No. 153: London Calling

okay-- so i haven't blogged, i didn't put the songs up (though i do have them written down) because i left the journal with them written down at home. BUT:

I am in London. I got here on Sunday and will be here until June 7th. It is excellent.
Update is that it's cold but I brought more clothes than a person should, so I think I'll be alright. It's expensive but I'm spending (mostly) wisely, getting gifts for people out of the way and budgeting for food, etc. London is amazing. The accents are great, the cars are amazing (I saw at least 30 Porches today), and the art I've been studying is INCREDIBLE. I got to see the original Degas, Two Dancers on a Stage and it almost made me cry. I've decided to write my course paper on Degas. Apparently he was kind of horrible, so this should be an interesting paper. Plus the Courtauld is a beautiful gallery.

Tomorrow we're going to about 5 different museums and then the Championships Manchester vs. Chelsea are tomorrow, so London is going to be NUTS. I've very excited. Sam's birthday is on June 1st and we're already making adventure plans.
Ursula, my "aunt", is meeting Natalie and I for dinner on Friday night and then Daddy comes on the 27th. Then Artie should be done with finals by then and he'll come to chill as well. It's going to be quite a trip. Natalie and I have plans for a day venture to Brighton Beach this weekend on Saturday. I think Sam and Kathryn are going to Paris. Monday we're all having Danish waffles for dinner at this place that does all you can eat for 5 quid.

This country is insane.
And now I'm going to bed b/c it's 1 something here.

I miss home. But London is lovely.

H.

No. 139: So Cruel

So last night I was talking to Natalie about the variety of stupid problems I've been having and I said something like, "Something's always in the way". This got me thinking about a song lyric but I couldn't remember which song it was from. Google (our dear and glorious leader) of course solved this problem for me and I was able to find that it was "You" by Switchfoot. I'm embarrassed to say that I do indeed love that song. DC ++ fixed my not having it on my computer and led me to the A Walk to Remember soundtrack, which I own but haven't listened to since the week after I bought it when the movie came out. I either have or hate most of the other songs on the album, except for one: "Someday We'll Know" by Mandy Moore and the lead singer of Switchfoot whose name I'm too lazy to Google right now. In any case-- I love this song, and much like "Piece of Me" by Britney Spears, I hate that I love it. It's not officially stuck in my head.
There's this lyric, "Did the captain of the Titanic cry". I'm ashamed of how sappy I get about this song. Whatever.
The point is-- songs use pathos to drag you in. It's mean.

This day has been a see-saw of awful. I got up this morning in a great mood, all ready for my day. Then I realized I'd forgotten about Writing Seminars pre-registration and in a panic, pretty much ran to Gilman where I encountered a line down the hall way. I got both classes I wanted, however. HA, rising Sophomores. Now you will know the bitter taste of booked major classes.
Then I rushed off to Moral Philosophy to catch the last twenty minutes of the lecture on Sartre that I've been waiting for. Pissed me off to miss the first half b/c I read the reading and had about 80 questions and things I wanted to ask and had already missed the parts I really wanted to hear about by the time I go there. However, the TA who was lecturing agreed to meet with me on Friday and talk about my questions, etc. Existentialism freaks me out and I think it's full of holes, but I want to debate it with someone who actually understands the majority of the arguments and can point me to some other writer than Sartre. After that I went to study Spanish, and thought I had a grasp on it, so I watched half of an episode of Freaks & Geeks, which Michael has me stuck on. When I got to Spanish and looked at the test, I realized my grasp wasn't as tight as I was hoping for, and that I was screwed. We'll see. I felt that way about the last test and it turned out OK.
I now have to sit through two and a half hours of lecture on Death in the Afternoon, a book which I'm about ready to hold a burning party for. Blech. I just wanna take a nap. Maybe I'll leave at the break. Maybe not.

In other news-- I love the t-shirt I'm wearing and it expresses a sentiment holding especially true right now. The down side is that my running around everywhere today has made me sweaty. OH, THE HUMANITY!

If these are all my problems, I've got it pretty good, I suppose.

H.

No. 63: A Playlist for a breezy fall day

This is what I compiled at lunch and have been listening to since. It pretty much grasps my feelings for today, not consistently in regards to lyrical theme, but with musical mood. Blah blah blah.

1. Ten Cent Blues/ Eisley
2. 1,2,34/Feist
3. It's True, New Buffalo
4. The City, The Dismemberment Plan
5. Let's Call It Off/Girl Talk remix of Peter Bjorn & John
6. Maps, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
7. Combinations, Eisley
8. Novel, Tim Williams
9. Venice, Beirut
10. Don't Ask, Grizzly Bear
11. I Cried Like a Silly Boy, DeVotchKa
12. Don't Stop, Brazilian Girls

A pretty solid playlist of mellow tunes, if I don't say so myself.
I want more playlists. I've developed a bad habit of just listening to mixes. Although today I did listen to the whole Jose Gonzalez album straight through. I'm pretty sure one of his songs was used in the last episode of Scrubs. Is it just me, or is Scrubs sort of getting lamer? I love this show SO much, don't get me wrong, but maybe they're pushing it just a little with 7 seasons. Maybe.

Dinner, Art in London info session and Den readings with Natalie tonight. Actually excited about my night, although it is lacking in a key feature of Michael. Ah well.
It's been a really good day, so far. I really needed it.

H.