Be Thankful Always

First of all, I am SO sorry for not keeping my blog up to shape. I could make every excuse in the book, but the fact of the matter is that I just haven't been very diligent! Anywho...

Thanksgiving. What a wonderful day! You get together with your whole family, gather 'round the table, say a prayer, and then dig in! While this day's main attraction is the turkey, there are some things that I think just don't get enough attention: cranberry sauce, stuffing, and corn casserole, just to name a few.After you are devouring your plate stacked as high as Mt. Everest, you go back for round two, stuffing it as high as Eyjafjallajökull, my personal favorite mountain (from Iceland, of course). Although your stomach is already beginning to sag down to your feet, there seems to be room for not one, but two (or more) slices of pie. Then, if your family is like mine, you vow to never eat food again, only to repeat the process later that evening with all of the leftovers.

But, believe it or not, this holiday has a larger meaning. If you can't figure out what Thanksgiving means, let me break it down for you: you GIVE THANKS. Easy enough? I thought so. Though I believe that this day is important to remind us of what we have in our lives, I think it is a generally worthless holiday. Yeah, I love the excuse to gather with family and stuff my face, but really, we should be thankful EVERY day. Does that mean to go and broadcast on Facebook who and what you are specifically thankful for? No, but it may not be a bad idea! Really, giving thanks is easy, and there are two major ways that I try to do every day.

1) Remind those who are most important in your life what they mean to you. There are people, without a doubt, that continue to shape who you are and how you feel. Often, their "work" goes without notice, and giving them a quick "thanks" can mean a whole lot.

2) Pray. People too often think of prayer as something to do when you really want something. One of the biggest parts of prayer, however, is thanking God for everything you have. Whether it is the people in your life, the skills that you have, or the roof over your head, it is important to recognize that you would have nothing if it weren't for God.

These are only two ways to be thankful, but I'm sure you can find plenty of other ways. Showing  your thanks can go a long way. Make sure you show it before it's too late.

All that being said, go out and enjoy the day! Eat more than you can handle, watch a good football game, and take a much needed nap afterward! Be safe for all of you travelling, and remember, be thankful always.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

Do What's Right!

Let's try something new today... Blogging from my phone!

Yes, that's right! On my fancy schmancy iPhone, I have the blogspot app! Though I am sure it is supposed to be easier, all it is doing for me is making me want to write a short post! Maybe y'all think that's a good thing...

Anyways, here goes this short post! Today, I have something nice to share. Hopefully what I saw today will inspire you to make more generous and selfless actions! Not that y'all don't do that already.

While scanning papers at work today, I was looking out the window. This window faces the railroad tracks right next to the building. It was a little after 3:30, so school had just gotten out for everyone else. All of a sudden, this kid, maybe in 3rd or 4th grade, came over the tracks on his bicycle and fell off in the middle of the road. Several cars swerved around him as he lay there with his bicycle on top of him.

Finally, one woman pulled over her truck and got out to help him get to the side of the road. Though she was in a dress and wearing heels, she decided to do the right thing and help this kid. Now, while I admit a laughed to myself as I saw this kid hobble off of the road, this event was inspiring to me. It reminded me of the story in the Bible of the Good Samaritan. Though many passed this little boy up, there was one who not only knew the right thing to do, but also did it.

Witnessing this reminded me that when I see someone in trouble, I should help to the best of my abilities. It won't hurt me any, and it will make someone else's day a whole lot better. After all, who knows when it may be my tub to take a tumble into the road!

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, Repeat!

Just a couple of weeks ago, I got a job at a local insurance and investment group. Because it is flexible and offers low hours, it is the perfect place of employment for me, as I am busy with various things throughout the year.One of my main responsibilities is to manually enter information into the computer. Though my tenure here has been short thus far, this task has already become second nature to me. I have gotten to the point where I can look at the paper on the desk and enter in all the information into the system without once looking up at the computer screen.

"Number... Tab 6 times... Number... Tab 11 times... Number... Tab 40 times."

Now, I admit that I never do those last 40 tabs (it is much more time efficient not to), but the point is that I have found a system and have stuck myself into a rut of repetition. You see, I noticed that I found a way that worked and stuck to it. While that may fly with some people, I personally believe that people should never get to accustomed with something.

The problem with doing something the same way time and time again is that, when something changes, you cannot properly adjust. For example, if the program that I use were to update or change in any way, and I pressed tab 6, 11, 40 times, I could potentially input the information in the wrong spots, thus causing major problems.

So my challenge to you is to find unnecesarry habits in your life and tweak them. This way, you can become comfortable to changing when change is needed without getting too distraught by the differences. Do you put your left sock on before your right? Switch. Do you follow the same route to school or work each morning? Find a new one. Do you put your blog link on your Facebook account before your Twitter (@whtlander for all of the Tweeters out there!)? Change it. Do you listen to Katy Perry? STOP IT!

Let me know what parts of your lives are most repetitive, and let me know if you are going to try and change it.

Since this post is short, I will give you two fun facts!

The avocado went extinct 12,000 years ago, as there is no animal who can properly pass its seed to help it to continue. If it weren't for homo sapiens taking the seed and cultivating it shortly after they were exctinct, we wouldn't have guacamole today!

The silkworm, known for its silk, is no longer found naturally in the wild. When humans discovered their use, they were already in a decline. Now, the only ones left are those domesticted for their silk. In fact, even these ones are much different than they used to be. For example, their wings, which were once used for flight, are now useless. All because of their domestication! I must say, their life is much more pampered now.

Bilbo Lander?

It's Thursday, Thursday, Thursday! To all my faithful readers (I have those, right??), you know what that means! A NEW BLOG POST! Now, not to disappoint any of y'all, but this one will have to be a little bit shorter. Why, you ask? Well, against my own will, I slept in late today... Until 11:45! I absolutely detest getting up any later than 9 usually, and it seems as if I broke that little chain as of lately. But not this morning...

So immediately after doing this, I am going to jump in the shower, go to work, file me some insurance papers, get off work and pick my little brother up, head to the band hall for practice, head to the ag barn for FFA stuff (duh), then head home to both pack for my upcoming weekend excursion to College Station and finish up my summer reading assignment.

Maybe I'm still a little too analytical of my British literature, but I think I am quite like Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit! You see, before the thirteen dwarves and one wizard show up on his doorstep, he wasn't quite sure he was capable of any adventures. He was far too timid, preferred staying home with his food and pipe, and was much more likely to have a nightmare about going five miles from home than plundering from a sleeping dragon. But alas, he got involved with this quest and was very much the hero throughout the book.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm a hero, but I do feel that I have become a person with a much more active personality. Prior to becoming involved in FFA, really, I was perfectly content with just staying home and either playing video games or reading a book. I, like Mr. Baggins, wasn't all too keen on adventure unless it involved cake or something of the sort. But once I got dragged into "adventure" (FFA) by my brother and first ag teacher, I discovered that I was meant to be a much more engaged individual. I love being busy and if there isn't more than three things on my schedule, then something is wrong!

I still enjoy eating cake, and a day off is fine if used in careful moderation, but I must say that I love the new me rather than the old me! Once you find what adventure is calling you to attention, then take hold of the opportunity and look back with no regrets! Who knows - you may find your own magical ring or Arkenstone in the process!

"'Go back?'" he thought. "'No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!'" - Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit

Music, for lack of a better title.

"I guess there's just something about Thursdays. During the school year, they are always my "chill nights", when I don't really have anything going on and I can regroup, adjust focus, and recharge before the weekend. Unless something drastic happens to change that, I will designate Thursdays as my blogging day. I feel like there should be an awesome name for it, but let's face it, no good adjectives start with TH. Thoughtful. Thrilling. Thug. Yeah, those aren't going to work. In any case - I will do my best to put out new posts on Thursdays. That's pretty convenient for everyone - watch Jenna Marbles on Wednesday, read about [W Hayden] on Thursday. Life is good."

I put the above paragraph in quotes because, as at least one reader will have noticed, those are NOT my words. I repeat: NOT. MY. WORDS. I stole them for three reasons.

1. To promote my friend's awesome blog. Check it out! (shelbyeckhardt.blogspot.com)
          A. I am promoting her blog because she motivated me to start blogging at a more consistent pace!
2. To scare Shelby, making her think that I was plagiarizing.
3. To make a statement that I will be trying to, like Shelby, post every Thursday. (Sorry Shelby, I know that's your thing, but it's really convenient for me too!) Recently, I had declared I would be making one post a day. Quickly, I realized that was unrealistic, and it would simply make for a slew of ramblesome, dull posts with many incoherent conclusions and made up words (such as ramblesome).

So, without further ado, I begin my first Thursday post!

The past few nights, I have had a little bit of down time. By down time, I mean that I am too lazy to read a book as short as The Christmas Carol, simply because I know I have questions to answer about it for my summer reading assignment shortly after. Because of this, I have been able to do a little bit of hobby-ing, if you can call it that - that is, I've been listening to and discovering music ad nauseam.

Anyone who meets me quickly discovers my knack for listening to some "odd" music. In fact, when including fun trivia about myself when doing ice breakers in FFA, I almost always mention my affinity for Icelandic music. But it doesn't stop there. The music I listen to most often is likely to be the genres of folk and Americana, as well as all of their derivatives (The Tallest Man on Earth, Fleet Foxes, Shakey Graves, First Aid Kit, Brett Detar, Caravan of Thieves, Civil Wars... just to name a few). I could listen to my beloved post-rock albums from such bands as Mogwai, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Explosions in the Sky on a loop for hours. At night, I will often fall asleep to classical music (my favorites are Gymnopedie and Adagio for Strings). Many times, I even wake up with my headphones wrapped around my neck lightly. Hazardous? Nah... Dedication! Then, there are those artists who I don't really even know how to classify - the tribal sounds of Sorne and Dead Can Dance; the strangely good, out of this world music of Captain Beefheart; the apocalyptic-but-hopeful sounds that burst forth from 20+ minute songs from Godspeed You Black Emperor!; the operatic rap-not-rap of CocoRosie - the list goes on. Of course, this musical name dropping would be incomplete if I did not include some of my Icelandic favorites! Sigur Ros, Mum, Bjork, Olaf Arnalds (not to be confused with Olafur Arnalds), Emiliana Torrini, Of Monsters and Men, Steindor Andersen, Amiina, etc., etc., etc.

My favorite musician of all time, however, may be Tom Waits. (Ask me again later... It will change.) By saying this, I'm forced to answer this VERY difficult question... What does he sound like? Now, though largely unknown by the "mainstream" (I promise, I am NOT a hipster), he is, in fact, in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and is regarded by many as one of the best songwriters of the 20th and 21st century. That being said, his music is DEFINITELY an acquired taste; not only is his instrumentation very off the wall in many songs, but his voice isn't conventionally great. But then again, neither was Johnny Cash's, nor is Win Butler's (of Arcade Fire). But I'm getting off on a tangent now. If you want a great explanation of his voice, look at this picture below!

Where was I going with this post.... Oh yeah!

Music, for me, is more than just sound. It's more than just something to listen to in the background and listen to now and then. No. For me, music is something that inspires, influences, and motivates. I honestly believe you can tell a lot about a person by what music they listen to. Not saying that you are any better or worse a person by listening to some music; just that every kind of iPod playlist tells a little bit about you.

I cannot put into words what music has done for me, but I believe that my love for music is a great example of how you can use your hobby to fortify your passion. As a leader, I gain a lot of influence from the music I listen to. Mostly, through the sound, development, and instrumentation. How an artist chooses to arrange a song takes a lot of careful thought, and I think those who take a risk sound a lot better than those who go with what has been done before. Lyrics do a lot for me, too. Take the song I'm listening to right now, for example: "Everything You Can Think Of" by Tom Waits. One line states that "We're fighting our way up dreamland's spine." This is basically saying that we are all striving to make our dreams come true. And that's just one example.

In short, when I listen to music, I feel like it seeps into my veins (weird, I know) and becomes and inherent part of who I am as a leader, and as a person. It inspires me to go my own path, and lead my own way, and be my own me. It gets me back on the right path when I feel like I may be getting lazy, or when I get too tired, or uninspired. My hobby has become a life-source, and it has helped me become who I am today. I believe that when two people listen to the same song, they hear something completely different. That is, if they let the music enter.

I hope that wasn't too much of a ramble! I'll leave you with a quote (or three) from the one and only Tom Waits. I think he has the best quotes.

"Everything is a potential instrument, it depends on how you use it. I remember I was doing Swordfishtrombones (one of his albums) and somebody took a stool - a metal stool - and started dragging it across the studio floor to move it out of the way. It sounded like bus brakes on a big city bus. So I like things that fall out of the spectrum of what we consider traditional instruments and acceptable sound. I love all that."

"If you get far enough away, you'll be on your way back home."

"You know I do field trips now. Well, I drive on field trips. I don't know, the children seem to like me as a driver. I have a lot of room in the car and I take the turns really fast. The radio's on full blast. They just scream and they love that. Well you know the most interesting one was, we took all these kids. I took about 30 kids to a music store. And I figured: "Well, okay I'll drive on that". And we got there and I'm kinda standing over by the pianos and I'm thinking well eh: "I'm gonna be recognized any minute now." Then I decided to move over by the percussion. And I found an interesting lighting situation. I'm ready. I'm ready for: "Aren't you that guy?". Nothing. I went over by the guitars and I waited. Nothing. I was a little let down. A week later they asked me to drive on another field trip. This time they are going to the dump. Well it's recycling and all that? Twelve guys surrounded my car! Go figure! Everybody knows me.. at the dump!"

Tell me, what are your hobbies? How do they affect your life?

Oh, and who are your favorite musicians? I'm always hungry for more!

The Future... Uh-oh

Today, as I began my second day of my last year of summer band, I think it finally set in that I am a senior. That a year from now, I'll be slowly packing for college. I'll be on my own in the "real world".

This realization has made me really reflect on what I want to do with my life. And you know what I have decided?

I have no clue yet! But I'll let you know when I know!

Note: I think I may stop the every day posting. As you see, that can make for some boring posts. Maybe once a week?

Let's Try This Again - Day 1

If you have been checking up on this blog at all, you have surely realized by now that I have not stayed very committed to it! I would love to have an excuse for the lack of posts, but there is no one to blame but myself.

I feel horrible about this! Absolutely dreadful! So, I firmly resolve this: I will make at least one post a day. Yes, you read that right! From here on out, whether it be long or short, exciting or dull, horribly boring or just normal boring, I WILL have something to say.

And that's that. This is Day 1. Hopefully Day 2 has a more interesting post. I've sort of changed my whole purpose for having a blog. Instead of trying so hard to write something that will impact others, I will just write my thoughts and "Eureka moments" with less eloquence (but just as much passion and care) in order to keep it simple, keep it real, and make it something that others can relate to.

Yeah. That was boring. But it only gets better from here, right?