American Idol Top 10

I had to take notes again since I wasn't able to use the computer while watching American Idol tonight. And I couldn't find a pad of paper quickly enough. But I found a bunch of used empty envelopes. From convention registrations. Grr, it's convention time again. I'm amazed at how difficult it is for some people to fill out a simple registration form. Wait, that's another post for another day. Anyway, here we go.

Matt Giraud: Okay, I missed his performance last week because I was counting stitches so I made sure to pay attention this week...well, sort of. I paid attention to his vocals but I was busy painting a closet door so I didn't actually watch. Anyway, I initially thought his song choice was really stupid. But then I heard it and I really liked it. He's growing on me. But no itunes purchase.

Kris Allen: Gah, I do not like looking at his mouth. But I liked it. It was fun and different from the original. This was one of the first songs that I've liked from him in quite awhile. itunes purchase.

Scott Macintyre: Okay, I hope he ignores Paula's dumb advice from last week and keeps the piano in. Oh good grief, what in the world is he wearing? Are they dressing him like he's a motown singer? What horrid pants. Oh good, he ignored Paula's dumb advice from last week and he kept the piano. Interesting, the background singers are by the piano this week. Haha, he "moved it closer." Oh good stuff, I love this song and I loved his interpretation even though it was quite different from the original. Hahahaha, Paula's being dumb again. She thought that Randy was agreeing with her even though he obviously wasn't. She actually said, "Oh, you're agreeing?" And Simon tells Paula to "answer the question, answer the question, answer the question, answer the question" at least once a week. Her presentation of crayons and coloring books was funny but it was funny how she pulled it out and managed to avoid answering the question. Anyway, itunes purchase.

Megan Joy: Did she drop the Corkey from her name? Why don't they have it anymore? What in the world in she wearing? She looks like the ocean. Haha, Lance said she looks like she should be on the Love Boat. Yikes, she's really off and parts of it were really shouty. Oh, yes, My Guy would've been better. It's funny how Paula tells these contestants how great they look when she has nothing nice to say about their performance. Aww, she looks like she's going to cry. No itunes purchase.

Anoop Dawg: Was this the same guy who sang My Prerogative? How boring. Did he change the song at all? Yawn. No itunes purchase.

Michael Sarver: Something's weird about this performance? What is it? Yes, the notes were off but something else was weird. Oh, I know. The whole performance! I really liked him during the early auditions but I think it's time for Michael to go. No itunes purchase.

Lil Rounds: Wow, that dress looks like it would be fun to wear. Are they dressing them like motown singers on purpose? Well, her voice doesn't sound like Fantasia's tonight so I like this performance better than her other recent performances but she sounds a little shouty tonight. This was an interesting song choice for her...oh, yeah, I Heard it through the Grapevine would've been way better. No itunes purchase.

Adam Lambert: What the hell is up with his look tonight? He looks like Elvis (the young, good looking one, not the fat one). Haha, maybe he's trying to make up for the creepiness of last week. I thought I knew what kind of performer Adam was but now I'm not so sure. Huh, that was really good. Crap, I really liked his performance. I really didn't like Adam before the Top 13 began and it's really bugging me that I've liked his last three weeks of performances. itunes purchase.

Danny Gokey: Oh, he should've listened to Smokey Robinson. I liked that he danced with the background singers because it was very motowny and he looked like he was having a lot of fun. Overall it was alright but it was not his best performance. No itunes purchase.

Allison Iraheta: I wish they would stop showing the mentor videos right before the performance. I think I would freak out if I had to hear Smokey Robinson worrying about whether or not I was going to forget the lyrics right before I performed. Anyway, Allison was awesome again and I keep forgetting that she's only 16. Why the hell did Paula let Simon draw on her face?!? It's like that Above the Influence commercial that has the kid lying on the couch with marks all over his face, saying that he let people draw on him when he was all high. Oh. Haha. I wonder if Simon realized how appropriately funny his drawing was? Anyway, itunes purchase.

Obsession

Lance woke up early on the first official day of spring vacation to go to Walmart. Why? To get me this!Yup! My most awesome husband went to buy me Twilight early Saturday morning. I am a happy, happy camper. What a fabulous way to begin a much deserved (and anticipated!) break.

My obsession with Twilight first began at the beginning of February. I had been wanting to read the series for awhile but resisted until the day that I read Matt's blog. He's not a big reader but loved the book (and then went out to buy the next three books...) so when he said that he loved them, I knew I had to read them. I do not have anything resembling self-control when it comes to books so I didn't open the book (I borrowed his) until after the holidays. Well, it was all downhill after that. I flew through the book and then sent him an emergency text the night that I finished it, begging for the second book. Even though I was really sick that day, I stopped by his school to pick the book up and was thrilled that Matt, being the saint that he is, had the remaining three books with him. By the end of the night, I had read New Moon and had started reading Eclipse. I forced myself to slow down during Eclipse and Breaking Dawn and managed to drag out both books a bit.

One of the things that I noticed about myself is that I can be a wee bit obsessive when it comes to my interests. And I know this about myself and accept it but even I have to admit that I've really gone off the deep end with this Twilight thing. For awhile all I thought about was Twilight. I woke up and thought "Edward". In the video game that I was playing I named my cows "Bells" and "Alice." My co-worker was working with a kid and he said "push". And I immediately thought, "La Push?" I've read all the books, reread Twilight, reread Breaking Dawn, and reread my favorite parts in New Moon and Eclipse. I'm tempted to completely reread the other two books but I'm trying to wean myself off.

There were many reasons for my (admitted) insanity but I've narrowed it down to three:

1) The series was just awesome. Stephenie Meyer has such a strong voice and you can really tell that she really knows her characters. The fact that it's written in the first person also really puts you in her characters' shoes as well. I can't really describe how fantastic the series is but if you haven't read them, then I strongly suggest that you do.

2) Stephenie Meyer's website. I've never seen such a fantastic website for an author. In addition to FAQs, she's also posted stuff that was left out during editing as well as extra stuff that she's written in addition to the books. She's even posted pictures of the cars that were in the books.

3) I entered the Twilight world when Popo was in the hospital. It was a lot easier (although perhaps a little unhealthier) to immerse myself in the world of Bella and Edward. I thought I would pass the time in the ICU waiting room knitting but I discovered that knitting left too much time for thinking. Playing video games while waiting was also a good distraction, which was a strategy that many of my family members employed (the first night that Popo was in ICU, my cousins, aunties and uncles, and I all played Mario Kart on our DSes).

Now if you excuse me, it's almost 12:30 and time for bed...or some special features on the DVD...or another reading of New Moon...

American Idol Top 11 Rewind

Yes, this post is a few days late. We were to a friend's house for St. Patty's Day dinner Tuesday night so we DVRed American Idol and were too tired to watch it when we came home. So we watched it on Wednesday night, but we were eating dinner while watching so I couldn't blog during the show. So like a dork, I took notes so that I could blog later and compare my assessment of the show with Matt's. I was out again Thursday night so unfortunately my assessment's a little late. Yeah, that was a long and unnecessary explanation. Anyway, here we go!
Michael Sarver: Why would he pick this song? It had so many words in it that it was virtually unintelligible! I'm a speech-language pathologist and I'm used to listening to people who are unintelligible and even I had no idea what he was singing. Additionally, it was like the same note throughout the song so it really didn't show off his talent. I really liked him in the early auditions but not so much now. No itunes purchase.
Allison Iraheta: How old is she again? She carries herself so well that I forget that she's a teenager. Crap, I really wish that I had picked her. I didn't like the song, though, so no itunes purchase.
Kris Allen: Why was his leg shaking the whole time? That's just weird. And what is up with his mouth? Well, he did do much better than last week but still, no itunes purchase.
Lil Rounds: Huh, Carrie Underwood did this song, didn't she? I hope she does better this week because I'm disappointed that she's starting to have the Fantasia tone to her voice. What's up with her look tonight? The hair/dress/jewelry combo makes her look like 40. Okay, she started out with that gross Fantasia-like quality to her voice but she got better near the end. She looked a little uncomfortable, kind of like when Jason Castro had to sing Memory last year. No itunes purhcase.
Adam Lambert: Could his pants BE any tighter? This song wasn't actually all that bad, although disturbing to say the least. It would actually be pretty good on a movie soundtrack for a weird movie like Romeo and Juliet. Good grief, there are probably tons of country singers and fans having a fit right now. No itunes purchase.
Scott Macintyre: Wow, how would you like to hear a video of Randy Travis saying that he didn't know about how well you were gonna do right before you started singing? I really liked his performance, though. Paula's an idiot. I think he's connecting with his audience just fine. What does she want him to do? On the itunes fence, but leaning towards yes.
Alexis Grace: I really liked the song, but she sounded really off in some parts. And she's another one that looks weird tonight. She looks like she belongs in a bar with a cigarette dangling from her lips. Haha, Lance thinks she looks like a Pink Lady from Grease. No itunes purchase.
Danny Gokey: Well, I wasn't thrilled that he chose this song. Everyone who's tried to sing this Carrie song has sucked. Huh, I actually thought it was pretty awesome. Oh, now what did Paula say? Gibberish as usual. itunes purchase.
Anoop Dawg: Oh yeah, Anoop can sing! This was a really smart choice for Anoop. I forgot that he really is able to sing. Hahaha, the way Paula announced that Anoop was "back" made it sound like she really thought that was physically gone. itunes purchase.
Megan Joy Corkey: Wow, her dress really accentuates her "assets", doesn't it? I actually can't stop looking at them swing to and fro. She sounds a little weird, though. Nasal and...something else but I can't put my finger on it. What's with the wiggling? How did she manage to work that in? Ohhh, she's nasal b/c she's sick! Although something else in her singing sounded weird that probably couldn't be attributed to her illness...No itunes purchase.
Matt Giraud: I really wasn't paying attention to this performance b/c I was too busy counting stitches for a hat I'm making. I'm gonna say it was boring since it couldn't capture my attention. Oh, the judges are saying it was the best of the night. Maybe I should rewind...nope, don't care enough to have Lance rewind it. Oh well. No itunes purchase.

And that's the end of my American Idol commentary for this week's show. Overall, country week wasn't as horrendous as I thought it was going to be. A few last thoughts: Paula's getting wackier and don't you think Randy Travis would make a really good action figure? Like if you stuck a cowboy hat on him then he could be like Woody from Toy Story?

30 days

I don't usually post anything too personal on my blog. Even when I got initially got engaged, I didn't really blog about it. I just posted a bunch of bouncing happy faces. Things that touch me too emotionally I generally keep to myself, I guess. Which is why I originally wasn't going to post this. In the end, though, I realized that I couldn't not post it.

My family and I just finished our 30 days of mourning. Popo, who just turned 90 in October, past away on February 9. It was hard. Harder than when we lost Kung Kung because we kind of expected his passing but I don't think anyone expected Popo's. Although she was 90, she was still fairly healthy. She still lived alone and still volunteered at Senior Citizen. And although she would always forget our names (she ran through two or three cousins' names before saying the right one), she was still cognitively sharp. She fell the day before the Chinese New Year and had to be hospitalized but initially seemed not too bad considering her age. She past away two weeks later.

I was lucky enough to live with popo during my first year of grad school. We drove each other absolutely crazy. I studied so much that I didn't relax or sleep as much as she thought I should. I was in my 20s, but she wanted to still take care of me. She wouldn't let me cook. Wait, I take it back. She did let me make won ton soup once (I just had to boil water, throw in the frozen won ton, heat up chicken broth), but that was because she had badly sprained her ankle. Even then she sat in the kitchen to make sure I wasn't going to burn down the house. We eventually compromised. She finally agreed that I would be in charge of washing the dishes.

We are a relatively tight knit family and a large part of that is due to popo. One of her sisters once expressed that she was a little jealous how close my family was. We went to popo's house every week for dinner. We're going to try to continue this tradition. Popo would be disappointed if we didn't.

As is Chinese tradition, my family and I mourned for 30 days. We didn't participate in any celebrations, including my birthday. Truth be told, it was nice to have an excuse to not celebrate it. I just wasn't up to it this year. I feel like I was walking under a cloud but I expected it to get better after the funeral. I avoided anyone not in my family or that I needed to interact with because of work. And when I was at work, I wasn't really there. It's a good thing that I took data while I was testing and doing therapy because I have no idea what happened in those weeks. We were all busy preparing for the funeral, especially since everything was done very traditional, so I thought that maybe the problem was that I hadn't properly mourned. It wasn't. In the week following the funeral, I felt the same. Interestingly enough, now that the 30 days are over, I do feel better. We went to the temple for the ceremony on Wednesday and I feel better. Maybe there's a reason why the Chinese mourn for 30 days.

Anyway, on a lighter note, here's a picture that Joy sent me during this time:She gave me permission to post it on the blog, but I forgot to ask if I could use his real name. Oh well, I don't even use M*Bark's real name here. Anyway, let's call him LB ('Lil Brad) since he looks just like his father. :) Anyway, here's LB in his fish sweater that I knit him for Christmas.

American Idol Top 13

[Note: So I was going to write my first blog back after the dark tomorrow but tonight's American Idol and I thought I'd take a chapter out of Matt's book and bore people with my take on the contestants. It'll be fun to compare our opinions on tonight's performance as I'm sure he'll have a post on it tomorrow. I don't really vote much, though, so I changed his vote/no vote comment to itunes purchase/no itunes purchase because I will probably do that.]

It's Michael Jackson night and I couldn't be more thrilled. It's about time that American Idol has a Michael Jackson night, because, hello, Michael Jackson is music. Lance and I "drafted" our contestants before tonight's show, with each of his picking two people to win. Like a sports draft, I picked first, Lance picked second and third, and then I picked fourth. Even though I really want Danny Gokey to win, I picked Lil Rounds because she will probably go far. Lance got Danny and Anoop Desai and I finished off the draft with Scott Macintyre (though I originally picked lots of other people first).

Yikes, what is up with this stupid introduction and entrance of Ryan and the judges? Dumb. Anyway, here we go:

Lil Rounds: Gah! What a horrible song for her to pick! She sounded like she was shouting throughout the entire song. The judges have compared her to Fantasia in the past but I never understood that comparison. I actually liked Lil Rounds's voice and I hated the shriekiness of Fantasia's. But I finally heard the similarities tonight and all I can say is gah! No itunes purchase.
Scott MacIntyre: I like Scott's voice. I think I've been working with special education kids for too long, though, because I actually look at him and immediately think of him as one of my people. I loved the video they had of him and I loved his performance. Scott and his piano were awesome. I don't remember this Michael song and I didn't like it much. Michael has so many wonderful songs that Scott could have chosen and this wasn't one of them. Once again, Simon was spot on. I'm gonna go look for my album (on a good 'ole audiocassette) at my mom's house because maybe the original sounds better. No itunes purchase.
Danny Gokey: I love Danny Gokey and I've loved him from his first audition. When he began the song, I wanted to cry...because it sounded like crap and I was scared that the rest of his song was going to be crap. I loved his performance tonight and I totally agree with Randy. Simon was right and the dancing was hideous but it was awesome because it totally looked like he was having a blast. On the itunes fence.
Michael Sarver: I actually liked Michael's Sarver's version of this song way better than Michael Jackson's. I'm a Michael Jackson fan but I do think that Michael Sarver's version was less creepy than Michael Jackson's. On the itunes fence.
Jasmine Murray: What do I think of this performance? Um...eh. That's it. Just eh. It was okay but it was boring and she sounded a little off in some parts. I'm surprised that she picked this song, though, because not only does she run the risk of being compared to Michael, but she also runs the risk of being compared to Mariah. What are Randy and Kara saying?!? Guys, she did okay, but it was boring! Oh, wait! Paula's actually saying something constructive and I actually agree with her! And of course Simon is brilliant, as usual. No itunes purchase.
Kris Allen: Well, this is interesting. Remember the Time with an acoustic guitar. Yikes, this whole performance was just weird. The combination of the outfit, the guitar, the song, and the off notes just made for a weird total package. Oh, and Paula just reminded all of us that she's a little wonky with her "adorable sexy" comments. Yeah, I did not like this performance but he is cute. No itunes purchase.
Allison Iraheta: What did she do to her hair? It makes her look older and more polished but there was something appealing about her long hair. I loved her performance! I love her voice and I love how she's all rock. itunes purchase.
Anoop Desai: Only children unite! Yes, Beat It! This should be fun, but why would you pick this if you wanted to show off that you could sing? Plus this is so Michael's song and it's one of those that can't be performed by anyone else unless the artist completely changed the arrangement. Granted, this is the dude who sang My Prerogative last week (though that was totally awesome). Yikes, that was horrible. It was almost painful to watch. He actually made Beat It...well, boring. Oh look, the judges agree with me. No itunes purchase.
Jorge Nunez: What song is this? Is this a Jackson 5 song? And what is up with his creepy smile tonight? Yikes, this was almost as painful as Anoop's. How unfortunate because I really like his voice and I really liked him last week. No itunes purchase.
Megan Corkey: What a hideous dress. What is up with those straps? It looks like someone found their grandma's old doilies in the attic, cut them up, and added them in. Hmm...interesting song choice, let's see how she does...hmm...not bad...not good, either. I like her tone, but it was kind of like watching a performance at the county fair. Ooh, Gordon Ramsay! I think I really like Gordon Ramsay. No itunes purchase.
Adam Lambert: Oh, let's just vote this guy off already. He should just go be in a musical already. Huh, amazing, I actually kind of liked his performance. Well, I liked his performance as long as I didn't have to look at him. I even liked his interpretation of Black or White. I'm surprised to admit it, but, itunes purchase.
Matt Giraud: Wow, Matt is pretty good with his piano. I liked it. Yeah, not much more to say. Ha, Paula's keeping it short, I wonder if the producers told her to hurry the hell up because they're running out of time? Oh, must be because Simon was kind of short too. Or maybe they were like me and thought it was good but don't have too much more to say. No itunes purchase.
Alexis Grace: I don't know if it's this outfit or what, but she looks unhealthy. Like she would really benefit from a good doughnut. She looks way skinnier than she did a few weeks ago. Haha, Lance thinks that her outfit would be complete with a little cotton ball on her butt. Then it would be a playboy bunny outfit. Yeah, not a fan of this performance. No itunes purchase.