Saturday Night Live" than Robert DeNiro was.  Who knew?  Honestly, if I had lived in a cave my whole life and hadn't known who DeNiro was, I wouldn't have thought he could act worth a darn.  But Gore was surprisingly natural.  Yet another potential President who makes a better ex-candidate than candidate (along with John McCain, at least).

*****

You are sick of my blabbing.  You will now write me a comment.  Then you will go buy me lots and lots of money.
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Wednesday, December 11, 2002
Stuff.  And then more stuff.

We have gotten almost all of our Christmas shopping done in the last four days.  I'm so sick of shopping you can only imagine how Josh feels.  Now it's time to get sick of wrapping.  (Just a note to anyone considering marriage at any time in his or her life:  don't do it.  It is not worth it.  You will then have twice as many people to buy and wrap gifts for.  Plus, you will have the likelihood of eventually having children you will have to buy and wrap gifts for, and then they will eventually have spouses and children you will then have to buy and wrap gifts for, and your family will just keep growing and growing and growing until you will eventually have to buy and wrap gifts for everyone on the planet, and that's just no good.  Better to choose to live your life as a lonely hermit now and save yourself the hassle.)

*****

Our church choir director is officially off his rocker.  As if we already didn't have enough to rehearse with our Christmas Cantata (essentially an entire service of anthems), he chooses not one, but two, not easy, but difficult pieces to perform on Christmas Eve.  We will not make it.  We will sound horrid, because we will not know the pieces.  It will be a disaster, and Christmas will be ruined forever and ever.  Amen.

*****

Speaking of Christmas church music, this season is easily the mostest busiest we have ever experienced.  Even after the insanity of two Cantata performances on the Sunday before Christmas (for which Josh has now also been roped into being one third of a bell trio on the closing song), we will then have to perform three bell choir pieces (two with the adult bell choir and one with the junior bell choir, as they are somewhat lacking in "junior" participants) for the 4pm Christmas Eve service, and then the two regular choir anthems at the 11pm Christmas Eve service.  I vow right here and now that after midnight on Christmas Day we will never sing or ring again.

*****

Kaly is posting on her blog again.  How very strange.

*****

We have not seen a movie at the theater since October.  Where have all the good movies gone?  Come on, I'll even take Sweet Home Alabama.  Seriously, if nothing decent comes soon we may get fed up and actually go to a first-run show.  You wouldn't want that, would you?  I didn't think so.

*****

College loan people, for once and for all, I do no want to consolidate my loans.  I am very happy with my interest rate and payment plan.  Now please leave me alone.  Thank you.

*****

How boring is it when television is mostly reruns?  Quite.

*****

How happy is finally getting one of your cars paid off?  Quite.

*****

I'm afraid in all my talk about wanting to live in California I may have underestimated a bit my love affair with the million parachutes.  I could lose the extreme cold (very cool is fine), but sometimes there's nothing prettier or purer or more peaceful than a nice snowfall.  Crap.
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Monday, December 9, 2002
We're going to take over the world!
That's right, folkies, put a smile on your face, for your usually dreary months of March and April just got a little drearilesser.  The U.S. National and World Championships of the most underrated sport in the world will be broadcast on none other than NBC.  That's not even cable (for those of you still living in the dark ages -- you know who you are).  Now, granted this is only a total of two hours of programming, but in a world where even the WNBA has an uncertain future, I think we'll take what we can get.

"And now, for something completely different!"
Check out these cool linkies to these cool gamies that have nothing whatever to do with the above paragraphie.  This one is worser but doesn't need to be downloaded.  This one is better but requires downloading and installing (although after all that's done no longer requires an internet connection to play it).  Pick your choose, and enjoy!
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Friday, December 6, 2002
A few probably too late Christmas gift ideas.

POUR MOI:
~ August and Everything After Songbook
~ Norah Jones, Come Away With Me CD
~ A book on how to re-learn French after you've forgotten everything.
~ Spider-Man DVD
~ I like clothes.  Lots.
~ I like things that smell yummy.
~ I like San Francisco.
~ I like African-type wildlife (giraffes, elephants, leopards, lions, etc.).  Not live ones, please.  More like art or something.

POUR NOUS:
~ One of them thermometer dealies that shows both the indoor and outdoor temps.  Not this specific one, it's just an example.
~ Trivial Pursuit 20th Anniversary edition.
~ A waffle iron.  Not of the Belgian persuasion.  And not of the round  or other un-square-shaped persuasion.  Something like in the link, but not necessarily as expensive/fancy.
~ Sony Playstation (NOT PS 2!) games of the tennis or winter olympics persuasion (provided they don't look stupid and aren't too expensive).  We'd take a curling game, too.  And don't you dare say one doesn't exist.  It's not nice to make people cry.

More if I ever think of any more, but like I said, it's probably too late anyway, which is all my fault, but hey, what else is new, and I'll put Josh-alone stuff up here if he ever tells me anything he wants which he hasn't yet so maybe we all just shouldn't get him anything, wouldn't that serve him right, you bet it would.
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Thursday, December 5, 2002
I lied.  This is not actually a ditty.  But feel free to make up your own music to it if you like.  Which would make you very weird.

This will be but a brief summary of our trip, as anything more would surely bore my audience to tears, especially since many of them were along for the ride in one way or another.
So,yeah, we drove to Virginia.  We drove through Indianapolis on the probably-will-never-actually-be-called-the-David-Letterman-Bypass, then through Kentucky, the pretty pretty mountains of West Virginia during a lovely-but-not-hazardous snowfall, then the sun broke out not too far into Virginia.  We had a lovely visit with Miss Lynchburg herself that evening (the "Patty" of the infamous "Patty's Blog" link to the lower right), and she gave us some free CDs 'cause she's just that nice.  Then we made our way to Richmond, where the Josh and the Matt took no time in setting the Playstation Precedent for the rest of the weekend.

Thursday we Thanksgivinged, played games and listened to bits and pieces of roughly 834 CDs.

Friday we drove to the beach, sold seashells by the seashore (okay, so we actually just picked some up out of the sand), froze our fingers off, saw the Old and New Cape Henry Lighthouses, drove past a building or two of Colonial Williamsburg, and failed miserably in an attempt to show the Kaly a southern plantation.  Back in Richmond, we broke a trespassing law or two, got in 18 holes of disc golf, the last several of which were after sundown, and went to the Super Arby's, the bestest Arby's there ever was.  We also had our first stop on our Horrific Crimes Tour by driving past the gas station with the Sniper payphone.  Then we watch the "Gilmore Girls."

Saturday we ate my made-it-all-by-myself-for-the-very-first-time Aebleskiver for breakfast, then drove up to Washington, D.C. and took the Metro to the Mall area.  We walked from the Smithsonian to the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial (all in freezing cold rain and wind and no umbrellas and that's not a short walk even in nice weather let me tell you) and back again, then saw the JFK and RFK gravesites in Arlington National Cemetary.  And found out that there's a road there with "Weitzel" in the name.  Weirdness.  We trained past National Airport (stop #2 on the HCT), heard "Breathe Your Name" in the Gap at the Potomac Mills Mall, and drove past the infamous Ponderosa Steakhouse in Ashland (stop #3).

Sunday we churched, where they -- and I say "they" not "we" because "we" could never sing it without laughing -- AMAZINGLY sang, AGAIN, that horrid pseudo-grammatically-incorrect hymn, "Eye Has Not Seen," which now makes us an incredible three-for-three in that hymn being sung (which according to the Matt only happens about once every six months) when we are at their church.  We forwent the way-more-expensive-than-we-thought-it-would-be bowling adventure planned for that afternoon and instead took a drive down Monument Avenue, where we were lucky enough to see a movie set where an HBO film was being shot.  Now, THAT was restaurant quality lemonade.  We then played a very short, the Kimless game of Nerts (as we realized we had thus far neglected to do so -- a big no-no), saw the Sage Rosenfels (former ISU QB) put into the very snowy Miami Dolphins/Buffalo Bills football game for all of about 30 seconds, and left for home (or, Lexington, KY, at least) way too late.

Monday afternoon we got to the Greenville area in enough time to get in 9 holes of disc golf in beautiful weather (warmer than Richmond), got Kaly's assignment that was due before 4:30 that day turned in on time, and decided to take the time to go bowling before leaving Greenville.  This was a wise choice as we all bowled quite well:  the Kaly #1 got 103, the Josh got 92, the Kaly #2 got 94, and the me got 104, which is the best score I can remember getting, at least in recent memory.  Yay me.  And it cost all of $6 (as opposed to the $40-ish it would have cost in Richmond).  Yay Greenville.  So then I broke the code and bought a LaRue demo CD at the Evil Empire that is Family Christian, and then we once again left for home way too late.  While it had been in the 50's and sunny in Greenville, by the time we reached Chicago it was in the 20's and snowing heavily.  So it was only fitting that Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up the Sun" was on the radio.  We got home around 11:30pm and we sleeped.

Then the Josh got up the next morning and went to work.  Sucker.
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Wednesday, December 4, 2002
Monopoly, anyone?
Um, um, um... okay, so I go to my beloved CDNOW.com, my ever-reliable site where I can listen to CD song samples from EVERY track on the album, not just the FIRST FIVE (*cough*amazon.com*cough*), and what to my wondering eyes should appear? Why, an amazon.com clone disguised as CDNOW. MY CDNOW no longer exists. I will now have to go elsewhere to listen to song samples, because Amazon is stupid. And I will now have to try to find another place where an artist's search results will actually include soundtracks and other various-artist-type albums on which that artist appears, not just albums that are solely theirs, because Amazon is stupid. And I will now have to never buy anything from them, ever, because Amazon is stupid and eliminating the competition is stupid and Microsoft is stupid.
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It's December, people.
That means it is officially time to change the blog, do the Christmas shopping (a frightening prospect for those who have no clue what to get anyone), put the Christmas tree up (just as soon as we can bring ourselves to bring it in from the ice-cold garage), bake the Christmas cookies, and prepare for our most hectic church Christmas music season ever (like, rehearsals on 4 days out of every 7). Oi.

Tomorrow I will write y'all a little ditty called "What I Did on My Thanksgiving Vacation."
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