Two songs

I have been a terrible blogger as of late, especially in regard to finishing posts I've started. School and fun have both gotten the better of me.

I figured for my two songs I would share one recent love and then my all-time favorite song.

So for my recent love I present "Addicted" by Morgan Page. This is going to come across as incredibly hipster but this song really is, well, mainstream. (I know certain people in my life will be rolling their eyes and groaning as they read the word "mainstream," so I'm sorry friends. You know who you are.) I have listened to this song a great number of times this semester. It's not even the type of song I would usually even like, but for some reason I do. In the last two or so years I've really gotten into what I like to call indie folk music, stuff that's really chill and often has banjo, guitar, mandolin and ukulele. And this song is definitely not anything like indie folk music.



But my all-time favorite song . . . It's a Ben Folds slice of loveliness. "The Luckiest." I've been enthralled with this song for literally years. Everything about it is wonderful.



So there you have it. Two songs. Next up I believe is three films. Hopefully I write about those in a quicker fashion than I did these two songs. Life itself sometimes gets in the way of recording it, not that it's necessarily a bad thing. As of late I've been focused on midterms and other school related projects like that, not that I'm not focused on school projects otherwise. Like I mentioned at the beginning, fun stuff has been getting in the way of blogging as well. I promise posts full of epic stories in the very near future though!

Last YouTube video I watched: Doctor Who: P.S.

Goals & motivation (I need a little of both)

There's the biggest goal of the semester: 150 miles in 16 weeks. I made a little chart where I can fill in the miles. It's fun to color in little boxes, right? I'm counting on that to motivate me, as well as, of course, ShayCarl. (He seems to be at the root of so many of my goals.)

So basically he's made me believe I can run 150 miles in 16 weeks. Lorraine has too. (Stay tuned for a semester full of running 5ks and probably a half marathon, all thanks to here.) I titled my playlist for this semester "Shaytember/fall 2012" because the songs on it really need to motivate me, in more ways than just running too. This semester, the first of what is technically my senior year, I'm balancing a lot of things: 14 credits spread out between 5 classes; a job in the library I've already come to love; wonderful & hilarious roommates; plenty of loyal & caring friends; going to as many sporting events as posssible; time w/ Jordan split between studying, playing music, watching sports & just enjoying each other's company in general; the desire to make delicious food . . . The list goes on.

Here's to hoping it all turns out okay.

Not too shabby

Last YouTube video I watched: Evolution of Music Live

Photo wall 4.0

Today was spent on the beginning stages of my new photo wall, or as I like to call it Photo Wall 4.0 - it's a pretty original name, I know. Each year of college the wall has gotten slightly bigger and grander. Every summer I try to print out all the best pictures from the last year. Somehow this summer I missed doing that, though. It's a shame because I had some great adventures in the last year. (I'm sure I'll get them printed off in the next couple weeks or so.)

A photo wall has become integral to any room I stay in for a prolonged period of time. It's the perfect way to decorate, though it does take quite a long time. I spend hours every year assembling photo walls, usually accompanied by some TV show on Netflix or a bunch of different music. Today the shows were White Collar and Arrested Development. The music was by Jackson Browne, Good Old War, Jason Mraz, City & Colour, Of Monsters and Men, Gavin DeGraw, The Lumineers, Brandon Flowers, Luke Conard, Charlie McDonnell, James Vincent McMorrow, and Passion Pit.

When my photo wall is complete, my room is complete. This year I get to share its completeness w/ Becca. It's going to be one heck of a year.

Another interesting thing that happened today was getting to see my lovely friend Grant. He came over so I could help him get into his girlfriend's old apartment so he could get some of her stuff. Sadly, we couldn't get in but we spent a good hour or so devising ways to do so. (Okay, so essentially we were trying to "break in" but I don't know if it really counts as breaking in when you use a butter knife connected to some string shoved through the top of the door to try and lift the dead bolt. We tried it on my door a bunch and got it to work but the door to her apartment fit snugly into the frame, so all our hard work was for naught.) Though let's get real: Grant was devising ways to get in while I stood/sat there talking to him about his new job, his girlfriend, and the great many number of boys who are currently in my life. ("Great many number" being sarcasm and meaning basically zero but kind of one because I only talked to one boy all summer though that doesn't really count. Suffice it to say, it's complicated.) It was great to see Grant and catch up a little bit.

My day got even better when I checked the mail for the first time at my new apartment. Lo and behold, I had a letter from the amazing Katie! Thus far we have been excellent at writing each other. Now that I'm back in Utah, we're literally a mile from each other, though she's basically locked away in missionary training prison. Luckily that means letters will take literally a day to get to each other. I'll probably spend a bunch of time tomorrow replying to her.

That's all I've got for now. I'm feeling pretty great about BEDA this year. I've had a good number of varying topics and for the most part my posts have generally been of an acceptable length. I hope all you people out there reading, you know, all 2 or 3 of you, are enjoying what I have to say.

Last YouTube video I watched: Safe & Sound cover by Luke Conard & Alex Goot

3 songs I couldn't get out of my head at work

Each summer at work my mind gets filled w/ a great number of songs and these three were just from tonight. One time I actually wrote an entire post on it filled w/ links to different music. Some nights I'll go through probably ten or twenty songs. For whatever reason tonight had only these few. I don't even know why it was these three; I wish there was a way for me to figure out why certain songs play such a big role in different parts of my life.

Last YouTube video I watched: Insufficient Funds: A Story of Canada

By the numbers: my first week back home

I flew home last Tuesday, the 19th of June. Here's some stuff I've done in the last week.

• Number of things I've eaten from Kopp's: 3. (Cheeseburger, caramel cashew in a waffle cone & onion rings)

• Number of episodes of Grey's Anatomy I've watched: 47. (And counting)

• Number of episodes of Doctor Who I've watched: 0. (I miss DW nights at the Lava Lounge)

• Number of text messages Jordan and I have sent/received: Something exorbitant. (Let's just say I've sent and received more text messages in the last week than in any other week since I've had a phone. Easily)

• Number of times I mowed the lawn: 1.

• Number of new pairs of shoes I've acquired: 1. (Wonderful Birkenstocks)

• Number of times I've run two miles: 3.

• Number of times I've seen my best friend Kate: 1. (It included paninis and raspberry frozen lemonade)

• Number of times I've listened to Brandon Flowers' solo album Flamingo in its entirety: 2. (But this number will be rising quickly)

• Number of fireflies I've seen: 3 (I saw them all last night when I went to close the windows on each of the cars)

• Number of new bands/albums I've listened to: 8.

• Number of days I've written in my journal: Every single one of them.

• Number of slices of delicious thin crust pizza I've eaten: I can't quite remember but it was a lot.

And today was my first day of work. Have no fear, people. Your cream cheese is in safe hands once again. It's interesting to work a full 8 hours again but soon enough it will become all I know.


Last YouTube video I watched: At Or With Me

Soundtrack to my spring

For the last three or four semesters, and the last one or two summers, I've created playlists of music that define the time. Basically, it's just the music I listen to during the semester/summer. As I find new artists or as old artists come to define things I do they get added to the list. And as spring semester winds down I figure now is as good a time as ever to share my spring 2012 playlist.

What I've noticed though is that my spring music was heavily influenced by other people and other places.

• Walk Off The Earth was suggestion given to me by ShayCarl in a good number of his videos from the end of April. You'll probably recognize them as the band who made the song Somebody That I Used To Know famous.
• Jason Mraz is one of my old artists who happens to have a new album. Love Is A Four Letter Word is lovely and the songs are perfect for warm weather.
• Joe Purdy's Wash Away is a song from an episode of LOST that I randomly remembered halfway through the term. I've no idea why I thought of it but I'm glad I did.
• Young the Giant's Apartment is a song Jordan told me to listen to forever ago, a suggestion I never really heeded for whatever reason. And then Trent started talking about Young the Giant so it got added to the list.
• Imagine Dragons is now a stand-by band that will probably always be on these lists.
• Can't Stop Won't Stop does a lot of music for Devin Graham's awesome videos. They're great pick-me-up songs.
• Radical Face is a band I learned about because of a YouTube musician who always used to do covers of their songs, and then Matthew/booshoe37 mentioned them a few times this spring so I took up listening to them again.
• Elliott Smith's Somebody That I Used To Know is not what you think it is. No, it is not Gotye. It's a very lovely song though. I honestly have no idea how I came upon it.
• Brofriend by ShayCarl. This song really just needs to be watched.
• Daddy Yankee's Lovumba I got from zumba class.
• The Gardener by The Tallest Man On Earth is another song I'd heard covered a bunch of times and took up listening to in its original format.
• Karmin is perhaps my favorite artist of the spring. Karmin is a YouTube artists who has basically made it big. Most people will probably recognize their song Brokenhearted. We always listened to it in zumba and then I finally find out who it was. It made me love it even more.
• Kings of Convenience became a new favorite thanks to Trent. One day he invited me over to sit in the grass with him while he was cleaning his climbing equipment. He had Kings of Convenience playing and it was the most relaxing and chill music I'd heard in a long time.
• M83 is another band from Trent, and also Grant. They adore the song Midnight City. I'm pretty sure whenever I drive anywhere with Trent we listen to this song.
• City and Colour is a band I learned about ages ago from my friend Margaret but until this spring I'd only heard a few of their songs. 
• Ministry of Magic brings me back to the glory days of Harry Potter. I've needed that this term.
• Passion Pit's new single Take A Walk is what I've been waiting for ever since I started listening to Passion Pit some time around freshman year. I'm hoping to see them live this summer.
• All Will Be Well by the Gabe Dixon Band is a song that was in an episode of Parks and Rec. I already have a few songs by the Gabe Dixon Band so when I realized this spring when watching Parks and Rec who the band was I was hooked. It's such a happy song, and spring has definitely been a time of happy songs.

I realize now this list looks a bit daunting/overwhelming. Oh well. I wanted to share all of it. Choosing certain artists/songs just seemed unfair.

As for today's plans, as it is my first official day of summer vacation, will be spent watching, you guessed it, more Euro Cup. While I watch I'm going to try to finish the second Game of Thrones book. Then this afternoon I'm going out to lunch with my friend Jeff since I won't get to see him again until August.

Last YouTube video I watched: High School Graduation Speech/Song - Rhett and Link

What I listen to (a lot)

So I have a last.fm account. Basically, it tracks everything you listen to, whether that be via iTunes or Spotify or whatever other music streaming you use. I always find it interesting to look at my stats because it keeps track of what your most songs/artists are over certain periods of time. It's really cool to see the listening trends you go through, and I definitely have them.

The artist I've listened to the most during the:

• Last seven days: Walk Off The Earth - 32 times
• Last month: Julia Nunes - 82 times
• Last three months: Imagine Dragons - 306 times
• Last six months: Julia Nunes - 334 times
• Last twelve months: Noah And The Whale - 414 times
• All time: Mae - 2704 times

The song I've listened to the most during the:

• Last seven days: Walk Off The Earth, Little Boxes - 16 times
• Last month: Foster The People, Waste - 18 times
• Last three months: Imagine Dragons, On Top Of The World - 68 times
• Last six months: Imagine Dragons, On Top Of The World - 68 times
• Last twelve months: Imagine Dragons, On Top Of The World - 68 times
• All time: Ben Folds, The Luckiest - 415 times

It's good times in my music library as you can tell. You can tell I've definitely been in a trend of Imagine Dragons and Julia Nunes, which is entirely accurate. And that Noah and the Whale has become an integral part of my life. I thank my friend Jordan for that. He got me into them even though he was all the way in Scotland. (And will be for only about 2 more weeks! Insanity.)

Noah And The Whale's song Blue Skies just came on. It sure is a great one. I mean, it's sad and simultaneously happy.

Well, I'm going to do some homework now. And then I'll play ukulele because I haven't done that yet and I cannot resist.

Last YouTube video I watched: Dave Ramsey Changed My Life

Thai deliciousness & musicality

Tonight my friend Trent, who is Thai, made authentic Thai food for some friends and myself. You may remember me mentioning my love of such food after Hank introduced me to it last October. I haven't had it since then but tonight did not disappoint. There is something so fantastic about a finely made curry. Just having dinner made for you is lovely, and not something that happens very often at college. It's nice having friends who cook ethnic foods. It's nice having a college family of sorts.

I could go on for ages about this food but I've also been inspired to talk about musical tastes and how crucial they are to relationships, both between friends and romantic interests.

While I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, I usually try to narrow it down for people. At the very least, I tell them I'll listen to basically anything but rap or country. Unless it's George Watsky; I like when he raps. But I digress . . . For the sake of many conversations I limit myself to categories like indie-folk or piano or jazz, when really the music I listen to is all of those things combined at times. A lot of the time my descriptions of music include specific instruments. These days it's often banjo, ukulele; and it's always included piano. Beyond the chill folk type music I love, I'm also kind of into electronic/alternative stuff, like Passion Pit. And then there is a'capella, which is unlike anything else and more fantastic than most music.

I've been thinking about music a lot as the time draws near that Jordan, who is basically my musical soulmate, returns from Scotland. I'm pretty sure the only thing regarding music Jordan and I have disagreed on is that I kind of like Iron and Wine's version of Such Great Heights almost more than I like The Postal Service's.

Music does so much to change relationships of all sorts. You can obviously be friends w/ people who have different musical tastes. I sure do. But I must acknowledge the fact that my perceptions of people and my respect for them can be lowered exponentially upon finding out their musical tastes are, well, different than mine. Yes, I do, at times, exhibit the behaviors of music snobs. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but I cannot always help myself. It's especially disappointing when I find myself attracted to a boy who seems incredibly wonderful and then I find out what he listens to and it becomes difficult to sustain the previous level of attraction. These things can be worked through, usually by focusing on the music you both happen to like, but life is just easier when you share the same musical loves. The music people like either heightens my respect for them or causes it to drop. There is no space for plateaus in my world of music. It's a weird concept, that my thoughts on someone could change so drastically because of something like music. I sometimes wish it wasn't that way, that I wouldn't use music as such a guide, but then I realize some people probably think my music is crap and are probably doing the same thing to me. Yet I don't care that they do.

At times I find myself feeling very hipster-ish because of my affinity for music basically no one else listens to. I don't do it on purpose. I just happen to spend a lot of time on YouTube where there happen to be an incredible number of talented musicians. This is not to say I don't listen to mainstream music, because I do, though it usually is limited to Coldplay. (I love Coldplay terribly and will never not, no matter what people say about them.) I made a playlist for a dance party Lorraine and I wanted to have. More than half the artists on that playlist I discovered through YouTube and no one would have heard of. It doesn't help that over Christmas break I seemed to have become some weird type of hipster/nerd/athlete combo.

For a taste of what I listen to on a general basis, I suggest reading my 25 songs of 2011 post. It is not comprehensive by any means, but it might give you an idea of what I enjoy. For example, it includes no big band or jazz music, which I was practically raised on, so just know I love things of that sort. For a truly comprehensive look at the music I love, I suggest examining my last.fm profile. That shows basically everything I've listened to since May 2007. (The song count is probably off since I forget to scrobble my iPod all the time but the most listened to artists is very accurate.)

Last YouTube video I watched: 4AM Monday (I also love running to this song.)

Julia Nunes

Julia's latest album Settle Down came out just a few days ago. And might I say that it is exquisite? Julia is so very talented and her new album is the best thing to happen to me since . . . Well, I guess since I started listening to Imagine Dragons' new album that came out a few weeks ago.

I'm always impressed with Julia. She never ceases to amaze. One of the reasons I like her so much is the fact that she doesn't sound like some pop girl musician. Her voice is lower than most female artists. I've had plenty of friends ask, "Is this a boy?" when listening to her in the past. (I don't really get this, though. I try all the time to figure out how she sounds like a man but I never can.) Her harmonies are lovely. Every song employs some sort of great harmony. I think the best example is in her song Maybe I Will. (I've linked to the original music video version, the one on Settle Down is super cool, though.) Julia's got some major power.

I also love Julia's use of instruments. Her standards are guitar and ukulele, but on Settle Down she's basically got a full band, plus random other stuff like Snapple caps. I'm not even kidding. She uses Snapple caps as percussion. It's incredible.

Then there's Julia's lyrics. She's a great songwriter. So many times the words of her songs articulate things I think and feel. I suppose it helps that she's only about a year older than me, so we've kind of always been at the same points in life, but still. Her songs can be simultaneously inspiring and happy while remaining a little more sad and thought provoking. One of my personal favorites is First Impressions. (The version I've linked to is pretty much the song in it's original form, which makes it probably my favorite. It loses a little something when it's recorded, I think, though it's still awesome.) As Julia writes new songs, you can see how she's changed and "grown up" so to speak. You can literally see/hear her mature in her songs. But it's the good kind of maturing; she's still a little kid on the inside which is also plenty evident.

And I cannot help but love a person who writes a vignette song called Pizza. I mean, seriously. How mature can you be if you write a song like that? That's the magic of Julia Nunes. You can go from something so moving, like I Think You Know, and then you get Pizza. And it is all still brilliant. That's the mark of a great musician/singer/songwriter. 

Also, she makes me not hate Justin Bieber for all of a few moments with her mashup of The Supremes and that rando kid I usually dislike greatly. It is dang catchy. Anyone who can make me okay with Justin Bieber deserves a medal.

But back to Settle Down really quick. Did I mention she was on Conan? And she performed her amazing song Stay Awake? Because she was. And she did.

I urge you: listen to Julia Nunes. Be amazed. You can listen to the album on Spotify or on her soundcloud. I'll be completely honesty too. She is pretty much the number one reason I even wanted to play ukulele in the first place.

Last YouTube video I watched: Best Surprise Ever 

And I suppose a little bit of a life update is in order. I've been 21 for two weeks now. It's pretty cool. My life is basically just full of writing, reading and more writing. I think next week I'll have four articles in the paper. (That's a lot for one week.) So life is busy, which makes things all the worse when you get sick, like I have this past week. On Monday or Tuesday I woke up with a pretty nasty cough. At first it was just a cough but now it's a congested nose. The cough has mostly subsided but my nose is still pretty messed up. It makes enjoying normal life pretty difficult. All I want to do is go for a run or to watch the volleyball game, but instead all I'm doing is preparing my four stories for next week and watching Doctor Who on Netflix. It's kind of lonely stuff but I'm okay with that. I wouldn't mind company but I get that people don't usually want to hang out w/ the kid coughing up a storm.

Noah And The Whale

This is my latest favorite band. I've known their one song 5 Years Time for a while now but it's only been in the last few months that I've really listened to any of their other music. And it's all thanks to a hardworking missionary boy in Scotland. He still manages to add to my music collection being some 3600 odd miles away. That's talent.

Earlier this summer I even learned 5 Years Time on the ukulele. Though I don't sing along, I kind of speak the words, the song is as great as ever, and only 3 chords! C, F, and G respectively. Before the summer is over I promise a video displaying my skills.

If you're looking for a really chill, kind of indie band, Noah And The Whale is exactly that. They're also pretty upbeat and have great lyrics. The song Give A Little Love is a wonderful example of a) happiness and b) some nice words. I wish music played on the radio was more like NatW (what I will hereafter refer to them as) and less like, you know, Katy Perry. It's not so much the music itself but the message it's sending and the words they're singing. I take big issue with the lyrics of current music but that's a post for another day.

Last YouTube video I watched: 10 Awesome Things (Go watch his videos, he's a cool kid and a new friend)