Metaphor

Another story that I wrote some time ago.  When I wrote it, I had just had my seizure and was still coming to terms with what had happened.  In an attempt to better see things from her perspective, I wrote this story from Allison's perspective.  Like with the other story, I changed the details, but the basic story is biographical.

Yoked

I've been following the lesson plan for Sunday School this year, which means I've been reading the New Testament.  After the Book of Mormon, the New Testament is the standard work with which I am most familiar, which means that I'm not so much following the narrative as I am looking for details that I missed before.

Recently I read where the Savior tells us to "take [his] yoke upon [us]" and find rest.  I looked up what a yoke was, even though I already knew what I would find.  What really helped was an image to better help us visualize what the yoke is.

Again, I knew what a yoke looked like, but this time, I really needed to see it.  While I know that the common interpretation is that we're strapped to one side with the Savior on the other, this time I saw it differently.  Christ is the master, the one who places the yoke of responsibility upon us, but who then is sharing the yoke with us?  Our spouse.  This simple metaphor that he gave is about eternal marriage.  While we're alone, we can still have a relationship with Christ, but we have just a basic harness to pull.  Once we make the highest covenant we can make in this life, we are part of a partnership.

I've been pulling my yoke all alone for awhile now.  I look forward to finalizing the end of my current partnership and finding someone who will pull her share of the yoke.

Tuesdays with Media: Lewis & Clark

When I first started my career as a technical writer with my internship while I was still in college, I started a habit that I still employ today: listening to instrumental music while in the office to block out distractions.  The music blocks out other noises around me (like conversations) and the lack of words means the language center of my brain won't be busy while I'm trying to write.  A convenient way to do this is to go to Pandora and type in a musician that I like.  A nice bonus of doing this is that I discover new artists that I can appreciate.  That's how I came to know the music of Tommy Emmanuel.

Tommy Emmanuel is an Australian virtuoso guitarist that proves that the guitar can be the most versatile instrument on the planet in right hands.  He first became a professional musician at age six (he's nearly sixty today), so I think it's safe to say that he's well-practiced.  I often link to other songs that I also like so that you can discover more of an artist's catalog, but I honestly haven't come across anything from Mr. Emmanuel not worth listening to, so instead I'll link to his YouTube channel and invite you to explore what he has to offer.

Today's song is Lewis & Clark, who you'll probably recognize as the American explorers tasked by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the western United States and make it to the Pacific Ocean.  So, why did an Aussie write a song about American historical figures?  I can't say.  What I can say is that the song is beautiful and the name fits the music.  The first minute is spent on the introduction, but every journey requires preparation.  Once the song proper starts, the tempo picks up and there's a real sense of excitement and adventure, but there's also some uncertainty and trepidation in there because when you're starting a new adventure, that often means heading into the unknown.  This song fits all of these emotions perfectly and still shows off Tommy's skills (watch closely and you can sometimes see him strum with his pinky while still picking with his other four fingers).

I hoped you enjoyed the return of Tuesdays with Media and all of the songs featured during this month dedicated to instrumental music.  Are there any themes or genres you'd like to see me tackle in the future?

Birthday 2015

Today is my birthday, but if you're reading this blog, you probably already knew that.

On Saturday, I celebrated by taking Ian to lunch.  That's right, I asked to buy lunch for my brother.  I've been living close to the edge of my ability to cover my expenses for so long that now that I have the means to pay for someone else's meal, I wanted to give it a try.  It wasn't bad; I'll have to do it again some time.

After lunch, we picked up Clara and Henry from their playdate and, after some running around outside with the dog, we went bowling.  I have to admit that it was kind of funny that, even with the bumpers up, Henry and Clara beat both Ian and I (for the record, I got last place).  It was a nice reminder that games, while competitive, are fun because of the people you're with, not because of your final score.

Finally, we had dinner back at their place followed by birthday cake.  Ian had asked me to make my own cake since I'm the baker, but that seemed a bit wrong; instead, I asked my good friend Lori Simcik to bake it for me and she enthusiastically agreed.  It was a delicious German Chocolate cake with old fashioned icing that's much better than the stuff you get from stores or restaurants these days.

Thank you to everyone that has, and surely will, send well wishes my way.  This birthday is during a transitionary time for me, which makes it all the more appropriate: after all, what is a birthday if not a transition from one year to the next?

Parable

I wrote today's story over a year ago.  I wrote it to help me better understand the struggle of having someone close to you dealing with something as terrible as addiction.  Now with major changes happening in my life, I wanted to share why things lasted as long as they did when it was pretty obvious that we were headed to ruin.

The Sadder Thing

On Monday, I took some time off of work, went to my county's Clerk's office, and filed for divorce.

Yeah.

While I was standing in line, directly in front of me was a couple waiting to get married.  Not applying for a marriage license but actually getting married.  I thought to myself, What's sadder, filing for divorce or getting married in jeans with no family present?  But even after just a few seconds, I realized that I was harshly judging this couple.  It was 9 am on a Monday morning, so all of their friends and family were probably at work.  And maybe they didn't dress up not because they didn't care, but because they're poor and didn't have anything nicer.  They were both wearing white tops and they looked well-groomed, so they took at least some care.

So, I realized that the question that I sarcastically asked myself pointed to the simple fact that joining your life to another person's, even in less-than-ideal circumstances, is an expression of love and hope.

And getting divorced is just sad.

Tuesdays with Media: Sahara 72

There are a lot of different subgenres of jazz.  Some these are ignored and end up fading into the background of history.  With today's example, that happened, but it only applies to the subgenre's title.

At the time that "Sahara 72" was released by the Bobby Hughes Experience on the album Fusa Riot, acid jazz was still a viable form of jazz.  It is generally considered to have been around since the '80s, but in the last decade or so, the name has become less favorable, with many artists opting to call their music jazz funk or jazz rap, or even neo soul.  It's the same kind of music, with elements of funk, hip-hop, and electronica, just with a new name.

Now, I hope that you listened to the song posted today because I'm about to share something that should surprise you, but only if you heard the song: this song is by a Norwegian band.  "Bobby Hughes" is a pseudonym of Espen Horne, who likely thought that he'd be more popular in America if he had a more familiar sounding name.  His style has a nice funk sound to it, but it's also a nice fusion of other genres with some soul-grooves, some Latin beats, some super smooth stylings, and some stuff that I don't even know how to categorize except that it's awesome.

I should point out that to me, all of these songs sound unique and original, but I've been listening to jazz for years -- to the less experienced, it may all sound more similar than I think it is.  That's not a dig at the uninitiated, it's just that I've had more time to notice nuances that others might not.  It's like how my artist grandma can look at a painting and notice techniques and colors that were used that go completely unnoticed by me.

Still, if you want to add some variety to your playlist with some funky Nordic fusion-jazz, I honestly can think of no other options.  But with a band like the Bobby Hughes Experience, what other options could you need?

Chastain Dinner

Once a year, my ward puts on an event called the Chastain Dinner.  The name came from a family that used to live in the ward in some place called Chastain that did the same sort of thing, so we named it after it's birthplace.

What is a Chastain Dinner?  It's an adults-only dinner where all of the attendees are put into groups ahead of time so that they can plan their theme.  Once a theme is decided upon, we're encouraged to decorate our tables, dress up in costumes, even plan our table's dinner menu according to the theme.  My table decided on the Lego Movie as our theme and we did build-your-own tacos (both in reference to "Taco Tuesday" mentioned in the movie and to go along with Legos being a building toy).  I made the taco meat (both chicken and beef), as well as fresh guacamole and pico de gallo.  (Quick side note: I've never made pico de gallo before and I wasn't sure how much to make for eight people.  I diced up 16 tomatoes and then added enough onion, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and salt until it tasted right.  It tasted great -- I got lots of compliments -- but I made nearly a gallon's worth of salsa.  Everyone took leftovers with them, so I guess it worked out.)  We also had cheese and crackers cut to look like Legos and brownies with colored icing and M&Ms on top that also looked like Legos.

And then there were the costumes.  We had an Emmet, a Wyldstyle, a Vitruvius, a Batman, a Good Cop/Bad Cop, a Benny the Astronaut, an Abraham Lincoln (me), even a Unikitty.  I'm working on getting some pictures of our table, but there was a lot of care taken in making everything look right.

Other table themes included a Hawaiian luau, a Peruvian Barbecue, March Madness, and being stuck at the airport.  After we'd had a chance to eat and socialize, we announced our table's theme to the rest of the group and got a chance to vote on which table we liked best.  While we were allowed to vote for our own table (a change from last year), I decided that it would be more fair if I kept the candidates to the other tables.  Even so, the Lego Movie table won by a landslide.

The Chastain Dinner is one of those things that's kind of hard to explain unless you've been there already, but it's a lot of fun and I'm glad that I participated again this year.

Gaining More Than Losing

On Wednesday night, I was asked to participate the following night in what my ward calls "shepherding."  It mostly consists of visiting less active members and letting them know that we miss them, but we have the advantage of having the appointments made for us ahead of time.

When I was asked, I hesitated.  I've been under a lot of stress with the divorce and working out has been an important relief that I've come to rely upon and Thursday was a day I had scheduled for gym time.  After some ruminating, I reluctantly agreed, with the caveat that I might be late since I'd need to make it home in time to eat dinner and then make it to the church.

At work yesterday, there was a luncheon meeting, with lunch provided.  I was not part of this meeting, so I ate my regular lunch, but there were leftovers that were up for grabs.  That meant that I didn't have to worry about dinner, which certainly made things easier.

Once I got to church, I was teamed up with one of the full-time missionaries.  I had had a tiring day at work, so I wasn't in the best of moods to go out with some bright-eyed kid.  Surprisingly, it was exactly what I needed.  He asked a lot of questions about me, which gave me a chance to let off some steam, and neither of the appointments we had answered their doors, so I didn't have to awkwardly introduce myself to someone that wasn't really interested in meeting me.

While I still take my gym time seriously as an important way to manage my stress, I don't mind that I gave up one day to serve the Lord and His children.

Breaking the Fantasy

On a recent episode of Elementary, the case in the episode involved the stealing of a refrigerant that is being discontinued, known throughout the industry as R22.  (All refrigerants are assigned a code starting with "R" for "refrigerant" and a number that does mean something else beyond being random numbers, but I haven't picked up all the details yet.)  Anyway, in the episode in question, R22 was stolen because, according to the show, it's getting harder and harder to come by.

Except that it isn't.  While it's true that R22 is being phased out, it is still used in a lot of systems.  Also, the show said that eventually the fluid would be illegal to use, but that's not true either.  It will be illegal to manufacture, but if you have a system that uses it, you're fine to use what's available.

Why does this matter?  It doesn't really, but I thought it was pretty cool that I noticed some false information in a fictional program.  Often, as audience members, we just take what characters say as factual, especially if they're someone with authority, like Sherlock Holmes, who is authority an on practically everything.  But actually, the writers just googled some information on the matter and put in some details they thought would make the story more interesting.  I'm sure that the vast majority of viewers didn't catch the error, just like I don't catch other errors on other subjects; but I caught this one.

So, I've been at Danfoss for about three and a half months and I already know enough about refrigeration systems to ruin an episode of a crime drama.  Like I said, I think that's pretty cool.