a change will do you good

I needed a haircut.

Just play the song, Schneebly!

In high school I probably wrote twenty-some-odd songs. In college I wrote two. Since I've been home from my mission, I hadn't written a single one. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it was all those angsty adolescent hormones, or the way teenagers see the world as a black-and-white exaggeration of the way it really is. Maybe it's just that I don't make the time to play like I used to. Whatever the reason, I have not been as prolific of late.

But over the last year I've had a song kicking around inside my head. I've thought about for nearly a year, but I never got to the point where I felt satisfied with the lyrics. Anyway, last week it finally came together for me. The song is done! It's such a satisfying feeling to have written something I can feel artistically proud of after such a dry spell.

So, I thought I'd share it with the world. If you feel so inclined to listen, I'd love to hear your thoughts. At some point I'll probably go about actually recording, editing, and mixing it into a somewhat more refined product (I've got some ambitions in my head I'm not exactly sure how to fulfill, strings and drums and such) but this will do for now.



For the lyrically inquisitive:

"Rainsong"
Seth Grover

Dry, I'm dry like the season
And so I wander from reason to reason
But when I look up, when I lift my eyes
It burns my face when all I see is a blood-red sky

Sometimes I feel like a piece of paper
On which someone scrawled my name
But it's not just that, it's not just my name
'Cause when you fold it in half, I'm my own best friend
I'm my own best friend

(chorus)
So rain down on me
And let me soak you in
And baby, with your clear running love,
Take the dust from my skin
I need your love
I need it like the rain
I need it like the earth needs water
Again and again

Maybe now things will be a little bit easier
Maybe now I can finally be myself
But that's a hard sell, and I'm just not buying
You drew a line in the sand, but do I have what it takes
To leave myself behind?

(chorus)

(chorus)

A hunting we will go

Well, we survived our week-long hunting trip, thanks in large part to Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin. We had planned on spending at least three nights in hunting camp trying out our new tent, but the hoards of bees or wasps or hornets or whatever they were persuaded us to enjoy the comfort of the cabin all week long instead.

Instead, we were visited by some nasty little gnats that apparently love to rip your flesh right along the hairline. Poor Analee was vigorously rubbing the back of her head on the church pew yesterday just to get some relief from the itchiness. Here's what they did to me:

Nasty little gnats. Bekah suffered much more than this on our last day at the cabin. I think a small army of them were setting up camp in her hair.

The pain we suffered from the bugs (of both the stinging and biting varieties) and the total lack of elk was disappointing, but we did have fun and enjoyed ourselves as well. Here's a sampling of the week's activities in pictures:

Ana helping herself to the gooey marshmallows we roasted over the fire.

Seth blowing on the marshmallows that had previously been on fire while Bekah watches.

Ana joining Grandpa Dennis in his marshmallow roasting.

Analee swinging on the swingset with Andrea while Grandpa Dennis, Bekah and Seth sit around the fire.

Bekah, Andrea and Analee on top of Sawtelle. I drove the girls up there one day while the men were out hunting. It's weird seeing pictures of myself in braces.

Analee and Bekah chasing Bekah's "friend" (a golfball) on top of Sawtelle.

Grandma Susan showing Bekah how to shoot a toy crossbow. She was aiming for a yellow styrofoam deer.

Rebekah with her cousins, Tav and Mack, outside the cabin.

View from the top of a mountain that Seth and Andrea climbed on a 4-wheeler one evening. It's the year of the forest fire in Island Park.

Seth striking a pose on top of the mountain. Looking good in camo.

To view more such images, click here.

It made me laugh ...

And she was actually making "snow angels" on the carpet before I got this shot.

actually, percocet does

i'm going to be hunting all next week, so i'm posting twice this week. wish me luck!

Another Bekahism

While we're getting loaded in the van.

Seth: Rebekah, will you please get in your seat?
Rebekah: Don't talk to me!
Seth: Is that any way to talk to your Daddy?
Rebekah: (meekly) Talk to me, please.

i'd better not find any brown M&M's

I missed last week because I was running around like crazy trying to get ready for hosting an Elder's Quorum party, going up hunting on Saturday, and getting a lesson ready for Sunday.

Here's this week's offering. I give to you Fallin'. I wrote this in high school.



For those who want to hear it, >click here for an electric version of the same song.

Railroad Tracks

Not flattering, I know. And not natural. That's my all-teeth-showing face so you can see the lovely metalwork.

I got my braces yesterday. Two words: not fun. I just have to keep reminding myself that not only am I doing this for the straight teeth, but also for the surgery prep. I'll be so grateful when this is all over.

Highlights from the orthodontic appointment include:

* The removal of the incredibly painful and annoying spacers followed by the installation of the much more painful metal rings put around my molars.
* The slobber strings that followed the removal of the device that held my lips open for at least half an hour while the orthodontist cemented brackets to my teeth.
* My very own Aspen Orthodontics T-shirt that, if I wear it on my subsequent office visits, will earn me a spot in a drawing for super-cool prizes!
* The look on my face that prompted the assistant to put silver (not mauve, black, chartreuse or robin's egg blue) bands on my brackets.
* "Oh! Don't forget your balloons!" "My balloons?" "Yes! For getting your braces on." "Oh. Joy. Well, at least my kid will love them."

Reliving the days of being a middle-schooler are not the most pleasant, but at least when this whole process is all said and done, I'll be able to eat Big Hunks to my heart's content.

Finally

For three years I have entered photos into the Eastern Idaho State Fair to be judged. And after the first two years, I have been both pleased and disgruntled at the results. Pleased because I won ribbons. Disgruntled because none of them were blue.

This year I was dead-set on getting a blue. I told my brother that if I didn't win one, I'd steal one from another photo and put it on mine.

I'm pleased to say that, although I won one less ribbon that each of the previous years, I made up for it by finally getting my blue (or gold, as Seth kept referring to it ... gotta love the Olympics).

Here are my winners:

Honorable Mention--entered into the category "series." Although I shot these pics of Bekah years ago, I didn't enter them into the fair until this year.

Second place--Portrait of a couple. I shot my childhood best friend, Lauralynn, and her fiance in February.

Second place--candid wedding. The bride chose to wear black Converse sneakers with green shoelaces, so we took advantage of her unique choice of bridal footwear outside the Idaho Falls temple.

First place--portrait of a bride. Somehow I knew this picture of my sister would be my best shot at gold.

After viewing the other winners, I've decided on a sure-fire equation for next year's entries:

People in water/waterfalls + poses with hands near the face + American flag as a prop = certain Best of Show.

For those interested in viewing all of this year's entries, click here.

So long, old friend

My G3 iMac comes from humble roots. Purchased for $125 (a steal!) from the BYU-Idaho surplus sale by Seth, then hauled down the hill to our apartment by Seth (like, 10 miles, by foot, Seth adds), then unveiled by Seth. It was an incredible gift, especially considering that the same amount of money could have paid for a week's rent.

But, alas, it is time to say goodbye. My trusty Mac, the one I turned to to design ads for Publication Design, to fix the levels on all my photos, to play Pocket Tanks when I just needed to blow something up with a Funky Bomb. It has served its purpose well, but now it's time for it to retire.

So at this very moment, I'm typing on my new, PRETTY G4 iMac. Seriously. I cannot get over just how PRETTY it is. Don't believe me? Check this out:


Okay, so the Craigslist photo doesn't do it justice. But you at least get the idea.

And yes, Seth had to do all the back-breaking work again. He found the ad, e-mailed the guy, called the guy, went to pick up and pay for the computer, then went about setting it up only to discover that he had left the power cord at the guy's house (which is a good 25-minute drive from our home), so he called the guy again, then drove back out to pick it up. And while I worked on various household chores, Seth labored over the pretty white keyboard so I could have all the applications installed that I could ever hope for.

Man, this guy must love me. Either that, or he secretly loves Macs. Shhh ... don't tell his Linux-loving co-workers.

Bekah's new song

Bekah learned a song from Grandma Susan around the Fourth of July. It goes like this: "My flag, my flag. My country's flag. Red, white, blue. My flag, my flag. My country's flag. I love you."

Yesterday we were running errands, and when I got back in the car from dropping something off at a neighbor's house, I heard Bekah singing her patriotic song. I looked up and saw that I had parked right next to a flag pole, and so she had been inspired to sing about the flag.

We continued on our journey, and Bekah continued with a new version of the song: "My tree, my tree. My country's tree. Green ... (LONG pause) ... and brown."

It made me laugh. Silly girl.

i can't even really dance...

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons or companies, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

bekahisms

setting: eating lunch at the kitchen table
Rebekah: "Mommy, do we eat people?"
Andrea: "No..."
pause
Rebekah: "Do we eat dead people?"

---

setting: At JC Penny buying shirts
Employee: "Can I help you find anything, sir?"
Seth: "No thanks, I'm fine."
Rebekah (loudly): "Daddy, is that man one of the mean kind?"
Seth: "Um, no, he just works here..."

Day Nine

Due to the vast amount of Photoshopping I did to Day Eight's portrait, I kept it simple for Day Nine.

Day Eight

I shot this last night but didn't get the computer work done on it until this morning. This is my tribute to America's Next Top Model--a show I love to watch but won't admit to watching. I tried to mimic their Cover Girl ads, but I don't know if I completely do them justice.

Greased Lightbox - Update available (v0.17)

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