reverie

Yes kids this is it, the night you've been waiting for. The night on which I write my 300th post. And oh yeah the last night of 2005 or something. If you had the misfortune of seeing the beginning of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve you saw some guy propose to his girlfriend in the middle of Time's Square in what I imagine was the freezing cold surrounded by a gazillion people and on tv in front of a gazillion more people. Let's just say that in the rules of proposing according to Azina that is a hugenormous no no. (Yes I like to make up words.) Here are the 3 things wrong with that proposal: 1. it's public 2. the standing out in the cold all day 3. it's complete lack of anything resembling romance Now I could be wrong and maybe she found it to be incredibly romantic, but when the awkward girl on the silly New Year's Eve show is the lead in to your proposal I think you've got problems. Again I'm not someone who believes in some big or ridi

Some amount of time not terribly long ago I mentioned that I have several posts that I have written that never fully realize life as published posts. They are poor little thoughts destined to live out unfulfilled lives in the realm of drafts. I actually have several of these from the past couple of weeks and while I never was able to finish them I like what I was starting so I have decided to share a few of these snippits with you. 12-2-2005 I had this dream the other night where I was in a bit of an argument with one of my guy friends because he was acting strangely around me and it was bugging me. And finally, right before I woke up, his frustration culminated with him exclaiming, "I'm in love with you and I'm terrified!" Yeah he shouted that to me and I immediately woke up, one of those dreams that are annoying to wake up from. 12-10-2005 "Pretty much hanging out with us is like going to a cool party." -Nicole Nicole said this one night on the way home fr

It is 1:14 in the morning (CST). We just returned from finally seeing Walk the Line. Johnny Cash's story is quite interesting and there are some really great quotes in the film. "Do you got a hitch in your giddyup?" "Rule #1: Don't propose to a woman on a bus. Rule #2: Don't tell her it's because you had a bad dream." "Your fans are gospel folk, Johnny. They're Christians, and they don't wanna hear you singing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, tryin' to cheer 'em up." "Then they ain't Christians." I definitely recommend it. Joaquin Phoenix is amazing. The past few films of his that I've seen (Walk the Line, The Village, Signs) are quickly making him one of my favorite actors. I also enjoyed Reese Witherspoon in this film. I don't really feel like writing an entire review right now, but if you want to know more feel free to ask. As good as the film was, one of the most exciting parts about it was seei

Last night my siblings and I attempted to go see Walk the Line. I have been looking forward to this movie since about April. It came out over a month ago, but between Thanksgiving and Christmas last night was really the first opportunity I had to go see it. So we all jump in the car, drive over to the AMC 3 minutes from my house, send Joe in to purchase the tickets while we find parking, and what do we discover? The movie is sold out! :( Now keep in mind that there are only 2 theatres in the entire Omaha area showing the film and 3 possible showtimes at those 2 theatres combined. Please explain to me if a movie is selling out why there are not more showtime choices? And the studios wonder why it's been such a terrible year at the box office. Look to the theatres and their ridiculously inflated ticket prices which is a major deterrent and apparently their incapability of scheduling films in any sort of useful fashion. I think we're gonna try again on Wednesday. Being a Tuesday i

This is my patented "are you kidding me with this?" look. It has served me quite well over the years. Given the combination of what appears to be just woke up from a nap hair, with the obvious fakeness of that Santa, and how terribly my outfit clashes with the jolly red suit I don't really blame my 2-year-old self for employing said look. :) I hope you all have a delightful Christmas! God bless!

I'm in quite a strop right now, but instead of waxing poetic about that which plagues my heart I thought I would distract myself by telling you something quite peculiar about myself. I have the strange ability to remember what outfit I was wearing during certain moments in my life. And I'm not talking about moments that have photos to accompany them. Most of these are completely random moments. Some important, some not so much. Here are a few examples. Last January when I lost my job I was wearing what were at the time my favorite jeans, a light blue & yellow striped polo, my khaki hooded jackety sweatery thing, and white shoes. I was feeling quite preppy and cute. Losing my job kinda ruined that outfit for me. And I remember as I was leaving that day thinking that I would always remember that day and connect it with that outfit which I thought was quite unfortunate since I liked the outfit so much. When I went to see Two Towers on opening night with my mom I was we

As promised and I'm sure highly anticipated for the past 2 days, my other NYR is to do better with finances. Aside from an enjoyable but brief flirtation with Quicken earlier this year, I am not good at keeping track of what I do with the money with which I have been blessed. I do keep track well enough that I don't overdraw the account, so I'm not horrible with finances but I know that I could do better & I want to. I like creating budgets, I just never stick to them. So my goal when I receive my first paycheck of the new year is to make amends with Quicken, start anew and be diligent about my financial accounts. The great thing about being organized in this way is that it will then allow me to do things I have been wanting to do for quite some time now like taking yoga classes and actually having real homecooked food on a nightly basis (except Tuesdays) rather than eating ramen and soup all the time. I love coming home and cooking, it's a great release for me so I

A sad day for baseball indeed. Johnny Damon is leaving the Boston Red Sox for the stupid New York Yankees. THE YANKEES. Who does that?!!?!?! And look what he did to this guy. So very uncool. I have a sad feeling that this is not going to be a good year for Boston. :\ Regardless, I'm taking my youngest brother to see Boston play the LA Angels in August. Let me know if you want to come, I'm buying tickets kinda soon. Woo!

Please note that "no lettuce" is not as remarkably similar to "as much lettuce as can possibly be piled upon my sandwich" as some of your fine workers might think. I just thought I would let you know that. Thank you for the nice toasty sandwiches you make. Sincerely, Azina

I want to trip inside your head Spend the day there . . . To hear the things you haven't said And see what you might see I want to hear you when you call Do you feel anything at all? I want to see your thoughts take shape And walk right out I'm feeling life would be so much easier right now if I could just spend some time in people's heads and find out all the things they should say and maybe even want to say but for whatever reason just don't. Now I'm pretty much a champion passive aggressor, but I'm starting to realize lately how important open communication is, mostly because I'm finding with one of my friendships that the lines of communication aren't open in a way that they should be, and that is causing me quite a lot of frustration. So it is my goal to be proactive and do something about this for the sake of my sanity and the sake of the friendship. The reason I share these things here is to challenge you to say what it is you need to say. Too oft

The following in italics is from a comment Amber posted on the Valentine's date post . With the flurry of blogging that must take place in these remaining days of December to reach 300 by the end of the year I didn't want her comment and my response to get buried. So here you have it. Let me start by saying that what I like best is to be made to feel special, be it Valentine's Day or my birthday or Tuesday. I would argue that that's what most women really want - from significant others, from friends, from other women. I would definitely agree with that. In fact for me, random acts of love make me feel at least as special as the ones that occur on special days because those are ones that are sort of expected. The ones that occur just because you love me mean a lot. And really that can be something as simple as a handwritten note to say, "Have a great day! I'm thinking of you" or a flower you buy when you run out to pick up some groceries. Little things go

My friend Blair asked me yesterday if I had ever looked up "Azina looks like" on Google. Usually if you do things like that you will find something amusing, with my name there are no results. So I decided to use a few of my friends' names instead. If you don't find yourself here it's probably just because I didn't find a funny one for your name. (Sorry Jodi & Pieter & other fine friends.) These are only intended for your amusement. Amber looks like she missed a fine career in Cirque du Soleil. Nicole looks like such a primary school librarian. Shauna looks like a geeky wizard. Jon (Mark) looks like Grover. Blair looks like a monkey. But not an ugly monkey. More like one of those funny weird-lookin monkeys who jumps on branches and eats leaves and goes "ook" a lot. Shannon looks like he had fun playing in the jumpy inflated castle thing. Galen Looks like a harmless Hippie. Sherry looks like she is in a nice sundress and headed for a party of s

This was posted on PostSecret tonight. It makes my heart immensely sad. I know all too well the loneliness this city visits upon everyone who dares to venture here. Even two years later I know that were it not for Nicole I would spend far too many nights sitting alone in my apartment. How I wish I could do something to help this person. How I pray God would soon place such a loving person in their path. (If you are not aware, PostSecret is a website where this guy posts secrets that are sent to him anonymously on postcards. It started as an art project and several of the postcards have now been put into a book. It is quite a compelling website, running the gamut from the best to the worst humanity has to offer. As such it is not suitable for all audiences and does typically include content of an R-rated nature, which is the reason I do not post the link here. Should you choose to seek out the website on your own, consider yourself warned.)

In the past 8 days I have had more dealings with my boss' Blackberry mobile device and his craptasm of a wireless provider than I ever hope to deal with again. If you find yourself thinking, hey it's not enough that people can reach me by phone at all times I would also like to be tethered to my email 24/7, please seek psychiatric help. I assure you it is not worth it. They are devil devices. I'm a big fan of email and the internet in general, but I just feel that if I am participating in any sort of activity that requires me to be away from a computer then I probably should concentrate my attention on the activity at hand rather than making sure I can keep all my email in my pocket or my purse. It's completely ridiculous to me. And try as I might there is no scenario I can think of which necessitates such a device. Next thing you know you'll just be able to implant a chip in your head. If you blink twice you can answer phone calls, 3 times get email, 4 acce

This whole reaching 300 posts by the end of the year would be a whole lot easier if I didn't have 27 drafts of posts that I had started writing but never finished. I have 3 from the past 2 days even. Crazy. One of those will for sure be finished and hopefully a second one. The 3rd has lost any potential relevance and will therefore waste away in the unlov-ed drafts section. As for the rest of the 27, they too will likely suffer a sad and drafty existence, their potential never to be fully realized. A lucky few may escape such a tragic state, but the odds are not in their favor. And yes this counts as a legitimate post in the race toward 300. Don't worry I shall write a much more substantial post later in response to Amber's comment on the Valentine's date post. It'll be good I assure you. :)

This marks post 285. If I am diligent enough I think I can hit 300 by year's end. 16 posts in 18 days (including this one), it can be done! I don't know why but every time the 14th of the month comes around I feel like there's something I'm supposed to remember. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because 4 months out of the year there significance to the 14th- Valentine's Day, Flag Day, the Un-Valentine's Day (which is not a day for spreading hate for those of you who weren't with us when I declared it a holiday in August), and Joe's birthday. Speaking of Valentine's day, Nicole & I decided that we needed to write a dating book since we decided that in addition to our stellar party planning skills we also have great ideas for dates. Sadly when we talked to a couple of guys at church on Sunday night they were completely resistant to some of our brilliant ideas. Regardless I will post them here because I still like them. Now I just gotta find a g

Last night marked the delightful advent of Nicole and Azina's 2nd Annual Christmas Extravaganza. So many people showed up, it was quite wonderful. I had an enjoyable time and we got such a great response from everyone. :) It's so fun to plan something and then to see it come to fruition. I was thinking about that in church today as we were singing about heavenly host rejoicing at the birth of Christ. At first I asked myself, why were they so excited? They set it in motion. They knew it was coming. And as so many thoughts were floating through my mind about our party still, it really struck me. It's fun to plan things and to arrange everything just how you hope it to be, but to see it all work out is quite exciting. So I began to imagine God and the angels chilling in heaven as he explains the master plan- the greatest, most important & amazing plan to take place ever. Heaven is filled with anticipation and wonder. And then the night comes and a baby is bor

So I'm stealing this idea from my co-worker Kelli who stole this idea from someone else because well I think it's pretty darn clever. What you do is make a list of the first sentence of the first post from each month. Jan~ Who made it 2005 already? Feb~ February is one of my favorite months of the year, it always has been. Mar~ You ever have moments when you really feel like writing something, but when you actually sit down to do it you have nothing to say? Apr~ This has been about the longest I have gone without writing in quite some time. May~ I quit my internship. Jun~ So, before I leave here on Saturday I have to give my parents a date. Jul~ You may notice a change or two here. Aug~ I'm trying to remember that all of this stuff doesn't matter, that he can take it all away in an instant if he chooses. Sep~ It's not that I haven't thought about posting or wanted to post in the last few days, it's just every time I've sat down to write something the bl

red balloon dreams float hopefully through my mind tarry by day and sojourn in my sleep for now it hovers comfortably close I am content to remain here and see if it will decide to light upon me hope whispers for only the wind to hear asking for guidance in whichever direction is fit only time will tell if we may traverse this path together

I think I just got dumber by watching Jeopardy. :P The Final Jeopardy clue was, "Now the 4th largest in area it's also the largest state formed primarily from the Louisiana Purchase." I guessed Montana. The three supposedly really intelligent individuals competing for THOUSANDS of dollars guessed Florida, Mississippi (it's pretty little!), and Nevada. The answer was Montana. Note to self: be on Jeopardy.

One of my favorite traditions of the season has finally befallen us. That is the advent of my brother Raj's Christmas list. Previous lists have included the following requests, - A chimpanzee highly skilled in the art of writing theologically sound paper - 1,000 bananas to feed said chimpanzee - Dictatorship of a small Spanish-speaking country with large drug cartel - The deed to the state of Texas and Presidential permission to sell Texas back to Mexico providing that all the immigrants move to Texas before the transaction takes place. - An electrified wall spanning the length of the border that Texas shares with any other U.S. state - Glasses that do my homework as I stare in the homework's general direction, as is often the case I' m quite uncertain where all the Texas animosity came from, that is to say I'm sure I knew at one point and was probably highly amused, but by now I have completely forgotten, keep in mind it is an old list, so it's possible that he h

Thanksgiving 2005 photo highlights :) I heart aprons (for real I do) After Nicole & I spent half the day cooking I still had enough energy to school Shannon in Spoons. Just kidding, I only said that because he doesn't actually read this. ;) I took an early lead, but it came down to the 2 of us and was tied going into the last round. I did win though. :) fun girls in our fun little apartment Nicole & Seth looking all deep in thought

That's what I think should be the title of a new book explaining this whole dating "crisis." I was at Red Robin this weekend with 4 girls and 4 guys and the topic of dating came up. It seems to me that whenever such a discussion is brought up Joshua Harris (author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl ) garners a lot of unfair blame. Now I'm not saying that I'm the president of the JH fan club or that he's completely right about everything, but I think he has some good points that a lot of us are missing. It's been a very long time since I've read these books and perhaps some of the things I am about to say are actually just wisdom from my own little head, though I'm pretty sure a lot of it was at the very least influenced by these books. I think most of you are aware of how important I think it is for a guy to step up and be a man when it comes to relationships, but I also disagree with the idea of dating for the sake of dating. That'

Nicole and I hosted Thanksgiving at our apartment yesterday. There are not enough synonyms for wonderful for me to accurately describe it to you. It was such a blessing to be able to share the day with so many friends. I love my family dearly, but this was probably the best Thanksgiving I've ever had. We had people in our house from 11 in the morning to 10 at night. Everything went quite well and though it was a lot of work on very little sleep, it was all worth it & I wouldn't have changed a thing. The refrigerator is stocked with leftovers, my head is filled with memories, and my heart overflows with joy. I couldn't have asked for a better day. I hope you had a marvelous Thanksgiving too!

Happy Fibonacci's Number Sequence Day! (1, 1, 2, 3) Happy Hump Day! (and the obligatory don't take it like that) Happy day before Thanksgiving Day! :D

Here are some jokes in the spirit of the holiday. I didn't make them up, not even the great nerd joke at the bottom there. And yes they are the kind of jokes you would likely hear on a playground, that's what makes them so fun. So embrace your inner child and enjoy. :) (Disclaimer: this blog, and any persons affiliated with it, does not endorse the embracing of any one else's inner child, you can probably be arrested for that. Consider yourself duly warned.) Why did the police arrest the turkey? They suspected it of fowl play. Can a turkey jump higher than the Empire State Building? Yes - a building can't jump at all (Azina's side note: I'm not particularly sure turkeys can jump either) How can you make a turkey float? You need 2 scoops of ice cream, some root beer, and a turkey (Azina's side note: that is sick!) If April showers bring May flowers what do May flowers bring? Pilgrims! What do you get when you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diame

I intended to post the first part of this the other day on the 19th, but alas I was busy shopping and going to Harry Potter that day. Anyhow, the 19th of every month is always significant to me, probably because my birthday is on the 19th of February. And a really cool friend's birthday is on March 19th. And the day I officially moved to LA (after my semester out here) was June 19th. In just under 3 months I will be 24. And in under 3 days it will be the 24th and it will be Thanksgiving! I am very excited about that. So I am writing my Thanksgiving post tonight because I am not sure that I will have a lot of time the rest of the week. Last year's Thanksgiving was still in a pretty difficult time of my life and while there are things that are still the same , my life as a whole is so much better this year. And even those things mentioned in the poem I am dealing better with I think. So here are some things I'm thankful for (not in much of an order per se): 1. my family 2. my

I'm pretty sure Thursday just hugged me. :) I went to dinner tonight with my favorite new friend, it was so fun! And then upon getting home I got a call from another friend & we had a good conversation. Oh and this morning I got emails from 3 awesome people. Thanks Amber, Shauna & Nicole! Mmm I feel loved. :)

It's snowing in Omaha today. And here it will almost reach 90. I'm wearing flip flops right now and I'm not one of these people who wear sandals regardless of the weather. I believe in utilizing proper footwear. It's the middle of November. How terribly sad. I liked it better on Saturday night when it was freezing as we left Mike's house. Where did that weather go? I hope it finds it's way back here quickly. I'm not in the greatest mood today. Tuesdays seem to have the uncanny ability to suck all day long, probably in an effort to balance out the goodness of Taco Night and Gilmore Girls. Stupid balance.

Since I make it a habit not to start fights on other people's blog and I'm adding on message boards to that rule, I thought I would bring this discussion over here. Nicole pointed out to me a thread on Relevant about bad marriage proposals. The girl who started the thread posted these 2 things: "So my boyfriend popped the question on October 15, and it was bad. It was just all around, bad . Girls dream of that day. The romance, the love, the guy kneeling, etc." (Things which were apparently lacking.) "I had been waiting for months, and then he's so horrible at keeping a secret, that I knew it was coming. And that irritated me. And then, when I was pretty sure he was going to do it that night, I was thinking in my mind, 'Ugh, I know about it and this is not fun. Don't do it!'" First of all, I can't imagine how the guy would feel if he read these things. I really think a message board is not the place to air these sort of grievances. She sh

(pretend the turkey is dancing) Woo! It's the two weeks til Thanksgiving dance! :)

I asked Galen what the best thing that happened to him today was. He listed several things along with this: "oh AND MY PASSPORT CAME!!!!!! so now i can travel to Los Angeles!" Haha I was very amused by that. :)

"That's compared to like earthquakes in the Far East or testicular cancer?" - Spike, Notting Hill Okay so it's not THAT terrible, but it's unfortunate. My portable cd player died sometime overnight. Yes yes I still use cd players and not those new fangled mp3 devices. Though this recent development has me reconsidering jumping into the 21st century. I can't say that I will as budgetary constraints may force me to hang on to cd players like hippies hold on to the 8-track, but we shall see. My mom suggested asking for one for Christmas (as if anyone buying me presents has any money either), but this is a purchase that must be made before flying home as the noise of the airplane will certainly drive me insane without music to halfway sort of not really drown it out. And that's all for my explanation of the terrible thing that happened that really isn't so bad. Happy hump day everyone! And I bet you thought I forgot again. ;P

Steve it's too late, it's already been ruined. Non-Christmas songs are up. :P These are just songs I like. I'm pretty sure you can figure out why I picked them, by which I mean don't read anything into it, the reason I picked them is in their titles. Have fun and watch for flying monkeys.

You know you want to. It's okay now. Amber decreed it and Nicole & I fully concur, so at this point it's practically law. ;) Here's a little Relient K love to get you in the mood: what's a partridge? and what's a pear tree? well I don't know so please don't ask me but I can bet those are terrible gifts to get AFM is ending soon and once again all shall be right with the world. It was a grand night, I'm so glad I was able to make it to church. And now I must away to get a bit of sleep.

Welcome back to the Copeland hour where we're still talking about Copeland and Copeland related things 10 days after the concert. :) Here are some fun quotes from the concert by Aaron Marsh aka Copeland's lead singer: "So how we feeling?" (happy screaming) "Splendid. I'm feeling that way also. That sound you just made, that's what's going on inside of my person." "Man, I want to thank you guys so much for coming. It's pretty outrageous to be so far from home and have a full house and so many . . . so many good looking people with pretty smiles and pretty eyes. You guys are all totally making my day." He also said thank you every time we started clapping. So cute. Cute in the you're adorable like a puppy way not the I think I want to marry you just because I enjoy your music and the fun things you say way, though now that you mention it . . . ;) Now that my stress level is somewhat lower and I have time to think and blog I

There are a million things on my mind right now. My thoughts and anxieties skitter about refusing to be contained. A lot is coming up this week with work. And in life in general thoughts that I had let go of like child losing grasp of her red balloon are now floating back to me. It took awhile to be okay with their departure and now they want to return. I don't think I want to deal with that again. Okay probably this doesn't make a lot of sense unless you're Nicole as I talked to her about all this stuff tonight. If you want to know details feel free to email me though I cannot guarantee any sort of prompt response. Anyway, I guess at the end of the day/early beginning of a new day all I can say is that I am thankful for Nicole and her willingness to listen to me ramble on about work and the red balloon thing. I'll be glad when all of this is over, but I feel better than I did.

The songs that were supposed to be up 3 weeks ago are now there for your listening pleasure. from the post dated October 6, 2005: stay the course The songs are from the choir that I was in growing up. The first song has particular meaning to me. My freshman year of high school my elementary music teacher unexpectedly passed away. My choir director was commissioned by my elementary school to compose this song in her memory. When we first started learning this song in choir I couldn't sing it, I was literally bawling before we even finished running through the song. To this day the song is very emotional for me. Mrs. Hanson was the first person to really encourage me to sing. And she's the only person I know who's ever taped an orange m&m to her nose in order to keep her students focused. She was amazing. The second song is a Hungarian Lullaby that we sang in choir & I just really like the song. So the selections this week are a little different, but I hope you like t

This so wins for quote of the day: "It's not so easy to see if a woman is interested. Those signals have dual meanings most of the time. For example, she might have just had a really good frappuchino, and you can mis-translate that to attraction." - Tmproff Visit this post on Tmproff's blog to see it in context. Quite an interesting discussion going on over there. It's true too, btw.

"Read books. Play fair. Be kind. Take a break once in a while to smell the California air, stretch your arms out wide and realize we are so blessed and insignificant at the same time." - Rory Felton ( The Militia Group aka Copeland's label)

shakes fist at stupid chicago. I don't like baseball this season. bah.

If you asked me to I could only begin to explain the importance Copeland's music has had in my life over the past year, so attending their concert last night was quite amazing. And to top it off the song they played for the encore is one of my favorite songs ever - Priceless. It was a great night. Feel the pain teaching us how much more we can take Reminding us how far we've come Let the pain burn away from our heart We have time to start all over again Well if you would shine your love down here oh Make our hearts as perfect as new Oh if you would shine your love down here oh I promise I'd reflect right back at you - When Finally Set Free Whoa, your love is a fast song And I'm dancing 'cause I'm in love with you Whoa, my heart is in motion For the rhythm inside you Whoa, your love is a slow song It's resounding through my world again Whoa, my heart is in motion For the song inside of you - Love is a Fast Song Those are two of the songs that have been quite

Assuming that you want to spend $145 on a tie, here is the clever advertisement from the Hermes Tie catalogue that came with Variety today. All the things a man can do with an Hermes tie Lie on the ground and gaze at the sky. Have (or think you have) a great idea every two minutes. Forget to shave. Look down through the airplane window at the miniature cars creeping along in single file below. Chew on a pencil and muse. (Azina asks that you muse without chewing on pencils.) Be serious. Pretend to be serious. Pretend to be pretending to be serious. Listen to the same CD over and over. Nail your colors to the mast. (Azina feels this is some sort of nautical thing she does not understand, must go sailing more . . . or at all . . . ever . . . even just once.) Go out to get the bread. Scratch your head. Start again from scratch. Cross the road thinking of your father. (Azina: But don't cross the road and get hit by a car like your father who was crossing the road thinking of his father

It looks like it should be snowing outside. I kind of wish it were, but it only serves to add to making my life feel like one of my favorite movie quotes right now, so I guess that's okay. It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it, right? And this bag was like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video's a poor excuse. But it helps me remember . . . and I need to remember . . . Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in. - American Beauty It's already been a good weekend and really the best is yet to come- Copeland concert tomorrow! Oooh more fun things, new music from Happy Christm

Okay so I'm frustrated with something and I don't know how to say this in a way that doesn't sound horrible, so please bear with me. I am frustrated and shocked by the lack of response I am seeing on a local level in rushing aid to Pakistan. While at the same time I will be attending a comedy show a friend is opening for this weekend for which proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina relief. Don't get me wrong, I know there is still much need for help and rebuilding down there and I am all about sending help, but I cannot for the life of me understand why there has been no special offering taken at church and really very little talk in general about the tragedy of the earthquake in Pakistan. From what I understand the death toll in Pakistan has now surpassed 40,000 people while the death toll from Katrina is under 2000. Now I'm not trying to belittle that situation at all, but I think the numbers clearly speak to the need for stepping up

I feel as though I am not updating frequently enough, this being by my own gauge and not by comparison to say Raj who is happy if he writes a new post before the previous one is a month old. By that gauge I am way ahead of the game. ;) I also feel that I do not comment enough, so if you're sitting there thinking, why doesn't Azina comment on my blog more? all I can tell you is that your words do move me and/or make me think. There are things I wish to say here and there sometimes, but I feel too often that words are inadequate. So much happened this past weekend, and it was tiring but ever so much fun. I could give you a list of what I did, but it would look rather similar to the list that I gave you for what I intended to do this weekend. I could tell you how this weekend made me feel, but happy doesn't quite seem to capture it. Imagine a brisk night, the rain has recently ended. Moonlight glimmers in the puddles gathered in the street, or at least you pretend it is moonli

Welcome to this weekend's edition of having a life with your hosts Azina and Nicole. Okay so tonight isn't as much with the having of the fun as it's more of a prep time for the fun, but that's okay. And it actually consists of grocery shopping and going to Target which I enjoy, it just may not look like fun to everyone else. Well and there's the cleaning that will also be going on, which is admittedly fun to no one. Don't pretend you like it, we know you're lying. :P Here's what the rest of the weekend brings: Saturday hanging out with Rebecca (the original flavor roommate), probably some good ol' times at the farmer's market and finally getting the film developed that I took at her wedding as I figure she might want to take some of the photos home with her :) any finishing cleaning touches that didn't happen on Friday party at Mike's house Sunday class at church home to cook for the wonderful guys who helped us move and/or helped us mov

it's raining in the distance I can see the sky pour itself out somewhere beyond the mountains like a watercolor bleeding all over the page drops streak from the clouds bathing the earth in life

are pretty much the coolest animal ever Thanks to Nicole for sending this to me. :)

So now that something happened which will get no further mention on this blog, it's time to root for the Angels. Which means it's rally monkey time! LA Angels! Woo! I vote for an Angels/Astros World Series. I'm still quite sad about that thing of which we are not speaking and I blame Steve for his remarks earlier this week. :P

"Yeah well you know what? Nobody cares about your stupid beet farm. Beets are the worst" "People love beets." "Nobody likes beets." "Everyone loves beets." "Nobody likes beets, Dwight! Why don't you grow something that everybody does like? You should grow candy. I'd love a piece of candy right now. Not a beet." - The Office, if you aren't watching this show I ask you why? It doesn't conflict with Gilmore Girls so you have nothing to worry about. ;) Our beloved tekcities, aka host for my song site, is currently switching over to new servers. Again. It appears that somewhere in the early stages of this is when I tried to update my site which is why you will currently find nothing there. As soon as I can log on it will be fixed.

So I theoretically updated the songs page, but after I changed the html the site wouldn't work so I can't see it to check and make sure it's actually working properly, so there might be something there I just can't guarantee it. Regardless, the songs are from the choir that I was in growing up. The first song has particular meaning to me. My freshman year of high school my elementary music teacher unexpectedly passed away. My choir director was commissioned by my elementary school to compose this song in her memory. When we first started learning this song in choir I couldn't sing it, I was literally bawling before we even finished running through the song. To this day the song is very emotional for me. Mrs. Hanson was the first person to really encourage me to sing. And she's the only person I know who's ever taped an orange m&m to her nose in order to keep her students focused. She was amazing. The second song is a Hungarian Lullaby that we s

Boston needs to rally because it would be complete crap to lose to the AL Division series to Chicago. grr

Great quote from Numb3rs tonight, "Ah the morose and pensive expression of the romantically confounded." Brilliant. :)

Last weekend one of my friends said something that I find quite troubling. First let me preface this by saying I appreciate his confidence in women, but I think his attitude points to a larger issue. He said he believed that men and women were equal and that sometimes girls think he's insensitive because he assumes they can do things for themselves and doesn't offer to help. And he said that most of the time he feels girls do things better than guys do anyway. I am not going to argue that point, I think there are some things that girls do better than guys and some things that guys do better than girls, which I guess in some way points to what I do want to argue, this equality nonsense. Now, I'm not sitting here saying that women are only good for having children and housekeeping. I'm not saying that at all. Goodness knows I know plenty of girls who are worthless when it comes to housekeeping and I know guys who keep their places immaculate. But what I am saying is that

Yes, I'll take a side of blogging with my lunch. "When our dreams gave way to plans, our other friends faded back into thoughts of responsibility and comfort." - our beloved Donald Miller in his first book Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance recently re-released as Through Painted Deserts . Something Galen said last night reminded me of that quote. (Just a note, I haven't really read the book yet, just a few pages, that quote just happened to be in the pages I read. I'm sure I will have lots to say once I finish it & you kids will be the first to know.) Anyway, I can't pretend that I've never chosen comfort over some crazy dream, but in general I don't believe in settling. I don't think there's anything wrong with living lives of whimsy and adventure. Of course there are responsibilities to tend to, but we are dreamers and if we stifle all our dreams then our lives become dull and grey. And I'm pretty sure that's no way to

I like day old popcorn. And stale graham crackers. I don't like flat sheets. I like to curl up in my blankets and the top sheet never stays where it is supposed to, so I don't use them. I like the pumpkin tea lights we got at Target the other night. I like that Nicole & I are hosting Thanksgiving at our place this year for friends who don't end up going home. I hope a lot of people come, I'm very excited about it. I don't like when I can't log on to put up new songs, but I do like that tonight that wasn't the case. I like the two songs I added. They happen to be 2 of my favorites ever. Been feeling the Jars of Clay love this week. The first song reminds me riding in the car with my sister on snowy days to high school, probably because it is on the Drummer Boy EP. The second song is just beautiful, sad but beautiful. I don't like Garret, so I sent ninjas to attack him. I'm kidding Garret. I only sent one ninja, if he brought buddies it'

Mmm it was a good weekend. I sit here watching Gilmore Girls from last Tuesday (again) hoping to purge from my mind the episode of Crossing Jordan we just watched. It was a fantastic season premiere, but creepy as all get out. Wow. Smart in the way that Se7en is a brilliant film and similarly creepy. But Nicole and I were smart enough to figure it out, so that's good. Anyway, it has been a little while since I've graced you all with my presence here. :P I feel this is a good time to point out to any of you who haven't been around long or who don't know me or whatever that I'm actually not that full of myself, I'm just a bit cheeky. ;) So yesterday I followed this trail of articles: The Cost of Delaying Marriage Defending the Cost of Delaying Marriage Pray Boldly Finding a Husband Pulling a Ruth, Part 1 Pulling Ruth, Part 2 Now, I realize that is a good deal of reading and I only put that list there in case you're interested in following it. But rea

The most annoying thing I read today, "It seems as though there are no intelligent, fun-loving and moral girls available. Anywhere." Okay, even not speaking about myself, though I hope people see those things as true of me, I know plenty of girls who are intelligent, fun-loving, moral AND available. Not to mention a million other wonderful things about them. So umm possibly it would help to be looking for available girls somewhere other than a cave. Just a thought. For your convenience, here is a list of places probably not suitable for finding intelligent, fun-loving, moral, available girls. (Note: this is a sweeping generalization, there may be exceptional circumstances in which you meet the right girl in one of these locations.) - Antarctica (possibly you might meet the right girl here, but you're actually more likely to learn to communicate with penguins, which sounds fun now that you mention it . . .) - the middle of the ocean (you might meet some cute pirate chicks

Songs are up and just in the nick of time! 7:00 pirate time is in 12 minutes. Wahoo for arbitrary time zones! Umm okay there are 4 songs. There's your surprise, sort of to make up for last week. The actual surprise was supposed to be a video, but that was being uncooperative, so maybe next week. I do realize that the songs are not properly aligned with each other, but again with uncooperativeness, I may fix it later if I'm bored. Tuesday is almost upon us, tacos and Gilmore Girls for all! :)

Aye me heartys ye read that rightly, be ye warned those found to be not speakin' in the way of a pirate shall be takin' a trip to Davy Jones' Locker. Savvy? Barring any further bouts of amnesia or cloning or kryptonite or time travel or . . . wait a minute . . . umm scratch that, start over. Barring any further bouts of internet troubles, I promise to post new songs this evening. It'll probably be around 7 PDT, so if you check before that don't be thinking that stupid Azina didn't post songs AGAIN. Though, if you check after that and there's still no songs, you're welcome to think that. ;) Set your watches and your DVRs and your VCRs (if you're still in the dark ages like me, woohoo dark ages!). Arrested Development premieres tonight at 8/7 central! Now in some sort of strange move very contradictory to the normal behavior of television exec's, Fox actually renewed this show for its 3rd season, which means you kids need to start watching it, esp

it's harder than I thought to be the only one not there it's harder than the thought of not going home for Thanksgiving I'm actually not that sad about that one we're hosting Thanksgiving here, I'm excited about that Today was an odd day. My boss didn't show up at the office until 5:30, which was unfortunate as I was hoping he would let us go home early. As it was we left late, but it wasn't so bad. Since there's very little point in putting up songs of the week at this point I promise to put up a surprise or two in addition to the normal sotw next week. Sorry for my slackery. I blame the internet and Tuesday. But in the meantime go here and enjoy the song "What We Are Made Of" from the Bee Season trailer . I am greatly looking forward to this film. The version of the song in the trailer is a little different from the version on Scott Mallone's site and I do like the trailer version better but a slightly different and free mp3 of a really

I can feel the rain it will be here soon riding in on the coattails of a fall that took almost too long to arrive it matches my mood today a sort of grey and melancholy a thousand little things beyond my control have conspired to wreak havoc upon my life I assure you I will get through it and before too much time is allowed to pass all will be right again but tonight I will sit and wait for the rain to come and cleanse all that has marred this day Among a myriad of other things that happened today, the display on my cell phone went out, which is mostly just an annoyance. Except now I realized it's even more obtrusive as I use my cell phone as an alarm, but since I have no way of ensuring that I have actually set the correct time I will be forced to use an actual alarm clock whose grating sound I loathe. Bah. While today did mark the glorious advent of a new season of Gilmore Girls and it was Taco Tuesday, overall it was not the delightful day I had envisioned. And now I just want t

So I apologize for not uploading the new songs of the week. The webhost that I use is currently in the process of transferring things over to new servers and as such my site is currently down. As soon as it is back up I will update it and let you know. This was quite a good weekend. Friday night Nicole and I went to IHOP with Jon Mark and then watched Constantine. We were out til 3:30 am. Saturday there was some much needed sleeping in. And then James came over and fixed my VCR! He so wins a prize for that. Then we played some cards. Merlin came over and we played cribbage. Good times except for the bogus win Nicole & Merlin had in the tie breaking game. :P I'm not bitter I swear. Today was the first week of the Partnership 100 class at church. It's the this is what we believe as a church and this is what we feel our purpose is class. I've been attending Christian Assembly since March and I have a fairly good understanding about the church and I'm pretty sure it'

I recieved these two gems last Saturday. This one was left on my car when we went to Target. This one I received in the mail. You all know you want to go spelunking at work, now you know how. :)

Yesterday Apple introduced the iPod nano . It's cute and tiny and is available in black, something previously unseen in the iPod world with the exception of the special edition U2 iPod, which is still available. Now, it is important to note that I am not any sort of avid Apple fan that I am always aware of what sort of products they are rolling out. In fact, the only time I usually am aware of such things is when my friend Nick who is an avid Apple fan happens to alert me to the information in an attempt to convert me to the belief that Apple is superior to all. I have been friends with him for 7 years and it has yet to take effect, save for the fact that I admit Macs are better editing platforms than PCs. Anyway, I was only aware of these new baby iPods because I read about them in Variety. While I do enjoy cute and tiny technology I do have to wonder, is it too small (1.6 x 3.5 x 0.27 inches, 1.5 ounces)? Original flavor iPods are not overwhelmingly large (2.4 x 4.1 x .63 inches,

I heard from our production coordinator today. This was important to me seeing as the last I knew she was in New Orleans. I have only spoken on the phone with her a few times coordinating things between our office and the production office of which she is in charge, but she is lovely to deal with and I was deeply concerned for her well-being. I am quite glad to hear that she is safe. It hurts my heart when I know people are suffering. I mean, I know people suffer every day, but sometimes like now that suffering is more obvious, we cannot go about our daily lives without seeing evidence of it. I just want to give a hug to everyone who is broken right now. I know it won't fill their stomachs or quench their thirst, it won't rebuild their homes, but maybe just maybe it will make them feel better for just a moment. Or maybe not, but still I hope someone hugs them. I'm tired and I wish we still had small group on Wednesdays. I'm going to watch the rest of the episode of Gilm

Go here Since Nicole and I are going to Copeland in October the first song is my favorite Copeland song. And the second song is really just a childhood classic. Hmm, seems to be a theme on the blog this weekend. Oh and since I'm not too advanced at this html stuff it's possible that the columns are not even as they should be (the titles should line up). They are even on my computer, but I am quite aware that it is possible that this is only true if your settings are exactly the same as mine. So, if the columns are off on your computer I apologize, and please let me know. If you happen to know how I could fix that problem should it in fact exist, please also let me know that. Have fun and watch for flying monkeys!

It's not that I haven't thought about posting or wanted to post in the last few days, it's just every time I've sat down to write something the blank screen just stares back at me instead of jumping to life as usual. Since I still can't really think of anything to say I thought I would share a story with you. So I'm about 4 or 5 years old. There is a Peanuts special on. Cartoons airing on a weeknight are like getting free cookies at the grocery store. This one is titled "Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown." Amber, Raj, and I watch the show downstairs in the family room while mom is doing mom stuff upstairs. The half hour passes and we all return up the stairs. Only there's a problem. I'm bawling. "What did you do to her?" Mom inquires of my siblings. "Nothing," they try to convince her. So she asks me, "What's wrong?" To which I reply in my sad crying child voice, "They didn't get married!&quo

Wow, I'm just sitting here and realizing how much I love life. It's one of those moments where it sort of just hits you, and not that I didn't love life before this - it has it's good and bad moments, but just now I had this swelling emotion of love and contentedness. I love when that happens. :) "It struck me, strong as anything ever has -- I'm happy today." "And what were you before today?" "I don't know what it was -- the way the sun struck the ocean or the sound of the waves. It was simple whatever it was." - Life as a House The delightful aroma of Howe's coffee fills the house. It will not be brewed til morning, but the beans have been ground and sit awaiting to bring much excitement in the morning. I would just like to point out that Nicole has ruined me with Howe's coffee as it is the best coffee in the world, but you can only get it in PA, or from Nicole when her wonderful mom sends it. It has been quite awhile since