Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Time

I just posted this on myspace. It's one of the few crazy thoughts I've had of late that I actually remembered until I could write it down. Anyway, I thought I'd post it here as well.

I had a very interesting night at work. I would look at the time and all night it seemed like it couldn't possibly be as late as it was. One would think that would mean that time just sailed by, but nothing could be further for the truth. With the exception of the last hour or so, it seems like the evening was rather dragging. I tried to explain my paradox to a co-worker, but she couldn't relate at all. Have you ever felt that time was going by quickly and oh so slowly at the same time? That was my paradox. It started me wondering if that is what it really is to be a little outside of time. It never seems to really pass, but you arrive at your destination before you know it.

Later I started giving this a bit more thought (maybe I should have quit while I was ahead) and I figured that my co-worker couldn't relate because she didn't have children because that is what pregnancy frequently was like for me.. time crawled yet simultaneously was over with before I knew it. I suppose parenthood has been like that in general. Each year the years go by more and more quickly, yet sometimes things still seem to go so slowly.

I don't know if there is any real point to this other than as an observer of my life passing by. Now, there's a morbid thought! ;)

I hope you all had a great day.

God's blessings,

Melanie

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Twin Falls, ID






Occasionally I travel to Twin Falls. Most of the time, it is for Rock the Canyon, which unfortunately will not be happening this year. I found that out from a friend in Twin Falls who's been involved with it in the past. The last time I ventured to Twin Falls was to see Mark Schultz last week with Big Daddy Weave. I won't go into details as I covered them somewhat thoroughly in another blog.

There are very few cities that both my husband and I really enjoy visiting and Twin Falls is definitely one of them. It's really a pretty town for the most part, and I love the Snake River, the gorge there and the scenery in general. However, one of my very favorite things is really a small waterfall near Centennial Park. It's there consistently ever year. There is something about waterfalls that I generally just love. So, on the way out of town, my husband took me to one of my favorite spots with my digital SLR. I did get a few nice shots, although I'd like to go back a little later on when the snow in the backdrop has all melted and get some shots on a tripod, if I can figure out a good place stable enough to put one.

Here are a few of the pics from one of my favorite places:

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Mark Schultz Concert





I made the trek from Northern UT, about a 3-1/2 hr drive to Twin Falls to see Mark, Big Daddy Weave and David Klinkenberg (sp) last night and it was well worth the drive. I am in the habit of arriving quite early because I like being in the front, meeting people, and because waiting in the hotel room I was just getting rather antsy. LOL So, it was a bit of a wait before the concert started. I met three other people from Utah who were behind me in line and we chatted a bit. I had the foresight to bring along a book and read a bit. I learned a few things while I was waiting, like the concert was SOLD OUT, which was great! I felt bad for the people looking for tickets, but it's just so good to see so many Mark Schultz fans out here. It's been so long since he's been anywhere close. David Klinkenberg was absolutely amazing. He asked if we knew the difference between a fiddle and a violin and a few offered their suggestions. His response was that it was the number of teeth in the player's mouth. LOL Or something to that effect. He played one song and then Big Daddy Weave took the stage. As the always do, Big Daddy Weave did a wonderful job of balancing entertainment with worship in a way that totally blessed me. In that way, the were a fitting balance to Mark's style. When they were finished Mike Weaver came out and did the World Vision presentation and it was probably one of the best I've seen. I felt it was exactly the way it should be done, with each person asking God what they should do. Then there was a 15 minute break and they set up the stage for Mark. All I can say is \"Wow\". As usual, Mark is mind boggling on stage. The songs were amazing, and I almost cried to finally hear Walking Her Home, the finished live version. Mark's set was really quite long. The voices of other people joining in, especially on the worship part of the set were heartening and beautiful. There was a spontanaiety to some of the worship all night. I love hearing One Love with the crowd really getting into it. Afterward I spoke to Mark briefly and did the photo thing, bought the light blue shirt, and talked a bit with Mike Weaver. I really like him quite a lot. He's such a sweetheart, and fun to talk to. Then I waited for David to work on taking down his booth. He kept forgetting I wanted a pic. LOL So, I finally left (they were probably hoping I'd finally get out of there) and headed to get some dinner, and then back to the hotel for some much needed rest.


This morning I woke up later than expected because I have no idea how that hotel alarm clock works, apparently. :) But I still made it in time for a Hampton Inn breakfast. After I showered and changed clothes Ed and I headed out to the water fall near Centennial Park. There was still snow on the ground in the shady spots, alongside some green growing on the rocks nearby. Waterfalls are one of my favorite things, so I played with all the exposure settings on my camera and took a few pics. I'll post a few when I get that far. :)


God's blessings, Melanie


Saturday, March 10, 2007

Look Ma, I won!!!

I just received an e-mail saying that I won an autographed Copeland poster for being one of a group of people that received the most hits on their banners. I was surprised. I just like Copeland, so I love promoting them, really. So there is a new contest which I probably won't win, since I'm getting a very late start, and this is the new banner. It's kinda pretty, dontcha think? :)

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Jars of Clay photos















I managed to get a few pics from the camera to the computer before it ran out of battery power. Now, where did I put those batteries? ;) At least it's a start. I took the pics that I'm not in. Dan took the pic of David and I. David is the bus driver. The group shot is me with the band Needtobreathe. They are quite good!

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

It's a Beautiful Day

There is not really fancy way to say this, so why try? I had a wonderful day - not perfect, but very good. I have lots of good moments, but not quite as many amazing days.

You may notice that I have a link to wikipedia's entry for the band, It's a Beautiful Day. Really, the band is not the topic of my ramblings, but hopefully I can tie it together somehow.

First of all, I work nights - swingshift to be exact. So I am not really in the habit of going to bed early, unless one counts early in the morning. I am customarily used to getting to sleep between 4 and 5 a.m., but lately it's been closer to 6-7 a.m. Last night I must have be extra excited or something because I didn't get to sleep until about 7:45 a.m. I had high expectations for the day - Jars of Clay in concert, and Relient K in my car (their new cd came out 03-06-07.) So, where do I begin this tale...

I had been looking for something for Dan, the lead singer for Jars of Clay for a bit and not having much luck. I even called the manufacturer and was treated to an automated system - one of those if you want a, push one; if you want b push two sort of systems. They had a listing for stores that sell their product. It was heavily garbled in spots, and not particularly reliable. I came to the realization at 7:30 a.m. that Albertson's was probably open already, so I called the one closest to my house and they had what I was looking for. It wasn't on the semi-garbled list, but obviously I was too elated to care about that much. ;) Not only did I find it, but it was on sale!!! God's timing is so perfect! And, they agreed to hold it for me until after 2:30 so I could get some rest. By that time I was starting to panic and think maybe I should sleep or I might end up falling asleep during the show. That was my start to the day. I finally nodded off to sleep. I woke up at 12:30 p.m. to the sounds of Daisy wanting out of her crate. I waited until she quieted and then let the dogs out, and went back to sleep for a little bit longer. I woke about 2:10 p.m. because some pesky alarm that I'd set figured it was about time that I got the day going. I showered, got dressed, and did all the usual things one has to do to leave the house and called the promoter about the camera policy. That was the one part of the day that was disappointing. I wasn't able to take the SLR. I have a high zoom point and shoot I liked, but it wasn't working, so I asked my husband if I could have an early birthday present and get the one I'd been looking for. He agreed, so I headed over to Best Buy, and it was on sale! God is good!!
Now I just have to pay for it!!

To make a short story longer, I made it to the concert venue, finally found a parking place, hiked all the way to the venue with 12 soda bottles, a camera, a jacket and scarf (my workout for the day) and asked someone about getting my gifts to Dan. "Dan, who?" was the reply. "Dan, the lead singer of Jars of Clay." After having this conversation basically twice, I was told I could go into a door in the building and ask there. "Dan, who?" LOL Actually, the guy at the desk was really quite nice and helpful, and I believe Dan did get the items in question.

By that time, the doors were open, so I went in the front and found my seat and proceeded to chat my neighbors ear clean off. He'll probably vouch for that! He was a huge Petra fan and Jars of Clay was his no. 2 band. He has good taste in music. Anyway, the concert eventually did start. The first band was really two guys and they had an interesting sound and were very full for only two guys. Needtobreathe was up next, and they were really, really good. I would go to see them again most definitely!! They said they were the warm up band and I think they warmed us up pretty good! :) I had looked them up on myspace, so I had heard a few songs before, but I thought their sound was even better live.

Finally, it was time for Jars of Clay. I think they pretty much performed the whole Good Monsters cd and then some. They also did The Flood, and Walker, Texas Ranger and a couple of other older songs. They told a story about the guy in the hotel who recognized them and then said the first cd was good, but not really the others. They dedicated the Flood to him. They did a song and Steve made a comment about remembering the 70's and then he said, "You weren't even around then," and I said, "I was." Funny thing was I didn't really think he'd hear me, but he did. LOL There weren't a lot of lapses in the music and it kept moving very well. In other words, JOC completely rocked!!

I do have one rant. ;) I was told SLR's and video weren't allowed, so I stopped at Best Buy on the way and bought the high zoom point and shoot I'd been wanting for a back up camera. I just wish the ISO went higher than 800. Still, I had one usher tell me I couldn't video tape, when I wasn't. She said, what are you doing then, and I said taking still photos. Really, I take a photo, then I would put the camera down, clap, etc. If I was videoing, I have to be the worst videographer of all times. LOL But later, another gal told me I couldn't video. I said I wasn't. Then she said I couldn't use video or flash, so I told her I don't video tape and I'm not using flash. She said as long as this (pointing to flash) and this don't come out (she pointed to the lens) so I was thinking to myself, "how do you take a pic without the lens opening when you turn the camera on?" I just said I wasn't using flash, and that was one reason I was using that camera. So, we talked about flash and she said they had someone leave already or something like that. But it made it harder to take pics because I was afraid if I left the camera on the band too long they wouldn't believe I wasn't taping, even though I wasn't. Someday I'm going to give ushers a class on how to tell if someone is videoing or not. LOL Seriously, I think I have a target on me somedays. LOL Anyway, the shots are mostly dark and there is lots of noise, but I may have a few good photos. At least some are good enough to scrapbook, so that makes it worthwhile. Oh, and I waited and asked for the set list and got it. I love set lists! Best scrapbook page item there is. :)

I offered to give someone a ride home, and I felt bad that I made him wait, but I went and had a pic taken with Needtobreathe and bought their cd after the show. Then I went to see if I could find the Jars bus driver, David, because I said I'd try to meet him there. When I was there, I met Matt briefly, but didn't get a chance to really get a photo or anything, and I didn't want to bug him for an autograph right then. Then I turned around and saw, Dan. I asked him if he got the tea (I left him some throat coat tea, etc.) and he said he did. He autographed the set list and posed for a pic with me. Then I said something about David, and I think he was going to look for him. Then someone told me to come over to where he was and he said, "Hi, I'm David" so, I didn't miss him!!! He was so very nice, too. Dan took a pic of us and I think it's the best pic of the night. ;) There was a group of teens and "mom" of some of them there so we had a nice chat on the way back to the cars. I think we were pretty close to the last ones left in the lot.

I drove the guy who had been sitting next to me home. Then I stopped to get gas, got back on the freeway and made the long trek back to my own domicile. I took a slight detour to the post office and my Relient K cd was there just as I had hoped. So, I had my Jars concert and RK cd on the same day to make it even more memorable after all. I arrived home at 1:17 a.m. I guess it was late. ;)

So, I started thinking about how things did fall together and everything worked. How fortunate I was to be there and to hear the concert, and how blessed I am here even on the bad days. It was a Beautiful day, so I started thinking about Steve's comment regarding the 70's, and just remembered, It's a Beautiful Day - wasn't that a band name in the 70's? I remember White Bird. I loved that song. So, it does tie together after all.

I'm sitting here typing this blog at 5:28 a.m. The dogs were eating and chewing on their rawhide. It's time for us all to get some sleep.

Peace out,
Melanie

P.S. I will put some pics up tomorrow.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Relient K

In addition to being Friday, which was something I really was ready for, now that I'm back to work, I was looking forward to seeing Relient K on Conan O'Brien when I got home. I had my husband set the DVR for me (because sometimes I mess it up) to be sure that it recorded.

I had to wait until my sleeping beauty of a spouse awoke from his dreamland on the couch to be able to watch, at least without waking him up, but he finally did awaken and fast forwarded to Relient K's performance. That's love for ya. I don't think he really wanted to watch. LOL

Relient K performed their song "Must Have Done Something Right". It was a bit of a sneak preview for me for their concert here on April 20. I was actually wondering how a live performance of the song would sound since the vocals on the recorded version are almost overlapping. I rather liked the arrangement. The "bells" really sounded great. The only complaints I might have would be that some of the vocals didn't seem mixed quite right and one spot where Matty (lead singer) has to stretch a bit vocally. I think he could possibly drop it down a little and it might work, but I'm not a musician so what do I know. LOL Overall, though, it was a great performance and I totally enjoyed it. I can't wait to hear it live! The tv performances are never as good as the "real thing" so it should be really outstanding in concert!!

Oh, and usually Matty looks like a deer in headlights on tv, but last night he totally shined. He meant the song, and it was obvious. His eyes just sparkled like a schoolboy up to mischief or a young man in love. He looked so very happy and relaxed. I got a big kick out of the amp that had "Happy Birthday mom" written all over it. It was so "Relient K". I don't know them all that well, but it was like seeing friends on tv, which is always fun.

Now, if I could just figure out how to use the Pinnacle I bought 3 years ago, I could save it more permanently. LOL

Time to get to the business of Saturday -- what's left of it.

--Melanie