I'm angry. Bitter, and feeling a little betrayed. However, after yelling at the mirror in the bathroom while trying to finish putting on mascara, I'm still angry. And then it comes to me, something from my college days - anger is one emotion catharsis doesn't work for.
Catharsis comes from Greek and means to cleanse or purge. Basically the idea is that 'venting' your anger will dissipate it. But again, anger is one emotion this doesn't work for. Hitting your pillow or yelling at the mirror just makes you more angry. Which is stupid.
After reading a couple articles on catharsis and anger (just to make sure the one class I was in when I learned this was correct), I'm sufficiently calm while writing this. Doesn't change the fact I'm pissed though.
I'm not going to elaborate because this blog was already the source of the issue. However, let me say this, I'm aware my blog is public and anyone can read it. I know that one has to be careful about what one puts on the internet (a certain incident with naming my place of employment in an angry post made me all too aware of that). If I feel I'm writing something of a sensitive nature, I'll take precautions to shield those involved if I feel it's okay to blog about. Nothing I write is intended to upset people.
But here's the flip-side, it's my blog. I maintain my rights to the freedom of speech. If I offend someone, that's their fault. (Wasn't that talk by Elder Bednar? Yep, found it here.) However, I am not an unreasonable person. Talk to me like an adult and don't pussyfoot around the issue. Don't play dumb to 'trap' me in my 'wrong-doing'. And most of all, don't start yelling at me when I'm trying to have a civilized conversation with you. That makes me angry and then I yell back, and then we accomplish nothing but more hurt feelings on all sides. Be calm, be upfront and direct, and ask nicely, you just may get what you seek. As it stands, I'm not changing what I wrote. I put it there for a reason, and you weren't named.
If you don't like what I write, don't read it.
On Thursday, June 9th, Shades of Brown competed in the Art City Days Battle of the Bands. I was lucky enough to get off early to make it down there. They did a good job, and Chase is improving :) However, their sound technician struggled - a lot. Apparently they booked so full that they didn't even have time to sound check stuff. Fail. So, I won't post the vids. However, here are some pics taken by the very talented Kari Ann Haskell of Kariann Photography.
As if Matt hadn't had enough of playing drums already, on Friday, June 10th, White Peaks had to play at the tattoo for the Utah Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I got off early to go up. I watched all of the band stuff, the BYU Air Force ROTC drill (which is always fun), and some of Molly's Revenge. I didn't stay for the Wicked Tinker's though. It worked out alright because we had to be back early in the morning for Matt to solo. :)
The band playing at the tattoo - presentation of the bands or something like that.
Saturday, June 11th, it was the Utah Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I took only a handful of pictures, but I did take videos :) Matt placed 2nd in both MSR and Hornpipe/Jig out of 3 - so that's improvement :)
Matt's MSR
Matt's Hornpipe/Jig
My random pictures from the day:
Over the years, one of the tent legs has gone missing. Swan solved the problem this year by employing the fence ;)
Order of Play
We came back from shopping to find Matt asleep in his chair - cute, isn't he? :)
These signs made me laugh - posted around the athletics field
Videos of the band's performance:
March Medley
Timed Medley
So, the very next weekend, Shades of Brown had TWO shows. Matt had to learn music pretty fast :) Remember how I work nights? Yeah, that sucks. Because of that, I couldn't go to Muse to see them play on Friday night. However, I was very available Saturday, June 4th to attend Mayhem Sound's Burst Your Own Bubble festival in our home town. Another friend of ours, the.freebie, has put this show on for a few years now. It is growing, and it is awesome :) Of course, Shades of Brown played. So preparted to be inundated with videos :)
Oh, and if you click on this link: Shades of Brown, it will take you to the band's Facebook page, where you should all go check out their vids, pics, and tracks - and then click the LIKE button ;)
Love is Made
Run the Risk
Break My Fall
Ready. Set. Love.
Remember how I told you to go to the band's FB page? If you go there and click on the Band Page link under the profile pic - you can find other vids as well, like from that Muse performance I couldn't make it to :) So go forth and LIKE :)
Some other exciting news - BYOB (Burst Your Own Bubble for those who've forgotten already) was a little bit of Battle of the Bands for studio time, and Shades of Brown won the acoustic stage vote! WOOT! There will be professional recordings up in the near future :)
Memorial Day weekend, Matt finally got something he has wanted for a very long time:
A drum set. (Sorry for the crappy quality, all I had was my phone.)
Here's a little breakdown of how this came about -
Matt and Curtis (because I work nights :p) went to a friend's band's concert.
They liked it.
Apparently there was talking involved and band found out Matt plays drums.
Matt asked me if he could buy a drum set. (Another friend was finally paying us back some money owed.)
Matt had already scoured the internet and looked at a few sets with another drummer friend who actually has played set lol.
Matt shows me this set and the price tag; I say "okay."
Saturday, we borrow the suburban and Curtis and pick up said drum set and set it up at Spencer's house.
Band likes what they hear, and Matt becomes the drummer for Shades of Brown.
I'm just glad the drum set doesn't live at my house. I think the neighbors would say the same ;)
So... my parents are trying to sell their house in order to move to Phoenix. That's some background you need :) Also, on May 7th was our stake baptism, where three of our kids were getting baptized! Unfortunately, I had to work that Saturday :p But, I still typed up the programs and words to the songs that were to be sung. However, in an effort to save on paper, and for the fact you don't need a full sheet of paper for a program, I designed them to be on half of a sheet. Unfortunately, I don't own a paper cutter, but my parents do :)
Just had to show off the program and lyrics. The programs were on cardstock, and the lyrics were on regular paper. I went with black and white so I didn't have to go buy colored paper or waste a lot of ink :)
Dad came in and heard us, and asked if we wanted it....to which Matt replied (in a very affirmitave tone) mayyyybeee...... My cute dad said if we wanted it, we could have it for $50, so we said yes :)
Dad doesn't own a truck anymore, and we only have cars, so we eventually got the grill back with the help of Matt's dad and brother. Thanks guys for letting us borrow the suburban and trailer, and for helping Matt carry the grill up the stairs! :D
Oh, and later (since it took awhile for us to pick up the grill), Dad said we didn't even have to worry about paying him for the grill. Sweet deal, no?
So I was really hoping to BBQ on Zoorasic Saturday, but as you can read in the post below, it rained. So no grilling for us. We did, however, finally manage to venture out and buy propane this last Saturday, May 21st :D
Matt made some really good burgers, and I had also purchased soda (on sale) and chips to complete the experience. Here are pics from the first time we used our BBQ!
Had to clean the grill first.
A poor picture, but proof Matt hooked it all up right - there's fire in there!
Our nummy burgers
Flippin' time!
Adding the cheese :)
Matt toasting his bun :)
Saturay was a great day! Before the grilling, we had ventured off to get a rock chip in Matt's windshield filled at Big O. Next door was our Young Men and Young Women's yard sale fundraiser, so I wandered over there and chatted with some ward friends :) Then we headed to Smith's for propane. Not knowing what to do for lunch, we went over to Papa Murphey's for some Pizza and watched Prince Caspian on USA. Later, I played a little Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. I'm glad Matt ended up getting it while he was sick last week. Aside from the fact we wanted to play it because Revelations will be coming out, it really isn't too bad of a game. :) When I got sick of that, we ended up watching Easy A on Netflix while Matt made our yummy dinner. A perfect 'summer' day :)
I think my title is witty, since, according to my biology courses, birds are really dinosaurs. Well, reptiles anyway. Feathers as modified scales, anyone? Moving on...
No baby canaries for us. The egg broke. Sad news. Not to mention, they never really got the hang of building an actual nest. Oh well. Sometimes Bandito still likes to chill in the basket. The odd thing is the two have actually been getting along now most of the time. They're not still trying to nest or anything, but now sometimes they'll both eat at the food dish at the same time (this never happened before!). Cute, silly canaries. :)
Here is a picture of the egg, in case anyone was wondering what canary eggs looked like.
Matt and I have a zoo membership, and we haven't quite used it enough to have paid for itself. (Part of the problem is Matt would rather go to the aviary than the zoo...) However, the weather was to be warm on Saturday, May 14th, and it was the opening day of Zoorasic Park! I was so excited because they had a dinosaur themed display ages ago when I was young, and I wanted to see what they would do this time around.
Let me just say, the zoo was packed! We drove around the north parking log, up the hill to the south parking lot, then back to the north parking lot where we finally found a spot. It was a lovely day. We were in shorts and I didn't even take a jacket. :) The dinosaurs were fun this time because instead of having a dinosaur exhibit, there were animatronic dinosaurs throught the zoo. :)
First, we went through Discovery Land and found that the Prairie Dogs had babies! :D
Yep, I also learned they eat sticks....
We found our first dinosaurs at the duck pond.
Matt with a Brachiosaurus
Suchomimus
Well, it is spring, so there were lots of babies - like these adorable Canada Goose goslings!
Next, we swung by the elephants. Zuri is a toddler now, and my has she grown!
Unfortunately, it was getting cold and windy. The first little falcon they released got blown off course, even. That's when we learned that they have radio transmitters, and they have momentarily lost birds before. They told us about one time they tracked a bird to the Wyoming border before they got it back. Craziness.
Well, it started to rain, and people started to leave, so they had to cancel the show. It was sad for us. The little falcon showed up again as we were all leaving, but a seagull spooked it off. We decided to stick out the rain and headed over to the lemurs. Surprisingly, the building wasn't super crowded like I'd thought it would be. The Ring-tailed Lemurs had recently had babies too, but they still had paper on their display with little looking windows torn into it, so we couldn't see them that well.
The rain died down a little, and we took the new bridge past the construction (which is coming along nicely) over to Asian Highlands, where we again took shelter in the viewing building of the leopard, who was also waiting out the rain in his lean-to.
Our canaries often 'enjoy' each other's company at least a couple of times per day. Our cutie Bethesda has subsequently been ripping the cage lining to shreds trying to make a nest. Unfortunately for her, she had no where to put these little strips of paper. Well one day, I awoke to find an egg at the bottom of the cage - so tiny! So tiny, in fact, that it fell through the grate on the bottom of the cage and was resting in the tray where the paper is. Bandito was all fluffed on the ground trying to sit on it, so I knew I had to take it out so they wouldn't try to hatch it. The poor little egg was cracked anyway.
Knowing that if you take their eggs away, birds will try to nest again, Matt and I picked up a nesting basket and nesting material on Saturday. The canaries have been going to town! Their cage is a complete mess. They LOVE the little string nesting material, but they don't seem to love it in the basket - so it is strewn all about the cage. Sometimes Bethesda will put some back in the basket, but most of the time she carries it all around the cage and ends up dropping it on the ground. I've since given up trying to put it back in the basket. As I type this, Bethesda seems to be trying to weave a nest, so we'll see how it goes. Bandito likes to sit in the basket with no strings in it - the little bugger.
Here are a couple pics of the nesting activities :)
Bethesda has a beakful
What the bottom of the cage looks like.... sigh
