Choklit Blog #69: 100 Reasons Why I'm Thankful

       Yes, that’s right, it’s time for my annual Black Friday blog.  Technically it’s my Thanksgiving blog, but I never write it until Black Friday, because I’m too busy eating on Thanksgiving.  I know usually I make a list of like ten things, and one time I did fifty, but this year, I wanted to go even bigger... so here are one hundred reasons why I’ve been thankful at some point in the past year.

1. God.
2. My family.
3. My friends.
4. My iPod.
5. The freedom to own a Bible.
6. The ability to express my thoughts through written words.
7. Inspiration.
8. Facebook.
9. Music.
10. Manic Drive.
11. Concerts.
12. Pastry school.
13. Band posters and t-shirts.
14. Converse.
15. Semester-long classes instead of year-long classes.
16. Fuzzy socks.
17. The Coastal Carolina Fair.
18. Extra credit.
19. Ted Dekker.
20. Apricot-scented deodorant.
21. Salted caramel.
22. Australian and British accents.
23. Chapstick.
24. Sick cornet-making skills.
25. Notebooks.
26. Random strangers who become my friends.
27. My guitars and keyboard.
28. Determination.
29. Netflix.
30. My new old TV.
31. Hats.
32. Intelligence.
33. Leather jackets (and fake leather jackets.)
34. Cars.
35. Aviators.
36. Computers.
37. FF5DailyDeals on Twitter.
38. Song lyrics.
39. CD’s.
40. Three-ring binders and page dividers.
41. Football.
42. Wannamaker park.
43. Elephant.
44. My name.
45. Alarm clocks.
46. Nutri-grain bars.
47. Delicious bacon.
48. Air conditioning.
49. My house.
50. Mirrors.
51. Three-hole punches.
52. Canada.
53. Aloe gel.
54. Coconut-lime scented lotion.
55. Eyedrops and contact solution.
56. Contacts.
57. Glasses.
58. Hair clips and headbands.
59. Liquid eyeliner.
60. Orange-handled knives.
61. Band-aids.
62. Hugs.
63. Hard-working people.
64. My stereo.
65. Blogger.
66. Hairspray.
67. Hugh Dancy.
68. Josh Duhamel.
69. My camera.
70. Fluffeh bunnehs.
71. Straight teeth.
72. Skinny jeans that are designed for females over the age of ten.
73. Aaron Tomberlin (the guy from aaronsguitarlessons.com).
74. Cell phones.
75. Bluetooth.
76. iTunes.
77. Awesome belts and belt buckles.
78. Days off.
79. Righteous indignation.
80. Entertaining dreams.
81. Instructors who go easy on their students.
82. Vacuum cleaners.
83. Sales.
84. Stickers.
85. Painter’s tape.
86. Success.
87. Sleep.
88. Money.
89. Health.
90. Hot water.
91. Soap.
92. Hair dryers and straighteners.
93. Discernment.
94. Numbers.
95. Windows.
96. Enough room in my closet to actually hang up clothes.
97. Blankets and pillows.
98. BLT’s with shaved chicken, blue cheese dressing, and scallions.
99. Nutella.
100. The Bachelor.

Choklit Blog #68: College and concerts

  It’s been a month since the last time I posted anything other than my epic accounts of candy-making.  That means it’s about time I post something semi-interesting.  The reason I haven’t been writing so much lately is because I’ve been busy with that thing everyone loves: college!  I have several different projects to work on, but of course, I’m blogging instead.  This whole college thing really isn’t my thing.  Graduation should be here pretty soon, though... just six more months!

  If you thought I was about to blog about school, you were wrong.  Oh, so very wrong.  I actually want to talk about an awesome discovery I sort of made... or re-made... last Wednesday: Manic Drive.  Yes, I’m going to talk about them even more.  If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you probably think I’ve recently become obsessed with them, but actually, I’m using a very effective marketing tool- repetition- to make you all listen to them.  It’s working.  

  Until last Wednesday, I actually only knew two of their songs.  Then I saw them in concert, where I heard four of their songs and got to talk to them for about thirty seconds, and by the end of the night I had a new second-favorite band. (FYI: No one replaces Thousand Foot Krutch as my favorite band.  That would simply be unjust.)  Anyway, for everyone who likes great music and insanely friendly people, here are a few of the reasons why I like them so much and why you should too:

1. They make seriously amazing music.  I will admit that I don’t like one of their songs.  It’s called “Hope” and it’s on their new album “Blue”, which is amazing.  I just don’t really like that song.  Other than that, I haven’t heard a single one of their songs that I don’t like.  A few highlights from their new album are “Walls”, “NYC Gangsters”, “Dancefloor”, “Closer”, “Blue”, “Better Man”... wait, that’s already like half the album.  Just listen to the song “Memories” and try to say it’s not amazing.  (For added amazingness, go to Youtube and find a video of them performing the acoustic version).  And it’s not just the music... they write really great lyrics, too.  The music industry seems to have been overtaken by songs that are so completely cryptic that they make no sense and cheesy love songs.  With Manic Drive, you don’t have to worry about running into either of those tragic mistakes, and you’ll find something with a little more meaning.

2. They’re actually nice to their fans at shows.  They were at their merch table during the intermission and after the show, signing autographs and taking pictures with fans.  But they didn’t just sign autographs and take pictures-- they did this thing called “interacting” with their fans.  Most bands seem to have never heard that term before, but these guys have it down.  I remember going to a concert at a theme park when I was fourteen to see a pretty big Christian rock band.  Their autograph line wasn’t very long, but apparently the guitarist and drummer didn’t have long enough attention spans for it.  By the time I got to the table, the two of them were just sitting their chatting with each other and they didn’t even bother to look at me.  They looked kind of like an assembly line.  The guys in Manic Drive weren’t like that at all.  They all complimented my extremely awesome shirt (which I had just bought it from their merch table, but it was very nice of them nonetheless); Michael, the guitar player, made me promise to come back later so I could get a picture with them; Shawn, the lead singer, voluntarily shook my hand; and Dave, the drummer, randomly commented that my cross necklace made it look like the word “maniac” on my shirt had a random “t” in it.  It was almost like a normal conversation between four normal people... it was like they realized that being a band doesn’t make them better than everyone else.

3. They’re also nice to their fans on Facebook.  Have you ever seen a band comment on their fans’ Facebook photos?  I know I hadn’t before, but Manic Drive has a band profile, which they (mostly Dave, I think) use quite often to comment on pictures and posts that fans have tagged them in.  They even used it to assure me that I can give them as many BFF hugs as I want, as long as I’m wearing my Manic Drive t-shirt.  Seriously, what other band does that?

4. They’re Canadian.  Canadian bands basically just win.  When I heard that they were Canadian, they immediately shot up to Thousand Foot Krutch/Hawk Nelson/Manafest status in my book.  I don’t know what it is about Canadians, but they know how to make music.

5. They hate Twilight. The intro for their show was actually a Twilight spoof/mockery about them being vampires and then quitting to start a band.  Then Shawn announced on stage that they all just really hate Twilight.  Much cheering ensued.

6. Their shows are completely, 100% epic.  If you’ve ever read any comments on any Youtube videos of anything they’ve ever done, you’ve probably read something along the lines of “ZOGMYGOSH TEH GUITARITS DID TEH ROBAT WILE EH PLAED GITAR IT WUZ GRATE!11221!!@@@”  That is a true statement.  He does that.  They also taught us South Carolinians this cool Canadian word: “jump.”  Lots of that goes on at their shows too.  If you like high-energy shows where people sometimes fall through the stage and run headlong into drum sets, then Manic Drive is for you.

7. They sell extravagantly large posters at their shows for $5.  I’ve been to a few concerts in my life, and most of the time, you can get a poster for $5.  These posters are usually quite small.  I bought a Manic Drive poster at their show last Wednesday for $5, and I haven’t measured it, but I’d say it’s somewhere around two by three feet.

8. They have metallic Sharpies.  I went to a concert in October of 2009 and bought a poster (a very small one, of course... for $5). I got it signed by the band.  The poster was kind of dark, and they all had black Sharpies.  The autographs are now very hard to see.  I have another poster hanging on my wall that I won from a contest on Facebook.  It was autographed when I got it, in black of course, and it’s also a dark poster.  I forgot it was autographed until I happened to look at it up close the other day.  That does not make me happy.  When I was standing in line to get my Manic Drive poster signed, I dug through my purse in an unsuccessful attempt to find my metallic Sharpie so the autographs would actually show up on my poster, which again, was dark.  I was disappointed when I couldn’t find it, but when I got up to the table, I saw that they all had silver metallic Sharpies.

9. They have cool hair.  I think the reason I appreciate their hair so much is because my computer background is an old picture where one of them had really bad hair.  I die inside a little bit every time I see it, but it’s a nice picture otherwise, so I haven’t changed it.  It helps me to appreciate how far they’ve come in the hair department.

10. Their music videos are indescribably wonderful.  I was watching TVU one day to see the premier of Project 86’s new video, when suddenly my attention was completely captivated by flashy lights and a catchy beat.  I had to find out what this song was... and lo and behold, it was “Walls” by Manic Drive.  It was my second Manic Drive song.  A few days ago, one of my friends told me to watch the video for their song “Music”, and I must have watched it five times.  Between Michael’s priceless facial expressions, Shawn’s shiny silver suit, Anthony’s awkward dancing, and of course, the extremely catchy song, it’s really hard to watch just once.

  Since I’m pretty sure this just became one of my longest blogs, I’ll stop now.  If this was too long for you to read so you skipped ahead to this part, just know that Manic Drive makes great music, they’re very down-to-earth and totally normal guys, they have amazing Sharpies, and they sometimes injure themselves onstage.

Choklit Blog #67: Epic Accounts of Candy-Making, Week 10

October 26, 2010.

  Day two of marzipan.  Technically, this was supposed to be the last day of it, but guess how many people finished today.  That’s right... one!  And guess who it wasn’t.  Right again... me.

  I did come up with an idea for my scene, though.  I’m making elephants and hippos who are playing football and using a mouse as the ball.  I made all my hippos and mice, and I only have one elephant left to make.  Then I have to put some white lines and numbers on a green piece of marzipan that I already rolled out, then set up the animals.  Who picked the easiest idea?  I did!

  I thought my hippos were looking pretty sweet until I saw that one of my classmates was also making hippos and hers were like a million times better than mine.  Unfortunately, hers didn’t have legs, and therefore couldn’t play football, so I couldn’t steal them.

  While I was trying to think of how to make my football field, Chef Gronert insisted on standing over me and saying “That’s not how I would do it” every five seconds.  Well maybe I was using the trial-and-error method to learn a better way to do it.  But if you’re so insistent on telling me I’m wrong, at least tell me how to do it correctly.

  I have a feeling that my scene will be one of the worst in the class.  Do I care?  Of course not.  Wait... perfectionism says yes.  I care.

  In most cases, I would sort of be somewhat okay with it as long as I still get an A in the class, because I’m genuinely not good at modeling marzipan.  In this case, I’m the youngest one in the class, and therefore should have played with play-doh more recently than everyone else... meaning I should be better at it than everyone else.

Choklit Blog #66: Epic Accounts of Candy-Making, Week 9

October 19, 2010.

  I feel like I’m in second grade all over again.  I only spent six weeks in second grade, but it was so traumatic that I remember it quite vividly.  So why was that the first thing to come to my mind when class started today?

  Marzipan.  That’s why.  We’ll be playing with a sticker and tastier version of play-doh for the next couple of weeks, and it’s really not as easy or as fun as it was in second grade.  Not that I ever played with play-doh in second grade—that was fifth grade.

  We have to use marzipan to make a dummy cake with fruit on top, three types each of three different animals, and a scene which may or may not include all of those animals.  The animals in the scene have to be doing something, and Chef Gronert has to be able to tell what they’re doing.  It also has to be exciting.

  I absolutely could not think of an idea for my scene that would be good enough for Chef Gronert’s standards, so I worked on my fruit today.  I got it all modeled and I got about half of it colored.  That means I have next week to finish coloring my fruit, make nine animals, make a scene, pipe a border around my dummy cake, and set up all my fruit.  He said it’s okay if we go into the week after that, but who doesn’t want to be the last one finished?  That’s right.  Me.

  Most of the class made their dummy cakes today, and due to the amount of already-colored green and purple marzipan, and the lack of interest in the clearly easy and enjoyable task of coloring more marzipan, most of them are green and purple.  I guess it didn’t feel enough like elementary school, so we had to throw Barney’s colors in there to make it even better.

Choklit Blog #65: Epic Accounts of Candy-Making, Week 8

October 12, 2010.

  Exam day.  Everyone’s favorite.  I remembered when I walked into class this morning that the practical final wasn’t the only exam today.  We also had a written midterm, which I had completely forgotten about, and therefore hadn't studied.  It was only ten questions, and they were mostly easy.  Then it was practical time.

  This test was kind of like torture in it’s purest form.  Make a piping bag and pipe twenty-five ornaments in twenty minutes.  Take a break for five minutes, then do it again... seven more times.  And to make things worse, we had to draw random numbers to see which ornament we would be piping each time.  We thought it would work in our favor, but it made us have to pipe the hardest ornament twice.  I think it was rigged.

  After each set of ornaments, we would all wait in the hall while Chef Gronert graded our ornaments and then wrote the highest and lowest scores, the class average, and the name of the person with the highest score on the whiteboard.  Besides the person who got the highest score, no one else knew how they did, and Chef Gronert wouldn’t tell us.  That’s why everyone was really worried when the lowest score was thirteen (yes, that’s out of one hundred).  No one really cared, though, when it was negative sixteen, except the people who didn’t pipe all their ornaments.  If we piped twenty-five of the correct ornament, it was basically impossible to get a negative score, because Chef Gronert wanted to force us to pipe something, whether it was pretty or not.  Quantity over quality.  Yeah, he’s definitely trying to be more American.

  There was actually something good that happened today.  Surprise!  Chef Gronert gave us like a million bonus points, probably because if everyone failed, he would look like a bad teacher.

Choklit Blog #64: Epic Accounts of Candy-Making, Week 7

October 5, 2010.

  Remember the six-hour lecture from week one?  I kind of thought that would be the only all-day lecture in this class.  Or at least, I hoped.

  I guess this time it was a little different because most of the day consisted of demos, not just lecture.  Chef Gronert showed us how to make a few different fruits, some cute animals, and a really creepy-looking rabbit out of marzipan.  We also took a break after lecture to prep some modeling chocolate, royal icing, and colored marzipan for the demos.  But either way, we spent pretty much the entire class period sitting on extremely uncomfortable stools.  Fun stuff.

  We did do one other thing.  It took about thirty minutes.  We practiced piping ornaments for our practical final next week.

  Yeah, that’s right; our final exam is on week eight (of sixteen) and has nothing to do with what we’ve been learning in class so far.

  For this exam, we have to pipe eight different ornaments twenty-five times each, with a short break for grading in between each set.  That means we get to pipe two hundred ornaments.  For our practice today, we only piped one type of ornament, and only one person finished all twenty-five in the twenty-minute time limit.  I was not that person.

  The lowest possible score on each set is negative one hundred.  More than one person would have gotten that score if this had been the actual exam.  Again, not me.  My grade would have been 38%.  That’s because I only piped fifteen and a half ornaments and they were all ugly.  That’s because my hand was ready to fall off after the first three ornaments.  I’m just hoping that eventually I’ll be able to grip things again.

Choklit Blog #63: Epic Accounts of Candy-Making, Week 6

September 28, 2010.

  Today was sort of the last day of chocolate.  I’m not sure what that means either.  Since it was sort of the last day we’ll be working with chocolate, it also had to be the messiest, the most painful, the longest, and the most alcoholic.

  First off, I think it’s slightly disgusting that Chef Gronert doesn’t wash his chocolate molds.  They get rinsed with hot water, then they air dry.  I can understand not sanitizing them, but I don’t think a little soap every now and then will ruin anything.  I hope he doesn’t read this, because I don’t feel like listening to a lecture on why it’s bad to eat soap.

  Second, I think it’s ridiculous to rub the inside of each mold with cotton balls to create static before they’re used.  I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before.  Besides, who wants to eat electrically charged chocolate?

  Third, I think it’s ridiculous to say that we can’t touch the bottom of the chocolate molds while we fill them with tempered chocolate because our hands will change the temperature of the chocolate.  The molds aren’t so thin that you can overheat the chocolate in them by touching them on the outside for two seconds.  If they were that thin, they wouldn’t even be able to hold so much chocolate with no support underneath.

  Fourth, I think Chef Gronert needs to stop being so paranoid about his chocolate molds.  If you tap the bottom of the mold with a pallet knife, you’re going to break it, but if you slam the mold on the table at the perfect angle for it to snap in half... nothing bad will happen at all. In fact, that’s what you should do.

  Fifth, raspberry, orange, coffee, and hazelnut should not be inside the same piece of candy.