La Musica!

You know, this is a moment of confession for me.  For about 10 years of my life, I rarely listened to any music that was not Christian. I listened to Christian music all the time, and you know - that was okay for me.  I really liked listening to worship music, and still have no issue with it.  I love the soul in black gospel, and moments spent worshipping with worship music.
My taste in music, however, has... expanded a little these days.  (And by a little, I actually mean "HOLY CRAP when did all of this freakishly awesome music come into being, and how have I lived all these years without it!???????")  

I started out really small... in the beginning, even listening to the LOTR soundtrack gave me a twinge of guilt.  Slowly I branched out... a little country here and there, staying in touch with my roots.  Eventually I added in a little Motown and oldies... I learned of Loreena McKennitt and fell in love with the Lady of Shalott and celtic music in general...

My bloggy friend Melba (who has since disappeared off of the face of the earth) introduced me to the Fray and Daughtry.  I pretty much stuck with that, and a little Nickleback....

And then I learned of P!nk.

My world was never the same.  This, my friends, was a life-changing moment. All my inner strength found a voice in her lyrics. I found myself dancing around the house singing, blasting my music at inappropriately loud levels, and just generally... expressing myself as I sang along.

That was about a year ago. In the meantime, I have been learning of music by Christina Perri

Adele

Sara Barielles

Walk of the Earth (My favorite band, still.)

and Amanda Palmer (who I can't totally love, because one of her songs is very sexually explicit... but this song totally makes me smile, and is not sexual... only a little deranged.)

Last week, I learned of an amazzzzzzing new song by Delta Rae, which you really must listen to and love... and while listening to it and loving it, you must especially look at the mirror in seconds 17-22, and the fate of her accusers in the end.

And today, oh sweet wonderful today, I learned of Emilie Autumn... and her song about Shalott.  My world has successfully been completely rocked.  An hour after discovering the song, I still feel an unreasonably huge urge to squeal with joy! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!  (I also make a funny face while squealing, and do a funny thing with my hands, which I can't really describe.  If I wasn't in jammies I'd make a video. LOL)

Learning of this song might change my life, forever.  Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

 

What about you? Any life-changing songs in your life?

20 Days of Meatless Menus - Day 1

Why am I going vegetarian for the rest of the month?

My church is going on what is called a "Daniel fast." We (hubby and I) are using it not only as a way to sacrifice as we seek more of God, but also as a way to learn to eat a healthier way. Our church generally says that a Daniel fast means avoiding "meats and sweet treats", but I forgot the sweets part and baked cookies. Sooooooo... we're only abstaining from meats.

How is it going so far?

AWESOME! Tonight's menu, with each dish rated on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest:

Eggplant Parmesan - 8.75
Experimental rice pilaf (sorta) with sauce - 1
Garlic cheese bread - 7
Salad - 7
Yogurt with cherry jello flavoring - 6

The yogurt with jello flavoring was shockingly disappointing. I remember us eating that ALL the time when I was a kid. Maybe I should try another flavor.

The eggplant parmesan ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was absolutely blown away by how good it was! And very easy too! Here's how I made it:

1 medium eggplant
1 cup spaghetti sauce (I used Kroger brand 6 cheese)
2 oz shredded cheese
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Take 1 medium eggplant, cut off the ends, and cut it into 10 rings.
Cover a baking pan with foil, and brush the foil with olive oil. Place rings of eggplant on the foil, and bake for 20 minutes.

Take rings out of oven, and remove rings from the foil. Brush a fresh coat of olive oil over the foil, and put 5 rings back on the foil. Top each ring with spaghetti sauce, and sprinkle cheese on top. Put another ring on top of each (making a sandwich, more or less), and top with the remaining spaghetti sauce and cheese. Bake another 20 minutes.

Serve with garlic bread and a salad, and you have a FULL, meatless, meal!

Insensitive

Today was probably one of the worst workdays I have had in a very long time... and it leaves me wondering how people can be so insensitive.

I started out my day by a coworker loudly pointing out something I had done wrong, and then reminding them that if she had not been gone the day before, it wouldn't have happend. As I thought more about it, it was not really my fault at all, and actually kind of her fault... And combined with some other things, I just was really upset by it.

Fast forward to later, when all four of us temps were sitting around waiting for a meeting to start... we got on the subject of religion. (and no, I did NOT bring it up... we were talking about bread, which lead to Amish bread, which lead to Amish, and so on.) They began to talk about churches that don't believe in certain things... and then, they began to talk about the Pentecostals.

Did I mention that I'm Pentecostal? Yeah. The kind with long hair and a skirt? Yeppers, that's me. BY CHOICE, not cause some manipulative pastor said to. (No, you don't have to agree, it just is important to my tale.)

So as I sit there, with my uncut hair, they start to ridicule the idea that people believe cutting their hair is wrong... "Well, some people just need something to believe in... *eye roll*"... "Yeah, strength from hair, hahahahahahahahahahahahaha"....

I felt SO uncomfortable... I mean, what kind of people, one of which considers herself to be my friend, would make fun of my religion like that? Especially in a workplace?! I felt SO out of place... It was a horrible feeling... really horrible. I wanted to hide and quietly slink out... but of course I didn't.

People can be so thoughtless... *sigh*

Grrrrrrr!!!

You know what REALLY grinds my gears??????

Voter Guides!

I received one today, forwarded to me from someone I barely know, from the American Family Association.

Four things that really bother me:

1. Only certain issues, ones that some religious leaders have decided are key, are included. Issues that they don't believe are key are ignored... the result? Health care is included, but foreign policy is not. School choice is listed, but economic policy is not. What the heck????!!!!! I mean, since it's a Christian organization, abortion and gay marriage are logical things to appear in the guide... but gun control? School choice?

2. Issues are over-simplified. Not all issues can be simplified into a simple yes or no answer. For example... Obama is listed as being opposed to private ownership of handguns... however, his voting record shows he has actually voted for a bill that lets people KEEP their firearms, as well as another bill that requires a child safety lock to be provided when a gun is purchased.

He actually voted exactly the SAME way on gun-related ownership as McCain, except on one bill... The bill protects gun manufacturers from being sued when the guns are used to hurt people, armor-piercing weapons were prohibited, child-locks/safety storage must be provided when guns are bought...

McCain voted for it... Obama didn't.

So why did Obama not vote for it? One small measure tossed into the bill... "Exempts lawsuits brought against individuals who knowingly transfer a firearm that will be used to commit a violent or drug-trafficking crime" I can definately understand why he didn't vote for that, and it has nothing to do with private ownership of guns.

Obviously this issue was either overly-simplified or else the AFA is deliberately misleading... I chose to give them the benefit of the doubt.

3. DELIBERATE MISLEADING. If you look on their little chart, you will see "Reducing U.S. Dependence on Foreign Oil" in BIG BIG letters, with McCain being in support of it and Obama opposing it. But if you look in the little print below, you see "By lifting ban on off-shore drilling for oil and gas." Obama is NOT against reducing our dependence on foreign oil AT ALL... one of the main points of his Energy plan is "Eliminate Our Current Imports from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 Years" Obama wants to reduce it by encouraging growth of hybrids, increasing fuel economy standards for cars, and other measures of this type. The guide is deliberately worded to decieve us, but since the tiny print makes it true... they get away with it.

Another example of the opposite type, is "Hate Crime Laws" which are described in the little print as "Legislation that criminalizes certain actions orstatements on the basis of sexual orientation" Ummm............. Hate crime laws are not just about sexual orientation... they protect religion, gender, race, nationality, disability,...

4. NO REFERENCES!!! No links are provided where you can find out where their "facts" come from... not even places where you can find more information!

These "guides" are simply a way to deliberately manipulate people into voting for a particular candidate who meets their agenda, and that freakin ticks me off!!!!!

You know what I want to see in a voter guide? I want to see a guide with a list of websites that help you look up your candidates, their views, and their voting histories. Maybe this weekend I'll make one...

What factual and unbiased (as much as is possible) websites do you all know of that could I include?