Blog quest.

One of the things that used to occupy my time (especially when I was unemployed, years ago), was read people's blogs. I used to subscribe to a blog-ring called Rice Bowl Journals. I suppose, you can pretty much guess what sort of blogs are listed on that particular blog-ring, judging by the title. Anyway, I digress. There were a couple of blogs that I used to follow because of the off-the-wall, dry-humoured, witty observational commentary, which never failed to make me laugh. Unfortunately, those blogs no longer exist, and so now I'm in search of a blog that's would equally amuse me. Thus, begins my quest to find the blog that I would waste my time on, for hours on end, and would provide me with some sort of amusement to while away the doldrums of the day.

Life's different storms.

Just wanted to share this from Pastor Greg Laurie's devotional:

CORRECTING STORMS
"As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all." — Hebrews 12:7–8

Many times we bring storms on ourselves when we do the wrong things and then experience the repercussions. And sometimes God will allow us to reap what we have sown so that we ultimately will change our ways.

But when we go astray and then face God's discipline, it is a reminder that we are His children. Hebrews 12:7–8 tells us, "As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all."

Read the rest, here.

PROTECTING STORMS
Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. . . . Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves.

— Matthew 14:22, 24

The Gospel of John records the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, which was Jesus' most popular miracle. The people loved it so much that afterward, they came by force to make Jesus their king. But Jesus knew their hearts were wrong. He knew they didn't really want Him to be their Lord and Master; they just wanted a free lunch from that point on.

He also knew it would destroy His disciples, who already were having visions of grandeur. On more than one occasion, they argued about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. If the people had taken Jesus and made him king, the disciples suddenly would be elevated to positions of prominence. So Jesus got His boys out of Dodge as quickly as possible. He put them into a boat and sent them to the other side. And as they were crossing, a storm came up.

The disciples were experiencing a protecting storm. And what was it protecting them from? Themselves. Sometimes God will bring difficulty into our lives to keep us from something worse. Be thankful that God doesn't answer all of your prayers in the affirmative: Lord, if You really love me, this person would marry me. . . . Lord, if You really love me, I would have gotten that promotion. . . . Lord, if You really love me, I would win the lottery. God knows what is best. He loves you too much, and therefore is not going to let certain things happen. Maybe God knows that thing you want so bad would actually destroy you if you were to get it.

Are you facing a storm in your life today—a storm that is not of your own making? Just maybe it is a protecting storm.

PERFECTING STORMS
For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. — 2 Corinthians 4:17–18

Storms will come, and in the midst of them, God is doing a work. Sometimes you can see the work, and sometimes you can't. Sometimes that work is simply to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. Quite honestly, a lot of storms are inexplicable. And when you get to heaven, you will understand why God allowed that storm and why that particular difficulty lasted so long. We can't control our universe. (I have tried, and it doesn't work.) We can't say when a storm will start or when a storm will stop. All we can do is react to that storm.

Read the rest, here.

Wishing my knight in shining armour would finally sweep me off my feet and take me away to a far off land. Today would be as good a day as ever.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Quick notes on The Sing-Off, Episode 3

I'll try to write a proper post on my thoughts on tonight's episode. But for now, I have to say, I got nervous for my favourite group, Committed. The groups each had to do 2 songs, one is supposed to be a rock hit and the other is a guilty pleasure.

Opening number: "21 Guns" from Green Day's American Idiot musical. Gave me chills! Now, I really want to see the musical even more!

Committed performed The Police's "Every Breath You Take" for the Rock Hits portion of the competition. Although, I do agree that they didn't "rock it out" so-to-speak, I do believe they still did a beautiful job with it. The chord progressions they did going right into the bridge was too crazy, my cousin and I jumped out of our seats because it was just too awesome. Like I've said before, I'm such a fan of crazy intricate harmonies, what Committed did (and have been doing so far) is definitely musical ear-candy.

As much as I love and respect Jerry Lawson. I think his and Talk of the Town's time on the show has definitely taken its course. The judges often talk about the groups needing to get out of their comfort zone, do something outside of what they normally do. And sadly, Jerry and TotT haven't really done that. I do feel that either they or The Backbeats should have left. Even though The Backbeats had a brilliant moment with the B-52s "Love Shack", I'm just a bit over the whole ICCA competition vibe from them. And I'm really not diggin' the girl vocal percussionist. Never was a fan of women VPs. Have never seen nor heard of any that could actually go toe-to-toe with guy VPs, and there are only a few male VPs that I really enjoy listening to.

Anyway, I'm just glad Committed recovered somewhat with their 2nd performance, Guilty Pleasure songs. They did "I Want it That Way" by The Backstreet Boys. They did good, not great, but good. Shawn was right when he said that it was good that they kept the arrangement simple, and didn't do their signature crazy harmonies. I'm glad they stayed on.

Very, VERY disappointed that Groove for Thought was kicked off. They were my 2nd fave! Really fantastic vocal jazz stuff from them. I don't understand what the judges were thinking tonight. I just don't. Shame.

I just have to say, regardless of the fact that Shawn Stockman is a judge on this show, he's not the reason why I do watch. If you are a musician, you'll understand why I enjoy this show so much. The things these groups do on this show is no joke. You just don't go
up there and sing. Arranging songs for a cappella singing and coming up with interesting "instrumentations" and harmonies is no easy task. Ahhh... I love music.

Oh! I guess I pretty much said what I wanted to say about tonight's episode. haha!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

CA Sad-eyed girl...

Went to see Rockapella last Saturday at the Beckman Auditorium at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. This was their only stop in So Cal for the Holiday tour. It was a nice way for me to cap off a completely epic year of live concerts: Steven's first So Cal show with Rockapella in April, Level 42, twice in July (too epic, I can't even stand how awesome that experience was for me), Boyz II Men at the LA County Fair in August, and now Pella just in time for the Christmas holidays.

It was cool to see my friends, Conan and Vivian, there, at the show, as well. They were there to celebrate their 2-year wedding anniversary. Conan wanted to surprise Vivs with the show. She had no idea who or what they were there to see, up until they sat down. Co was hoping she would find out when they actually stepped out onto the stage, but unfortunately, when they sat down, she caught a glimpse of the program from the guy she was sitting next to, and saw that they were seeing Rockapella. Anyway, she was blown away by my boys, so that was quite exciting to find another Rockapella-convert. ;)

The show was very good, not great, but good, and let me tell you why - their harmonies were not jelling! I'm not sure where I would attribute it to. My first thought was the sound, their mics weren't balanced well, Steven's mic was "hot", meaning it was too loud/sensitive, and John's wasn't at all. I could barely hear him. But, it could also be due to exhaustion. They had an early flight from New Jersey into LA that morning, and I would imagine that may have something to do with their voices not blending well that night. Honestly, I was also missing Kevin's voice, a little. I think Steven's wonderful, but there's something about the quality or the timbre in K-dub's voice that somehow held his, Scott's and John's voices together. Maybe, I just have to give Steven more time with them, it takes years to really get that blend together perfectly (unless you're blood-related). But don't get me wrong, the show was very, very good. Steven was very engaging when he speaks, and he's not bad to look at, either. Not bad at all... *mind drifts*

Random: Jeff, during his vocal-percussion solo, stopped in the middle and shared a random tidbit about his days living in Los Angeles. His first apartment in So Cal was in South Pasadena (where my cousin-in-law, Jeremy, Prel's husband, grew up). Then, he resumes his vp solo. Like I said, RANDOM.

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - they showed childhood pictures of each Pella, and that was just too precious! Interesting to see Jeff and Scott as little babies/tots. And there was one particular picture of John as a teen, that totally reminded me of Ralph Tresvant of New Edition, the song "Mr. Telephone Man" started playing in my head!

It was good to see my friends, MJ and Ross at the show. They were put in-charge of the merchandise table. I guess Ross didn't have photography duties that night. Anyway, it was nice to catch up with MJ for a bit.

Meet and greet: Good idea of having the guys in one spot this time. The first couple of times they were at Beckman, they were just milling about, and you just kind of go up to each Pella and have them sign paraphernalia or have your pics taken with them. This time, they were behind a booth of some sort (like a concession stand). I was able to purchase their new CD "Bang" there, and also got myself a copy of the sheet music of "Hold Out for Christmas".

Scott. Talked to Scott a little bit about his injury from last year. He said that his wrist is healing well, but it would never be the same. I asked him if it was still tender, he said that it was, a little bit. I asked if he had been setting off airport metal detectors everywhere they go, and I was glad to know that he hasn't at all. When I handed him the sheet music for HOFC, I asked him if he would ever be working on a sheet music for "Don't Tell Me You Do". He said, probably not. I asked why. He said he thinks I'm the only one requesting for it. "Really?!" I said. And we just had a chuckle about it. I suppose I'm just going to have to transcribe that sucker myself.

John. Didn't get to talk to John much, I wanted to. Got to say "hi" and "how are you?" to him, but someone cut in and started asking him a question while he was signing my stuff, I didn't really get to talk to him anymore. :(

George. Was able to talk to Geo a bit. I told him that he still hadn't answered my question: Pat's or Geno's. LOL He said, he didn't get to go to either. But he was in Philly though. He also said that there's another place that he thinks is even better than Pat's or Geno's. He encouraged me to visit Philly (as I had never been there before), and try out Pat's, Geno's and the other place that he said that's better than those two. I said, I would love to, one of these days.

Steven. Sheesh, he's a cutie. He flashed that smile of his, and I think I melted. Anyway, I congratulated him on his first ever Rockapella Holiday tour. And I told him that it must have been heady for him to learn all those holiday songs and choreography in a very short amount of time. He did say it took him 2 months learn everything, but he's got 1 week's worth of performances already on his belt, so he's starting to get into the groove of it. At this point, I think Jeff was standing next to him, signing my CD and sheet music. I think he said "hi" to me, but I kind of ignored him (sorry, Jeff), since Steven was still talking to me (oh.. goodness, lol). Anyway, I said "bye" to Steven and wished him a Merry Christmas, then moved on to Jeff.

Jeff. "Nice scruff", I said. He said, "you like it?" I said, "yeah, I actually do." He said, "Oh, thanks!" Then, he walked around the booth/concession stand from where he standing behind, came up to me, and said, "I love your hair. It's so straight and sleek. It looks good." Cue me squeeing inside. And then gave me a huge hug, and we just kind stood there for maybe a minute, hugging. So, we finally let go, and he stared at me for a bit and said, "You look sad. Why are you sad?" Puzzled, I said, "I do? Really?" He kept staring and said, "Yes, you do. Or maybe, I'm just imagining it" or something like that. I told him there's no reason for me to be sad because I saw him. He laughed and said something, but I'm not sure what it was. He said it was good to see me, and I wished him a Merry Christmas. Ahhh Jeff... Just when I get over my crush, you somehow manage to reel me back in. LOL I'm kidding. Jeff's been so cool with me in the past couple of years. Cooler than usual. The hugs are fairly new - nice, long, tight hugs. I feel like a friend that he hasn't seen in awhile, whenever he gives me those hugs. It's really neat. :D

It's interesting how Jeff sensed some kind of sadness in me. I must admit, I'd been feeling a bit of melancholy, and it did kind of hit me during "Merry Christmas, Darling" and "Christmas Without You". Got a bit "emo" during those songs. I think I teared up during the latter. Maybe, it lingered, and that's what he saw. Oh boy... Chalk it up to the holidays, I suppose. LOL

Took a group picture with the guys, Sherry, Jenny and a couple of newbies, who are friends of Sher. Just waiting for her to put that up on her blog. I want to see how it turned out.

Lingered around a bit more. Talked to the Everetts & Jenny for a little bit. Then, Geo joined us and we all talked about the cruise. He went around and asked each one of us who's going on the cruise in January. It turns out that I'm the only one not going. Geo made me feel worse when he said that I was going to be missing out on a lot (uh...duh!). But, he did say later on that it would be cool if I could go, but next time, perhaps. Oh, I will definitely go the next time they have a cruise!

Said my goodbyes to my East coast friends, MJ and Ross. Then, looked for Sher to say "bye" to her, as well as Jenny. Walked to my car with the Everetts who actually had parked next to me. It was a long night, but I had a great time, as always. :)

Sherry's thoughts on The Sing-Off, Season 2, Ep. 2 (and my 2 cents, LOL).

I posted on my pella-friend, Sherry's blog that I was just going to put a link to her page, on here, so that people can read her review of the 2nd episode of The Sing-Off. I pretty much agree to most of what she said, I'll just add my 2 cents in, below.

So, click HERE, for Sherry's review of The Sing-Off 2.2, as she calls it. :)

Here are my 2 cents on the episode, and responses to some of what Sher said as well:

I was never a fan of Nota. They still sounded very amateurish, especially after having heard the groups for this new season. Sher said to colour her unexcited. Well, colour me underwhelmed. If they competed this season instead of the first one, they would not win this one at all. They would've been gone by the 3rd show. They were lucky the talent pool from last season wasn't big and wasn't so great either.

The opening number ("Use Somebody"- Kings of Leon) by everyone was great. I do love Street Corner Symphony's Jeremy Lister's voice. I don't know why, it just does something to me when I hear it. I don't know what that something is though. LOL The solos were great. Jerry Lawson (of Talk of the Town) just melts my heart every time he sings. Such a sentimental fool, I am, when it comes to Jerry (and his former group, The Persuasions). Sean Altman (co-founder and original member of Rockapella), must be beaming with pride, seeing his hero get a second chance at glory. :) Love it!

Whiffenpoofs should have stayed, The Backbeats should have left, even though I love Joanna's voice. On The Rocks are already there to represent the "collegiate a cappella" vibe, and they have pretty similar styles, they just needed to keep one.

I love the green outfits of Committed! I can't get over how well they did with "Apologize", and I was losing it, along with Shawn! haha! (I'm such a Shawn girl.) When they said that they were going to "take it to church", I knew exactly what they meant (our church congregation's "mother church" is an African American church in Long Beach, and they do CHURCH every Sunday!). Anyway, Committed are crazy! Insane! Where do they come up with all these chords?! I love how the crowd erupted right after they did the bell-tones. Gave me chills! It's giving me chills as I type this! I'm such a fan of intricate harmonies, it's ridiculous. Do you know how many times I've listened to Take 6 and Naturally 7 CDs, just to pick apart those friggin' chords they come up with, with the determination to learn them so I can sing along with any part?!?! Anyway, they are clearly my favourite group in the competition.

My favourites so far in this competition:
1. Committed
2. Groove for Thought (covered Mike Posner's "Cooler than Me" and did it so much better, and cooler, than the original).
3. Street Corner Symphony (covered "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train, sans Pat Monahan's REALLY tight pants.)

Sentimental favourites: Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town, as always. :)

"Bananaaaa!!!!!" - yes, Sher. I heart those Minions, too.

Little bit of "The Sing Off" trivia for ya'll...

When judge Shawn Stockman's group, Boyz II Men, were first trying to get started in the business, and while they were still called Unique Attraction, they met their future-manager, Mike Bivins, when they sneaked backstage at a New Edition concert, Mike's group, and sang for them. Mike signed on as their manager almost right away.

Host Nick Lachey's former group, 98 degrees, did the same thing: they sneaked backstage at a Boyz II Men concert, and sang for Shawn and the guys. They were signed onto Motown not long after that.

Now, both Shawn and Nick are on The Sing Off, as judge and host, respectively. ;)

Thoughts on The Sing Off, Season 2, Ep 1.

I won't get into a lot of details, I'll try to make this as concise as I possibly can. So, bear with me.

Opening song (all groups): "I've Got the Music In Me"

Just like my dear, pella-friend, Sherry, I too applauded when I saw Jerry Lawson, former The Persuasions, who were/are the Godfathers of a cappella. Finding out that he was going to be in the show this season was enough for me to want to tune in. Didn't know what else to expect, until I finally saw the show.

First impressions: The Backbeats' (LA all-star group), lead alto, Joanna, impressed me right off the bat, with her power, and emotion. Men of Note, caught my attention, initially as well. And the high-schoolers, Eleventh Hour, were not too shabby, especially for a high school a cappella group.

My favourites:

Groove for Thought (Seattle, WA) - they sang "I Wish" by Mr. Stevie Wonder. Their arrangement ever so reminded me of m-pact's arrangement of this song. It was very, very similar, except for a few changes. Their harmonies were very tight, and clean. I second judge Shawn Stockman in saying that they reminded me a lot of Take 6, and, oddly enough, Vox One. I enjoyed their performance a lot.

The Whiffenpoofs (Yale University, New Haven, CT) - "Grace Kelly" was wayyy out of left field as far as song choice is concerned. But they worked it! It's one of my favourite Mika songs too, and the lead singer, like judge Nicole Scherzinger said, was sassy. Loved how judge Shawn Stockman gave them a bit of a ribbing about being the inventors (or founders) of a cappella. Haha! Go, Shawn!

Street Corner Symphony (Nashville, TN) - they're a bit rough around the edges, but I like them. They had a good sound, a little more polishing, but I thought they were good. Not great, but good. They sang "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears (Side note: it is my favourite Tears for Fears song, and also, Shawn's cousin, Anthony David, who did an awesome, funky, neo-soul-ish cover of Level 42's "Something About You", has done a cover of EWTRW for his upcoming album, which Shawn worked on as well. How do I know this? Shawn tweeted me about it. hah!). Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Street Corner Symphony. They have a good sound, not sure about the song choice, but I thought it fit the lead's voice. I thought he had a very pretty voice. I did notice that he couldn't reach the low end of the song, but I think it's mostly nerves getting the better of him. I'd like to see more of what they can do, though. "Soul Sister" by Train for next episode. We'll see.

The Backbeats (Los Angeles, CA) - LA all day, every day, baby! I immediately liked them because they were from LA and also Joanna, their lead, had already made a good first impression on me. And they had a Pinay, who can wail! "If I Were A Boy" was their song of choice, and they did a good job. At first, I thought, "too low" but Joanna hit those low notes fine. I forgive Shawn for saying he's a sucker for altos. He still needs to make it up to me for that that whole "rose" incident at the House of Blues, November 2009. Anyway, I digress. Haha! They were going to be my pick, until the next group came out...

Committed (Oakwood University, Hunstville, AL) - FLOORED. That was my reaction when this group opened their mouths. You thought Shawn's reaction was crazy? You should have seen my reaction, along with my cousin, Diane. We were going nuts, especially with the crazy mellismas and chords they were hitting! To me, if the competition was just a one-night thing, they would have won already. Hands down. They're young, they still need a bit of polishing, but man, are they good! There were moments of brilliance. And I agree completely with Shawn, Therry's voice was buttah. A big stick of buttah. I can't wait to see what else they can do. They gave a preview of their song for next episode, and they will be singing "Apologize" which is only my most favourite song by OneRepublic. I would love to sing with these guys. They definitely reminded me of Take 6, no doubt. And they come from the same university where most of Take 6 came from. They sang "This Love" by Maroon 5.

Sentimental favourite: Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town (Oakland, CA) - "Save the Last Dance". Love the story behind the song, courtesy of Ben Folds. I was emotional watching Jerry and these guys. All I could think of is, "that's right, they betta recognize"! I think Shawn kinda got emotional, too. Loved how he gave props to them, especially Jerry. OK, I'm getting emotional just typing this.

It was a good premiere episode for Season 2. Looking forward to the rest of the season.

My poor co-worker. She's a pretty, young girl. 20 years old. And she gets hit on by middle-aged men, creepy-looking ones, that walk into our store. But, she's a trooper, just rolls with it, until they leave.

Today's Devotional

Today's devotional from P. Begg: Email and Share