Leelanau Whippersnapper

The Northwoods Is No Place For A Pink Flamingo

I finally got around to uploading the holiday pictures from Christmas.  You can see them at leelanauphotography.com.  Not much new going on right now in the northwoods, at least nothing I care to write about right now.  I have the weekend off, I’ll write later on.  Enjoy the pictures!

Uncle David teaching Christopher to be a nerd.  He got up on my lap without prompting indicating that even though I only see him a couple times each year, he clearly knows who the “cool” uncle is!!  haha.

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So the holidays are approaching fast and as you family members are reading this you are likely asking yourself what the hell do I get a person who doesn’t know how to ask for anything (or doesn’t like to anyway).  I am a horrible person to shop for when it comes to gifts and presents for holidays and birthdays and so I’ve decided to put together a “wish list” to guide your spending decisions.  It’s always a bit awkward to inform other people of things you want them to give to you but it is also a bit of a drag always knowing ahead of time what presents you are getting.  This solves both problems and you all might want to consider doing this sort of thing too.  My wish list is powered by Amazon.com and over the next few weeks, I will be filling it up with things that I want from high price to low price and everything in between.  You can see 4 random items form that list over on the right side of this blog below the category box.  You can also get to my list by just going to Amazon.com and typing in my name or you can just click on THIS link.

Now then please follow this helpful tip:  If you choose to purchase things for me from my wish list and you do not want to buy them through that web site, please let me know so I can remove the item from the list.  If you buy them right through Amazon or by clicking through them on the site, they are taken off automatically (you know like a gift registry).  If you would rather not tell me (and I’d rather not be told what you get me since I like surprises), make sure you hang on to the receipts just in case I end up with duplicate items.  By the way, I purchased everyone’s holiday gifts on line last year, I saved a TON on money and I never had to deal with assholes at the stores or with out of stock problems.  Want to avoid dipshits this holiday season?  SHOP ON LINE.

SO there you go.  DON’T ASK ME WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS…haha  Surprise me this year with things that I want from my wish list.

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Today was a pretty productive day although, I never got to the grocery store which is something I REALLY need to do soon.  Today I hauled out all the Christmas decorations and hung them with care in hopes that this freakin holiday will be over soon because it’s really been a bear…LOL.  I have to say, MOM you’ve raised a clone of yourself.  Looking through my house, my decorating taste is very much my mother.  Jirar used to tease me about that because his style was a bit simpler and more modern.  I’ve got shit everywhere, no particular style, some of it pretty cool, some of it rather gaudy.  It’s a bit of cross between Martha Stewart and Mary Engelbreit (sp).  It looks nice though I think.  At least I can enjoy it for a few weeks before I have to put it all away again.  The rest of my night was spent scanning pictures into my computer.  There has been a bit of a trend lately of us 30 something alum’s of the American Boychoir to post old pictures from our days at the school on Facebook.  I figured I would post a few tonight.  I’m sure most of us still miss being a part of that experience especially this time of year when it was so hectic but also pretty exciting doing sold out concerts day after day.  That is one thing about ABS, you don’t fully appreciate the experience until much later in your life when you can look back on it and reflect.  Going into 2009 now, this coming year will mark 20 years since I graduated.  That’s a long frickin time and wow some of the pictures I hauled out tonight make me feel old.  Oh well, it was fun.  I’ve got boxes and boxes of pictures that I want to eventually scan into digital format.  Most of them are from my time as a counselor at Albemarle but I still have many old ABS photos and lots of photos older than that of me and Sarah growing up.  Eventually I’ll get them into an album.

On that note, Twas the Night Before Christmas….

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Tonight I am reminded of the reason for the season summed up in the photo below, to thee oh shopper crawl back into your hole. You know if I didn’t work in retail, I’d likely view this holiday differently. Hard to be joyful when nearly every person you see is a complete ass.

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Ok, you might recall back nearly a year ago I posted a video on this blog from a choir called Libera. My biggest complaint about this boychoir at the time was the fabricated sound of their singing. Today I take back what I said and I’ll even go so far as to suggest that this choir needs a little more press. I was in Boarders the other day and found their newest album which happened to be hooked up to the headphones. Its a live recording and it is stunning. I like this style of music to a certain extent however they still do some crappy new age renditions of classical works that should have been left alone. Putting drums with a classic hymn is tragic. So is adding lyrics to orchestral works. They are crowd pleaser’s and it sells records. The choir itself consists only of 12 to 15 boys and by those standards, it is a choir of soloists but their blend and balance is awesome. They are indeed well trained, no matter how cheesy.

Check out their web site here. They record for EMI which in the music world is a big deal for any artist, especially true for a cathedral choir. Some of their recordings are listed on their web site and you can listen to exceprts if you have a good internet connection.

Also check out their EMI web site with info on the live album.

Around this time of year I usually go back to my roots of being a boychoir fanatic and it quickly fades again after the holidays. I guess I’m getting old.

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