Prop 8

I want to post a few things about how I feel about Proposition 8, but before I do, I wanted to warn any readers who I know this is an extremely sensitive issue for. If your mind's made up on this issue, then I'd like to congratulate you and I encourage you to go out and vote for what you think is best knowing that you absolutely have my full blessing! However, if you would like more information about the Yes on Prop 8 side of the issue, then I encourage you to read on.

I'd like to start with a funny overview that I found tonight on a friend's site:


My institute director at my church in Berkeley, Brother Celaya, composed a couple of really incredible entries on his blog about Prop 8. I'd like to refer you to there also. Here is the first entry and Here is the second. Brother Celaya is one of the most kind, sincere, and intelligent men that I've ever known.

Finally, WhatIsProp8.org is pretty much the webular guru in regards to information about this Yes standpoint. Please check it out, it's EXTREMELY useful.

Now that you have access to many references, I'd like to just close by saying that I care deeply about this issue, and I care deeply about my friends. I have friends who are straight who feel so incredibly troubled about this issue and I send them my love and support. Many of my best friends are living a gay and lesbian lifestyle. I love them deeply and will honor their God-given right to choose whatever lifestyle that they'd like to choose, and hope that they will honor the life that I have chosen for myself.

I love you all, and thank you for taking your time to read my blog!

Poke me enough and you get a response!

Hi guys!

I've had 3 people talk to me about wanting me to blog again in the past week, so I get to give you guys an update! And it's going to be a good one.

First the Big News! I have a film that will be appearing in a film festival on the 25th, so less than 48 hours away! Don't believe me? Go to this site for the proof. The film's called "You Should Watch This" and you get to watch it by clicking on the video below!



Also, I've completed a SECOND film since that one, and it was definitely a lot of fun. The story behind it is that I sat next to a practitioner of Falun Dafa, and we wound up chatting for the entire plane ride, which was 4 hours long. She told me about the persecution that followers of the practice have been forced to endure in mainland China which are lightly touched on in the film, so let me show that to you:



There's a lot more information about the persecution that is going on at faluninfo.net. The stuff that these guys have gone through is just absolutely wrong and we need to do something about it. The best solution would be for the American government to put more pressure on the Chinese Communist Party to put an end to the persecution. If we were in a similar situation, I'd only hope that someone would do the same for us. So write your congressman. Get whatever wheels turning that you can.

And the final news I'm going to share even though there's much, MUCH more to tell is that I've completed my first website! Check it out:
http://studentsites.expression.edu/~kcarlsto/

Oh, My Turn on Earth!

When I was a kid, my parents had a lot of LDS videos, books, and CDs lying around the house. We had our favorites, like some of the Living Scriptures series (those things were rad), Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites, or Saturday's Warrior. I was perusing through things at Seagull Book today, and found the absolute classic, My Turn on Earth!

We had a movie night at institute tonight, and this was one of the movies I brought to be voted on. I was really hoping that it'd either be this or Spice World. Instead, we wound up choosing a very heavy drama, The Interpreter, which is a movie I love, but like I said, it's a pretty significantly heavy drama. I think our night could have been significantly more filled with laughter at the campy and hokey goodness that this musical provides. I got home and couldn't sleep so I turned this on and it's playing in the background. I haven't watched this for literally 15 years, and I'm so surprised: I TOTALLY can sing along to all of the songs still! And they're better than I remember! So here are some lyrics to sing you to sleep, and hopefully make good use of YOUR time on earth. This movie really makes me want to get a ginormous pencil to write My Story. Bigger is better - My 'large in stature'ness is enough proof of that.

Eenie Meenie Miney Mo, you can choose the way to go, but if you choose right you will see just how happy yoooooou can beeeeee!!! *groovy 70's beat*

Music Gear I

After a very long leave of absence, I found myself reading 3 very competent blogs, namely this one, this one, and this one, which has gotten me sufficiently bitten with the blogging bug. The pun's intended, and to get what I'm referring to, check out this post on theChung's blog. Ouch!

I'm going to put a disclaimer on this post up front: Though I'm CERTAINLY interested in music gear in all of its forms, I'm self-taught, and inexperienced in most of the musical world. I like to play around, sure, but I am by NO means a professional. In fact, there are 3 Chinese kids who I've been tutoring in piano for less than a month who already play better than I do. So this post is the opinion of a n00b. I'm someone who's figuring this stuff out for herself, and I have no more expertise and credibility than you do. Be prepared, and take it for what it is. kthnx<3. The first piece of gear and the whole of this post:

Takamine's EG523SC - Acoustic-Electric Guitar

Kind of a funny story behind how this lovely guitar came into my possession. I was doing temporary work for the county's HR department over in Martinez. They gave us a whole hour for lunch, which was absolutely unreal for me, as I take 15 minutes for lunch, tops. Lucky for me, the county offices are mere blocks away from Martinez's adorable little downtown area, so I'd take walks up and down Main Street to pass the time. The third day I did this, I bumped into a really nifty guitar shop, where the owner let me goof around on this beautiful little guitar that I'm talking about and let me ask him millions of questions about all things music - especially live looping. I spent the whole of my next day's break there also, talking his ear off and jamming to my heart's content. As I left, I was resolved to purchase this guitar as soon as I had saved up enough money from my job. I returned to work after that break, where the office had been run by all of the temps while the full-time employees were at a mandatory retreat. 3 o'clock rolled around, and the full-timers came back, exhausted from the day. Three of them, one of them being my boss's boss, went into a spare office behind my desk to chat and unwind from the day. I was at my desk working on a massive and mind-numbing project, listening to a book on tape in one ear. A few minutes after they started talking, I hear someone say "Neil Diamond." Then a couple minutes later, someone says "Rod Stewart," and I couldn't help but smile to myself. After yet a few more minutes, my work hit a snag. I got up to ask someone in that office a question, and as I reached the doorway someone in the room said a sentence that had the word "generation" in it. I couldn't help myself. This just came tumbling out:

"At the extreme risk of getting fired and speaking of generations, only people in your guys' generation would be sitting around in the middle of the afternoon talking about Rod Stewart and Neil Diamond."

Needless to say, I got fired the next day. I still stand by my joke, and were I to have the chance to do this all again, I would've done the exact same thing. However, this change of events left me jobless, and without fundage to pay for the guitar that I was madly in love with.

Later that night, I was talking to my sister, and she got it in my head that I should start getting serious about making art my career. I jumped on CraigsList, and within that first week, I made 2000 bucks worth of deals in exchange for commissioned artwork. My sister's a real smart lady. Anyway, after that week, I decided to go back to that guitar shop in Martinez. While I was there, I mentioned that I have some experience in web design, and wondered if we could strike a trade - a website for the guitar. He was not only down with the idea, but he was really excited about it! I'm still working on the site, but he let me take the guitar in advance.

Whew! That was a really long, really rambly story! It's late, and I tend to ramble on little sleep.

Now on to talking about the actual guitar! All of the guitars that I've played before this little baby were the crappy $30 variety. This is a mid-range guitar ($800), with a built in tuner and a 1/4" amp output. It has a jumbo body, which gives it a gorgeous, round tone which I am ABSOLUTELY in love with. It's also a dream to play. There are a couple of key things that I really appreciate - the main one being that the fret board is slightly bowed out, which makes bar chords RIDICULOUSLY easier to play than any of the guitars I've played before. Also, it sounds great whether it's plugged in an amp, or generating its own sound. Plus, it's pretty, and that makes it awesome!

VW Key Hack

For anyone who doesn't know, I have a 2002 VW Passat. His name is Wilson, being named after the volleyball in the movie Castaway. Back in 2005, I had the bad habit of falling asleep with my carkey in my pocket. I know, I know, it's weird to sleep in jeans in the first place, but bear with me. It didn't take long before I had slept on top of my keys, and had depressed one of the buttons on my car key all night, thus draining the battery. The next day I called the dealer to see if they could fix my key.

"No ma'am," they said, "you'll have to buy a new one."

I confidently asked "How much will it cost?" I expected a figure around 20 or 30 bucks. It's a laser-cut key, so it's not like they're making a replica at home depot, so I was thinking high end.

"$150 dollars for a key without buttons, and $250 if you'd like it with buttons."

Needless to say, I've made do with the key that I destroyed.

In 2006, I got a job at RadioShack. One of the routine scenarios that often plays out is helping little old men replace the batteries in their valet keys. There would always be a little door at the back which I could easily pop open. I looked at my key, and couldn't find anything like that.

Jump to yesterday. I was playing with my key, and found something. There is a small groove which I popped a flathead screwdriver into that I had never noticed before. This opened the key right up. First I separated the half with the blade from the half with the buttons, and then I split the half with the buttons along the seam and lo and behold, what do I find inside but a CELL BATTERY! I went to RadioShack today, got the correct battery, and viola! Good as new! Now if only I would've been smart enough to figure that out 3 years ago! Sheesh!

Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie. Say it out loud. It's fun to say, huh? Well, he's even more fun to listen to. All day I've been working on my computer and listening to Mr. Gillespie among others, like Mr. Davis and Mr. Crosby. And I haven't said the best part. I've been listening on antique RECORDS! WOW!!! If that's not rad enough to blog about in allthingsrad, then nothing is. Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend picking up any and all of Dizzy's albums to anyone with a pulse. Seriously. Go to Borders. NOW!

Better watch out for your kids!

23

Oh, this makes me laugh.