Day 30-b. I've got a tiger in my tank

One for the road....

My mother doesn't like Keith Urban. A little too.. I don't know, she just doesn't like him. But I do. I don't care that he's a recovering druggie and married to Tom Cruise's ex-wife. His music makes me a happy camper.

I mean... who else could write a 'one chord song' and make it sound good? :P

But probably my favourite is the one about the blue jeans... :D



mmhmmm...

I've got money in my pocket, a tiger in my tank and I'm king of the road again!

Maybe, just maybe, its cause he does the 'chh, chh' thing which reminds me of a camp song. hahaha... Beaver one, beaver all, lets all do the beaver call chh chh, chh chh! Oh yeah... that's the good stuff.


Where was I going with this? yeah, I don't know.

So. Today is Ash Wednesday. I work at a Catholic Church, so there were a lot of people wandering around with ashes on their foreheads today. I managed to go ash-free yet again. Not that I'm against it, I just didn't grow up in an overly liturgical church, so the whole church calendar thing is sort of a mystery to me. One of my co-workers said that today is the day that we all look like a bunch of ashes. *groan*

Lent. Lent, lent, lent... what to do?
So, I've been reading a lot of Catholic propaganda lately - again, has something to do with where I work. Now, I don't read this stuff very carefully, but it sounds like that for a very long time the Catholic church has been leaning towards 'what can you DO for Lent?' - like... bettering yourself, or charity-wise. But this year, they're really focusing on 'what can you sacrifice for Lent?' They're focusing on fasting (or giving something up, or sacrificing) as being a way to realigne yourself with God, and to be truly thankful for what you do have.

I've been coming up against this fasting thing over and over and over again, and I'm starting to think that maybe its something I should actually do this year. I usually ignore Lent. Or, do the 'I'll give up donuts, even though I don't eat them anyway', thing.

Usually I try to tackle at least one of the gospels during Lent. This year, I think I'm going to do some reading through Paul's letters - starting with Philipians, the 'book of joy'. We'll see where that gets me.

As for the fasting thing... I've been thinking about it a lot. Considered the 40 days of water challenge. Decided that its not quite right for me - I drink mostly water as it is anyway, but am super proud of those people who have decided to take that challenge! I'm thinking something a little more extreme for me. Chocolate. Chocolate is my best friend, and I think I'll set it aside for the next 40 days. With a few conditions that you'll have to excuse me for: a) I'm going to continue eating my chocolate chip granola bars because I have a brand new box of them and am not going to go buy another chocolate-free box and b) Sundays don't count - I can eat as much chocolate on Sundays as I want.

So, bible reading and no chocolate until Easter. And... GO! (man, I really wish I didn't have an entire container of Cadbury mini eggs sitting in my living room!)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Day 30. Thank You

Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing. Thanks for all the joy they're bringing...

Yep. ABBA. Can't go a whole 30 days without even mentioning the greatest Swedish pop group of all time can I? I very much enjoy ABBA. When I was 10 or 11 I got my very first Walkman for Christmas. Along with the Walkman came my first two cassette tapes: ABBA, and the soundtrack from the movie Cocktail! I listened to them both far too often for my own good.

The ABBA cassette got the most play. It was ABBA Live, a compilation album from 1986. Dancing Queen, Chiquitta, Fernando, Super Trouper, Waterloo... all the popular hits. Later in life I also aquired ABBA Gold, More ABBA Gold, and The Definative Collection. ...I have a lot of ABBA music. And lets not forget about Mamma Mia! - the best musical on the face of the planet! Yes, I have seen the stage version, and the theatre version, and the special sing-along version in theatre, as well as owning a copy of it. Pathetic? Never!

When I purchased my current car last April/May, I threatened a friend that I was going to fill my MP3 player with ABBA so that the first music I ever played in my new car would be ABBA. She groaned and ignored me... Turned out though that when the salesman turned the car over to me and let me turn on my new car for the very first time, with my friends sitting in the back seat, and new car smell filling my nostrils, the radio station that was tuned in on the stereo was playing... Dancing Queen! Best. Moment. Ever.


There is another 'Thank You' song though that I can't go without mentioning:

If I only had, two words left to say to you.
With my last breath I'd come face the truth to you.
You've never left my side, even when I fell behind.

Thank-you, thank-you for the life you've given me.
Thank-you for sharing all your love and all your dreams.
Thank-you for every tear of happiness I've cried.
Thank-you for laying down beside me here tonight.

When I close my eyes, I say a prayer for one more day with you.
And when I wake, I embrace the one who pulls me through.
Who pulls me through the storm when I can't go on.

Thank-you, thank-you for the life you've given me.
Thank-you for sharin' all your love and all your dreams.
Thank-you, for every tear of happiness I've cried.
Thank-you for layin' down beside me here tonight.

You've never let me down.
Its like you don't know how.
Thank-you, thank-you for the life you've given me.
Thank-you, for sharin all your love and all your dreams.
Thank-you.
Thank-you.

Johnny Reid. The Canadian boy with the Scottish accent. He's been very successful in the past couple years with a number of popular singles getting a lot of radio airtime. He has quickly become one of my most favourite country musicians - right up there with Lonestar, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Garth Brooks, and yes, even Randy Travis! Johnny Reid's got talent (and a hot accent), I hope he sticks around for awhile.

And to you, faithful followers of this 30 day musical journey, Thank You. Thank you for the comments and feedback. Thank you for sticking it out and not leaving nasty comments! Its been swell; some days it was a challenge to come up with something to write about, but most days it was fun. I think I am hooked on this whole blogging thing so, although you probably won't be seeing daily posts anymore, you'll be sure to see the odd post once in awhile.

Day 29. This is here, this is now.

Two days to go and I can't believe that I have yet to mention my #1 most favourite non-country music group!

GREAT BIG SEA!

I'm currently listening to their newest CD, Fortune's Favour, hoping that I could pick one song to focus on. But the truth is, I absolutely love every single song on that album! I can't pick just one. They've been turning out hits since the early 1990's, and are still going strong today.

This past November I went to a Great Big Sea concert with a bunch of friends in Kitchener. It was THE MOST AMAZING SHOW ON EARTH!! (that isn't country, otherwise The Grand Ole Opry obviously holds that title). They're currently on their Fortune's Favour tour, which meant that they sang a lot of the tunes from that CD, but they also sang a lot of their other songs - all of the popular ones that people expect, and then some more. There were probably 5 songs all night that I didn't know the words to; it was pure awesomeness!

I found this guy's channel on youtube, apparently all he does is follow Great Big Sea around to all their concerts and tries to sidestep security to get decent videos of the performance. All his videos are taken from, like, the front row. Its kinda... weird and sad actually. I mean this guy must be filthy rich AND have nothing better to do. But oh well, maybe I'd do the same thing if I were filthy rich; Great Big Sea is just that good!

Anyway, I managed to find one video from the Kitchener concert that I was at:



So much fun!

Day 28. Panic at the Disco?

ooh... THAT's not country music at all! I am familiar with one song by Panic at the Disco and not because I like it, but because it somehow made the mixed CD that was played at the pool at camp.

Don't watch this video:



I told you to not watch that video! Its got a swearword in it! But, that is the Panic at the Disco song that I am familiar with, (it shouldn't have been played at camp, but, I didn't actually work there in 2006 when this video was recorded, so, not a whole lot I could do about it.)

Anyhue... word of the day is "Panic".

I, uh, think I surprised a friend of mine yesterday by having a fairly intense panic attack in front of her. Its not exactly the most fun thing in the world to endure, but I knew what was going on because this isn't the first time I've had one, so it was just a matter of waiting it out. Unfortunately for me, this one lasted a ridiculously long time and I was still feeling the effects of it today - they can be horrendously exhausting!

If you're reading this and thinking "weird! I didn't know Amy had anxiety 'issues'", don't worry about it - its something I've managed to keep relatively under control since I was a little kid. It doesn't happen all that often, and 99% of the time there is a direct link to some sort of stress involved. I'm pretty convinced that I don't have any sort of 'disorder', I just suffer from a bit of anxiety and panic once in awhile - just like about 50% of the population. Woohoo!

I've heard more than one story of people having such sudden and sever panic attacks that they actually think they're having a heart attack. I believe it. Had I not known what was going on yesterday, I would have been very, very concerned - the feeling of an elephant sitting on your chest, heart beating so fast that it might very well explode, sweaty hands, cold sweats.

During my afternoon break at work today, since I wasn't having a whole lot of success at being productive anyway, I found this little tidbit on the Anxiety Disorder Association of Canada website:

A Panic Attack is diagnosed when four or more of the following symptoms appear together. These symptoms include:

1. Shortness of breath or smothering sensations
2. Dizziness, unsteady feelings, or faintness
3. Palpitations or accelerated heart rate
4. Trembling or shaking
5. Sweating
6. Choking
7. Nausea or abdominal distress
8. Depersonalization- feeling that your own body is unreal- or derealization- feeling that your environment is not real
9. Numbness or tingling sensations in one or more parts of your body
10. Hot flashes or chills
11. Chest pain or discomfort
12. Fear of dying
13. Fear of going crazy or losing self- control
14. Feeling a need to escape
15. Having a feeling of imminent doom or danger

Yesterday was by far the worst panic attack I've had in a long time. I was experiencing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, not 8 but I have felt that one in the past, 9, 10, 11, 14, and 15. Eleven of 15 symptoms - cool eh?! I don't wish it on anyone.

If there is any humour to be had in this at all it is found in symptom #4, my personal favourite, 'trembling or shaking'. Hahaha... oh dear. Gives me away every time - my hands shake. My right one more than my left for some reason. Its particularly amusing (for people watching me) if I have a drink sitting infront of me. I will eventually try to drink that drink even though I know that shaking hands = disaster. It typically takes both my shaking hands to even get the glass to my lips, and then if I manage to not spill it all over the place, I will at least bash the glass on my teeth! Go ahead and laugh, I am.

Ok, well, that's far too much for one day,
Keep your stick on the ice!

Day 27. Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine

I feel pretty drained right now, but alas, my public expects some sort of blog entry for the day. You people should get a better hobby!

I got a solid 6 - 6 1/2 hours sleep last night (which is about 4 hours too short), got up at an hour that shouldn't exist, braved the snow squall warning, and drove to Kitchener for church. Yeah, yeah, ok, I had a pretty good reason for it - I went to a wedding.

Now, you need to understand that for years and years and years and years and years, I have been telling my Pastor that when the time comes for me to get married, I think that its absolutely appropriate to have the rites of marriages done during the Sunday morning church service. For me, marriage is as much about God as it is about the couple being married, so why would you not want to include your church family in that process? I do admit that a Sunday wedding makes having a big fancy reception and wedding dance a little bit difficult, but whatever, its not like I'm really in a hurry to work out details like that anytime soon anyway.

So today, I went, I saw, and I liked. It was a beautiful wedding. Simple, casual, but absolutely perfect too. It was well planned and flowed well the church service; it was just really, really nice. The couple really has a sense of community and know how important their church family is in their lives. Follow that up with a really great potluck lunch, and it was a great day!

And then I drove home from Kitchener, and now I'm whipped.

Blessed Assurance is a song we sang during communion this morning (I want to have communion at my wedding too - again, this is just girly talk, don't go getting any silly ideas about me. Girls naturally talk about weddings, especially after just attending one!). Anyway, the first couple lines of the song have been floating through my head for the past couple hours.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! 
O what a foretaste of glory divine! 
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, 
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. 

This is my story, this is my song, 
praising my Savior all the day long; 
this is my story, this is my song, 
praising my Savior all the day long.

That's all. Have a good Sunday evening.

Day 26. Day by Day

Day by Day...

Its already day 26 of my little experiment! Time flies when you're having fun I suppose.

So, I only have 5 more entries and I will have completed my '30 days of song'. What comes after that, I'm not quite sure yet. But, interestingly enough, my '30 days of song' entries should end on Ash Wednesday - the first day of Lent. Hmm... sounds like a new theme to me! 40 more days is a long time to expect my audience to continue reading my drivel on a daily basis though. I'll have to put some more thought into that one.

I've been collecting yellow post-it notes with song titles scribbled on them. I often stream radio on the internet while I'm at work so as I hear songs that I think I'd like to blog about, I write them down on post-it notes. As a side note: They say that people are the least offended by notes written on yellow post-it notes.

5 days. Only 5 days left. And this is the list of songs I have collected:

No More Me and You -Amanda Wilkenson
No One Needs to Know - Shania Twain
Life is a Highway - Rascall Flatts
Who I am - Jessica Andrews
Thank You - Johnny Reid
Little Bitty - Alan Jackson
Country Roads - John Denver
Lets Talk About Love - Jessie Farrell
We Shall be Free - Garth Brooks
I Believe in You - Don Williams
One Day Closer to You - Carolyn Dawn Johnson
I Could Fly, You're Not My God, Blue Jeans, & One Chord Song - Keith Urban
9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
She's Unusually Unusual - Lonestar

...that's a few more than 5. I don't know where to start. Or should I say, I don't know where to stop?

Anyway...

Day by day
Oh Dear Lord
Three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly
Day by day

Love that song. Its from Godspell. I like Godspell a lot. Most people either really like Godspell, or can't even watch it. Actually, lots of people have never even heard of it. The first time I saw it was a number of years ago on Vision TV at 3am. I was absolultely enthralled with it and watched the entire thing, even at that terrible hour. Eventually I ordered a copy of it through Blockbuster. I've found that people who like Jesus Christ Superstar don't usually like Godspell. I'm the other way around. I've tried to watch Jesus Christ Superstar a few times, and just can't make it through the entire thing. But I love Godspell.

huh, maybe that's what I should do for Lent - Try to make it through all of Jesus Christ Superstar! ...it would probably take me that long.

Day 25. Don't think I don't think about it

Darius Rucker spent the 1990s in the limelight as the lead singer for Hootie & the Blowfish (remember them?). Recently though he has tried, quite successfully, to cross over to the country music scene.

In September of 2008, his single 'Don't Think I don't Think about it' "became the first Number One country hit by a solo African American artist since 1983" (there's my Wikipedia research for the day). That artist back in 1983 was none other than Charlie Pride with this little number:



By the way, that was a video clip from Hee Haw. You can see the original cornstalks from the Hee Haw set at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville Tennessee! The actual show was filmed in a studio at the Grand Ole Opry. What? You thought I could actually write a blog without mentioning the Opry??

Anyway, Don't think I don't think about it...

But don't think I don't think about it
Don't think I don't have regrets
Don't think it don't get to me
Between the work and the hurt and the whiskey
Don't think I don't wonder bout
Could've been should've been all worked out

I know what I felt and I know what I said
But don't think I don't think about it


Yeah, its a breakup song. But I still like it.
I mean, we've all got regrets, right? We've all got baggage - it comes with that whole being human thing. Personally, as much as I'd like to let that baggage go, as much as I know that God has shown grace towards me and doesn't hold my idiotic mistakes over me, I still think about it. I still think about the things I've done in my life that haven't been all that swift. I know I shouldn't let it drag me down, but, a lot of the time, I am my own worst enemy.

I say this not because I have some deep dark confession to make, but because I know that I'm not alone in my thoughts. At one time or another, we have all been our own worst enemy. ...some of us maybe a little more than others. Lucky for me I do believe in a Higher Power, a Being of love and grace and forgiveness, so when I'm done being my own worst enemy for the day, I can rest in the fact that I'm not a prisoner of my past mistakes.

Don't think I don't think about it - but don't think I let it control my life either.

Georgian, where?

In 1999 I turned 19, graduated with my OAC certificate from high school, purchased my first car, probably did some other momentous life achievement-type things that I honestly can't remember, and started college.

The idea of moving away to a new city to study something that I wasn't entirely sure I'd like, was ridiculously scary and not very practical for me, so I stayed close to home. Yay local community college...

Georgian College (Owen Sound) is an incredibly small school. 400 students tops - and the majority of those are part time studies or people taking refresher courses in computers or accounting. The students are local. No one moves to Owen Sound specifically to go to college, its unheard of; no one, that is, except the Marine students.

There are only a couple places in all of Canada that offer marine training, Owen Sound is one of them. I think, the other place is in Vancouver - but don't quote me on that.

Georgian, when I was there, was a very cliquey school. You had the chefs, and the business students(I was in this group), and the health care students, and the marine students. And nobody ever went out of their way to cross those lines to interact with another social group. It just wasn't done. But you always knew who the Marine students were, especially on the days that they had company interviews because they'd all come to school dressed up in suits - and they were hot!

Anyway, that was 10 years ago. And at that time, I knew that they had marine navigation simulators, but unless you were an actual marine student, you didn't get to see any of it. Apparently the equipment was good, but it was starting to show its age.

In May/June 2008, I went back to Georgian for an evening course on Quickbooks and the hallways that I had been familiar with were all sectioned off and torn apart and covered in tarps - it was a mess. But it was because they were completely re-vamping the entire Marine wing and installing a brand new, state of the art, marine simulator. That's quite an achivement considering a few years ago they were thinking about shutting the program down.

It is now up and running. I sort of wish that I hadn't missed the openhouse but, lucky me, Daily Planet did a piece on it. Take a look, see what we've got in Owen Sound:
Daily Planet: Marine Simulator

Day 24. Its a love story, baby just say yes

Taylor Swift.
She's young, and pretty, and talented, and successful.
Naturally, I don't like her.
But, wow, her songs are catchy.

Let's see...
1. Love Story
2. Teardrops on My Guitar
3. Tim McGraw
4. Picture to Burn
5. Our Song

Hey, 5 Taylor Swift songs off the top of my head - that's pretty impressive for me.

Yeah, I don't know where she came from or if 'Taylor Swift' is actually her real name, and I sort of get the impression that she's the candy floss of country music, (you know, fluffy and sweet and nice to look at, but not a lot of substance), but all things considered, those are 5 songs that I actually like.

I'm not going to commit to being called a fan quite yet, but she's off to a good start.


On a side note, you ever start a blog entry with one thought in mind and by the time you've actually written the entry, it takes a life of its own and meanders down an entirely different path altogether? A rabbit trail I suppose. I had no intentions of talking about Taylor Swift when I started writing this - lucky you!

Day 23. Tach it up, Tach it up, Buddy gonna shut you down

This has nothing to do with the Beach Boys, I'm just feeling a little defeated at the moment.

Mini-Blinds 1. Amy 0.

For the past couple of months I've been avoiding spending any time in my kitchen at night. This is because there are two windows in my kitchen that are currently un-dressed and have a nice view of the street. Now, my apartment is not THAT sort of apartment, I just haven't got around to installing any sort of curtain or blind (or even a bedsheet). So I feel sort of like I'm on display for my entire neighbourhood when I stand in my kitchen at night.

Simple solution. Go buy some curtains. *sigh* if only it were that easy...

The first hurdle in anything like this is deciding what window treatment to actually go with. I mulled over this one for awhile and finally chose simple, inexpensive, and practical: mini-blinds.

Second hurdle was a little more annoying. I have gianormous windows in my apartment! After checking and double checking all the stock of every store in town and realizing that all the blinds were a good 10 inches too short for my windows, I finally had to order custom-fit blinds from the Sears website. Note to future buyers: custom-fit means that you can't return them, so make sure you're careful when you place your order.

Third hurdle... I don't own a power drill. BUT, I do have a handy-dandy ratchetting screwdriver! (note to self: GO BUY A POWER DRILL!)

Now, here's where the fun starts. I opened the box, read the installation directions, dug out everthing I needed to get the job done, climbed up onto my windowsill and started twisting this overly-long screw into the window frame with my handy-dandy screwdriver. Over my head. Have you ever screwed a screw into solid wood with your arm way up over your head while standing on a windowsill? No? Well, lets just say it isn't the easiest job in the world.

All things considered, it was going smashingly well and I was very happy at the thought of actually having blinds on my window. Just a few more turns of the screwdriver and the bracket would be in place. And with one final twist... the head of the screw twisted right off!

AUGH!!!

And that's where I called it a night.

What exactly do I do now anyway? I've got an entire screw screwed into my window frame with no head on it - no way to get it back out again. Sigh...

Day 22. I took a Louisville Slugger to both headlights

When I was a child, and my father determined that it was time for his children to learn to swing a baseball bat, he came home one day with a red child-sized Louisville Slugger baseball bat. And he taught us how to swing that bat with the label pointed up so that we wouldn't break it.

Last summer, (I'm sorry, I'm really stuck in a Tennessee Road-trip rut here), I had the opportunity to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory in Louisville Kentucky.

I swung baseball bats that were used by Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson. They took us through the factory and showed us exactly how the bats are made - ALL of the bats for Major League Baseball are made there. They showed us the special signature plates for each player's custom-made bats. They passed around a bat ordered specifically for A-Rod. It was all way cool!

But, being that I'm not an entirely huge baseball fan, my absolutely most favourite bat to be able to hang onto, the very first bat that was passed around, the bat that the tour guide handed straight to me, was one of the two bats that they made for Carrie Underwood after she released the song "Before He Cheats". So cool.

As a general rule, I stay away from anything related to American Idol. But Carrie Underwood, wow. I am convinced that she would have made it big without the aid of American Idol. What a talented artist!

I must confess that I am a subscriber of the Grand Ole Opry YouTube channel. And I just finished watching her invitation to join the Opry by Randy Travis:



And also her induction into the Opry by Garth Brooks:



It would have been awesome to be at the Opry with someone really well known performing, but alas, it didn't happen. (It was still way fun)

And then I got sidetracked watching a music video of one of her newer songs "Just a Dream". (I can't embed this one)

Talk about a depressing song! But, still amazing! Other than the fact that it makes me wonder why people put themselves through the whole relationship thing - I mean, we all know that one person of the two is obviously going to die first. That's not the kind of emotional pain I like to think about...

Anyway, Carrie Underwood - Good Stuff

Day 21. We can dance if we want to

We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine

I have had the Safety Dance running through my head ALL afternoon... ugh.

I blame Tim. No, that's not true. Its because we watched this silly youtube video today:



The Safety Dance reminds me of my good friend Max. Max is the go-to guy if you need a safety date at a dance. Not only has he saved me from a particularly embarrassing encounter with a very drunken guy hitting on me, but he's also a pretty great two-stepper!

Max, you've been a safety date for a number of us girls at numerous Chatty dances over the years and we thank you for that!

ps - I also loved my little brother very much that night for telling off said drunken guy. But that was a very long time ago and now all my Chatsworth Boys have grown up and moved away and have real jobs and are starting to think about getting married and buying houses!

pps - The same little brother asked his girlfriend to marry him on Valentines Day. Yay!

Day 20. How Great Thou Art

You don't need to watch this video in its entirety, its mostly just a really long advertisement for a gospel CD. But do watch it long enough to watch Brad Paisley sitting on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium (the original home of the Grand Ole Opry). I've been there. Stood on that stage where the likes of Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Tom T Hall, Randy Travis, Charlie Daniels, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood... have all stood. It sort of has the same feel as touching the velvet rope in a museum. Its sacred. It was also originally a church, so saying that its sacred isn't nearly as blasphemous as you might think.



I didn't ever expect my trip to Tennessee last summer to affect me the way it did. I spent 3 days in Nashville and came away with this incredible new found love for the music. I've always liked country music, but this, this is different, this is... I don't know, humble respect maybe. Country music isn't all just whiskey, women and pickup trucks. Its so much more than that! The history of country music is so intertwined with other genres of music. Its amazing. I love it all. And I would go back to Nashville in a second.

You really can have no clue of what I'm talking about until you experience Tennessee for yourself. Down there, south of the Mason-Dixon Line (the line that separates north from south), its an entirely different world. The people love their country, their God, and their music, it is so blatantly, and jaw-droppingly, obvious everywhere you look.

Tennessee is a long narrow rectangular-like state. The mighty Mississippi River creates its border in the west; Memphis: Martin Luther King Jr, Civil Rights, racial tensions, Elvis, rock & roll, Sun Studios, The Stax, soul music - you'll find it, and feel it, in Memphis. Nashville is more in the central North. Its a menagerie of people from all over North America trying to make it big; most of them don't, but that doesn't stop the dream. This place is rooted in Gospel and Country music and it is very difficult to neatly divide the two as they freely, and tightly, intertwine; remember what Brad said in the video, 'There's often no lines separating the two'. With the Grand Ole Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the RCA recording studios, the record stores and bars where people go in hopes of spotting someone famous... its a happy place full of hopes and dreams. To the southeast is Chattanooga and following the eastern border north into Virgina are the Great Smokey and Blue Ridge mountains, a place where people drive their pickup trucks with a shotgun mounted on the back window and a great huge American flag painted on the tailgate. They know they've been labeled as hillbillies, and they don't disappoint. Musically, this is the land of Banjo pickin' and guitar strummin' - mountain music, bluegrass. I won't get into the 'Deliverance' jokes, they're... sort of scary.

So where does that leave me? A lowly tone-deaf Canadian fascinated with the 'Home of Country Music?' From east to west, you can drive across Tennessee in about 5 hours, its not all that big, but its as diverse as the shades of the sky at dusk. A week-long road trip was hardly long enough to explore all the facets of the beautiful landscapes and cultural history, but it was more than enough time to fall in love.




If you'd like a suggestion for an amazing road trip, might I suggest Tennessee? (As long as you make room for me to tag along!)

Day 19. Like we never loved at all

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are just about the most beautiful couple in all of Tennessee. They love their family, they love their music, they love God, and they've put out some pretty great songs over the years too.

I really do like 'Like we never loved at all'

"How can you just walk on by
Without one tear in your eye
Don't you have the slightest feelings left for me
Maybe that's just your way
Of dealing with the pain
Forgetting everything between our rise and fall
Like we never loved at all"

Its tragic, I know. Two people who have fallen so out of love that they can't even look at each other while walking down the street. Its sort of weird that Tim & Faith would even sing a song like this because they really do seem committed to each other and their family.

So, why do I like this song? Well, the more I think about it, the more I realize that stupid movie I watched the other day, 'He's just not that into you', was right: Girls love drama.

Where boys throw a few punches, grab some beer and carry on with life, girls feed on these insanely unhealthy emotional highs and lows. Its both physically and emotionally draining, destructive, lasts for far too long, and is usually completely ridiculous!

This song also reminds me of Grey's Anatomy. I know, I know, how do I even make these connections?? Probably has something to do with that whole Derrick, Addison, Meredith triangle thing; the divorce and the 'do I really love her' stuff. But again, its drama. The drama is what I'm drawn to. That's why I like that show; I'm sure it was written specifically for women, I don't know too many men who intentionally watch the show. DRAMA. Our own, or somebody else's, or completely fictional, it doesn't matter! We get sucked into it, and feed off of it like a bunch of hungry bloodsuckers. Most of the time, I don't think we even realize that we're doing it.

So, if I ever get really, really mad at you and just haul off and punch you, its because I'm trying to counteract my predisposed tendencies to sulk in my own misery. Offer me a drink, we'll watch 'the game' and then we'll be best buds. That's the better way to work out our differences, right?

Day 18. Will the circle be unbroken

AHAHAHAH... K, I'm not even going to talk about a song today (although I do like that song - it reminds me of the Grand Ole Opry, which IS the happiest place on earth! Don't let Mickey Mouse tell you any different - The Opry is where dreams come true!)

I just needed a song title that had something to do with circles because you need to see this awesome, awesome YouTube video. Remember kids, the vaccine is easy: "circle, circle, dot, dot, now you have your cootie shot".

Day 17. God bless the broken road that led me straight to you

Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you
~ Rascal Flatts


I don't have an awful lot to say about this song, other than it is probably my absolute most favourite Rascal Flatts song on the planet. Just to clarify, because I had to explain this to someone recently, Rascal Flatts is a country group, not some rap artist.

I don't know why I like this song so much, maybe because I want it to be true for me someday. There I go again down the romanticizing path... I really am one of the most un-girly of girls I know, and I still can't help it! Country music and love stories, they just go hand in hand.

We had a priest at work a few years ago, Fr Ted - what a great man, he would have made a wonderful grandpa. Fr Ted's most favourite joke was 'what do you get when you play a country song backwards? You get your dog back, you get your truck back, you get your wife back, ...' *groan*


Anyway, that's all for now. I've got a 12 year old child on facebook who is 'plotting revenge' on me by feeding me McDonalds until I throw up and then burying me alive or something terribly imaginative like that. She went as far as telling me to sleep with one eye open. Naturally, my response was to tell her that I don't need to worry about that because I have a child-eating Tiger in my house. Little did I know that she's secretly a Ninja. So... I need to go take care of that... (No worries, I haven't jumped off the deep end, I just have some very imaginative church buddies.)

Day 16. He'd better love me when my roots are showing

K, so I just went and fed my very female need to watch romantic comedies. 'He's Just Not That into You' isn't ever going to win an Oscar, but I do need to say that: I'MINLOVEWITHBENAFLECK. There, I've said it. Cue the eyelash batting and swooning; ahhhh.... (insert smiley face here)

Alright, alright, I'm done.

...Ok, no I'm not. Did I mention that I'm in love with Ben Afleck?
Maybe, more accurately, I'm overcome with gushy feelings because of the unconditional love the character, portrayed by Ben Afleck, showed towards his main squeeze. I do believe that Ben Afleck's character would indeed 'love me when my roots are showing' (which is a song by Crystal Shawanda that was playing on the radio on my way home from the movie theatre), he was just that madly in love with Jennifer Aniston's character.

Jennifer Aniston, by the way, is starting to show her age. Hate to say it but 'cougar' and 'sexy grandma' parts are just around the corner for her. I kept trying to determine whether I was seeing gray hairs or just poor lighting reflecting off blond streaks.

What is it about romantic comedies anyway? Certainly they don't have the same effect on men as they do on women! I just... oh, well, here: In the Owen Sound Some Times, (Sorry, my mistake 'SUN Times'), there is a weekly columnist named Jennifer McGuire. Her articles, focused on single-parenting/divorce/raising all boys, are crazy funny and well written. Last week, her article included a bit about 'He's just not that into you'. If you get the chance, read it here: http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1427844. Maybe it'll help you male readers to understand why girls are so pathetically affected by romantic movies(but probably not).


If you like her stuff, Jennifer McGuire also has a blog: http://jrmmcguire.blogspot.com/

Day 15. We are Family

I've got all my brothers and sisters and me

On the weekend I went home to my parents' place (its the Sunday thing to do) and was greeted with a giant pile of my belongings which had been unearthed from their hiding places. Apparently, so I am told, now that I have my own place with a number of giant closets, I am not allowed to use my old (and now very empty) bedroom as a my own personal storage locker. Boo.

So, along with two giant boxes of old youth group paraphernalia, all of my elementary school report cards and some beautiful kindergarten artwork, my entire collection of baseball & hockey cards, a large box of knick knacks and otherwise useless stuff from my childhood, oh, and my Grandmother's set of silverware, came the dreaded set of dishes.

As my mother was handing the boxes to me (read: shoving them at me with the gleeful excitement of someone who was reclaiming an entire closet) she said to me, "everyone needs a completely useless set of dishes in their home, these are yours." Thank you Mom. "Besides," she said, "you've got your grandmother's antique buffet to put them in. Oh, by the way, take her silverware with you too." Once again, thank you Mom. I wasn't about to tell her that I had already managed to fill the buffet full of my own useless things.

I've been dreading this moment since the day I was about 12: How to discretely leave behind an entire set of dishes without getting caught? Apparently, I failed because the dishes are once again in my possession. I blame the kitchen renovations my parents are doing. Otherwise, the dishes wouldn't have been unearthed for years, I'm sure of it.

The dishes are a family heirloom. I know this because I've been told many, many times. "You had better hang on to those dishes, they're a family heirloom you know. Your great, great Aunt Grace hand painted them herself and she would want them to stay in the family." Its like a scolding every time I hear it. Not by my mom, no, she couldn't get rid of them fast enough. It was my dad's aunt who passed them along to me because she had no biological children of her own.

Not only are they completely fragile with broken bits painstakingly Krazy-glued back together over the years, but they were also apparently hand painted which makes them a health hazard to use because of the lead content in them (this fact is debatable). I would however suffer the guilt trip of a lifetime should I somehow lose track of their whereabouts. Good grief!

But don't you worry, they're safely packed away, nestled into a spot inside the buffet, waiting for the right next-generation Beirnes female to inherit them! I sure do hope that one of my brothers has a little girl someday...

Day 14. Come talk to me

Come down, Come talk to me

I said please talk to me

If you'd only come talk to me

Just like it used to be

Come down, come talk to me

I have this bad habit of leaning on song lyrics to express my own feelings. This is one of those songs with lyrics that jump out at me and smack me in the face when I find myself in one of those situations where I don't know what to say anymore.

To me, it speaks of frustration, and longing, and being lost, and not knowing what else to do. A lament, I suppose. We've all been there; maybe sometimes its just necessary to dwell on it for awhile. I think that's ok, and maybe that's why I like this song.

Thank you Jacob Moon for your wonderful music! (I have to say that because he's my facebook friend! - but really, I do like his stuff.) Here, I'll even promote him: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jacob-Moon/13058821454 . He's a talented guy.

ps. I tried to upload this picture of Jacob Moon to wikipedia (because I took the picture, so I have rights to it, so, I can do that). But, you have to have a wikipedia account to upload stuff and, frankly, I have far too many account names and passwords as it is - I don't feel the need to sign up for another one.

Facebook Sucks

But I'm hopelessly addicted.

I have facebook set up to import my blog entries as notes. It worked delightfully well until about two days ago. I donno what's wrong with it - I'm no computer geek, but I do know that it has yet to import my latest two blog entries. Usually the problem is on facebook's end of things anyway.

So, I guess, if you want the most current 'me', then you'll have to come straight to the source and don't rely on facebook to give you all the current info.


Also, latest fishy news: Neons 4, Guppies 2
Had some casualties over the last day or two. That's expected when setting up an aquarium though. Plus, it gives me a chance to go back to the pet store and wander around for a bit more.

Attention Boys:

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, please take note that this is not the way to impress the ladies!

Day 13. Things get complicated when you get past eighteen

So, I don't know if you've noticed but I might listen to a little bit of country radio once in awhile.

The local station I listen to has an oldies show Sunday mornings from 7-9am, and then they repeat the same show Sunday evenings from 7-9pm (followed by an hour of poke-your-eye-out bluegrass fun). This means that on the Sundays that I am home, I wake up to some terrible twangy screeching voice on the radio. Or, if I've been away for the weekend, I usually get to drive home listening to some terrible twangy screeching voice on the radio.

Now, don't get me wrong, there is a great deal of really great classic country out there. But I'm pretty sure that this particular radio show mostly plays songs that didn't even make the charts back when they were first released.

I heard a real classy one tonight by Dolly Parton which I had never heard before. It was called 'Bargain Store':

My life is likened to a bargain store
And I may have just what you're lookin' for
If you don't mind the fact that all the merchandise is used
But with a little mending it could be as good as new

The bargain store is open come inside
You can easily afford the price
Love is all you need to purchase all the merchandise
And I will guarantee you'll be completely satisfied

Wow, Dolly, wow. You just don't get that sort of metaphor in song lyrics anymore.

But anyway... The title of today's blog actually comes from a Statler Brother Song. This is a photo that I took of the Statler Brothers on the red carpet at the Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony in Nashville Tennessee last June. It was pretty much awesome! Well, its 3 of the 4; the 4th guy was hidden behind that bald dude there with the microphone.

Now, if you know anything about the Statler Brothers, there is one guy in the band who has this very deep, deep low voice and when he sang his verse in the song, I almost cracked up laughing because it reminded me of the movie 'A Mighty Wind'. A Mighty Wind is a spoof documentary about 3 folk bands from the 60s and it is ridiculously hillarious! Its by the same people who did 'Best in Show' the "documentary" about dog shows. Watch it if you get the chance. You will think to yourself, "Amy liked this? This is dumb, I'm wasting my time." And then you will laugh and you will be hooked.


However, that is not the point. The song in which I speak of goes like this:

Class Of '57 Lyrics
Artist(Band):The Statler Brothers

Tommy's selling used cars, Nancy's fixing hair,
Harvey runs a grocery store and Margaret doesn't care.
Jerry drives a truck for Sears and Charlotte's on the make,
And Paul sells life insurance and part time real estate.

Helen is a hostess, Frank works at the mill,
Janet teaches grade school and prob'ly always will.
Bob works for the city and Jack's in lab research,
And Peggy plays organ at the Presbyterian Church.

And the class of '57 had its dreams,
Oh, we all thought we'd change the world with our great works and deeds.
Or maybe we just thought the world would change to fit our needs,
The class of '57 had its dreams.

Betty runs a trailer park, Jan sells Tupperware,
Randy's on an insane ward, Mary's on welfare.
Charlie took a job with Ford, Joe took Freddie's wife,
Charlotte took a millionaire, and Freddie took his life.

John is big in cattle, Ray is deep in debt,
Where Mavis finally wound up is anybody's bet.
Linda married Sonny, Brenda married me,
And the class of all of us is just a part of history.

And the class of '57 had its dreams,
But living life day to day is never like it seems.
Things get complicated when you get past eighteen,
But the class of '57 had its dreams.
Oh, the class of '57 had its dreams.


Doesn't that just make you want to crawl into a hole and die? Yeah, we've all got our dreams but once life kicks you in the teeth, you've gotta just hang on and take what you can get! Real inspiring there isn't it? If you take anything out of it I guess, just know that we're all in the same boat together and life rarely turns out the way we think it should, but man, its some adventure isn't it?!

Day 12. Oh, lookie there, I've got a bite

I have very little use for fishing. Mostly, I'm terrified of snagging myself with a fishhook and having to push the barb through my skin in order to cut it off with a pair of pliers so that the hook can be pulled out. Seriously, one of the scariest things I've ever experienced was sitting in a boat with my dad and my uncle and my two brothers and having fishing rods and hooks flying all over the place! And I was stuck there, I couldn't escape it. The best I could do was close my eyes and hope for the best. I mean, its not the worm or the touching of the fish that freaks me out - its the hooks.

Seriously, I mean, look at this!! This is my worst nightmare in comic form:


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

I kinda like fish though. In pet form. For my 12th birthday (after much hinting and begging and pleading) I got a 10 gallon starter aquarium. It has held many fish over the years. Most recently, it was the winter home for our goldfish 'Flipper'. Flipper started as a tiny little 1/2 inch thing that I had planned to feed to my pet turtle (until the turtle ran away). Not expecting the fish to actually survive, we threw it into our outdoor rain barrel for the summer. He happily swam around, ate mosquito larvae, and grew quite large. Flipper was about 7 years old and the length of my hand when he finally went to fishy heaven. (He was cremated in our furnace because he was far too large to be given the royal flush!)

Anyway, I took my fish tank with me when I moved and it has been set up and running for about 3 weeks now with nothing in it. When people ask, I tell them that the fish are just small, and then they spend the next 5 minutes looking for them! (haha, that's a lie because we all know that nobody actually visits me!)

So, today, I visited the pet store and came home with 9 fish. (they were having a buy 2, get 1 free sale) I got 4 fancy guppies and 5 small neon tetras; with plans to eventually get a beta and one or two algae eaters. Oh, and maybe a female guppy - but if I do that, I'll eventually have a whole tank of nothing but guppies!

Here's the kicker though: When I dumped the neons into the tank, 3 of them swam to the bottom of the aquarium and vanished into the rocks! I mean, who does that?? And they were gone for hours! Even now, 5 hours later, there's still one missing. I don't know where it went - its just gone. Oh well, I wasn't terribly attached to it anyway.

In other news:


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

My camera is off to the shop to get fixed. again. Apparently, after you take 15,000 images or so, things start to wear out. Of course, they do that on purpose so that you have to upgrade by purchasing a new camera. I hate consumerism.

But, if I can manage to take it in for repairs just 2 more times before mid-July, they have to give me a new one. Its part of the extended warranty Lemon Policy. Here's hoping my camera breaks! :S

Day 11. This is me, this is who I am

Alright, alright, I've had my typing fingers slapped for writing such a lame post yesterday. Sorry. But I can't promise that it won't happen once in awhile. I drifted away from country music - maybe that's where I went wrong. So, lets see what we've got today:

It's where I learned about living
It's where I learned about love
It's where I learned about working hard
And having a little was just enough

It's where I learned about Jesus
And knowing where I stand
You can take it or leave it, this is me
This is who I am


Yep. Its country. I really like these lyrics from the song 'Boondocks' by Little Big Town. Well, I mean, I like the whole song, but this part especially.

You ever grab onto song lyrics and cling to them like they're your own? Like they somehow define who you are, or maybe they just say it better than you can? I do that. I do that a lot, probably too much...

But, you know what? I'm ok with that. So, you can take it or leave it, this is me. This is who I am.

Day 10. A time for every purpose under heaven

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time for peace, I swear its not too late

-------------

...ain't that the truth.

Day 9. Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me

I got an email this afternoon. A simple enough request, someone at my church was looking for a financial report from the youth account for the annual meeting next week.

Umm... k. Quick breakdown of my church life:

• I am a member at a Presbyterian church; I have been attending it forever. We sing a lot of old hymns from a very old hymnbook.
• For 10 years I was very, very, very involved with a youth group sponsored by the Presbyterian church and the local Baptist church and because of this, I had a lot of Baptist influence for a lot of years.
• Once a month for a number of years our youth group attended a youth service at a local Community Church. It was my first, and most influential, experience with the 'praise & worship' style of church.
• I got a job through college at a Catholic church. And have never attended mass (except for a funeral and a wedding).
• I went to a bible college which is affiliated with the Evangelical Missionary Church and the Brethren Church (or something like that).
• I got a job at a Lutheran summer camp a few years back.
• I started attending a Lutheran church while visiting friends.
• I still work at the Catholic Church, still attend the Presbyterian church, am still friends with the Baptist Pastor, still hang out at the Evangelical Missionary college, still get my fix of Lutheran tradition when possible, and have just tried out a new Community church with a very 'emergent' flair (lots of emphasis on community and relationship building), and like it very much.

Although I call myself 'Presbyterian', I couldn't tell you what the creeds of the Presbyterian church are if they were printed on a piece of paper in front of my face.

My faith is not structured in theological gibberish and rules and traditions of the church that have been passed down through the centuries. My faith has been moulded and formed through friendships and mentoring, relationship building and community. If you actually think that God cares whether we use wine or grape juice for communion, (should that happen every week, or is 5 or 6 times a year enough??), you've gotta be kidding yourself.

Now before you go getting your panties in a knot - that stuff is important. Its important to know the history and the stories and the traditions and the challenges (and even the religiousness) of the church. Because all of that religious stuff that's been happening over the past 4000 years or so, that's how we got to where we are today. And with all that understanding, its a whole lot easier to understand God's all encompassing love and grace. (it also makes all the religious humour in popular culture a whole lot more entertaining if you actually know what its in reference to - yes, I'm thinking specifically of the Simpsons)

I'm just jabbering on now, I probably don't even make any sense. Just... Read The Shack. Maybe that'll help you understand God's love.

Back to the email I got. We shut down the youth group last spring because there just aren't the kids around anymore to continue running it. So this financial report is the final act of a very huge chapter of my life. 10 years. 10 years of youth group defining my life.

It was also 10 years of me having a very defined purpose within my church. That's gone now. And I haven't been finding a whole lot of joy sitting in that Presbyterian church pew lately. And that's a little bit painful because that Presbyterian church pew was where I was raised. Those are the people who watched me grow up and taught me what I know about God and church and I feel like I owe it to them to stick around and be a responsible member of the congregation. But right now, I just don't want to. I don't feel like I belong there anymore. That pew sucks the life out of me and leave me very, very tired. I hate to say it, but I think my days in that particular Presbyterian church are numbered.

My love for God is not hurting; my love for God is healthier than it has been in a long time. My love for the Presbyterian church though, it's just about at its breaking point.

I've been listening to 'Grace Like Rain' by Todd Agnew on repeat for about the last hour now. Its helping me think.

Day 8. Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying, planning and dreaming...

My very first car was a red 1989 Toyota Corolla LE with a sunroof. It was... Well, 10 years old and rusty, it had been in an accident and hadn't been fixed real well. It cost me a ton of money in the 3 years I owned it - enough that my mechanic claimed that he could afford to go to Cuba because of me. *Sigh*, those were the days...

The real kicker was that about a year after owning it, the FM radio just stopped working one day. So, what was I to do in Owen Sound with no FM radio? That's right... I listened to Oldies 560 for about two years straight. (And now it all makes sense doesn't it!? "AH! THAT'S why Amy's musical preference just plain SUCKS!!" - that's what you're thinking, isn't it?)

Anyway, back in the day, I was also hopelessly "in love" with a boy who didn't pay any attention to me, (ha! Story of my life right there! lol); I was far too chicken to even consider making a first move and this cute jingly little song used to come on the radio once in awhile and it would taunt me:

Just wishing and hoping and thinking and praying
planning and dreaming
his kisses will start...
that won't get you into his heart

Yeah, that's right, you're singing along right now because you know this song too. Maybe not because you listened to an oldies radio station, but you still know it. Actually, this is probably where you know it from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ-MVAzdUK4 , the beginning of My Best Friend's Wedding.

Anyway, now I'm all distracted. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah...

In high school I took OAC Sociology. Not because I especially wanted to, but it was the only class I could take to earn my 6th credit for my OAC certificate. If you're younger than 24, you won't even know what that means!

This is what I remember of high school sociology:

1. The teacher was a bitter, bitter divorcee who raged about her ex every chance she could get

2. I hated ever second of it

3. Physical love is a slippery slope. You start at the top all innocent and not knowing what's going on, then you slowly start doing the hand holding and hugging and cuddling and kissing and before you know it, you're at the bottom of the slope "making whoopee" (if you've ever played Sims2, you know what I mean). The point about the slop was that the more times you go down it, the faster the ride gets - sort of like a track made in the snow with a toboggan. And, that'll turn into a pretty huge kick in the teeth if you're not careful.

4. The 7 mile rule. You are most likely to fall in love with someone who is within a 7 mile radius of where you live. Now, that rule is a little outdated. Like 1940's outdated, but it makes sense. Obviously, you're going to fall for someone who is constantly, and consistently, in your life. So, the most logical places for that to happen are a) in your neighbourhood, b) at school, or c) at work. (boy, I really screwed up that last one - not a whole lot of hope ever finding someone suitable while working for a Catholic church!!)

5. If you're a guy, you're going to fall for someone who is like your mother; girls, for someone like your father. Now. At the age of 17 or 18, this particular piece of information SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!! LIKE MY FATHER??!!?!! Groan.... I love my dad like any daughter should, but he drives me crazy (like any father should), and you're telling me that I'm going to fall in love with someone just like him?!! GAH! So I may have spent part of my life with this little piece of knowledge stuck in my brain screaming at me to stay away from guys who reminded me of my father because I was just too weirded out by it. Turns out that its some sort of pheromone/genetic similarity thing or something - google it if you're really interested.

So yeah, that's what I remember of my OAC Sociology class. Good times had by few.

I think we're done here.

Is anyone still paying attention anyway?

Day 7. Forever and ever Amen

What was it about elementary school that every year you ended up getting asked a whole bunch of questions so that the teacher, or worse, your classmates, 'could get to know you better'? I hated it! Even today, ask me a direct question and I'm more likely to avoid it rather than give you a straight answer. Its not that I don't want to answer you, its that 90% of the time, I don't have an answer. Seriously, my mind goes blank, my mouth goes dry, and my hands get all sweaty - and the question might not be anything more than 'do you want fries with that?' *sigh*

Two questions from elementary school that haunt me to this day: What do you want to do when you grow up? (I don't know). Who is your favourite music group/singer? (Randy Travis).

Yeah, that's right, my default answer was Randy Travis. I was cool. At a time when all the other kids were saying Salt N Pepper or Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer, I said Randy Travis.

But can you blame me? Country music was all I knew. Well, aside from ABBA or Jerry Lee Lewis, but I certainly wasn't going to go admitting that to anyone! I grew up in a house where the radio only had two stations on it - 820CHAM, and CKNX AM920. Both country radio stations on the AM dial.

I don't even know why I picked Randy Travis! Probably because I didn't actually pay attention to the radio and he was the first guy I could think of that I could actually name one of his songs (remember, this was at the age of 8).

I can still only name 3 songs by Randy Travis off the top of my head!
- Digging up Bones (a song that a child of 8 shouldn't even understand)
- Three Wooden Crosses (a newer song that I dislike very, very much)
- Forever and Ever Amen (as long as old men sit and talk about the weather, as long as old women sit and talk about old men, this is probably Randy's most famous song)

Anyway, that's the story of how Randy Travis became my 'favourite' singer.
Don't worry, my tastes have changed a little over the years.

Day 6. When I get where I'm going

When I get where I'm going
On the far side of the sky
The first thing that I'm gonna do
Is spread my wings and fly

I'm gonna land beside a lion
And run my fingers through his mane
Or I might find out what it's like
To ride a drop of rain

[Chorus]
Yeah when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
I will shed the sins and struggles
I have carried all these years
And I'll leave my heart wide open
I will love and have no fear
Yeah when I get where I'm going
Don't cry for me down here

I'm gonna walk with my grand daddy
And he'll match me step for step
And I'll tell him how I missed him
Every minute since he left
Then I'll hug his neck

[Repeat chorus]

So much pain and so much darkness
In this world we stumble through
All these questions I can't answer
So much work to do

But when I get where I'm going
And I see my maker's face
I'll stand forever in the light
Of his amazing grace
Yeah when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
Hallelujah
I will love and have no fear
When I get where I'm going
Yeah when I get where I'm going


I absolutely and completely love this song. Not only is it country (which is pretty much a requirement for any song that I am going to love), but it is also sung by two of my all time favourite country artists - Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton!

Also... It reminds me of Narnia.
And Narnia reminds me that God is good.
And it is Sunday today, so I thought that I should suggest to you that God is Good.
And if you really want to get a glimpse at how good God really is, read "The Shack" by William Young. I'm about halfway through it and, like the review on the back of the book says, 'You'll want everyone you know to read this book!'.

So, Narnia... (which reminds me, Alicia, I'd like that back someday because I do want to read it again myself) Its been awhile since I've read it; that's my way of saying that I have a poor memory for detail so you should read it yourself. But, this is how I do remember it: In the last book [SPOILER ALERT!!] There is a train wreck which, in not so many words, kills all the characters of the book and they find themselves back in Narnia for the very last time. For forever, because Narnia is Heaven. And Aslan the Lion is there, because Aslan is God. And they start re-exploring Narnia; Narnia was always this finite place with borders and boundaries so that's what they're expecting. This time though, as they explore Narnia, they start to run, and the more they run, the faster they run and they just keep running faster and faster and faster until they're basically flying. And they run without getting tired; young and old running side by side. And the further into Narnia they run, the bigger it gets and it doesn't matter how far or how fast they run, Narnia just keeps getting bigger because it is no longer finite, but infinite - it stretches on forever.

CS Lewis just paints this perfect picture of God's all-encompassing love and its wonderful and its magical and peaceful and if you were to ask me what I thought/wanted Heaven to look like, I'd say I hope heaven looks like how CS Lewis wrote it in Narnia.

So when I hear this song by Brad & Dolly singing words about flying and landing beside a lion and walking side by side with grandpa and seeing my Maker's face... Ah. It just.. Yeah, I love every second of it.

Ps. If you read The Shack, don't be surprised that God is portrayed as a big black woman called Papa. Its all just part of the journey.

Day 5. "Home is where the heart is"

"So your home is in your chest!"

I'm not at home right now (well... I mean, my heart is still in my chest, but I'm not in Owen Sound at the moment) so this is gonna have to be short.

If you don't recognize those lyrics (or if you didn't even know that they were lyrics) then you've probably never heard of Dr Horrible's Sing along Blog. That's too bad; a real shame really. You should probably look it up right now (check on YouTube). There's also the official website: www.drhorrible.com

Cause Everyone's a hero in their own way! You and you and (mostly me) and you!

hahaha.. seriously though, its funny, its well done, and it stars Dougie Houser! I mean, how much more awesome could it get?! And, its only 45 minutes long so if you don't actually like it (which, no worries there, because you'll LOVE it), you're not wasting a lot of time.

Bad Horse is watching you. (He's the Thoroughbred of Sin - leader of the Evil League of Evil)

Day 4. I'm not ready to make nice

Probably my most favourite Dixie Chicks song; someone told me once that she thought 'Not Ready to Make Nice' was an angry breakup song. I guess it sort of fits - well, except for the death threat part...

It's actually about what happened after the lead singer, Natalie Maines, said something completely off the cuff and regrettable at a concert in London England in 2003. WE'RE ASHAMED THAT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS FROM TEXAS. Almost ruined their careers. There were boycotts and record burnings and no radio station in America would play their music. And yet, somehow, after 5 long years of conflict and controversy, they're better off for it.

I just finished watching 'Shut Up and Sing', the documentary of the Dixie Chicks chronicling their fall from the face of Country music and I can't help but wonder - had they made that statement now instead of in 2003, would anyone have even noticed?

Makes ya think doesn't it? About how one stupid slip of the tongue can be so life altering.

Moral of the story: If you don't have anything nice to say...

Day 3. Home

Listening to the radio the other day, I heard a song that I hadn't heard for a while. Actually, I was driving home to my parent's house and I was driving down the road that I spent 25 years of my life living and playing on.

It was a very particular song playing on the radio; a song that I can't quite remember at the moment (and have been wracking my brains about for days), but it was about Home. About coming home. About when the rest of life kicks you in the teeth, you've always got home to go back to. And it wasn't 'Bring it all Home' by Little Big Town - but it was popular on the radio around the same time as that song and it has been driving me slightly crazy that I can't think of which song it was.

Anyway, It was just... warm. Its not like I've moved 10 hours away from home and only visit once a year; I'm 20 minutes away and usually show up once a week. But it seems that you don't really appreciate home until you don't live there anymore.

So, if one of you country music followers out there could provide me with the name of the song that I'm thinking of, I'd be really happy. (Max, that's your cue - I'm expecting you to come up with the song title for me)

All I can remember of it is this (its a man who sings it, so that should narrow things down!):

I've been away
For far too long
and........ ....
.....the music(?)........
..........................

.
Is hoooOoooOoooOoooOme
Oh hoooOoooOoooOoooOme

I don't know, maybe I'm crazy and making things up. But I'd like to think that I'm not.


Speaking of Home, upon me moving out, my parents immediately replaced my old, worn out, dilapidated, single sized bed with a brand new double bed. AND, they're in the midst of completely renovating the kitchen (which I am not sad about missing). I mean - complete renovation. Right now it looks like a cement block room with half a wooden floor and a giant dirt hole where the other half of the floor used to sit. The lathe and plaster is all gone; the ceiling joists are showing; some of the floor joists need to be replaced; half the stairs are missing; the bathroom is just gone. Its...pretty impressive. That half of the house was built in 1915, I think, so I guess its time for a full reno job. (Andy, if you read this, you should go see it.)

Day 2. I don’t know the same things you don’t know

I just, don’t know.

Corner Gas is in its final season. Its bittersweet watching every episode – each on seems to be better than the last, but with each one, we’re drawing closer and closer to the end.

I just watched this past week’s episode; if you haven’t seen it yet – you should. (You can watch it at www.ctv.ca on their video player)

Best lines ever:

“It’s the ultimate mixed CD; opening with classical music, then reggae, followed by a children's song, then ending with whale sounds. Brilliant. You are a CD mix genius!”

I laughed. People at work were probably wondering what in the world I was doing in my office, alone, at work, with the door closed, laughing… But that’s alright – 2 minutes later I almost fell out of my chair with this line:

“I’m afraid Karen won’t be able to read to you anymore. It’s against her religion. She’s Muslim. Presbyterian-Muslim. It’s new; it’s all the rage.”

BAHAHAHA

Ah, *sigh*… what are we going to do without quality Canadian programming such as this?

Corner Gas has also completely changed the lives of the people who live in Rouleau Saskatchewan (that’s where they film Corner Gas). I’ve been there. You have to venture out into the middle of nowhere on the confusing grid of roads (its only confusing because every corner you come to looks the exact same as the last), drive down these long dirt roads and suddenly you’re in this tiny little town of Rouleau which, over the past 5 years or so, has really cashed in on the popularity of Corner Gas. The show has already finished filming, and I’ve gotta wonder, how long before people don’t bother visiting there anymore? How long before the gas station set starts to look run down and the ice cream shop (inside the police station set) closes because they can’t sell enough Corner Gas merchandise anymore?

Funny how things shape our lives, isn’t it?

Well, Corner Gas, we’re sad to see you go, but at least you’re going out with a bang! I’m glad you never ‘jumped the shark’*.


*Jumped the Shark: a reference to an episode of the show Happy Days where Fonzie jumps over a shark on water skis. Followed by a sad realization that the show had passed its peak and it was all downhill from there. Jumping the shark is not something any good television show wants to do.

Day 1. I've been through a desert on a horse with no name...

I know someone who has been frequenting the gym a lot lately. Good, lots of people go to the gym, you say; its healthy, its motivating, its energizing, blah, blah, blah, whatever. I hate the gym; the day I get myself a gym membership is pretty much the day pigs fly. Today though, the idea of the gym not only disgusted me (the thought of breathing in other people's sweaty fumes makes me want to hurl), but it also angered me. Yes, I am very aware that is pretty much the most irrational and ridiculous thing in the world, thank you, but I was still annoyed. It ticked me off because hearing about other people going out and being intentionally active made me feel like a lazy slob.

So, tonight, I went for a walk. Its the very first time that I've left my new home after dark without hopping in my car and going to the mall. I have a friend who has a place up the hill and I thought that I'd take a chance that she might be home and walk to her place. It was uphill the entire way there, and it was cold enough that my ears were starting to hurt, and I had to keep crossing the road because the sidewalk didn't go up the entire hill on one side. But, wow, did it feel good to be outside in the crisp night air with my lungs burning a little from the cold, and my heart beating loud enough to tell me that I'm still alive. It took about 20 - 25 minutes, and bonus, my friend was home!

The way home was all downhill. A couple times I thought I was going to slip on some ice and land on my head, but I didn't. I also didn't get stabbed walking by the bar like I thought I might, that was nice too. I guess I didn't need to shove that knife in my boot after all! (kidding, just kidding...)

And for some reason, (I'm not ever going to begin to understand how these things work), part way home Neil Young popped into my head singing 'I've been through the desert on a horse with no name, it felt good to be out of the rain...' and he's been there singing the same line over and over and over ever since.

Lets get this party started!

The first thing you should know is that I've been in denial about blogging. I wrote a couple notes on Facebook a few times and people started accusing me of being a blogger. I tried to fight it, but it seemed that every time I turned around, there was something else that just had to be written about!

And so, I took up a task that would either make me or break me as a genuine blogger. I decided to stick to a theme and commit to writing for 30 full days. And, I've gotta say that, 8 days into this little project, I'm sort of enjoying it.

Without further adieu, for your reading pleasure, I present to you "Travels with Aimer: The extra-long-winded version". If at first my ramblings don't seem educational, they should at least prove to be entertaining! (I'll warn you now, if I manage to gain too large a following, I sure am going to put advertising on this blog!)