I just realized my blog has the same layout as John Green's. *fangirls*

So this week has been an interesting one, with a lot of highs and lows. Firstly, there was the death of my dog, which, surprisingly, I got over quickly. But I had been preparing for that event for the past year or so, really. During school I worried very much that during one of my daily phone conversations with my mom in the mornings between class that she would have news for me, telling me that he had died. And even when I was back at home, I worried that I would wake up in the morning to find him dead.

So I had almost mourned him prematurely. I cried when it happened, but after that, it was over. I know he isn't hurting anymore, and I know that we have nothing to worry about now.

Aside from that, I got a job. At Dollar General. Not a very glamorous or fun job, but for a part time job--well, let's just say, it isn't fast food. Yesterday I was shopping with my parents and even got my uniform--a black polo and khaki pants. Yay.

We found out this morning that a boy from our church passed away in his sleep. He was only twelve years old, and passed completely unexpectedly. He was a friend of my sister's, they had grown up together, and had been on little league sports teams and such together. She took it pretty badly. I'm reminded by this that we have so little time on this earth in relation to all of time as it is. Our time here is but a blink of an eye.

Today I'm going to go to the lake house of some old friends of my dad's, and I won't know many people there. I'm thinking about sneaking in Twilight, which I'm rereading. Luckily my sister is back from camp, so maybe she'll keep me company.

Today's song:

The Last of the Great Whales - Ed Blann

This song is beautiful, simple, and folky. I discovered Ed Blann on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/eddplant. He is a singer/songwriter from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Suck levels are high.

I had a whole other subject to blog about today, but I figured that that particular topic will still be there when I get back to reality. Today my dog had to be put to sleep. He had a wire in his stomach, but besides that, a mass of something. I guess it was a tumor or something.

I knew that it was going to happen, most likely sooner, rather than later, but I never imagined this soon.

We adopted Bingo, or rather, he adopted us, in roughly 1993 (my memories are a little fuzzy, I was quite young). He stayed outside, except for one winter that proved too cold for him and our other dog, Billy.


Bingo by ~Aelnora on deviantART


I don't really know what else to say. I guess it seems ridiculous to be this upset about the death of a pet, but Bingo has been a part of our family for a very long time, and he was sort of my dog. He primarily stayed around me our Dad, so it was kind of like we shared him.

A lot of times when Mom or I would be in the music room practicing or just messing around, he would come in there and sleep. It was really sweet, and I think the music was soothing to him. And when I would sing to him, he seemed to be relaxed, and I think he knew it was for him.

And now, just as I didn't know how to start this post, I also don't know how to end it. I know that I miss Bingo, but I also know that he doesn't hurt anymore. He was very much in pain, and I could see it whenever he would stand up, and when he would try to lay down.

So I'm coping. I know I'll have other dogs, and I'll love them just as much as I did Bingo, but he'll always be one of our first dogs, that I deeply cared about, and that I know cared for us, too.

Suck levels are high, but I'm going to keep trying to be awesome.


My Bingo by ~Aelnora on deviantART

I have very little time in which to write this but....

...here goes. I have church at 6:30 and sometime before that I have to figure out the VCR so that I can tape the Tony's. Which are tonight! Yay! I'm excited. I usually miss them for some reason or another, but I planned ahead this time. I really wanted to have a Tony's party, but that didn't happen. So I think my friend and I are going to have a post-Tony's mini-party during which we will watch it taped and chat on Skype.

So this weekend has been interesting in parts, and not in others. Yesterday, as mentioned in my previous post, I sang at the Community Arts Foundation Annual Meeting, which went rather well, I guess. Earlier that day I fell (I was leaping through the house) and I twisted my ankle rather nicely. It still hurts.

Right before I was supposed to meet the person accompanying me to practice, I couldn't find one of my heels. So I was thinking, in my frantic state, how if I had to, I would wear my tap shoes, because they are the only other black heels I have. Yeah.

But I found the other shoe, and all was well.

Today my sister left for a mission camp with the youth group at our church, so I get to pretend that I'm an only child, which is exciting. I intend to fully use it to my advantage, if they'll let me.

Also this week, I have to get a job.

And I've started a story, which I mentioned before, but right now I know very little about the plot. I currently only really have vague character sketches in my brain, so I'm working on it.

Random song which I have no time to post a link to an mp3 of....

She & Him - You Really Got a Hold On Me

Folky, loungy, not really sure how to categorize it. Zooey Deschanel is a part of this group, and her smooth vocals are absolutely wonderful.

Nothing that matters, naturally.

So I just finished all of the Brotherhood 2.0 videos by vlogbrothers John and Hank Green.
[link here]
They are still vlogging, sort of weeklyish. So check them out. :) You'll be glad you did.

Tonight I'm singing at the Community Arts Foundation Annual Meeting. I'll be singing Popular and For Good, both from Wicked, and Upon This Rock, recorded by Sandi Patti.

I don't know if I'll be able to make it through For Good. When practicing I almost had a breakdown.

So I've been looking at the demographics of the viewers of my videos, and I have found that 68% are male, and 32% are female. The leading age range of both genders is 45-55. I'm not really sure what this says about my videos and the people that enjoy them. It does kind of creep me out to think about forty-five year old men watching my videos intently.

So I've started reading some other blogs, including one by my friend Liz, one by author and co-leader of Nerdfighteria John Green, and one by two fellow Nerdfighters that are doing a blog project together.

I promise that I will write with more substance in the future, but right now I didn't really feel like it, and I'm going to try to put all of my substance into a story I've started. I don't know what it's about yet.

Also, check out my page on Nerdfighters, link with my face on it in the sidebar.

Almost forgot. Today's random song:

They Might Be Giants - The Mesopotamians

This is pretty fantastic. No lie. :)

Nerdfighters, writing, words, etc.

View my page on Nerdfighters

I am part of an internet movement known as Nerdfighters. Nerdfighters are individuals that are made of awesome, and who fight to decrease worldsuck in the never-ending battle with the "popular" people. It was started by John and Hank Green, also known as vlogbrothers on YouTube (check them out, they're awesome) during their Brotherhood 2.0 project in 2007.

Their project was to use anything but text-based communication for a whole year, instead communicating via video blogs, or vlogs.

Passing over Nerdfighters (which I strongly encourage everyone to check out), I move on to my next topic.

Writing. I greatly enjoy writing. Writing is something that I've succeeded in, and that I want to keep succeeding in. Hence the blog. I hope that by writing more, I can improve. I haven't done very much writing for a while. I'd consider myself a writer, but not a great one. In high school, I started a lot of "novels" that I may just decide to finish. I've been reading and thinking about Young Adult fiction a lot lately, so I may try to see what happens if I try to move my writing in that direction. We'll see what happens.

Every now and then I think about words, more than every now and then actually, and in particular how a simple change of one letter can make an interesting change to the whole meaning of a sentence. The "s" key being next to the "d" key, the word "sleep" can quickly turn into the word "dleep", which, coincidentally, is not an actual word. If it were, it would be some kind of liquid, or a bodily function.

Also, I often find myself accidentally pressing the "b" key instead of the "v", making the word "love" into "lobe", saying things like, "I lobe you guys!" and "Don't you lobe that?". What does it mean to "lobe" something? :)

And I decided that instead of just shuffling my music, I'm going to pick some songs that I've listened to lately that I've enjoyed. I find myself skipping through until I find one I like. :)

Sondre Lerche and Regina Spektor - Hell No

This song is so soothing and nice, their voices go well together.

The Bird and the Bee - Again and Again

Fun song, really great beat and interesting instrumentation. Makes you want to dance. :)

The Mountain Goats - Love Love Love

New Mountain Goats fan here. Awesome. (John Green sent me, and he's right, they are so jokes.)

An introduction and an epiphany (sort of)

So today I came to a shocking realization.

I have no idea what I want to do with my life.

Perhaps an introduction will help you all in understanding my situation.

My name is Emily. I started at Murray State University in the Fall of 2007 as a music performance major. I enjoy music, theatre, reading, writing, photography, and many other things. My former career goal was, in what I like to think are very general terms, a musical theatre performer.

I realized, as a music major, that I lack both the drive and talent to succeed in the highly competitive entertainment industry. I believe that I am talented (please don't think me conceited, I'm really not), but I'm very laid back and not very competitive.

Now that I've outlined my reasons for not pursuing a career in musical theatre, I will now move on to something completely different.

Wow, that felt very Python. :)

One thing I've noticed, is that I have a very eclectic mixture of music in my iTunes library, so what I thought I'd do is do a daily "Today on Shuffle". So, here goes:

Today on Shuffle:

Sarah Brightman - Scarborough Fair

I actually have about three versions of this song in my library. It's a folk song that has been covered by Simon and Garfunkel, Celtic Woman, Sarah Brightman, as well as many others.

Kristin Chenoweth - Let Yourself Go

Composed by Irving Berlin, "Let Yourself Go" is a jazzy piece from her album of the same title. I love jazz and big band music, and would love to perform this song sometime. It has to be a blast!

Melody Gardot - Worrisome Heart

I downloaded this from iTunes free as the Single of the Week. It's lounge jazz at it's best, one of the better free downloads I've acquired on iTunes.