After seeing my friend, Trevor's Graduate Conducting Recital last week, it makes me think, maybe I should go back to school. He has such an awesome passion for what he's studying!
I never really felt like I had that passion when I was in music school. I was there just to get a job. I was a horrible student!
There were a lot of factors behind that, like being told, "Don't do music! You have to get a job with insurance!" It was actually a bit heart breaking. So, why even try? My entire time in college, I was there to just get by, not study something with passion.
Could I go back to school now with as much passion as Trevor has? He is amazing at directing a choir!
I still don't think I could do it. Even if I went back to school to study something completely different, like to become a hair stylist or get into cosmetology, I still don't think it would be a possibility. Some days, I feel like having a passion for something is just gone from me! This is a bit sad!
Don't get me wrong, I love directing choir's. It's just, I could never go back to school for music, and feel like I was accomplishing something.
Maybe this is just part of having that mid-thirties slump in my life. It's not that I'm not generally happy. I am. I'm just going through the motions a lot of days.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The Purpose of Blogging and Vlogging
A friend started a discussion on Facebook a few months ago by stating this in her status:
"I hate blogs!"
That was it! That was her entire status. People were commenting, and one guy even said something to the effect of, "I take offense to that!"
The friend that made the original post finally stated, "It seems that these people are trying to promote themselves in some way! I don't like that!"
In this day and age, blogs and vlogs are every where. They are used to talk about, discuss, and explain anything and everything. Some are funny. Some are political. Some are very personal, like a journal or a diary.
Some people are obsessed with reading blogs. They can have a voyeuristic feel to them. The reader gets this insight into a person's very deepest and sometimes darkest secrets. The reader feels privy to that person's life. Maybe the reader shares a thing or two in common with the blogger that creates a bond for them. A bond that may be one sided, but it's there. Maybe it's not even a deep dark secret that the reader has in common with the blogger, but things that happen in every day life. The stay at home mommy blogger that is just trying to survive. The blogger that has a day job, but masquerades at night as someone completely different.
I personally love reading blogs about people who have struggled and survived! I live vicariously through that blogger's personal triumph. And what's awesome about that is, they so wholeheartedly shared their triumph with me. They may not even know I personally stock their blogs, are as most people call it, follow their blog.
Some people read blogs to find out what's happening with their friends and relatives. People don't pick up the telephone or send letters as much as they used to. Remember the old family Christmas Letter every one used to send around the Holidays? Now, families don't do that as often, because they can just post it to their blog and anyone can read it! They don't have to spend the money on stamps, pictures, pretty Christmas paper, because most blogs are free. That saves a lot of families quite a some of money.
A lot of my family members that live across the country have blogs that I follow. A lot of them have not been updating very often, or at all lately. I can't afford to fly across the county to visit them, but I can see pictures of my great nieces and great nephews or other family members just by reading their blogs. Not that I wouldn't love to see my family members and friends that live across the country in person, but this definitely saves me some money. Plus, I can still feel connected to them.
There are a ton of blogs out there right now that are informative. There are blogs for crafting, food and recipes, personal finances, to fixing objects, cleaning the house, and all sorts of other things people just want to know. If a reader needs to fix their refrigerator, they can Google "fix refrigerator" and 100 Youtube videos and blogs will come up of how to do it. If a person wants to crochet a sweater, again, they can Google "crochet sweater" and it will bring up numerous blogs and vlogs of how to accomplish that! It's so handy!
I have used craft blogs a few times in my life to get things accomplished. My biggest problem with knitting for a while was "casting off." Well, I Googled it, found a blog that showed pictures in how to do it, and finished the blanket I was knitting. It saved my project from being stuck on my knitting needles forever! I use a lot of blogs for finding new recipes. I love to cook! If I have an idea for a recipe, but don't know how to execute it, I search for a blog on line. I could have had quite a few catastrophic dinners without some of the awesome food and recipe blogs that are out there!
Then, there are humor blogs. If you don't know what a humor blog is, than, let me enlighten you! I follow so many of them! A lot of my favorites are captioned pictures, like Cakewrecks and Award Family Photos. There are so many others! The point of these blogs are just to make you laugh. I can spend hours looking at Ihascheeseburger's lol cats and dogs. Sometimes, I just need to lighten my mood, and I'll go look at a humor blog for a little bit and walk away smiling.
People or bloggers/vloggers can make money off of their writings and videos. They include ads on the blogs and vlogs, like I do, in hopes that maybe someone will click on them and make a little money. Some people live completely off of their blogs and vlogs. Look at the Shaytards. They are a family that is completely out of doubt due to their vlogs on Youtube.
There are a lot of Stay at Home Moms that write blogs and do vlogs in hopes they will make money too. This isn't a bad thing. It's just one way the world is changing. People may not read as many books these days, sad as it may be, but they sure are reading things on the internet! Writing blogs and recording vlogs are ways of self publishing. It's a huge market. It seems right now, everyone is searching for their little corner of that market.
So, don't blame me if I want just a little piece of that corner. If my blogs ever take off and start making a profit, it would be awesome to pay off some more debt, or even maybe someday make enough off of them to be a Stay at Home mom.
I love supporting other bloggers and vloggers that are trying to get started. It's a community of people that love what they are doing and keep doing what they're doing for that reason. I have friends that write blogs that are book reviews, about countries, and about music and other things. They all are great writers, and their blog content is worth reading. Go and check them out!
"I hate blogs!"
That was it! That was her entire status. People were commenting, and one guy even said something to the effect of, "I take offense to that!"
The friend that made the original post finally stated, "It seems that these people are trying to promote themselves in some way! I don't like that!"
In this day and age, blogs and vlogs are every where. They are used to talk about, discuss, and explain anything and everything. Some are funny. Some are political. Some are very personal, like a journal or a diary.
Some people are obsessed with reading blogs. They can have a voyeuristic feel to them. The reader gets this insight into a person's very deepest and sometimes darkest secrets. The reader feels privy to that person's life. Maybe the reader shares a thing or two in common with the blogger that creates a bond for them. A bond that may be one sided, but it's there. Maybe it's not even a deep dark secret that the reader has in common with the blogger, but things that happen in every day life. The stay at home mommy blogger that is just trying to survive. The blogger that has a day job, but masquerades at night as someone completely different.
I personally love reading blogs about people who have struggled and survived! I live vicariously through that blogger's personal triumph. And what's awesome about that is, they so wholeheartedly shared their triumph with me. They may not even know I personally stock their blogs, are as most people call it, follow their blog.
Some people read blogs to find out what's happening with their friends and relatives. People don't pick up the telephone or send letters as much as they used to. Remember the old family Christmas Letter every one used to send around the Holidays? Now, families don't do that as often, because they can just post it to their blog and anyone can read it! They don't have to spend the money on stamps, pictures, pretty Christmas paper, because most blogs are free. That saves a lot of families quite a some of money.
A lot of my family members that live across the country have blogs that I follow. A lot of them have not been updating very often, or at all lately. I can't afford to fly across the county to visit them, but I can see pictures of my great nieces and great nephews or other family members just by reading their blogs. Not that I wouldn't love to see my family members and friends that live across the country in person, but this definitely saves me some money. Plus, I can still feel connected to them.
There are a ton of blogs out there right now that are informative. There are blogs for crafting, food and recipes, personal finances, to fixing objects, cleaning the house, and all sorts of other things people just want to know. If a reader needs to fix their refrigerator, they can Google "fix refrigerator" and 100 Youtube videos and blogs will come up of how to do it. If a person wants to crochet a sweater, again, they can Google "crochet sweater" and it will bring up numerous blogs and vlogs of how to accomplish that! It's so handy!
I have used craft blogs a few times in my life to get things accomplished. My biggest problem with knitting for a while was "casting off." Well, I Googled it, found a blog that showed pictures in how to do it, and finished the blanket I was knitting. It saved my project from being stuck on my knitting needles forever! I use a lot of blogs for finding new recipes. I love to cook! If I have an idea for a recipe, but don't know how to execute it, I search for a blog on line. I could have had quite a few catastrophic dinners without some of the awesome food and recipe blogs that are out there!
Then, there are humor blogs. If you don't know what a humor blog is, than, let me enlighten you! I follow so many of them! A lot of my favorites are captioned pictures, like Cakewrecks and Award Family Photos. There are so many others! The point of these blogs are just to make you laugh. I can spend hours looking at Ihascheeseburger's lol cats and dogs. Sometimes, I just need to lighten my mood, and I'll go look at a humor blog for a little bit and walk away smiling.
People or bloggers/vloggers can make money off of their writings and videos. They include ads on the blogs and vlogs, like I do, in hopes that maybe someone will click on them and make a little money. Some people live completely off of their blogs and vlogs. Look at the Shaytards. They are a family that is completely out of doubt due to their vlogs on Youtube.
There are a lot of Stay at Home Moms that write blogs and do vlogs in hopes they will make money too. This isn't a bad thing. It's just one way the world is changing. People may not read as many books these days, sad as it may be, but they sure are reading things on the internet! Writing blogs and recording vlogs are ways of self publishing. It's a huge market. It seems right now, everyone is searching for their little corner of that market.
So, don't blame me if I want just a little piece of that corner. If my blogs ever take off and start making a profit, it would be awesome to pay off some more debt, or even maybe someday make enough off of them to be a Stay at Home mom.
I love supporting other bloggers and vloggers that are trying to get started. It's a community of people that love what they are doing and keep doing what they're doing for that reason. I have friends that write blogs that are book reviews, about countries, and about music and other things. They all are great writers, and their blog content is worth reading. Go and check them out!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
This Week's Ben Folds Five Experience
Last Wednesday, I got to see Ben Folds Five for the first time ever, in concert! I have seen Ben so many times live, that I have lost count. I had never gotten a chance to see the Five together before Ben went solo. Well, now they are reunited! It was awesome!
Here's a quick rundown of the night's events:
My friend Allison was coming to the show from Wisconsin. She messaged me and said, she still had a pass for VIP parking, because when she got to the Venue, the parking lot wasn't open yet. So, Ian and I met her at the VIP Valet parking area, she gave us the pass, and we got the car parked. Then, we decided that we would go to the Subway that was right around the corner. While trying to figure out which corner this really was, a really nice guy came around the corner and said, "Robert Sledge is standing out front!" We walked around to the front, and he was still there! Allison started talking to him, and he offered to sign my CD cover, that I randomly picked up as I got out of my car. While he was standing there signing, out walks Darren Jessee, and Ben Folds! I got to see and meet the whole band in person before the show even started! They all signed my CD cover!
Then, we went to eat at Subway.
After Subway, we came back to Old National Center/Murat to watch the show. The seats I had for Ian and me were a couple rows apart. The guy I sat next to was a huge fan of Kate Miller-Heidke and her guitarist, Kia. He wasn't really there to see BFF. Kate was amazing! I'd recommend listening to her if you haven't. She was going to sit at the merchandise booth during the break, so, the guy next to me, John, ran out to talk to her. When he got back from break, he noticed Ian and I were in separate rows, and offered to trade seats with Ian. (What a nice guy!)
Ian and I watched the show together, and I pretty much rocked out the entire time! BFF played so many awesome songs, and my personal favorite was "Selfless Cold and Composed."
When the show was over, we waited for the band to come out in front of the building. We had been waiting for a little while and talking to all of the other fans, when I realized, we hadn't gotten the car keys back from the Valet yet. I sent Ian over, and while he was walking over, I realized the car was sitting directly behind us. I called Ian, and he said, the door was locked where the Valet had been, and there was no one to be found. I walked straight up to the security guard standing there and said, "Is Valet Parking closed? I haven't gotten my car back yet!" The ESG guy looked at my and kind of chuckled, and said, "Ya, It's closed." He was really nice, and proceeded to take me back in the building, so, I could get my keys back. He did help my find my keys, thankfully!
Then, I went back out, and Robert Sledge came out first.
Here's a quick rundown of the night's events:
My friend Allison was coming to the show from Wisconsin. She messaged me and said, she still had a pass for VIP parking, because when she got to the Venue, the parking lot wasn't open yet. So, Ian and I met her at the VIP Valet parking area, she gave us the pass, and we got the car parked. Then, we decided that we would go to the Subway that was right around the corner. While trying to figure out which corner this really was, a really nice guy came around the corner and said, "Robert Sledge is standing out front!" We walked around to the front, and he was still there! Allison started talking to him, and he offered to sign my CD cover, that I randomly picked up as I got out of my car. While he was standing there signing, out walks Darren Jessee, and Ben Folds! I got to see and meet the whole band in person before the show even started! They all signed my CD cover!
Then, we went to eat at Subway.
After Subway, we came back to Old National Center/Murat to watch the show. The seats I had for Ian and me were a couple rows apart. The guy I sat next to was a huge fan of Kate Miller-Heidke and her guitarist, Kia. He wasn't really there to see BFF. Kate was amazing! I'd recommend listening to her if you haven't. She was going to sit at the merchandise booth during the break, so, the guy next to me, John, ran out to talk to her. When he got back from break, he noticed Ian and I were in separate rows, and offered to trade seats with Ian. (What a nice guy!)
Ian and I watched the show together, and I pretty much rocked out the entire time! BFF played so many awesome songs, and my personal favorite was "Selfless Cold and Composed."
When the show was over, we waited for the band to come out in front of the building. We had been waiting for a little while and talking to all of the other fans, when I realized, we hadn't gotten the car keys back from the Valet yet. I sent Ian over, and while he was walking over, I realized the car was sitting directly behind us. I called Ian, and he said, the door was locked where the Valet had been, and there was no one to be found. I walked straight up to the security guard standing there and said, "Is Valet Parking closed? I haven't gotten my car back yet!" The ESG guy looked at my and kind of chuckled, and said, "Ya, It's closed." He was really nice, and proceeded to take me back in the building, so, I could get my keys back. He did help my find my keys, thankfully!
Then, I went back out, and Robert Sledge came out first.
Robert Sledge and Me
Then, Ben and Darren came out close to the same time. I ended up talking with Ben first.
Ben Folds and the Really Nice Fan Guy
They were saying, "NO INDIVIDUAL PICTURES!" Well, so, my pic with Ben didn't come out! But this is the guy who informed us before the concert that Robert Sledge was standing out front! I wish I would have gotten his real name!
Then, I talked to Darren Jessee.
Darren Jessee and Me
Since they had all signed my CD cover for "The Sound of the Life of the Mind" before the concert, I had them all sign my concert ticket.
This show was an awesome good time! I wasn't even expecting to get to meet the band and Ben again, and I got to TWICE!
All in all, I would call it a successful concert going evening!
Monday, October 1, 2012
The Migraine Sufferer's Plight
I started getting Migraines when I was about ten or eleven. If you've never suffered a migraine, and believe those lucky people exist, you'll never know the pain, the suffering, the need for it to go away that we feel! Today, a headache is coming on. I started with taking an Allegra at lunch thinking that it was related to all of my sinus and allergy issues I have going on. Then, I moved on an hour after lunch and took two Excedrine Migraine. An hour after that, I just feel worse. I took two Contact pills. Hopefully, something will kick in soon. If not, I will not be able to do anything after work, but go home and lay in bed.
The sad fact is, when the head ache starts moving in, I'm usually ok. But if I don't start talking medication right away, other symptoms of the migraine move in and take over. Right now, I'm fighting the slight nausea that's starting in. The tiny baked potato with butter that I brought for lunch and didn't finish, may have been a bad idea.
I gave up dairy because of my migraines, especially milk. Drinking a glass of 2% milk is an invitation for a migraine to move right in. Milk migraines always end up with me vomiting.
I have period migraines. That's when it's the first day of my period and the migraine moves in. So, I went on the Deprovera shot and gave up periods, for now.
I'm pretty sure, the migraine moving in today is sinus related. It's behind my eye and in the bridge of my nose. These headaches don't always turn into full blown mind numbing pain, lay in the dark, vomiting migraines, but the one that's invited itself is starting to feel that way!
There's a tv show, where a guy died because he was trying to drill the spot out the pain out of his head, his migraine hurt so bad. Not that I would do that, but it really is painful. I call it the "little man with the drill is drilling inside of my head" or if it's a pounding migraine, he's "hammering inside of my skull."
I remember laying in bed at about ten, in the dark, watching my robot fan with red light eyes, oscillate back and forth. I would just lay there willing it away, until I would finally throw up.
I also get pressure headaches. One change in the weather, and I'm out flat. My co-worker just walked in from out side, and said that it's raining. After yesterday's amazing weather, this is probably created quite the pressure change! I read an article once that said, standing out side and trying to get fresh air is a why to subside pressure headaches. Maybe I'll go stand outside for a few minutes.
The sad fact is, when the head ache starts moving in, I'm usually ok. But if I don't start talking medication right away, other symptoms of the migraine move in and take over. Right now, I'm fighting the slight nausea that's starting in. The tiny baked potato with butter that I brought for lunch and didn't finish, may have been a bad idea.
I gave up dairy because of my migraines, especially milk. Drinking a glass of 2% milk is an invitation for a migraine to move right in. Milk migraines always end up with me vomiting.
I have period migraines. That's when it's the first day of my period and the migraine moves in. So, I went on the Deprovera shot and gave up periods, for now.
I'm pretty sure, the migraine moving in today is sinus related. It's behind my eye and in the bridge of my nose. These headaches don't always turn into full blown mind numbing pain, lay in the dark, vomiting migraines, but the one that's invited itself is starting to feel that way!
There's a tv show, where a guy died because he was trying to drill the spot out the pain out of his head, his migraine hurt so bad. Not that I would do that, but it really is painful. I call it the "little man with the drill is drilling inside of my head" or if it's a pounding migraine, he's "hammering inside of my skull."
I remember laying in bed at about ten, in the dark, watching my robot fan with red light eyes, oscillate back and forth. I would just lay there willing it away, until I would finally throw up.
I also get pressure headaches. One change in the weather, and I'm out flat. My co-worker just walked in from out side, and said that it's raining. After yesterday's amazing weather, this is probably created quite the pressure change! I read an article once that said, standing out side and trying to get fresh air is a why to subside pressure headaches. Maybe I'll go stand outside for a few minutes.
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