Music, Singing and Dance (plus books and sermons)
I think my co-workers would heartily agree that having a portable music device is a
very nifty thing indeed while working. Work often involves the hands and not the mind, this lends itself to time for listening to one's own internal dialog. My own internal dialog is wonderful and entertaining at times, but I also appreciate the occasional break from it.
I listen to a pretty broad assortment of things while working. Recently the music of choice has been
Blind Guardian, the three albums:
A Twist in the Myth,
Nightfall on Middle Earth, and
A Night at the Opera. Blind Guardian is definitely an acquired taste. It is metal, most songs have a chorus part, and most songs are based on well known tales. "Fly" is a song about Neverland, death, and Wendy. The whole album "Nightfall on Middle Earth" is based from tales in Tolkien's Silmarillion.
Lots of progress in Les Miserables and will finish sometime in the next week. It is
definitely a romance novel, as well as a social commentary, and and and.. much more. Marius is at a point of being less dejected. (c: That's my obtuse way of saying where I am without giving anything away. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to complete the book if I was reading it. Time at work when I'm mopping, vacuuming or dusting has been perfect for listening to the amazing tale Victor Hugo weaves in the book.
Sermons are starting up again and my usual fare is John Piper. Recently have listened to "
Let No One Despise You for Your Youth," "
The New Birth Produces Love" and "
Why I Trust the Scriptures." I recommend all of them, and if you were to pick just one of them... the first two I mentioned are about equally good. "Let No one.." is a very strong exhortation to both parents and children to NOT conform to the world/culture's norms for youth. We expect so little from our youth and they are definitely living to those expectations. He also makes a fantastic statement about not teaching
moralism to our children.
Really critical stuff. Just writing about it makes me want to listen to it again. "The New Birth.." is from a series he is doing/did in 1st John and is about how God being Love and believers having love from God for one another go together. I can always do with more exhortation and scripture on love for my brothers in Christ. Maybe you can too!
After Les Miserables I'll be listening to the
Brothers K and I'm excited about that. It isn't as long, is a very different author, and is very well recommended.
I went to a parkour meetup a few weeks ago and had a really great time! I felt like I was "with my people" which is really nice! I'm looking forward to going to Huntington Beach on the 19th to meetup with the same group. They're
Parkour LA and practice all over, from Pasadena, to downtown LA, to Huntington Beach, to CSUF and UCLA. It's great having all the variety of locations and a very chill, all-levels group. (c: More to be heard on this. Why do I mention it in my post about surviving the Swing-Shift in the PP? Because I also practice (in safe ways) jumps and balance while I'm moving around checking on equipment. It's easy to take a second to grab some convenient handhold and make a movement that'd help in doing pakour. What is
parkour?
That leads into dance and singing. It's loud in the Engine Room and I can sing really loud and not be heard, and it's great! Also, I'm the only one in the plant after 5pm-ish, so I can sing wherever I like as loud or strangely as I like without a care for who may be listening. This is ideal time for me to try different variations of throat-singing, range-tests and a whole assortment of exploratory singing that I'm much too timid to try around people. (c: Dance is at a minimum for now as that takes focus and it's hard to do other stuff while moving around. I think I pretty much am terrible at it. Am trying to figure out how to do the crazy foot-slide thingy (
slide glide?) which is like a sideways moonwalk, right now I only have a clue as to how I
can't do it.
Well, I have about an hour to pack and leave for the airport for this weekend's events. I'll let you know about them when I have them documented and sorted through (or if a there's a pause in all the events and I feel compelled to post).