Totes rant

*Note: if you don't care about music and you don't care to hear me ranting, then don't read this post.

Confession: I'm usually half asleep during my morning Music 306 (Survey of Music Literature 2) class.
Don't get me wrong, it's interesting stuff,
but combined with my professor's monotone voice and the morning hours, I struggle.
Today, however, something my professor said caught my attention and I haven't really been able to think of anything else since.

Here's a little background before I get into it:  Music 306 is a class that all music majors have to take.  MOST music majors consist of either music education majors, instrumentalist performance majors, or classical vocal majors.  Media majors (my major) are like the awkward "we don't know where to put these people so we just stuck them in here" majors.  The classes that aren't specific to the Media Music major are a mix of classes that the instrumentalists have to take with a few classes that the Music Dance Theatre majors have to take.  It really is an awkward major.  ANYWAY, most of the people in my Music 306 class are very well acquainted with classical music and already know and love music history.  Not me.  So while they are performing pieces from the past, I perform pieces of today, and pieces for the future (I'm a songwriter).  There is nothing wrong with this.  I appreciate music from the past because it has shaped the way music is today.  I just feel a little out of place as the students discuss "the variations of Bach's expositions and how the Recapitulations of Rachmanioff modulate and blah blah blah blah..."

This morning in class we were discussing the modernist composer "Berio."  He's from post WWIIish and his music is...different.  After we listened to a song by Berio, the class discussed why we should appreciate music like this.  Our professor said that "we have to listen to it for what it is."  I couldn't agree more.  This music doesn't have to be aesthetically pleasing, but it should be appreciated because it has changed the music world.
Right after this discussion, my professor went on to say that the only music people are listening to today is music from the past (he said from the 50s-70s to be specific).  Wait, what?  Um...no.  He then discredited what is going on in the music world today and said that it isn't influential...that it's garbage.
I couldn't believe that the professor that said we should appreciate a different musician's music for what it was turns around and contradicts his own statement.  By saying this, he was acting like the traditionalists that rejected Van Gough's paintings or the Soviet Union who criticized Shostakovich's music because they wanted music to be more like music of the past.
Music is changing every single day.  In order to have a part in what happens TOMORROW, we must appreciate and understand what is going on TODAY.  My professor admitted that he didn't know one song that was on the radio.  This man knows everything there is to know about music history, so how can he be so blind to music today?  If he were teaching the same class 100 years from now, I'm SURE that he would know everything there is to know about Lady Gaga, and though he may not like her unique musical style, he will say to his class "we must appreciate it for what it is."  Although there is definitely some crappy music out there (like there ALWAYS has been), today's musical world will shape tomorrow's musical world.

And there's my rant.
The end.

BORED BORED BORED

It's been what...5 hours...since Ben left and I am already bored out of my mind.  This is going to be a looooooonnngggg month.  Expect a lot of blog posts.  Blog posts about absolutely nothing.

Ben went on a trip for Costa Rica for a week and then he's going to D.C. to start his summer selling pest control.  I am stuck in this crazy little town called Provo until April 22, when I will graduate BYU!!

Until then, kill me now.

Balloon animals

The other day Ben pulled out a bag of balloons and this little balloon pump and started working away.  After hearing a lot of squeaking balloons, he handed me this:

How cute!  He is a man full of secret talents!

tag, you're it, no tag backs

If you know me at all, you must know that I love staying up late and I hate waking up early.  I'm the epitome of a night owl.  So here I am, writing in my blog at 1:30am, because I've been trying to fall asleep for an hour.  And let's face it...I'm not going to bed until 2:30.

Life has been reeal good lately.  Like roller blading down the road with the neighborhood kids without a care in the world good.  Since I've been a "grown up", I've always kind of looked back on my childhood years with a longing feeling.  I wanted to feel that way again.  I was a weird kid.  I wasn't outgoing but I wasn't introverted either.  I didn't care AT ALL what other people thought.  If I didn't want to make conversation, I was silent.  If I wanted to sing and dance and be a total ham, then I would be just that.  I was just me, marching to the beat of my own little drum.  My life feels like that again.

I mean, sucky things have totally happened.

Like, oh my freaking goodness, the hot pots in Midway are off-limits now.
Back in November I went to the hot pots and there may or may not have had signs that looked like this:

But I didn't think anything of it, so I went in anyway.
The hot pots are these natural hot water springs that feel like hot tubs in mud.  They are part of nature, so they've been around forever.

Good citizens of Utah have been attending the hot pots for a long time until recently, when the land was sold to the Grinch himself.  The grinch has demanded that any person in the hot pots be cited for criminal trespassing.  BAH HUMBUG!!
So after a few trips to the Wasatch County Criminal Court (I know, I'm such a rebel), I have to pay a $300 dollar fee and behave for 6 months to get the charge off my record.  Phew.

Mostly good things have been happening though.  Don't worry.
-Food seems to taste better these days.  No, I'm not trying to be deep.  Ben took me to this place:

I could not believe how good the food was!!  Heaven in my mouth.

-Spa packages are totes worth it.  I had my first spa day as a birthday present.  Loved it.  I probably couldn't get myself to spend that money myself, but it was a cleansing experience.  Benny's done it again.

-I'm worried that my fear of dirt bike riding will never diminish.  We went riding a couple weeks ago.  Even though it was such a great time, Ben had to talk me through every sand patch, rocky hill, and big turn.  He was so patient.  I am such a baby.

-June 11 will be an amazing day.  I CANNOT wait to marry this man:

When I'm with him, I don't long for anything else.
He makes it real for me.

Welllp...

The past few days have left me feeling like this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

And while I'm seriously glad it's all over, It's been a learning experience!! Roller coaster emotions bring out the best and the worst in people.  Yeppp.  That's all really.

Phew.

Love.

A lot has happened since last post.

I had a wonderful Christmas break with my family. 

I started my last semester at BYU.  Yeah, I know, weird.

I went on a cruise to Cabo.  A week of 80 degree sunshine and endless amounts of food?  I think yes.

Annnnnnddddd...

I got engaged!

Ben proposed on a beach at sunset in San Diego.  It was perfect.  He's perfect. 

Life has never been better!  I'm so in love and content with where my life is going.

Don't get me wrong, everything hasn't been handed to me on a silver platter.

(especially when it comes to love)

Don't you worry.  

It's been a long and dramatic path for Heather Neeley.

As I look back on the road I've traveled so far, I've realized a few things.  Life is not perfect, people make mistakes, crap happens for no reason, and decisions will be made that will be regretted.  And though I am in no way embracing these bad things that happen, the black holes, the sleepless nights, the tears that seem like they'll never end, and the cloudy days have made me a better person.  

I've also learned that life is beautiful.

Just when it seems like you can't take anymore, that ray of sunshine peaks out just when you need it to.

It's cliche, I know.

But there's a reason why so many songs talk about "the broken road that lead me straight to you" or "the light at the end of the tunnel."  It's true.  Happiness WILL be obtained.  These little gems in life will make you feel like a giddy school girl.  You'll feel happiness that you will never forget.  You just gotta bear through the storm.  Then after a refreshing day in the sunshine, it may rain again.  But that's life.  Would you have it any other way? 

Ben is the sunshine that I need (sorry to be so gushy).  I know that getting a ring on my finger is in no way a "happily ever after" and I will never say that it is but my goodness it is certainly the biggest freaking gem (ha, no pun intended) that I've ever experienced.  A milestone is coming in my life.  I'm graduating and ready to face the big bad real world.  I'm getting married.  MARRIED.  That's so crazy to say.  I'm moving out of Utah and across the country.  I have no idea where I'll be in a year and that's scary and beautiful all at once.  Utah has been good to me but I am oh so ready for this.  In fact, I have never felt so ready to embrace a new phase of life.  Though I feel like I've learned a lot so far, I'm just beginning.  I'm just a pee wee player in this game of life and I have so much more to learn and face. 

So here's to you, future, 

bring it on.

Lucky

 

Right now, at 2:16am, in the middle of finals week, I'm feeling very lucky.

Lucky to have amazing friends, a good family, great professors, a wonderful boyfriend who treats me so incredibly well, talents that enable me to express my feelings in a way that I can't normally, and opportunities to learn and grow through the things I experience, the mistakes I make, and the blessings I receive.

Though life can be fragile and touchy and hectic and downright mad....it is oh so good.

I'll be home for Christmas

Well, folks, it's been a year since I've been home.  I'm not the type of girl who has to be clinging to mommy and daddy all the time.  I'm pretty independent and comfortable being alone, but enough is enough. A year is too long for a single college girl to be away from home.  In the past two years, I have only been home once.  I dunno why it ended up that way but here I am missing home and so ready for a break.

Home is happy (even with the constant, and i mean constant, arguing over silly games and politics and whatever else there is in the world to argue about).  Home is comfortable.  I don't have to impress anyone at home.  My family knows me as the bossy little girl who wouldn't wear anything except Disney princess underwear but they also know me as the senior in college music major who gets so busy she forgets to eat for a whole day.  They see and know every aspect of me and like-it or hate-it...they still love me.

It's fun to be with my family.  Oh how we laugh (i'll never forget the day when we were screaming at the top of our lungs Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' when the doorbell rang and a freaked out neighborhood girl returned the basketball that had rolled down the street).  We do inside jokes like it's our job.  We are so obnoxious. There was time we played truth or dare and we made Lindsay stay in the dog kennel for 2 minutes and Megan and Rachel had to switch clothes in the playhouse in one minute.  How long ago was this you ask?  Just last year. :)

I have a huge family.  I'm 6th out of 9 kids.  To get all the questions out of the way: no, there are no twins/adoptions, no, there is no polygamy, and yes, I always remember their names (these are the questions that I always got growing up).  Maybe in Utah it wouldn't be so weird to have a big family..but in Texas, it is.  My family has been a big part of forming who I am, and though I am in no way perfect (in fact, sometimes I wonder just what the H i'm doing), i like me.

In conclusion, I am excited for the pillars of our house that are wrapped in Christmas lights, the wooden Rudolph that will always be on our fireplace, the brown Texas grass, the constant playing of Hanson's "Snowed In" CD, the card games that get so intense that sometimes there are tears, the silent laughing during family prayers, the trips to the roller skating rink (our family literally takes over Skatetown), the laundry shoot adventures, the matinée movies, and the love.


I'll be home for Christmas.

Just thoughts.

Ok, I realize that I'm a complete lame butt with my blog.  But seriously school has been H-E-double hockey sticks lately.

I'm feeling random today.

The ghost in the haunted house told me my shirt was ugly.  Excuse me??  Well I thought her bloody white face and torn up dress were ugly.

McDonalds dollar menu is the best thing in the world. 

I'm anxious for Thanksgiving.  I will going camping for a week straight.  I think the last time I camped was when I was 12 and it was for one night...not a whole week (This excludes girls camp.  Southlake girls camp in air conditioned cabins doesn't really qualify as camping).  I'm excited though.

My younger siblings are getting so oooollddd and it's weird.

I want a pet.  But I want it to be pre-trained.  And not shed.  And not have to eat.  And clean up after itself.

My nieces and nephews are the cutest things in the world.  mmmm.

I like fall.  The colors, the pumpkins, the chill, the leaves, and the feeling in the air.  I love it all. 

I don't dream of a white Christmas.  I don't dream of snow ever.

I watch TV now.  It's been 3 years since I've watched TV and I think I like it.  I don't like to hold the remote but I do like to boss the remote holder around.

Ben watches Animal Planet like it's his job and knows everything there is to know about the most deadly insects, spiders, mammals, and reptiles in the world.  It's funny.

So there.

Um. Ouch.

Once upon a time I thought I knew what four wheeling was.  I thought I had gone four wheeling several times.  I was wrong.

You may think that four wheeling is getting on one of these:

And then gracefully riding down something like this:

All the while laughing, taking pictures, and enjoying the view. 

Wrong.  Wrong wrong wrong. 

This weekend I went four wheeling. "Real" four wheeling. 

The trails looked like this:

and this:

My four wheeler did this:

Leaving me with a bunch of scrapes looking like this:

My four wheeler crashed, we decided to take a "short cut" and go off the trail into an abyss of cliffs and wild animals, we got a flat tire, we got stranded in the middle of nowhere, and we almost died.  I'd call it a successful day of four wheeling!!

But really, it was fun. 

Note to reader:  the pictures of the scary trails and upside down four wheeler aren't mine.  I may or may not have added them for dramatic effect.  The trails really were scary and I really did flip over though. :)