Ode to Music

I love music. It is always there. It picks you up, pumps you up, makes you laugh, and reminds you of good and bad times in your life. The I-pod is the single greatest invention because as Daniel puts it "you now have your own movie music montage of your life." It is true because when I hear one of my favorite songs when I'm grocery shopping listening to my I-pod, I really do feel like the girl in the movies passing time with music to get on with the story. Anyways I really wanted to write this because I saw VH1's 100 greatest hits of the 90s. Now I love the 80s and always told myself that I was an 80s girl, but I always had to learn half the songs on their 80s count down as well as somehow knowing the other half. Last night I started to watch the 90s count down and knowing almost every song except the really hard core R&B (Jay Z, Tupac, etc). I kept screeching "oh I remember this song, or I love this one, or even oh no I have to change the channel because I still can't stand this song even a decade later." Now I know my sister-in-law could attest to how excited I get about 90s music especially when I found the 90s station on satellite radio, and started dancing in the car to every other song. In fact, I learned that I had finally became an "Atlantian" that same day because I was listening to early 90s R&B (because it is the only kind I can stand), Salt n' Pepper, bopping my head with all the windows down, bass flarin', in a Cadillac (pimped out no less because it was brand new--it was my moms) in Utah. I remembered that a week ago Daniel and I saw someone doing the exact same thing and we stared them down. Now I was getting stared down by a bunch of Latinos. I busted up laughing, but I couldn't help it. I am missing most of the music of this decade because both of our cars don't have the radio. I think that this relieves Daniel because he knows that he can get me to talk in the car instead of hearing me sing, or pay more attention to the music. Before the I-pod I loved my car and room the best because I could get all of my music all the time as loud as long as many times as I wanted. I am nearly at my ropes end and hope to have a radio working in one car soon. So this article is dedicated to all those people who love music especially the decade they grew up, but most importantly to my brother-in-law, Scott, who always talk music with me as well teach me the greatest hits of the 80s.
So here is my list of Artists who have impacted me in someway:
James Taylor--could you ever get over that voice? Fire and Rain
Guster--what song don't they make to fit your life, plus bongos how could you go wrong? Fa Fa
Damien Rice-- who would have thought a cello, guitar, and two incredible voices would make so many music montages? Volcano
Tori Amos--her popularity has died over the years, but I truly believe she is an musician, you can never go wrong with a voice and a piano (which I live many artist with this combo) Cornflake girl

Six of my Favorite Things

So Daniel and I have decided to take the tag that has been going around and tell six mostly unknown facts about us. I hope that you enjoy weird facts of life!
Analisa:
1. I played the flute and was good enough to be invited to go to a musical conservatory in Paris; however, due to lack of funds and wanting to finish high school in the States I never pursued it.
2. I dressed up in a chicken outfit for a ward party to play chicken foot. I went around to all of the tables clucking and let everyone try to guess who was in the chicken suit, and no one could guess.
3. I was in a terrorist attack. I was in London in 2005 when my tube train blew up. Fortunately, I woke up that morning with a sudden dislike of my job and decided to get back at it that day by going into work fairly late. I will never know if my train was the one that blew up or was the train after the blown up one that got caught in the tunnel, but Heavenly Father and I both know that I couldn't have handled being that near the explosion.
4. I have written and published a book for my folklore class. It can only be read by checking it out of the Marriott Library at the University of Utah.
5. I have done every major form of dancing except modern. I was never very good at it and at one point thought I looked like different animals when I danced; however my favorite was looking like a monkey. I do have to admit that I can't walk straight, and started to take ballet which helped my balance. I became the most graceful ballerina in my studio and was fortunate to have classes by one of the top modern dance teachers in the nation (she wasn't at that point in time, but is now).
6. I have this slight infatuation with the BBC. I use to watch all of the British comedy late night on Saturdays when I was in junior and high school. When my family finally got cable, I found BBC America and broke my almost five years without watch TV rule and watched nothing else by that station for the next three years. Daniel says that I can justify any TV show, no matter how bad, as long as I saw it on BBC America, BBC 1&2, ITV, Sky TV, BBC Wales, and BBC Scotland. It ended up as a good thing because that is how we found Doctor Who and who couldn't live without Doctor Who once you've seen it.

Daniel:

1. I've written a novel, which is unpublished. I did submit it for publication once, but got a nice rejection letter for my efforts instead. I'm okay with this, though, since I'm still learning a lot. But at least I wrote it.

2. When I was a kid, I had a teddy bear that swore at people. Despite his rudeness, he was considered a member of the family; one year we even had a birthday party for him, complete with a cake. Everyone went along with it, because hey, we all wanted to eat cake.

3. I used to train in Kendo - Japanese sword-fighting. It was mostly accompanied with Iaido, which is the "art form" of the sword, while Kendo would be considered the sport form (that's the best way to describe it at least). I only did it for a year, however, since schooling got so busy after that. It was a lot of fun, I still have the armor and some of the weapons.

4. I once ate grilled chicken stomach. It was tasty, if not a bit chewy.

5. I've written a Romance-themed short story. Partly as a joke and partly as a bet. My wife didn't think I could write it, that I'd be too embarrassed. I decided to prove her wrong and ended up writing the most cliched, terrible piece of writing ever to be put on paper. Although, now that I think about it, it couldn't be any worse than Stephanie Meyer's Twilight - please don't kill me, Stephanie Myer fans. Okay, I'll admit, it was worse than that. But it's like this, at a writer's workshop I attended taught by Orson Scott Card, he said: "Just write a suicide story and get it out of the way, and never show it it anyone." I kind of feel that way with this story, just write a romance story and get it out of the way, and never show anyone.

6. I once took a career placement test in junior high. I tried to slant all the answers so that it would make it look like I was interested in writing. When I got the test back, it told me I should be a bus driver.

Corpus Christi--The Body of Selena

So, here is my one posting on how great my job is. I thought I would give it some positive feedback since I'm about it chuck it out the door. I had the opportunity after Thanksgiving to spent 36 hours in Corpus Christi (meaning "the body of Christ" in Latin), Texas. I was so glad because it had been overcast and a little rainy in Atlanta, so to end up in sunny warm Texas was very nice. This is one of the nicest hotels that we get to stay in. It is right on the coastline. The neatest part is that you can walk down to the docks and see the replica of the Nina, that was sailed across the Atlantic. Looking at it you can see why Columbus had mutiny on his hands, the ship is so small, the Ford F150 is half of its size. My favorite part of the docks is the shrine to Selena, the Latin music star, that was killed by the president of her fan club. Every time I walk past it there are a ton of Latin people looking at, taking pictures, putting flowers on the shrine, and weeping. I would have thought she revolutionized a country with the way the people act. Now, I don't know if she did something radical, but I don't recalled that she did in the movie, besides I got her confused with J Lo for the longest time. I kept seeing J Lo and thinking aren't you dead or something? I got a great photo with no one in it because I was out and about so early. Now the best part of the whole experience is...The Water Street Oyster Bar. You go there during happy hour and you get oyster, peeled shrimp, and sushi for half off. It is awesome! Now this excites all of us (pilots and flight attendants) because we can go crazy on food and spend very little on our budgets. It made the whole month of November worth it.

Wake Up!!!

This is a typical morning with our cat. It happens at least twice a day. Once at three AM and then at about seven. Thanks Tera for sharing the video.

Homemaker Sally

So, I haven't blogged lately because of Thanksgiving, running around doing showers, errands, worrying about a sick cat (who threw up all over my nice carpet, but Daniel deals with the throw up) and work.
Somehow during all of this fan fair, I was able to make a dress. I was impress that I was able to finish it. I have never sown more than a shirt, and it couldn't have difficult things on it like buttons, zippers, and taping. I don't know half of the stuff their talking about! It all started when my best friend, Jody, was getting married and I needed a black dress. Now, I could just have any old dress, but the "Little Black Dress" that every girl should have, and I thought that my time had come to have that little black dress. I couldn't find anything I wanted which bummed me out. I then got the brilliant idea to make my own! So, I found the pattern, which the only one I liked was a Vogue pattern (which usually sells at $30 a pop, but was on sale for 3). Now, Vogue apparently I learned after I bought it, is a very specialized pattern that has to be tailored this and that way with instructions that only a seamstress would know what they are talking about and this was the "facille" or easy pattern. Anyways, I spent a day and half putting together a sample dress. I nearly had to start over because I cut off some indicator marks, but I used some forethought and fixed. Finally, I got the dress together, the sample makes me look like pink cotton candy, and it lays kind of stiff, but that was because I used cheap fabric. I have started on the real dress and it is turning out to be fabulous.

I want some Southern Fried Chicken

My parents came into town last weekend, so inevitablely we went and did something Georgian. We took them to a prisoner of war camp in Andersonville. Now I'm sure that some people are thinking, "Wow your parents are that exciting that you felt like you were in prison!" Actually, since it was Veterans day it was kind of fun to go to Andersonville. It was depressing to see how 45,000 people were crammed into a small 16 square acre area. 13,000 people died, mostly of gangrene or starvation. The prison was separated by a wooden marker which was called the 'dead zone', so that anyone who walked within it would be shot dead. It was later used in German concentration camps, so "thank you" civil war for advancing military artillery and death camps. The cemetery that is there was decorated with beautiful flags. I was really glad that we drove the two hours to get there, despite nearly starving on the way back because we wanted to eat at this Bangladeshi restaurant in Atlanta. It was well worth the starve. All in all my father was happy to see something authentically Southern and my mother was happy to see us and the "grandcat." Everyone had a great weekend and was worn out, and needed a vacation from the vacation.

I'm in the dead zone!

Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Lights, and...Fridges?

So, as many of you have noticed I haven't posted in a while. We have moved to Douglasville and haven't gotten internet yet. Some people have found out, others haven't anyway it was on the down low. Anyway this is the best apartment for us.
We already feel at home in Douglasville. We are close to everything instead of twenty minutes from the local shops. Instead, everything is off of highway 5 in less than two minutes away. Daniel is five minutes away from work, and I just love the extra square footage. This apartment probably makes me happy because it reminds of homes in St. George, or more like my apartment in St George. Everything in that city is painted tan with white crown molding and dark carpet. I don't why this is the chosen color of the city, but I do why the carpet is dark because you track in all of the red sand and other dirt that makes your feet completely black. I still can remember seeing Jenn's, my best friend at Dixie, feet be completely black and we would have bath parties because she couldn't stand to have her feet be that dirty. I haven't seem to have the same problem with this apartment, but I am on the look out for it.
I just realized that I am meant to be in the South. I went to school at Dixie in the South of Utah. Now here I am in the heart of Dixie, in the real South. I don't think that Southern Utah prepared me for the real South--hmm the ironies continue in my life.
Back to the apartment, Dos loves it because of the extra room too. He now always stretches when he lays out. There are bay like windows that he jumps up on to look out and watch people as they walk their dogs.
Now for the truly bad parts of the apartment, I occasionally hear an airplane while this makes my muscles twitch because I don't want to go work, it doesn't happen that often. We live by the train tracks actually rather far, but it is so noisy when it goes by honking for safety reasons that it is a pain at night. Occasionally we have the rapping car which brings back fond memories of Clayton County--the base can wake you from the deepest sleep. The worst for me is the lights because we have these beautiful windows facing the parking lot; lovely during the day, but awfully bright because of the lights on the garages at night. Our fridge for the first week was making strange noises which is fine except it is so loud when you go to sleep, and am thankful that it has stopped. So I am getting to be crafty and have decided to make curtains to block the light. I know that I can't do anything about the other stuff, but I know I can get rid of that light!

Flying Pink For October

So as I'm sure you are all aware, that October is Breast Cancer awareness month. This has come to my attention over the past few years as the color pink has assaulted my senses. Now for the ever rare flight story...Delta, at least last year, has been selling "Flying Pink" Martinis to raise money for breast cancer for October. Lovely ASA has followed suit, by serving up these drinks (which I might add that I haven't done a good job because my job description is to be there for passenger safety, not a bartender). When I came into work last week I received this memo,
"We have been made aware of concerns regarding the sale of pink martinis to support breast cancer research in view of studies indicating that alcohol can be a risk factor for breast cancer. In light of this and with respect for our partner, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, effective immediately we should no longer sell pink martinis on board to raise awareness for breast cancer research during October. "
The irony of this is was too much to keep to myself. Imagine dealing out people's death while raising money to save them from what is making them sick and die. Wow to even explain it is very confusing. Well it is all in a good cause--right?

Does it sound strange?

This is mostly for the ladies in the ward who are having babies, or just did. Is this a totally weird name? Rose Tyler Christiansen. Seriously tell me what you think?

I'm a crazy animal magnet!

It has been since I was born that I have never had a normal animal. My first cat that I remember was completely onery. He would do the most obnoxious things like you would be sleeping in Saturday morning and all of sudden you couldn't breathe because you had a fat furry thing on your face. If looks could kill, my cat, Pushie, would have killed you, clawed you then lit you on fire. In the end he beat up every cat on the block, and eventually at the ripe old age of 17 he contracted FIV (AIDS). What kind of animal contracts AIDS??? Daniel jokes that it wasn't fights that Pushie was getting into, but promiscuous sex. Now we come to my dog, Cody, who is neurotic about everything. To this day he has separation anxiety; he makes all kinds of racket when you leave or take him anywhere. My favorite, however sad, is that he is deaf. You could be having a rock concert and he wouldn't know, but if you are watching TV, he comes a running like you called him. He is the only animal I know to get sea sick in a land locked state. The poor guy's eyes were rolling in his head and he couldn't walk straight, and kept thrown' up. I think he is going on 14 years (my pets don't die either unless it is a record of some sort). Now you can see why I was reluctant to get a cat because I was just sure that he would be completely crazy, mean, and get some sort of crazy disease. Well, I finally figured out the deficiencies of my cat, Dos. He can't tell if he is a cat, dog, or kid. He comes when you whistle, waits for you to come home at the door, and follows you from room to room. He acts like a kid because he throws temper tantrums if he doesn't get attention, likes empty boxes better than the toy that you bought him, and doesn't meow, but some weird purreow (its the only way to explain it; he runs and does it. I guess he does meow, but it sometimes cracks). The cat in him however shines through and through. He LOVES to shred everything, mostly boxes, but if he wants to play at midnight he starts to shred the bed and he knows I'm out of bed like a flash. Daniel needed a friend while I was gone, so I let him get a cat knowing someway that either I would make it insane, or it would start out insane.

Back in Time with a Jetsetter

With the insistence of Daniel, I have decided to upload our adventures across the globe. These pictures are from last May when we were supposed to go to Japan for Daniel's best friend's wedding. Unfortunately, that month of work I was on call and couldn't get the time off. So, as nervous as Daniel was to leave the country on his own, Daniel set off to Asia on his own. I on the other hand had seven days off and wasn't about to spend it in the States. After much debate, no money for two separate vacations, I decided to go to Nice, France.

Daniel had many adventures of getting lost, but he was able to get to the small town of Kumamoto. It is a fairly wealthy town that is known for its noodles and clear water. It has of course its typical castle for its region. I want to post some pictures of the wedding because it is so cool looking and wild compared to American weddings. They had two types of wedding clothes, a traditional outfit, and then they changed to more modern wedding clothes. Everyone loved Daniel for his crazy comments as well as how tall he was.

He ended up keeping my favorite past time of taking pictures of the bathroom. Bathrooms around the world are so interesting; sometimes I think that its the only thing that makes the country interesting. Who would have thought to have buttons to flush a toilet?
Out of all the guests Daniel had the most authentic Japanese experience because he used the public transport, talked to natives whether they knew English or not and generally acted as though Kumamoto was his own home.

My adventures were not as I expected. I went to Nice expecting the beautiful coast of sand where I could be a beach bum. Well I was surprised to find out that it was nothing, but rocks! I couldn't believe it! I went the same weekend as the Cannes film festival which I should have paid the bus fair and waited thirty minutes to go to a real beach. My favorite adventure was being hit on by some African man. I kept flashing my ring at him, but it meant nothing to him. I didn't get that sun burn from the rocky beach. It was from the crazy African who kept me out in the sun because he couldn't find a way to get me back to his place. Not even his "African music he could make for me" could induce me to go off with a strange man! Yes, I have the mindset that any strange man could be a serial killer and wants to hack me into bits whether they are Russian, American, or African. When Daniel saw me five days later, he was shocked that I didn't already have cancer it was still that bright and red. I still have the farmers tan permanently burnt into me. PS I have to write this silly note--that this is the first pair of flip flops I have ever owned and worn. Sad I know I was 24 before I found the wonders of flip flops, but Daniel was 24 before he even wore a pair of sandals!

Doctor Who Crazies

The last few days have been a bit dull and since I haven't seen a good TV show in ages, nor has anyone recommended anything worth watching. I have decided to be more like Daniel and inflict my interest on people who don't care. What I really have a need for is a good season of Doctor Who. For those of you out in the universe who haven't seen this fabulous funny brilliant, clever, adventurous show. This posting goes out to Chisa because she thinks that Daniel and I are the weirdest Americans and I would like to reaffirm her suspicions.
Who is the Doctor?
Here is another fun one liner

Well I hope you enjoy your day everyone and have fun.

One Whole Fabulous Year

So finally the time has passed and one year later Daniel and I have survived the Dreaded First Year of Marriage. We topped off the end of the honeymoon with cutting of the top of our wedding cake. Everyone told us it would be bad and dried out, but low and behold it tasted fresh and moist. We thought it was better than the cakes we just recently baked.

Daniel loves to have pictures with his tongue hanging out. He tried the cake first and didn't die or pull a nasty face, so I figured I was safe.

Sky, Dos, or...Neko-san?

Finally after all the drama--He is here! Our beautiful tabby has come to Hotlanta to drive Daniel and me nuts. We stressed out on what to name him.. We decided on Dostoevsky with the nickname of Dos. Honestly how are we to get mad at a cat with four syllables in his name. Most everyone thinks it is a weird name or that we are intellectual snobs/nerds. This cat however is completely crazy (so he fits in quite well in our house) because he will randomly get spooked and run around the house. He recently ransacked my jewelry and has dragged it around the house. He seems to enjoy plastic spoons which Daniel plays fetch with him. He also has a fetish with plastic bags; he slips in and out of them, lays on them, and shreds them. He enjoys attacking hands underneath the blanket which has left Daniel and me scratches all over our hands.



Oh, and he also likes sleeping in the bathtub.

I'm a crazy animal magnet!

It has been since I was born that I have never had a normal animal. My first cat that I remember was completely onery. He would do the most obnoxous things like you would be sleeping in Saturday morning and all of sudden you couldn't breathe because you had a fat furry thing on your face. If looks could kill, my cat, Pushie, would have killed you, clawed you then lit you on fire. In the end he beat up every cat on the block, and eventually at the ripe old age of 17 he contracted FIV (AIDS). What kind of animal contracts AIDS??? Daniel jokes that it wasn't fights that Pushie was getting into, but promiscuous sex. Now we come to my dog, Cody, who is neurotic about everything. To this day he has separation anxiety; he makes all kinds of racket when you leave or take him anywhere. My favorite, however sad, is that he is deaf. You could be having a rock concert and he wouldn't know, but you are watching TV and he comes a running like you called him. He is the only animal I know to get sea sick in a land locked state. Poor guy's eyes were rolling in his head and he couldn't walk straight, and kept thrown' up. I think he is going on 14 years (my pets don't die either). Now you can see why I was reluctant to get a cat because I was just sure that he would be completely crazy, mean, and get some sort of crazy disease. Well, I finally figured out the deficiencies of my cat, Dos. He can't tell if he is a cat, dog, or kid. He comes when you whistle, waits for you to come home at the door, and follows you from room to room. He acts like a kid because he throws temper tantrums if he doesn't get attention, likes empty boxes better than the toy that you bought him, and doesn't meow, but some weird purreow(its the only way to explain it; he runs and does it . The cat in however shines through and through. He LOVES to shred everything, mostly boxes, but if he wants to play at midnight he starts to shred the bed and he knows I'm out of bed like a flash. Daniel needed a friend while I was gone, so I let him get a cat knowing someway that either I would make it insane, or it would start out insane.