List-Mania: Fleetwood Mac Songs

I seem to go in cycles when it comes to listening to music. I will spend a lot of time on one band and then suddenly switch and pick another band to listen to. This time around I went to a band that I am sure I heard first from my list of favorite musicians/bands.

My parents owned and the fantastic Rumors album and they must have played it over and over again to engrave it on my mind. I quickly became a fan of them when they released the album Tango in the Night and it was like being reunited with some old friends. I then became reaquainted with them and they are never far from my playlist. One of the reasons that I love about them is that there is not a single lead singer. Stevie Nicks definitely made an impression on me with her raspy voice and I grew up wanting to be just like Lindsey Buckingham (I still do). They have such a unique sound.

5) Hold Me

I love to play the bass along with this song. While I prefer Stevie to Christine, I absolutely adore Christine on this track. 

4) Seven Wonders

This was the song that made me pay attention. I watched MTV's Top 20 Countdown pretty religiously back in those days and this video/song was one that I made sure I caught. 

3) Go Your Own Way

This song makes me want to get up and go. Lindsey's vocals and the thunderous drums are the perfect combination.

2) Silver Springs

This is one of those songs that I will stop whatever I am doing and sit back and listen. Stevie is absolutely perfect on this track

1) Tango in the Night

This song gives me the chills. I love to pluck the bass to this song nice and loud.

Mission Memoirs: Afterglow

It seems like I get melancholy every Christmas season and I like to go through my things and reminisce. I was cleaning out some old files in my filing cabinet and I came across a Bible that I used on my mission. It is marked up and banged up. I had this Bible since I took seminary in high school so it has been awhile. I also took this set with me on my mission, and I used this set out on the streets. I didn't want to take my nice leather ones out in case I get mugged and someone takes off with my scriptures.

I thumbed through the pages and out fell this note:

This note was written by Elder Buckner (one of the missionaries I lived with) when I served in Jamaica, Queens. His companion when he was getting ready would carry this portable tape player with him constantly and he would only play Afterglow. For those that are not familiar with Afterglow, they are an LDS duo that sings LDS material. Now I have nothing against them or their music, it is not my cup of tea (and I like cheesy music!). But Elder Buckner's companion listened to them non-stop for months and it was grating on all of our nerves. Elder Buckner passed this note to me when I was reading in bed right after his companion passed me singing and listening to Afterglow loudly.

I am totally hanging on to this keepsake. It is now a bookmark in my set of scriptures.

2011 Resolutions Finale

So where did 2011 go? 

It is hard for me to believe that it has been a year already. This year has certainly had its ups and downs but I think it was still a pretty good year. I am hoping for a better 2012 and I have a bunch of new goals/resolutions that I want to undertake, which I blogged about yesterday. And since I made new goals/resolutions, I should take a look back at the past year and see how I did.


Once again I will use the Mountain Dew LiveWire Rating System with 5 Dews being the best (meaning I totally nailed the goal) and 0 Dews meaning I totally flopped.


Resolution #1
"Take Time to Write More"
I completed both the ScriptFrenzy and Nanowrimo competitions. Unfortunately I didn't do much writing aside from that. I did do some minor edits in my Official Missionary Journal but that's all folks! I did alright with the blogging as well. Not as good as I wanted but I am at least still doing it. 

Resolution #2
"Read More"
The year started out really good. But then the wheels slowly came off the wagon. I did complete my goal of reading a book a quarter. I read all the Diary of a Wimpy Kid the first quarter, Mick Foley's Have A Nice Day the second quarter, Belinda Carlisle's Lipps Unsealed for the third quarter and I just finished (a day late) Ozzy Osbourne's autobiography I am Ozzy. I did manage to read the Ensign every month for the first three months but I failed the rest of the year. And I don't really want to bring up the scriptures, I did a really lousy job with that. At times I was breezing through the New Testament and then it would stall. I don't think I did a bad job but I could have definitely done better. 

Resolution #3
"Be Healthy"
My resolution stated that I would exercise 5 days a week and I think for the most part I succeeded. I know I missed some days and the month of December suffered a bit but I think I did pretty well. I rode my bike 8 miles to work almost daily, I played a lot of racquetball and I did my Total Gym too. Unfortunately due to my knee I was unable to run the 5K marathon. But on the other hand I did run a 1 mile race. For the most part I have eaten more healthier, I pay a lot more attention to serving sizes now and I have cut my soda consumption down quite a bit. I think for the most part I knocked this one outta the park!

Resolution #4
"Pick up a Pen and Draw!"
Uh oh. I have not done any type of art since the mid-point of the year. I have taken some time to do some doodling but that is about it. I didn't do any Queen-related art which I still want to do. Ugh, I failed on this one.

Resolution #5
"Play the Bass"
For the most part I played the bass pretty regularly. I wouldn't say every day but I know that I did it at least weekly. And I am slowly expanding all the songs that I can now cover. The other part of my resolution was to use my musical talents (and I use that term lightly) and look for more opportunities to sing. Now that I have done, I sang in my local Church choir and I have joined a few others as well. I can safely say that I killed this goal/resolution! 

Some of the time I feel like I am not accomplishing anything but then I take a long look (and blog about them) and I think I have done a pretty good job. And I do owe it to the blog, if I didn't have to list goals/resolutions and then have to own up to them, I doubt I would have done anything at all. 

2012 Resolutions

Kristy, Logan and I celebrated an early New Year with a glass of Ginger Ale at 9:00 PM, New Year's Eve. We did this so Logan could celebrate the New Year along with Kristy and I. We hoisted our glasses in the air and I made a toast. 

"Here is to a Happy 2013. I hope it is better than the last year."

Logan and Kristy immediately busted up with laughter. I guess I was getting a little ahead of myself. I think I wanted to skip making resolutions for 2012!

I really liked the format I used last year so I am doing it again. 

I RESOLVE...

• to go back to school and get an education. I am still not sure exactly what I will studying, I am going back and forth from Pharmacist to Paralegal. Either way, I will be heading back to school sometime this year.

I RESOLVE...

• to continue to read more. I think I will continue with reading a book every quarter and I am sure I can find more autobiographies or instructional books that I can read. Along with that I am going to try to read the Ensign magazine monthly again. Last summer we also had the cool opportunity to hear from Elder Bednar and he gave us all a neat promise that I am going to work on to fulfill. 

I RESOLVE...

• to continue exercising and trying to eat right. I will still continue to eat what I want but I am going to limit my portions more carefully. I still would like to run a 5K race but I am unsure how my knee will react. If all goes good, I will try to run the Top of Utah 5K. If that does not work I might run the 1 mile race at Logan's school again. I will continue with my walking DVDs, playing racquetball and going out for runs.

I RESOLVE...

• to actually do some drawing or some kind of art this year. Even if I do some rough sketches that would be good enough. I used to do some art while watching Lost a few years ago so I know that I have the time. I just need to get disciplined and do it. I still am highly interested in doing some Queen art. 

I RESOLVE...

• to continue to use and hone my musical talents. I will continue to play the bass guitar and participate in as many choirs and other singing opportunities. Along with that, I am also going to spend some time learning about music. I would like to get to the point where I can actually read music. 

I RESOLVE...

• to take the time to write more. I have a lot of projects that I need to edit and work on again. I will participate in the Nanowrimo competition again this November and I will give ScriptFrenzy a whirl again here in April. This time I think I might try out something completely different with ScriptFrenzy. I might do a TV show or a musical. I will also blog a bit more than I did last year. I might have to do a few more BlogBlitzes to accomplish that goal.          

I RESOLVE...

• to use my time wisely. I am going to shut off the TV at 9:00pm and spend an hour until bedtime completing my resolutions. So I can draw, read or practice music during this time. I am going to give myself a floating day or two where I can watch TV or a movie or something. Basically so I can veg out once in awhile. 

That should keep me busy this coming year. 

Christmas 2011

My family and I had a very nice Christmas. It was loaded with food and family and was very relaxing.

Christmas Eve we had my mom come over for dinner and to play some games. We ate a ton of good food. Kristy made a cheese fondue and some meatballs and french bread to dip them in and Eggnog Bread Pudding for dessert. It was a very nice evening. After Logan went to bed, Kristy and I prepared the rest of Christmas and watched our annual tradition of Christmas Vacation.

The next morning we awoke and got ready for Church. It was only an hour and it was fantastic. I wish I could start every Christmas morning this way. We came home after visiting with a few people after the services and ate some breakfast and opened gifts. To say that Logan was excited was definitely an overstatement! We opened up our awesome gifts and then proceeded to stuff ourselves sick with candy. That evening we played games and watched the football game. Like I said, it was nice and relaxing.

I absolutely hate putting up/taking down lights from the Christmas Tree. I don't know if you can tell that from how I look.

Logan in his obligatory Christmas pic.

For Boxing Day we went over to my dad's to spend the day there. We ordered Chinese food and once again I stuffed myself with too much candy. I have a major weakness for fudge and (un)fortunately dad had a ton of it. I must have eaten a couple pounds of the stuff. We played cards and games and did our $5 Gift Card Pool. I got a K-Mart gift card which I traded for a Walmart one which I traded for an Amazon gift card. Which interestingly enough is the gift card which I purchased for the party. And I already know what I want to get!

So all in all I had a very nice Christmas. Unfortunately now that Christmas has passed, I have to get on with some New Year's Resolutions and lose the weight I gained and eat better!

Sports, Sports and more Sports

I like sports. I especially like football and I am a huge fan of the NFL. Even though my team choked the last three games and will miss the playoffs, I can still enjoy watching other teams compete. I am already looking forward to this coming weekends slate of games. 

I respect all teams even though there are a few teams that I despise. As a Jets fan, I have to hate on the Dolphins and Patriots. As a Jazz fan I have to hate on divisional rivals. That is just part of sports. But I do respect all those organizations. 

Now when it comes to players, it gets a bit tricky. There are some players that I dislike that I still respect. Patriot QB Tom Brady is the best example. But then there are players that I just don't like and usually it is because of how they act beyond the sport. I don't think I could ever like Steelers QB Big Ben because of his actions off the field. And some players I don't like because of their attitude. One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing players that have all the talent in the world act like an idiot and the lose all that they had. That just drives me nuts.

But then there are some players that I just don't like and it has nothing to do with them.  I am talking about BYU's Jimmer and the Bronco's Tebow. It has nothing to do with their abilities, it has nothing to do with their actions off the field. In fact, these players are very classy and actually make their sport better. But for some reason I just can't get behind them.  And I know exactly who to blame. 

Rick Aaron. President of the Jimmer Fanclub. 

I don't blame Rick entirely. I blame all those local media sportscasters that are in love with Jimmer and Tebow. Seriously, there are times that if Jimmer were in the same room as Rick, Rick would end up kissing Jimmer on the mouth. It never ends and it never fails, even though Jimmer is beyond BYU, Rick keeps bringing him back to the sportscast. Even when he is doing basketball highlights that are not BYU/NBA -related he will still sneak in a Jimmer reference. "He took that shot from Jimmer range!"  That sort of comment makes me want to puke. 

The biggest reason I am not a fan of Jimmer and Tebow is because they are constantly being shoved down my throat. Don't get me wrong, I respect each athlete. I am just sick and tired of sportscasters (Rick Aaron is the worst of them) treating them like it is the Second Coming and then preaching (kissing butt) to all of us to worship at the feet of these athletes. When Jimmer and Tebow play in the Super Bowl or NBA Championship game than I think all this fuss would be warranted. Tone down your man-love!

Happy 2012!

Where In the World is Matt Platis?

I have not fallen off the face of the planet. It may seem that way since I have not blogged in over a month! But things started to get busy last month and part of me just was not in the mood to blog. Personally, I think I am stuck in a small rut and feeling a bit overwhelmed.

It is not like nothing good has happened this past month because that is definitely not true. A lot of neat things have happened to me this last month and I will be blogging about it in the near future.

This month I will be participating in a BlogBlitz (tm). Meaning I am going to blog daily for the next 31 days.