Layne's List of Christmas Listening

I swear I'll get better about blogging. I mean, I know the assumed three people that will read this have been so anxious for another entry. So here it is. I don't have much to offer, I 'm afraid.
I've been swamped lately with finals week which has thankfully passed, so I am officially on my Christmas break, which has consisted of nothing but sleep, Ramen noodles, and MTV's "True Life." Yep.
With that being said, I have decided to compose a list edition of Songbird Mishaps. This concept was inspired by a marvelous and addictive, time-consuming, life-ruining site called Listverse.

PLEASE go visit it----> www.listverse.com

I owe them a lot! They've helped me in papers, projects, and boredom, and haven't helped with my insomnia. But that is beside the point. Lists are a great way to communicate something if one does not quite know how to go about presenting an idea, project, presentation, etc. So, being inspired by lists and my total unproductiveness (is that even a word?), I have composed a list of good holiday music. I hate linking things because it is quite time-consuming, but all of these songs are easily available on Youtube and iTunes.
My mother and I burned a Holiday Family Mixed Tape and it's pretty rad. Just saying..but music is a prominent part in every aspect of my life and my family's. We rely on music to help inspire us at Christmas, so here are some of my favorite Christmas songs, and what I consider the best/at least really good versions of them. Oh and these aren't in any sort of order. The numbers are for organizational purposes.

1) "The Little Drummer Boy" by the Harry Simeone Chorale

2) "O Holy Night" by Nat King Cole (His voice is like God's. For real.)

3) "Do You Hear What I Hear" by Carrie Underwood (Not a normal country fan, but this version is very powerful and her voice is really something.)

4)"Santa Baby" by Eartha Kitt (Forget Madonna and Taylor Swift. Eartha knows how to make this song provocative without sounding hoe-ish or like a little girl singing in the shower. I don't mean to be hating but I'm just being honest here.)

5) "Marshmallow World" by Dean Martin

6) "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" by Death Cab for Cutie (For all you hipsters out there.)

7) "The First Nowell" by Chanticleer (The ultimate gods of choral music. And they're all men.)

8) "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" by Oxford St. Peter's Choir (The tenor solo in the middle is to die for.)

9) "Winter Wonderland" by Michael Buble (With a little mark over the "e." How could I not put him on here?)

10) "Twelve Days of Christmas" by Straight No Chaser (It is crucial you look up their specific version because it isn't the traditional song. It has some awesome twists in it. A group of boys from my choir performed this song several times during our string of shows this month and they got yells and standing ovations left and right. It is phenomenal.)

So there it is. I hope you enjoy it and the rest of your Christmas because I may (but maybe?) not get around to blogging before Christmas. I would like to, however, so I can put up some pics from some charity work I was involved in. However, if I don't, have a GREAT Christmas!!

Nothing Matters When We're Dancing..

I've been meaning to BLOG for quite a while, but the holiday season is here! For me, this means various family members stopping me at the most inconvenient times and asking me about this and that involving Christmas gifts, food ideas for the holidays and, "Oh when  was your show again?" It also means arbitrary texts telling me I'm supposed to be in the choir rehearsal room at this time. So, when that totally unplanned time arrives, I hop in the car, van, truck, etc. (my family has several different means of transportation, all of them used and costing less than 5,000) and drive the three minutes it takes me to the school and arrive in that lovely little room of burnt orange and white walls with the opera prints on the walls, the black and white tile floors, and the black grand piano who I call Shirley shining in all her glory, and take a seat in a black plastic chair with the other altos and begin the night with Mr. Choate making some humorous quip of the limited time we have.
My holiday season is invariably busy and perpetually stressful. However, when I lay in bed at night pondering the day I've had, I always try to drift off to sleep with a smile on my dreamy little face. A lot has occurred since the last time I blogged. My school had a Sadie Hawkins dance put on by yours truly and her chorus. However, Choate and Nan, the choir's dynamic duo who are both saints in their own rights, did the work. I just sort of smiled nervously and told kids when and where and to please come. I did not go with a date because I'm a shy little wallflower when it comes to that sort of thing. I have guy friends not romantic interests. I am interested but do you think this quirky little thing has the guts to pursue anything? No. Plus, I'm in the arts, and, not to be stereotypical, but my closest guy friends are very, ahem, metro, if you will..

Here is the recorded history of that night..

Debra and Sara :)

Rebecca looking lovely in gold.

 

Here is a funny little video I made of the night's happenings.

Sorry for Party Rockin'.

Me sitting on the stairs afterwards sweating and in pain because I managed to injure my knee in the smallest of wedges.

And so went the night of November 5th. It was fun :) I have a new appreciation for that one song about Sadie Hawkins dances..you know ;) "Do you like my sweater?"
Here is the song/book update: "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing" by Magnetic Fields and any poem written by Charles Baudelaire who is a favorite and master of death and love and sex. Good stuff.

There's Something About This Place....

Hello :)
Fall has really hit hard. Sunny with a slight coolness in the balmy breeze to miserable drizzle and the ugliest shade of iron gray the world has ever seen. I loathe it, but what can one do about the weather? Last week I was out taking a walk around my neighborhood and felt the need to snap these.

The last one to me is one of my favorite shots that I've taken. I usually just use my iPod because I'm too cheap for an iPhone and it's easy to get all these cool photography apps and play around. Anyway, that sun has now been replaced by ugliness. The roads are damp and it seems as if the whole world is damp, and the rain has soaked down in one's very bones. Luckily this means things at school are picking up. When outside is nearly unbearable, the kids in class become antsy and anxious for each others' company. I think it's to remind ourselves that the world really isn't this dark, depressing menagerie of rain and wind, so we cling to each other. Plus, the busy season is hitting for choir nerds like myself. I am extraordinarily active in choir. I've been a member of the Tennessee Mid-state and All-state Honors Choirs for the past three years. I recently had my audition for the third time and nailed it, so I am humbled and happy. I also am involved in the school's Advanced Chorale and am one of 32 select singers of that group that is involved in the Chamber Singers. We practice Mondays after school and our first rehearsal of the year in this coming Monday. We have a slew of Christmas shows to prepare for. I LOVE holiday music so am pumped for it.
To change the subject abruptly (I'm not very good at transitioning), Mom and I decided to take a late-night trip at the movies and see the late show of Paranormal Activity 3. I didn't sleep for the rest of the evening. Seriously. You know those commercials advertising the movie that show the people watching the movie and getting frightened out of their wits while flashing positive critics' remarks in big white letters across the screen? That was me. Curled up in a ball next to some slightly intoxicated Tech student who was cute as a button but emanating the sour smell of beer. His drunken commentary was quite funny, however, so am glad I was his seat mate. But to continue, movies like that freak me out. I think the things cleverly executed to make it seem like some demonic presence was there, but you never actually saw the thing was excellent. It wasn't corny but just....EERIE. It was midnight when the movie let out and Mom and I went to IHOP to eat a late-night breakfast dinner. IHOP attracts some characters at midnight. Some women came in after us dressed as pirartes and bumblebees, I kid you not. I looked for my waiter, but alas, he was not there. There is this waiter who was flirty with me and was just precious, but I have not had the pleasure of his waiting services in almost a year, and it depresses me.
That and school has been the extent of my life. No wonder no one reads this besides about one person who may or may not be related to me. At the end of each post, I'll most likely do a little update on songs I currently like, books I am currently reading, etc. just for recommending purposes to get a little culture out there to ya. Just kidding.
Current books: Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (the latter for class).
Current songs: "You and I" by Gaga and "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People-totally stereotypical but I like a catchy chorus when I hear it.

Frozen Yogurt Follies

Salutations :)


Last night my lovely mother and I grabbed some food and then enjoyed an after dinner froyo at our favorite frozen yogurt place Mae Pearl's. (For the record, whenever I saw "Pearlin'" this is what that means.) Let me just say that frozen yogurt beats ice cream for me anyday. We arrived at 6:30ish and stayed til 8. I got a complimentary Mae Pearl's tshirt. The back says "Seize the Freeze." My friend who is a yogurt clerk there clocked in and smiled at me as he served the evening stream of college kids. I live in a college town which has it's pros and cons, one of the cons being a bombarding of the froyo place at 7 in the evening. They filled up a whole table..

As you can see, they were everywhere..haha. I'll be in their position soon, just hopefully not at their college..

To continue, I enjoyed a Mango yogurt with blackberries, strawberries, granola (lots of it), and nerds candy. I like to get freaky with my froyo. My mother enjoyed a cheesecake, caramel, strawberry, and more caramel creation. While we were relaxing in the warm, cheerfully lit shop, a pair of young parents came in with their children. They were young kids, about 3 and 4. The little boy was the elder brother with sandy hair and little red rainboots. He was the sweetest little thing. His sister had a chin-length blonde bob with a pink bow and flowery jeans. Her father carried inside and the shop is decorated for Halloween with pumpkins scattered around, spiderwebs around the yogurt cups, ghosts above the yogurt machines. The little girl was wide-eyed and said to her father, "This is scary.." Her brother looked at her and said reassuringly, "It's pretend, silly. It isn't real." Then, she was fine.

This touched me. As the tart mango yogurt melted on my tongue, I pondered this. The brother wasn't scathing or cruel. Just supportive. Just assuring his baby sister that what seemed frightening wasn't real at all and that things were only pretend. If only this could be like real life. If only everyone had an older brother to tell them that, "Things aren't so scary, sis. It's just pretend." I decided I immediately liked that family. They left before my mother and I did. 

I have also decided that, like my friend, I want to be a yogurt clerk. Forget college and student loans and grades and scholarships and essays and applications. I want to work at a place like Mae Pearl's with the yogurt machines emanating a constant hum and people perpetually streaming in and out with plactic spoons in their mouths and "Thank you"s and the bold colored paintings of cows and bubbles on the walls and the odor of fruit and candy. Why not want that? Sometimes I'd like to revert back to the simple things. College is the path I'm going because that's what society tells us we need. Economy equals bad, college equals more money. But why not go against that and be a poor, poverty stricken, yogurt clerk? 

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Insomnia Consequences

Salutations :) Currently this first blog is to no one because no one is following me. Which is acceptable because this blog was born tonight so happy birthday, blog :) Anyway, because Jade's blog is great (shyboyswin) it inspired me to have a creative outlet as well. So, we shall see how this goes. I suffer from sometimes crippling insomnia so when I head down to the basement (where my room is and no I'm not some Bible wielding, holy rolling basement dweller who records videos of poor quality ranting about white power as the pine paneled walls surround me) I hop online. Made a twitter this morning and thought let's go all the way Internet and get technological. So I spent the early hours of the brisk October morning making this thing. Who knows where it'll go?