Turn Down the Stress

One one of the message boards I frequent—the only message board I frequent, actually—one of the members was writing about how he's feeling really close to a nervous breakdown. He described separate situations at work and at his apartment complex, either of which would cause problems for most people individually. You could tell that he's really struggling to keep a handle on everything.

One of the other members posted this in response:

This too shall pass.

The following is meant to be helpful, but all it reflects is my good wishes, not sovereign cures:

Sleep enough, but not too much, if you can.

If you can't sleep, rest as entirely as you can, for a reasonable span.

In free time, play and exercise, so your body can rebalance and renew its part in coping with your stresses.

Eat less, but better.

Drink more water, less stimulants and depressants (alcohol, caffeine, sugars, etc).

Get more bright light, especially early in the morning right after waking.

Spend some time with good people.

Take positive action. (In other words, do something about the cause of the stress. Be careful not to be confrontational about it, you could make the situation worse. [Interpretation mine. -M])

It occurred to me that I've been feeling a little stressed about some things recently, too. And it seems that these suggestions are a good idea in my own situation, too.

The last item seems to be the one I need to concentrate on most. I feel like I just need to figure out where to start....

Goodbye, Mr. President

Gordon B. Hinckley, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (colloquially known as "The Mormons"), passed away earlier this evening.

Mormon church president dies at 97

President Hinckley has led the Church since March of 1995. He was a member of the First Presidency (the main leadership body of the Church) since 1981 and of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since 1961.

I joined the LDS Church in 1982 at the age of 14. Four men have presided over the Church in that time: Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter, and President Hinckley. But the former three had serious health problems for much of their administrations. For most of my experience, President Hinckley has been the public face of the Church. It's hard to imagine him not being there any more.

I'll probably write more on this later. For now, though, I just wanted to record the event.

Godspeed, President Hinckley.

got milk?

My friend and co-worker has a post on his blog about an old "Got Milk?" commercial that made him laugh. And that reminded me of one I used to like. So I checked out YouTube, and guess what...



Excellent.

Letter B, Letter B

I made myself a mix CD today. Here are the songs on it:

1. "Cruising for Bruising" by Basia
2. "Burn Down" by Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash
3. "Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)" by Big & Rich
4. "King of Swing" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
5. "Crash Burn" by Blues Traveler
6. "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi
7. "Viva!" by Bond
8. "More Than a Feeling" by Boston
9. "1985" by Bowling for Soup
10. "Jonah" by Breathe
11. "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks
12. "Devil Pays in Gold" by Jason Boland and the Stragglers
13. "Lage Nom Ai" by Jimmy Buffett
14. "Solitaire" by Laura Branigan
15. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Michael Bublé
16. "We Belong" by Pat Benatar
17. "She's So High" by Tal Bachman
18. "Little Deuce Coupe" by the Beach Boys
19. "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles
20. "Take Five" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet

This list has been brought to you by The Letter "B".

(In retrospect, I probably should have used a different Beatles song: "Let It Be".)

Next up: The letter "R".

My First Memes of 2008

Part I: Friday's Feast
Friday's Feast #175 for Friday, 11 January 2008:

Appetizer What is your middle name? Would you change any of your names if you could? If so, what would you like to be called?
My middle name is Scott. I'm happy with it, as I am with all of my names. I wouldn't change a thing.

Soup If you were a fashion designer, which fabrics, colors, and styles would you probably use the most?
Me? A fashion designer? There's an unsettling thought. But if it were so, I'd stick with durable, comfortable fabrics and solid colors in practical, no-nonsense styles. Which is pretty much what I wear anyway.

Salad What is your least favorite chore, and why?
I hate cleaning the bathroom. I don't really know why, but I can never seem to get motivated to do it. Dishes? Sure. Laundry? No problem. The bathroom? Let me get back to you on that one....

Main Course What is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life?
My two biggest phobias are needles and heights. I don't recall any specific incidents growing up that led to these fears, except maybe getting tetanus shots after slicing my hand open during a soap carving incident in Cub Scouts.

Dessert Where are you sitting right now? Name 3 things you can see at this moment.
I'm sitting at my desk in our office. I can see all sorts of stuff, most of which needs to be put away. But three specific things I can see are:
1. A painting Granny did years ago; we still need to get it framed.
2. A Lexmark inkjet printer that I no longer use.
3. A carton of strawberry Whoppers I got in my Christmas stocking.

--

Part II: Top 5 On Friday
Top 5 On Friday - Week 158 from The Music Memoirs:

Top 5 "Perfect" Albums (Albums that you can play all the way through without skipping a track)


» 1962-1966 by The Beatles
It almost feels like cheating to put such a great compilation in this list, but there's no way I could leave it out. I can go through both disks and never want to skip a single track.


» Roll The Bones by Rush
It's true the group has better albums, e.g., Moving Pictures and 2112, but there are tracks on both of those disks I don't care for much ("Vital Signs" and "A Passage to Bangkok", respectively) and generally skip. This one I listen to straight through, every time.


» Between Sunlight and Shadow by Singularity
This album is essentially a single composition broken down into fifteen segments. Different moods, different sounds, and even different lead singers flow together to create a seamless musical experience. It's definitely worth listening to the whole way through.


» Leftoverture by Kansas
With thoughtful lyrics, impressive musicianship, complex arrangements, and enough hooks to make it accessible without losing any of its depth, this album is one of the great rock recordings of the era. I can put it on and let it play undisturbed.


» Direct by Vangelis
Actually, pretty much any Vangelis disc could go on this list. This is probably the one I listen to most often.

In With The New

The forecast temperature in Salt Lake City for New Year's Eve was in the neighborhood of 15°F. So we had a little party at our apartment to welcome in the New Year. Besides the two of us, we had three friends over: Shelly, one of Nancy's friends from Kentucky, her beau Chuck, and our old friend Kollette. It was warmer, quieter, and a lot of fun.

The festivities started around 7:00 p.m. with hors d'œuvre of crackers, cheese, and summer sausage. Cheeseburgers and chips followed, with pumpkin bread for dessert. We chatted and listened to Jimmy Buffett as we ate. After the meal, we adjourned to the living room and put on a movie. Shelly, Chuck, and Kollette had never seen Undercover Blues. Naturally, we were obliged to introduce them. Everyone enjoyed it, as evidenced by the many repetitions of the words "My name is Muerte!" afterwards.

The movie ended just in time to switch over to the TV and await the countdown to the dropping ball. We continued to watch for a few minutes while Mariah Carey performed. (I liked her a lot better when she was actually a singer; I thought her first album was actually quite good.) Then we turned off the TV and broke out the games.

With ABBA and The Beatles playing in the background, we decided to introduce our guests to DICEcapades. The game is something like Cranium, in that there are different types of challenges that the players have to complete: actions, thinking puzzles, and trivia. The difference is that this game uses dice—LOTS of dice. Dice of all colors and shapes, ranging from four-sided dice to twenty-sided dice. There's even a clear die with another die inside it. These dice used for everything from determining which trivia question the player has to answer to stacking different types of dice atop one another.

We played this game for well over an hour, and everyone did pretty well. I happened to reach the final space just before Nancy did, which meant that she and everyone else had to choose a final challenge category for me to complete to win the game. My final challenge: to roll a twenty-sided die and do that many sit-ups within thirty seconds. I rolled 16. So I tucked my feet under the couch and started doing sit-ups. Everyone was impressed—except for me; amazed was more like what I felt—that I did them. I was red in the face when I got done, and it took me a few minutes to cool down, but I actually did sixteen straight sit-ups. As I commented to everyone afterwards, that's probably more sit-ups than I'd done in the previous three years combined. Maybe I should do something about that.

We broke the party around 2:00 a.m.; Shelly and Chuck still had to drive home to Logan (about two hours away, even under good conditions). We turned in shortly after everyone left, and I celebrated the first morning of 2008 by sleeping in. I made it almost until 10:00.

And that pretty much sums it up. I hope this new year finds you all well, safe, and happy. Best Wishes for the New Year, loyal reader(s).