Music and Lyrics

Dear Readers, Where should one start when writing about life, whether it be their own or just a combination of others? In just the merryment of what might happen, I'll post the draft of paper I've been working on for a contest. Familiar Haven A place wherein lies the greatest happiness defines the paradise of love. Many rooms fill up the space within four walls pasted with paint of various colors. The rooms take up two levels on a piece of land coveted by most realtors. The hallways and rooms often swell up with noise originating from laughing children and teens. There exists a seat on the lower level that time passes quickly on. One sat there, feeling the safest he had felt; a feeling of arms cradling him into a daze that relieves all stress. In the upper level, many different scents stimulate the human mind; some produce allusions to good food, others protrude with a foul odor similar to the smell of a wet dog or an unkept garbage can. Hands swiftly fly across countertops w

Dear Readers, Sometimes in life a person can be most pleasantly surprised by the simple things in life that one would normally not think about. Truth has been spoken many times, "Great things come in small packages." Of course great things can appear in any shape or size, but the small ones are surprising, as mentioned before. Allow me to explain: Today I have been having a most wonderful day. Several of my friends came over to practice for a Vocal Competition and we sound pretty good. After that was a good basketball game with my brother's friends. The highlight came tonight, at one place where I never expected to be. One of my friends invited me to her ward party because her mom was out of town and she didn't want to go alone. Being a ward party I thought, "hey, sounds like fun. Let's go!" and off I went. It was out at a recreation center with swimming and some good food. My friend and I enjoyed some good food while discussing this, that and the other.

Dear Readers, A realization has made itself known over the past couple of weeks. Do you ever just zone out during a class or during a group conversation because you simply don't feel like paying attention? I have a very large problem with this, so my mind wanders. I discovered a solution, however, during my institute class this week. I found myself gazing into nothingness followed by short, embarrassing moments of me not knowing what was being discussed. During one period, we had four different teachers selected by our instructor, and they all gave short summaries of the topics in the manual. Anyway, enough delay. I realized that by looking at the person who is talking, one not only looks like they're listening...one actually listens. There's something about a visual to go along with what you're hearing to make something more memorable.

Dear Readers, Technology can do wonderful things. Only this evening, I have written out three or four songs with a speed entry tool on a composing program. Not my own songs. I'm not that good. Along with entering it in, the program can play it back pretty accurately and even record the play back. Add that to another program we have the pleasure of owning, anyone could turn out a vocal showcase in its entirety or just as a minus track for a traveling show. Technology is my new best friend.

Dear Readers, I would just like to point out that days such as today should be dealt with in a certain manner and obviously some people can't handle themselves in that manner. No way can a person excape every aspect of life for a whole day. Vacations? Even then you can't escape everything. What, you may ask, am I talking about? Good question. I really have no idea. No brilliant ideas are gracing me with their presence. Just disregard everything I say. Take some time to enjoy your acquaintances and smile at everyone you meet. Eat Your vegetables. Get adequate sleep and don't forget to bathe daily. Yoda, being 900 years old, is most wise. No one cares for the person who tries. Women aren't complicated. The Olympics originated in a time when women compete. Time Passes slowly yet drags on, day by day. Time heals all wounds. Don't forget to smile. Smiling makes everyone ok. For everyone else. Writing gives an escape. Matilda learned that. Music is life.

Dear Readers, Doesn't settling seem like such a drag, where ever you may be settling? There are different types of settling, whether it be in a new area and you're settling in or you find yourself settling for something you can't change. In court cases, people settle on the correct plan affecting everyone involved. Settling scores, settling obnoxious children down or even settle a rock in sand can all be forms of settling. One of the best forms of settling may surprise some: playing the game "Settlers of Catan." For those who don't know this game or have never played it, the gameplay goes a little like this. Different players put down settlements near different resources with numbers on them. If the numbers on those resources are rolled on the dice, the player close by receive a certain number of resources with which to build other settlements or cities. It can become pretty intense with different places competing for land and trading resources. My sister seem

Dear Readers, Today Celebrates the most joyous of occasions. Last November I went through several college days that were all the same: our school has such and such, this and that. After months of looking at applications and filling them out, I finally received an email notification about my application the best school in the state of Utah: Brigham Young University. I was a little afraid at first because there was one part of the application that did not get filled out properly and it was not corrected before the application deadline. It turns out that there was nothing to worry about. I'm IN! There is one catch. I applied for the fall semester, but to secure a spot there I must enroll for the summer semester as well. So the question is: do I go to college for a semester before I leave on a mission or not accept and work during the summer? That is killer.

Dear Readers, One thing that cannot be misconstrued every year involves this wonderful holiday named after St. Valentine, who lived back during the Roman Empire. Commercilization has slightly muddled the idea of what Valentine's day Commemorates. The day never was meant to emphasize lovers or their affection for one another. St. Valentine, or the many men by the name of Valentine during the early 4th and 5th centuries, did not agree with the Roman Empire when they tried to take men away from their female companions to enlist them in the army. St. Valentine secretly met couples in secret for years and preformed marriage ceremonies for them, thus freeing the men from the military obligations. So the next time you want to give a valentine, think of sticking it to the man. :)

Dear Readers, I have the cutest niece. She has this facination with something most of us would never even think of: Mary Poppins. We've been babysitting her this weekend and I kid you not; she has watched that movie about 12 times. Just this morning she woke up and went in to Grandma saying, "Bryce?" followed by my mother saying Bryce was still asleep. Without fail, she replied, "Poppins?" My mother then proceeded to watch it about 4 times just this morning. This afternoon my sister came over and now we're trying to get her to watch "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," another Dick Van Dyke classic. Dick is such a great guy. You may recognize him from the Dick Van Dyke Show, "Diagnosis: Murder" and of course "Mary Poppins." If you haven't ever watched him, I highly suggest doing so because of his great charisma.

Dear Readers, Wow, talk about a long weekend. It wasn't horrible, but it was sure long. Saturday and Sunday were both about 16 hour days full of vigorous activity. I would like to give a shout out of my utmost gratitude to Katie for making our CD in our Disney show. We were working on it for about 4 hours and finally we got it all done. Going to the M.A.C. took up my Saturday night, after my sister's birthday party. She's 24 now, isn't that weird? :) Tee-hee. I can just imagine the scowl she'll give me when she sees this post. We went out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, which isn't all that great if you ask me. Maybe it was just my dumpy mood that made it seems that way. At the M.A.C., I discovered how tiring it is to dance for hours on end. There were several dances where I didn't even know what I was doing, just twirling my partner around. I say my partner because they weren't always girls. Just for the record, though. I did NOT ask any of the guys to d

Dear Readers, I couldn't resist the urge to check my name on the latest craze: urban dictionary. No joke, this is the definition of Dale: An amazing guy who is super sexy and really smart. He is fun and whity and can some times be grumpy. He has serious mood swings but is mostly happy. If your boyfriend is a dale then you are really really really lucky because Dale's are great guys. He fights for what he wants. If dale gets mad you better whatch out because he can be dangerous. All around he is pretty great. What about Gus? Here: A man or woman that acts like a general fool, nerd, dork, and/or moron. Yep, that's me.

Dear Readers, I like to think of myself as a pretty optimistic person(if you find that untrue in the slightest, let me know). As for lately, there are only so many words that can describe how I've felt and optimistic isn't one of them. Up until lately, I couldn't tell you exactly when, being happy just came naturally and I didn't have to think about it much. Now, based on all the many things I have going that need to get done, positive attitude is hard to come by. It takes a lot of work and still doesn't seem to come. Re-reading what I've just written, my thought process creates a pretty negative feeling, exactly what I'm trying to avoid. Well, we'll just all have to get through the rest of this week unscathed and things will turn out just grand. :)

Dear Readers, So I have a question about a certain lady. No, I don't consider her special. I will grant she is very intelligent and does an excellent job with what she does...but she happens to a psychotic control-freak. That's what I've concluded. Who else would take the time out of a rehearsal that had been planned for months to lecture about commitment levels and using the limited time we have. If you hadn't already guessed, I'm talking about our talented choir director. Who else would get mad at her madrigal group for not being at rehearsals and then give them the week off? I'm not really frustrated by that fact, more just confused. No the thing that frustrates me is our director getting frustrated at the small things and comparing the madrigals to the boy's varsity basketball team. Why don't the basketball players miss practice? Easy: they want to be there. Basketball is why they joined the team. Choir? People are there to do the minimal possible to