Wednesday, October 30, 2013

#22: Plot Twist

#22: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?

Honestly, I hate this question. And I'm not going to answer it.

Why do I hate this question so much? Because I don't have a 5 year plan. Or a 10 year plan. Or a 15 year plan. And I find it utterly ridiculous when people do. You can't predict the future. And having it all planned out isn't going to help it along. Future plans are like cardboard boxes. If it rains, they'll just get destroyed.

Does this make me irresponsible? No. I don't feel the need to plan out my life because it's no fun that way. Life throws you some curveballs... and you gotta be prepared to just run with it. This is really cliché, but life is gonna throw you some lemons, and you gotta be prepared to make some lemonade. You can't just sit there and cry because you wanted to make orange juice instead. Life didn't throw you oranges, it threw you lemons. You gotta continue on with what was handed to you.

I love the expression: "Wanna hear God laugh? Just tell him your plans."

I believe that God does get a good chuckle from the things you and I plan. Five years ago, I didn't have a clue that I was gonna go to Capernwray in Quebec. I certainly didn't have a clue that I was gonna work on kitchen staff at Cedarwood. (Or be a counselor, that's an even bigger stretch.)

People are always telling you to "never say never", right? Because, apparently, as soon as you say you're never gonna do something, it's pretty likely that you'll end up doing it.

Well, after I quit working at Smitty's I said I'd never work in a kitchen again. Bam. Cedarwood.

I go around telling people that I'm never gonna marry someone with a Mennonite last name. Do you know what? I'm probably going to, just because it seems like that's how it works.

God probably laughs every time I make that comment. "Look see here... Janessa's gonna marry a Reimer. Or a Penner. Or a Plett. Or whatever other extremely Mennonite last name you can think of."

And honestly, I'm okay with that.

I saw this great thing on Pinterest (the ultimate study-procrastination website) last week. It said...

WHEN SOMETHING GOES WRONG IN YOUR LIFE
JUST YELL "PLOT TWIST!"
AND MOVE ON.
 
Good advice, good advice.
 
It's 2 o'clock in the morning, I'm sorry if this made absolutely no sense at all!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Taste Some Jams #2

Fall is here. (Actually, it's beginning to feel a bit more like winter, but who cares?) With fall always comes a wonderful assortment of new music. Some of the new music is super fantastic and you can't wait to share it with everybody. And, of course, a majority of the music makes you wanna cry because it's so horrible, so you learn to appreciate the wonderful music that's already existed for a while. I'd like to share with you some songs that have constantly been on replay in my ears lately. Here's the latest edition of Taste Some Jams...

Everyone knows I have a soft spot for Justin Timberlake. Earlier this year, he "brought sexy back" again, putting out a new album called "The 20/20 Experience". Well, at the end of September, he released a Part 2 of The 20/20 Experience. It is fantastic! JT is just flat-out good at everything he does. The particular song from Part 2 that I've been really enjoying lately is Drink You Away. It's a tune that I often find stuck in my head all day long. It's a great song, and very relatable (minus the whole alcohol theme throughout the entire song). Basically the song tells the story of a person who just can't get someone out of their head. That person is stuck in their head, just like this song is gonna be the moment you listen to it.

If you haven't heard of Daughter, go to YouTube or iTunes right now and check them out. Why? Because they are amazing! [Seriously, go! I'll wait here...] The main singer, Elena, has such a beautifully haunting voice. The song I'm going to mention here is Human. It's so beautiful and so wonderfully written. It's written in a way that everyone could really interpret the lyrics to put against their lives. I'm not sure yet how I would interpret the lyrics to this song, it'll take a bit more thinking on my part. But I do really encourage you to listen to this song and the band because they are awesome.

I believe almost everyone has heard of Sara Bareilles. I've always loved her, from the beginning of her career. Every album she's put out has been fantastic. Earlier this year, she put out her latest album called "The Blessed Unrest". Every single song from this album is incredible, but the song I wish to share with you is Islands. Honestly, I have to admit that I didn't like this song that much when I first heard it. But it has grown on me immensely. I almost wrote an entire post just about this song and what it means to me, then I decided against it for various reasons. I think this song talks about the fragility of relationships in so many ways. It tells the story of a girl who has been hurt and is hanging on for dear life to the end of her rope. That's just such a beautiful image for what humanity is. Aren't we all, in one way or another, just hanging on for dear life hoping we don't fall? This song actually reminds me of how much I need Christ. Because Christ is the rope I'm hanging onto. The main hook of this song goes like this: "The water will only rise / when you realize / you must become an island (3x) / and see for yourself / the horizon is all we have". The horizon is all we have. The hope planted somewhere in the future is all we have. Christ is all we have. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch, I don't know.

Imagine Dragons is a band that I've noticed as become increasingly popular in the last couple months. It makes perfect sense to me, considering that they are incredible. And have very deep lyrics. I was originally only going to share Monster with you guys, but I'm going to mention Demons as well because I find they go very hand in hand. Monster was just recently released as part of a movie soundtrack I believe, whereas Demons was on their "Night Visions" album. Has anyone heard of the song Monster by Skillet? (Another incredible song by another incredible band.) The concept of that song is very similar to these two ID songs. I won't even talk about it much, I'll just give you lyrics and let you muse over them. "I wanna hide the truth / I wanna shelter you / But with the beast inside / There's nowhere we can hide / No matter what we breed / We still are made of greed / This is my kingdom come (2x) / When you feel my heat / Look into my eyes / It's where my demons hide (2x) / Don't get too close" [Demons] "If I told you what I was / would you turn your back on me? // I'm only a man with a candle to guide me / I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me / A monster, a monster / I've turned into a monster / A monster, a monster / And it keeps getting stronger" [Monster] Incredible. Check it out!

I first heard this next song on a movie. I don't remember which one it was, but I heard the song, looked it up, and totally fell in love with it. The artist is Hugo, I don't know much about him (except that he's British and signed to Jay-Z's record label in New York). The song is a folk cover of Jay-Z's 99 Problems. I don't like rap terribly much, so the original version of this song doesn't do much for me, but Hugo's rendition of it is awesome! So listen to it. Now! That's really all I have to say about that one.

The last song comes from one of my favourite people in the entire world... Hugh Laurie. Yes, you are correct, that is the guy that plays House. That's why he's one of my favourite people. And yes, he does also make music. He plays piano blues. And he's incredible. The song I'm sharing: Kiss of Fire. It's half Spanish half English, I believe. And it's beautiful. Another song you're bound to have stuck in your head all day if you listen to it. This is a song that I'd love to sing sometime. It's a duet between a male and female and it just seems like it would be a super fun song to sing.

There you have it. Everything from pop to folk to indie to blues!

It's nice to know that there's some good music out there, eh? No naked girls swinging on balls or licking sledgehammers or twerking... what a relief!

Monday, October 21, 2013

#21: Superpower

#21: If you could have any superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?

I thought for a long time about this. I always thought that my answer would be invisibility because I think it would be cool to be invisible. But I realized today that, as a first-year university student, I feel I already have that power. Haha. Just a random face among 40,000 other students...

Teleportation. That's the superpower I'd want. The main reason: travelling is expensive! I love travelling. I haven't gotten around nearly as much as some others have, but I've gotten around a little bit. (Enough that when I talk to people, they often have to ask where I am. Are you in Steinbach? Are in Quebec? What, you live in Lac du Bonnet!?!? That kinda thing.) I am only 20, there's still plenty of time! But, the point is, travelling is expensive. I wanted to go to Ottawa in April to visit a friend, but it's looking like I probably won't make it there (because university is very expensive too). So, I'd like to have the superpower of teleportation.

What would I do with it first? Visit my friends in Germany! I miss them like nutso and it's so expensive to get there! Travelling anywhere in Canada is at least probable, whereas Germany, you need lots of money and lots of time. You can't just take one week off to go to Europe, you would never be able to fit everything into a week. Gotta be at least two. Or like two months. I'll make it out there someday!! (And when I do, I'll bring back an excessive amount of German chocolate... nom nom nom...)

Possessing the superpower of teleportation. That would be awesome!     

Sunday, October 6, 2013

#20: Childhood Crazy

#20: Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

I know what you’re thinking: “What??? She’s still doing the 30 things series!” I am well aware that it’s been at least a month since I posted question 19. What even is considered a significant memory from your childhood? I’m not entirely sure, so I’m just gonna give you the first three memories that pop into my head!

1) I remember when I got my first woodtick. Eww, gross! We hadn’t moved yet. I think I was probably, like, 3 or 4 years old. I remember that I was watching Saturday morning cartoons in our basement. And I remember that I was wearing my Little Mermaid night gown. (I was kind of obsessed with the Little Mermaid, I think I even had a backpack too.) Anyway, I was watching cartoons in my night gown and I felt something crawling on me. So I looked, and there it was. A gross little brown bugger with legs. I screamed and ran upstairs to my mom. And that’s the extent of my memory regarding that experience.

P.S. I should really be working on my Bloom’s taxonomy essay…

What time period is considered “childhood” anyway? Psht.

2) When I was in elementary school, I lived a double life. (I don’t mean, like, one good and one bad. I mean, like, one real and one make-believe.) I pretended that I was this really popular girl when I was at home. I had quite an elaborate imagination back then, I wonder what happened. Anyway, I played this girl, and all her friends, and even her teacher. I played pretend-school. Now, I’m sure that lots of kids did that, but I was weird. I taught myself French, ELA, science (all about animals) and math. I even had a cooking class… (which is actually where I learned how to cook for the most part). I wrote myself tests and I took them. I was crazy. But hey, you’re not interesting if you’re not a little bit crazy somehow, right? (Maybe this is why I apparently have a decently high IQ…)

3) In grade 3, our teacher gave us a spelling assignment every week. We had to choose words that we didn’t know how to spell and then use them in a sentence and draw a picture of what the word meant and stuff like that. I remember that one of my friends (who is actually still my friend, I hung out with her on Friday…) decided it would be hilarious if she picked really simple words. I remember she picked the word ‘the’ one time and our teacher totally yelled at her. Anyway, because I was a really weird kid, possibly borderline special, I went through the dictionary and picked really hard words. I was kinda clever though, because I remember I’d pick words that were above my reading level, but not words that were so hard that my teacher wouldn’t let me use them. She was always so surprised by my word choices. This is when I learned the word “ambidextrous”. (I had a similar assignment in grade 6, except the teacher always picked half the words. And I remember one time she picked the word “ambidextrous” and she was very surprised to find out that I knew what it meant and how to spell it already.)

There. Now you know why I’m a little crazy. ‘Cause I was one weird child!