I Throw My Hands up in the Air Sometimes

So Breanna and I actually made a second video. You can tell this one is her creation as she is more editing savvy (plus she actually has editing software besides windows movie maker). Don't be offended windows movie maker. I still love you.

Anyway, this one is a music video to Dynamite. All I had to do for the video was fail at everything. Ha ha. Enjoy!

Video Idea

You know how I mentioned that I made a video while I was at Breanna's? Well, I've finished editing it just now! Take a look!

November Adventures

I know it's late, but I don't have to work tomorrow and I don't really feel like going to bed yet. Besides, I'm overdue for a blog post.

I hope you all have had a wonderful November. We didn't go anywhere for Thanksgiving this year. Just hung out at home with each other. Megan and I had to work on Black Friday thus keeping us here. We also had some snow so it was probably better that we didn't travel anyway. I hope you all took some time to think of what you're thankful for. I'm grateful I was able to spend the day with my family. The only thing I can actual remember voicing that I am thankful for on Thanksgiving was toilet paper. Silly me, but it's true nonetheless.

Anyway, the week before Thanksgiving, I got to go on a little adventure. I went to visit a friend of mine in Colorado for a few days. It was so much fun! It turns out I took a bunch of video, so you know what that means! I've got to put all the bits together to a form a little video travel log which I may or may not post on here.

I'd only been to Colorado once before, but I remembered liking it and it helped that I was going to see a friend. While I was there, it struck me how beautiful a place it was even though it was so different from my home. I'm convinced that you can find beauty wherever you go.

While I was there, we did all sorts of adventurous things like go to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which was awesome by the way), make videos, eat junk food, shop, watch movies, and go up to the mountains where we had a nice little encounter with some elk, a frozen lake, and some icicles.

Also, because of the trip and Thanksgiving and Black Friday, I pretty much fell behind on NaNoWriMo. There's very little chance of me being a winner this year, but that's all right. There's always next year, and just because life happened and I wasn't able to complete 50,000 words in 30 days doesn't mean I'm going to quit. Besides, I feel like I've learned a bit about myself and writing with this experience. Good things! I suppose I'll touch more on that in a couple days. I'm still writing just to see how far I can make it, and I do plan on finishing the novel. Woot! Woot!

Today was a good day. It was like a little reunion, and who doesn't like reunions? Okay. Yes. There are some exceptions... But this was a good reunion. I'm about to talk in church lingo, so I hope you're ready for this.

I went to my parent's ward for church today, the same ward I grew up in. Why? Because two of the guys I grew up with just returned from their missions, and although they don't live in this area anymore, they came to speak in church. So a couple friends and I all made sure we'd be there to support them and welcome them back. After all, we haven't seen them for two whole years. It was good to catch up a little with them and their families. I was so happy and excited to see everyone, I was probably a little more boisterous than I needed to be. Ha ha. It happens. Hopefully I didn't scare any small children. After church, I came home, played some games with the fam, and watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It doesn't get much better than that.

So life is good. I just found out that I can apply for early registration in a publishing program I want to get into. Wish me luck! I've just got to get all the paperwork together and cross my fingers that they'll accept me. If they do, I'll be heading back to Colorado!

To Do List

Things I've done today:

- Made a video
- Played some hangman
- Wrote a couple paragraphs for NaNoWriMo
- Ate some delicious white chicken chili
- Made a playlist I chose to entitle "The Happy List"

Things I still have to do today:
- Write about 5,000 words to catch up with NaNoWriMo
- Get dressed
- Put a way the clean clotes that have been sitting on my bed for three days
- Read some Harry Potter
- Finish this blog post

What a productive day off from work.

P.S. Happy Veteran's Day!

If My Life Were A Musical...

The other day I was having a conversation with a friend and I all of a sudden burst out (as much as you can burst out through typed text that it), "Gah! I'm so amazed at the truly awesome power and potential of music!"

Want to know what I was listening to at the time? Of course you do. So I'll tell you, but I'll also let you listen to it so you can agree with me about how awesome it is. I was listening to the track "Overture and Prisoner of the Crusades" from the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves soundtrack (composer Michael Kamen). I know most of you have heard a portion of this tune because although you might not have seen the movie, the tune has been used in a Disney advertisement. So, without further ado, here's a little snippet of one of my favorite bits of composition ever.





This idea of the potential of music had been going through my mind for the las few days. It's true isn't it? Any movie with a good soundtrack should bare testimony to that. I find that the music plays a big part in creating the appropriate emotion for a scene.

I think we can sometimes see evidence of the power of music based on our own emotion and what music we choose to listen to at that time. When your sad do you listen to sad music? When your significant other just broke up with you do you listen to breakup songs (maybe even ones with a tone of vengence to them)? When you're extremely happy, do you listen to music that just makes you want to jump around and scream with happiness?

I'm probably making blanket statements. Perhaps I'm completely off the mark, but hopefully you understand what I'm saying.

One thing that amazes me about music is how you can take the same tune and play it a little differently (such as, with other instruments) and get a different effect.

Hopefully, you all have figured out how much of a nerd I am by now, so what comes next will not surprise you in any way. The one example I've had of the same tune played differently effect is with video game music. A lot of it has been orchestrated or done on piano and various other things. Here are a couple examples:







I'm just in love with music :)


P.S. Sorry the Robin Hood footage kind of sucks. It didn't look that bad on my computer. Ha ha just close your eyes and listen to it :)