woe to the furry felines!

i hate cats. mine's the exception, though. i like her. not too cuddly. not too standoffish. not too high on her horse, like some cats are. (ooh, they just think they are the bees knees!) i only sometimes find bloody, dead rats and birds on my porch. an offering, i've figured. but other cats. they scare the living daylights out of me. want proof?

rachael vs. cats part one: i have honest-to-goodness dreams about them attacking me. i don't dream about anything more than i dream about cats chasing me, hissing at me, scratching me all over. my first cat dream happened when i was like, nine. it ended with me running down the street, naked, with cats running behind me, scratching my bare skin. gosh dang it, how have i succumbed to these tiny satanic hairballs?!

rachael vs. cats part two: i used to babysit for this nice couple. they had a nice little girl, two nice dogs, and a not-so-nice cat. it (i refuse to give the cat a pronoun other than that which refers to a diabolical, flesh-eating clown) would mind it's own business while i was on the couch, but once i got up, my feet became two little mice to claw and nip at. i learned to wear boots or sneakers and when i was lucky, it would be out in the yard when i arrived. no matter how much it yowled or how hard it was raining, i would not let that cat in. maybe that's why it didn't like me. one day, i didn't see the cat and assuming it was outside, i took my shoes off, putting my guard down. i put the baby to bed and went to the bathroom. when i was done, i opened the door and shut it just as fast, my heart pounding. how did it get inside? and why was it standing right outside the bathroom, waiting to pounce on me? i opened the door again, just a smidge. still there, staring at me. idiot cat. it knew what it was doing. i waited for half an hour. it waited with me. i thought, this is fine. i can just stay here till they get home and pretend like i went to the bathroom. the baby started crying. i panicked a little, trying to will the baby to fall asleep with my mind. she started crying harder. i let her wail for five minutes before i did the most logical thing i could think of. i wrapped a towel around one foot and a "little mermaid" bathrobe around the other and opened the door to brave the hall. i think the bathrobe gave me some semblance of authority to the cat, because it merely watched me dart into the bedroom. i never took my shoes off after that night.

rachael vs. cats part three: i babysat last night. different house, different baby, different cat. this couple had just gotten into town after a week of being gone and as all cat owners know, a week without affection makes a cat extremely needy and desperate for love. the first time she jumped on my lap, i pet her, but quickly put her back on the ground. she jumped up again and when i tried to pry her off me, she dug her nails into my arm. my bare arm! flashbacks of my cat dreams came to me. i sat, frozen, as this cat literally climbed up on my shoulder, purred in my ear, smothered my face, rubbed it head against my cheek. i felt claustrophobic. i reached up and pried her off my neck and hastily put her on the ground as she hissed at me and ran upstairs. that was close. i tried to focus on watching spiderman, but i could only focus on the faint meowing upstairs. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. meow. oh no. she's coming downstairs. it's getting louder. oh no. what do i do? hide? she's going to find me. she's going to find me and scratch me. meow. meow. meow. meoooow. i grabbed a blanket on the edge of the couch and buried myself in it, so only my eyes were showing and hoped that she wouldn't see me. i guess she didn't. she circled the couch a few times and went back upstairs. i stayed like that until they got home. i have no dignity, was the only thought that circulated through my head.

of COURSE i only watch the super bowl for the football...

my two favorite super bowl commercials this year. HILARIOUS. even if i were allergic to doritos, i would make myself a dorito armor after watching this.

Doritos® - Crash the Super Bowl 2010 Finalist - Snack Attack Samurai

Voice Box T Pain Bud Light 2010 Superbowl Commercial

top ten songs of all time

well, in the spirit of the grammy's (one word: pink! was she amazing {and amazingly scantily clad?}) and the golden spirit critics acadamy guild awards or whatever they're all called, i think it's time i shed some light on good music. about a year ago, i came up with a playlist of the TOP TEN SONGS OF ALL TIME. it was not easy. there are so many good songs out there...how do you narrow it down to ten? it seriously took me a couple months to complete. however, don't be too impressed. i'm nothing close to a music nut and my knowledge probably doesn't even scratch the surface when it comes to "good music." i only have one criteria for songs on my top ten list. i have not, do not, and will not ever get sick of them! these are songs that i have listened to for years and still absolutely LOVE. a lot of these songs have memories attached to them. this list is timeless because these are my all-time favorites, and a lot of thought and consideration has gone into picking which ones make the cut! (im still in the process of coming up with my top ten movies....another blog post for another day.)

sure, i'm into lady gaga's "bad romance" (kind of a guilty pleasure) and a year ago, i couldn't stop listening to "you belong with me" by taylor swift, but those songs go in and out like *that*. i sometimes find myself wondering if i was having a cerebral hemorrhage when i spent a dollar on some up-and-coming sixteen year old's hit single that will probably be featured on the next "this is what i call music! volume 27".

so....here goes. if i were stuck on an island with a .0001 gigabyte ipod (heaven forbid) that could only hold ten songs, these are the songs that i would listen to for the rest of my life.

"only the good die young" by billy joel- this list is in no particular order....except this song. this may be a bold statement, but this is the single best song on the face of the planet. i can't specifically relate to billy on this subject (take a gander at the lyrics), but i may or may not listen to it multiple times on a daily basis. it's on my workout playlist, my skiing playlist...i'm thinking of making sleepytime and breakup playlists just so i can put this song on. that's how good it is. it's catchy, it's upbeat, and it's one of those songs that you blast in your car and think you look soooo cool. "i'd rather laugh with the sinners and cry with the saints, the sinners are much more fun."

oh, billy.

"the general" by dispatch- this song reminds me of my neighbor/one my best friends. i heard it from her older brother and it will forever go hand in hand with the memory of summer nights playing baseball in the street and capture the flag with neighbors till it was time to come inside and get ready for bed. ben and i would harmonize to this song over and over again until he got it just right. it's mellow and upbeat, too. i always walk away from this song with an easygoing "life is good" attitude.

"dancing in the moonlight" toploader version- who does not love this song?? i love this song so much, i had my friend burn me a CD with every single version on it. my favorite is the toploader version though. i'd heard it before, but one time when i was probably 12, my friend and i started singing it while jumping on the tramp under a full moon and that's when i fell in love! it makes me, well, wanna dance! it's such a happy song.

"somewhere only we know" by keane- i've really never heard another song by keane, but this one captivated me the first time i heard it. it starts out really soft, but has an awesome climatic swell near the end that always gives me goosebumps. the beat is good and the lyrics are even better. two thumbs up from me!

"tiny dancer" by elton john- words cannot describe how much i love this song. i gained an affinity for it in eighth grade, when i got my first ipod and in haste to have any music on it, "madman across the water" was the first album i downloaded although i'd hardly heard an elton john song in my life. it was about the same time that i had a big dance recital and i remember sitting in the dressing room with my ipod, doing math homework, and listening to "tiny dancer" on repeat. elton john's lyricist (bernie taupin) wrote it for his wife, and i love the lyrics. it's seriously a classic song!

"follow me" by uncle kracker- LOVE this song. i listened to it for like, a week straight when i was in mexico with some friends. so besides the fact that it's a great song in the first place, it reminds me of painting houses, soaking up rays on the beach, and hanging out with my favorite people!

"i will follow you into the dark" by death cab for cutie- first heard this at the beginning of my sophomore year of high school. it was a rainy fall and i would go pick up ben at football practice every day and listen to this song while i waited in the parking lot. it's my sophomore song! when i hear this, i think about asking and answering to my first dances, driving my first car (a little white junker that i love), and cheering in the rain. it's such a good one!

"american pie" by don mclean- nothing to say here.

"vienna" by billy joel- i know i already have one billy joel song on this list, but this guy really is a legend! this song is about the easygoing lifestyle in vienna (where joel's dad ran off when he was a small boy) and how all ages are celebrated there. i love the piano, i love the lyrics, i love everything about it!

"the lighthouse's tale" by nickel creek- it's in the perspective of a lighthouse and tells about it's (his?) relationship with the owner who "with me watched the sun set into nights." it's a pretty tragic story if you listen to the lyrics! ben put it in a slideshow for his eagle scout ceremony, so it reminds me of him! what a great song.

so there you have it. the ten songs that i will always love! enjoy!

fun and facebook free

I AM DELETING FACEBOOK. i know i've said it before and i did take a break from it a while ago, but i'm serious this time and i'll tell you why.

a couple months ago, i decided to "deactivate" my account. this just means that i wasn't on facebook, but if i ever wanted to come back, all my information, friends, and pictures were saved. i decided to deactivate it because i knew facebook would cause me to procrastinate homework. i honestly got so much more done! i would come home from class and since facebook wasn't there to tempt me, i would get started right on homework. (i know, it sounds pitiful that i had to deactivate my account to get started on assignments earlier, but you facebook users know what i'm talking about! pull up word document, write your name, date and class, and then "check" facebook for about an hour and realize that you haven't even started your paper.) this sounds strange, but i felt like my body was cleansed of toxins or something! it was extremely refreshing! i loved it!

so why did i decide to "reactivate" my account two months later? it was stupid. i was mad about something and impulsive and bored all in the same night. so i reactivated it just for fun and immediately got sucked back into the world of facebook-stalking (which, if you think about it, is CREEPY, but who doesn't do it?), "friend" requests from friends of friends who i've never met, and conversations that should be had on the phone! well, i've had my account back for about three months and i've decided to delete it. for good.

why? why completely abolish my account and ability to "socialize" with friends? well, for about two weeks now, i've been having the feeling that i should get rid of it. i kept saying to my mom "i'm going to delete my facebook for good!" and she would say "really?" and i would say "......no." and shrug it off. yesterday, my mom's good friend was giving a lesson in young womens about the dangers of facebook, texting, and the media, so we snuck down there for a little bit to listen. perfect! it was awesome lesson and i had an overwhelming confirmation that i should delete my facebook. it sounds like a strange thing to have a prompting about such a trivial thing (or is it so trivial?), but i know the still small voice when i hear it (or feel it.) which is a relief to me, because i have such conflicting feelings about facebook.

on the positive side: it is a great way to connect with friends you haven't seen or talked to in a long time. it does let you talk to people who are outside of your circle of close friends. it lets you look at people's pictures and see what they're up to. it lets other people know what you're up to.

on the negative side: it's a faux-socializer. socializing is a lost art because of facebook! having 900 friends on facebook does not make you popular and does not make you social. elder bednar warned against socializing online because it hinders our ability to cultivate relationships in the real world. just like texting, when you're talking to someone on facebook, it's not as meaningful as it would be on the phone or in person because you can't hear their tone of voice or gage their emotions. it's a time waster. come on, i know that everyone who has facebook has spent unnecessary time on there and walked away with NOTHING accomplished. it's happened to me so many times. it's easy to say that you'll only spend ten minutes on there every day, but before you know it, an hour's gone by. and...as safe as facebook claims to be, there are a lot of predators out there who know how to use loopholes to get your information.

in my opinion, facebook doesn't bring out the best in me. i find myself looking at other people's profiles and walking away comparing myself to them. i wish i was as pretty as she is. wow, she has such a glamorous and fun life. why can't i look as good in my pictures? often times, it's discouraging. does it really make you feel good about yourself? does it help you progress? everything you do in life either helps you progress as a person or regress. i'm not as receptive to the spirit when i'm caught up in a socializing network that exposes me to provocative pictures and things of the world. simply put, i think facebook is of the world and it has desensitized me to such things. i have logged out of facebook before feeling yuckier and less pure than when i logged in.

and as far as i'm concerned, nobody had any trouble socializing before facebook! my social life was just as thriving then as it is now! it's not hard to get in contact with people without it!

i am in no way judging my friends on facebook. different things are hard for different people and just as a personal observation, i felt better when i wasn't on facebook. this is not meant to be critical of others, just to explain why i'm deleting it.

so don't try and reach me on facebook, i won't be there! :) call me or send me an email at rachael.claire@hotmail.com

here's a link to elder bednar's talk. it really puts technology into eternal perspective.

CES Fireside 2009 - Bednar