I’ll admit it, I’m not a huge fan of video games, so this post will probably seem a little out of place.I don’t have anything against them, but I
just never really got into them.The
only game console we had growing up was a Sega Genesis – and we got it right
before the Nintendo 64 was released.I
do have a Wii now, and I think it’s great, but honestly, I mostly use it to
watch Netflix.
One thing I am a fan of, though, is passion.Listening to people talk about their passions
is fascinating to me. I love reading biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs because not only is real life often much funnier than fiction, but I love to hear what excites other people. I've been teased before for requesting former colleagues write the stories of their lives, but I thought they were fascinating!
I think that’s one
reason I like podcasts produced by Nerdist Industries – they’re all made by
people who are passionate about one thing or another.I don’t typically listen to The Indoor Kids
podcast, because it’s primarily about video games, but I did listen to their
most recent podcast this week.Brian
Colin was the guest, and he talked about his career as a game designer. It's so apparent throughout the entire podcast that Brian is passionate about game design. I really enjoyed hearing about his early career, before the big boom of video games.
One of his biggest successes was a game
called General Chaos in 1992. He says in the podcast that to this day, more than 20 years
later, he still gets the most mail and communication about General Chaos.Because of this, he has started a
Kickstarter campaign to create a sequel game.There’s also a live action trailer for the game.I find the trailer especially amazing because
my incredibly talented brother worked on props, special effects, and editing of
the video.His super talented friends,
roommate, and girlfriend also acted in the trailer. In all honestly, my appreciation for the project definitely stems from the fact that Brian is also
my brother’s girlfriend’s dad. That doesn't diminish or change how important it is to Brian and the fans of the original General Chaos game.
If you’re interested in video
games, definitely check out the trailer and the podcast and consider donating to the Kickstarter campaign.
Quick life update: I was working at a music (instruments & equipment, not CDs) store for the last three months. It was an okay job with some wonderful people, and I learned a lot. Recently though, I found out that my previous position at the local school district was open again (thanks, Jen!), and I applied for it. After a couple of interviews, I was rehired, and I started my new-old job this week. Aside from the fantastic people, supportive environment, rewarding work, and encouragement to wear orange often, I have to admit, one of the things I'm most looking forward to is no longer spending 2 hours on the road every day. So, here are the Top 10 Things I'm Going To Do With My Time Now That I Don't Commute (in no particular order):
10. Voice Lessons - Guys? I think I started my bucket list, and the only thing on it right now is to sing in a band. I've got a decent voice, but I think it would definitely not hurt to take some lessons.
9. Illini Volleyball - The Illini Volleyball team has been consistently good for quite a few years, yet season tickets for an adult are only $25. At $5 a game to get in normally, I only have to go to 5 games to make it worth it! 8. Illini Basketball - A slightly less consistent team, I still love going to Illini Basketball games. Since I'll be getting off of work before 5pm every day, I'll definitely be able to attend way more weeknight games this year than I previously thought.
7. Illini Football - Despite the insane sunburn I got on the left side of my body at last weekend's game (still hurts!), I was so excited to be there. I ordered season tickets before I started working at the Music Shoppe, so agreeing to give up my Saturdays to the retail gods did not make me happy. Luckily I only had to miss one game for work, and I should be able to enjoy all that football Saturdays have to offer.
6. Ukulele - Did I mention I bought another ukulele? I had been lusting after a Fender uke since my first day at the Music Shoppe. I was going to wait till the holiday season to get one with some sales credit promotion they offer, but obviously that won't be happening. Instead I took advantage of my employee discount and brought one home last week. I've really enjoyed practicing so far, so I'm looking forward to skipping fewer songs in my book because they use "hard" chords.
5. Exercising - I'm going to start slow, but maybe I'll try the Couch to 5K program again. 4. Visitin My Friends, especially those with kiddos - LOOK AT HOW CUTE MY FRIENDS' KIDS ARE! THEY ARE SO CUTE!
I need to spend more time hanging out with them. I also have a ton of friends in the Chicago area whom I should visit more. Who wants to go on the Chicago architecture boat tour this fall with me? 3. Cooking - Remember when I used to cook delicious meals? Remember when I was making pasta from scratch? Yeah, it's been awhile since I've had the time or motivation to do that. I would say I'll even consider cooking slightly healthier options too, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.
2. Being a Better Sigma Alpha Iota Member - I have been slacking in this area lately. I'm looking forward to catching up with my responsibilities to my chapter and the collegiate chapter. I'm also looking forward to coming up with new ideas for recruitment, fundraisers, and chapter events.
1. Updating My Blog - I got into a nice habit of writing something on a weekly basis, and then BAM! all writing stopped because I wasn't getting home till after 8pm most nights. I have so many ideas for posts that I just haven't gotten around to sharing. Because I know you're all waiting with bated breath for the next installment of Kiddo Kim Stories and This is My Life?! ridiculousness.
I'm feeling very nostalgic this week. It's been 10 years since I moved into my dorm at the University of Illinois and 10 years since my first season in the Marching Illini. I can't help but feel grateful for the amazing experiences I had and people I met through my time in the Marching Illini. It's been 10 years since I walked in to my dorm and found my roommate Rachel's dad building furniture in the hallway. Ten years since I peeked into our cigar box of a dorm room and found Rachel's mom asking her , "which drawer do you want your dance clothes in?" I remember looking at my parents with a hint of concern: she's a dancer? Lord help me. (LOVE YOU, RACH!) It's been 10 years since I walked into the Harding Band Building (where it smells like piss) for my first MI band camp. My section leader John greeted me by name for the memorization test. I thought it was really nice that he had taken the time to memorize the names of all the freshmen before camp started. I remember seeing our section shirt for the first time and realizing I had found my people. The section shirt that year was the iconic image from Animal House of John Belushi sporting a "COLLEGE" shirt and chugging a bottle of whiskey, except the whiskey was replaced with trumpet. People who loved marching band AND Animal House?! I had found my people! It's been 10 years since I was among 12 people piled into a compact car to get to dinner. Ten years since I first sang the Alma Mater at the end of dinner. This, of course, lends itself to silly jokes at every bando wedding we attend (and there have been a lot). It goes something like this: *glasses clinking* Non-bandos: Kiiiiiiissss! Kiiiiiss! Bandos: *humming the first chord of the Alma Mater* Hahaha, oh, wait, this isn't band! Kiiiiiiiiss! Kiiiiisssss! It's been 10 years since I met my boyfriend. We didn't start dating till months later, but he was there from the beginning. During our first conversation, he told me that his brother and I share a hometown. How weird is that? It's been 10 years since my first note of Revised Entrance Number 3. Ten years since my first Three-In-One. Any Marching Illini Fossil will tell you that both experiences are unforgettable. The first time you play Revised with the full band in rehearsal is magical, but it doesn't even compare to the first time you play it at the first home game for the fans. It's been 10 years since I got hopelessly lost on the walk back to my dorm my first night, stopping to discreetly pull out my map under the street lights to try and figure out where I was and how to get home. It's been 10 years since I followed Stacey and Emily home the second night to avoid a repeat of the first night. It's been 10 years since Stacey and I became friends. We're entering our 8th year of living together, and none of that would be possible if I hadn't stalked her on the way home from band camp. It's been 10 years since I met my GL Kyle on the "Whoopasphalt" during freshman basics. Having met his cousin that summer at church camp, she told me to look for "the one with the hair". She was not wrong. Kyle became one of my dearest friends in college. We even worked together for a couple of very sassy years. It's been 10 years since Elder Trumpettes Emily, Lisa, Cheryl, and Katie all recruited me for Sigma Alpha Iota, telling me it was a group of women who liked music (and food!). I skeptically attended the first informational meeting. Ten years later, I've held numerous positions throughout my collegiate and alumnae chapters, as well as volunteering as a Province Officer for three years. Ten years ago, I never would have guessed SAI would be such an important part of my life. I loved my college experience, and such a large part of that was because of the Marching Illini. Because of that organization, I found my friends, my chosen family, amazing mentors, and the love of my life. I owe so much to those people who helped shape who I am as an adult. I only hope the current members of the Marching Illini enjoy their experience at least half as much as I did. Umgawa!
Because we're in the thick of instrument rental season at the store, the sales staff is working 6 days a week this month. I usually finish up my blog posts on Thursdays when I'm home for the day. Since that won't be the case this month, consider this a condensed post.
Recently two of my very dear friends got engaged. A few days after Matt proposed to Elizabeth, I received a voicemail that said the following:
"Hi, Matt and I were talking about our wedding, and I promised him there wouldn't be any crafts. So we thought I should call you and tell you so you can help me stick to this plan. Also, so you don't start sending me adorable pictures of family photos submerged in mason jars of olive oil that shouldn't take very long but actually take 100 hours. Because I don't have time for that. So this is your warning."
Knowing that our friendship is full of sass (stories for another time), I responded to her voicemail with this text message:
"Because I am so full of sass, my response to your voicemail was to immediately start a Pinterest board called EB's Wedding According to Me. It's going to be full of over the top DIY wedding ideas."
So in the last month I've been steadily adding photos to that Pinterest board. Most of the photos are gorgeous and would make for a great wedding for someone... but not a DIY-free wedding. The descriptions are full of sass and snark, and Elizabeth has assured me that both she and her family love them.
Today I'm going to share it with you all. My only concern is that some people don't know how to use Pinterest properly, and they forget to change captions. So when they repin something from my board in earnest, they keep the sassy remarks about how ridiculous it is to do something like personalize individual cheesecake favors for 200 guests.
They say you can never go home. I don't know who "they" are, but that's what "they" say. They say it's impossible to go back to your childhood home and feel the same way you felt growing up. That the nostalgia you feel is for something that never quite existed. Well I call shenanigans. A friend of mine from college was visiting family and friends in the area recently, and we met for dinner with a mutual friend. That afternoon the two of them had been hanging out at one of their childhood homes. My friend told me that she felt the same embarrassment with her mom trying to be the "cool mom" now as she did when we were teenagers.
This post took twice as long to write as it should have because I kept getting distracted by this GIF.
I thought that was kind of interesting, because I've experienced a similar feeling for years! Don't get me wrong. I love my parents. They're hardworking people with good hearts. They raised my brother and me to be intelligent, independent, creative, and funny. They provided everything we needed as kids and then some. They're a good example for relationships (celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary next week!). I knew this as a teenager, though I scarcely understood how to appreciate it, and I know this now. I have a great relationship with my parents and talk to them on the phone multiple times per week. But something strange happens when I'm around them and other people I know at the same time. Inevitably I revert back to being a pain-in-the-ass 17 year old. I cringe at every interaction my parents have with anyone I've ever talked to ever. I'm ridiculous. For example, last month I was visiting my friend in Chicago and decided to stop in my hometown and have lunch with my mom. We went to a local cafe and settled on a table near the front. Just as our orders arrived, a couple entered the cafe. The husband and wife are both retired teachers from the schools I attended. They stopped at our table, and I was pleasantly surprised that they remembered me. We chatter for a couple of minutes, and they went to place their orders. As they sat down at their own table, I mentioned to my mom that they were two of the best teachers I ever had growing up. I had the wife for 6th & 7th grade social studies. She was a great teacher and a sweet lady whom I loved, despite the fact that she gave me my first and only detention ever. He was a hard-ass high school math teacher who took the time to reteach me everything I was supposed to learn in 8th grade Algebra I in order to pass his HS Algebra II class. He was widely known throughout the school to be one of the toughest teachers, but we all knew he had a heart of gold. He taught for more than 30 years, I think, and he really cared about educating the kids in his class. As far as husband/wife teacher teams in my hometown go, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a more beloved couple from that time period. Anyway, as we wrapped up our lunch, my mom went back up to the counter for some reason. As she made her way back to our table, I watched in horror as she stopped at the couple's table, and said (loud enough for the entire cafe to hear), "My daughter just told me that you guys were two of the best teachers she ever had in this town." They were very gracious, of course, because I'm sure they've heard that before, and also, who doesn't like to hear nice things about themselves? I, however, slunk down into my chair like a teenage boy with scoliosis and became even more engrossed with checking Twitter on my phone as my face turned scarlet from embarrassment. My mother moseyed back to the table with a smile on her face; she was pleased with herself. As she approached, I hissed at her, "Moooooooooommmmmmm! What were you thinking?! Why would you do that?!" She was confused by my humiliation. "What? I thought they would like to hear the nice things you had to say about them." "I understand that, but why did you have to do it while I was sitting within earshot?! God, that's so embarrassing!" I whispered. Clearly this was a disaster. Clearly. Now, I know that it was not, in fact, a disaster. And my former teachers probably were touched that I mentioned them to my mom. But at that moment in time, it was like being transported back to freshman year of high school, and having my mom tell a boy I had a crush on that I liked him. (That actually never happened in real life, but I can imagine how humiliating it would be.) Having dinner with my friends last week, and hearing their versions of the same stories about their own mothers, made me feel both better and worse. Better because I'm not the only one who has such a strong reaction to my parents unwittingly embarrassing me. Worse, because this is my life?! A grown-ass woman acting like an obnoxious teenager any time my parents interact with anyone from my past in my presence? Boo. I have no resolution to this situation. I fear I am doomed to behave like a surly adolescent in public with my parents for the rest of my life. That's not a particularly attractive proposition for me. So tell me, how do you overcome these feelings?
Back in January, I knew my life would be heading in a direction I like to call "shambly". I knew that my interim position was ending and that there was a good chance I wouldn't be returning to my previous position. Knowing my income status would likely change relatively quickly, I did what most slightly irresponsible 20-somethings would do: I made fun summer plans and bought concert tickets.
I've been a fan of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward's band She and Him for at least three years now. They recently came out with their third album (aptly titled Volume 3) and launched a tour to promote it. I got an email about a pre-sale at the end of January, contacted some friends, and purchased tickets immediately. To say I had been looking forward to the concert was an understatement.
At the same time as I bought the tickets, I also started a quick descent into the Joss Whedon fandom. For those of you who don't know, Joss Whedon is the mastermind behind shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse as well as Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog and The Avengers. He also has some surprising writing credits including Toy Story and Roseanne. He has a tendency to work with the same actors because he knows their strengths and their abilities. In between principle photography and editing for The Avengers, he brought a bunch of actors to his gorgeous home and filmed an adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. I had been looking forward to Much Ado's release for a months, and I got very excited when release dates were finally announced. I was less than thrilled, however, that "wide release" only included 5 theaters in Illinois - all of them in the Chicagoland area. Thankfully I found a theater screening the film as a matinee on the same day we would be attending the concert. Stacey and I headed north to meet our friend, Jenny, who would serving as companion and tour guide for the day. As we got to the city, we looked for parking near the concert venue. In case you're wondering, yes I did take a picture of what must have been the She & Him tour bus in front of the ballroom.
Because I'm a creeper.
By the time we got to the movie theater, previews were rolling, and I realized I wanted to see every single movie they advertised - even the one in Spanish. Much Ado was everything I wanted it to be. I loved seeing my favorite actors from the Whedonverse perform what is essentially the original romantic comedy. I enjoyed Whedon's use of a backstory that I always thought was hinted at but never explored in the original play. I'm happy the traditional song "Sigh No More" was incorporated in the masquerade scene. Clark Gregg really impressed me as Leonato. That character goes through probably the most drastic changes in demeanor throughout the play, and Gregg gave such a fantastic performance of the entire range of emotions. Tom Lenk and Nathan Fillion's portrayals of Verges and Dogberry cracked me up, as they would for any Whedon fan. And Alexis Denisof had me in stitches throughout the scene between Benedick and Beatrice just after he's heard Don Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio describing her alleged love for him.
I'm SO happy I got to see this in the theater. Thankfully the Art Theater in Champaign was able to get it after all, so I took my boyfriend to see it last weekend. It made me just as happy the second time around. After the movie we found a pub with outdoor seating and enjoyed the unusually mild June day. For dinner, we moseyed down the street to try the burgers at Kuma's Too.
Waitin' for our food with JNance
While visiting the restroom at Kuma's Too, I noticed all the graffiti inside my stall. My eye was drawn to the top of the door, though, where a quote from one of my favorite movies, Empire Records, was scrawled.
Shock me, shock me, shock me with that deviant behavior.
After dinner we headed back to the Aragon Ballroom for the evening's main event. I hadn't been to the venue before, but I had read up on it (like I do for just about everything). It was a general admission show, and we got there right as the opening act was finishing their set. That timing worked out fairly well for us, because a lot of people were walking out to use the bathrooms and/or buy merchandise and alcohol. Signs were posted asking fans not to take pictures and instead enjoy the moments live. I do respect that sentiment, I promise, but there was just no way in hell I was going to be in the same room with Zooey Deschanel and not snap a few quick photos.
Knowing we had just built ukuleles, and that I was already fangirling very hard about this concert, our friend Caitlin asked how I would react when Zooey started playing ukulele. I told her I would probably make a lot of what we call "baby pterodactyl noises". Then I demonstrated the high pitched "EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" sound. I think Caitlin was sorry she asked. I also may have given her tinnitus.
She and Him put on a great show. In addition to being starstruck by Zooey and M., I was also impressed with the other members of the band. Most She and Him songs are under 4 minutes, and the other band members covered all kinds of instruments. That meant a couple of the guys basically ran from one side of the stage to the other every 4 minutes for the entire set. There wasn't much banter in between songs, either, so there was no time to dawdle.
As expected, when the show ended after a high-energy cover of "Roll Over Beethoven", the audience kept applauding and cheering, hoping for an encore. My friends and I all saw a roadie bring out a different guitar at the end of the set, so we knew it was coming. That didn't make it any less awesome.
After the encore, people started shuffling toward the incredibly poorly designed exits, but I kept looking back toward the stage. Why? Because the house lights weren't up yet, and the show ain't over till the house lights come up! When the band scampered (seriously, they scampered) back out on stage for a second encore, I took off back toward the front of the room. (Before the show started, I made Stacey promise not to leave without me. I had a feeling something like this would happen.) I probably haven't moved that quickly in years. The second encore was their pretty well-known cover of "I Put a Spell on You". It was great.
Once we finally made it down the treacherous staircase of doom to the main lobby, I pulled the girls aside so we could document our evening together. I figured I would just ask the nearest event staffer to do it. Of course, I didn't realize the nearest employee was approximately 70 years old. So I had to explain in great detail how to take a picture with an iPhone... We ended up with a grainy backlit photo that looks like it was taken in a subway. Still, it's a MEMORY! I'm so glad I got to share that memory with these particular girls. When Stacey asked me afterward if I had fun, I told her I wish everyone in that room had enjoyed the show as much as I did.
We also knew that one of Stacey's former students would be at the show, because Stacey was the one who alerted her to the pre-sale after my email. We didn't expect to see her but thought it would be funny if we happened to run into her. Lo and behold, as we were making our way past the merchandise vendor, she and Stacey spotted each other. Apparently they arrived super early and were in the front row. She also took illegal photos, but I have to believe that the performers were not nearly as washed out and unfocused in her pictures as they were in mine.
With all the emphasis and talk of finding a job that's been going on in my life recently, I've spent a lot of time thinking about my strengths and weakness. I've spent a lot of time thinking about what would make me a good employee or at least a good fit for certain jobs. I've spent countless hours working and re-working my resume and cover letters, tailoring every cover letter to be specific for each job. I continue to list my previous job responsibilities, mention my strengths, and demonstrate my enthusiasm for a given job. But mostly I feel like everyone's resume is essentially the same. Just for fun, I put together a fake resume for myself. Everything on the resume is true; it's just not information you would typically find on a resume or cover letter in any of the fields for which I am qualified.
What true information would you put on your fake resume?
A couple weeks ago, Stacey and I were out doing some shopping, when she mentioned that she had found DIY ukulele kits on Amazon. I've been not-so-secretly interested in learning ukulele for a couple months, but I didn't want to make the investment in a nice one if I was going to A) destroy it accidentally (a distinct possibility with my penchant for bumping into things) or B) get bored with it and ignore it while it gathers dust in our instrument petting zoo. These Grizzly DIY kits were, like, 1/5 as much money, and it meant we got to decorate them ourselves. We got so pumped about them, that Stacey ordered them from her phone while we waited in line for the cashier.
They arrived about a week later, and we set a roommate date to start working on them. In the meantime, we gathered most of the materials we needed: wood glue, sandpaper, a drill and appropriate bit, clamps, and various tie-down straps. (Shout outs to Dad and Boyfriend for providing some of the necessary tools and Mom for delivering some of the supplies!) Much in the same way that I cannot follow a recipe exactly, I decided we were not going to follow the directions exactly either. Mostly, this just meant instead of buying 6 different grains of sand paper, ranging from 120 to 800 (or something equally ridiculous), we would buy two - fine and extra fine.
We began by sanding down the body and neck of the ukuleles.
Action shot!
After that, we glued the neck to the body and used the tie-down straps to keep them pressed together.
We were supposed to wait to perform the next steps for something crazy, like 24 hours, but ain't nobody got time for that! We were able to rig the ukes so we could keep the necks drying against the bodies while also gluing the fretboards down to the necks. Before we could glue the fretboards on, though, we drilled the holes for the tiny mother of pearl dots. This was terrifying for me, because I was convinced I was going to mess it up. Also, Scott's drill weighs like 75 pounds. Note the terror on my face.
Slightly terrified I was going to ruin something or hurt myself
We also taped off where the bridge would be placed after decorating, and left everything to dry for a day or so.
Now, let's be honest, most of the reason I wanted to make the ukulele myself was because I wanted to decorate it. We took a trip to Michael's to gather supplies. Stacey's inspiration was the striped side of a gift bag we have in the house. I decided I wanted purple paint, purple glitter, and orange flowers on mine. Because clearly I revel in simplicity. I've already received multiple comments on how people are surprised I didn't use orange glitter paint on the body. To be honest, I just didn't like the Krylon Glitter Blast shade of Orange Burst as much as the Grape Glitz.
A few days later, we spread out our decorating tools before us, taped off the neck of each uke, and got to work. Since I was using spray paint, I took mine outside, where I promptly gave the bushes in front of the porch a little more pizzazz.
Do YOUR shrubs sparkle?
Stacey carefully taped off the body of her instrument using painters tape and different widths of washi tape we found at Michael's. I thought it was brilliant of her to label which color each strip of tape would be painted. It definitely kept things more organized as she continued to add color.
The flower stencils I bought were actually designed to be used on glass or plastic, so they were extra flexible and had a bit of adhesive on the back. I found this very useful. I cut up my stencils to use the flowers in a design that looked best on the body of my ukulele.
After letting them dry, we still had to attach the bridge, attach the tuning machines, and string the instruments. I found attaching the tuning machines with a tiny screwdriver to be incredibly difficult and frustrating. I thought this was supposed to be fun! I apologize to anyone I spoke with on the phone that night. I was Miss Super Cranky Pants. I was so frustrated by this process that I asked our guitar technician at work if he would finish attaching them and put on the strings for me. He obliged, and the angels sang from the heavens. My poor bruised palm rejoiced. Well as much as a hand can rejoice, I guess.
I brought my uke home after he finished it and promptly tried tuning it to learn some songs. The problem is that strings need time to stretch out after they're put on, and I wasn't being patient enough. I would tune the strings and start learning a song, and by the end of the song, the strings were out of tune again. I didn't really care because I was just excited to be learning new chords. After a few days, things leveled out quite a bit, and they sound pretty good now.
Stacey was at a workshop during the time I was finishing my instrument, so she finished it a few days later. So, without further ado, i would like to introduce you to the newest members of our instrument family:
Luke the Uke and UkuLeia
(Get it? Luke and Leia! Because they're ukuleles AND twins!)
Luke is on the left, Leia on the right.
I'm so happy with the way they turned out! I have to admit that I was hoping for more instant gratification when putting the kits together. I wouldn't recommend building this particular kit with a classroom of kids, because it does take awhile, and there are some tricky parts that require dexterity and/or strength. I think there are some other kits out there that might be a little bit easier in that regard. But it was fun to build them and paint them, and now we're having fun learning how to play.
