On the Way

I woke up today, and it was snowing. Again. When will this winter end?

Seattle, keep a place for me.

I’ve had this chronic sinus/ear thing all my life, and I just assumed that it had something to do with seasonal allergies, but I went to the allergist to get an allergy panel done (first time I’ve done it), and in the first round of scratch tests, I didn’t react to anything. Because I didn’t, I needed to do the full second round (18 intradermal shots total in both arms). I ended up not being allergic to any of them. So, the doctor put me on different meds.

It’s really weird, because allergies run in my family, and I guess I lucked out. (The whole situation reminded of being out in Oregon a few years ago and hiking through poison ivy; I didn’t get any reaction to it.)

Here are my picks of girls for the Top Twelve with comments:

1. Carly Smithson
   My favorite coming into the first week. Some pitch problems; seemed like it might have been a bit too ambitious song for her.
2. Brooke White
   I liked her a lot from the get-go. I thought she had just a tad too much vibrato, but overall, she didn’t disappoint.
3. Syesha Mercado
   Interesting/risky song choice. One of my favorite singers. Reminds me of a girl I dated in high school.
4. Asia’h Epperson
   One of my favs, and picking Joplin was a great choice. Every time I’ve heard her sing on the show, though, it sounds like she’s got some vocal fold stress or polyps. Hopefully she gets that checked out.
5. Alexandrea Lushington
   I was pleasantly surprised by her performance tonight.
6. Joanne Borgella
   More entertaining that Kristy Lee Cook. I wonder if her saying that she’s a “plus size model” so much makes America see her as fat?
7. Amanda Overmyer
   Okay. I get it. You sound like Janis or a female Elvis wannabe. I can’t imagine that she’d win this competition.
8. Alaina Whitaker
   Looks like Carrie Underwood with the mouth of Anna Paquin
9. Ramiele Maluby
   Okay, but ultimately unmemorable.
10. Kristy Lee Cook
    Safe/okay/fine/not memorable. Although she gets points for being from Oregon, she didn’t take the song anywhere.
11. Kady Malloy
    Neither memorable nor horrible. I fast forwarded through her song.
12. Amy Davis
    Was it just me or did she sound like she wasn’t even singing in the same timezone as the pitch? I didn’t even listen to a minute of her song.

(First off, is it just me, or does there seem like there’s a general lack of star quality in this year’s guys?)

Here are my picks of guys for the Top Twelve:

1. Michael Johns
2. David Cook
3. David Archuleta
4. David Hernandez
5. Jason Castro
6. Robbie Carrico

I’m pretty confident that the remaining six can be sent home right away, but I’m interested if Jason Yeager and Chikezie Eze can impress better than they did last night:

1. Jason Yeager
2. Chikezie Eze
3. Luke Menard
4. Danny Noriega
5. Colton Berry
6. Garrett Haley

The last chapter in Perelandra is amazing. Here are two quotes that particularly resonated with me today:

“Love me, my brothers, for I am infinitely superfluous, and your love shall be like His, born neither of your need nor of my deserving, but a plain bounty. Blessed be He!” (“He” naturally refers to Maleldil, to God.)”

Where Maleldil is, there is the centre. He is in every place. Not some of Him in one place and some in another, but in each place the whole Maleldil, even in the smallness beyond thought… Each thing was made for Him. He is the centre… There seems no plan because it is all plan: there seems no centre because it is all centre. Blessed be He!”

After you go see Into the Wild, stop by the library and pick up Lewis’ Space Trilogy.

Onto That Hideous Strength!

See Into the Wild.