I forgot about these pictures until Amberly reminded me with one of her posts. Lucky us Kamo has been declawed so no casualties on our end, except for how ugly she looks when she's wet.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary
Please tell me that someone out there remembers playing this PC game...
Whit and I basically relived our childhood watching all 7 parts of this guys walk through. It was fantastic and completely worth it.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Benjamin Franklin
So I've been reading the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and I am so impressed by this man. Firstly he was raised by a wise father who "liked to have, as often as he could, some sensible friend or neighbor to converse with, and always took care to start some ingenious or useful topic for discourse, which might tend to improve the minds of his children. By this means he turned our attention to what was good, just, and prudent in the conduct of life." I can only imagine what a huge impact this had on Franklin for he seemed on improving himself for the rest of his life. There was no petty gossip in his teenage life. He made friends with those who among himself, loved reading. They would go into the woods and read aloud to each other and discuss ideas, themes, poetry... I can't even imagine a group of boys in high school reading to each other like that. Too bad though, Franklin makes a good point later saying, "Influence upon the private character, late in life, is not only an influence late in life, but a weak influence. It is in youth that we plant our chief habits and prejudices; it is in youth that we take our party as to profession, pursuits and matrimony."
Another quote from him that I thought was very interesting about the religions of that time, "These I esteem'd the essentials of every religion; and, being to be found in all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, tho' with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mix'd with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote or confirm morality, serv'd principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another."
A few years later Franklin tells about 13 virtues which at that time were necessary and desirable to him. He gives his own definition of what they mean and puts them in a specific order at which to work at attaining them.
1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
"Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up... This being acquir'd and establish'd, Silence would be more easy. This and the next Order, I expected would allow me more time for attending to my project and my studies. Resolution once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavors to obtain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, ect., ect."
Franklin goes on to say, "I was supris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish."
Now can you imagine any leader of this nation right now having this on their mind? I would be shocked and surprised if any of them were striving like this to better themselves.
Anyways, one last quote.
"In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and now I am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it. But, on the whole, tho' I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it."
Another quote from him that I thought was very interesting about the religions of that time, "These I esteem'd the essentials of every religion; and, being to be found in all the religions we had in our country, I respected them all, tho' with different degrees of respect, as I found them more or less mix'd with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote or confirm morality, serv'd principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another."
A few years later Franklin tells about 13 virtues which at that time were necessary and desirable to him. He gives his own definition of what they mean and puts them in a specific order at which to work at attaining them.
1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
"Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up... This being acquir'd and establish'd, Silence would be more easy. This and the next Order, I expected would allow me more time for attending to my project and my studies. Resolution once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavors to obtain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, ect., ect."
Franklin goes on to say, "I was supris'd to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish."
Now can you imagine any leader of this nation right now having this on their mind? I would be shocked and surprised if any of them were striving like this to better themselves.
Anyways, one last quote.
"In truth, I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and now I am grown old, and my memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it. But, on the whole, tho' I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it, yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it."
Friday, July 15, 2011
Tolerance
"Until recently in our national history, tolerance referred to racial and religious non-discrimination. It meant civility in the political arena; in other words, respecting the right of others to express their views, even if we do not agree with them. It meant treating all people with decency and respect.
"Today, however, the world is in danger of abandoning all sense of absolute right or wrong, all morality and virtue, replacing them with an all-encompassing "tolerance" that no longer means what it once meant. An extreme definition of tolerance is now widespread that implicitly or explicitly endorses the right of every person to choose their own morality, even their own "truth," as though morality and truth were mere matters of personal preference.
"Curiously enough, this new modern tolerance is often a one-way street. Those who practice it expect everyone to tolerate them in anything they say or do, but show no tolerance themselves toward those who express differing viewpoints or defend traditional morality.
"Now let us go one step further. Even in its original and correct connotation, tolerance is surely a secondary virtue in comparison with the far higher virtue of love. Certainly it is good to be tolerant of those who are different than we are, treating them with kindness and civility. But love, or charity, is the highest of all, and it is far better to genuinely love those with whom we differ."
"Today, however, the world is in danger of abandoning all sense of absolute right or wrong, all morality and virtue, replacing them with an all-encompassing "tolerance" that no longer means what it once meant. An extreme definition of tolerance is now widespread that implicitly or explicitly endorses the right of every person to choose their own morality, even their own "truth," as though morality and truth were mere matters of personal preference.
"Curiously enough, this new modern tolerance is often a one-way street. Those who practice it expect everyone to tolerate them in anything they say or do, but show no tolerance themselves toward those who express differing viewpoints or defend traditional morality.
"Now let us go one step further. Even in its original and correct connotation, tolerance is surely a secondary virtue in comparison with the far higher virtue of love. Certainly it is good to be tolerant of those who are different than we are, treating them with kindness and civility. But love, or charity, is the highest of all, and it is far better to genuinely love those with whom we differ."
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
"Life is not like a river but like a tree."
"We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork you must make a decision. Even on the biological level life is not like a river but like a tree. It does not move towards unity but away from it and the creatures grow further apart as they increase in perfection. Good, as it ripens, becomes continually more different not only from evil but from other good." - C. S. Lewis
Interesting thought no? I've been thinking about his phrase of life being more like a tree than a river, but not in the religious good and evil sense. The other night I helped a friend prepare things for her wedding reception. I haven't seen her in a while and it was good to catch up but it seems that all old friends can catch up on is what everyone else is up to. I'm afraid I find myself slipping into those conversations more then I like but it's hard when you haven't seen someone for a long while. Things aren't as natural as they used to be. It's like you have to go through a polite greeting/get to know you again before you can delve. But then the delving isn't must deeper then the level of the kiddie pools. Life is like a tree. You all branch off in your own direction, move into your own life. You become more distant from each other, spreading into different regions, growing next to new branches. Then those branch off and you continue down your course in life. How many people from my high school do I still keep in touch with? There's a handful but everyone else is sporadic. How many people do I keep in touch with from college? I'm trying harder to stay with them, (let's be honest I was done with high school long before I graduated.) they're the more recent ones in my life. I seem to have difficulties with loosing touch with people but also with not caring about loosing touch. What a sad dilemma.
But through all these changes, I'm always closest with my family. That's more important then my friends I think. I know that people are put into my life, and I hope that I'm utilizing what they're teaching me, but my family is here to stay.
Interesting thought no? I've been thinking about his phrase of life being more like a tree than a river, but not in the religious good and evil sense. The other night I helped a friend prepare things for her wedding reception. I haven't seen her in a while and it was good to catch up but it seems that all old friends can catch up on is what everyone else is up to. I'm afraid I find myself slipping into those conversations more then I like but it's hard when you haven't seen someone for a long while. Things aren't as natural as they used to be. It's like you have to go through a polite greeting/get to know you again before you can delve. But then the delving isn't must deeper then the level of the kiddie pools. Life is like a tree. You all branch off in your own direction, move into your own life. You become more distant from each other, spreading into different regions, growing next to new branches. Then those branch off and you continue down your course in life. How many people from my high school do I still keep in touch with? There's a handful but everyone else is sporadic. How many people do I keep in touch with from college? I'm trying harder to stay with them, (let's be honest I was done with high school long before I graduated.) they're the more recent ones in my life. I seem to have difficulties with loosing touch with people but also with not caring about loosing touch. What a sad dilemma.
But through all these changes, I'm always closest with my family. That's more important then my friends I think. I know that people are put into my life, and I hope that I'm utilizing what they're teaching me, but my family is here to stay.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Get Happy
Another Judy Garland song that I'm obsessed with right now.
And guess who's leaving for Washington and Oregon Thursday morning? Yes sir, me. Family reunion and then the beach house. Perfect place to throw my cares away and get happy.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Freedom and a Memory
Remember how I was having a really hard time with my job? Well, after I posted that my sister called me the next morning to talk with me about how things were going. She told me I should just get a different job! I know that seems completely obvious, but I honestly thought and felt like I was trapped in this job and wasn't going to be out of there anytime soon. Which added to the dread. But then it was a light bulb and I thought, "this is America, I can get a different job if I want!" I know, little ridiculous that it hadn't struck me before. So last Saturday was my last day working, and now I am free of that job. I haven't heard back from hardly any of the places that I applied to so I'm still looking. I would really love to find any type of work in a hospital or radiology office so I can work more towards what I'm going into. Find a job that will help me with my career. We'll see how that goes. But it's nice to be free for these next few days before my family jets off for a vacation. Once I get home I'll start to job search again. Any suggestions?
On another note, I found this movie on youtube today. Can I tell you how much I love this song? When I was visiting my dear cousin Caitlyn in Georgia when we were both very young, we decided we wanted to learn this song! Well, the lyrics are absolutely no where online and we couldn't find anything about it. (I think this was 8 years ago or so and I'm sure the internet was nothing like it is now.) Anyways, we stayed up until 2 or 3 that night, watching this scene on VHS, pausing it, writing down the lyrics we could remember, starting the scene up again while trying to write everything, pausing, writing, rewinding, over and over again until we had written down all the lyrics ourselves. Next we went on to memorize the different parts and perfect the enunciation. I sung the guys lines (because I was slightly sick and couldn't sing high at all) and my cousin took over the girls lines. We performed it the next morning to my aunt and anyone around that would listen to us. To this day we still slightly remember the lyrics and laugh about that night every time we talk about it. I love spending time with cousins.
On another note, I found this movie on youtube today. Can I tell you how much I love this song? When I was visiting my dear cousin Caitlyn in Georgia when we were both very young, we decided we wanted to learn this song! Well, the lyrics are absolutely no where online and we couldn't find anything about it. (I think this was 8 years ago or so and I'm sure the internet was nothing like it is now.) Anyways, we stayed up until 2 or 3 that night, watching this scene on VHS, pausing it, writing down the lyrics we could remember, starting the scene up again while trying to write everything, pausing, writing, rewinding, over and over again until we had written down all the lyrics ourselves. Next we went on to memorize the different parts and perfect the enunciation. I sung the guys lines (because I was slightly sick and couldn't sing high at all) and my cousin took over the girls lines. We performed it the next morning to my aunt and anyone around that would listen to us. To this day we still slightly remember the lyrics and laugh about that night every time we talk about it. I love spending time with cousins.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Get Together
Remember how I went on a choir tour to Europe? Well, I miss all of those lovely friends that I made on that trip. We periodically have reunions which make me miss Europe and our adventures that much more. But it had been a long while since our last reunion and since I am now known as "dictator Megan" in our group, I was asked to plan another reunion.
This was the first reunion where all of our guys are off on missions! It was strange, and there were only a small handful of us that could get together. But no matter, I loved it all the same.
This was the first reunion where all of our guys are off on missions! It was strange, and there were only a small handful of us that could get together. But no matter, I loved it all the same.
I got us dinner reservations at Buca di Beppo at their kitchen table. If you've never been there, go. It's so good. And I must pass along the advice given from my sister to get the Italian pear soda. It's completely out of this world good. I can't even describe it except that I wanted 10 to-go cups to take home with me.
We played around at Gateway while waiting to go to a concert and of course we had to try on the most ridiculous outfits we could find.
I honestly don't know how they make money stocking the store with garbage like this.
Angel, Mary Jane, Brianna, Me
Of course we had to hit up the tracks. It's practically a necessity with a trip to Salt Lake.
Love those girls so much. I miss being with them all the time. I miss all the inside jokes that got created from our circumstances. As strange as it sounds I miss always watching out for Brianna. (I'm pretty sure we saved her life/saved her from getting lost almost everyday in Europe. No joke. I really don't know how she's lived this long.) But life never stops. I'm just glad we get the chance to get together every now and then. It honestly needs to happen more.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Child Stars
Firstly, I'm absolutely obsessed with this recording and listen to it daily. I love Judy Garlands younger voice. (I love her voice anyways but this is just good.) She's 16 in this recording, which baffles my mind. She looks so much younger! But her voice is mature.
The next child star I want you to listen to is Julie Andrews. She's 12 in this recording and honestly I don't even feel like singing after I hear her because I have no chance.
But still, her voice is exquisite and she is truly talented.
Last one, and she is not a child star in the sense of talent, but more just because she became a hit off of disney channel and now she thinks she has the voice of the ages.
All I have to say is, what happened to real talent? I mean I know there's amazing talent out there in kids but why the heck is all the publicity on people like Miley Cyrus?! (And yes I completely dislike her.)
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