My New Favorite Song

Sometimes the world of pop culture just hands you a present; like when Steve Young starred in Lois & Clark or when Howard Shore did the music for Twilight: Eclipse.   The latest example of this is Brad Paisley's song "Old Alabama."   I knew (due to Twitter) that he was doing some sort of song that had to do with the group Alabama, which made me happy, because when I was a little kid that's one of the groups I remember listening to with my whole family.  Then I heard the song.  Not only does it sample an Alabama song, it samples the Alabama song, "Mountain Music."  This is the song I remember listening to over and over, watching my little brothers dance around like (very macho I assure you) maniacs as we all giggled.  They were little enough that I'm not even sure they'd remember it, but I do, and this new song echoes one of my favorite childhood memories.  So needless to say, in spite of a hint of raciness, "Old Alabama" is my favorite song of the moment.

Glorious Middle Age and A New Writer Blog Post

I turned 36 this week.  I was seriously grouchy about that fact last week, but a great weekend with family, and some serious spoiling from my husband, and I got less grouchy.  After all, I'm pretty much doing what I want to be doing with my life (at least within the realm of things I'm capable of changing) and I have a lot of joy in my life.  I think I just need to focus on being a bit more grateful for the people, things and opportunities that I already have.  Though, if we could go a week without snow that might help.

I've also posted a new post on the writing blog if anyone's interested.
http://jenelcope.wordpress.com/blog/

Writer Reader Re-View: White Cat by Holly Black

New post on the writer blog

http://jenelcope.wordpress.com/blog

The Civility Experiment

I just watched this video from the Church's website. (And though it's from the Church I think everybody could enjoy it, church member or not.)  I loved it because this has been my little soapbox lately, but I also loved it because it made me feel like I need to do better, as well.  I think the woman in the video has a very understandable experience.

Does Writing Make You a Pickier Reader?

New post on the writing blog http://jenelcope.wordpress.com/blog/

I Feel the Need...

The need for speed!

Today the Internet Movie Database reminded me that among the other news of the weekend, there was a "milestone" that was overlooked.  This weekend marked the 25th anniversary of the release of Top Gun. 
Please travel back in time with me, before couch jumping Tom Cruise and the Anthony Edwards' ER brain tumor to my sixth grade self, who, along with my best friend Lesli, was obsessed with this film.  While I do remember most of the film fondly, in my opinion the real stars of that movie are the planes.

For four years after I saw this movie, before I met something called Geometry, I wanted to grow up and design jets, get a private pilot's license (even then I knew my vision prevented a commercial one) and make my life about airplanes.  I even won my very first writing award, in part, for a poem called "The Jet."

Do I think that version of myself would be disappointed with my current life?  Hmmm...I mean I can't fly a plane, and the closest I've come to designing one is the models I made back in junior high.   Still, that little girl is around and evident in the fact that I once managed to write a well received graduate history paper on the F-117 Stealth, the giddiness I felt at finally making it to Seattle's Museum of Flight (the photo below) and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the fact that I'm delighted to have married a man who is at least as fascinated by planes as I am.  

That little girl is also the reason that every time I fly, no matter how routine it's become in the last year, there's always a moment when I look out the plane's window at the stunning blue sky, stare at the clouds below and the glint of sun on the wing and have an "I can't believe I'm really flying moment."  So while I may not design airplanes, thanks to Top Gun, and eleven-year-old me, I still think they're pretty darn cool.

Sigh of Relief

I really, really need to learn not to worry quite so much.  I did a ton of work this last week getting some writing done on our Shoshone-Bannock Project for the American West Center, and yet somehow I had managed to convince myself that what I had done was so substandard that I was going to get in trouble for it.  Today we met to start working on it, and, of course, everything turned out alright.  There wasn't any logic to this concern, just a prime example of what a worry wort I can be. 

Excuse me while I go take twenty deep breaths.