To Kingdom Come by Passion Pit

I received Passion Pit's Manners cd as a Christmas gift, and every track on it is quite wonderful. The band has been getting tons of buzz over the past year, and rightfully so; I'm glad I bought into it.

Here's "To Kingdom Come," which I seem to can't stop playing:

Awesome Amaaaazing Best Happy Also Amazing Killer Lovely

Ok. Here goes. Catch-up time!
So I went through my last few posts, and I realized that I basically haven't updated properly since September. I deserve quite a few slaps on the wrist.
Since a whole semester has flown by and thus many many events, bullet list the format be:

Chronological events since last September-

-the Boston trip was awesome!
--Cabaret was amaaaazing. It blew my expectations out of the water. Our seats were in the absolute most front possible. We felt IN the show- the actors were performing all over the place, even cutting through amongst the tables. Bonus: Amanda Palmer came out at the very beginning of the show dressed in a sheer, barely-there dress and rolled around on the stage right in front of us. She's quite beautiful.
--the day before we saw her in a mini-concert, Amanda Fucking Palmer's Late Night Fucking Cabaret. It was also quite beautiful. She played Ampersand, I almost died.

-Halloween was one of my best ever. Maybe the best. (It lasted approximately 4 days). I got to dress up as a Gryffindor student and Captain Hammer. Fuck yes.

-The boyfriend and I broke up. It's pointless to go into details. But I had been thinking about breaking up for a while anyway, and it's definitely for the best. We just didn't fit. And now I'm happy.

-November was also amazing. My New Jersey bestie came to visit and we had an EPIC weekend. All in one day (starting at 12:00am) we saw the premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt.1, ate the delicious dumplings on the Corner, visited Downtown (yummy tea & hookah, found a legit hippie headband at a legit vintage oldies store), and saw Dave Matthews Band in his hometown on his second-to-last concert for who knows how long. He played Halloween. We almost died.

-Finals were killer. I basically lived in the library. Along that note, my grades for my first semester at my new school were the worst I've ever gotten. Ironically, these grades I worked the hardest in my life for. Such is life. They're not terrible, but I plan to do better.

-Christmas was lovely. I got a television! We might have to rearrange the dorm room around it though...which I'll feel bad about.

That about sums it up. I'm going back to school this weekend and I'm pretty excited. I miss my friends and I'm definitely sick of my family (I was from day one). Though I'll miss relaxing and just watching TV shows all day. Seriously. I've watched seasons 1-3 Deadwood, s1-4 Mad Men, s5 Dexter, s1 Twin Peaks, s1 Doctor Who, and half-way done with s5 Supernatural. Wow.

Hopefully I'll be better about updating in the future. D'oh.

Oy

Oy. I've gotten pretty bad at this, n'est-ce pas?
BUT I'm on winter break. And you know what that means.....plenty of free time....and you know what that means......plenty of boredom! Huzzah!
So I'll be back with updates shortly. I promise.
It will probably be in bullet-list form again. Cause I think its been months. Right? I haven't checked. Since I don't remember, I take that as a "yes."

Procrastination: UVA Edition

I am back to my procrastination ways.

Arrived at the library at 1:30pm. Switched from reviewing Bio to working on 7-page Herodotus paper at 4:00pm. It is currently 6:02am and I have one page completed. The paper is due tomorrow today at 1:00pm.

ASPCA; White Knuckles by OK Go

Ok, another installment in my music list. I think I'm just going to copycat iTunes a bit and call this series "Gee.Ay.'s Discovery Download." As in, I discover, and you should download. Or, in actuality, since I don't plan to become a prolific blogger and like keeping it more as a personal journal, it's more, I discover, I downloaded, and now I won't forget about it. Maybe ten years from now I can come back to his humble blog and rediscover amazing music that had become dusty over the years. That would be ideal.

So now for the next installment.
I *doubt* I'll ever forget about OK Go, since I love them so. I'm mainly posting the next video for its awesomeness. The song("White Knuckles")'s great too, but I want to focus on the video. Basically, the band hired out some rescue dogs and trained them and now are promoting the ASPCA. Clearly they know the way to this girls heart.
If anyone does read this post, please please please find some extra cash in your heart and buy the video for your personal computer pleasure. They're donating the net proceeds to help even more rescue doggies.

Now, finally, here's my newest discovery download:

Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear

Next song is for my ongoing list of awesome music that I've recently discovered and that everyone should know. Clearly I need to come up with a better description and name. But not now. Because now I just want to post this.

Before you listen, I recommend watching it on mute so that you can be creeped out and possibly scarred for life like I just was. (My roommate is sleeping. I am awake and procrastinating.) I had no idea what the music video was like; I always got an artsy naturey vibe when I listened to the song. I guess I got the artsy part right...but definitely not the 'splodey bug-eyes one.



I actually discovered this song last semester. I can't *exactly* remember how, but I was basically obsessed for a week and then it kind of faded into the obscurity of my giant itunes library. Then itunes reminded me of its loveliness on shuffle today. Gotta love the rare times when it takes a break from constantly bringing forth your most embarrassing tunes and dusts off a fun gem instead.

BFP Bullet Fucking Points & AFP Amanda Fucking Palmer

Holy crapola. I'm getting behind on updating again. Quickly:

-UVA so far is working out lovelely.

-My roommate is pretty awesome.
--Sidenote: although my roomie last year was pretty awesome too, she was kind of antisocial. And I'm slowly realizing that just chillin with her alone together in our dorm is basically the reason it took me forever to make friends last year.

-Expanding off the sidenote sorta, having a doorstop to keep our dorm door open is THE BEST THING. Seriously. I know half the hall pretty well now.

-Already visited NoVA for the bf and Mason friends. It was quite successful and the drive was under 2 hours. Good: I can go up there often like cake. Bad: I'll now being going up there so often the gas money will be killa cake.

-ONE MONTH UNTIL BOSTON
--Sidenote: Have I mentioned this? The bf and I bought tix to fly to Boston for Amanda Fucking Palmer in Cabaret and Amanda Fucking Palmer's Late-Night Fucking Cabaret. His parents used their points to get us a hotel. It's going to be so fucking awesome. Did I also mention that this will make me literally go broke? I've been saying I've been broke for a while, since I have no job, but that was just figuratively, since I have no job. Now it will be literally. But it shall be the most fun going broke I will likely ever experience. Fuck yes.

UM...YES. Ms Palmer beckons and I come.

Read that as you see fit.

JGL hitRECord Natural Woman

Have I mentioned how awesome and amazing Joseph Gordon-Levitt is?
Besides his gorgeous looks and wonderful acting and film choices, he started his own production company spawning from his website hitRECord.org. Anyone can sign up and join, create art, share it, and then anyone else can take your art and add to it. People can just build and build and build off of one another's creativity to produce something even more inspiring and beautiful. Basically, it's genius. It also reminds me of how much I want to be artistic and creative again, a la my Leonardo's Camp and middle school days.
Anyway, the whole point of this blog at 1:46AM on Wednesday morning was to share this adorable video:



Could he be anymore charming? (The answer is, "No")

Tattoo Ideas

Every once in a while, my brain grabs onto this topic and I just start jonesing. My mind gets focused for once. All on beautiful, expensive tattooing. I won't be able to think of anything else. I get into designs, placement, research, etc.
I'm in one of those funks now.
I have two AMAZING ideas. One new, one old.
Old: one of Louis Wain's schizophrenia-induced kaleidoscope cats
My favorite is "Gouache"

I chose to research Louis Wain for my final big senior project/presentation last year. His story is as fascinating as his artwork, and I return to its beauty often.
This tattoo would be very inspirational for me. It would remind me of Louis Wain's life, and thus, how no matter how difficult and dark life becomes, there will always be art, creativity, passion, and beauty in the world.

New: M.C. Escher

I've loved M.C. Escher ever since my grandmother gave me a book about him. Recently however I've been sort-of "re-discovering" his artwork through my ever-changing desktop wallpaper. Now that I'm home, I remembered that book, and frantically searched for it. So far, no go. I expected it to be on my bookshelf like it was for so many years, but it's gone. Tomorrow I plan to scourge the entire house.
For the tattoo, I was thinking of one of his classic tessellations.
I love this particular example because of the shape. It's just a few birds that loosely fill a circle. The most classic of his designs taper into points that I feel wouldn't fit a body space very elegantly. To elaborate on body space, if I got both, I was thinking that "Gouache" would go on my inner arm and then I'd have to take samples of Escher's work and form them together so that the birds could flow/cascade on my side, like following the natural contours created by my ribcage.

Though I'm still not positive though about which M.C. Escher art piece I would choose. This is why I wanted to find and consult my old book. I love so many of his designs, I know it will be difficult.
Oh and I wouldn't just get an Escher tattoo solely because of it's beauty. It would commemorate my grandmother- she would never want me to get a tattoo completely devoted to her (i.e. face, name). This "commemoration" is fitting because she gave me that book (obviously) and because she was always introducing me to art. She loved going to museums and seeing art exhibitions, and I loved her and I miss her every day, and I wish I hadn't been so obstinate in my young age.
You can probably tell that I'm beginning to get ramble-y. It's late in the night and thinking of my grandmother stirs many thoughts and emotions, rendering me linguistically useless.

I think I was able to remember and put down most of my thoughts about these tattoos. Finding an artist I trust enough to transcribe them onto my flesh will be the most difficult step though... But I have plenty of time, as dictated by my bank account and unemployment.


My poorness plus this new frenzy has REALLY got me dying for a job now. Maybe spring semester? We'll see.

First Semester Friends Please?

Move-in at UVA is a week from tomorrow. Ugh.
I'm really not looking forward to it. My first semester at Mason was quite awful (socially, not academically), so I'm basically dreading this first semester at my new school. I'm just not good at making friends anymore. Well...I'm not good at pushing myself to make friends. It's a lot of work for potentially little payoff. I'm praying begging hoping that fortune favors me this time and everything just comes together like it seemed to do with my hometown friends and their schools.
Pretty pretty please?

Oh and my class schedule is a mess. I'd also love for that to come together sometime soon.

I joke about sex because it's funny when you're frightened

New series, but not an original idea.
I just uploaded a bunch of new music to my itunes after raiding the bf's cds. Also now that I'm back at home for a couple of weeks I'll be getting some new music from the family as well. So. I've decided to highlight some of my favorite gems that I've discovered while attempting to listen and learn this new awesome music.

First up, The Dresden Dolls. I made a new car mix cd for my drive home yesterday (so glad I did, that was a nightmare) and I knew I wanted a fast-paced Dresden Dolls song on there because 1) they fit the theme of the cd and 2) I didn't want the whole mix to be music I already knew by heart.
I had "Recently Added" playing while I packed and cleaned and this particular song I kept returning to. Then I actually listened to the lyrics and was amazed that Amanda Palmer managed to make rape slightly funny. That is quite an accomplishment.

"Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turner" by The Dresden Dolls:


Love it for the fast pace, and the added quirks of tone changes and screamy-gasp things. And the lyrics of course, here are samples of my favorites from the song (besides the title of the post, kinda):
"I joke about death because it's funny when you're frightened"
"I doubt we would be anywhere without your gift for keeping truth and consequence from meeting"

Amazing Canceled TV

Look at me! I'm updating just a couple of days later! (Let's see if I can keep this up, HA!)

Six Amazing TV Shows That Were Canceled Prematurely:

Veronica Mars
buzzwords: mysteries, witty, noir, smartass

Arrested Development
buzzwords: absurd, quotable, cool-cred, illusions

Pushing Daisies
buzzwords: colorful, pie, Chenoweth, zombies (technically)

Party Down
buzzwords: hilarious, amazing cast, overlooked
Freaks and Geeks
buzzwords: young, realistic, 80's
Firefly
buzzwords: space, cowboys, Whedon

So if you haven't seen any of these shows, clearly you're missing out and you must fix that immediately. I mean, c'mon, it's the end of summer. What else are you going to do? Plus, you know that each of these shows don't have many seasons (VMars and AD win with 3 each, 2 for both "PD"s, and 1 for F&G and Firefly), therefore you'll be finished and begging for more in a jiffy.

Hmm next I think I could do a list of overlooked, amazing shows that are close to being canceled... Well that'd be more fun than studying. Seems like all my blog posts have spawned from my procrastination issues. Oh chuckle.

Whoops Happenings

Oy. Once again I've failed to update this thing. A LOT has happened since the last post, in which I was stressing over my final for the first session of summer classes. Now, here I am about to begin stressing over the final of the second (and last) session of my summer class.
I think the best way to cover the events between the first final exam and the last final exam is to make a list. Yay lists!

Happenings:

• I passed my summer class with a B-! Yeehaw!
  
• I am no longer eligible to be an innocent virgin sacrifice
• Due to the above bullet, I contracted an annoying UTI. But I sought meds for it, and they were free, score!
• I went home for about a week in between classes and had a grand ol' time that included lots of brownies, purple hair, and busch gardens
• One of my besties and her bf (who is the male version of me. don't worry, its not weird. kinda) came to visit me at school and we had the best zoo trip EVAR. Seriously, the animals were strangely active doing random things
• I attended Orientation at UVA and fucked up the side of my car in a parking garage

I think that about covers it. I promise I'll try to do more updates. I just need to remember, since its my gorram blog, I'm allowed to do short, random posts (aka half-assed posts) and that will make me feel better about hardly posting personal life-centric things.

Exam Vent

I hate studying. I also hate studying when I feel like it's not even going to help my grade.
My final exam is on Friday. In one hour it will be "tomorrow." Last year, the summer class's average on it was 58. Failing. Fuck. After my horrendous grade on the third exam (passing, but with a 68), I'm starting to worry that I won't manage a C. I need a C for credit. If I don't get at least a C in this class, I will have wasted my parents money on tuition and housing. Thousands of dollars.
This class has been killing me. I have put a lot of effort into this class, many many hours, and it might be all for nothing.
Okay, sure, I'll admit I could have put in more effort, but you can usually say that with anything.
I know I should be studying, but my motivation is starting to wane. It just feels hopeless at this point. OIFSOGHLEUHF:OEHFUHSFDOUEHFSOGHN
I hate whining. I know I must do it a lot on this blog, because this is where I can vent guilt-free.
-sigh-
Hopefully my mind is just being crazy because it's late and I'm tired. I'm so not looking forward to the huge cram session tomorrow.

Oh boy, and after the final I have to deal with securing my housing for the next session of summer classes and moving all my shit out and driving home. Fuck my cock.
Can it just be Saturday already?

Summer Flarhgunnstow

Oh my goodness I need to update this thang.
Currently I'm still at Mason, taking a summer course to catch up on my major. Joy. It's a lot of work, and I forgot how bad my summer laziness gets, so its not going so hot at the moment. I'm hoping for a B, but right now I think I'm borderline.

I'm starting to get into a gym routine again. Basically, when I have some time in the day, I go. I think I may go right after I finish this up actually.
It feels so good to have that as part of my schedule again. Who knows if its actually helping my muscle tone/health/whatever, but it makes me feel like it is so I don't care.
I'll be dogsitting next month so I'll find out when I hop on their scale. If I gain weight though I'm definitely going to be telling myself its more heavy muscles haha. Lawd knows that if I do, its not from over-eating because I pretty much just have 2 meals a day. I do have breakfast now but that's just a juice box and a 90cal granola bar. Some snacking on weekends when I'm sitting at my laptop all day with my groceries at my feet, but its all little, light calorie shtuff.
Why am I going into this? Pretty dull.

Though my current summer situation is rather dull anyway. Class, lab, lab reports, homework, and boyfriend time. That's basically it. Not much else I can do when my weekly allowance has all gone towards food so far.
I'm satisfied though. I miss just chillin with my hometown friends, but those days are mostly over anyway. Jobs and school and life and such. Ew, that's a sad thought to end on..

How about something AWESOME to end on instead:

Procrastinating Ridiculous

Once again, I find myself procrastinating a big-ass paper into the wee hours of the night/morning. Here's the skinny, 10 pages critiquing the class due tomorrow by 5pm. However, my mother is coming up to move me out of my dorm some time before 5pm. So really, I need to get this shit done now. Actually I should have had it done days ago.
The sad thing is, this paper should be cake. I just can't get myself to do it.
What I'm probably going to end up doing is packing my stuff up tonight and writing this paper tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll have a couple pages done tonight. So far I have one paragraph.
I'm a joke.
Well maybe I'm past that point. I'm starting to be seriously concerned for myself now. This procrastination problem is getting ridiculous, worse and worse each paper.
Great, now I'm sleepy.

UVA Toby Boyfriend

I got into UVA!
Yeah, I found out a couple weeks ago actually...Clearly I'm not jumping for joy or anything about it. Actually, my feelings are pretty numb. I am going, but I decided to go basically only because I don't want to be able to regret not giving it a shot. So yeah, I'm going to try it out and if I hate it, I'll just transfer back.
I think I'm going to stick with Bio major though. Their cognitive science major sounds really interesting, but I don't think that will result with many career opportunities. Whenever I think about that path actually my mind brings up "HR Representative" with a picture of Toby from The Office. No one wants to be Toby.

Things with the new boyfriend have been going pretty well. I still haven't gotten used to calling him "boyfriend" though. It just feels weird haha. Last night I went the farthest I've ever gone with someone. No sex but I'm pretty sure he popped my cherry, cause I'm bleeding, so, duh. He's a really great guy, and I love spending time with him, though he's grated on my nerves more times than I would like. Recently, he's been freaking out about me not telling my parents about him yet. I understand that it really bothers him, and why he finds it so important, but I think he just doesn't understand why I haven't. I'm not close to my parents at all; I never tell them about my personal life. Thankfully he didn't bring it up yesterday and I don't know the next time I'll see him, so hopefully I'll have done it by then. I plan to shoot my mom an email about my move-out and drop it in there, since he wants to meet her on the move-out day, so I hope to get it all over with soon. Not looking forward to it though. Ugh.

One Week

One week until I hear about the UVA decision! It's exciting but nerve-racking at the same time. In some ways, it would actually be a small relief if I didn't get in. Mason's grown on me, I know what'd I major in here, I have good friends, and a boyfriend. Everything's just fallen into place this second semester. If I do get in, it's going to be a really hard choice. But at the same time, if I do get in, I'd be crazy not to go. Right?

So I've already met the boy's parents. Today, I'll be seeing them again because his mom invited me to his cousin's birthday party, where I'll meet more of his family. It's a lot to take in. We haven't even been dating for a month yet. Am I over-reacting? Should I not be so nervous about his family and going too fast? It's hard for me to judge since I've never been in this situation before...grr.

New Boy!

Wow. A LOT has happened since my last post.
So...umm...yeahhhh I kind of have a boy now. I KNOW. It's major.
I met him through my roommate and apparently he liked me right away. They even deviously plotted for us to run into each other so that we could talk more. Wait that sounds creepy, but it wasn't. Now we've been dating for about 2 weeks. Not sure if we have the boyfriend/girlfriend label yet, and its not "facebook official," but I think we'll get there.
He's kind of intimidating though. Or 'it' is..as in the relationship is. He's admitted that he's a slight sex addict. Clearly I am way less experienced than him. Also, that's resulted in things moving pretty fast. I haven't done anything new yet, but we've done everything that I've experienced before. Then I remember, "Damn, its only been 2 weeks. I should slow down." I feel bad about slowing down, because its tough for him, I feel like I'm constantly teasing him.
There's a lot more I can say, but I feel bad enough for letting this much out here, plus I'm too tired to go into it.
But, yay! exciting!


In other news,
I didn't get the summer Smithsonian internship. I don't let myself think about it too much because then I know I'll get depressed. The boy came at just the right time to distract me actually...
Yeah, so now I get to try and find a summer job at home and drive hours to see him during the break. Oh and also, if I go to UVA, I'd be in a long distance relationship. Which I believe are destined to fail. Not good. He's aware of these thoughts though.

Let's end it here.
I'll try and update more frequently...promise.

Bio Major Fuckity

*le sigh*

Just bombed my midterm for Bio Lab...after having aced the Bio exam the day before. Although I use the term "aced" loosely. I only got a 92, (after studying for hours), which in fact would equate a B at my old high school.
This isn't good.
Around last week or so, I decided that if I end up staying at GMU, I'll declare Biology as my major and pursue minors in French and Anthropology.
Looks like I suck at my major. ...Okay I don't suck at it. I'm just...okay at it. But shouldn't you be awesome in your major? Or at least love the subject so much that average ability doesn't matter?
There's my problem.
Now what to do?
I realize that it's a little extreme to base my whole career future on one week of Bio, but I feel like my time is running out on choosing a major.

Fuckity fuck fuck.


Man I wish I had a passion for something. That would make everything easier. Obv.


P.S. Housing assignment went smoothly and we got a bitchin' place for next semester. So nice that it makes me want to stay at Mason. Almost.