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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+] I fell kinda behind on this after I gave up on my computer because it was being slow. I also kinda fell behind in school and was playing catch-up with that too, during the second half of the week.  Anyways, this song was my mood all of Sunday, so I'm using it now.  I would say this probably describes my current relationship with school. I need it in order to become a teacher. The school I'm in is supposed to be the best program, locally, of the state universities. Yet, half my classes are on different schedules- some are week 3, another, week 4, another starts this week. Some professors were nice and decided that Week 1 wouldn't count because of the MLK long weekend, so Week 2 was our real Week 1, and then another online class was lacking a professor for a couple days.... my Chinese class originally got cancelled, and then it was reinstated, only to find out on the first day that the higher-ups were thinking about cancelling it again due to low enrollment, "so please don't get your textbooks yet".... and then a day or two later, they confirmed it was a go-ahead. And that, folks, is how to cause a headache for students taking all online classes. I went to an open house for a school with a bilingual program that was a reasonable drive (30 minutes via local streets) away in another district, because our district doesn't have a Chinese bilingual program for any K-8 grades (Chinese language classes don't count ) and I met the principal during the tour, then emailed the principal afterwards, but she didn't reply. So that's a no-go. The next closest one is about 45 minutes away, via the freeway. So, chances are, I'm withdrawing from this Chinese class.  I just don't have the time to drive 45 minutes to a school for observation- especially if school starts at 8 or 8:30.... that's kinda prime traffic time, too. Going back to the song, that first verse is how I feel about school. It's a losing game, honestly. I have realized my limit, and 5 classes with 3 jobs is past it. Even my coworkers all wonder why I need 3 jobs.... one is for the money (retail), one is for the connections, and honestly, the music one? I don't even know at this point. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] The past 12 months have had LOTS of new music for me- especially since all my exercising involved/involves music. I heard this song from Jazz in Winter Quarter at uni last year. It cuts it closer to the 12-month period since Winter Quarter was January-March and we're in February, but hey, it's early February.  Also, this song just makes me wanna get up and dance. I've also sounded out the basics of the melody on my guitar. Haven't really played anything on the piano for ages, because our piano (an upright) has kinda turned into a temporary storage shelf for other stuffs like throw pillows  .Sheppard is an Aussie band and I'm pretty obsessed with them- they actually originated as a family band, when one of the brothers was helping the sister with a songwriting assignment for school and then somehow a band was formed. They also have a song for the bushfire relief, called Phoenix, which is very pretty, and another one called "Die Young," that apparently lots of people have been listening to recently- I've even heard it on the playlist at barre, and it's rare that my Aussie obsessions ever end up being played in public. Aside from hearing them at barre, and "Geronimo" at the mall when I go to work sometimes, I think this song was one of the first new ones I heard in 2019 where I went "oooh, this is a nice song," and after what happened in 2018 with my aunt, a "Geronimo" obsession was definitely welcome. The intensity of it helped me not keep dwelling on what had happened. Also, Sheppard is actually better live than they are recorded.  I shall leave this video of their performance on The Voice AU for you to compare their recorded and live performances, and you can decide (and come to the same decision  ) for yourself.  [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I also really like the silver jacket Amy (green-haired performer) wears. She also has an incredible voice. Just sayin'. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Alrighty, technically this song is only Halsey, but this version she performed with Kelsea Ballerini... I guess you could say is my definition of ASMR. It's very satisfying. In the sense that both ladies have incredible voices and both voices pair so well together.I've become a regular Youtube watcher while school went out on break- both the school I work in, and the school I attend- and I'd say my top 2 topics on Youtube are music and food. This is why I need to do barre class twice a day.  Mom and I went to a concert back in October, actually, called "We Can Survive," which featured a bunch of huge artists like the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift (spoiler alert- she will also make an appearance within the next 25 entries!), and Halsey was a surprise guest. I would say I wasn't the biggest fan of her prior to "Graveyard," but I definitely appreciated her talent. I watched her perform with BTS at the American Music Awards, and I watched her own performance of "Graveyard"... and then I remembered how she performed "Without Me" at the Billboard Awards, and I've determined that she's definitely an amazing live show performer.  She brings the drama and theatrics, but knows where the line is before it becomes too much. She also did a mash-up of sorts with Lady Antebellum for their new album's song "What if I Never Get Over You": [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] She also has a fabulous fashion sense.  Or stylist. Regardless, her outfits suit her so well and look so good on her. Also, Kelsea Ballerini's outfit in the first video is definitely something I'd aspire to wear. I'm going to attempt sounding this out on the guitar or piano whenever I have a chance. |
| LA Devotee- Panic at the Disco (Brandon Urie is part of Panic at the Disco) You probably figured out (if you know Brandon Urie is from PATD) that this last song would be Panic at the Disco, but not which song. I live in LA, and granted, I haven’t actually been to most of the places listed in the song, but this is a fun song to sing along. It’s kinda rock-ish and it allows you to kinda scream or sing louder, which is great for hyping up or cheering up. I don’t quite get the horoscope references, and honestly, reading more into the lyrics now, they don't actually make much sense to me. BUT I do really like the song. I probably can't really tell you why, because that's just me. It's so catchy, and also... the "always on the hunt for a little more time"-- yes, that is absolutely me because I have 3 jobs (and it's 8:38 right now PST, which makes it 11:38 WDC time on September 7th, which is about 22 minutes from when this activity closes ) and my work-life balance is completely out of skew, to where I am out of the house for 12+ hours at a time, whether it be for school or work.  Like, today, I left the house before 7, for 7:30 barre class. Then I had Chinese School from 9-12, and work from 12:45-7. I stayed a little bit to talk with the other leaders at the store about bringing Mom to barre tomorrow, (which she has now bailed on ) and about school and life and such. The first time I heard the song, I was like "oooh, this is catchy" And then I kept listening to it and it got stuck in my head a few times, and here we are now.  I also got distracted and signed up for barre for 2 weeks in advance, which means that this entry is now late, but whatever. I was looking for instructors that I liked, and there was a lady on the schedule whom I haven't taken a class with for a while, and I did like her classes, so I signed up for her because it was a time I'm actually not at school or work. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Me- Taylor Swift, Brendan Urie I don’t know if it’s considered allowed or not to use the same main artist twice in a row, but I mean they're pretty different songs and it's definitely more representative of what I've been listening to lately.  Brendan Urie flies around, on an umbrella, like Mary Poppins at the BBMAs. What more can anyone ask for? To be completely honest, I've always envisioned flying on an umbrella after Mary Poppins and Nanny McPhee did what they did. In elementary school, I used to think it was possible and always wish I could. Also, I watched he and Taylor perform this at the Billboard Awards- they killed it! As a matter of fact, I’m gonna link that performance at the bottom. This song is a fun one- it’s somewhat different from Taylor’s “You broke up with me and this is about you” songs, and I like that the color theme is so pastel and 50s-esque. Also, when I did my nails to celebrate Lover’s drop, they were the longest-lasting ombre I’ve done, which probably says something about the song, the colors, and the album. O:- ) It’s also like a boyfriend/girlfriend proposal in a song, in the sense that “this is why you should pick ME to be your BF/GF.” Another reason this song/video is awesome, is maybe my life is sort of evolving alongside Taylor Swift's music- last time with her reputation album, I was totally all "yes, let's go get revenge on everyone and be all "Look What You Made Me Do" to the people I didn't like. Now that I'm at lululemon, it's like "you can go take your negativity somewhere else because I don't think fueling this fire is worth my time." I also love the “Hey, kids, spelling is FUN!” part. I never actually realized “awesome” had a “me” in it until the song pointed it out. So, whenever you’re feeling down, remember, “can’t spell awesome without ‘me’” The BBMA performance: [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] End Game- Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Future If you didn’t know that I’m a huge Taylor Swift fan by now, 1. now you do, and 2. do you really know me? With that said, I mentioned in the previous post that yes, it did feel like cheating to use Perfect and End Game because Jeff  already used it as an example, but really, how else am I supposed to incorporate Taylor Swift into this mix? Once you see my final 2 songs, I do challenge you to come up with an alternative path. If you succeed (and by succeed, I mean it has to actually be something I would listen to ) maybe I’ll send you something.  I did go to the reputation tour at the Rose Bowl last year- Uncle got the tickets as my birthday present- but he did it in a really weird way, that the way I reacted to his request was so far from what he (and Mom) thought my reaction would be, that he was super confused. He called me when Mom and I were at lunch, and he’s like “Hey, Dragon, can you get me 3 tickets to the Taylor Swift concert?” I mean, yeah, it’s nice he was paying for the tickets and everything but his execution needed some… I don’t know, work? I mean, for me it felt a little random. According to Mom, I think they were expecting more of a “ YES OMG YES YES YES” as opposed to a “ okay, yeah, sure.” End Game is probably actually one of my higher-ranked favorite songs from reputation, and probably from Taylor Swift in general- I’m not one to really listen to rap music, but I do actually really like the rapping/rap-like cadence of Ed Sheeran’s part- and I love how Taylor’s part goes into rapping and then melts into song. I think that Ed Sheeran’s British-ness comes out really well and goes well with the song- like when he says “beautiful”- you’re not getting the “t” sound, but more of a guttural, “eh” sound in its place and it makes it really fun to sing along to in the car. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Perfect- Ed Sheeran and Beyonce I'm admittedly not a huge Beyonce fan. It was apparently her birthday the other day (Wednesday- I took a 6 am barre class and the instructor was like "according to another instructor, it's Beyonce's birthday today, so we're going to be playing all Beyonce songs today" ) I knew about 3 songs. Halo, Single Ladies, and one more I don't remember what it was. Okay, it's now 10 pm and I wrote a whole entry on this about 7 hours ago on my phone, which I could swear I saved, but it apparently didn't, so now I'm rushing to write this and I'm not pleased. I feel like it's somewhat cheating to be using this song because Jeff used it in the example, but I'm thinking that once we get to day 7, you'll see why I chose this and what the logic there was. I do like Ed Sheeran's music, for the most part. I remember being fascinated with A-team when it first came out, and really liking that song, which is interesting because when you think about that song and compare it to his current music, that's not at all what it's like now. I'm thinking more specifically along the lines of Galway Girl and Nancy Mulligan- I'm pretty sure I mentioned somewhere that I now have a Pandora Premium, but when I was on Pandora Plus, Ed Sheeran's songs came up every now and then, and another one of his songs I liked was "What do I know". As for this song specifically, I liked the non-Beyonce version better. (As said, not a huge Beyonce fan) I remember hearing the version with her in it, at the grocery store when I was at uni, and thinking "okay I like this song and I can kinda tell it's Ed Sheeran- actually, I know it's Ed Sheeran, but who's the woman?" so I opened Shazam to see, and lo and behold, it was Beyonce. I won't say she did a bad job with the song- she didn't. I just don't like her enough to say I liked her being in the song as well. As a matter of fact, I'm somewhat surprised that she would duet with Ed Sheeran, of all people. Ed Sheeran seems so much more down-to-earth and practical, and the image Beyonce gives out is totally opposite- high class, somewhat diva-ish, and untouchable, essentially. I'm guessing that's why people call her the queen. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Jumpin' Jumpin'- Destiny's Child: Beyonce, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams I've been getting rather into 90s music stuffs recently, especially female 90s music. I had Pandora Plus for about a year and half, which let me have ad-free and offline music listening, but it was radio-based, so while I got to help customize my own stations, I didn't get to decide what songs I wanted to listen to. Somehow, lots of 90s stuff started coming up, and I was like "this isn't bad". That was also before I learned that I could change the song from my steering wheel, as opposed to reaching over to the opposite side of the screen to press next.  I've just gotten Pandora Premium, so now I can have my own playlists too. I chose this song because I think it might be one of my favorite Destiny's Child songs- I feel like Say My Name is people's go-to song if they think of Destiny's Child. I also like this song because it's not all about "woe is me, my boyfriend broke up with me and I'm writing a song about this" It's all about having fun with your girlfriends, and with my recent schedule, that's definitely something that I haven't done in a while. Owlz and I are in the process of figuring out when she's at her internship at the same time I'm at work at lululemon because they're almost across the street from each other and we could easily hang out at the mall either before or after our work. Going back to the song, it's also a fun car song... it puts me in a good mood and I've been in a weird place recently where I don't like any of the music on my stations Honestly, it's probably because of the traffic I drive through- it took me 20 minutes to get to barre this morning (should take about 10) because I hit every. single. red. light.  And I was stalled by a long pickup truck towing something behind it, that I wasn't sure what it was trying to do, blocking both sides of the road. And then I got stuck behind a real truck.  Which, resulted in me being late to class. |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] In the Air Tonight- Kelly Rowland, Delta Goodrem, Boy George, Guy Sebastian Let's just preface this with OMG it's Kelly Rowland, Delta Goodrem, AND Guy Sebastian all on one stage.  Yes, I am a big fan of all three. I like Destiny's Child (hint, hint for Day 3 ), I love Delta (should be obvious by now) and Guy Sebastian also has a pretty amazing voice. And no, I'm not much of a Boy George fan, if only because he's a class-A jerk. This song.... The visual effects of the video make it for me. It was a tossup between this one and "I'm every woman"- between Delta and Kelly, and I chose this one only because the visual effects are . The way they organized the song- there's so much anticipation, and the electricity and static in the background just keep hyping it up. I also find it amusing how Boy George looks like he's possessed. I also briefly considered "Hello" for Day 1, but I preferred Bang Bang for its upbeatness. I'll be the first to admit I don't fully comprehend what's happening in the video- it looks like quantum physics or something (maybe Kit  will understand and be able to better explain it from her philosophy studies? ) I'll also admit there was way too much buildup to where I felt a bit disappointed in the sense of "that's it?" once the performance was over. I was hoping for a bit more, yes, but the combination of these superstars is purely awesome. Last season, they had Joe Jonas and did Heroes, which was okayish. I do think it would've fun had they done something like "Cake by the Ocean"- they have the Jo Bro, might as well, right? I also did not watch most of this season's Voice AU. Usually I keep up on Youtube, but Nathan, from the original Hi-5 cast had done a blind audition and made it through to the knockout rounds, where Delta made a really big mistake of not choosing him, which angered the majority of the Australian public, including me. So I stopped watching. Even one of the original Wiggles (the blue one) was saying she'd made a mistake and should've saved him. Here's a link to Nathan's audition:[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
| [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] Bang Bang- Jessie J, Delta, Ricky Martin, Madden Bros Well, I figured I’d start this out with a bang. I also didn’t think I’d be doing this, because this was HARD. But I finally figured out my 7 songs- thanks to some unstated stuff in the rules I think. And thanks to The Voice AU for always having a revolving door when it comes to their judges, because without that, I don’t think this would be possible. I’m just gonna preface this with I LOVE watching the judges perform. They always take a song, spin it on its head, or just blow it out of the park. I could’ve easily done all seven songs as Voice judge covers, but I’d also be missing lots of other songs that I really liked. So I won’t, but just a preview, tomorrow’s song is also a Voice cover.  I almost started out with one that had Kylie Minogue in it, but Delta is kinda key in the next link, so I can't really do that unless I go really roundabout, and that would involve more than 7 songs. I like this song in particular, mostly because it kinda got me more into Jessie J and Ariana Grande. They both have phenomenal voices, and are super cool artists. Also, I like the Just Dance video’s choreography of it. It’s super fun and challenging, which is just up my alley. And it’s dance, which I can hardly pass up. Come to think of it, though, I haven't actually heard this one in barre class yet- considering it's so up-tempo and "let's go!"-y. This performance in particular though, I didn’t choose just because it has 5 people singing it and that meant I had more to work with. I also chose it because of how they performed. Delta and Ricky Martin were really having a blast with the song, and I loved how the Madden brothers were also really enjoying their rapping. As for Jessie J, she just has an amazing voice. I probably could also go on a Jessie J binge, but that wouldn't once more mean you're not getting everything. |
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