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jactradesSo, a bunch of things have occurred since we last talked, internet!
1. I dropped out of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
het_bigbang. *sadface* I probably could have pushed to get my story done by the deadline, but I'll be traveling during that week (on the Pacific NW Roadtrip of Awesome), and would really rather concentrate on having Fun Times than revisions. Plus internet access will be hella iffy - I think we'll be in the uninhabited northeast corner of California on posting day, and at Crater Lake the day before.
However, I still really love this story and will get it finished sooner or later. Preferably sooner so that I can stop hogging all of the library's Berlin Airlift books. (Also, historians, why do you hide all the hilarious stories in the endnotes?)
2. The husband and I went to Outside Lands with a few friends. Outside Lands is SF's music festival, smaller than Coachella, but with much better food. It was Abhi's first music festival, and so fantastically organized and with so many great bands (oh, the scheduling woes of three great bands on three stages at the same time) that I fear I've ruined him for anything else.
Friday
Food: Korean tacos, an organic peach, red velvet mini cupcake, Indian kati rolls, sweet potato tater tots, fried pickles. Kati rolls were the best (and like $8 for a big roll), followed by an even tie between the Korean tacos and the fried pickles.
Shows:
Lotus - a chill instrumental electric jam group. Good to get a light dance going to. I'd love to see them in a smaller club.
Foster the People, my favorite band of the summer. They were... decent, but lost a bit of momentum halfway through - probably because they only have one album out, and not all of the songs on it are good for playing to a 10k crowd. They did a fantastic cover of Weezer's Say It Ain't So, though, and had the entire crowd singing along.
MGMT - on the main stage, which I think was having sound problems. Or else they were just sucking it up live, which isn't exactly uncommon for them.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - they were having fun on stage, but I don't remember much else. So eh.
Big Audio Dynamite - sounded like a standard rock band, although I appreciated the mix of old & new.
The Shins - blew me away, and this wasn't the first time I've seen them live.
Saturday
Food: Malaysian chicken rolls, pulled pork sandwiches, mushroom sliders, and a gourmet strawberry & whipped cream funnel cake.
Funny story about the funnel cake: I queued up for it about fifteen minutes before a set started, and cleverly left my phone with my group in front of the stage. The main stage. The one with about 20K people dancing in front of it. *shakes head*
I ended up texting Abhi my location (from a kind stranger's phone), and sat down and ate that funnel cake by my lonesome self. You'd think the sadness of being lost in a crowd would dim the tastiness, but nope, it was one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth.
Shows:
Ana Tijoux - a Chilean/French female hiphop artist. Badass and wonderful, and I'm sure it'd have been even better if I could speak Spanish.
The Vaccines - completely lived up to my expectations, which were very, very high. Amazing energy on stage and had the crowd right there with them.
OK GO - the music was only okay compared to their studio work, but they get huge bonus points for playing a handbell song on stage, and wading out into the crowd for a couple of songs.
Arctic Monkeys - I was a bit distracted by the funnel cake debacle, but they sounded great from where I was sitting, drowning my sorrows in fried goods.
The Black Keys - the biggest question of the weekend was why do we not own more Black Keys? That situation has been rectified.
Muse - there's a reason they were headlining Saturday: Muse puts on a fucking fantastic show of lights and anthems.
Sunday
Food: more kati rolls, with samosas, fried mac & cheese, clam chowder (in a sourdough bread bowl, of course), alfajores with coffee, and more funnel cake. Oh, and we went to the Wine Lands tent in themorning early noon and tried out seven or eight different local wines.
Shows:
Junip - a Swedish folk rock band with an electric feel. The best completely-new-to-us find of the festival.
Grouplove - nice indie folk/rock band. Nothing special, but they were fun to listen to.
!!! - I dozed on the hill during most of their performance, but from the mass of people jumping in front of the stage, I think that was more due to my exhaustion than the band.
John Fogerty - fulfilled all of my cowbell desires. Gosh, I love CCR.
The Decemberists - were chill and perfect.
Arcade Fire - a great choice on the part of the organizers to end the weekend with.
And then I stumbled back to the car, slept on the ride back to South Bay, and had to go to work the next morning, bleary-eyed and still drunk on music.
3. We went to the SF Street Food Festival in the Mission last weekend, and I will not detail even more food again, but it was delish and I love this city and its wack-a-doodle chill folks.
4. If you got all the way through that, then you rock, and should fill out this meme I've genked from all over, especially if you're a new person!
1. Name:
2. Birthday:
3. Where do you live:
4: What do you do with your (week) days:
5. What makes you happy:
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last:
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ:
8. An interesting fact about you:
9. A school subject/hobby/interest of yours and why you like it:
10. Favorite place to be:
11. Favorite lyric or quote:
12. Best time of the year:
13. Summer's winding down (or winter, if you're in the other hemisphere) - any fun plans on the horizon:
RECOMMEND
1. A film:
2. A book:
3. A band:
4: A tv show:
PLUS
1. One thing you like about me:
2. Two things you like about yourself:
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you?
Edit:
5. There's a five that I forgot! I'm in the process of making a number of mixes for my best friend, who has been temporally transferred from her home in Bangalore to work on a project in England (somewhere... not London). Anyways, we're jogging buddies, and she's been having motivational issues, so I'm pulling together a bunch of fun songs to run to. One mix will be Bollywood, one will be dance/electric, one will be un-ironically awesome pump-it-up songs like Eye of the Tiger, and one will be indie-ish summer-y stuff. And maybe more, depending.
If anyone has song suggestions, they'd be extremely welcome. I'll post the mixes here once I get them all done. I've never really pulled together my running music, so this has been a fun process. (And also needed - see above for all of the nomnomnoming of unhealthy fried food I've been doing of late. But it's so worth it. *still dreaming about funnel cake*)
1. I dropped out of
het_bigbang. *sadface* I probably could have pushed to get my story done by the deadline, but I'll be traveling during that week (on the Pacific NW Roadtrip of Awesome), and would really rather concentrate on having Fun Times than revisions. Plus internet access will be hella iffy - I think we'll be in the uninhabited northeast corner of California on posting day, and at Crater Lake the day before.However, I still really love this story and will get it finished sooner or later. Preferably sooner so that I can stop hogging all of the library's Berlin Airlift books. (Also, historians, why do you hide all the hilarious stories in the endnotes?)
2. The husband and I went to Outside Lands with a few friends. Outside Lands is SF's music festival, smaller than Coachella, but with much better food. It was Abhi's first music festival, and so fantastically organized and with so many great bands (oh, the scheduling woes of three great bands on three stages at the same time) that I fear I've ruined him for anything else.
Friday
Food: Korean tacos, an organic peach, red velvet mini cupcake, Indian kati rolls, sweet potato tater tots, fried pickles. Kati rolls were the best (and like $8 for a big roll), followed by an even tie between the Korean tacos and the fried pickles.
Shows:
Lotus - a chill instrumental electric jam group. Good to get a light dance going to. I'd love to see them in a smaller club.
Foster the People, my favorite band of the summer. They were... decent, but lost a bit of momentum halfway through - probably because they only have one album out, and not all of the songs on it are good for playing to a 10k crowd. They did a fantastic cover of Weezer's Say It Ain't So, though, and had the entire crowd singing along.
MGMT - on the main stage, which I think was having sound problems. Or else they were just sucking it up live, which isn't exactly uncommon for them.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - they were having fun on stage, but I don't remember much else. So eh.
Big Audio Dynamite - sounded like a standard rock band, although I appreciated the mix of old & new.
The Shins - blew me away, and this wasn't the first time I've seen them live.
Saturday
Food: Malaysian chicken rolls, pulled pork sandwiches, mushroom sliders, and a gourmet strawberry & whipped cream funnel cake.
Funny story about the funnel cake: I queued up for it about fifteen minutes before a set started, and cleverly left my phone with my group in front of the stage. The main stage. The one with about 20K people dancing in front of it. *shakes head*
I ended up texting Abhi my location (from a kind stranger's phone), and sat down and ate that funnel cake by my lonesome self. You'd think the sadness of being lost in a crowd would dim the tastiness, but nope, it was one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth.
Shows:
Ana Tijoux - a Chilean/French female hiphop artist. Badass and wonderful, and I'm sure it'd have been even better if I could speak Spanish.
The Vaccines - completely lived up to my expectations, which were very, very high. Amazing energy on stage and had the crowd right there with them.
OK GO - the music was only okay compared to their studio work, but they get huge bonus points for playing a handbell song on stage, and wading out into the crowd for a couple of songs.
Arctic Monkeys - I was a bit distracted by the funnel cake debacle, but they sounded great from where I was sitting, drowning my sorrows in fried goods.
The Black Keys - the biggest question of the weekend was why do we not own more Black Keys? That situation has been rectified.
Muse - there's a reason they were headlining Saturday: Muse puts on a fucking fantastic show of lights and anthems.
Sunday
Food: more kati rolls, with samosas, fried mac & cheese, clam chowder (in a sourdough bread bowl, of course), alfajores with coffee, and more funnel cake. Oh, and we went to the Wine Lands tent in the
Shows:
Junip - a Swedish folk rock band with an electric feel. The best completely-new-to-us find of the festival.
Grouplove - nice indie folk/rock band. Nothing special, but they were fun to listen to.
!!! - I dozed on the hill during most of their performance, but from the mass of people jumping in front of the stage, I think that was more due to my exhaustion than the band.
John Fogerty - fulfilled all of my cowbell desires. Gosh, I love CCR.
The Decemberists - were chill and perfect.
Arcade Fire - a great choice on the part of the organizers to end the weekend with.
And then I stumbled back to the car, slept on the ride back to South Bay, and had to go to work the next morning, bleary-eyed and still drunk on music.
3. We went to the SF Street Food Festival in the Mission last weekend, and I will not detail even more food again, but it was delish and I love this city and its wack-a-doodle chill folks.
4. If you got all the way through that, then you rock, and should fill out this meme I've genked from all over, especially if you're a new person!
1. Name:
2. Birthday:
3. Where do you live:
4: What do you do with your (week) days:
5. What makes you happy:
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last:
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ:
8. An interesting fact about you:
9. A school subject/hobby/interest of yours and why you like it:
10. Favorite place to be:
11. Favorite lyric or quote:
12. Best time of the year:
13. Summer's winding down (or winter, if you're in the other hemisphere) - any fun plans on the horizon:
RECOMMEND
1. A film:
2. A book:
3. A band:
4: A tv show:
PLUS
1. One thing you like about me:
2. Two things you like about yourself:
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you?
Edit:
5. There's a five that I forgot! I'm in the process of making a number of mixes for my best friend, who has been temporally transferred from her home in Bangalore to work on a project in England (somewhere... not London). Anyways, we're jogging buddies, and she's been having motivational issues, so I'm pulling together a bunch of fun songs to run to. One mix will be Bollywood, one will be dance/electric, one will be un-ironically awesome pump-it-up songs like Eye of the Tiger, and one will be indie-ish summer-y stuff. And maybe more, depending.
If anyone has song suggestions, they'd be extremely welcome. I'll post the mixes here once I get them all done. I've never really pulled together my running music, so this has been a fun process. (And also needed - see above for all of the nomnomnoming of unhealthy fried food I've been doing of late. But it's so worth it. *still dreaming about funnel cake*)
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 09:32 pm (UTC)When I did run I would run to Cascada, I'm not sure what the BPM is but almost every song was a perfect match for my stride. I did a quick google search for "songs 180 bpm" and it was almost all running sites, so that might give you a place to start.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-01 02:13 am (UTC)Cascada is certainly upbeat & fun! I've one song of hers on the dance-y mix, and I'll see if there's some more from her that would be appropriate. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-30 11:02 pm (UTC)2. Birthday: 18th July
3. Where do you live: England. London/West Country
4: What do you do with your (week) days: Student
5. What makes you happy: Ouzo
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last: Miranda (BBC Sitcom)
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ: I don't post much. Must rectify this,
8. An interesting fact about you: I have twice seen famous actors at train stations when I am stressed.
9. A school subject/hobby/interest of yours and why you like it: Acting. Because I am melodramatic and self absorbed.
10. Favorite place to be: A bath.
11. Favorite lyric or quote: "Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed." Herman Melville
12. Best time of the year: Winter
13. Summer's winding down (or winter, if you're in the other hemisphere) - any fun plans on the horizon: Going back to university.
RECOMMEND
1. A film: Away We Go
2. A book: Regeneration by Pat Barker
4: A tv show: Roger and Val Have Just Got In
PLUS
1. One thing you like about me: You are kind and funny.
2. Two things you like about yourself: I have an inordinate amount of books. And I can make a decent fish pie.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-01 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-31 12:40 am (UTC)Also, I'm looking forward to seeing your playlists. I don't run but I'm always on the lookout for upbeat songs to walk and lift weights to. :) As a personal preference (I don't know what you or your friend like) most of Shakira's faster songs help get me into the mood to move (Hips Don't Lie and Waka Waka in particular.)
And now:
1. Name: Mariel
2. Birthday: August 12th
3. Where do you live: Florida!
4: What do you do with your (week) days: Work, mostly.
5. What makes you happy: Hmm, this is sort of tough since things change...I'll give an honest and vague answer, then: when things go my way. :)
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last: I have a playlist I made for when I'm on the treadmill and I think the last song I heard may have been "Ticks" by Brad Paisley.
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ: I think I'm boring, lol.
8. An interesting fact about you: Just one? J/k of course. Let's see...I'm modest! Oh, no, j/k again...but seriously, hmm. The only thing I've ever had true passion for in my entire life has been singing. I've had interest in many other things, but nothing stirred my soul the way singing does.
9. A school subject/hobby/interest of yours and why you like it: I'm very interested in linguistics. I minored in it in college and that's only because my university didn't offer it as a major. I'm considering eventually going to grad school to continue my linguistics study. I'm not really sure I can pinpoint why I like it, though. I find the structure of languages to be interesting, each language has a uniqueness and yet, no matter what language it is, it's a very human function and thus has similarities.
10. Favorite place to be: Hmm, I think I'll just go with "Florida" on this one. That covers a lot, lol.
11. Favorite lyric or quote: "It's not that Mexican goatsucker, either." I wouldn't say that's my favorite, but it always makes me laugh. Courtesy of The X-Files, episode Bad Blood.
12. Best time of the year: I love autumn, I think because I associate it with the newness of the school year. Plus, Halloween is my favorite holiday.
13. Summer's winding down (or winter, if you're in the other hemisphere) - any fun plans on the horizon: Not really. My brother is getting married at the end of October, does that count?
RECOMMEND
1. A film: How To Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (Kenneth Branagh, he's awesome.)
2. A book: Oh, so many books to choose from. I'm going to go with "The Hunger Games" since that's a recent one. It's a YA book, but it's awesome.
3. A band: The Who
4: A tv show: Charmed. A show about sisters who happen to be witches. Nuff said.
PLUS
1. One thing you like about me: I love reading your journal, your tastes and interests and experiences seem to be so varied and you're quite knowledgeable, so your journal is definitely a fun read.
2. Two things you like about yourself: I dabble in many things, so I know a little about a lot. Also, I'm generally a pretty easygoing and adaptable person.
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you? You know, I'm thinking about it.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-01 02:31 am (UTC)I'm jealous of your singing ability & passion! I adore singing - and always do in the car, with the music cranked up - but I can't really carry a tune. And linguistics is a very interesting subject; my first college class was in the subject, and I've always carried a bit of a torch for it since. What areas are you particularly into? (I love dialects and everything that hedges into cognitive side of things.)
Hunger Games is moving up my list - although I've heard that the sequels don't measure up to the first one?
no subject
Date: 2011-09-02 09:10 pm (UTC)The second book of The Hunger Games series, Catching Fire, was pretty good. Although it picks up where The Hunger Games leaves off, the basic events are similar in both books, so I could see that maybe some people might say it doesn't measure up. The last book, Mockingjay, was my least favorite, although I still thought it was good. The pace definitely changes, but my biggest problem with that book is that I feel like the author had SO MUCH potential for that part of the story and missed a chance to really elaborate on the things that happen. Basically, I don't think events should have been resolved as quickly as they were. Overall, though, I thought they were really excellent.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-31 07:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-01 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-31 08:39 am (UTC)1. Name: Sylvia
2. Birthday: 11th September 1981
3. Where do you live: Cologne, Germany
4: What do you do with your (week) days: I'm working as a web developer in a small software company.
5. What makes you happy: Tea, books, my friends, knitting, movies
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last: "One" by U2.
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ:
Good: The people you meet there, and the fun I have posting silly things.
Bad: I'm sometimes a bit lazy when it comes to posting.
8. An interesting fact about you: I can read and write backwards.
9. A school subject/hobby/interest of yours and why you like it: Knitting, because it is really relaxing.
10. Favorite place to be: My couch.
11. Favorite lyric or quote: Can't think of one, sorry.
12. Best time of the year: Autumn.
13. Summer's winding down (or winter, if you're in the other hemisphere) - any fun plans on the horizon: If my job turns out to be permanent, moving to a bigger flat will move up on my to-do list pretty soon.
RECOMMEND
1. A film: Velvet Goldmine.
2. A book: The "Dresden Files"-series by Jim Butcher.
3. A band: Florence and the machine.
4: A tv show: Doctor Who
PLUS
1. One thing you like about me: I think it's awesome you're making mixes for your running buddy.
2. Two things you like about yourself: My humour, and my ability to really listen to people.
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you?
We will see ^^.
Oh, and have fun on your road trip ^^
no subject
Date: 2011-09-01 06:38 am (UTC)What sort of tea do you drink? I'm sorta a tea fanatic; I drink a pot or two a day (of mostly green, but some herbal blends and some black teas).
no subject
Date: 2011-09-01 08:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-01 07:28 pm (UTC)2. Birthday: November 23.
3. Where do you live: I generally refer to it as Not-Madison-or-Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A small city not too far from the Mississippi near the Iowa/Minnesota border. It may be flyover country, but it is wicked pretty.
4: What do you do with your (week) days: Too much of it involves sitting in front of the computer. And coaxing a small dog into doing his business.
5. What makes you happy: Getting details just the way I want them. Um, figuring things out by myself. And new pens.
6. What are you listening to now/have listened to last: A mashup of Lady Gaga, Cartman, and Christopher Walken, Poker Faces.
7. What is particularly good/bad about my LJ: All your fab Arrested Development icons, of course.
8. An interesting fact about you: I have near four-octave range.
9. A school subject/hobby/interest of yours and why you like it: Shakespeare's plays. I studied them in school as much as a non-English major and non-theater major could and would have taken a class every semester if I could have. I love words and nobody wielded them more effectively than he did.
10. Favorite place to be: Home, when there's no heavy machinery in action nearby (roadwork, begone!)
11. Favorite lyric or quote: I could close my eyes and throw a dart at Cole Porter's entire catalog. The man was brilliant. And A. A. Milne quotes are always good for and aww or two. "Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing."
12. Best time of the year: I'm partial to May, when there's no snow, and June, when it isn't - as a friend put it - like living in Satan's crotch. So...pretty much every June except for this year.
13. Summer's winding down (or winter, if you're in the other hemisphere) - any fun plans on the horizon: I wouldn't call it a plan, but I have a niece or nephew to look forward to. (I have two nieces already...but I'd really rather have a third one, thank you very much. Boys in my family are all trouble.)
RECOMMEND
1. A film: Victor/Victoria. Even if it sucked (it doesn't) it'd still be worth it just to belt out the songs along with Julie Andrews.
2. A book: Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold.
3. A band: This is always hard for me! I'm so picky and choosy about music. I do love Daft Punk, though.
4: A tv show: I'm loving Phineas and Ferb right now. Ah, yes, spending my summer with a kiddie cartoon show. That is completely unsurprising.
PLUS
1. One thing you like about me: You do seem very laidback, which I appreciate. I like to rant and rave a fair amount, and I've had a few people over the years who have taken some of it way more seriously than I intended. Getting my crankypants on is just plain fun for me, and I never expect the world to come around to my way of thinking. I'm just expressing my opinions and hoping that someone else will enjoy reading it, full stop. (I made that all about me, didn't I? I do that sometimes, yeah.)
2. Two things you like about yourself: I've grown to appreciate my unusually flexible fingernails (they hardly ever break and they come in handy more often than you'd think) and I like that I can take this test and get a perfect score, especially since everything else about my eyes is subpar.
3. Put this in your lj so I can tell you what I think of you? Already done.
ETA: Tiny font + coding, a recipe for disaster, ha ha ha.