Day 1 of Penny

Well, I am Penny Lynn Pritchard Richens. It's a mouthful. I don't hyphenate, and generally I just go by my married name. I'm married to Raymond, I have two cats a yellow tabby named Radnar, and a grey & white tabby named Malcom--they are brothers. I live in Mountain View, WY, and even though I wasn't born in Wyoming I'm a Wyoming Girl at heart. I don't buy into or appreciate anything that is fake, low quality, or forced because I think it's a waste of time and time is all we have. Now for 15 interesting facts:

1. I have moved 29 times, lived in 4 different states, and went to a different Elementary school every year. Outside of my family I do not have any life-long friends. I don't think this makes me a basket case though. I do have some pretty incredible friends that I went to high school with, and instead of being tied to "the house I grew up in" I feel a connection to everything around me.

2. I have had Chrone's Disease since I was 16. I won't go into details because frankly it's not something fun to discuss, but I will say it sucks. I take medicine via injection twice a month for it and it helps a lot. For those of you have know me for a long time, this is how I went from being kinda skinny to pretty fat. It screws with everything in your body. The injections help a lot, and I am hoping that this summer I will be able to hike off the extra pounds.

3. I love riding horses, but I am incredibly allergic to them. I don't ride often, but I love going when I do. I'm not into rodeo or showing, as I lack the competitiveness to be any good at either.

4. I met my husband in Logan, and he is a true blue Utah boy. Someday I think we'll compromise on this and move to Idaho. He is perfect for me, and compliments my personality. I tease him about being from Utah, but that is all it is, just teasing. It's part of who he is and I love him.

5. I hate wiener dogs and chihuahuas.

6. When I was twelve my dad accidentally broke my nose. If you look at my face directly, you can see that my glasses tilt to the right. I think it's funny.

7. My feet are stupid looking, my middle to is much longer than all the other toes, and my little toe is practically non existent, and next to that there is a place that looks there should be a sixth toe. This has excluded me from sandals for a very long time. I want a pair of Chacos though, and I will probably wear them.

8. I'm a conservative, but I hate the Republicans as much as I hate the Democrats. I think that the media and politics in general will be the downfall of our society. Unless, of course, we are hit by a meteor.

9. I love to read, and will read just about anything except romance novels, which I gorged myself on in my early 20s.

10. If I could have a dog, I would get a German Shepard. I grew up with a few of them around, and I love their personalities. I don't understand why people are afraid of them.

11. My parents didn't believe in kid music during my childhood, so I cut my teeth on Pink Floyd, The Doors, Dire Straits, The Who, The Guess Who, CCR, Moody Blues, and Simon and Garfunkle (the last two are my mom's).

12. I have only one sibling, Seth, and he is six years younger than me. I love him dearly.

13. I was not allowed to watch Musicals growing up because my dad thinks they are stupid. The first time I ever saw Grease was after I left home. Dad was right, it was stupid, American Graffiti was much better.

14. My favorite shows growing up were The Adventures of Pete & Pete and Rocko's Modern Life.

15. I really am a member of the LDS Church, I go to the temple (I was not married to Raym in the temple), and I actually have a pretty strong testimony. I believe it's a very personal thing though and don't discuss it with others often. Faith is a fragile thing, and to try to force or coerce someone else to believe the same things that you do is wrong.

30 Days of Penny

I got this idea from my cousin Abby. You are welcome to use it too. Basically you post something new about yourself everyday, in an effort to get to know yourself better and to connect with other people.

Day 1: Introduction, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts
Day 2: Your first love
Day 3: Your parents
Day 4: A song to match your mood
Day 5: A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 6: A place you've traveled to
Day 7: Bible verse
Day 8: Something you miss
Day 9: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs that pop up
Day 10: Bullet your whole day
Day 11: Somewhere you'd like to move or visit
Day 12: Your highs and lows of this past year
Day 13: Give pictures of five guys who are famous who you find attractive
Day 14: Someone who fascinates you and why

Day 15: A photo of something you ate today

Day 16: A letter to someone who has hurt you lately

Day 17: A youtube video

Day 18: A photo of you ten years ago

Day 19: Your favorite quote

Day 20: A regret you have

Day 21: Explain how you got your scars

Day 22: Talk about the cuteness of your pet

Day 23: The last thing that made you cry

Day 24: Talk about the last "random act of kindness" you encountered

Day 25: Ten things you want to do before you die

Day 26: How do you think others view you?

Day 27: Picture of your family

Day 28: Your favorite musician and why

Day 29: A photo of you as a child

Day 30: Something you learned (if anything) about yourself in the last 30 days

Dust In the Wind, Or At Least On My Guitar Case

For those of you not well acquainted with my history; I am, among other things, a guitarist. I have been playing since I was eleven years old. I lean towards classical and folk music, but have been know to lay down the occasional blues lick or metal riff.

A few years ago, I taught guitar lessons for a while. It was a blast, but I was a flake. I had too much else going on so I dropped it. Consequently, I have not really played my guitar in a shamefully long time. I've opened the case and changed the water in the humidifier, but other than a line or two from Malaguena and Every Rose Has It's Thorn, I haven't given it much attention. The calluses from my fingers are lost, and the 2-3 hours I spent practicing in my bedroom every night after school are long ago and far away.

So a few weeks ago, I saw my guitar case in the closet gathering dust. I tried to ignore it. I knew that I couldn't play like I used to. I put it out of my mind and went about my business. It nagged at me all during work that day. It nagged at me when I drove to Logan the next day. It was still nagging at me several days latter when I drove home from Logan.

So reluctantly, after my husband had gone to work I pulled out the case and got out Olga. She is made from Sitka Spruce, and the smell that comes out of the case when you open it is magical. I tuned her (mostly from habit, she was still spot on) and began to play some scales. My fingers where so stiff, my movements were so labored and slow. Gradually, my hands and fingers warmed up. So did my soul. I remembered most of La Palermo, and while I didn't play it anywhere near perfectly, it did make me tear up. I had reunited with a lost part of myself.

I know I will never be a concert musician. I'll never be part of a successful band. I'm certainly not a classical master, and I don't write songs people will care about. I can play though, and it is a very important part of who I am. What I can do is share my love of music with others, and so I am going to start playing and teaching lessons again.

So as The Bard says: "If music be the food of love, play on..."

Oh! The Drama

You ask yourself "Richens, what is up with Twilight and Ed Hardy today?" The answer is not easy, but I will try to make myself understood. They are part of what I see as the same problem. The general public does not want to think. Thinking is hard, it makes you feel ways about things. If you feel ways about things, the natural course is to then act upon those feelings. Then you stand out as somebody who does stuff. In doing stuff you establish a reputation. Reputations brand us as part of something greater than ourselves and at that point, we could be on the loosing side of something.

Trends like Twilight Mania and Ed Hardy Fashion are for people who want to be part of something without standing for anything. I'm not going to slag Stephanie Meyer for writing drivel. She put together a pretty tight piece of work for it's genre, and I'm not going to act like I didn't read the whole thing. I'm not going to try and make Ed Hardy look like a tool, he is in fact, a talented artist and has some impressive work. He has many pieces that do not cover the scrawny backsides of middle aged bro-bots and the fake boobies of way past their prime rocker chicks. What I do have a problem with is people who plaster Twilight and Ed Hardy all over their smarmy ass (sorry to my sensitive readers, but that is how I actually feel).

What does it all mean? Well, that is the caramel center of this nutty problem. Most people have no idea what it all means. Who has time for that and Pirates are cool, Johnny Depp said so. Do you have an informed opinion about Japanese Influenced Tattoo Art? How about the mythology of Vampires and why it is such an interesting commentary on the human condition? My guess is no. Most people are playing along with the trends so they don't have to.

I realize that I am speaking in generalizations. However, I believe in my heart of hearts that this is why we have a nation so divided and political. Many people lack conviction of any kind, but choose labels like "Liberal" or "Conservative" just like the would Team Edward or Team Jacob. Very few people actually take these things seriously, but they fight over it like they do. They say terrible things to each other because they have committed themselves to causes they barely even understand.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it's not so important what you choose, but to understand why you choose it. Secondly, try not to brandish the latest whatever around like a fashion statement. If it honestly means that much to you, don't make it a trend but part of who you are. My final parting thought Twilight is 130,000 words long which means it took me a little over 3 Hours to read it. It was entertaining, but I've put it out of my mind mostly because it didn't matter. Three Cups of Tea took me about 2 1/2 Hours to read. It was entertaining, and it changed the way I view the Middle East.