Saturday, May 31, 2008

I'll take "Medical Maladies" for $200, Alex.

It's no secret that I find Tennessee boring and uneventful. I guess my body decided to shake things up and/or distract me by blessing me with a curious illness. And it wasn't kidding around either; my sickness came complete with searing pain, a trip to the emergency room, lots of Loritab and a couple of shots.

At least it wasn't a spider bite, like we suspected. Turns out I have an abscess, which kind of grosses me out, so we won't talk about it. What that means for me, dear reader, is that I have to alternately soak my leg and then elevate it above heart level, take tons of pills and basically be a worthless human being until this mess goes away. I mean, it even hurts to push the pedals on the piano - how lame is that?

On the upside, I've become quite the game show connoisseur.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

We should get jerseys...

'cause we make a good team.



A certain Relient K-loving friend of mine is off on a brand new adventure today. I miss him already, but I know that he'll keep me informed of his exploits in Espana, and then come visit me soon when he gets back into the states. (And don't think I've forgotten about those date party plans, mister!)

In his honor, here's one of our favorite songs. Quite appropriate, I think:







I made a habit
Of never making promises
That aren't easy to keep
And there you have it
But now I'll make you one that is
To keep you here with me

‘Cause every second that goes by
I feel is just a waste of time
If I'm not with you

If home is where the heart is
Then my home is where you are
It's getting oh so hard
To spend these days
Without my heart

So I'm taking you with me
Anywhere that I
Could ever wanna be
For the rest of my life
I want you there with me
And if there ever comes a time
When I should have to leave
I hope you know that I
I'm taking you with me

And so I'm trying
To hold it all together and
Make it through the day
When I'm just dyin'
To drop it all and take your hand
So we can run away
From all the miles and the hours
That seem to endlessly devour
The time that I could be with you

If home is where the heart is
Then my home is where you are
It's getting oh so hard
To spend these days
Without my heart

So I'm taking you with me
Anywhere that I
Could ever wanna be
For the rest of my life
I want you there with me
And if there ever comes a time
Where I should have to leave
I hope you know that I
I'm taking you with me

Every second that goes by
Is one more second of my life
And it couldn't be more clear
That I would die without you here
And every second that goes by
Is one more second of my life
And it couldn't be more clear
I'm dying without you here
Yeah every second that goes by

So I'm taking you with me
Anywhere that I
Could ever wanna be
For the rest of my life
I want you there with me
And if there ever comes a time
Where I should have to leave
I hope you know that I
I'm taking you with me

-- Relient K, "Taking You With Me"

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

High/Low

"I'm awake, you're still sleeping
The sun will rise like yesterday
Everything that we are now
Is everything we can't let go
Or it's gone forever, far away
I hope tomorrow is like today"
--Guster


I remember my pledge semester in Phi Lamb going to a Bible study at Jen Battle's house with a bunch of crazy girls like Amy Draper, Kelsey Schwarz, Kristan Williams and a few more. It was a lot of fun laughing at the 80s hairstyles on the Beth Moore videos, dodging Felipe the devil cat, and spending some quality time with godly girls. The reason I'm thinking of it now is that I first learned about the concept of "high/low" at these weekly meetings.


High/Low simply means that everyone goes around and tells the high point of their week and the low point. It doesn't matter where it falls on the scale of seriousness vs. silliness; the only rule is that everyone HAS to have a high, even during the roughest weeks. And during weeks when everyone was walking on sunshine, coming up with lows was a pretty hilarious challenge.

Since then, we've done high/low in most of my covenant groups. (Gosh, remember our crazy cov group from that spring, Miss Tarr?) And we always at least attempted it in our officer meetings this year. Now, in our weekly update emails (yes, we do that - aren't we precious?) the tradition has continued. So I'm going to let you in on my high/low at the moment. I actually always start on the low, to end on a happy note, so here goes!

LOW: I got hit by a pretty solid wave of homesickness this week. It's the first round of significant events since I've been gone and I feel like I'm missing out on being there (Norman, that is) for some important things for my friends. I understand that there's a time for everything, and I wouldn't trade this opportunity I have in on another year in Norman (though I wish I could sometimes), but that doesn't make it easy to go so long without seeing my people, hearing their voices, or even talking to some of them at all.

HIGH: I don't want to jinx this, but I have a pretty good lead on a place to live in New York. It sounds like it encompasses pretty much everything I was hoping to find - so now I'm just crossing my fingers that this isn't too good to be true. But if it does work out, then all that's left to do is just get the heck up there and I'll be a New Yorker!

So what's your high/low?

Dreams be Dreams, and other songs by Jack Johnson.

If you have known me very long, you have probably heard me recount one of my highly detailed, cinematic, extremely weird dreams. I dream in Technicolor – my dreams always have a distinct plot line, fully fleshed-out characters and such lurid dialogue that I often can remember complete dream conversations upon waking.

In fact, I used to think that everyone dreamed this way. I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t have strange little sagas playing in my head at night. Maybe it’s just because I have an active imagination. Maybe it’s because I can’t ever fully shut down my brain. Maybe it’s because I play movie scenes of my life in my head as I go through each day. Whatever the reason is, I love it. In fact, any morning I wake up and can vividly recall the film that flickered through my brain in the night, I feel like I’ve been given a sort of inspiration for the day.

It’s odd; I know. And the dreams vary so much. There are some that seem so real that I have to do a reality check in the morning. Some place my closest friends and me in outlandish situations. And then again, there are the ones that find me going through mundane scenarios with unusual casts of characters. There are some that end with me jolting up, tears in my eyes and my heart pounding in my chest. And sometimes – my favorite times – there are dreams so delightful I try to force myself back to sleep to continue them.

You know, Freud would love me. Oddly enough, though, I’ve never really attempted to analyze my dreams. I don’t keep a dream journal – though I’m always glad to share the ones I remember, especially with the people I find playing a role in them. Maybe I should start breaking them apart and seeing what the deeper meaning is. Or maybe I should start writing them down and pitching them as stories for screenplays. Either way, these dynamic dreams are just a part of who I am. I wonder what that says about me?

This is a random topic compared to what I usually write about. It’s just that I’ve been having a hell of a time getting any sleep lately, but when I do, I drift into some of the strangest stories. And, as it goes, I always leave you with some songs lyrics. So here is – appropriately – the “In Between Dreams Medley” by Jack Johnson.

I want to wake up
And find my way out from in between these dreams

It’s better when we’re together baby

You look so pretty sleeping next to me

But you never, never know
We feel so certain
But we don’t know a thing
Cept for when I wake up in the morning
And I’m sitting in the shade
Eating banana pancakes we made
With all the good people
Really not so hard to find
There’s no other way
When my mind is a mess well
I think that it’s best that we wait
So I’m sitting waiting wishing
That you would believe in some kind of superstitions baby
Then you could see if we staple it together
And call it bad weather
Oh now here I come.


Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Places I Love, Part 1


"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."
-- Victor Hugo

"If music be the food of love, play on."
-- Duke Orsino, in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night


So, I've decided to begin a little series of posts in the vein of places where I enjoy being. Hopefully this can continue when I move and I'll tell you guys about all the cool places I find and grow to love in the city, but for now I'll touch on places that are in my life right now, or have been in the past.


One of my most beloved places to be in the world is at that piano bench. I grew up rehearsing - albeit not nearly enough to please my piano teacher and second mother, Mrs. Hardy - at this piano since I was in kindergarden. Here, I grew from my beginner's books to more advanced performance pieces, and then on to popular music. I don't claim to be super talented; I know dozens of people whose piano skills put mine to shame, but it's something I've always enjoyed. I might not sit down to plunk away chords at just any public piano, but this one is mine, and it's where I love to play. And there's something about playing that piano in that room that makes every note sound record-worthy. Luckily, my family doesn't seem to mind that I spend hours each day squinting my way through new sheet music or perfecting the syncopation of some chords I scribbled down from a tab site. And of course, it wouldn't be Emily relating to the world through music if I wasn't belting right along the entire away.

I'll end this post with an excerpt from the beautiful words of Arthur O'Shaughnessy's poem, "Ode." You might recognize the first phrase from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I was lucky enough to sing an arrangement of this work in a TMEA choir in high school, which I count as one of my all-time-best musical moments in life. And the thing is, thanks to the love instilled in me at that piano bench, there are a lot more of those moments on their way for me.

For the full text of the poem, click here.

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.


P.S. Right now I'm perfecting "Love on the Rocks" by Sara Bareilles and "Here's Where I Stand" from Camp. They should be done by the end of the week. Any suggestions/requests for what to tackle next?

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Next stop, NY please.

"Gonna [start] my job and move to New York
'Cause somebody told me that's where
Dreamers should go
Gonna quit my job and move to New York
And tattoo my body with every Broadway show."
-- Sara Bareilles, Vegas

So things have moved along quite quickly. I've set up camp here in Kingsport, where I'll spend the next month or so. It feels kind of funny though. I was telling Rachel last night that I got really excited about New York for the first time yesterday once I made it here to Tennessee. It felt real for the first time, because it's the next step. I'd been pushing everything back - moving, starting my job and life in the real world - because I wasn't ready to move away from Norman and the life and friends I loved there. But now that I'm already away, I'm starting to embrace the fact that something I've dreamed about for a very long time is within my reach and about to become reality.

I got an email from the TFA Human Assets team today with lots of paperwork to fill out. Gosh, I guess it doesn't get much more real than that without actually physically being in the City. Is it completely dorky that I got really excited to fill out my forms for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance? Pinch me now. And I was notified of my official start date - July 21. It's kind of funny that I was trying so hard to prolong the start of summer before graduation, and now I can't wait for the next month to fly by.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

People have the right to fly...

... And will when it gets compromised
Their hearts say "Move along"
Their minds say "Gotcha heart"
Let's move it along.

--John Mayer, Wheel


I graduated. I am an alumna of the University of Oklahoma. Officially.

And so much has happened between my last post and now. I’ll try to catch you up. Thursday I took my last two finals of my collegiate career – no more tests! I think I did well, despite my best efforts to not be prepared. I had sort of made the decision that hanging out with my friends was more important to me than studying for a couple of tests that didn’t really matter. I think I made a wise choice.

Then that led to the weekend, full of all kinds of graduation festivities. Friday night was Commencement, which actually turned out to be a lot of fun. Memorable moments from that include:
The CAC photo shoot
Adam and Sarah being rebels and sitting in the Gaylord section
Jordan and I texting each other the same message simultaneously
William Cohen talking about the Mont and arĂȘte
Gaylord College doing the wave and screaming constantly

And Friday night brought one final trip to the Mont and to jump the fence to the Reserve hot tub. There’s nothing like staying up until 5 a.m. every night for basically two weeks straight.

Saturday was my actual graduation, and most of the day was spent in preparation. The ceremony flew by. The Bateman kids all sat together, and I enjoyed graduating between my Student Media friends (Staci and Ashley) a lot. Afterwards was lots of cookie cake, champagne and then to Charleston’s for my graduation dinner.

That night brought the first really hard goodbye. But, like Kely said, it’s really not goodbye. I miss you guys a ton, and I can’t wait to hear about your adventures in France! That’s all the detail I’m going into about that, because it makes me too sad to talk about. We ended the night in our typical classy style, and had a giant slumber party at Phi Delt.

From that point, the emotional stuff had to go on hold, because it was time to pack up all my belongings into two cars and a U-Haul. This is quite the feat, but we got it all accomplished, with the help of my entire family plus a few really great friends. After the packing was all done, and a couple more teary “see you laters”, it was time to hit the road. We headed to Paris, packed everything up there, visited family and friends, and then it was off again this morning. I’m now sitting in a hotel outside Nashville, about five hours away from what will be home for the next six weeks.

It’s been a real whirlwind of activity and emotion, and it still hasn’t all completely sunk in. I just know that it feels incredibly weird to be eating meals without one of my best friends there, or to not have slumber parties and snuggle up with one (or two or three) of them at night. Or to not see all their smiling faces every day. But I keep reminding myself that for every memory, there’s a dream to unfold. As cheesy as it might sound, I’m ready. I’m scared and still a little saddened, but I’m ready. And I love you all immensely.

More insightful and/or exciting posts to come, but I wanted to get this all written down before too much happened. Peace and Facebook pokes.

"Slowly drifting into a peaceful breeze
Tounge-tied and twisted are all my memories
Celebrating a fantasy come true
Packing all my bags
Finally on the move
I'm leavin' today
I'm living it, I'm leaving it to change"
- Christina Aguilera, Cruz

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Overheard in Norman/NY

Soon, I'll be transitioning from overhearing things like this:

Guy arguing with crazy preacher woman: Was King James a homosexual? Yes he was!
-- outside Dale Hall

Fratty guy: Wait, bro, can you drive, I can't get another DUI.
-- in line for Scandals tickets

Hippy guy: Let's buy a bunch of incense to cover up the smell of weed.
-- Medieval Fair

Singing voice coming from next room over: Greg is gonna get laid this summer. But she'll probably be a prostitute.
-- Phi Delta Theta

To overhearing things like this:

College girl #1: If you have holes in your pants and it's winter, you're not making a fashion statement, you're poor.

College girl #2: But she was wearing leggings under them...

College girl #1: No, I don't care. She's poor.


--St. John's University

Chick, to loudly burping friend: Oh my god, did you seriously just burp out loud in Bergdorf's? Who are you?!


--Bergdorf's


Drunk frat guy: I don't know about you fellas, but I'm going to Narnia. Shazam! [Dives head first into a wardrobe.]


-- NYU dorm

But before I can get wrapped up in all that, I have to work on this whole "graduating college" thing. Two finals tomorrow and then I'm done with schoolwork. Like forever. Which is incredibly exciting. But along with it comes some sad goodbyes. So before I get all teary-eyed, I'm going to force myself to study. Ugh.