A Severe Lack of [P]interest

So Pinterest is a thing.

In my 64-person entrepreneurship lecture, my professor asked how many people in the class used Pinterest. When there were too many hands to count, she instead asked how many people did not use Pinterest.

I saw three hands go up. One belonged to me.

First, I want to congratulate the gentlemen who created the website on what must be quite an understanding of the inner workings of the female mind, seeing as they have an absurd number of women swooning over their product. Second, I wish them all the luck in the world as they set out to finally earn money off their multi-year project.

I understand the concept of Pinterest. Kind of. I know that you follow people and make different boards (audience poll - how many single girls/women have a wedding board?). I know that it's a great source for cooking ideas and craft ideas (no shame, I did enjoy the melting-Crayons-on-a-canvas-with-a-hairdryer fad that went on two years ago). That's pretty much the extent of my knowledge.

From time to time, Jill sends me links to things she's pinned or seen pinned. And I'll follow the link back to the boards where she found them. But then it's just an overload. There's so much... everything. And for every adorable picture of the world's newest cutest fluffiest animal or the best and easiest recipe for fresh baked brownies using extra dark, extra foreign chocolate and milk from a virgin hairy cow, there's a screen-full of pins that I have no interest in seeing.

Jill is my Pinterest filter. I only see the things I'd actually have interest in seeing. And for that, I'm thankful.

Moral of the story, I don't pin. I have no interest in pinning. I think pinning is overrated. I'd rather keep a real bulletin board of things I really care about rather than a virtual board of things I virtually care about.

(But it's still better than Twitter...)

Twittering

Twittering. Isn't that what birds do? Yes, although I suppose birds both "twitter" and "tweet," but let's look at those dictionary definitions:

Twitter (verb) - to utter a succession of small, tremulous sounds, as a bird
Tweet (verb) - to make a weak chirping sound

Oh wait, when it comes to Twitter, don't people just "tweet?" Awkward...

Not gonna lie, I find Twitter annoying. I'm not going to full-out hate on it, because I don't full-out hate it, but I just can't get into it. I have an account, but it was made for the sole point of bothering one of my suitemates freshman year. That's about all I've used it for. I have no idea what my password is. Or my account name...

One of my friends once stated that he had realized Twitter was "all the bad parts of Facebook put onto one site. It's every status update that I don't care about reading all on one page." I can't help but agree. People generally put some level of thought (maybe not much, but some amount) into their Facebook updates. It at least takes a little bit of effort. That level of thought seems to be lacking when it comes to tweets.

I'm sure not everyone tweets multiple times an hour, but I know quite a number of folks who do. It just makes me wonder what happened to the personal filter that used to dictate what was important for everyone to know and what should really just be kept to oneself. I will go ahead and accuse Twitter of helping to destroy that filter. Or being the ultimate demise. Probably the latter.

[Rescue] Mission Accomplished

Preface:
1) I work at Stone Summit Climbing and Fitness Center.
B) I love my job.

Some shifts are just fantastic, like last weekend's. I don't know what was in the air, or more likely in the chalk, but it was working in my favor. I had two staff-assisted climbs with some really awesome customers. A lady told me she thought my shorts were "so cute." And I got to rescue two kids off the wall.

Some people might think that's annoying. I just think it's hilarious.

The first was a little girl clipped into an automatic belay on our upstairs beginner wall. She'd climbed two-thirds of the way up and was too scared to let go and float down. I personally think she was too light anyway (true story: for some kids, we clip ropes to the backs of their harnesses to pull them back down the wall because they don't weigh enough. They'll let go and just sit there. It's kinda funny.) So her parents were trying to convince her to let go and she wouldn't. I was already harnessed up so I offered to retrieve her. Her mom said, "yes please. This is usually the point where her brother climbs up and pulls her down, but he's not here today." Lolz.

So a few hours later a co-worker and I were assigned a rescue mission. One of our walls has a repel ledge about, oh, 25 feet up? A different girl (maybe 8 or 9) had climbed all the way up and was terrified to come back down over the ledge. She'd scoot really close and put one foot over and then shake her head and back away. One of the managers went and talked to her parents and then came back and assigned two of us to bring her back down. We harnessed up and walked over and tied in to the route next to hers. I got up to the ledge and stood beside her and we chatted briefly. Found out that she was scared because she couldn't see where she was putting her feet (a valid point, mind you). I climbed back over the edge and ended up carrying her down. Got a high five and much thanks at the bottom when I untied her, then she and her family got ready to head home and I went back to the front desk.

About ten minutes later one of my co-workers came back from doing the hourly bathroom check. She told me she'd overheard the girl talking to her sister while washing her hands: "that lady who brought me down smelled so nice."

My job is awesome.

Error 404: Dear Gens X and Y...

I won't go so far as to say that I hate technology. I'm definitely a fan of Hulu, I've got a Facebook, I do jam with my iPod, and obviously I blog on occasion (fact: no matter how many times I say that, I always feel nerdy). But I will confess that 1) when I'm not using technology, I don't miss it, and b) when I am using it, I frequently become so frustrated that I just yell mean things at my computer. It's safe to say that my laptop and I don't have the greatest relationship.

My family recently took a trip to Scotland. The trip itself was fantastic, but one of the best parts was having no phone and no Facebook. Not that I don't love my friends and miss talking to them - of course there were times when something happened and I wished I could have texted someone about it. But overall, neither Frederick nor the Great Book of Faces was missed.

But that's not the focus of my big spiel.

I know people go on the technology rant all the time, and cyberspace is so expansive that everyone can find something different to get upset about. So I'm sure that no one will be unfamiliar with my topic of choice. My largest frustration is the overwhelming number of kids who have smart devices. I don't mean students. I mean kids. Part of the frustration is due to the fact that I'm not a smartphone person - I simply don't believe people need to be wired all day e'er day (I'm not sorry that I don't care what food you Instagram'd tonight). But a much larger portion of irritation is due to the absurd amount of kids in middle school and below who I see carrying around an iPhone or iPad or other smart device.

You might say, "hey, Catherine, that kid's six years old. Obviously that iPhone belongs to his mom."

Well, my dear voice of reason, let's address your potentially valid points.

1) Much to my dismay, I have a friend whose six year old brother received an iPhone 5 for Christmas this past year. *insert facepalm here* So while most children that young aren't going to be in possession of their own smart device, some, unfortunately, are.

B) Yes, often times I do see parents handing the child their own smartphone so that the kid can, I dunno, watch a tv episode while getting dragged around the grocery store. This still irks the mess out of me. I understand that children's tv programming is intended to be educational, but they still shouldn't be exposed to it 24/7. Common sense, yo. They already watch it at home as much as they can. How many times were you told, "turn off the tv and go play outside?" If you're like me the answer was somewhere around a million. And now that I'm grown am I thankful I was kicked off the sofa and out into the sun? Or into a paint set? Or into a pillow fort? Duh. (side note: do these kids even know what a pillow fort is?) I feel like little kids as a whole are over-stimulated due to the immense (and easy) access to tv, internet, movies, online games, etc. I can't even imagine what kind of long-term consequences that amount of stimulation will have.

Let's also just briefly touch on how many parents use that access as a way out of dealing with their child.

Two moms stopping and talking in the aisle at Target. A little boy is pulling on his mom's leg because he's bored and wants to leave. Instead of turning around and saying "stop, Mommy's talking right now, we'll leave in a few minutes," she just takes her phone out of her pocket and hands it to him without even looking down. You know what you did there, Mom? Taught him that when he tries to interrupt you, he'll get something he enjoys. Conditioned him Pavlovian-style. All the good parenting right there.

Or the little girl in the grocery store who starts pitching a fit when Dad passes by the Reese's Puffs and tells her she can't have them. She does that little kid half-scream thing and stops in the middle of the aisle and crosses her arms and stamps her foot and scowls till her face turns red. Instead of disciplining her, he pulls up the Dora the Explorer game app and lets her play on it. Guess what, Dad? You just rewarded her bratty behavior. Have fun dealing with that when she hits the teen years: "no, honey, you can't go out with that boy... here, here's a brand new car."

It's things like this that really drive me crazy. Surprise, guys! Being a parent means disciplining your child for behavior like that. You may not see the effects but those of us who are less than 10 years away from parenthood, who get to babysit your precious brats, can see it plainly.

Okay, so my real rant was actually about how technology is abused. As my brother said this afternoon, "you laugh now, but those kids are going to be able to vote in a few years." Sorry y'all, I don't think they're going to allow you to tweet your ballot...

The Highland Experience

Dearest Scotland,

I miss you.

We're one month free from school and my summer has already peaked. Actually, I won't say that, because I've got a fantastic job and one more exciting trip saved for the end of July, but after leaving the country and spending a week in the homeland, it really can't get much better. A rainstorm of peppermint patties would make me eat my words, but let's be realistic: there hasn't been a Patties Storm since 1904.

The grand excursion began with a nine hour flight forward in time from Atlanta to Amsterdam. I've never been on a flight longer than three hours. I watched Wreck-It Ralph, Side Effects, and... something else that obviously left quite an impression... as well as an episode or two of Community and The Office. My plan was to watch movies till it got dark and then try to grab a few hours of sleep.

But we skipped night.

Well, we had a few hours of "dark," but it was really just "darker" and not actually "dark." Soyeahseriously, we just skipped nighttime. After two movies, I finally looked out the window and noted that it was evening, and then by the end of the third film it was getting light again. Whaattttttt.

Layover in Amsterdam was quite brief, then we shuttled from the terminal to our little plane. I think you haven't really traveled until you're riding around a country and every street sign is in a different language. And the flight attendants make announcements first in the native language and second in English. Anyways, less than two hours later we were skipping through the Glasgow airport, reassuring ourselves that it's okay to look like a tourist when you're in the international airport and creeping on the fantastic Scottish accents. *swoon*

There are so many stories about the actual trip. Maybe they'll all come in stages. But the overview is as follows:
     Glasgow - a schmancy hotel with a fantastic view, local restaurants and cafes, a ceilidh, a legal drink with the brothers, Haggis, church, tour of the city (including the Necropolis!), the transportation museum, and driving on the wrong side of the road.
     On the road to Inverness - the narrowest roads on which I have ever ridden (made more exciting by being on the wrong side), gorgeous lochs and bens, lunch in Crainlarch and the best mac and cheese I've ever eaten.
     Inverness - waving to Nessie, walking the city, shopping at Primark ("the" trendy European store), more Princess Bride "have you the gate key?" references than should ever be legal, dinner at an American restaurant, Irn-Bru, pasties and pastries.
     On the road to Edinburgh - Cawdor Castle and the gardens. Wow.
     Edinburgh - a cute little apartment with a washing machine but no dryer, Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, the Tartan Weaving Mill, Ragamuffin, local cafes, King Arthur's Seat, and dinner at the Elephant House =^D (if you don't know what it is, look it up)

Took a train back to Glasgow and then flew out the next morning and traveled back in time on a flight that, once again, had no night.

I wish there were an easy way to summarize the whole trip and smush into a paragraph or two, but I don't believe that's possible. We'll see if more posts appear about the specific adventures. Or maybe I'll just go back and then won't have to try to remember every detail.

Oh Scotland, how I miss you.

PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER! That was the last movie. I knew I'd remember =^) I feel victorious.

Songwriting 101

I started writing songs the summer before my freshman year of high school, so I've had a few years of practice. These are just some of the tips, techniques, facts, and experiences I've encountered in the past six years. If you're lazy, the important parts are in bold. But, don't be like that. Save a life. Read the paragraph.

1) Songwriting comes in waves. Sometimes something happens and I'm like "ohmigosh, I totally want to write a song about this!" And then I get all excited and sit down at the piano or with a guitar and either my laptop or my songbook, and then... nothing happens. No melody, no lyrics, nothing. And so I go to check with the Music Muse but she's got a "back in 30 min" sign on her desk (cept it doesn't say "30 min," it just has the little adjustable clock). So disappointing. But the thing about Muses is that they don't actually set the signs to be accurate. So usually that 30 minutes will be a day. Or a week. Or a few months. Hey, it happens.

2) No matter how hard you try, you will say something cliche. I know, frustrating as it is, it's a fact. You may not end up with a cliche in every song, but they'll pop up. There's a reason these things are cliche, after all. Ex: I end up writing about rain a lot.  However, if you do put any sort of effort into what you write, you can avoid coming up with something as cliche as, say, a Taylor Swift song. (That could be a whole different post: how to write something more substantial than almost anything by T-Swizzle.)

3) You will copy someone else's work. Not intentionally, of course. Unless you're just a huge fan of plagiarism and have no soul. (Also, spell check just informed me that I had no idea how to spell that word correctly. Hurray, for the squiggly red line!) (I mean "plagiarism," not" soul," fyi.) I sometimes end up beginning to copy someone's chord progression. I'll sit at the piano and come up with something really pretty, and I'm like "yeah!" And then all of a sudden a melody comes to mind, and it's like "awesome!" Then, voila! Words are a-flowing! And I'm so excited because I've never written a song so quickly and so easily, and - oh, wait, that's the Coldplay song I was jamming to in the car three hours ago. Poot.

4) You'll compare your works to others'. And vice versa. Friends, enemies, acquaintances, relatives, celebrities - it really doesn't matter. You'll flip on the radio and hear a song and think "wow, I've written things way better than this." Then you'll go to a small concert for a local band and all of a sudden you feel like you have no songwriting capabilities, whatsoever. Every smidgen of lyrical talent in the whole world was somehow redirected to these people, so you're just going to quit. Don't do that.

5) You'll get discouraged. And you'll want to quit. Don't do that.

6) Sometimes the song will write itself. And it's SO COOL when that happens. I think I've experienced it one time. I wish it happened all the time. But I guess that'd be too easy.

7) Sometimes everything will be super hard and super frustrating for no reason. And you'll want to quit. Don't do that.

8) You should save copies of your songs in multiple places. For some reason it seems more, I dunno - secretive? romantic? something - to just keep one little book of songs hidden in your room. That's dumb. What if you lose it? What if your house burns down? Then you have no songs. Oops. On the other hand, don't just save them to your computer. What if you're mid-song and it crashes? What if the zombie apocalypse begins and you have to use your laptop to defend yourself, and in the process it not only gets broken but also covered in zombie juices? Trust me, it's not worth risking your life to try to retrieve your work. Zombie goo can be toxic. Do me a favor and keep copies of your songs in multiple places.

9) Don't be afraid to write in sections. You don't have to come up with the whole thing in one sitting. Just write down what you've got and come back to it when you've got more. I've had a few songs sit for two or three years before I've come up with the right chorus or last verse or bridge.

10) Don't force it if it doesn't work. You can feel when something meshes or when you're just trying to squish it together. C'mon, don't arrange that marriage. Let them be together because they want to, not because you want them to. It can be a section or it can be a word - I've experienced both. If you leave it alone you'll come up with the right thing eventually.

11) Sometimes you will lose a song that you worked a really long time on. Or maybe it was a really awesome verse that came to you in the shower and there wasn't enough steam to write the lyrics on the mirror, (although I guess the obvious solution there would be to just take hotter showers) and then you couldn't remember them by the time you got out. Regardless, it happens, and it's really frustrating, and you just have to move on. I usually start singing things without thinking about them, and I'll sing a line that I really like, and then I build on it, and by the time I've built a verse I can't remember that first inspirational bit. A couple times I've sung something in a dream and then woken up in the middle of the night, made a mental note to remember it, and then in the morning I remember I came up with something but I have no idea what it was. Either way, point is that it happens, it's frustrating, and you just have to move on.

12) Your songs will get repetitive. You'll look back through things you've created and realize that some of them are just... the same. Music, lyrics, story, title, whatever. It happens. But why shouldn't it? They all come from your brain, and everyone repeats themselves from time to time. Don't worry about it.

13) You'll end up hating something that you loved a few years ago. Again, music, lyrics, story, title, whatever. I can remember being so excited about some things that I've come up with, and then I look back at them a year or two or six later and make a face and think "what, what, WHAT was I doing??" And then I look at my life and look at my choices. (Sassy Gay Friend? Anyone?) It's okay, and it's actually normal. Writers of any sort experience it (at least, according to my senior year British Literature teacher. And he was pretty much one of the coolest teachers ever, so I'm sticking with it.)

14) Oh yeah, lastly, take a break. Not even a creative break. Sometimes it's better to do something mindless for a little while. Let all the creative thoughts settle back down and then you can go back through and pull the ones you want. If you sit down and try to crank out a bunch of songs, you'll just get frustrated. And you'll want to quit. Don't do that.

That's all I can come up with right now. If anyone else has tips, techniques, facts, or experiences they want to share, I'd love to hear =^)

Happy Wednesday!

**OhwaitIforgot!
15) Ask for help! Send what you've got to friends for critique or assistance of any kind. I bounce new things off my songwriting/superhero friend, Elisa. We've collaborated before. And recorded together. Actually, check it out: https://soundcloud.com/cat_chaney and click "The Rain Forest Song."

Finals Week

So, it's that time of year again. The time when all of the college students enter a state of procrastination more intense than that of any other time during the semester. Yup, it's finals week.

Every school operates a little differently (surprise!), but for me that meant/means:
1) Dead Week - last week of classes; despite popular belief, it is not called "dead week" due to the underwhelming amount of work with which you are faced. Cram a month of assignments into five days and that's more like what my dead week was.
B) Reading Days - a Monday and Tuesday with no classes, designated as "study days" - HA.
Tres) Exams - seven days, five finals; I'm currently at two down, three to go, and the only thing getting me through till Thursday at 4pm is the sweet taste of summer that's hiding just around the corner of the long-awaited weekend.

What all do I have remaining? A research project, a group project + presentation, and an in-class comparative essay regarding two texts we read this semester. Woohoo. I'm brimming with excitement (sarcasm is my friend). I already knocked out two written finals - one for Social Deviance and one for Fashion Apparel Production (on an unrelated note, I had a strange assortment of classes this semester...).

Needless to say, with three assignments due in the next 33 hours, I'm procrastinating like crazy.

I'm just excited for summer.

Dear Atlanta, I'm coming home.

Acappology!

I've posted about a cappella stuff a few times before, but today's gonna be short, sweet, and to-the-point about the group I'm in and the project we're currently undertaking.

DEAR WORLD,

I sing in an on-campus a cappella group called Acappology. That's acapp-ology, like the study of a cappella. Not ac-apology, like "I'm sorry" (notice there are two p's in our name!). We were founded in 1994 and we're one of two co-ed groups at our school. We've participated in a bunch of competitions and gotten some really neat honors and awards over the past few years.

Cool, right?

Well, duh! The only less-than-cool part is that we're not school-funded. So any money we make/spend is money that we either 1) raise ourselves, or b) appeal for from our student government. The latter is definitely a help, don't get me wrong, but there are so many great campus groups and organizations that we just can't get that much. Totally understandable. But we gotta have funding to be able to record. I dunno how many of y'all have dealt with recording before, but that ish is anything but cheap o.O

So we just launched a Kickstarter! Here's the link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/acappology/help-fund-acappologys-next-ep-0?ref=live

It's got more info about nifty shtuffs we've done, as well as links to our website and some of our songs (which are also available on iTunes!). Or you can Google us. Or check us out on Facebook. Or Twitter. Or YouTube. I think that's it... (ALL THE MEDIA THINGS!)

So next time you're doing your laundry and find loose change in your pockets, and you're like "dang, loose change is so inconvenient. And what in the world can I burn $1.17 on? Air. Or 4 1/2 wishes. But that's it." STOP! BECAUSE YOU'RE WRONG! Whip out your phone of smarticles or fly to the nearest computer and head to our Kickstarter.

Send us your unwanted laundry change! We'll love it forever! Be that person who donates the awkward amount of cents. Because you know there's always that person who's like "$25.22," or any other illogical amount of change... And no one understands but everyone loves them. It's true.

Okayanyway, sorry that got a little lengthy. Basically, look us up, and if you like us (and feel so moved), send us a dollar. Or even two. Please <3

Kthanks.Iloveyouall |------------------------------thismuch-----------------------------------| !

My Favorite Things about Facebook o.O

How they change something about the design or layout every month. It really helps me ensure that my relationship with technology is in tip-top shape.

How it sorts my News Feed by "top stories." I'm not really sure what system you're using, Facebook, but thanks. I didn't know all these miscellaneous people were so important to me. I'm glad you know they've got the real stuff going on.

How it suggests people that I should poke. And how those poke suggestions are definitely never awkward. And how they place the exit x and the "poke" options so close together. It helps with my mouse-control skills and general dexterity.

How I have to go through my profile pictures individually to set them to private. No, it's cool. I totally wanted to world to be able to stalk me. Speaking of...

How it totally condones stalking. It's helping me with my verbal filter and my lying skills, so that I don't get caught in that awkward moment of "how did you know that about me?" "I overheard you talking to ____ about it" (aka "because I stalked you on Facebook, homez... duh.")

How it marks messages as "seen." So that if I'm ignoring someone on chat or messaging, I have to do it like a real ninja. (Don't you dare judge me, you know you do it too!)

How it allows me to edit my comment. And then displays to everyone the fact that I edited my comment. And gives them the option of viewing it. So that everyone can laugh at my typo. Just building character and whatnot.

How it takes a miracle to find anything using the Search bar. It helps teach me to be less reliant upon the Facebook interwebs.

How it sends me fake notifications. And then deletes them or changes the number and tells me I made it up so that I then go back and count to make sure I'm not crazy. It exercises my numerical skills.

How it links to people's Twitters and Instagrams. So that I can see all those statuses and photos twice. It helps me stay 200% more up-to-date on what's running through her mind these present five seconds and exactly what type of coffee he's drinking and what their lunches look like.

How people get into fights via the comments section. 'Nuff said.

The Hipster Challenge

Yesterday, (Thursday) I was indirectly challenged to spend my Saturday afternoon (tomorrow) being a hipster. We have this great hipster coffee shop right off campus that we occasionally walk to. Well, the mention of coffee came up and then one thing led to another and somewhere the phrase "can we wear our hipster camo?" came into play and then before we knew it (and obviously before it was mainstream) Hipst-urday (see what I did there?) was a thing, and we were mentally sorting our clothes by degrees of obscurity and mainstreamity (sure, it's a word...).

So I did my research and consulted some hipster friends (special thanks to Shaunuk for his many helpful suggestions!) and then raided my closet, which fortunately contains the strangest assortment of clothes known to mankind. It's also fortunate that I did laundry this morning, because a few of my now key hipster items were dirty up until twelve hours ago. The hipster gods must be smiling on me. ("The hipster gods?" you say? Yeah, they're a thing. Pretty new, pretty underground. I wouldn't expect you to know about them.)

So the plan is to go sit in a coffee shop and do hipster-ish activities. Sketching. Reading. Staying up-to-date on all the fancy electronics. (Okay, really fast, someone explain to me why hipsters have such a fascination with technology and gadgets and ish. That's one of their things, right? But isn't all of that stuff sooo incredibly mainstream? Since it's mainstream for a hipster to dislike mainstream things, does that mean that for a hipster to like something mainstream, they're furthering their hipster status of being anti-mainstream? [How did the hipster die?! He drowned in the mainstream.]) Taking artistic pictures of the coffee cup. From eight different angles. Of course. If I had a smart phone I'd definitely Instagram all over the place, (how much does a hipster weigh? An Insta-gram.) but, alas, no smart phone. Just a poser Blackberry.

Forreal though. Frederick, my phone, tries real hard to convince people he's a Blackberry.

Sorry, bud... maybe someday.

Oh, and homework. Do hipsters do homework? Or, do they do homework in public places like normal college students? (Just how wide is the mainstream?)

So that's what my weekend is looking like. All you other people should go out and celebrate Hipst-urday. Maybe we'll make it an official thing. The fourth Saturday of every month can be Hipst-urday. But then it might become popular. Wow, this hipster life is so complicated...

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Special shout-out to Jill and David for making suggestions in regards to my hipster outfit. It was super helpful and even more super fun. Also, I love you guys, but I'm not wearing what you told me to wear. I think I'm keeping like, three things. Good try though. I still support you, David!

And super lastly, I'll try to provide some photo documentary of Catherine Chaney: Hipster Edition. Maybe those pictures will appear sometime early next week.

Whatever you decide to do with your Saturday, I hope it's as awesome as I expect mine to be! But like, unique awesome, not typical awesome... or something like that. (Nahbutreally, I don't know how long I can keep this up)

Songz

I've been going through a song phase for the past, oh, four weeks or so. Except my song phases involve a playlist, not just a tune or two. Here are some of the ones I've been obsessing with this semester:

"The A Team" and "Give Me Love," by Ed Sheeran
"I Can't Make You Love Me," cover by Bon Iver
"Gravity," by Sara Bareillis
"2 AM (Breathe)," by Anna Nalick
"Hide and Seek," cover by Transit
"Lies," by Marina and the Diamonds (the acoustic version)
"Losing Your Memory," by Ryan Star

They're all really chill - apparently my semester so far has not merited super jam-out music, but that's okay. Except in addition to being really chill, some of them are really sad (particularly A Team and Can't Make You Love Me). I'm down with sad songs though. Not all the time, obviously - I do enjoy the intense jamming that accompanies tunes such as this little-known diddly entitled "Thrift Shop," by this little-known rapper who goes by Macklemore (I'm sure none of y'all know it, I'm super hipster with my music and whatnot). But sometimes you just gotta listen to a sad song or two. I usually love them because the music is sooo beautiful. Le'sbehonest, pop stuff all sounds the same after a while (or not a while. or immediately. whatevs.). I'm also a huge piano person, and since piano is often a key part of sad little melodies, I'm a sucker for them. I'm sure if I had a soft spot for synthesizers, I'd be way more into electronic. But seeing as I didn't grow up playing the synth...

Anyway, the point of addressing the fact that they're sad was to segue into the fact that I'm driving my roommate crazy with them. She's officially forbidden me from singing "The A Team" ever again. I sing it without realizing it and then she shouts "NO!" and throws things at me. Not really. But I'm sure she wants to sometimes. All the times. She actually says that she loved the song until she saw the music video, then it just got way too sad. I showed her the music video. Fine, I accept fault for that one.

Go check out these songs. They're great. The Transit "Hide and Seek" cover is a cappella, and it's phenomenal. And while we're on the subject of a cappella music, Pentatonix covering "Thrift Shop." Yes.

Well, I gave you every link, so you have no excuse not to go listen. Do it. Now. Productive procrastination!

You're welcome.