Jodi’s Neighborhood

In a manner not unlike the Apostle Paul, I have journeyed to many places in the United States during this decade. Hopefully, I can travel to the southwest during the next decade.

Decade Travels W

Decade Travels SE

Decade Travels NE

In February 2010 we will contest the 10th annual Karaoke to the Death X, and I intend to take home the trophy and enshrine myself in the pantheon of KttD greats. It will be an uphill climb. As often discussed, I have a number of things going against me.

The first, and most difficult obstacle I have to overcome, is my unvarnished enjoyment of attention, good or bad. Your typical modern KttD winner is a tone-deaf introvert who despises being the center of attention. These natural champions have an uncomfortable and displeasing stage presence that simply can't be faked. Hotrod has famously ridden this trait to two KttD championships in the modern era, an historic accomplishment. I go into the competition understanding that I'm going to have to triumph despite my comparative ease on stage.

But KttD is first and foremost a bad singing contest, so being at ease on stage -- while not optimal -- is not a deal breaker. In the singing department, my greatest asset is a powerful voice (easily the loudest in the field) that can be strained to vulgar frequencies given the "right" song. When I won KttD it was the happy marriage of this powerful instrument and Chicago's warbling "If You Leave Me Now" that propelled me ahead of the competition.

Since my victory in KttD V, I have never again factored in the voting, nor have I ever been a factor in the final voting. Part of this can be attributed to a significant, tournament-wide upswing in the overall level of competition, but I think a bigger factor has been my inability to find that perfect song to match my voice.

So I'm going a different direction this year. In the past, I typically shot for bad songs that I secretly loved (If You Leave Me Now, How Deep is Your Love, More Than a Feelin', etc.) but now I'm looking for songs that I wholeheartedly despise. I think this is the key to help me find my muse. Below is the current leader in the clubhouse.

A couple of hours ago, I got home from my annual December tour of the flyovers.  Here are a few of the highlights:

• I kicked my sister's ass at Rummikub.  It's mostly a game of chance, so it's not as satisfying as a Scrabble victory.  But the important thing is that I won.  A lot.
• I watched Elf as I wrapped presents for the unknownth year in a row.  It was weird that I wasn't wrapping presents on Christmas Eve this year.
• I met up with a friend from high school I haven't seen in at least ten years, and maybe since graduation.  That was good.
  
• My ploy to buy the love of my nieces and nephews through cool Christmas presents continues apace.
• I went to see Up in the Air by myself on Christmas Eve.  That was a little ironic, but I enjoyed it anyway.
• I'm sick and tired of coming home sick and tired.  I'll settle for just tired if my sister agrees not to bring sick kids from here on out.
  

I only had four resolutions in 2009. Here is a brief summary, along with the results.

1.     I will read 50 books this year. I am currently at 68, so this was a success.

2.     I will observe the fasting and dietary practices of various holidays in several of the world’s religions. I failed during Lent.

3.     I will implement some sort of plan concerning my educational goals. I am happily working on a Master’s Degree in Holistic Health.

4.     I will finally join my local Unitarian Universalist congregation. I was going to do this and actually interviewed for a youth coordinator position in June. However, this experience was negative and disappointing. This experience made me realize I do not need to be in a congregation and it’s okay to be the spiritual and religious person I am. I finally put to rest any lingering doubts and questions regarding my own acceptance of my spirituality. Therefore, this was a failure and a success.

I don’t have any specific resolutions for next year. Instead, I commit to these ten ideas.

1.     Maintain a positive and realistic worldview.

2.     Embrace simplicity.

3.     Live in the present moment.

4.     Learn from mistakes and let them go to history.

5.     Consider the future, but don’t be controlled by it.

6.     Remember that I am influenced by my environment & circumstance, but I have the power to make positive and productive choices despite this influence.

7.     Live fearlessly by knowing how fears are constructed and how to deal with them.

8.     Consider the context of a situation.

9.     Be open to learning.

10.  Remember these words: balance, mindfulness, energy, forgiveness, critical thinking, wholeness, & harmony.

My favorite Christmas Carol is "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman." It is probably no coincidence that this is also the only actual Christmas carol mentioned by name in "A Christmas Carol." The Christmas in my head is a decidedly English affair, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen strikes me as the most English of carols.

I got a yen to hear my favorite Christmas song earlier today, so I headed on over to iTunes to buy myself a copy. I was hoping for a version sung by fat, jolly English baritone types, possibly with an orchestra. This is what I got.

Tidings of comfort and joy

2 comments

The Greater Washington Metropolitan area suffered a snowpocalypse this weekend, and I've been apartment-bound with CarrieNation for going on 36 hours now. If Facebook is any indication, people are just beside themselves about all their lost productivity during The Great Blizzard of 2009, but we think it's just dandy. I don't know how long it would take me to get bored of hanging out with my wife, watching movies, reading books and playing video games, but I'm willing to find out. 

I tweeted this link yesterday about the forgiveness of a family that lost their daughter to a car accident.

 http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/79698172.html?page=1&c=y

Forgiveness is so crucial to healing, both for the person wronged and the person that did the wronging. By holding on to the pain caused by being wronged, illness is created throughout a person’s entire being—biological, psychological, sociological, & spiritual realms. Negative energy is created and emitted, causing further suffering and illness. As a future holistic health practitioner and energy healer, I have learned about the necessity of positive energy in creating and maintaining a healthy person.

The only way to reverse the effects of this is to practice radical  & complete forgiveness. However, one needs to learn how to do this. Forgiveness isn’t simply saying I forgive you. It’s not just words. It is a process of letting go of one’s attachment to the security of their pain.

It is scary to radically and completely forgive someone because it opens you up to be vulnerable. Many people are afraid of being hurt again, and they believe holding on to the pain of being wronged acts as a protective shield. However, the perceived shield only blocks healing love from being both emitted and received.

One needs to let go of their pain. One needs to let go of their fear. One needs to learn how to do this, and there are many ways to figure this out. I use two ways: the example of Jesus Christ as the forgiving healer in the Gospels and mindfulness as practiced by Thich Nhat Hanh. These two have helped me realize the healing power of forgiveness. The negative forces of bitterness, resentment, and anger no longer bind me. If someone wrongs me, I recall the healing power of forgiveness as explained and witnessed by Jesus. I use mindfulness to be awake in the present, which helps me see the wronging for what it is and the reasons for its existence. By seeing the causes and dealing with them, I can let it all go to history, where it no longer emits negative energy.

I've never been a big fan of dance music. It might have something to do with the fact that I can't dance...or that most dance music sucks, or maybe it's a little from column A and a little from column B.

Not only have I never been a big fan of dance music, but there has also never been a time in my life at which I've had less use for it. I was never a big clubber (clubbite) even as a young single fellow. Now that I'm married I can think of approximately 7,000 things I'd rather do than go to a dance club, including #4,506 (staring into middle space) and #5,092 (flicking around a ball of lint).

So it is a little surprising to me that my new favorite artist is kabillion-selling dance-pop sensation Lady Gaga.

It started when I downloaded her ubiquitous hit Poker Face in an effort to make our wedding playlist more relevant to the young folks. Unlike most dance music, which I find gets worse with repeated listening, I found myself coming back to Ms. Gaga's weird ode to whatever it is she's singing about. Lately I've been scouring YouTube for more gaga clips, including my latest favorite, Bad Romance.