Never having been a churchgoing gal until I got a job in a church choir in college, I don't know much about Biblical stories. Fortunately, my homeschooled-yet-rebellious boyfriend is all up on the Bible knowledge, so if I ever need to know something, I can ask him. One of my books commented on the use of music as a relaxation technique throughout history by referencing David and King Saul. I asked Brian to explain this story to me. Here's his version, straight from the Yahoo messenger window:
"david was a shepherd for his father and wahtev, and there's the war going on with the philistines and it's all a big deal
we're talking saving private ryan here.
and david was a well known for his music abilities like playing lute on the hillside n shit.
totall hippie
but a bad ass none the less...and see this is why it can't be true, because there are stories of how he killed like, a bear with his bare hands, and killed a lion with his famous sling.
musicians are nowhere near that physical
so he's hanging out somewhere near the war zone, i guess cause his brother was fighting
that was it, he used to take shit to his brothers at the battle.
and the king was in his tent all stressin out cause they were getting their chosen asses kicked
y'know they were the chosen people
so david's all I'll play music for the king and he'll be all chill and then you guys can fight again
so they bring him in and he plays some blues and a little classic rock just to set the mood.
he gets things goin and everybody's much happier and david's all "in" for helping the king
then he goes wacko and says "oh I can defeat the big giant dude with my sling!"
you know the rest."
If church told stories that way, everyone would go!
In doing research for this group project in my communications class, I came across this article in American Music Teacher, Jun/Jul 2005:
"Playing a Musical Instrument Found to Reverse Stress
A groundbreaking study recently published in the Medical Science Monitor shows for the first time that playing a musical instrument can reverse multiple components of the human stress response on the genetic level.
The study's principal investigator, Barry Bittman, M.D., of the Mind-Body Wellness Center in Meadville, Pennsylvania, says these finding shed new light on the value of active music participation and extend an understanding of individualized human biological stress responses on an unprecedented level.
The research team led by Bittman included researchers from Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Applied Biosystems, the developer of the original technology that led to the successful mapping of the human genome, announced in June 2000.
The research shows that the stress-reduction impact was far greater for individuals participating in their first group keyboard lesson than for subjects who simply relaxed and read newspapers and magazines.
Our preliminary findings demonstrate that active participation in a group keyboard program was far more effective at reversing stress signatures than simply relaxing and reading newspapers and magazines," says Bittman. "This is intriguing from an integrative lifestyle perspective. With ongoing research, recreational music making could potentially serve as a rational stress-reduction activity, along with other lifestyle strategies that include healthy nutrition and exercise."
The study was supported by Yamaha Corporation of American and Applied Biosystems."
Cool stuff, yes?
Surviving this semester will be nothing short of a miracle.
It's hard to say exactly, but things aren't looking terrific for my mom's collection of Hallmark ornaments after the storm. We found some of them (erm, in one of our neighbors living rooms, where the storage building was blown), but all that we've found were soaked, and most found outside their boxes were broken. Today I thought I might visit eBay and see what it would take to restore my mom's favorites.
The fourth in the Frosty Friends series is about to go for $110. What the eff, I declare.
Granted, that's the most popular and one of the oldest series, but still. I have seen this ornament on our tree every year, and now someone's selling one for over $100. Blah.
I realize this is totally unlikely, but if anyone out there in the Vox universe knows of a good place (online or not online) to find old Hallmark ornaments, please let me know.
Well, temporarily at least.
As my parents spend 1-2 months living in a hotel, I get to keep Chloe, the cat formerly known as Tashi. Of course, this means I feel compelled to spoil her and have all sorts of fun I don't normally get to have in my no-pets apartment. Yesterday my mom and I made a trip to PetSmart, and in addition to getting her some toys we found this crazy cat mat thingie, recommended to us by a lady buying toys for her cat. It contains what is appropriately called "zoom-around-the-room catnip," and has made Chloe a complete drug addict. The cat. Is. Insane.
Now, don't get me wrong. She's pretty crazy a lot of the time. (As a matter of fact, her favorite thing to do in my apartment is hide, wait till I walk past, then zoom past me in the direction I'm going, effectively scaring the shit out of me.) But this has taken her madness to the power of 10. It's craziness!
Enjoy this craptastical quality, soundless video:
Today I realized that no matter what, I've got my guitar. And I'm completely aware of how cheesy that may sound, but it's a pretty powerful comfort.
i <3 my guitar.
It's no secret I desperately want a cat. As you might remember, back in August the universe was sending me cats, even though I feel certain the universe is aware that my apartment does not allow them. The most memorable of these was an adorable little black-and-white kitten who I just so happened to take two pictures of on my cell phone:
So! This past weekend I was forced to get a new phone due to my LG Chocolate's general suckage. (Just after the one year warranty was up, the touch screen starts acting funny--either not working at all or repeatedly pressing buttons that I only pressed once. This is especially annoying if the button is "send" and the phone continually redials after I've hung up.) I also got a micro SD card and adapter in order to save the 150-ish pictures/movies I had on my old phone. I found the two above pictures and wondered about my little kitten--I never saw him again.
Fast forward a week to today, when I pull into my apartment's parking lot and notice near the House of 1,000 Cats that's across the street a small but adult black and white cat. I think, "Man, look at his white paws. And his absurdly large ears. It couldn't be...?" After some persuasion I convince him to come over to me and give him some lovins... And confirm the weird little white-lip marks on both this cat and the pictures of the kitten!
He's still pretty tiny and very playful. Except now he has the sort of nervous-crazy thing happening that the other cats that hang out at House of 1,000 Cats have--always moving and swishing his tail (thus the blurriness of some pictures). It's sooo hard not to take him in, but no! I must resist. At least this time he's not a tiny kitten crying outside my door, I suppose. I'm so glad to see he's okay!!
As has happened before, I napped earlier, still went to bed at a reasonable hour, and woke up remembering one of my own long-forgotten songs. Muscle memory is a miraculous thing; if I can get myself to think about what the song sounded like, then just clear my head and play, I can usually remember most of an old song, if not the entire thing.
Then I found this post under the tag of "songwriting" and thought, "What the hell? I have no memory of that song." After a few minutes I have some tiny memory of writing it, but cannot remember at all what it sounded like. Which is disappointing, as it was the only song I ever wrote on piano and liked.
Of course, all this thinking of old songs has me remembering songs--but not how to play them. They're not clear enough in my head for me to even try. Someday I'll be smart enough to actually WRITE THINGS DOWN. Preferably in a system of notation that will still make sense to me five years later.
Bla-diddy-bla.
So at something like 5:15 this morning, I was awakened by THE LOUDEST BOOM IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE. As in, I thought an earthquake was happening and my building was going to fall over and die until my brain, bless it, processed the fact that nothing was shaking. Furthermore, this boom (I can't even say "rumble," because it doesn't do it justice) continued for a few seconds at full volume before I heard it roll away--and I did hear it roll away, which was odd and did nothing to make me feel better. I went from fully asleep to huge-eyes awake in about .000002 seconds, which has probably done some serious damage to the part of my brain that commands sleep. I always imagine my body is like a giant office/factory, and right now I imagine the supervisor of my Sleep Center is quivering in his khakis under his desk. (In other news, how sexist am I that I imagined a supervisor in my own female brain was a male? More on this later. And by "later," I mean never.)
After a few solid minutes of remaining frozen in my bed awaiting the apocalypse, I decided to do the pathetic thing and call my boyfriend. In the middle of my trying to explain to his still-75%-asleep self what happened, a ridiculously bright flash of lightning illuminates my room, followed almost immediately by more unholy thunder. (What a fun phrase--unholy thunder.) Finally it becomes clear--that was... thunder that woke me up? Really? I proceeded to call my mommy, who was much more awake due to the tornado sirens going off in her county.
I have lived in Alabama for 22 years, four months, and several days, commonly referred to as my entire life. I have a)never heard thunder as loud/long-lasting as that, and b)never been reeeaaally afraid of a storm. It makes no sense to live in Alabama and be afraid of storms, because you'll spend the better part of the year pissing yourself. But now, of course, I'm freaked out, and every flash of lightning sends me cringing (and occasionally squealing like a little child). It's been over thirty minutes and I can't get myself back to sleep (damn that supervisor! Get out from under your desk, you pansy!!), so I hoped that looking at a computer screen would help get me tired again. Back to bed I go!
