So I went out with my parents tonight, to that same bar/restaurant that me and my mom went to that has bands play and what not. We were originally going to see a play put on my a local theater group that one of my mom's coworkers is in but it was sold out. Anyway, I had two beers and on a drunkenness scale of Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday to Gollum jumping into Mount Doom after the Ring I was about just about to leave Lothlorien. That is all kinds of sad but makes sense because since I have moved to Georgia I've had three beers and a mixed drink including what I had tonight. I really didn't drink all that much during my college career but it was a hell of a lot more than this. I've become such a lightweight but I guess that is okay. Going out on my own in Europe might be a little more dangerous though ... that'll just make it more fun I suppose.
Thanks go out to a friend of mine who introduced me to stereomood. I've been listening to it all day and it's had exactly what I've been in the mood for, epic win.
28 January 2011
25 January 2011
Got A Temporary Job
So I have pretty much nothing to do here in Atlanta so my mom hooked me up with a temporary job working as an independent contractor for the university she works for. It's pretty sweet. I sit on my bed all day, do data entry, analyze it, figure out a way to make it better and then fix things ... well almost, I haven't gotten to the fixing part yet, but I will soon, probably tomorrow. It's a nice and extremely easy way to make some extra money for Europe!
And on that note, pretend that you are reading this 26/2/2011 at 1:40am (EST) and then in exactly 4 weeks I will be arriving in Paris for the beginning of my big trip. God, I've still got so much stuff I need to take care of. I should get around to doing that instead of putting it off.
It's weird being here in Georgia (terrible segue, I know) but I'm living here with my mom and my stepdad and I've been here long enough to realize that they have a new routine in their life and it sounds a bit conceited to say this, but it doesn't really include me anymore. Sometimes I feel like I'm intruding on that, though I know my mom doesn't mind because when I'm not home she rarely hears from me. I don't remember ever seeing my mom happier than she is with my stepdad.
I'm the kind of person who needs to have proof to really believe something. All my life I've never had a reason to believe that anything lasts forever: things change, people come in and out of your life, you move to a new place, etc. I've dealt with enough change in my life to be okay with it but I've always wondered how much a thing can change before it looses it's essence and becomes something completely different. I still don't have an answer to that one. Anyway, the nice thing about being here and seeing my parents interact over an extended period of time is that, I don't know ... this sounds all kinds of cheesy but it's true ... my faith in the ability of relationships to last has grown a bit. My parents got divorced eighteen years ago and even after almost two decades I haven't quite recovered from it, funny. But being here and seeing them, seeing the way my dad and my stepmom interact, and being old enough to understand most of it is helping.
And on that note, pretend that you are reading this 26/2/2011 at 1:40am (EST) and then in exactly 4 weeks I will be arriving in Paris for the beginning of my big trip. God, I've still got so much stuff I need to take care of. I should get around to doing that instead of putting it off.
It's weird being here in Georgia (terrible segue, I know) but I'm living here with my mom and my stepdad and I've been here long enough to realize that they have a new routine in their life and it sounds a bit conceited to say this, but it doesn't really include me anymore. Sometimes I feel like I'm intruding on that, though I know my mom doesn't mind because when I'm not home she rarely hears from me. I don't remember ever seeing my mom happier than she is with my stepdad.
I'm the kind of person who needs to have proof to really believe something. All my life I've never had a reason to believe that anything lasts forever: things change, people come in and out of your life, you move to a new place, etc. I've dealt with enough change in my life to be okay with it but I've always wondered how much a thing can change before it looses it's essence and becomes something completely different. I still don't have an answer to that one. Anyway, the nice thing about being here and seeing my parents interact over an extended period of time is that, I don't know ... this sounds all kinds of cheesy but it's true ... my faith in the ability of relationships to last has grown a bit. My parents got divorced eighteen years ago and even after almost two decades I haven't quite recovered from it, funny. But being here and seeing them, seeing the way my dad and my stepmom interact, and being old enough to understand most of it is helping.
19 January 2011
Discovered I Have A Personal Philosophy
(note: I'm still working through most of this, so I kind of ramble on a bit, especially towards the end)
I've been thinking a lot the last few days about what I want out of life, where I want to see myself eventually and how both of those relate to my fundamental philosophy on life. Generally, all I want out of life is to change the world in a positive manner so that when I leave a place it is in a better state than when I entered it (granted, that calls into question what it means to be 'better' but I don't really want to deal with that right now). The underlying assumption here is that the world, or at least parts of it, can be made better and I admit that is a fairly large assumption. As to where I want to see myself: I want to be working with a large organization that promotes education in various locales, whether that organization is a government or not, a for-profit or not, in whatever area. The details don't matter so much to me.
But I've realized in all this thought (there was a lot more but I haven't sorted through it all yet, what I wrote above is just what I've gotten somewhat organized in my brain so far) that I actually have my own philosophy on life that has been slowly forming throughout my life and is now actually gaining shape because I have learned how to express it in the last few years. The way I see it one of the most important things, if not the most important thing, about living or about being human is the preservation and dissemination of knowledge or information.
Throughout virtually the entire history of the human race the driving force in our ability to survive has been the effectiveness of our ability to teach the next generation the most pertinent information discovered by every generation before it. With the invention of writing, we were able to preserve information for years, centuries even, instead of just the minutes it took to speak the same words. The extended life span increased the ability to take that information to places much further away than oral transmission could ever hope to reach.
The basic definition of literacy is the ability to read and write but I personally think that it has come to mean significantly more: the ability to glean information from a source. Granted my definition is pretty vague but recently there is talk of computer literacy, music literacy, wine literacy, numerical or math literacy, etc. so it seems to stand up and apply to all of those as well. Most of the more specific kinds of literacy involved learning information and the easiest way to do that still involves the most basic literacy: reading and writing.
The way I see it, the best way to help a person is to help them help themself, convoluted I know. But from everything I've learned in college, it is impossible to learn about, understand, internalize and create a solution for a problem that has never been a part of one's own daily life because it is practically impossible to really see the way everything interacts and effects everything else; the only way to have a true understanding of it is to have lived in it. Every situation is relative, no matter how many similarities you can find between two situations, their differences will necessitate varied solutions. Anyway, the whole point to that is that for a person to help themself, they must first be literate. Literacy is necessary for education, education creates informed minds, informed minds lead to informed decisions and informed decisions enact positive change. When said positive change is enacted by local people, generally, it is more likely to succeed in the long run because the people have an invested and personal interest in the area.
Beyond that, if a person is literate they are able to inform themself through their own sources instead of relying on one person or institution. Getting information from more than one source allows a person to avoid a biased, and in some cases corrupt, knowledge base.
I've been thinking a lot the last few days about what I want out of life, where I want to see myself eventually and how both of those relate to my fundamental philosophy on life. Generally, all I want out of life is to change the world in a positive manner so that when I leave a place it is in a better state than when I entered it (granted, that calls into question what it means to be 'better' but I don't really want to deal with that right now). The underlying assumption here is that the world, or at least parts of it, can be made better and I admit that is a fairly large assumption. As to where I want to see myself: I want to be working with a large organization that promotes education in various locales, whether that organization is a government or not, a for-profit or not, in whatever area. The details don't matter so much to me.
But I've realized in all this thought (there was a lot more but I haven't sorted through it all yet, what I wrote above is just what I've gotten somewhat organized in my brain so far) that I actually have my own philosophy on life that has been slowly forming throughout my life and is now actually gaining shape because I have learned how to express it in the last few years. The way I see it one of the most important things, if not the most important thing, about living or about being human is the preservation and dissemination of knowledge or information.
Throughout virtually the entire history of the human race the driving force in our ability to survive has been the effectiveness of our ability to teach the next generation the most pertinent information discovered by every generation before it. With the invention of writing, we were able to preserve information for years, centuries even, instead of just the minutes it took to speak the same words. The extended life span increased the ability to take that information to places much further away than oral transmission could ever hope to reach.
The basic definition of literacy is the ability to read and write but I personally think that it has come to mean significantly more: the ability to glean information from a source. Granted my definition is pretty vague but recently there is talk of computer literacy, music literacy, wine literacy, numerical or math literacy, etc. so it seems to stand up and apply to all of those as well. Most of the more specific kinds of literacy involved learning information and the easiest way to do that still involves the most basic literacy: reading and writing.
The way I see it, the best way to help a person is to help them help themself, convoluted I know. But from everything I've learned in college, it is impossible to learn about, understand, internalize and create a solution for a problem that has never been a part of one's own daily life because it is practically impossible to really see the way everything interacts and effects everything else; the only way to have a true understanding of it is to have lived in it. Every situation is relative, no matter how many similarities you can find between two situations, their differences will necessitate varied solutions. Anyway, the whole point to that is that for a person to help themself, they must first be literate. Literacy is necessary for education, education creates informed minds, informed minds lead to informed decisions and informed decisions enact positive change. When said positive change is enacted by local people, generally, it is more likely to succeed in the long run because the people have an invested and personal interest in the area.
Beyond that, if a person is literate they are able to inform themself through their own sources instead of relying on one person or institution. Getting information from more than one source allows a person to avoid a biased, and in some cases corrupt, knowledge base.
18 January 2011
Realized I Need A Masters Degree
I spent virtually every waking minute of today researching possible opportunities for my life after the internship and subsequent adventures have ended. Pretty much all morning I looked at Teach for America and the Peace Corps. Both of them offer really nice segues into graduate programs. I think at this point I would be a better candidate for TfA because they seem to cater to new graduates which is nice. Ideally I'd like to start this September but I wouldn't be able to make it to the summer training sessions so I wouldn't be able to start until September 2012 which is just silly to be planning this far ahead for. And for the Peace Corps, I don't really have enough experience or time to create experience to really be a good candidate just yet.
Anyway, what I really want to end up doing , or rather, where I really want to end up is in UNESCO. They are, from what I can tell, one of the most important authorities when it comes to international aid for education and literacy and that is where I want to be. But every job opportunity that I can find related to them requires at least a Masters Degree; even the internships are only for graduate students. So, it's looking like I'm going to need to go to graduate school, which is going to entail taking tests and getting letters of recommendation and etc etc etc ... argh.
I'm looking at George Washington University in D.C. They have a program in International Development with a specialization in International Education. That is pretty much all I want from a graduate program but it comes with a fairly hefty price tag: 45,000/year.
On another note, I was looking around for government jobs as a possible thing to do after I get back (whenever that is) and I found a pretty cool one: Archives Specialist. It's at the National Archives and Records Administration, or something like that. Crazily enough I actually have all the required experience and education so I applied for it. I'm not sure when the job is supposed to start but if I could work that out to start in August or so I'd be in heaven.
Anyway, what I really want to end up doing , or rather, where I really want to end up is in UNESCO. They are, from what I can tell, one of the most important authorities when it comes to international aid for education and literacy and that is where I want to be. But every job opportunity that I can find related to them requires at least a Masters Degree; even the internships are only for graduate students. So, it's looking like I'm going to need to go to graduate school, which is going to entail taking tests and getting letters of recommendation and etc etc etc ... argh.
I'm looking at George Washington University in D.C. They have a program in International Development with a specialization in International Education. That is pretty much all I want from a graduate program but it comes with a fairly hefty price tag: 45,000/year.
On another note, I was looking around for government jobs as a possible thing to do after I get back (whenever that is) and I found a pretty cool one: Archives Specialist. It's at the National Archives and Records Administration, or something like that. Crazily enough I actually have all the required experience and education so I applied for it. I'm not sure when the job is supposed to start but if I could work that out to start in August or so I'd be in heaven.
16 January 2011
Got The Cables For My Camera
So I've lost the battery charger and the cable that allows you to upload pictures to your computer twice. I just got the new ones that I ordered yesterday which means I've been able to take pictures and now upload them! yay :)
I'm going to put a few of them up here and if you know me then check out my facebook where all of them are if you really want the full tour (p.s. I just took pictures of my parents house which I attempted to describe before).
I'm going to put a few of them up here and if you know me then check out my facebook where all of them are if you really want the full tour (p.s. I just took pictures of my parents house which I attempted to describe before).
So that is the front view of the house. I could back up enough to get the whole view in. The two garages are completely cut off on the right and the window of the workout room is cut off on the left (yeah, there's a workout room).
Off the left of the entrance is a library!!! I spend a lot of my time in here. My mom's got four degrees (B.S. in Chemistry, M in Physics, M in Philosophy, and PhD in Education) so her books have a really wide range of interests. The people who lived here before left this pretty awesome chaise upstairs and we're going to move it down here off to the left of this picture. It's going to be awesome.
Workout room, nuf said.
Kitchen (with momma) and view into the TV room. Off to the left there is a breakfast area, which is where we do all the eating, and it has windows that open up onto the backyard.
My room with the huge amazingly comfortable bed; I'm so used to sleeping on a twin, though, that I pretty much only use a third of it. The door in the middle leads into two rooms that haven't been finished but would be totally awesome if they were. It's so cool. The other door leads to my bathroom.
The view from my balcony which is off to the left of the previous picture. You can't really see it because of all the underbrush and trees but there is a river at the back of our yard and houses across the way. In the middle there is this swinging bench which is apparently known in the South as the 'beer bench'. You go out there in good weather and enjoy a cool beer just relaxing by a river. Pretty sweet, if I say so myself.
15 January 2011
Saw A Samba Band At A Bar
This evening I went for a girls night out with my mom. We went to this place called Eclipse de luna or something like that. They've got live music certain nights and tonight there was a samba band, I forget the name though. They reminded me a lot of the Gypsy Kings (if you haven't heard them, you really should. Look at the bottom of this post for a few links).
One of their songs was in English and was really upbeat. I do this thing sometimes, not completely consciously, where I imagine a music video for a song I am currently listening to. For this one, there was a guy about 25 or so walking down a dirt road surrounded by wheat fields in late spring/early summer, where they are at that point between green and dried out yellow. He's got a knapsack (like army bags) on his back and he's just walking towards something. He's definitely walking towards something, not away.
And another song was a love story. There was a girl in a skirt and she was teasing the guy that's following her. She'd wait for him to catch up and just before he gets to her, she'd twirl off and motion for him to follow her. A quieter part of the song brought it to sunset and she continued the whole thing and it eventually resolved with them rolling around on the ground.
I think about weird things sometimes. On another note, I'm missing Davis and the people there.
One of their songs was in English and was really upbeat. I do this thing sometimes, not completely consciously, where I imagine a music video for a song I am currently listening to. For this one, there was a guy about 25 or so walking down a dirt road surrounded by wheat fields in late spring/early summer, where they are at that point between green and dried out yellow. He's got a knapsack (like army bags) on his back and he's just walking towards something. He's definitely walking towards something, not away.
And another song was a love story. There was a girl in a skirt and she was teasing the guy that's following her. She'd wait for him to catch up and just before he gets to her, she'd twirl off and motion for him to follow her. A quieter part of the song brought it to sunset and she continued the whole thing and it eventually resolved with them rolling around on the ground.
I think about weird things sometimes. On another note, I'm missing Davis and the people there.
10 January 2011
Walked Around In Some Snow
Ok, so you wouldn't think walking around in some snow would be all that interesting but me being me, I'm really exciting about small things! So, I'm in Atlanta and it doesn't normally snow here. The last time it snowed was in the 1860s or 70s, so REALLY it doesn't usually snow here. And since about 11 or so local time last night there's been a pretty steady fall of precipitation. When I woke up this morning around 9, there was a good four or five inches of snow on the ground. I've got a balcony from my bedroom window. On the railing there is still a good five inches of snow as I'm sitting here writing this.
Midday or so the type of precipitation changed. Apparently there is a difference between snow and frozen rain, who knew. Freezing rain used to be snow but has at some point melted and then been supercooled (has gotten below its freezing point but remained solid). When the drop lands on a surface that is below freezing it immediately freezes into ice.
So, what really excited me today was this walk I went on with my mom. We did the same walk I did last week. There was the four or five inches of snow plus the freezing rain on top of it. It was the coolest thing ever: you'd take a step and instead of sinking down into powdery snow, your foot crunches through half a centimeter or so of ice. I felt like I was Godzilla trampling through Tokyo with the amount of noise I was making. One step I took had a radiating fracture that went out about three feet; the ice actually cracked that far away from my foot!
It's really neat that this is the first time it's snowed here for over a hundred years and I get to be here.
Midday or so the type of precipitation changed. Apparently there is a difference between snow and frozen rain, who knew. Freezing rain used to be snow but has at some point melted and then been supercooled (has gotten below its freezing point but remained solid). When the drop lands on a surface that is below freezing it immediately freezes into ice.
So, what really excited me today was this walk I went on with my mom. We did the same walk I did last week. There was the four or five inches of snow plus the freezing rain on top of it. It was the coolest thing ever: you'd take a step and instead of sinking down into powdery snow, your foot crunches through half a centimeter or so of ice. I felt like I was Godzilla trampling through Tokyo with the amount of noise I was making. One step I took had a radiating fracture that went out about three feet; the ice actually cracked that far away from my foot!
It's really neat that this is the first time it's snowed here for over a hundred years and I get to be here.
08 January 2011
Bought My Ticket For Europe!
I bought the entrance ticket to the next stage in my life. This really, to me, marks a very distinct change in my ordinary life. This is the first time I will be going to mainland Europe ever and I'm doing it, for the most part alone. I say for the most part because no one ever really does anything completely alone; we are always supported and at least emotionally or mentally helped to do things by other people. This whole undertaking would be so much more stressful if I didn't have people here advising me, granted I don't always listen to the advice but it's nice to have it in the back of my head to look back on and say to myself, "Well, you messed up and they totally called it but now you know better don't you?"
Even better than finally having a ticket, is that I got it at an amazing deal! Only $360, literally! Yay for student discounts from student travel agencies, seriously. Everywhere else I was looking at at least 450 plus taxes. I seriously can't believe how well everything is going. As soon as I get a signed pdf sent from my advisor, I just have to forward a few things to my future boss and HR there and I'm completely done, paperwork wise, on my end of things. The only thing left to do now is find a place to live and I'm not too worried about that because Brussels has a craigslist that I've already gotten a few hits from and my boss said he and HR were both scouting out some possible places for me. I am truly the luckiest person in the world for how well things are going (I really hope things continue this way, fingers crossed, especially when it comes to the actual working at the internship).
On another note, kind of similar in a certain vein, I guess, my mom took me on a shopping spree (it was my Christmas present) today for a work wardrobe. We left home with a list: a skirt suit, a few blouses, skinny jeans, socks, camisoles, and a better suitcase than the monstrosity I have now. We went to Macy's for their one day sale today, found a few suits that were okay but they were pretty expensive and would've been pretty much my entire budget. I put one of them on hold so we could look at the other department stores. We walk out of the store and right across from the exit was an H&M! I was able to get a suit that I liked ten times better (and it fits a hell of a lot better too, I look pretty damn sexy in it), two blouses, skinny jeans and two camisoles for just a little bit more than the suit that was on hold at Macy's! Hells yes. And everything thing else I got at Target. Best shopping day ever.
And I made an appointment for a haircut at a local salon. Today was really a day for me admit to myself that my life is really actually changing, internalize that, accept it and then run and skip off with my fantasies that are quickly turning into reality.
Even better than finally having a ticket, is that I got it at an amazing deal! Only $360, literally! Yay for student discounts from student travel agencies, seriously. Everywhere else I was looking at at least 450 plus taxes. I seriously can't believe how well everything is going. As soon as I get a signed pdf sent from my advisor, I just have to forward a few things to my future boss and HR there and I'm completely done, paperwork wise, on my end of things. The only thing left to do now is find a place to live and I'm not too worried about that because Brussels has a craigslist that I've already gotten a few hits from and my boss said he and HR were both scouting out some possible places for me. I am truly the luckiest person in the world for how well things are going (I really hope things continue this way, fingers crossed, especially when it comes to the actual working at the internship).
On another note, kind of similar in a certain vein, I guess, my mom took me on a shopping spree (it was my Christmas present) today for a work wardrobe. We left home with a list: a skirt suit, a few blouses, skinny jeans, socks, camisoles, and a better suitcase than the monstrosity I have now. We went to Macy's for their one day sale today, found a few suits that were okay but they were pretty expensive and would've been pretty much my entire budget. I put one of them on hold so we could look at the other department stores. We walk out of the store and right across from the exit was an H&M! I was able to get a suit that I liked ten times better (and it fits a hell of a lot better too, I look pretty damn sexy in it), two blouses, skinny jeans and two camisoles for just a little bit more than the suit that was on hold at Macy's! Hells yes. And everything thing else I got at Target. Best shopping day ever.
And I made an appointment for a haircut at a local salon. Today was really a day for me admit to myself that my life is really actually changing, internalize that, accept it and then run and skip off with my fantasies that are quickly turning into reality.
07 January 2011
Figured Out How to Write My French Blog
I'm terrible at learning and remembering new vocabulary, for the most part. The only way I've been able to retain new words is by using them in a creative way. Back in my freshmen year of high school, we had 30 or so vocab words each week. Our teacher had us either write sentences for them or use them in a poem or short story. I always wrote poems. I'd look up every definition I could find of a word from a few different sources. I'd follow one definition to another one and would end up getting distracted by a different word on the same page and end up actually reading the dictionary; not like a normal book but more like those ones that you'd read as a kid where you got to choose the plot and could end up with multiple endings (I always read the Goosebumps ones).
Anyway, I realized today that I could do that with French! I'm going to randomly choose 30-40 new words to learn each week, study their every minutiae and write a short story. Right now I'm figuring it will be about one story a week. Once I really get into it, I might be able to move faster, who knows. I started today by looking up words completely at random; I found some pretty good ones too! I'm so excited :D
Anyway, I realized today that I could do that with French! I'm going to randomly choose 30-40 new words to learn each week, study their every minutiae and write a short story. Right now I'm figuring it will be about one story a week. Once I really get into it, I might be able to move faster, who knows. I started today by looking up words completely at random; I found some pretty good ones too! I'm so excited :D
06 January 2011
Decided To Get A New Phone
My mom was traveling, at a conference I think, and lost the charger for her phone. She and my step dad were discussing options for new phones for her. They are under tmobile (same as me) and apparently right now there is a buy one get one free deal going on. My step dad suggested my mom get a phone and give me the free one. The catch is that in order to get the free phone you've got to sign up for a 2 year contract and my mom detests contracts. I said I wouldn't mind taking the contract if I got a free phone out of it.
Turns out I'm already past the 2 year mark on my current contract which means I have the perfect leverage point according to my step dad. He said he'll take me to a tmobile store soon and talk them into giving me any phone I want for free, idk. Anyway, I looked around and if I can get a free phone I'm going for the myTouch with 4G. But I'm not going to buy a data plan until I actually have a job to pay for it. If I've figured everything out right, I'll be able to get unlimited messaging and unlimited data (when I can afford it eventually) for less than an iPhone plan would cost and I'd get a hell of a lot less on iPhone.
Mom made an interesting remark on the whole thing: that getting a fancy new phone is part of the growing process, that it is part of moving into this new 'Brenda-hood' that is going to be my life and selfhood after college. It's interesting that a small piece of technology can mean so much in our culture but it really does. How do you place that much meaning in an inanimate object such as a phone? Silly.
Turns out I'm already past the 2 year mark on my current contract which means I have the perfect leverage point according to my step dad. He said he'll take me to a tmobile store soon and talk them into giving me any phone I want for free, idk. Anyway, I looked around and if I can get a free phone I'm going for the myTouch with 4G. But I'm not going to buy a data plan until I actually have a job to pay for it. If I've figured everything out right, I'll be able to get unlimited messaging and unlimited data (when I can afford it eventually) for less than an iPhone plan would cost and I'd get a hell of a lot less on iPhone.
Mom made an interesting remark on the whole thing: that getting a fancy new phone is part of the growing process, that it is part of moving into this new 'Brenda-hood' that is going to be my life and selfhood after college. It's interesting that a small piece of technology can mean so much in our culture but it really does. How do you place that much meaning in an inanimate object such as a phone? Silly.
Found Some New Bands
I tried to write this last night but the site was not working or something. Anyway, yesterday after I'd been on the walk and whatnot around my parents neighborhood I moved on to my 'new year's resolution' (I hate them but I don't really have a better word for it. The way I see it, if you really want to do something or change something about yourself, you shouldn't wait until the new year to start it, you should start the moment you decide that you really want to do it and that you are really ready to start. For me, this just happened to be the right time) which is to work on my French for at least an hour every day in various ways, mainly by reading (books, newspapers, magazines, whatever I can get my hands on), studying flash cards, and writing. I have a flash card program (iFlash) but I don't really like the format. It's too rigid. I want to be able to have a word or a phrase on the front and the definition and a few sentences on the back. I spent an hour or so trying to find a different program that I liked (and was preferably free) to no avail.
I got distracted from that and started cleaning up my computer. I've got so many documents and programs that I don't use anymore. That led me one document that was a list of songs I liked that I had heard on an internet radio station at least five years ago. I went through all of the songs and looked them up on YouTube. And surprisingly, I still really liked most of them, win. I actually bought one of the albums on iTunes (Quelqu'un m'a dit by Carla Bruni). It's funny because the first song of the album "Quelqu'un m'a dit" (video) is also on the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack and it's probably my favorite from that album. So I'd heard it, like, 5 years ago, forgotten about it, liked it when I saw the movie and then refound out about it just yesterday :). It's pretty similar to the music that I've been in the mood for lately (the last seven months or so): pieces that are pretty much just an acoustic guitar and singer that is almost just talking while they are singing (I know there is a term for this but I forget what it is called. One of my old roommates was studying it for a while). Oh btdub, it's all in French! Apparently, though, she is an Italian supermodel. Anyway, I'm really into this style right now; it feels very intimate, like it's just the artist, me and maybe a few other people alone in a dark basement bar. At first listen, I'm liking "Tout le monde" (video) most, probably because it's a waltz.
Some other old favorites that I found, and plan on buying the full albums once I have the money are:
Soko: I'll Kill Her (just really listen to the lyrics, that's all I have to say. I absolutely love this song and would buy the whole album now except that it was only available for purchase for about a year and a half starting in April 2007)
Mumm - ra: She's Got You High (it's a really awesome video too)
The Cloud Room: Hey Now Now
The Pigeon Detectives: Take Her Back
Milburn: The Genius & The Tramp
The Runners: All Over Again
MGMT: Time to Pretend (weirdest most awesome video ever)
Then I remember this French guy that my brother told me about 9 months ago or so. He's called Tété. The way my brother described it, he's kind of like a French Jack Johnson, which is pretty true. I got his first EP release "Le Préamble" which is pretty good as well as his second release "L'air de rien". The first song I heard of his which turned me on to him was either this one or this one, neither of which are on the albums I bought. I have this thing: when I find a new person/band that I like I want to listen to their albums in the order they were released. Usually I can't actually do it because either I can't find the first release or I don't have the money to spend on it. I splurged a bit on this, telling myself that listening to French music is a form of 'studying' lawl.
Well, that was pretty much all of yesterday. I'm going to try to write on today later tonight if the site will let me.
I got distracted from that and started cleaning up my computer. I've got so many documents and programs that I don't use anymore. That led me one document that was a list of songs I liked that I had heard on an internet radio station at least five years ago. I went through all of the songs and looked them up on YouTube. And surprisingly, I still really liked most of them, win. I actually bought one of the albums on iTunes (Quelqu'un m'a dit by Carla Bruni). It's funny because the first song of the album "Quelqu'un m'a dit" (video) is also on the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack and it's probably my favorite from that album. So I'd heard it, like, 5 years ago, forgotten about it, liked it when I saw the movie and then refound out about it just yesterday :). It's pretty similar to the music that I've been in the mood for lately (the last seven months or so): pieces that are pretty much just an acoustic guitar and singer that is almost just talking while they are singing (I know there is a term for this but I forget what it is called. One of my old roommates was studying it for a while). Oh btdub, it's all in French! Apparently, though, she is an Italian supermodel. Anyway, I'm really into this style right now; it feels very intimate, like it's just the artist, me and maybe a few other people alone in a dark basement bar. At first listen, I'm liking "Tout le monde" (video) most, probably because it's a waltz.
Some other old favorites that I found, and plan on buying the full albums once I have the money are:
Soko: I'll Kill Her (just really listen to the lyrics, that's all I have to say. I absolutely love this song and would buy the whole album now except that it was only available for purchase for about a year and a half starting in April 2007)
Mumm - ra: She's Got You High (it's a really awesome video too)
The Cloud Room: Hey Now Now
The Pigeon Detectives: Take Her Back
Milburn: The Genius & The Tramp
The Runners: All Over Again
MGMT: Time to Pretend (weirdest most awesome video ever)
Then I remember this French guy that my brother told me about 9 months ago or so. He's called Tété. The way my brother described it, he's kind of like a French Jack Johnson, which is pretty true. I got his first EP release "Le Préamble" which is pretty good as well as his second release "L'air de rien". The first song I heard of his which turned me on to him was either this one or this one, neither of which are on the albums I bought. I have this thing: when I find a new person/band that I like I want to listen to their albums in the order they were released. Usually I can't actually do it because either I can't find the first release or I don't have the money to spend on it. I splurged a bit on this, telling myself that listening to French music is a form of 'studying' lawl.
Well, that was pretty much all of yesterday. I'm going to try to write on today later tonight if the site will let me.
05 January 2011
Moved to Georgia
I left California yesterday at 14:50 out of John Wayne Airport on American Airlines and had to change planes in Houston, Texas. I'd never been to Texas before (though I don't really count 15 minutes in an airport being there) but the airport is awesome. The gates are all on one level and if you go upstairs there is a tram that goes around the terminals every two minutes or so. I hopped on that and got from one side of the terminal to the other for my connecting flight in, maybe, a minute, so cool!
The first flight was running a bit late, so by the time I got to the gate my flight was already boarding. I felt a bit rushed but everything turned out alright :) The woman I sat next to on the first flight gave me her TIME magazine that she had finished reading. There were a few good articles in there, I don't really remember what they were now but they were mostly year-in-review articles about 2010.
When I got in to Atlanta, I made my way down to baggage claim, got my two bags and made my way out. Near the USO place/office/thing there were three or four hundred (at least) army men in uniform, not going to lie, it was kind of intimidating. Most of them were really young though; I was probably older than half of them ... that's really weird. There are certain groups of people that no matter how old I am in relation to them I always feel younger (other college students, military personnel, doctors/nurses, etc.).
Anyway, I had to go up the escalator to get to the pick-up area. Usually when my mom is picking me up from an airport she just picks me up from outside the baggage terminal so she doesn't have to park and meet me anywhere. That was the plan. Right as I got off the escalator on my way to the door, she walked in, absolutely perfect timing. Then there was a 40 minute or so ride home.
Atlanta from what I saw around midnight is a pretty cool city. There are two major metropolitan areas, one the actual downtown and the other, according to my mom, is the hoighty-toighty (I have absolutely no idea how that is supposed to be spelled) area that is rich with 'southern old money'.
We got to the parental units' house in the suburb called John's Creek. It is the most ridiculous house I have ever seen (when I have a working camera, I'll put up pictures). My parents don't use the entire upstairs of the house, so I basically have it to myself. There is a HUGE backyard that open up on to the Chattahoochee River. I really can't describe this place in words so I'll just have to find a camera soon.
Earlier today I went out for a walk around some lakes that are nearby. It was really nice, a bit chilly. There was almost no one out and about; one guy was running with his two dogs. It's really weird. I've lived my whole life in California. We've got some pretty eclectic architecture there but I've never really seen anything like what they have here. Across the river there are a few houses that are all three stores tall with huge balcony/porches on every floor.
Well that's been my first 13 hours or so here thus far. I'm hoping to keep this up fairly consistently (fingers crossed for daily) but we'll see how that goes. I'm also going to try to keep up a blog in French as well, so if you know French, please feel free to read through it and correct any mistakes you find; there will be plenty I'm sure!
The first flight was running a bit late, so by the time I got to the gate my flight was already boarding. I felt a bit rushed but everything turned out alright :) The woman I sat next to on the first flight gave me her TIME magazine that she had finished reading. There were a few good articles in there, I don't really remember what they were now but they were mostly year-in-review articles about 2010.
When I got in to Atlanta, I made my way down to baggage claim, got my two bags and made my way out. Near the USO place/office/thing there were three or four hundred (at least) army men in uniform, not going to lie, it was kind of intimidating. Most of them were really young though; I was probably older than half of them ... that's really weird. There are certain groups of people that no matter how old I am in relation to them I always feel younger (other college students, military personnel, doctors/nurses, etc.).
Anyway, I had to go up the escalator to get to the pick-up area. Usually when my mom is picking me up from an airport she just picks me up from outside the baggage terminal so she doesn't have to park and meet me anywhere. That was the plan. Right as I got off the escalator on my way to the door, she walked in, absolutely perfect timing. Then there was a 40 minute or so ride home.
Atlanta from what I saw around midnight is a pretty cool city. There are two major metropolitan areas, one the actual downtown and the other, according to my mom, is the hoighty-toighty (I have absolutely no idea how that is supposed to be spelled) area that is rich with 'southern old money'.
We got to the parental units' house in the suburb called John's Creek. It is the most ridiculous house I have ever seen (when I have a working camera, I'll put up pictures). My parents don't use the entire upstairs of the house, so I basically have it to myself. There is a HUGE backyard that open up on to the Chattahoochee River. I really can't describe this place in words so I'll just have to find a camera soon.
Earlier today I went out for a walk around some lakes that are nearby. It was really nice, a bit chilly. There was almost no one out and about; one guy was running with his two dogs. It's really weird. I've lived my whole life in California. We've got some pretty eclectic architecture there but I've never really seen anything like what they have here. Across the river there are a few houses that are all three stores tall with huge balcony/porches on every floor.
Well that's been my first 13 hours or so here thus far. I'm hoping to keep this up fairly consistently (fingers crossed for daily) but we'll see how that goes. I'm also going to try to keep up a blog in French as well, so if you know French, please feel free to read through it and correct any mistakes you find; there will be plenty I'm sure!
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