Five Favorites: Random YouTube Finds

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Five Favorites

After winning NaNoWriMo last night, I was looking around YouTube and found some interesting videos that I thought I would share.

One

Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers — “Will You Go Lassie Go” (Wild Mountain Thyme) This is one of the songs I want sung at my funeral someday, probably during the burial. It feels like a reminder that we will all meet again someday.

Two

Shawn Colvin and Allison Kraus — “The Boxer” I think they do a good job covering Simon & Garfunkel’s song “The Boxer” in a bluegrass style. I’m singing along with it as we speak!

Three

The Irish Rovers — “The Unicorn Song” My parents have a record (you know, those big black CD’s) with this song on it. I remember it my early childhood 30 years ago.

Four

Tracy Chapman — “The Times They Are A Changin'” Why yes, I am a hippie. Why do you ask? 🙂 My parents have this particular CD and this is one of my favorite tracks from it so I was amused when it came up as something I might want to try on YouTube.

Five

The Byrds — “Paths of Victory” Um yeah… I kind of stole borrowed this CD from my parents and this is one of my favorite tracks. I’m under the opinion that Bob Dylan songs sound best when sung by someone other than him. (Sorry Bob, you sound like a goat in heat!)

Go love up Hallie and wish her a happy Thanksgiving.

7 Quick Takes: 7 Things About Me

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7 Quick Takes

I was at a funeral today and was gone for 12 hours straight. (Thank God I built a cushion of time into my plans because it took 4.5 hours to get from where I live to Aptos for the funeral because of traffic.) There’s been a meme going around Facebook where you like someone’s status and they give you a number. You then have to come up with that number of things about yourself that nobody supposedly knows. I’m exhausted from being on the road since 6:30 so I’ll just do 7 of these for my Quick Takes.

— 1 —

I have a serious fear of dogs. There was a dog in the neighborhood who used to try and attack everyone going by its house. Additionally, I hate the smell of dogs. Give me cats any day!

— 2 —

I love the smell of ground coffee but hate the taste. I can’t drink my coffee black. I also can’t do hot espresso like lattés because the hot milk irritates my lactose intolerance. I can do iced lattés made with whole milk and with a few pumps of vanilla syrup.

— 3 —

I took 8 years of piano lessons. I haven’t played actively since college and haven’t accompanied worship since seminary other than a couple Taizé pieces for the Maundy Thursday service at Jon’s first call in Minnesota.

— 4 —

I taught myself to read when I was 3. We had a word book and I somehow figured it all out. I used to read stuff to my preschool class.

— 5 —

I used to write “books” when I was 5 and 6 years old. My mom still has a few of them. They aren’t anything incredibly amazing — just simple little stories I could write with my spelling words.

— 6 —

I have no sense of rhythm. I’m not kidding. My piano teacher used to yell at me about it frequently. I can’t clap well to songs at all either.

— 7 —

My first vocal solo was part of “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” by Bach. Technically, it was a trio with me singing soprano. I had a fear of singing solos and my teacher just randomly asked me to do it. Once I realized I could do it, I was somewhat unstoppable.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: November 17, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY November 17, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It’s 11:00 p.m. and I’m writing this to kick my brain into moving around the writer’s block with my NaNoWriMo piece.

I am thinking… about various things I need to do to some of my NaNoWriMo characters. I also need to kill a few donors off creatively.

I am thankful… for a good weekend with my parents and a good nap today.

In the kitchen… dishes. 🙁

I am wearing… plum colored t-shirt from Old Navy and my Left Behind shorts.

I am creating… a NaNoWriMo piece that might be worth publishing… eventually.

I am going… to meet with a woman interested in cleaning for me once or twice a week.

I am wondering… how to best write flashback scenes in… *drumroll* my NaNoWriMo piece.

I am reading… Pope Awesome and Other Stories by Cari Donaldson. Run not walk to get your copy! (Seriously, I love Cari to pieces even if she does have a strange interest in fisher cats.)

I am hoping… I make it to 34K words tonight.

I am looking forward to… seeing my evil twin and his wife at Thanksgiving.

I am learning that I cannot write scenes with dialogue well at all!

Around the house… cats being nocturnal.

I am pondering… the wonderfulness of rain possibly arriving on Tuesday.

A favorite quote for today… ??There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.?? – Maya Angelou

One of my favorite things… chilled Lipton Pure Leaf Raspberry Tea.

A few plans for the rest of the week: writing, ABA therapy for Daniel every day from Monday to possibly Saturday, massage on Friday, funeral for Gordon Smith on Thursday, and… yeah.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Quick Takes: Lots of NaNo Stuff, Justice Being Served, and Daniel Being Ornery

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Orphans. Do you see these sweet children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and their dossier has been submitted to her country.

— 2 —

NaNo Update. So far, I’m a bit ahead in my “2000-words-a-day” plan and as I’m going to be with my family this weekend, it’s probably good to have that cushion though I’ll be focusing like mad tomorrow so that I don’t get too far behind. I’m also probably going to give up Facebook this weekend with a few exceptions so I can spend my computer time writing my NaNo piece. We’ll see.

— 3 —

Justice being served. Those of you who read my {Virtual} Coffee Date for this week know that one of my college group leaders at the church I attended from 1998-2001 was murdered in his office and found on Saturday morning. On Wednesday, we got the news that they arrested two people suspected of killing him. I’m not angry at his killers as much as I’m just sad.

— 4 —

Fundraiser for Brett. I’m willing to kill people off creatively for a donation to the adoption grant of the precious boy on my sidebar. $10 gets you killed off creatively with a couple caveats. If you give $25, I’ll send you the manuscript of my NaNo piece. Just make the donation to Brett and email the receipt and how you’d like to die to jen @ grace-filled dot net.

— 5 —

Thankful. One of the people doing NaNo is a CSI and she offered to answer all of our questions. There are 8 pages of questions and her answers in the NaNo forums. I’m incredibly grateful that she offered this because it means that my novel went from “no chance” to theoretically possible.

— 6 —

Boundaries. My precious sweetling is testing the patience of his ABA tutors this week. He tried going up against his lead tutor and consultant today… and failed. Both of them have been doing this for a while and have absolutely *NO* problem saying the dreaded n-word (a.k.a. “no”). He has tried going to Jon or me when his tutors are refusing to back down and we just turn him around and send him right back to them. Oh well… it’s developmentally appropriate to test boundaries — just no fun for the parents.

— 7 —

“Bones” moving to Fridays. I’ll have to start watching Bones on Hulu or something because they’re moving it to Fridays… which is when I watch 3 hours of CBS stuff. As much as I like Bones, I like Hawaii Five-O more.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

{Virtual} Coffee Date (vol. 12)

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{Virtual Coffee Date}

Once you’re done here, go visit Karianna and the other coffee drinkers.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I’m ahead of my game on my NanoWriMo piece. This is good because I’ll be with family this weekend and possibly attending a funeral in Santa Cruz so I won’t have much time to write.

If we were having coffee, I would ask you to pray for the family of Gordon Smith who was found dead in his office in Capitola on Saturday morning. He was one of the leaders of the college group at my church when I attended UC Santa Cruz. He leaves behind a wife, a daughter, and numerous college kids they adopted during their time in Santa Cruz. I’m still pretty stunned and part of me wants to cry but can’t at this time.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you how much I’m hoping we have rain soon. We’re in a drought and really need the moisture. I could also use a quiet rainy day.

Thank you for having coffee (or tea) with me this week! Join me next week at the same time more more coffee.

7 Quick Takes: C.S. Lewis Plaque at Poet’s Corner, Grousing About Politics, and NaNoWriMo Updates

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Quiet here. Becky of From Mrs. to Mama didn’t post a link-up this week so I didn’t post on Monday and as I’m doing NaNoWriMo, I’m focusing my writing time on my murder mystery for this year. I’m about 10,000 words in and kinda-sorta on schedule. I’m going to start trying to do around 2,000 words a day so I can finish early because I know I won’t be able to write much over Thanksgiving due to family commitments.

— 2 —

There will be a plaque in memory of C.S. Lewis placed in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey on November 22nd (the 50th anniversary of his death). Westminster Abbey does not finance the plaque (they just give permission to place it) so various academic societies dedicated to the study of Lewis’ works are trying to raise the funds for it. The cost will be ?20,000 (about $30,000 in USD) and there’s a link here where you can donate to the cause. I have vivid memories of Westminster Abbey from a 24-hour layover in London 15.5 years ago on the way to Ireland and I remember Poet’s Corner so I’ve donated.

— 3 —

Fascinating. From Facebook, here are stunning portraits of remote tribes before they pass away. It’s NSFW due to cultural beauty standards being what they are but it’s amazing.

— 4 —

Shaking my head… I had someone snarkily remark last night that I should know what’s going on with the parish because, after all, I’m the pastor’s wife. Ummm… if she’d been paying attention for the last 2.5 years, she would probably have heard me say *MONTHLY* that being the pastor’s wife just means I’m married to Jon — he doesn’t tell me anything.

*smh*

— 5 —

Orphans. Do you see these darling children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they are compiling their dossier to send to her country.

— 6 —

Just wondering… If the Affordable Care Act was the work of a Republican president (let’s call it “Romneycare” because it was based on that legislation), would there be as many people engaging in partisan grousing about the website not working? Because as anyone who has ever dealt with the roll-out of software or a website knows, you don’t know what bugs exist until you have a high volume of users. (I grew up in Silicon Valley. This is in my blood.)

It’s also completely unsurprising that insurance companies are engaging in shenanigans. When Jon and I were having to insure ourselves 10 years ago, maternity coverage was an extra $490 per month. It was cheaper to be on the Pill. I also have to laugh when Blue Cross of California claims to be “not for profit” because they are making a bundle on insuring people in California now that insurance companies who don’t want to be regulated have fled the state.

— 7 —

Fundraising for Brett. I’m planning to use NaNoWriMo to help raise funds for Brett. Once I have things figured out, I will let y’all know.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

7 Quick Takes: Pumpkins, 90’s Nostalgia, and My Bizarre Life

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Blogging cutbacks. I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year so I’ll be cutting back my blogging to twice a week: 52 Weeks of Blogging with Purpose on Mondays and then my Quick Takes here on Thursday nights/Fridays. Once November finishes and I’ve (God willing) won NaNoWriMo, I’ll be back to posting more frequently.

— 2 —

Nostalgia. Someone shared this list of things only 90’s teenage girls can understand and I got probably 45+ of them. I feel so old!

— 3 —

I don’t think I could make this up if I tried! So I saw this news story…

CBS Sacramento: Auburn Man Arrested For Bringing Chain Saw To Bar Fight

Yeah. I live in a freaking horror movie or something. (This isn’t close to where I live but it’s in the local news area.)

— 4 —

Zoo animals and pumpkins! Did anyone need cute animal pictures to distract them from something? Here you go!

I aim to please. 🙂

— 5 —

Halloween pics. Here are a couple pictures from today.

Costumes from today.
Jon as a Jedi and Daniel as Thomas the Tank Engine.

Jack o'lanterns from this year.
Our pumpkins from this year. The tall one is the old rugged cross and the smaller one is just crosses.

— 6 —

My philosophy on pumpkins. I believe that Jesus is the Light of the World so at least one of my pumpkins is always a cross of some nature. Part of this is that I went to college at a school that had a sizable Wiccan population and Halloween night was a scary time to have to walk home on campus by myself. Having a cross to ward off any evil spirits (which I believe exist but not much past that) helped. I also don’t do scary pumpkins because I know there are kids that have a really hard time with them. (I actually went out to the sidewalk to bring candy to a couple toddlers who were too afraid to come up to the porch because of the pumpkins.)

— 7 —

An offer I might not want to refuse. I got the following email today. It’s a fake so I’m sharing it.

Become a member of the Great Illuminati and posses riches, connections and fame. all the power you ever wanted, don’t miss this opportunity grab it because there may not be another chance.

We open door of acceptance once in ten years, and few are chosen. I really congratulate you for this great offer on your door step. We choose people, people don??t choose us. You can be among the chosen this year. The great association as been in existence since May 1, 1776 named The Illuminati (aka Bavarian Illuminati). What does this mean? The name derives from the Latin illuminatur, which means ??the enlightened?? Who are the Illuminati? They are, in essence, a cartel or groups of elite people. These people are basically rich, intelligent, or possessed special skills of various kinds and industrialists based in Western Europe and North America. The names of certain families persist over long periods of time. Some of the most important names are Rothschild, Rockefeller, Morgan, Lazard, Warburg, Schroder and Schiff.

We make people great and we rule the world. many of the world’s political leaders & celebrities are members. When you become a member you will have the opportunity to be great and dine with great men from different nations. We rule every social part of the world, music, sports and politics, the second essential component is control of the media. It is controlled through business fashion. We choose men with potentials and we made them what they are today. We are here for you to make your dream come through; if you dream it you can achieve it.

These are opportunity the celebrities and the richest men had, they utilize it and became idol.’s You have more to know when you finally become a full member.

You are advised to fill all the stated information below and submitted to our in charge Co-ordinator on the email given below, for further instructions and direction.

Name: Co-ordinator Rev. Jack Deng
Address: Empire State Building – 350 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10118[1] United States
Email: invitation_illuminati@usa.com

Personal Details:
1) Your full name
2) Phone, fax and mobile#
3) Address:
4) Profession:
5) Age/Sex:
6) Marital status:
7) Scanned copy of your I.D card

In two months the story of your life will change. Do not be the killer of your dream.

For security reasons, you are advised to keep your membership invitation confidential till your membership is processed and you’re made a member. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claimants or unwarranted membership claims by unqualified persons. Please be warned.

Remember, you are expected to complete your membership process immediately and not more than 7 days to the date of notification. Any claim not made at the appropriate time will be canceled.

All the members and staffs of the great ILLUMINATI. wishes to congratulates you and thank you for being a part of our International membership program.

We wish you continued good fortunes.

Thanks.
JANICE BROWN.
Online announcer

How do I know that this is a fake? The Illuminati would have their own domain for email and their grammar would be better.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.