She Was Making Other Plans

I know I have been MIA for a while.  I also know that I should be catching up on life events, rather than writing about stuff that only matters to me.  I guess that if you are actually reading (all two of you . . .), then maybe you do care about what I think is important.  So I guess I will keep writing.

I will catch up eventually; we got back from my family reunion in Yosemite National Park about 10 days ago, and I have been working a ton and I have been super busy with birthdays and such.  Also, I have been designated a "Super-User" for the Kronos WorkForce Services implementation at work (it sounds much more glamorous than it is, believe me), so I have had to sit down with about 20 different people and teach them how to use this new system.  Each session with a co-worker takes 30-45 minutes, and they did not allow for any overtime to get it done.  It has been a major project, trying to do my normal job and this training stuff when there is time, and when I happen to be scheduled at the same time as all of the people on my list.  And no, I'm not getting any compensation for it; I wasn't even asked if I wanted to do it (though I probably would have said yes).  I was walking into work one day and I was told that I had to go to this training, so I could teach other people.  Whatever.  It has been fine, just more to load onto my plate . . . because it wasn't full enough already.

Another reason why I haven't done more event-based blogging is because of the picture situation.  I love taking pictures of family events and I love creating beautiful photographs.  But it is a double-edged sword.  I want all of my pictures to look nice.  I don't want to upload unedited photos, even if it's just cropping and fixing exposure.  It bugs me when I don't do it, and considering the sheer numbers of photos I take, sorting through them all, finding and editing the best of them, uploading them, writing about them . . . it's a little overwhelming.  With my nieces' and nephews' birthdays, it's pretty much all I can do to 1) take the pictures and 2) upload them onto my picasa albums.  It's especially difficult during the summer, because once I'm done with one event, the next one is just around the corner.  So, folks, I'm sorry you don't get more pictures and stories.  I will try.

Okay, fine.  Here's a list of album links, in case you are interested (and in case I forgot to e-mail the links to you).

Ella's Birthday (8th Birthday Party on May 17, 2012)
Zekey's Birthday (1st Birthday Party on May 26, 2012)
Phoebe's Birthday (3rd Birthday Party on June 23, 2012)
Lily's Birthday (5th Birthday Party on June 30, 2012)
Day @ Hogle Zoo with Mach & Lex (July 19, 2012)
Family Reunion* (July 2012) *Warning!  Mostly unedited album, also including random pictures from vaycay!

Oh, what the heck.  Here are the links to Easter 2012 and Mother's Day 2012.  These kids are growing up so fast!  Of course there are lots of Benji pictures in each album, 1) because the boy is so stinkin' cute, and 2) because you never know when you'll get a really good one.  I actually found some great ones from last April that I had totally forgotten about.  And yes, between typing this sentence and the previous one, I had to  take 10 minutes to locate and edit this picture.  I got ones with better smiles, but they were out of focus.  Even so, this was worth it.

FYI, the shirt he was wearing in this picture is now permanently covered in stains from who-knows-what.  I have washed it at least 20 times trying to get it wearable again, all to no avail.  Gah!

This post turned out nothing like what I expected, but I guess that's the way life goes.  "Well you were happy where you were, but that girl, she reeled you in."  (Keane, Neon River).

Talk To Me

All right . . . back to more important things.  It's time for a Benji update.  This is the most recent picture I have of him is from our outing to the newish splash pad in North Salt Lake, in the Foxboro development.  It was a lovely day, and a really nice splash pad.  I met up with Konae there, and Rachael joined us.

Lily, Tessa & Benji @ the splash pad. 

Benji was in his little pirate shirt, which I made for all of the nieces & nephews @ his birthday party.  I'm glad the kiddos still wear them, even if they are ugly as sin!

Konae & her kids, and me trying to get Benji to look up.

Anyway, about Benjamin.  We have had a few big (well, big for us!) things happen in the past week.  First: I realized that he gets songs stuck in his head, too.  He's usually speaking his own language, so we only catch words here and there.  But the other day, he was quoting the Move and Groove song from "Signing Time" (Season 2), which gives you signs and actions.  He said, "Shake, shake, shake, freeze."  The next word is "kick," and eventually he said that, too.  It makes me happy to know that he sings to himself (incidentally, I have been singing Keane to myself for the past several weeks . . .), and that the connection between brain and mouth is becoming clearer.

Second: a real sentence.  While I'm fairly sure I have heard him say sentences before, I'm doubt he knew what he was saying (he said, "I guess I did it," but there was no reason or repetition).  This time, it was a response to a question.  The context: we were at Target yesterday, and he was sitting in the basket while we cruised the dollar section.  Since it is back-to-school time, they have some fun decor and stuff there, among which are street signs (''My Way or The Highway," etc.).  I pulled out a Stop sign (it says "Stop Studying" on one side; something equally snarky on the other), but it is red and shaped like an octagon.  I held it up to Benji and asked him what the sign said.

He replied: "The sign says . . ." then he paused for a minute, and said, "Stop."  I couldn't believe it!  He wouldn't say it again, but I know what I heard.  I think I may need to go back and buy that Stop sign, just to remind me!

Today, church was a bit of a challenge.  He would not sit still for ANYTHING, so it was basically a 3-hour wrestling match.  He was also talking to himself all through Primary, while the teacher was trying to give her lesson.  I also found out that a little girl in his class actually wanted to come play with Benji, but her mom didn't know how that might work with him.  I realized that Benji has very few social skills, and that I haven't sought out many opportunities for him to work on them.  I just know how he his with his cousins, who love him, but don't love playing with him.  I understand, and I'm not offended by it; they want some interaction, and Benji doesn't really know how to play with other kids.  He'll play along side them (sometimes), but he's so caught up in his own world, always exploring and finding things to spin and things to put in his mouth, that I'm not sure how much he even notices other kids. I'm sure this will be something we will be working on for the next few years (and maybe for the rest of his life), but the fact that Natalie actually wanted to play with him gave me a little wake-up call.  I don't think I'll be setting up playdates anytime soon, but I guess that is something that normal kids do, and maybe I should look into that.  I'm really going to try to get involved in the PTA and parent groups at the Pingree School this coming year, because almost all of the parents are going through this same thing.  Social awkwardness is a hallmark of an autistic child, so not having to explain what Benji does, what he understands, etc. will be so nice.

Even though church was pretty rough, we had something pretty monumental tonight at bath time.  He has pooped in the potty before, but only a few times, and most of those were lucky catches.  We always make him go potty (standing up) before he gets in the bath, but tonight he kept scratching his bum, so I sat him down.  I sat him down yesterday for about 20 minutes, and nothing.  Tonight, after about 10 minutes, he went!  He sat there for about 10 minutes longer, getting it all out.  I was so proud of him!  I told him a hundred times how proud I was, and I tried to be super-excited as a motivator for him.  I don't think he noticed how happy I was, but I told him "good job" over and over again.  I'm wondering if he wouldn't do better on a potty schedule.  As of now, he'll go when we take him, but he has never said the words "potty" or "poo poo" or "pee pee" without being prompted.  The other day, he was giving me hugs, and with no indication whatsoever, he pooped in his diaper.  I don't know if we can get on a pooping schedule, but I think we'll at least try a more strict potty schedule, and see if he'll stay dry.

Pretty exciting, at least in my world!  The next challenge is our upcoming vacation.  I don't know how he'll do on the road; I think we'll have to make a lot of pit-stops, but I'm pretty sure that's par-for-the-course when you have young kids.  I long for the day when I can say "Potty up, dudes!"

Shakedown 1979

I have been wanting to do this for a while, and I just need to get it out of my system.  First: an explanation.  There are certain celebrities (the 'cool kids' I feel a certain kinship with, mostly because of age.  Those who are not as close to me in age are just people I really like, and I think we would be friends if we actually knew each other.  As far as the mathematics goes, the science nerd in me needs to make you a graph (don't worry--there's only one axis!).

I have decided to put a number with these celebrities, which I call the PMA (Proximity to My Age).  Because I am thinking of time linearly, I'll note these age differences as positive and negatives, i.e., the difference between my age and Katherine Heigl's (PMA) is -0.17 years (the negative means she is older), and Claire Danes' PMA is +0.12 years (I am older than she is).  I hope that makes sense.  Not that it matters, but that's how I will write this up.  Also, much of my information came from IMDB.  I did try to credit the websites from which I took these pictures, but forgive me if I missed some or misdirected some of the links (there are a LOT of links in this post!).  Sorry.  Contrary to popular belief, I am not perfect (ha!).

So . . . on with the show.  We'll start with the two lovely ladies above.

Claire Danes

April 1979 (+0.12 years)

http://www.dailymakeover.com/hairstyles/all_womens_looks/claire_danes_jan_30_2009?tid_ref=1052

The lovely and talented Ms. Danes got her big break in "My So-Called Life," one of my favorite t.v. shows growing up.    I still remember one scene where she is freaking out about a zit.  One.  And her friend Rayanne told her to pop it and get on with her life.  Yep.  And no matter how big 30 Seconds to Mars gets, Jared Leto will always be hot Jordan Catalano.  That's the way it is in my world.  (P.S. Isn't her hair gorgeous?  I could go for that look!)

Katherine Heigl

November 1978 (-0.17 years)

http://www.deadline.com/tag/katherine-heigl/

Katherine Heigl is everywhere.  Personally, I think she's gorgeous.  I will always associate her with Grey's Anatomy; Izzie really stole the show for the first several seasons (I'm sorry, but Meredith is just so plain!).  Her exit was less-than-graceful, but she has a very fruitful movie career.  Have you seen "Life As We Know It"?  Great movie.  And Josh Duhamel is just delicious.

Neil Patrick Harris

June 1973 (-6.38 years)

http://www.theplace2.ru/photos/photo.php?id=366603

Who doesn't love Barney Stinson?  He's several years older than me, but Doogie Howser, M.D. was my hero.  It ran from 1989-1993, while I was a tween.  I LOVED him.  I'm glad he's one of the few child-actors who have successful acting careers as adults.  

Jason Segel

January 1980 (+0.98 years)

http://im03.thewallpapers.org/2343/actors/celebrities/celebrities/pamela_anderson.php

Since we're on the HIMYM bit, Mr. Jason Segel is just a year younger than me.  He's adorable.  I love that he's tall and goofy and musical (did you see The Muppets?  So great!).  Love you, Marshmallow!

P!NK (Alecia Beth Moore)

September 1979 (+0.62 years)

http://www.billboard.com/column/chartbeat/weekly-chart-notes-p-nk-bruno-mars-band-1004133464.story#/column/chartbeat/weekly-chart-notes-p-nk-bruno-mars-band-1004133464.story

I'm not a HUGE fan of her music, but I think she's awesome.  I think my favorite P!ink song is "Sober," though I really like "Raise Your Glass," too.  She is getting ready to release her 6th studio album . . . wow.  She was married to one Carey Hart, then they got divorced, now they are back together and they have a kid.  All I can really say is that she acts pretty tough for a girl named Pink Hart. ;o)

Adam Levine

March 1979 (+0.14 years)

http://www.shoppingblog.com/blog/312201211

Adam is the lead singer of Maroon 5, in addition to being a celebrity judge on The Voice.  He's pretty full of himself, but he is pretty talented and relatively easy-on-the-eyes.  I'd have to say that my favorite Maroon 5 song is "This Love," but I also like "Makes Me Wonder," "Wake Up Call," "Harder to Breathe," and "Misery."  Good times.

Tom Chaplin

March 1979 (+0.11 years) 

http://liveoc.livemagazines.net/articles/single/313

How could I not mention the lead singer of Keane?  Love, love, love.  Definite connection.

Okay, a few more.  No more explanations, because I need to go to bed.

Kate Hudson

April 1979 (+0.23 years)

http://www.go4celebrity.com/kate-hudson-017.htm

James McAvoy

April 1979 (+0.23 years)

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/James-McAvoy-Talks-About-His-Take-On-Professor-Xavier-In-X-Men-First-Class-20791.html

John Krasinski

October 1979 (+0.73 years)

http://www.people.com/people/john_krasinski/0,,,00.html

Love you, Jim!  He and Emily Blunt are one of my favorite celebrity couples.

Jayma Mays

July 1979 (+0.47 years)

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/06/30/jayma-mays-glee-john-stamos-smurfs-cookies/

Norah Jones

March 1979 (+0.17 years)

Diablo Cody

June 1978 (-0.62 years)

http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/954131/diablo-cody-oscars-2008-03/

Katie Holmes

December 1978 (-0.11 years)

http://www.searchnigeria.net/articles/index.php?page=view/article/1347/Tom-Cruise-and-Katie-Holmes-to-divorce

I don't think Katie is the greatest actress, and her teeth kinda bug me, but I think she's got the lowest PMA of all the above celebrities (39 days).  I never really got into Dawson's Creek, but I knew a lot of people who LOVED that show.  In her IMDB trivia, it says her favorite movie is "My Best Friend's Wedding" (definitely one of my faves!!).  Plus, she and Tom (who just turned 50!  Gads!) got together around the same time Allen and I got together (summer 2005).  Of course, they are getting divorced now . . . but she is a very cute mom (I love all the pictures of her and Suri).  Good luck, babe.

Others (born in 1978): Zoe Saldana, James Franco, Malin Akerman, Rachel McAdams, Dominic Cooper, Ethan Embry and Ashton Kutcher.  Born in 1980: Ryan Gosling, Chris Pine, Zooey Deschanel, Michelle Williams, Christina Ricci, Macaulay Culkin, Kim Kardashian.  

Honorable mentions: Natalie Portman (+1.37 years), Drew Barrymore (-3.94 years), and Reese Witherspoon (-2.85 years).  

I know this whole exercise was pointless.  It was kinda fun, though (is it weird that I enjoyed figuring out the PMA numbers?).  Is there a Hollywood personality who you have a connection with?  If Lifetime was going to make a movie about your life, who would be the star?  For me, I think it would have to be Adele (+9.28).  She's not necessarily an actress, but I think she's the closest thing I have to a Doppelganger in the celebrity world.

http://www.adele.tv/photos/?s=photos&page=1&photo=7097%2F7248583494_4c7e631cc5.jpg

Plus . . . I love her voice.  She's amazing.  And if you don't own her album "21" yet, you must be crazy.  It's fantastic.  Her cover of The Cure's "Lovesong" is absolutely brilliant.  And she's expecting a baby in September!  Yay!

It really is time to call it a night.  You may be right, I may be crazy.  But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for.  (Turn out the lights, don't try to save me!)

The Starting Line

Yes, this is another Keane post.  I seriously can't get enough.  One thing that I love about Keane is their lyrics . . . they mean something.  They mean a lot to me, and the more I listen to them, the more I fall in love with the band, the songs, everything.

This is a song called "The Starting Line." During the concert, Tom said that this was a song about hope, and that it is his favourite from the album. Please take five minutes of your life and enjoy this beautiful music.

The Starting Line
This town was a lovers' stage, but now you can't recognize
The street lights that are daggers to your eyes

You can't find your bearings, you're slipping into the ground
This scene has no color and no sound

You still believe in me, after the things I've done,
You fear for what we have become

The ground is uneven, we stumble from day to day
Took shelter where it's easy,
I know your feet are like lead but you've gotta underway

Drag your heart up to the starting line,
Forget the ghosts that make you old before your time
It's too easy to get left behind.
I know you've been kicked around,
But tie up your thoughts and lay them down on me

Each heart is a paper kite blown around by the breeze,
But love won't rest 'til it brings you to your knees

Some find it easy, some will never even know,
You think you've done your journey
Then you stumble and find that there's such a long way to go

Drag your heart up to the starting line
Forget the ghosts that make you old before your time
It's too easy to get left behind
I know you've been kicked around,
You wanna be lost and not be found,
But let's take the back way into town
And drink to the bad times, lay them down on me

Girl I still believe in you, you're too good to fall so low
We're gonna find a better life I know
Things will be clearer, and soon as we make a start,
We'll be that much nearer
We're too old to just stand here waiting to break apart

Drag your heart up to the starting line
Forget the ghosts that make you old before your time
It's too easy to get left behind,
I know you've been kicked around
But tie up your thoughts and lay them down on me, on me, on me


Beautiful, isn't it?  This song has made me cry more than once, as have other songs on the Strangeland album.  I know I write about music a lot, and it's pretty rare to have a post without reference to some lyrics.  I just love to share some things that speak to me, and I hope they strike a chord with you as well.  Forgive me for my obsessions; they are kindly meant.

Turn Up The Volume

The Keane concert last night (Tuesday, June 26, 2012) at the Gallivan Center in Salt Lake City was utterly fantastic.  Here's why:

I didn't have to work that day, so I was relatively well-rested, and I had time to do my hair and makeup so I felt fairly good about myself.  I was also pretty productive--filling out and delivering paperwork for Benji's school, cleaning out/vacuuming/washing Silvano, trying to vote (though I was denied because I wouldn't affiliate myself with a party . . . whatever), and picking up my friend Allison from PCMC so we could hit the concert together.  I wrote a little about Allison here, and how "Everybody's Changing" by Keane is kind-of "our song."  So when we found out Keane was coming, we knew we had to go together.

We took like 10 pictures until we decided on one she was satisfied with.  Allison is seriously gorgeous, and she looked fantastic in every pic we took, but she was okay with this one.  Whatever.  I took it with my super-crappy phone camera, which promptly died after I got one or two shots of the band.  I wish I had had my good camera to take nice pictures, but I am glad I didn't have to carry it around with me.  We were standing the whole time, and had a fantastic view of the stage (this is when I'm happy to be tall!).  Luckily, her phone's camera was pretty good.  She got lots of decent pictures.  This is the best one I've seen of them so far:

Tom Chaplin, lead singer of Keane

He's adorable.  And he sounds SO good live!  This is a nice blog post (not written by me) with some good pictures of him.  He does have a bit of a baby-face, but with his hair cut this way, he's seriously cute.  He has been added to the list, if you know what I mean.  Plus, he's almost exactly my age, so I feel some kinship.

We were standing toward the right of the stage, so we didn't get to see much of Tim Rice-Oxley, the keyboard guru and principal songwriter for the band.  From what I did see, he is beautiful as well.  I mean, look at this guy (aside from the unibrow)!  And the fact that he's super-talented doesn't hurt, either!

Tim Rice-Oxley, Keyboard Guru of Keane

The drummer is Richard Hughes.  He's not a bad-looking bloke, either, but he's stuck behind the drum set and I didn't see much of him.  He did stand up during the encore and take a picture of the crowd.  They have been posting those pictures on their website (his photoblog is here.)  If he uploads the pic at SLC, I'll put it on the blog. :o)

Richard Hughes, drummer of Keane

Jesse Quin is the newest member of Keane.  He has been playing bass guitar and added some backing vocals with them off and on for several years, and he's now an official member.  I really like his addition to the band.

Jesse Quin, bassist of Keane

Sorry I had to steal so many pictures from various websites, but I was very disappointed in my phone's camera.  When Allison sends me her pics, I'll share them.  This is a nice one from the "Cheetahman."  Apparently there was some meet & greet for a select few people (set up by my radio station, no less!), and I totally missed out.  Gah!

*sigh*

Anyway, below a setlist (thanks to setlist.fm for that!).  I have been 'doing my homework,' i.e., listening to little else for the past few weeks, and I'm glad I did.  I knew many of the songs, though there were a couple I had never heard before.  A lot of their songs sound alike, so there were some I didn't recognize right off the bat.  I was glad they played so many songs from their new album, Strangeland.  It's a fantastic CD, and I can't stop listening to it.  I highly recommend it!

Sidebar: if you go to the setlist.fm website, it will link you to youtube, where you can listen to/see videos of each song.  Good stuff.

It was such a great night.  One of the best concerts I have ever been to, hands down.  I think that Keane may have taken over second place in my list of favorite bands (if you don't know who is and always will be number one in my list, you will never, never, ever know me).  Sorry, Train--we'll see if you can earn that distinction back when I hit your concert in September.

And today, at work, my friend Adam asked me to tell him that the concert was terrible (I'm sure he was sad he wasn't able to go).  I couldn't.  It was one of the BEST. NIGHTS. EVER.

Jun26

image by last.fm

ArtistKeane Artist statistics Add setlist

VenueGallivan Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

TourStrangeland Tour Tour statistics Add setlist

Attendeesfarmerbb furrever (I was there)

Last editedJune 27, 2012 10:28:50 PM UTC by farmerbbEdit Setlist

6

• 1. You Are Young 
  2. Bend and Break 
  3. Day Will Come 
  4. Nothing In My Way 
  5. Strangeland 
     (snippet)
  6. On The Road 
  7. We Might As Well Be Strangers 
  8. Perfect Symmetry 
  9. Silenced By The Night 
  10. A Bad Dream 
  11. Disconnected 
  12. This Is The Last Time 
  13. The Starting Line 
  14. Everybody's Changing 
  15. Somewhere Only We Know 
  16. Is It Any Wonder? 
  17. Bedshaped 
  18. Sovereign Light Café 
  19. Encore:
  19. Sea Fog 
  20. Leaving So Soon? 
  21. Crystal Ball 
  22. Encore 2:
  22. My Shadow