Penny Or A Smile

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SFvsLA

I heart baseball. I started getting into baseball, especially the San Francisco Giants, about a year and a half ago, and have absolutely adored it ever since. I've tried football and basketball, but they've never snagged my heart like baseball has. A dear friend and I went to a Giants game at Dodger stadium yesterday, and had such a good time watching them totally crush the Dodgers 10-1.

(All photos taken by me)

Question of the blog:

Are you a big fan of sports? What is your favorite, or most tolerated, sport? Who is your team?

French

I love all my new friends who speak French. Such a beautiful language.

Question of the blog:

I've always been fascinated with other cultures, but not one particularly so much that I have studied their language. I know a little bit of Spanish, but if I could speak any language fluently, it would probably be German. If you could speak any foreign language fluently, which would you choose?

Network

I may have posted this before.. But my dear friend Justin reminded me of it today.

Shivers, every time. Everybody knows things are bad.

I'm a human being. My life has value.

I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore.

Surface

I am a part of a generation that is constantly being bombarded with images. From Tumblr, to Facebook albums, to Stumble Upon, and everything in between. We have such potential to turn into incredible people filled with knowledge on art and beauty, but instead we just flip through pages, stimulating our brains with shots of things that don't teach us or allow us to really grow in our pursuit of becoming a better art critic. Scrolling and scrolling of photos and I have gained nothing. Reblog, like, comment, nothing.

Question of the blog:

What does beauty mean to you?

Anti-Social Alexandra

I think the reason why I was so excited about night classes was that I would not be seeing most of the people I probably already knew. For some reason, I am very very introverted at school, and I have made absolutely no effort to become social in my classes. I am going to change that tonight. I will be better at this. Where did my extroversion run to?!

Inspiration

I was lurking around on flickr (please don't think I'm too creepy) when I stumbled upon this photo by my friend Nathaniel. I think it is so beautiful, and I loved the caption.

"its so funny how you can see her trail and where she sits every single morning for her routine ball throwing."
See more of Nathaniel's incredible photography HERE.



Anyways, seeing this photo on his Flickr reminded me of a true story my dad told me about a Buddhist monk. So here it is. I hope you enjoy it, and that it inspires you as much as it inspires me. What an incredible lesson on perseverance in your faith and values.

In a story straight out of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, human footprints worn into a wooden floor mark the spot where a 70-year-old Buddhist monk named Hua Chi, has said his prayers in a temple in Tongren, China, for over twenty years. More than 1 1/2 inches deep in some places, the prints tell the story of unbelievable prayer frequency, which according to Hua Chi at one point occurred over 3,000 times per day!

Hua Chi admits that due to his age, he was forced to cut back on his prayers, and these days can only manage about 1,000 times a day.

Even by Buddhist standards, which stress living life in a state of meditation and contemplation in order to reach Nirvana, his original rate of 3,000 prayers per day is considered excessive.

Today, hundreds of students visit the monastery which houses the temple bearing the prints in which the soles of the monk’s feet have become embedded in the floor. There is little to say, as the message of uninterrupted belief couldn’t be very much clearer.

Hua’s daily routine is simple and never varies. Before sunrise, he arrives at the temple steps, places his feet in his footprints and bends down to pray. He then walks all around the temple grounds until it is time to return for more prayers.

“During the first years I would pray 2,000 to 3,000 times a day. But I have grown older, so in recent years I have only done around 1,000 each day. I reconstructed this temple and have prayed and walked around the temple all these times so that after my death my spirit will not suffer,” said Chi in a recent interview.

To Zshoozsch

I have never been one to call my family "normal."

Actually, I think my family prides themselves with the fact that we are, honestly, weird.

One thing I love about my family, is the weird names we attach to inanimate objects. 

For example: My dad does this thing. This THING! that just drives us girls crazy. He will be typing on his computer and start saying something like, "Bel-Moor-Gae-Well-Zandra... Could you.." dot dot dot.. 10 seconds later, "yes dad?" ...10 seconds later, "Could you pass me that uh.." ...he keeps typing along... "DAD. What do you want?!?!" ... "Could you uh pass me uh.. that, those nose blowing things..." 

Tissues? Of course. I honestly think I could walk to Mexico, buy myself a burrito, and walk back before my dad gets his sentences together while he is on his computer.

Ever since then, we call tissues, "nose blowing things" every once in a while.

Another great example is the ...Remote. Man, that is weird to say. In my family, we call it the channel changer. Because, honestly, what else does it do? My boyfriend still thinks it's weird that we call it the channel changer.

My favorite example as of late is what we call this little blender we have. It is a handheld thing, and at the end is this really sharp spinny blade thing, and we use it to mix drinks (especially the milk I have which has a layer of solid cream on top. SICK.) and chop up little foods. Anyways, my dad and I can never really choose a name for it, because it's not really a blender, and it's not a mixer because it's too powerful for a wimpy name like that. So we call it the "zshoozscher." I wish I could have one of the pronunciation buttons right here, so you could hear how we say it. But basically, to zshoozsch something is to blend it with this little blending mixer contraption we have.

I have become so frustrated in trying to explain how this thing looks and sounds, that I will be posting a video of it soon. So keep hitting that refresh button, I'll have the video up as soon as I.. record it, and then upload it.

So here is the question of the day for all of my blog readers: What are some of the weird names your family calls inanimate objects like this? 

PS I think I am going to start asking questions at the end of every blog post. Yes? Reactions? Anyone out there? Am I just posting these to myself?

My First Crane Takes Flight

(All images found on Google)

In Japanese tradition, the crane signifies honor and loyalty. It is said that if one makes 1,000 paper cranes, your greatest wish will be granted. 

One of my life goals (I know, I am pathetic) is to learn how to make an origami crane. I have tried at least 15 websites, and more youtube instructional videos that I can imagine. But today. Today, I did it. I made an origami crane. Praise the Lord! I doubt I will be determined enough to make 1,000 in my life, but it is a nice thing to think about :]

Thank you Origamifun on YouTube, for helping me complete one of my many life goals.

Watch this video to learn how to make an origami crane!

Lotus Temple

This is the prettiest building ever.

The Bahá'í House of Worship in Delhi, India, popularly known as the Lotus Temple, was completed in 1986 and serves as the Mother Temple of the Indian Subcontinent. It has won numerous architectural awards and been featured in hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles.

As with all other Bahá'í houses of worship, the Lotus Temple is open to all regardless of religion, or any other distinction, as emphasized in Bahá'í texts. The Bahá'í laws emphasize that the spirit of the House of Worship be that it is a gathering place where people of all religions may worship God without denominational restrictions.

The nine doors of the Lotus Temple open onto a central hall, capable of holding up to 2,500 people. The central hall is slightly more than 40 meters tall and its surface is made of white marble. The House of Worship, along with the nine surrounding ponds and the gardens around comprise 26 acres.

On Hindu holy days, it has drawn as many as 150,000 people; it welcomes four million visitors each year (about 13,000 every day or 9 every minute). It is known as the most visited building in India, and has about 4 million visitors a year.

Lotus meanings

Indian lotus flower
According to the Indian culture the lotus flower denotes prosperity knowledge and learning, fruitfulness and illumination. According to the Hindu mythology, the lotus flower is associated with Goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wisdom and generosity. She is often portrayed as sitting on a completely blossomed lotus that gives a sense of purity to her form.
Eastern lotus flower
The Lotus flower is viewed as a representation of spirituality according to the eastern culture. The lotus flower is often viewed as a symbol of aspirations to rise towards the light as the roots of the lotus flower has its roots in the mud but it grows in the upward direction.
Egyptian lotus flower
According to the Egyptian culture the lotus flower symbol was known by the name of 'Sesan'. As per the mythology of Egypt the lotus flower symbolized the sun as well as formation and revival.
Christian lotus flower
The lotus flower is a representation of piousness and fertility. The lily flower in the Christian culture basically replaces the lotus flower. The lily flower according to the Christian culture is associated with Mary who is known as the queen of heaven.

I would love to visit the Lotus Temple in my lifetime. I think it is so wonderful that it is not exclusive to just one religion. Just a peace filled place where anyone can meditate and coexist. How beautiful is that?

Sacred Harp

I was first introduced to the Sacred Harp last year when I was in choir. The Chamber Choir sang two different hymns, and the power of the songs gave me chills. For those who don't know what Sacred Harp is, Wikipedia describes it as:

The Sacred Harp is a tunebook of sacred choral music, written using the 4-note shape note system, which originated from the Deep South region of the United States in the 19th century.

Sacred Harp groups always sing a cappella, that is to say, without accompanying instruments. The singers arrange themselves in a hollow square, with rows of chairs or pews on each side assigned to each of the four parts: treble, alto, tenor, andbass. The treble and tenor sections are usually mixed, with men and women singing the notes an octave apart.

There is no single leader or conductor; rather, the participants take turns in leading. The leader for a particular round selects a song from the book, and "calls" it by its page number. Leading is done in an open-palm style, standing in the middle of the square facing the tenors (see: Leading Sacred Harp music).

The pitch at which the music is sung is relative; there is no instrument to give the singers a starting point. The leader, or else some particular singer assigned to the task, finds a good pitch with which to begin and intones it to the group (see: Pitching Sacred Harp music). The singers reply with the opening notes of their own parts, and then the song begins immediately.

The music is usually sung not literally as it is printed in the book, but with certain deviations established by custom; see: How Sacred Harp music is sung.

As the name implies, Sacred Harp music is sacred (Protestant Christian) music. Many of the songs in the book are hymns that use words, meters, and stanzaic forms familiar from elsewhere in Protestant hymnody. However, Sacred Harp songs are quite different from "mainstream" Protestant hymns in their musical style: they are often polyphonic in texture, and the harmony tends to deemphasize the interval of the third in favor of fourths and fifths. In their melodies, the songs often use the pentatonic scale or similar "gapped" (fewer than seven-note) scales.

In their musical form, Sacred Harp songs fall into three basic types. Many are ordinary hymn tunes, mostly composed in four-bar phrases and sung in multiple verses. Fuguing tunes contain a prominent passage about 1/3 of the way through in which each of the four choral parts enters in succession, in a way resembling a fugue. Anthems are longer songs, less regular in form, that are sung through just once rather than in multiple verses

It's so beautiful. Here are some videos of classic style Sacred Harp singers

Sacred Harp 159 Wondrous Love

Sacred Harp 146 Hallelujah, verses from Amazing Grace

Other links to really awesome Sacred Harp hymns:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDTVGwHl7gk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sxW7yTu53M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrlNN7ftYpk

What powerful music. I was thinking of maybe starting a Sacred Harp group in Nevada City... If you live here, would you be interested?

Love Letter

Dear reader,
No Shave November. Do It.

This is the month where you can just throw away that razor or tuck it away in the back of the cupboard, and you and I both can enjoy your wonderful facial hair for an entire 30 days. Tempting? Please consider.
Love Always,
Alexandra

On Politics

This is probably the only politic related blog I will ever post, but I just had to get it off my chest.
It is amazing to me that our country, the United States of say-too-much, can be swayed by something as little as single words. Change and Hope now automatically mean Obama. The middle name Hussein can change a person's vote. The fact that someone is a senior citizen means they shouldn't be president. Yet all of these insignificant things make such a difference in people's decisions on November 4th.
I'm not writing this to try and prove one presidential candidate is better than the other, who is correct in what matter, but rather just throwing it out there that this decision on who is going to lead our country for the next 4 to 8 years is more important than a music video with celebrities in it, or a slogan consisting of one word. I am saying this because I have yet to meet anyone my age with a legitimate reason for why they are voting for Obama. I guess they mean what they say when it is a "popular vote."
Now you can prove me wrong in the comment box below, but I just wanted to make it clear that I personally am not going to vote tomorrow on who i find the most physically appealling, and things like black or white, bald or a head full of hair, is not going to sway my decision. I am not going to place my vote because of how much positive feedback a video on YouTube got.
It has taken me up to today to figure out who I will be voting for on election day.. and I am proud to say I am not voting ignorantly about it like most first time voters are doing. I am not endorsing any candidate here, I am just urging you to vote for who you want to, not Scarlett Johansson. Vote wisely, and don't complain about who wins.

A Day In the Life

One of my favorite places to study, or even to just sit and read or hang out with friends, is a cafe in Nevada City called Cafe Mekka. The environment is so peaceful and it has a feel to it that you are home. Today, I was studying the book of Matthew, chapter 5. It is one of my favorite chapters, and is Jesus's sermon on the mount. This is a very important part in the new testament because Jesus gives us a TON of direction in our lives, all in one sermon. He covers everything from anger to divorce, to love and enemies. Once i had finished reading his sermon, I decided to read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon. One of my very close friends gave me the book, and I told him I would read it so I could learn more about his faith. It is so interesting to read about other faiths and religions. Anyways, I was reading 2 Nephi 2 today when 4 British tourists came into Mekka and sat next to me. They were so adorable, in their early 50s, and talking about the tees they bought today and drinking coca cola. My friend Cara Sether walked by, asked what I was doing, and I told her "i'm trying to study the Book of Mormon, but the old english is so hard to interprate!" and the British tourists said, "Oh believe me, (so and so) book is much more difficult!" and the tourists and I got into a conversation. I told them that I was born in Peterborough and two of them said simultaneously, "Good grief!" The four actually lived in a village 40 miles away from there! We chatted a little more, about dental hygiene and accents, and went their separate ways. I've never really enjoyed talking to strangers, but I love talking to English people. Brits are just so kind and lovely! Besides sleeping through my class this morning (kill me), today has been really good. Plain bagel toasted with butter, iced chai tea, studying the bible, learning about other religions, British folk, and i bought a new pair of Toms shoes, and a Toms shirt. Brilliant! I hope work goes well tonight!