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 |   Nothing official here; just come chill! |
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Welcome! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Welcome to my little Den! Here you'll find all sorts of things- mostly blog challenges, but mixed in, you'll notice:  I'm a bit of a fangirl  My life is very busy I enjoy using emoticons  I don't tend to swear, but stuff happens. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] This is me?  I do feel better when I'm dancing.  If you didn't know that about me by now....  Now you do? I love dance, I love music, and I love art. I'm taking 2 dance classes this quarter- 1.5 hours each, back to back. First jazz, and then ballet- it's the only two classes I have on Tuesdays and Thursdays and people are all "I envy your schedule" Actually, no, they shouldn't, because I still have other classes aside from those 4 units of dance- that's what they don't know. There's the upper-division writing, my Taiwan class, and the Syntax class. A total of 16 units this quarter, which is honestly not much at all compared to the 28 I took last spring.  Knocking on wood, I should be doing much better this quarter, grade-wise. I got high grades on my two midterms in the Taiwan class, and the professor really likes my group in the upper-division writing class. Syntax, I'm struggling a little, but I'm doing well enough that I think I'll be okay. This song also reminds me of Jumpstart from last year- we played this for the kiddos at my recommendation and they enjoyed it. I guess I'm the only one from my team last year who actually listens to this kind of kids' movie soundtrack music. Regardless, though, I also like it because it's from Peanuts, and really, how can you not like Snoopy?Going back to the "dance" point, in a way, it's kind of my happy place. Sure, I enjoy writing, and sure, this is a writing site and all, but yeah, you're not burning calories when you sit in front of a computer and typing. Well, I guess you are, kinda, but not as much as if you were in a dance studio dancing it out to the music. This quarter, jazz is my "safe haven" in a sense. I go in, and the rest of the world disappears because I only have to care about what's happening in the studio. I'm kinda nervous, actually, because I have silks tomorrow morning from 10:15-11:30 and class starts at 12:30 at school. that means I'd have about a half hour to get back to school and park my car, because it takes about a half hour to get to campus by bus.  So yeah, song #1 that would be "me". |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I'm a big music copy-catter, I've noticed. Every time I take a dance class, I end up with some new song on my playlist that I really like from the instructor. This quarter was no different- I found this Australian band, Sheppard, because our instructor has their song, "Geronimo" on his playlist for our across the floor exercises. I added the song onto my Pandora because I really liked it, and Pandora gave me a bunch of other, similar songs- some from Sheppard, and some from other artists. This one, "Coming Home," is probably one of my favorite ones Pandora recommended to me. Firstly, I'm a sucker for a good Australian artist. There aren't enough of them on the charts, in my opinion, and when they do make it, it's always decided that Australia is too far, or the US is too far, and nothing happens with them to gain more popularity. Sure, bigger artists do world tours and hit Australia, but how many Australian artists have ever toured the US? And, I'm not talking about artists who reside in the US, of Australian background, like Keith Urban, but more like, Delta Goodrem. And now, Sheppard. Their songs are fun. That's the best way I can describe it. I watched the video for this song and I was bouncing around and dancing along to the artists as well, in the shower, after having done an ab workout and 3 hours of dance. Next, I was just on Facebook and apparently American Idol used this song for their commercial!  Deservedly so for Sheppard, honestly. I feel like this song is just bursts and bursts of energy. The chorus just builds up, explodes, and then the beat drops and you just lose it.  That's what I do, at least, and that's also why it's a guilty pleasure. Not to mention, I'm one of those people who, if I like one song from an artist, chances are I just like the artist, and not just that one song. You'll find out in the next few soundtracker entries. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Guilty pleasure day 6- Lauren Alaina. Mom and I have a thing between us where I'm not a huge fan of her 70s and 80s music, and she's not too keen on the newer music that I like. I chose this song because I do like 90s music, actually. Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, Christina Aguilera, and the 90s boy bands.... I do like those. Back in late elementary and early middle school, Mom would pull up playlists of songs she liked, and Sis and I would consider it a treat of sorts, that we'd get to have pop music in the house. Fast forward to 7th and 8th grade, and I'm starting to find my own music and also download it all illegally. I don't remember what the site was called, but there was this website, I believe it was almost a palindrome, and it had pretty much all the music I liked and I ended up downloading from there. Annnd upon further brain-wracking, it was called dilandau. Upon Googling, the site still exists. Free mp3 downloads, essentially. One of our aunts had given me and sis each a tiny Mp3 player  and then I'd download the music I liked and put it onto there. I remember that getting into high school, there were days where Mom would be playing her music from YouTube, and I was more technologically adept than in middle school, so I'd ask her to put on some of the music I liked, and she's like "no, I'm trying to share part of my culture with you"  Even now she admits that's a bogus excuse. I wanted to share my likes and my "culture" with her, too!  This song, though... it's a fun one. I mentioned that I'm not big on country music right now, and that's totally true- I haven't heard this song in a while, but I still enjoy it. I like how she mentions all these 90s songs, and I do recognize most of them. As said, I do like Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, etc. Their music is fun, I guess, and it's not as extreme as today's stuff, in terms of how they dressed and such. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] This came up on my Pandora so I figured I might as well. Yes, it's another Disney, and at this point, the last two guilty pleasures will likely be Disney as well, so brace yourselves. I don't actually remember this scene from the movie- we were in late elementary school when the HSM craze broke out, and early middle school for #2 and 3 I think. I do remember our local theatre group put together a rendition of the movie as a stage musical, and Mom took me and Sis to go watch it. There was a boy in my class who was an epic spinner, but I also don't remember if we found that out in that show or another one we went to watch. I'm putting this as guilty, since yes, it's another Disney, but also, I did enjoy it when it first came out. I don't know if I would watch it again- maybe if I was mega-bored one day and it was on Netflix or something, then I would? Otherwise though, probably not.  Alternatively, I'd re-watch it just to refresh my memory as to what it was about. I remember Gabriella, Troy, Sharpay, and Ryan, but that's about it. And Chad, Corbin Bleu's character. I think these Disney Channel movies typically follow a formula- the plot is essentially an "us vs. them" type of conflict, or "who am I?" and then a happy ending. If the movies are a series, then yeah, movie one is "us vs. them," in the second movie, the main character starts debating if they should really follow their heart, and in the third movie, everything is resolved. Also, the video for this is pretty fun, dancing-wise. I always liked watching music videos to see what artists did with their songs, and this one's no different. Actually, on the topic of "no different," this song kinda reminds me of my tennis days. I used to choreograph little dances in my head while on the court.  Mom sent me and sis to afterschool tennis, and 3-4 years afterwards, when I quit tennis, she told me, that the coach had told her, there was no way I'd make it in competitive tennis. I was always there for "social tennis". Honestly? I don't blame him for saying that, because considering I no longer play tennis, I think he was pretty correct. Not to mention, I always imagined I was dancing instead of playing tennis. Yeah, I don't think I was even there for social tennis. Maybe my physical body was there, socializing, but mentally, my mind was in a dance studio. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] If you knew you'd get away with it, with no repercussions at all, would you take the chance to exact revenge on all who wronged you? I only ask, because this song... it's not really about revenge, but it's about finding the inner evil in you. I know mine exists for sure- just, I don't usually act on it because I know the consequences and I'd rather not face them. Although, if given that chance, I really don't know if I would take it. It is very tempting, yes, but at the same time, there's still that part of your conscience telling you it's probably not a very good idea. So yeah, this is definitely a guilty pleasure- it's another Disney soundtrack. It really shouldn't be that surprising, honestly, but in a way, for me, it is. I didn't exactly imagine myself as a Disney person- I mean, yes, I enjoy Disney movies and such, but I'm definitely not one of those Disney fanatics who will have everything Disney and know every trivia about every movie they made, ever. Also, I may just be a fan of the live-action movies, as opposed to their animations. Sure, the princesses are cute and all, but eh, I'm not a huge fan. I much prefer talking animals like Winnie the Pooh. Also, this song- the prince of Auradon (the Disney "utopia" of all the princesses, princes, and good characters) turns into one of the "Isle" people (the land opposite from Auradon where the Beast banished all villains and their sidekicks). So, I mean, if even the prince can turn dark for an amount of time, that means everyone can, right? I actually was rather hesitant about the Descendants franchise at first because it looked dark and somewhat strange, though now that I've watched the first and second movies, I'm eager for the third to come out this summer. I actually just re-watched #2, and I also re-watched #1 a couple weeks prior.  Annd one more thing I realized as I did this- it's day 4 of guilty pleasures- 4 is considered unlucky in Chinese because its pronunciation rhymes with "death"- while there's no death in Descendants, it's still a dark-ish movie, which fits the dark-ish theme of 4 rhyming with death. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I'm calling this a guilty pleasure because I'll be the first to admit, I never really liked Meghan Trainor, ever. I really didn't like "All About that Bass" when it came out, and I'm still not a fan of it. I also didn't like "Like I'm gonna lose you" so that's pretty much 2/2 of her big hits that I was like "yeah, no thanks." This is probably the one song from her that I do like? Not including the Snoopy and Smurfs songs because those were movie soundtrack songs and not really for her/in an album (I could be wrong about that second part). The song itself has a fun beat and if you want a confidence boost or something, this is definitely the song to put on. The Jazz instructor uses this song for "across the floor" exercises and makes us show our personality with it. I don't usually do the personality part of it because I really don't know what type of personality/attitude I have that can be shown off and be "sassy". It's easier to embody this attitude over a screen than through movement.  To go on a side tangent about Jazz class, I have so much fun in those 1 1/2 hours. Despite my lack of personality/sass/attitude, apparently, I'm experienced enough to be considered "advanced" in this class. Though, I mean, I'd say at least half of our class is made of international students from China who barely give an effort to do what we do in the class. If we're jumping, they'll lower and raise their body, but that's about it. Their feet don't actually leave the ground, and if we're turning, they don't bother to actually turn, just kinda step around, to where our instructor's like "okay, you don't have to turn, just do these three steps" and they can barely manage that. Once they get to the other side of the studio, they simply recongregate and begin jabbering in Chinese. Little do they know, I understand about 95% of what they say.  Going back to the song, I also saw the "commercial" the girls from Dance Moms shot with the song as background music, once when I was still kinda into the show. I'm not so much into it anymore, just because eh, Abby Miller, and the girls have left already, so I'm not interested. Anyways, it was a fun video, which also made me like the song more. Annnd with that, I'll end this entry with a second "Me Too" video, this time from the Fitness Marshall. [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
| Guilty pleasures day 2- you were probably waiting for me to slip a Hi-5 song in somewhere, and well, I hate to disappoint people, so we've got Hi-5 today! [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I chose this one because firstly, I don't actually listen to the band that much anymore- Pandora doesn't have much of their music, and I'm trying to get the most use out of the free year of Pandora I got from T-Mobile. So, this song was the very first Song of the Week for the show, which means, theme song aside, this was the first song. Also, it sums up how I feel about school right now. Or, well, how school is treating me. "Ready or not, I'm gonna find you again!" I can easily hide and run away, but it'll catch up. At this point, I'm torn between wanting school to be over, and wanting a quarter where I can just completely chill and take dance classes for fun. I mean, logically speaking, it's definitely not worth it to pay $1,000+ for tuition and then another $3,000-ish for 3 months' housing for a total of $4K+ just for 4-5 dance classes. And I'm not about to drop the $3K in rent to drive back and forth on Tuesdays and Thursdays to dance at school. if anything, maybe I'll end up at the silks place that's the only one around where I live at home, for exercise. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'll end up doing for exercise, which is worrisome. Another "Ready or Not" thing is that SILKS GOT CANCELLED AGAIN.  I'm so frustrated with the rec center because they did that to me last quarter as well. Plus this quarter they didn't cancel until this morning.  I legit told the guy "I'll take my classes elsewhere" or something along those lines. I don't want a refund- I want to take the classes I paid for. It's not a completely unreasonable request, is it? When I started taking dance lessons after school at a local studio in high school, the class had 2 people as well- it wasn't cancelled. As a matter of fact, I flew through the basics and landed in Level 4 for my make-up classes after a month or so. The maximum number of participants for this silks class is 8. 2 people signed up originally when they decided to postpone the class, including me. I recently recruited a friend to take the class with me, which makes it 3 people. With only 2 silks available in the space they have, I think 3 is a very reasonable amount of people with which to have a class. One instructor, two silks, three students. It'd be small, focused, and safe. Unfortunately, the guy who ran the program didn't quite see it that way and said they'd try again next quarter. Problem there is, I'm not there next quarter! So, ha, by cancelling the class, you didn't just lose one participant for next quarter, but probably two, because I doubt my friend will want to do the class without me. It took a bit of convincing for her to even be like "Ohhhkayyyyy I'll try it?" Yeah, so the Rec center was NOT ready for that plot twist. Just like I'm not ready for school but I'm totally beyond wanting to be ready at this point, though I should probably sleep.  Tomorrow's Faculty Coffee Hour so I wanna be up early-er to get ready. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I woke up with this song in my head, so I figured I might as well use it for Guilty Pleasures Day 1. I watched the Zombie movie about a month ago when Mom was out at a concert and I was waiting up for her. It wasn't a great movie, I'll admit. The soundtrack was fun- I heard the music before I watched the film and was interested. Plus, James from The Next Step was in it! And James is awesome, so I kinda figured the movie would be as well. It wasn't, unfortunately, but it was still decent entertainment, sooo, yeah, *shrug* fun to watch, but not recommended unless you just want a boredom buster. I chose the song... as said, because it was in my head this morning. Aside from that, though, it's probably one of my favorites from the soundtrack. It's a cute song, and the video is fun, in a more kiddish way. Milo Manheim really looks like Trevor Tordjman though, in my opinion. When I first saw the cover for the music I thought Trevor was the zombie at first, and then it was a surprise of sorts to find out it was actually Milo Manheim. I've actually never heard of him before either- I mean, usually on these Disney movies, they use a relatively well-known star to be the main character, but maybe not this time? I wouldn't say I completely relate to it anymore- it used to be more like "aww that's cute, maybe I'll find that person too" but now I'm just "eh, love." Yes, I'm over the Mr. CG now. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] This. It's what I was referencing in the previous blog post. If anything, if you don't like country music, mute your speakers and watch the video because it's amazing. In short, Maddie and Tae address the misogynistic cliches often found in country songs- I would say there are at least 3 direct, unique song references in their song from male-sung (and likely, written) country songs that don't see females in the most promising light. I think it's a great way to address the issue, actually- put it in a song! I feel like more people pay attention to music than they would, say, politics, or news. Music is easy to listen to- you can listen as you drive, walk, read, do homework, or in general, when you're chilling. Watching TV for the news or reading news articles requires more brain power- you can't drive, walk, or read while you're reading the news, for starters, it would, in fact, be rather dangerous. Not to mention, you'd probably get your license suspended, if not taken away for reading while driving. The same wouldn't happen, though, if you were just listening to music. Also, history itself has a habit of objectifying women. Women were considered property, to be owned- and if they're your property, your belongings, you can do as you wish with them. That doesn't happen as much (at least I'd like to think) these days, but regardless, it's still an issue that needs bringing up, because that idea is also where the gender inequality starts playing (I think Sis is much better/more knowledgeable/passionate about this topic than I am). When something is your property, you own it, and it's not even human, so the thought that another human, just somehow biologically different-looking than you, isn't your property and can, in fact, do most things males can do, is stunning to some people, I think. And then there's others who are in firm belief that males, because they're biologically built a certain way different from females, should stick to certain activities that females would typically shy away from because a female's body is biologically built in a certain way not fit for those activities. I personally don't agree with that, because, I mean, the world needs more diversity in all our professions, like female country singers, or male acrobats. I think we just need some celebrity to come out and prove that "hey, it is cool for males to be doing ballet, look at me!" or "hey, it is cool for females to be boxing champions, look at me!" I mean, for a while, it wasn't even cool for men to have dancing abilities, but now it's pretty normal. Which brings me back to the original point I was making about the song- first, they're female country singers (woot!) and second, they're pointing out what the guys got wrong (double woot! ) |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] All too fitting, because SILKS starts again tomorrow and I'm SO excited for that! I miss it- I miss flying in the air and doing weird things you wouldn't imagine doing on two silks. I chose the song after going through my Pandora list and trying to find some good ones that I've thumbs-up-ed on the station I've been listening to recently. I got a bit bored of country music- it was pretty much playing the same songs over and over- so I switched over to a new, pop one that I anchored on XO-IQ (Make it Pop). Plus I needed a new headspace in January. New music, new headspace! Maybe it leads to happier me? I don't know. We'll have to see about that one. For me, this is probably as far as I'd get from country music.... instead of middle-aged men singing about drinking beers and catching fish (or not getting the girl, which gave me an idea for the next one... ), we have a kick-butt lady doing incredible tricks on silks in an old (Victorian-style?) house.I have something about activities where my feet don't touch the ground. I mean, if I weren't so clumsy and my body didn't break so easily, I'd totally try gymnastics as well. I loved aerial yoga in Australia- that's actually a big pull factor for me if I were to move back to Melbourne to work- aerial yoga. It's so relaxing, and you're using more muscles than in regular yoga. I was discussing yoga with my friend yesterday as we were having dinner- she said that's the closest thing she'd do to dancing. She's an Education major as well and is taking one of the mandatory lower-division classes this quarter where one of the group projects is teaching somebody a new skill, so her group members decided to teach hip-hop. We were discussing her project and dancing in general- one of the other group members did classical dancing (I'm guessing ballet, jazz, contemporary, etc) and was pushing for that, but the others thought hip hop was easier. Anyways, yoga- it's boring, in my opinion. You sit there, you're all still, trying to focus on your breath or whatever, while your mind is probably doing the exact opposite and racing at a million thoughts a minute. So, at the very least, when you're doing aerial yoga, you can be thinking of other things, like your posture, technique, or staying in the air (aka, not falling ) which makes it more interesting. As for the song, it's catchy, it's confident, and it's just kooky enough to give you a double take and make you wanna listen again. |
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I wish you all the best, my friend. May all your dreams come true. 
