Claudia’s 365 Days of Music: Year 4 – A Review
It’s year four! I think this was the best year yet as far as this project goes. Let’s get to it!
Total songs: 365
Total time: 24 hours, 18 minutes, and 28 seconds
Total size: 2.69 GB
Mean song length: 4:17.4
The Five Stars
Listed in order of acquisition!
Best of All Possible Worlds by Bourgeois Tagg
Gold by Owl City
One O Six (A.N.D.Y. Remix) by Jupiter
I Love It (feat. Charli XCX) by Icona Pop
Doin’ It Right by Daft Punk
Chocolate by The 1975
Wake Me Up by Avicii
Mirrors (Radio Edit) by Justin Timberlake
Hey Brother by Avicii
Pompeii by Bastille
United State of Pop (Living the Fantasy) by DJ Earworm
The five most beautiful/touching songs of the year:
Allegri – Miserere mei, Deus by Géza Pécsi, József Gregor & Liszt Ferenc Kamarazenekar
Alleluia by Eric Whitacre
Cajun Folk Songs: La Belle et le Capitaine by Frank Ticheli (yay Ticheli!)
O Vos Omnes by Paul Mealor
Warning Sign by Coldplay
The Overall Top Five
Doin’ It Right – Daft Punk
Preeeeeetty sure this song is perfection. I love how simple and repetitive it is. That’s what makes it GREAT. Plus, the tempo is just right. Go find and awesome pair of speakers (or headphones) and crank this up.
One O Six (A.N.D.Y. Remix) – Jupiter
This is a very “Claudia” song. That’s really all I can say about it.
Chocolate – The 1975
I didn’t like this song too much when I first got it—probably because I didn’t think the vocals fit the music—but it grew on me. Also, this was the iTunes freebie offered on Leibniz’ birthday, so I’m reminded of him every time I listen to it. ;)
Mirrors (Radio Edit) – Justin Timberlake
THOSE OPENING NOTES ARE SO FREAKING BEAUTIFUL NNNNNNNNNNNNF.
I like the lyrics to this song for some reason. Not sure why. I also love how Justin still has that “boy band” sound to him.
Pompeii – Bastille
I really, really like Dan Smith’s voice, especially in the chorus. This is another song whose lyrics I actually pay attention to. There’s almost a euphoric feeling to it even though it’s titled “Pompeii” and is apparently inspired by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Now, want some pie charts? Yeah, I know you do!
END! Bring it, 2014.
Resolutions Review (Alternate Title: Claudia Sucks)
So I pretty much failed at everything this year.
Punishment: going through all of this year’s resolutions and seeing exactly how many I failed.
Let’s do this!
FAILED: Walk 1,500 miles. NOPE! I’ll be about 150 miles short of 1,500. No excuse for that other than I suck.
ACCOMPLISHED: Blog daily. Pfft, big deal.
FAILED: Win NaNoWriMo 2013. I DIDN’T EVEN START WOW I’M SUCH AN AWESOME PERSON
ACCOMPLISHED: Continue my 365 Days of Music project. This is like automatic for me now, so this doesn’t count.
FAILED: Draw at least two new thingies a month. Ha.
SORT OF ACCOMPLISHED: Do something with my writing. I actually made substantial progress on this, so I guess this is a “sort of.”
FAILED: Study for the GRE this time before I take the damn thing. Didn’t take the GRE. Got waaaaaaay too busy to study for it.
FAILED: Learn as much as possible. I learned a lot, but I don’t think I learned enough to say I learned “as much as possible” for the year.
ACCOMPLISHED: Revamp and start over with my book list. I actually did this one! Granted, I’ve only read 3.5 books on the list as of now, but as I said above, I got waaaaaaay too busy to do pretty much anything but school.
ACCOMPLISHED: Uh…try not to die? Like this one even counts, either.
This year’s:
Ugh, jeez. I don’t even know.
- Blog daily (a standard).
- Continue my 365 Days of Music project (another standard).
- Continue working on my writing project thingy.
- Win NaNoWriMo 2014.
- I’m not setting a walking distance goal ‘cause I’m not sure what’s going down this year in terms of “big super happy life plans.” I’d explain further, but I don’t want to.
- Graduate.
- Try not to be such a horrible freaking failure at everything I do.
Yay.
.gif of the Magi (pretty sure I’ve used this title before but WHATEV)
Do you want a gif-related survey today?
No?
WELL TOO BAD!
8th Gif- Sense of Humor
16th Gif – Attitude Toward the World
23rd – Love Life
13th – Social Life
30th – Ideal Life
1st – Your Future
10th – Your Past
18th – Your Present
35th – Future Partner
(He does seem quite…Ritzy.)
2nd – How the Same Sex Sees You
27th – How The Opposite Sex Sees You
15th – How You See Yourself
(Pretty much.)
20th – What Your Parents Are Like
26th – What Your Kids Will Be Like
(HAHAHAHA)
5th – What Your Neighbors Will Be Like
11th – Last Day on Earth
9th – Sexual Preference
3rd – Emotions Toward Music
21st – Favorite TV Show/Movie
End of the Year Survey
1. What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?
Took a 400-level math class (this is also something I never thought I’d do).
2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
That’s coming up in a later blog!
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Matt and Lindsey had two itty bitties!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
I don’t think so.
5. What countries did you visit?
I actually stayed in the freaking States for the first time in 4 years.
6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
A more consistent year.
7. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I don’t think there’s any particular date that stuck out this year. It’s been up and down, but there weren’t any extremes.
That freaking Proofs study session was hilarious, though. That entire Tuesday, December 17th, was a fun day, now that I think back.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Teaching in Spring, Summer, and Fall, and then being told I get TWO sections this coming semester. WOO!
9. What was your biggest failure?
Haha, everything else?
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
NEVER I AM ZEUS
11. What was the best thing you bought?
The best thing I bought? Probably my replacement Hume shirt (my other one was really old and was getting holey).
14. Where did most of your money go?
Towards school.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The European Enlightenment. I mean, even more so than before. The Clockwork Universe helped with that.
16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
Definitely Daft Punk’s Doin’ It Right, just ‘cause I’ve listened to it SO MUCH.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Learned.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Procrastinated.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent Christmas with my mom and my cat, opening presents and playing Geometry Wars.
21. Did you fall in love in 2013?
No.
23. How many one-night stands?
Zero!
24. What was your favourite TV program?
I still love Metalocalypse, man. DOOMSTAR REQUIEM!
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nopers.
26. What was the best book you read?
Leibniz: An Intellectual Biography. It’s an incredibly thorough account of a remarkable human being. I highly recommend it (of course).
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I really, really, really love this song. You’ll hear more about this year’s music on the 31st, so I’m going to leave it at that for now.
28. What did you want and get?
A 4.0 for spring semester and a 4.0 for fall semester.
29. What did you want and not get?
I was hoping to get hired as a permanent employee at UI, but that’s not going to happen for several reasons (though I’m still hopeful!).
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen a “new” movie this year (that is, a movie I haven’t seen before). So I’m saying Sunshine.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 25 and I honestly can’t remember what I did. I think I was still freaking out over my first calc II test and so I didn’t do anything exciting.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably satisfying?
Going to RTX would have been awesome. But I was teaching during that time anyway, so it wouldn’t have worked out even if I could have afforded it.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?
COLORZ!
34. What kept you sane?
Ha. “Sane.”
35. Which celebrity/public figure(s) did you fancy the most?
Does AH count? AH, definitely.
37. Who did you miss?
I miss my old Moscow friends.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
Man, I can’t choose! All of the awesome people in Linear and Proofs.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013:
Math majors are the dorkiest, most hilarious people ever.
Holiday Vroom
Yay, Christmas with my mom! We hung out upstairs and utilized my dad’s super giant TV to watch YouTube vids and play Geometry Wars.
Look what she got me:
LEIBNIZ STAMP!!!
TOWER OF PIMPS SHIRT!!! (Pic is from the RT store ’cause my battery’s almost dead on my iPad and I have no idea where my camera is)
She knows me so well. She also got me a new pot to replace the one that currently provides me with more than my daily allowance of Teflon flakes.
Bonus: Annabelle got catnip and toy mice! She still seemed pretty miffed that we were in her part of the house, though, haha.
NOW break can start
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!
4.0 GPA plus my highest teaching evaluations yet (3.6/4.0 with a 37% student response rate).
Damn good early Christmas presents, if you ask me.
:(
Goodbyes suck.
That is all.
More Blatherning
(This isn’t a poem I hate poems this is just me rambling sorry I’ll shut up I haven’t slept since Thursday.)
(I’m also super emotional ‘cause someone I’ve connected to very strongly over the past few weeks just left Moscow forever.)
I am the friend that helps you move. Right after the last final of the semester or at 3:30 in the morning, I am the one unfolding empty boxes and asking you what you want to pack first.
I am the friend that cleans the kitchen. You pack the stuff in the pantry and last of the cutlery and I scrub the counters, cabinets, and fridge until everything is as clean as the day you moved in.
I am the friend who distracts you. You need a break and so do I, so I suggest we watch a few YouTube videos and we sit on the warm pile of freshly-dried laundry and watch clips of Disney movies for half an hour.
I am the friend that buys the packing tape. It’s 9 PM and you’re panicking because you’ve got an empty tape dispenser but three more boxes still and I run to the gas station down the road while you continue to prioritize your possessions in anticipation for my return with more tape.
I am the friend that folds your clothes. It’s your least favorite thing to do, but you don’t want to just throw your clothes into boxes. So I fold each item for you to pack neatly away. Yes, even the underwear.
I am the friend who makes space in your car. I play Tetris with your boxes and appliances and manage to fit in the sleeping bag and toolkit that you were sure you’d have to leave behind.
I am the friend that drives you around. You need to take your unused U-Haul boxes back but there’s not enough room in your car, so we load them into mine and I take you to return them. I remind you that you need to stop at the post office and request a permanent change of address.
I am the friend who sees you last. The apartment is clean and the car is packed and you’re ready to leave. We don’t know how to say goodbye, so we just hug again and again until it’s finally time for you to go. I wave from the sidewalk and you wave from your open car window until we can no longer see each other.
And even though I am the friend you have known for the least amount of time, I am also the friend who will miss you the most.
PEGGLE!
Oops, I’m addicted to Peggle.
Thanks a lot, Achievement Hunter.
For those of you who don’t know what Peggle is, here’s the AH crew playing Peggle 2, which just came out. Peggle is quite similar, so if this looks fun, I recommend Peggle! You can get it from Steam.
United State of Pop 2013
Alright, so ever since I’ve started this “download a new song everyday” thing, I’ve made my the last download of the year be DJ Earworm’s United State of Pop mashup for that particular year.
I plan to do the same thing this year. However, this year’s mashup is so freaking good that I’ve decided to give it its own blog post. Behold!
2009’s mashup has been my favorite since it came out, but I honestly think this one’s better. The video’s pretty awesome, too.
My favorite parts are 2:03 (I love that chord, whatever that is) and everything past 4:20.
Another Productive Study Session Brought to You By End-of-the-Year Burnout
Calculus Dragon is the product of three Linear Algebra students who have their final on a FREAKING FRIDAY and just want to go home.
Yeah.
(Ignore the “L’Hopital” in the corner. I just felt like writing his name.)
WELL I BROKE THE COPY MACHINE.
Elaboration: After our Proofs final this afternoon (which was surprisingly easy), I had to go copy the tests for STAT 251 (‘cause, you know, I don’t plan ahead like I should and instead waited until the night before the test to copy them). So Wayne and I went back to Brink. We went up to the stats department floor and he worked on his SAS project while I started the copier.
The first ¾ of the copies went fine, but then the machine stopped so I went to check on it. I figure it was just out of paper; I was making 145 copies, after all.
But no. What was it out of? Staples.
Replacing the staples in that particular copier is the hardest freaking thing ever.
So I manage to mangle the damn staple holder to the point where I’m pretty sure it’s broken. I’m totally freaking out because I’ve got 37 more copies to make, and Wayne, with his seemingly boundless patience, tries to fix the staple holder for like 15 minutes before we’re both like, “okay, screw this” and I leave a frantic note with the gist of “sorry, I broke the staple holder ‘cause I’m an idiot” and went to Kinkos to make the remaining copies.
Got home at 9:45. I have my probability final tomorrow at 7 AM.
Screw finals week, man.
Somebody forgot to turn off my pants!
I AM TOO NERVOUS TO BLOG
HERE ARE GIFS
CAN IT BE FRIDAY NOW?
Nerrrrrrrrrrvous
Linear Algebra Saturday Study Session!
I honestly don’t know which final I’m most worried about. I have three—one each on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday—which is good ‘cause I have extra time to study, but bad ‘cause tests make me ANXIOUS and waiting to take said tests makes me OBSCENELY ANXIOUS.
Also, they’re all comprehensive. I don’t think I’ve ever had a semester where all of my finals have been comprehensive.
Haha, welcome to math, eh?
VvVvVvVvV
(In Alice Cooper voice)
SCHOOOOOOOOOOL’S OUT…FOR…SUMMER!
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII LIED…IT’S…FINALS!
Anyway.
I’ve taken like 400 classes at UI and this is the first time I’ll have a final on a Friday.
GROSS.
In not-even-slightly-related news, I found this Tumblr about 15 minutes ago and am entirely in love with it.
I’M WATCHING YOU
If I’m ever in a city with one of these stores, I’m spending like 15 hours in it and no one will be able to stop me.
I like to think I’m not a very materialistic person, but I really like fancy-ass watches.
Pretty ones:
Bias
Are there certain sounds and/or combinations of letters in the English language that you find unappealing, regardless of the words they’re in?
For example, I don’t like the long “o” sound (like in boat or moat or goat), but only if it’s spelled with “oa”. Tote and smote and wrote are fine.
Same with “s”. I only like that sound when it’s spelled with the “s”, like pass or summer or loose. I don’t like pace or rice or ceiling.
Words that end in “b” drive me nuts (job, crib, drab). Even if the “b” is silent (like in limb).
I’ve never really liked “w” in general.
Not a big fan of the long “e” sound, either, especially if it’s spelled with “ea”. Lease, east, peanut. Beer, Weedle, and peer are fine.
So what do I like?
I like the “k” and hard “c” sound. Coin, click, coffin.
I like “ch” and “tch”. Batch, cheddar, kitchen.
The “h” sound isn’t bad, either. Hoop, honor, rehire.
I like “v”, but only at the beginning of words. Vacancy, victorious, vanity. Not glove or rave or reverberate.
I dunno.
Some Songs
Today was weird.
Have some songs I can’t get out of my head.
COLD
Walked 8 miles in the single-digit weather today.
Probably not one of my smartest moves.
At least I’m almost to 1,300 miles now. Probably not going to get to 1,500 for the year, but I’m gonna freaking try!
(Now to sit next to the space heater and play Minecraft)
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