photo a day

I always like black and white. Always. So here we have a nice b&w Holga version of the flowers photo I uploaded a few days ago. Enjoy :)

Facebook Fast

I've never done Lent before. However, this year I decided it would be a great opportunity to stretch my faith a bit by denying myself a guilty pleasure: Facebook. I know Lent is normally a season when people go without certain food or drink, but I also know that Facebook is my real addiction that I need to break. So I went cold turkey and have been without it for about a couple weeks now, and I've learned that Lent is not fun at all. Like I said, I've never done it but I bet this is about the time participants start thinking, "Oh man, maybe this wasn't such a good idea." I've wanted to check up on people, see their pictures, ask questions to my general Facebook audience, but can't do any of it!

However, I'm not going to sit here and type away all my complaints for you to read. As difficult as it is to break a habit, I know it's really good for me. It's been forcing me to make direct contact with people and has left me blissfully ignorant of the online drama. I'm not even halfway through the Lent fast, which I've learned ends on Easter. Part of me wants to groan and give up, but the other part of me (thankfully, the part that's in control) sees that as a good thing. I still have lots to learn about face time and it's going to be great.

I'm determined to make this a season to learn a new lifestyle, not just go on a reverse binge. I feel like a lot of people participate in Lent but go back full-force to their old habit. But God said He asks for obedience, not sacrifice. If you sacrifice something just once and then go right back to it, it's like it never happened so what good does that do? Make a change and obediently stick to it. God also said, "Because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out." And that's really unpleasant, so let's make a lasting change. I'll update you a bit later on my Facebook fast :)

Invest in love

Today I went to the Christian Club meeting and they had a guest speaker. He spoke about loving one another and said, "God doesn't just talk about love, love, love, love because it sounds nice; he's trying to make a point."
Loving one another is the most basic command and it's one we take for granted, but how often do we really grasp it? Jesus said to love each other as he has love us. Well, he love us enough to die for us! So how well are we really following that command? Do you know how your friends are really doing? What they're struggling with? What they're really passionate about? Do you know how to make them happy or do you just pat their back and say it'll be okay? Today, love your friends by investing in them. Knowing God and His love gives us the ability to love people like nobody else can; we know Love himself! For God said, "I am love."
So what does it look like to invest in your relationships? Every person gives and receives love differently so you need to know them to know how to love them. A good place to start learning is through the five love languages: touch, words, service, gifts, and quality time. I have a friend that would be thrilled by just being given her favorite soda, while others are almost offended by being given gifts. One of my closest friends rubs my shoulder when she talks to me; yet another insists on complementing everyone. Every person is different. Typically, girls love words and guys love touch, but this is not a concrete rule! Get into someone's life today beyond talks of the weather and he-said-she-said; let's be the friends Jesus called us to be :)

Happy Pi Day

Today is Pi Day (3/14)
It's a delicious mathematical day! Apparently there is a National Pie Day sometime in January, but why it doesn't fall on the brilliantly ironic March 14th is beyond me. To celebrate, I'm sending some fun pi facts, some pie facts, and a pi pie :) Is that enough pi for you?

-The Guinness-recognized record for remembered digits of pi is 67, 890 digits, held by Lu Chao, a 24-year-old graduate student from China. It took him 24 hours and 4 minutes to recite to the 67, 890th decimal place of pi without an error.

-Piphilology is the humorous yet serious study that involves the use of mnemonic techniques to remember the digits of pi.

"Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye,
four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing,
oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?"
Where does this strange nursery rhyme come from? Putting live birds inside a huge pastry crust was indeed a common Medieval joke. It was played by the cooks of wealthy knights, who would present the pie to the knight with a real pie waiting in the kitchen. However, cooked birds were frequently placed by European royal cooks on top of a large pie to identify its contents. The use of more, um, "exotic" birds began with the coronation of eight-year-old English King Henry VI, who apparently enjoyed a nice adorned peacock pie.

-Throwing pies has been a comedy staple since Ben Turpin received one in Mr. Flip in 1909.

On this day in history...

I'm a bit of a history nerd, so I was looking around the History Channel website and they have a "this day in history" feature. Today's events were pretty cool, so I'm bringing the feature to you, my few but faithful viewers :)

On this day in 1942, the Quartermaster Corps (QMC) of the United States Army begins training dogs for the newly established War Dog Program, or "K-9 Corps."

Well over a million dogs served on both sides during World War I, carrying messages along the complex network of trenches and providing some measure of psychological comfort to the soldiers. In the United States, the practice of training dogs for military purposes was largely abandoned after World War I. When the country entered World War II in December 1941, the American Kennel Association and a group called Dogs for Defense began a movement to mobilize dog owners to donate healthy and capable animals to the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army. Training began in March 1942, and that fall the QMC was given the task of training dogs for the U.S. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.

The top canine hero of World War II was Chips, a German Shepherd who served with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Trained as a sentry dog, Chips broke away from his handlers and attacked an enemy machine gun nest in Italy, forcing the entire crew to surrender. The wounded Chips was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and the Purple Heart--all of which were later revoked due to an Army policy preventing official commendation of animals.

elementary school

A couple weeks ago, I went to Pacheco Elementary School, my old elementary school! My Spanish class went for Read Across America Day, a day to celebrate literacy and a love of reading in kids. We went to all the classrooms and read to the kids in English and Spanish (because Pacheco is a bilingual school) and it was so fun! I read to kindergarteners, who were absolutely adorable. They insisted that we sing a song about barnyard animals with them and gave me a purple bracelet to remember reading to them. I also read to my friend's third grade class and they were wonderful. The kids were young enough to be fun and silly and sweet, but old enough to have real attention spans and be able to hold deeper conversations. It was such a fun day :) I'm hoping to go back soon!
Did you have a favorite grade in elementary school? What do you remember about it?

photo a day

This is one of my favorite photos that I've taken so far as part of my photography challenge. I took it with my phone on the way to 7/11 with a friend. As a disclaimer, I later enhanced the colors but not that drastically.

photo a day

This is one of the photos I took as part of my photography challenge. Hopefully there will be many more to come :)

Adam Pasion Band

At long last, the interview with Adam Pasion is complete. Currently, they are working on writing and recording, so I'll be sure to let you all know when they have shows coming up :)

For my first local artist interview, I spoke with Adam Pasion, leader of the Adam Pasion band, a bluegrass group, and Briertone, a Southern rock band.

What does each of you play?

Adam Pasion: lead vocals, guitar

Emily Wilson: vocals

Brandon Gatlin: pedal steel, guitar, piano

Elijah Merritt: BGVs, banjo, guitar

Mark Folkrod: Drums, percussion

Kirk MacLane: upright bass

How long have you been playing?

I started playing music when I was nine or ten. I started Adam Pasion music in 2008 when I released my first alt-country & folk record. It was a transition from a heavier southern rock band called Briertone that I started in 2002. This Adam Pasion Band lineup has been performing together for about two years.

What are your most popular songs?

The most popular songs are ones we usually like to play the least! They get tiresome. People often want to hear “Gypsy Girl.” "May it be a Sweet Sound" and "Run by Faith" are usually second to that.

Why did you choose to play music? Can you describe your style?

I was so young that I cannot tell you I made a conscious decision to play music. Why does somebody joke around or work harder than others? It is simply who they are. I just wouldn't be me if I didn't write songs. Whether I'm performing alt-country under Adam Pasion Music or heavier southern rock under Briertone, the style is always rooted in old country. I lean toward rustic sounds like bluegrass.

Who would you consider your musical influences?

Alison Krauss, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Nicklecreek, 16 Horsepower

What inspires your music? Any stories behind specific songs?

As a country artist, I certainly draw inspiration from life experience. My songs are generally very straight forward, storytelling songs. I'm a guy of faith so it will always ring through pretty heavily in most songs that I write. I try to express God's heart for His children, though it often comes out very dark. There’s a song called "Naked We Come" on my album "O Hear the Rattling" about how I almost died when I was born and had to be revived. Bringing things into perspective, life is a breath. Our time is short, yet we work tirelessly at things that may not have significance. The chorus states that we come into the world with nothing and will take nothing. What we do (or don't do) in between matters greatly. Did we make it count?

Is there something the audience wouldn’t know about the band?

Our album was made on the stage of an old antique theater. It took us over a year to make, with some songs rolling 70 tracks at one time. Or a ridiculous fact: We love to shoot guns and play cards.

a perfect distraction

This week is finals week which means I find every way possible to distract myself from studying :) And NEEDTOBREATHE's video blog #5 is just in time!

goodbye holey shoes

This weekend I'm FINALLY going to get a new pair of shoes. I've had a pair of knock-off purple converse for about two years. They're now very filthy and very holey, bad shoes for wet weather. I'm finally going to get a pair of shoes with arch support! I'm hoping to get a pair of TOMS cordones because they're cute, comfortable, and support a great cause (observe lovely picture above.) They're about $70 but I consider it a worthy investment when you only buy shoes once every year or two. Any other shoe suggestions before I begin the begging for TOMS? Also hoping to get heels soon because I'm a big girl now :) Any heel suggestions?