La Musica

Ok I admit it. Music is pretty cool. Especially music at Christmas time. One thing that makes Christmas so special for me is all the music. I have already been to a few concerts/performances and plan on going to a few more. But music in general is pretty amazing. I went to a performance in the library two weeks ago and a guy whos wife works for the school played the piano. Most of the stuff he played was his own stuff. Just listening to him play made me apreciate music even more. I think it is pretty cool that we can play a few chords in a certain style and it gives you an emotion. Examples: There is a sweet song in School of Rock called "Heart Sick" if you've heard that song before you know that the song makes you fell heart sick. One of my favorite Johnny Cash songs called "Get Rhythm" is really cool because the guitar part is so simple, it just keeps a constant rhythm. The song immediately makes me happy and I usually can't help but tap my foot to the song. It may seem kinda funny but I really like Kelly Clarkson as a singer. She really knows how to sing with emotion. Also that song by Plumb called cut has a ton of emotion in it. I've heard that Emo music is rich guys that complain about their life. The first time I heard it called emo I was kind of shocked. Emo is short for emotion I think and last time I checked if music is not emotional it is pretty lame. I am going through all my music trying to find any music that didn't have much emotion and I can't find anything so I'm going to change the subject. This sunday at church I got really excited when the choir sang the Hallelujah chorus. Now, if you're looking for a song with emotion, pop that one in your stereo. Also, for band this year we played a song called Russian Liturgy. I don't know what it is but at the end of the song we play 6 notes, no faster than normal, nothing special about them, but, everytime I play those 6 notes I can't help but think about how amazing God is. I think that Bob our director has the same feeling because everytime we play those six notes he really gets into the music and after playing those 6 notes he looks totally exausted and he needs a few seconds after the last note to recover.

I think that people like certain music because of the way it makes them feel. Examples: Johnny Cash- Tap your foot, Feel good music, makes you feel like a rebel

Steven Curtis Chapman- God's awesome

Duke Ellington-Mysterious head bobbin' music

Coldplay-Mellow, uplifting music

Aqualung-Kinda like Coldplay but different, not very uplifting

Jack Johnson-Laid Back, skeptical of society

Anyways, Music is pretty cool. Next time you go to a concert think about the emotions the songs give you.

Climbing Mountains

Why in the world do we climb mountains? Last night I started climbing a 14er (14,000 foot mountain for those of you who are not associated with Colorado) at about 11:00 at night. Surely only a crazy person would climb a mountain like that when it's below freezing and it's almost impossible to see the huge rock in the middle of the trail that you're about to trip over. I generally do not consider myself to be crazy so there must be some other reason people do these kind of things. I've been hiking mountains since I was a wee lad and haven't really stopped to think about why I do it. I think part of it is to have a sense of accomplishment. There is definitely a difference between climbing a mountain that has a road to the top and climbing a mountain in the middle of nowhere that is too rugged and steep for any vehicle to climb. I don't think that the sense of accomplishment is the only reason we continue to climb because I still enjoy climbing places that cars can get to like Nike Missile site north of Anchorage. My favorite thing about that hike was that it was, what I call, "The best view of everything in Anchorage." It sure is beautiful to look out from the top of a mountain and see that you are higher than anything else around you and to be able to see miles and miles away. I think it gives you a feeling of superiority which sounds kind of weird but humans like to be aware of what's going on and being on the top of a mountain lets you see everything. I definitely know that I don't climb mountains for excercize because I never do anything purely for excersize. I can't stand running, road biking, weightlifting, etc. Climbing mountains isn't exactly fun. When I think of fun I think of mountainbiking, hanging out with friends, and playing ping pong. Walking up a mountain by itself is not my idea of fun. It definitely has to do with the experience you have when climbing a mountain. I am always amazed by God's creation when I look out from a mountainside especially at night time when you see thousands of stars. It's a humbling experience. When you really think about it though, I think that mountains and stars are some of the less cool creations of God's so that's not my top reason that I climb mountains. I think that my top reason I climb mountains is to explore the unknown. Every mountain that I have everyclimbed has been climbed by thousands of people but it expands my knowledge of the area. In Eagle River (My hometown) I love looking at the mountains, naming them, and getting to know each of them by hiking them. This summer one of my goals was to do as much hiking as possible and as much time studying the chugach range as i could without getting in trouble with my boss for looking at maps the entire day.

So, there you have it. My reason for climbing mountains is to get to know the area and make it a familiar place. It intimidates me to see a mountain I've never seen before so I like to become familiar with them. I don't know why really but there's something inside of me that wants to be familiar with areas.