Music and Lyrics

Dear Reader, Today it came to my attention that this blog is approaching 400 posts. It is a little while in the future, but I wanted to start a poll. What should I do that has to do with the number 400 to celebrate? There are many things a guy could do that have to do with the number 400: 1. I could run 400 miles by the end of the year. (Hence the title of the post...) 2. I could fold 400 paper cranes. (I've done that before. It takes forever) 3. I could hug 400 people in a week.  There are lots of things that could be possibilities. However, I need your help to decide. For right now, I will be asking for ideas from you, dear reader. Just comment below with your idea or send me an email/Facebook message. Or text me if you have my number. After gathering several ideas, we will create a survey with the most interesting ideas and post it here and on other social media to decide what will happen.  Share what you think I should do! Of course I will doc...

Dear Reader, Well, all I want for Christmas is to a life-time free of painful dentist visits. In preparation for an international studies program, there have been several dentist visits in my schedule lately. However, I want to share with you that the most significant thing about these visits is the lack of pain I've had. It has been quite surprising. Here is a little history of previous dental visits: vomiting mid-procedure, screaming, and being completely drugged for a week post-procedure. None of these were pleasant experiences. This time is very different. I owe it all to my Heavenly Father. I went in last week for a checkup and I was told that my list of dental tasks included a root canal, a crown and several fillings. That is NOT what I wanted to hear based on my history. A few days later I went in for the root canal. While waiting in the patient chair, I said a quick prayer. The exact uttered words escape me, but they were most likely something like, "Heavenly...

Dear Reader, Have I ever mentioned how great my dad is? I am certainly lucky to have him. My father follows in the footsteps of my grandparents as a person who is incredibly patient, intellectual, talented and bald (See photo above). Seriously, I can only remember a handful of times where he has lost control of his emotions. Actually the only I can think of off the top of my head is a certain basketball game during a stake tournament. Even then, he wasn't playing. He was the referee and had to raise his voice to a player who was out of line. I feel the need to emphasize that the player was WAY out of line. The main point is that my dad a very patient man.  He is also very intellectual. He may not seem like it because he doesn't talk a lot, but he is very logical when he thinks and can make a good argument on just about any topic. There was one night that we discussed at length (about 30 minutes) the quality of the numbers 2 and 3. We were trying to determine which...

Dear Readers, That title actually has very little significance for this post. I thought you ought to know. Here's just a little update on what is going on in never-ending-music-land. Today we had a rehearsal with The Mountain West Voices . Yes, we are pretty awesome...the whole 8 of us who showed up. Anyway, we had a good long talk about what we want to accomplish with the chorus in this coming year. It was a hard conversation for me to be a part of because I won't be here in the fall, but I gave my opinion when asked. In other news, there will be somekind of barbershop arrangement of 'If I Never Knew You' from Pocahontas  in the future. The identity of the arranger is still in question. So, I guess I'll just share an awesome video with you today. Enjoy!

Dear Reader, Do you remember a few years back when Susan Boyle did so well on Britain's Got Talent  and become immensely famous? She became famous for the song that is the basis for today's post. She sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables . For those of you who don't know, the entire story of Les Miserables is kind of a downer. The most depressing part is the story of Fantine, the woman who sings "I Dreamed a Dream." She is a single mother who works to support her daughter. At the point where she regales the audience with "I Dreamed a Dream," she has fallen into prostitution and is at the end of her ropes financially, spiritually and emotionally. She reminisces about her days with her lover who left her and how she had a dream when life was good. One of the lines in the song states, "there are dreams that cannot be and there are storms we cannot weather." In other words, she is at the point where there is no point to contin...

Dear Reader, Today is a short entry. I simply want to point out the correlation between being physically active and the ability to dance/sing. This connection didn't really sink in until the past couple weeks when rehearsing with my Barbershop Quartet. The past couple weeks, I have been noticing that my breathing has been off and it has been harder to sing. Then, a couple weeks ago, my roommates and I went running. Back in high school, I was on the cross-country team and ran all the time. With that in mind, I figured running a couple of miles wouldn't be that hard. WRONG. I felt like it was the most difficult run in my life! However, I noticed that a couple days after that run, my singing started to improve. That is when I realized that I need to be more active. This summer I have not been doing anything. I dance during the school year and run from class to class. However, during the summer all I do is meander to work every day and then come home and sit on my rear-end. ...

Dear Reader, Happy Independence Day! I don't like to say, "Happy 4th of July!" because I like to remember why we commemorate the holiday. It is a great day to remember what freedoms we have in our country and what has been given to achieve and maintain those freedoms. In the Lundstrom Family, Independence Day weekend is also significant because we make time for our family reunion. What is that like? Allow me to elaborate on our fun-filled days together. Imagine this: 94 cousins, brothers, sisters, moms, dads, children, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles and any other relation you can think of. Add $60-worth of fireworks, 25ish rubber balls, a couple of soccer balls, a Frisbee, card games (Phase 10, Uno, etc), a park, some cones, horse shoes, softball, a BBQ, a couple hundred water balloons, some water guns, 3 blow-up pools, enough food for the people mentioned above, a hammock, and a plethora of chairs. Fit all of this into a 48-hour period. That is just the beginning...

Dear Reader, Sarah Bareilles wrote a song about saying what needs to be said. The song says we should say what we want to say and not be afraid to do so. The song is really a challenge to the listener. I think it is a challenge to those who have a hard time deciphering the difference between staying silent to avoid contention and staying silent to avoid contention. Does that make sense? It probably doesn't. I'll explain. Here are the lyrics to Sarah Bareilles' song to give a little more background (Without the repeated chorus lines):   You can be amazing You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug You can be the outcast Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love Or you can start speaking up Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do When they settle ‘neath your skin Kept on the inside and no sunlight Sometimes a shadow wins But I wonder what would happen if you Say what you wanna say And let the words fall out Honest...