Ambitious, Apprehensive Procrastination (With a Quick Glance Around)

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my sad little corner of the internet that like 6.5 people care about. It's been a while! Let's catch up - I am now a sophomore in college, I'm thissss much closer to declaring a major, I still don't get enough sleep, and now I have AC in my room (thank GOD).

Now that that's out of the way, we can move on to discussing more pressing issues, such as all the things I'd like to be doing if I could just figure out how to organize my life well enough to do them.

I am this school year's features editor for a fashion/art/photography publication at my school called ROCKET, and I am, slowly but surely, figuring out just how to do that. My ultimate goal is to not only guide my fellow writers towards their best creations, but to also be a person they can look up to and rely on. Most of us are around the same age, but I'm their beta leader (we also have an EIC, so there's that leader to answer to, as well,) and I want to be a good one. I want to foster a little community between the six of us that allows for a constant flow of communication, ideas, creativity, and of course, friendship. On top of that, I also strive to be the most competent person I can be, so that I'm never left not knowing how to solve a problem. As you can imagine, no one of this is going to come easy, but I believe in ROCKET and the writers and our potential and I am willing to work to achieve these goals. I'm just not going to be able to sleep, ever, apparently. It's cool.

ALSO, before I forget to mention it! I got in an Instagram argument with the LITERAL Marc Jacobs last week! Okay, let me break it down briefly, (I intend to write more about it for ROCKET's website, so I can't get into too much detail but OMGGG).  Last week was the tail end of New York Fashion Week (NYFW). If I'm not mistaken, Marc Jacobs' show was one of the last ones, and it was expected to be big and innovative and awesome. And for many aspects of it, it was. The setting was futuristic and colorful and creative and some big names in the modeling industry walked for him, including Kendall Jenner and both Hadid sisters. But the one glaring problem with the whole show, that has since overshadowed any of the actual clothes that went down the runway, was that despite most of the models being white, or otherwise non-People of Color (POC,) they were all sporting pastel-colored dreadlocks. I saw this on one of the pictures on the Marc Jacobs company Instagram, and commented that while this show was otherwise impressive, it was disappointing to see non-POC wearing dreadlocks, and that if that was the aesthetic they were going for, they should have used actual models of color. THAT'S WHEN THINGS GOT CRAZY. Marc Jacobs HIMSELF, on his actual personal account, commented back and tagged me and one other girl, that it wasn't cultural appropriation, it was just appreciating people and love is all you need, and wouldn't cultural appropriation be when women of color straighten their hair? And other nonsense like that. I WAS STUNNED. Both because he commented back, and because he was SO INSANELY IGNORANT. I commented back trying to break down for him the (many) points he'd misunderstood. From there, SO MANY DIFFERENT NEWS SOURCES AND INDIVIDUALS saw this comment and found my original comment and started tagging me in things and videos and articles and it was NUTS. I shared screenshots of the comments on my Facebook page, and to date, it is the most interacted-with post I've ever shared. I never imagined it would end up like this, but I'm glad I wasn't the only one that noticed how strange and wrong Marc Jacobs was acting. I don't discredit him as a designer or hate him or anything (who's got actual time for that,) but I am really disappointed in him. If he could've acknowledged that he made a mistake, that all would be well, but his response was just so surprisingly childish, that it almost seemed like a joke.

But anyway, aside from being more culturally sensitive than a major fashion designer, my life has been pretty consistent. I did see the Lumineers in concert last Friday, which BLEW MY MIND, and then this week I discovered that stickers will actually stay on my laptop surface, going against what I previously thought. Pretty exciting stuff, I know. Now I just have to try to focus on maintaining that kind of excitement in little, everyday things, which is the ultimate goal, amiright?

The most magical night, the best performers

Seriously, though, I do have a lot of things I'd like to accomplish this year, and hopefully by writing them down, I'll be more motivated to get them done. One of these things is to participate in NaNoWriMo again after having not done it for 2 or 3 years. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and basically you just commit to writing 50,000 words of an original novel during the entire month of November. I've attempted it twice, but I've never finished. This year, I want to change that. I used to love writing so much, and I still do. But I used to be better at churning out stories. They flew out of my brain like oxygen out of my lungs when I'm late for class and have to speed walk. But now, it's like my story well has pretty much dried up. I want it back, so I'm forcing myself to write more. I'm going to start prepping now by trying to write creatively at least once or twice a week, hopefully more. The thing with NaNoWriMo, also, is that it doesn't have to be a good novel, it just has to be a novel. So with that in mind, I think I might be ready to (finally) conquer it.

Additionally, I want to become a better musician, I want to learn how to spend and save money smarter, and I want to get in the habit of living my life in a healthier way - i.e. preparing for things further in advance, sleeping at more normal times, keeping in better touch with friends from home, and of course, eating on a more regular schedule instead of snacking on small things that aren't necessarily doing me any good.

I don't really know what the point of this post was, but I felt like I had a lot of thoughts floating around in my head, and I needed to organize them somehow. Kind of like I need to organize my life, but easier and less time-consuming. :P

To end this post, here's my current playlist, which is honestly my favorite thing to write about, so here you go. :)

Happy Birthday - The Beatles (today is my cousin's 1st birthday and he might be the cutest baby I've ever seen so I had to)
Cartoons and Forever Plans - Maria Taylor
Keep On Loving You - Cigarettes After Sex
Americana Dream - firekid
Hell No - Ingrid Michaelson
Cool Blue - The Japanese House
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now - The Smiths (I stalked one of the new features writers' blogs and this was on one of her playlists and I knew she'd fit in with us right away at ROCKET)
Life Itself - Glass Animals
Season 2 Episode 3 - Glass Animals
Pork Soda - Glass Animals
June, After Dark - Elliot Root
Gemini Feed - Banks
Underdressed - VERITE
Give Me Something - Jarryd James
Babylon - David Gray (this song is SO GOOD, I don't even know what else to say about it, just listen it)
Cool Girl - Tove Lo
American Money - BORNS
Always Love - Nada Surf
Still Not a Player - Big Pun
LOST BOY - Troye Sivan
Laura - Hockey Dad
Flesh Without Blood - Grimes
Closer - Duck House

Things I Know to be True

A brief list:

• The relatively new album by The Lumineers, Cleopatra, is PHENOMENAL (thanks Maddie, if you're reading this, for introducing me)
• Working at an ice cream shop is fun but not very lucrative (like, at all...)
• I may be getting cavities from said job
• Donald Trump is either the biggest doofus or the smartest con artist I've ever seen, but either reality is terrifying
• Urban Decay makes really good lipsticks
• JoJo picked the wrong Bachelor (!!! so mad about this !!!)
• A lot of bad stuff still happens in the world and some people are really sucky but sometimes people do nice things or are just genuinely good people, and the world is just a little bit better

This post was brought to you by a sheer lack of motivation to do anything else, and peach iced tea.

Example #1 of some really good people, my freshmen hallmates

Example #2: NKE fam, the best & brightest

Example #3, last but certainly not least, my real fam <333

Is Anyone Out There?

If you're reading this right now, I want to extend a virtual hug to you for sticking around even though I am the literal worst. The last time I wrote for this platform was in 2015, for New Year's. That's awful, if I say I have a blog, I should damn well write for it! So that's why I'm here today, because even though I have so much school and extracurricular work to do I'm actually dying a little bit more everyday, the guilt for neglecting Slow Lane was eating at me just a tad more.

So yeah, here we are.

I'm currently 3 weeks away from the official end of my first year of college. Which is CRAZZZYYY. It's insane how fast this year has gone by, and what I've managed to accomplish in the span of 9 months. I've joined a music sorority, become a staff writer for a campus art/fashion/photography magazine called ROCKET, and gotten involved with various miscellaneous things around campus that I never would've believed I could do a year ago. I've taken classes that have pushed me to intellectual, musical, and physical limits, which scared me at first, but now excites me when I can accomplish something I doubted I could in the beginning. Just as an example, one of my classes is Intro to Stage Lighting, which I stupidly thought would be easy. Instead of being easy, I've put in more labor hours than I've ever done in my entire life, and got over my intense fear of heights in the process. Even though it's the most intense class I'm taking, I've learned the most from it. Even if I'll never really admit it.

This year, I've also made some really great friends. The sisters in my music sorority, Nu Kappa Epsilon (NKE for short),  are astounding, wonderful, glorious people that I'm so lucky to know, and I couldn't be more grateful to them for creating a place and an organization that's allowed us all to feel comfortable being our 100% true selves. It was weird, at first, because I was new and didn't really know anyone, but slowly and surely I was able to connect with so many of the sisters. I have my "family" that I love, and people who aren't part of the fam that I also greatly appreciate for how welcoming and friendly and genuine they are. I'm so, so glad I found at least one little corner of my school to which I know I can always come back.

My fam, the greatest there ever was

The WHOLE NKE fam, <3 (less-than-three)

(Most of) my pledge class, fabulous as ever

In addition to NKE, my hallmates have been absolutely amazing. I live in one of the smallest freshmen dorms on campus, and as a result, nearly all of us have gotten to know each other pretty well. I didn't realize that was abnormal until I talked to people from other dorms who didn't even know the names of everyone on their floor, let alone their entire building. So I'm glad I've had this random, wonderful  bunch of weirdos to live with and get to know better. Every single one of them, even the ones I don't speak to as often, has contributed something pretty great to the dorm dynamic, and being a person who can appreciate a heartwarming communal atmosphere every once in a while, I couldn't have gotten luckier with my dorm arrangement. Next year is really going to be hard, not being around them as much. But I'm glad we had this year. <3

You know friends are good friends when they get burgers with you for your birthday when your birthday is during finals

Snowed in, watching Broad City, stealing my dill chips, it's casual

Fancy dinners for fancy people (*jokes*)

A complicated arrangement in which the loser of  a Yu-Gi-Oh battle would also lose a game of Assasins. Idek. 

But yeah, as the year winds down, the work sure as hell doesn't. I'm going on my fourth hell week in a row. That's a month of non-stop ridiculousness that I've only barely gotten through. Just this past weekend, I pulled an all-nighter from Sunday to Monday trying to finish a paper for one of my classes, and even though it was cool to be able to take a shower at 7 AM but not have to wake up for it, I hadn't been that tired since graduation season. Actually that might be a lie, it was probably earlier this school year, but I try to block painful memories. Anyway, I'm just excited for the summer. For me, it officially starts May 4th, and I don't have to be back at school until the end of August. Somehow I feel like I'm cheating the system, with a break that long. But I mean, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, amiright?

As for next year, I have a few plans up my sleeve. I intend to rush a social Greek sorority, which will be stressful but fun. I'll also be the Features Editor for ROCKET, which will also be stressful, but I'm going to try my hardest to make it worth it. I don't know if I'll become a big and take a little for NKE during the fall, but I definitely will by the springtime. (Don't hold me to that, though, I feel like I don't yet know what I'm getting myself into....) Also! I did a piece for ROCKET about people who do shows for the campus radio station, and it fascinated me. I'm very intrigued, and I kind of want to try it out, even if I'm limited to playing only songs my parents will know because they'll be my only 2 loyal listeners. I'm cool with that. I just want to get involved, but we'll see. My goals for next year are to do well academically, and get super involved with extracurricular activities, like I was in high school. I don't know how to not be busy, what can I say? ;P

Pathways from the Wren towards my ***bright*** future

I'd end this post here, but I feel like my legions of loyal readers will be disappointed if I don't arbitrarily state my favorite songs at the moment. So here's a ~*brief*~ list.

Carry You - Phillip Larue
Barcelona - George Ezra
Slow Dancing - Two Worlds
Elizabeth Taylor - Clare Maguire
(Girl We Got A) Good Thing - Weezer
All Downhill from Here - The Summer Set (their entire new album, Stories for Monday, is amazing btw)
When Did Your Heart Go Missing? - Rooney (an oldie but a goodie)
Chronic (The Knocks High in Harajuku Remix) - Phoebe Ryan (I quite literally cannot stop myself from dancing to this, it's such a good remix)
Tilted - Christine and the Queens
Where You Are - Hillsong Young & Free (Sometimes Christian Rock has deceptively good beats also I didn't know this was a Christian song until just now)
Loch Lomond - Peter Hollens (an a cappella group on campus sings this as a senior goodbye song and it's absolutely stunning)
Send Me on My Way - Rusted Root
Come and Get It - John Newman
Can't Sleep Love - Pentatonix
WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS - LANY (they capitalized it like that, not me. But I agree)
The entire new 1975 album, which I will review in full at a later time, but oh my GOD it is so GOOD (link is one of my favorite songs from it)
Post-Breakup Sex - The Vaccines
Teenage Idol - The Vaccines
Virgins - Death from Above 1979 (Sam, if you're reading this, I only know this band bc of you, so thanks)
White is Red - Death from Above 1979
All My Friends - Snakehips, Tinashe, Chance the Rapper
River - Leon Bridges
Gold - Kiiara
The Rules for Lovers - Richard Walters
Leave a Trace - CHVRCHES
Lemon Eyes - Meg Myers
All I Wanna Say - Lontalius

I'll stop here, for real now. Although I haven't recommended songs in so long, I could honestly keep going and make this ridiculously long post even more ridiculous. But I digress.

The important thing is...
 I'M BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER*

 (*overstatement, but like, whatever)

Things That Are Keeping Me Busy

Between my last post and this one, a lot has been going on in my life. Ramadan just ended last week, (yes, I am an American Muslim teenager - one who wears shorts and shows her hair, but whatever), I started working for my dad again, and the Common App opened on Friday. The Common App, for all you non-American students out there, is a general college application that you can send to multiple universities at once. The one for the 2014-2015 school year opened on Friday, a fact I was unaware of in June, when I made an account to get a head start on my essays and such. That application was for the 2013-2014 school year, and was deleted at the end of July, much to my dismay. The fortunate side of all this was that the essays remained the same, and I ended up being able to fill out my entire Common Application in one sitting because I'd already written my essay. So that was good. :)

A Snapchat I put on my Snap Story documenting my inner turmoil over college apps

Aside from college applications and general school stress, I've also been very preoccupied with music lately. I just recently discovered the beauty that is Spotify, and it is literally my new obsession, (I know, SO late jumping on that bandwagon, but better late than never, right?) I'm listening to it as I write this, in fact, and I can't even believe I liked Pandora more than this at one point in my life. I still like Pandora because it's a simpler radio format, but sometimes I just want to listen to the same song over and over without having to buy it, which is where Spotify comes in and saves my life. Because of Spotify, I think I want to make more posts on this blog recommending music. I tweet all the time about songs I'm currently loving, but they hardly get any response (as far as I know), so I'm just going to blog instead. I'll include a list of the songs on my most-listened-to playlist at the end of this post. Honestly, music and makeup are some of my favorite things to blog about, so I might end up writing more about it. Books, too. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. Spotify is amazing and you should make an account RIGHTNOW if you haven't already. :) Moving on.

A screenshot of Spotify playing on my computer. If only it showed the number of times I played each song...

Yet another thing keeping me busy lately is makeup (as mentioned before, I love talking about it). I've recently come to the conclusion that I adore dark, vampy lipstick, and statement colors, even in the summer. I've bought 3 lip shades in the last 2 weeks that satisfy my longing for gothic/almost-ridiculously-colored makeup, and I am loving them. The first one was a Rimmel London: Kate Moss shade in 124 Bordeaux. It's creamy and smooth and it makes my teeth look so white because it's such a dark, red wine color that's almost purple. The second product was the Revlon Colorstay Moisture Stain in 005 Parisian Passion. It's similar in color to Bordeaux, but it's a lip gloss-meets-lip stain. It goes on pretty pigmented but when it dries it looks like more of a berry color. It's really pretty on, though, despite it not remaining pigmented, and it isn't sticky like some products I've tried. The third product was actually a very recent purchase (two days ago), and it's a Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in 440 Cherries in The Snow. It's a creme consistency, which I've found I like more than matte textures, and it's hyper-pigmented. I normally shy away from red lipsticks just because most of them have orange or pink-y undertones, which don't look good with my skin color and make my teeth look really dull or yellow. BUT THIS ISN'T ANY NORMAL RED LIPSTICK. This is the most beautiful red lipstick I've ever seen, and I can say that with conviction, (mostly because I haven't really seen that many red lipsticks, but still). This lipstick is bright red, with bluer undertones that, again, make my teeth look whiter (which I clearly look for when shopping for lip products), and when I opened the tube for the first time, I didn't want to try it on like I normally do with products I've just bought, because it looked so pristine and perfect and unreal. So naturally, I went home and took copious amounts of pictures of a single tube of lipstick before trying it on. Then I put the pictures on Tumblr because I couldn't NOT share this latest discovery. This upcoming school year is my last year of high school, and I made a pact with myself to be more adventurous with my style, (which is saying something because I already dress "weird" as my sister so kindly puts it). This includes more lipstick, because I LOVE THE STUFF AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT.

My super edited pic of the best red lipstick ever

One last thing I just have to talk about before I go. Okay, two things, but it's brief. Recently I started watching Teen Wolf (yet another thing I'm late to the game for), but OH MY GOD I love that show. My best friend and I have this thing where we'll pick a show and watch all the episodes together, and in the past it's been shows like The Lying Game (which sadly got cancelled halfway through the second season), and Kyle XY (which we never finished). But now it's Teen Wolf and we're both obsessed. The second thing is that I tried out one of those Sally Hansen nail design tool kits, and yet again, OH MY GOD those things are genius. I love nail art but never had the necessary tools to be able to do cool designs. Now, however, I can do allllllll the cool designs and I loovvvveeee it. :):) (I PROMISE I'm not sponsored by any company I mention, even though it totally seems like I am.) (Maybe one day I will be but not today.) :)

My caption for this picture on instagram was "Kinda proud these don't totally suck." Still applies. :)

Anyway, as promised, here's the playlist. I won't bore you with super long descriptions of why I adore these songs, because eventually all the descriptions end up being the same, so yeah, here they are, with short comments - as short as I can physically make them. ;)  ADORE THESE WITH ME, PLEASE!!!

• 5 Seconds of Summer's new album (AMAZING, I LOVE IT COMPLETELY AND WITH NO EXCEPTIONS).
• Ed Sheeran's new album X (THE ENTIRE THING IS A POETIC MASTERPIECE and it's a beautiful sophomore album and his newer sound is even better than his old one)
• Falling in Love At A Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg (cutest song to ever be put on an AT&T commercial) (Alternate music video)
• Salute by Little Mix (don't judge, it's kick-ass)
• Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus (covered by many, perfected by one)
• Fast Car by Tracy Chapman (sorta depressing 80's song, still awesome anyway, and probably one of my favorite songs because I could listen to it on repeat for hours and not get bored.)
• Year 3000 by Busted (WAY better than the Jonas Brothers' cover, bc it's the original)(except, not gonna lie, Joe Jonas circa 2006 was pretty attractive)
• Easy Love by R5 (so so so catchy)
• I'm Ready by AJR (Spongebob intro. 'Nough said)
• In Your Atmosphere - Live at the Nokia Theatre by John Mayer (his songs are beautiful and he is so good live and this song is so amazingly performed)
• Chasing the Sun by Hilary Duff (not the most amazing song but HILARY DUFF HAS NEW MUSIC SO I LOVE IT ANYWAY BC IT SOUNDS LIKE 2003 AND I LOVE IT)
• That Girl by All Time Low (I've loved this song for years now and Spotify lets me listen to it ALLLL THE TIME) (I swear I'm not sponsored by Spotify. If I was more people would read this blog).
• Happy Little Pill by Troye Sivan (I keep singing the Gucci part in my head and I don't even know if he's saying Gucci...)
• Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by STRFKR (even better than Cyndi Lauper, which is hard to do)
• She Ain't You by New Hollow (literally the only song released on iTunes by this band for YEARS but I love it, it sounds so much like a 90's meets late 80's rock/pop song) (Another song I could listen to on repeat forever)
• All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor (I had to.) (Emblem3 did a really cool cover of this song, too). 
• Maybe You're Right by Miley Cyrus (such a surprisingly good song)
• Love On Top by Beyonce (the music video for this song makes the song even better)
• Orbiting by The Weepies (BEAUTIFUL SONG)
• Femme Fatale by Nico & The Velvet Underground (weird at first but after you listen to it about 20 times you find yourself singing it to yourself so you like it by default)
• Who's That Chick? (feat. Rihanna) by David Guetta (a DJ remix song I actually really like) (don't watch the video in the dark, it's like strobe lights in technicolor) 
• Somebody to You (feat. Demi Lovato) by The Vamps (love the intro, Demi's part, and the chorus more than the rest of the song, but I still like the song a lot) (Never mind, just watched the video again, and I like the whole song equally. Which is a lot.) :)
• Twist and Shout (Cover) by The Vamps (Saw this for the first time, and it just made me happy bc even though they've released an album they're still doing covers, which is what they're known for and I find that cool) (The cover is also pretty good) ;) 

Tunes on Tunes

I am procrastinating homework. And one way I like to occupy myself is to blog, which I don't do often enough. I haven't made a post about music in a while, and I've been listening to a lot of new stuff lately that I want to share. If my writing at any point gets kind of loopy or incoherent, you'll have to forgive me because my room is currently OPPRESSIVELY HOT AND STUFFY.

Alrighty then. Here we go. :)

"Do It 2 Me" by Allstar Weekend - This song is so catchy, and even though it's obviously about sex, I don't really care. This entire album is full of catchy songs that I could literally listen to over and over. It's not new, but it's darn good!

"Chelsea" by The Summer Set - Again, not a new song, but SO GOOD. It's made even better by the fact that it was written for a girl named Chelsea, who happens to be Chelsea Kane from the show Baby Daddy, and she appeared in the music video, which I thought was especially cute. Then, when she was on Dancing With the Stars, they had to pick a sentimental song, and she chose this one. So cute, so cute. :)

"You're Not the One" by Sky Ferreira - I heard this song on Tumblr awhile ago, and I had saved a screenshot of it to remind myself that it was worth listening to again. When I found the screen shot, and listened to it to remember, I was justifiably surprised. I had always thought that Sky Ferreira made quirkier music, but this song is the perfect mix of bubblegum pop meets Marina and the Diamonds angst. I love it.

"I Blame Myself" by Sky Ferreira - As I was looking up the video for "You're Not the One" I stumbled upon the video for this song, and let me tell you, it is probably the epitome of "cool kid". It sounds like a song straight out of the 80's, (a decade I personally identify with for some unknown reason), heavy on the keyboard and synthesizers and it's just so cool and I love it. I so wish I had known about it, and Sky Ferreira, before I spent all my iTunes gift card money.

"God Only Knows" by MKTO - I first heard this song on YouTube after watching the music video for "Classic" and seeing the video for this song in the sidebar. The rhythm of the song is romantic, but dance-able, if you're into that (which I am), and the video is clever, to say the least.

"Girls Chase Boys" by Ingrid Michaelson - The first line in the song is "All the broken hearts in the world still beat, let's not make it harder than it has to be." On top of that, the actual music which accompanies the lyrics is not gloomy at all, in fact it's lighthearted and head-bop-inducing. If that doesn't constitute endless replays, I don't know what will.

"Fancy (feat. Charli XCX)" by Iggy Azalea - I don't normally gravitate towards rap or hip-hop music at all, and at first, the only reason I bought this song was because Charli XCX's part was really cool. But after a whole week of listening to this song within a playlist of 10 songs, Iggy's rapping started to grow on me. It's entertaining and funky and cool, and I think I like it. :)

"Wild Heart" by The Vamps - Words cannot express how much I wish this band's debut album would be released in the US. This song is available on American iTunes. BUT THAT'S IT. It's not that they're some lyrically genius, musical masterminds, but their songs are really good as far as pop music goes. And I don't like being denied things because of the country I live in, like c'mon America, get your shit together. Please and thanks.

"I See Fire" by Peter Hollens - THIS SONG IS BEAUTIFUL. Ed Sheeran did a cover of it for The Hobbit soundtrack, and I heard a remixed version of that cover on Tumblr, so I looked it up on iTunes. This is (I think) the original version of the song. If you don't like slow songs, it won't even matter because you will love this song. It sounds like the kind of thing you would hear on the Scottish Highlands during a medieval war. It's powerful musically and lyrically and it gives me chills.

"Dernière Danse" by Indila - This is a French pop song that we listened to in French class throughout this past month for a song analysis assignment, and as soon as I heard it, I distinctly remember thinking "I am so going to buy this song." I fell in love. It's so poetic, if you know what the lyrics are saying, and even if you don't have a clue, you can still appreciate the fact that the song is arranged nearly perfectly.

"Disconnected" by 5 Seconds of Summer - I bought the physical copy of 5 Seconds of Summer's EP "She Looks So Perfect" from Target as soon as I could, and I couldn't have been happier about it. This song was a physical copy exclusive track, so I had no idea what I was in for (I had listened to the other tracks on YouTube before buying the CD, just to make sure it was worth it)(It was so worth it). Disconnected was co-written with Alex Gaskarth, the lead singer of another band I love, All Time Low, and you can hear his influence in the tone of the song. It works out perfectly though, because the All Time Low influence mixed with the 5SOS spin creates such an amazing song. The EP only has 4 songs on it, and it's all I listen to in the car. As I listen to it now, I feel like I should be driving.

"Heartache on the Big Screen" by 5 Seconds of Summer - I remember finding the leaked cut of this song on YouTube about a week before it actually came out, and being absolutely blown away. As soon as I heard it, I was so angry that I couldn't buy it immediately. It's one of those songs that you instantly know will be stuck in your head for days. I love it not only for that, but also for the clever extended analogy, referring to a relationship gone bad in terms of movies.

"She Looks So Perfect" by 5 Seconds of Summer - This is the band's first single from the EP, and it is so much fun. From the beginning of the song, I find myself wanting to belt out every lyric. The video is also really cool, and kind of liberating because, while they have people in their underwear dancing throughout the video, they're not just stereotypical "pretty" people, they're people of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and that's awesome. Oh yeah, and the lead singer's vibrato is TO DIE FOR.

"Magic" by Coldplay - All I'm going to say about this song is that if you can't picture this being played at your wedding, what's wrong with you?

"Don't Stop" by 5 Seconds of Summer - I'm sorry I'm including so many songs from this band.... Actually, I'm not sorry, because I think I love them, and I'm not apologizing for that because life is too short to apologize for the things you love. But anyway, this is the absolute newest song they've released, and it's only currently available for purchase everywhere but North America, which sucks, but at least they released the lyric video for it on their YouTube channel so the whole world can listen to it. Thank God, too, because that song is damn good. And again, the lead singer's vibrato makes me want to die and burst into tears and laugh until I cry because it is so SO good.

GLEE'S 100TH EPISODE

I think I've waited a sufficiently long amount of time to write this given how excited I am about Glee's 100th Episode. Every US time zone should have seen it by now, but just in case I will tag this post with a spoiler alert. :)

Anyway, this episode of Glee was magical, to say the least. The original cast (most of them, anyway,) returned to sing some of their "greatest hits," if you will. Quinn, Puck, Rachel, Mercedes, Kurt, Sam, Tina, Santana, Britney S. Pierce, Mike Chang (the two-name Asian wonder,) and a few of the best guest stars, including Holly Holiday (Gwenyth Paltrow) and April Rhodes (Kirsten Chenoweth). There was a Diva-Off, Coach Sylvester shenanigans, a small but not too heart-wrenching Finn tribute, and beautiful re-renditions of some of the best songs from the show. My favorite by far was the redone version of "Defying Gravity" sung by Lea Michele, Amber Riley, and Chris Colfer, (Rachel, Mercedes, and Kurt, respectively). It was absolutely, positively perfect in every way and if I had any left over iTunes money I would buy it in a heart beat and maybe even the ringtone, as well. Actually, scratch that. I will buy the entire album for the episode (because you know there is one, right?) and I will download it and I will enjoy it for years to come and listen to it as I'm driving home from somewhere I hate (cough cough school) and feel all better. That's what I will do. And when this season of Glee ends, (which it will, and then the show ends forever - hold me while I sob,) I will buy the DVD set of the seasons that I don't have (seasons 4 and 5, to be exact), because Netflix cruelly takes away shows after a while, (thanks for that, by the way, I was just about to watch Teen Wolf).

Well, I guess I'm done with my ramble. For now. I just can't right now. I just can't.

PS - CHACE CRAWFORD IS IN THIS EPISODE AS QUINN'S BOYFRIEND AND I ABOUT DIED WHEN I SAW HIM BECAUSE HELLO GOSSIP GIRL FEELS. I CAN'T.

A Catch-All of Things I Haven't Said ;)

So, remember a few posts ago I said there was going to be lots to come in terms of content on this blog? Well, obviously, I've been slacking, so to make up for it, here is a mass post of all the things I've been meaning to tell you all about. :) P.S. - For once, all the pictures featured in this post belong to me, and are not Internet-generated. Props for utilizing a camera!

First of all, let's throw it waaayyy back to early November, when I went to a Paramore concert with my sister and cousin, because that was one of the most magical nights of my life, hands down. It was just us, no parents in sight (that belonged to us, anyway,) which was a first for us, because we are lame, sheltered American children. But anyway, we got there like an hour or so early because we were afraid of lines and ticket complications and whatnot. But once we got there, we were so buzzed with energy and excitement. That's the thing about concerts - the anticipation of it is almost as good as the actual show. Once the show actually started, though, I was in a complete state of bliss. Hellogoodbye and Metric opened for Paramore, and they were hardcore awesome, if I do say so myself. Paramore, however, was phenomenal. Every single person in the crowd was up on their feet, dancing and singing along. I'm proud to say that I sang along, at the top of my lungs, to every single song, even the ones I wasn't completely familiar with. At one point, they were singing one song and went straight into "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac right in the middle, and then went back to their original song. It was kind of totally awesome. Essentially, what you should get from this is that I am totally in love with Paramore in all their laser-light-show glory, and if you go to one concert for the rest of your life, it should be a Paramore show, especially because Hayley is really good at engaging the crowd, in a way that makes it seem like she's your best friend talking to you in the middle of a huge amphitheater. Gotta love it!

Final bows at the Paramore show. They showered the floor crowd with green and yellow balloons from the ceiling and it was awesome. 

Secondly, let's talk about Thanksgiving. I hope you all had a great day that day, even though it was like a month and a half ago. I sure did, even though it was at my house and holidays at my house are the best kind of stressful, but stressful nonetheless. We started our day trying to catch a little bit of the Macy's parade on TV (which I love with all my heart, I can't explain it but I do,) before getting ready to go serve dinner at a local church for people who, for whatever reason, couldn't have a meal at home. It was our second year doing that, and every year, I love it, because I feel like, of all days, what better day to go out of your way to help people? Anyway, once we got back home, my extended family started to arrive, and that's when the fun began. It was kind of awkward at first, because we all hadn't seen each other for a while, but after a while, we all started talking and goofing around, and it was, for lack of a better word, heartwarming. All of us are pretty grown-up now, in regards to the cousins, so we're past our awkward stages and can actually have conversations, which is awesome. Cousins in general are awesome, am I right? Anyway, that was probably one of the best Thanksgivings I've ever had and again, I hope everyone reading this had just as much of a fantastic day as I did. 

P.S. - I took this pic, so I'm not in it, but here's my family, just to give you an indication of the environment in which I was raised. ;) 

Alright, moving on. :) The next thing I wanted to discuss was my trip to New York City for my birthday. We went about a week after Thanksgiving,  on December 6-7th. We began the day by getting up at ungodly hours, (we being me, my mom, and my best friend/neighbor). We left for the airport around 7:30 AM. Once we got there, we were in a state of excited delirium. It was rainy when we took off, but blindingly sunny above the clouds, which was surreal. Once we got to NYC, we checked into our hotel, which was right around the corner from Times Square, sufficiently fancy, and perfectly New York-ish. We then headed straight for the streets for a good ol' round of sightseeing. That first day, we visited the Times Square American Eagle, M&M World, the world's largest Forever 21, the Disney Store with a princess castle inside, and had lunch at Planet Hollywood, (which was magical and awesome inside and I loved it so much). After we tired ourselves out, we went back to the hotel to rest for a little while and get ready for the evening. Because the trip was my birthday present, we were going to have a birthday dinner and see a Broadway show. We walked from our hotel to Restaurant Row (the apparent name of a strip of fabulous restaurants,) where we had a superfancyandgrownup Italian dinner at a cute little restaurant called Latanze. After dinner, we walked around the city a little to work off the food, and ended up at Rockefeller Plaza, where we of course took pictures in front of the enormous Christmas tree. After that we took a cab to the theater to see Cinderella on Broadway. Even though our seats were way in the back and you kind of had to focus in on the stage to see, it was epic, and I don't use that word often or lightly. It was truly spectacular and the entire production was magical, from the cast, to the costumes, to the effects (which blew my mind completely). After a whirlwind day like that, we went back to the hotel and fell asleep in anticipation of the next day. The next morning, we woke up and got dressed quickly so we could get breakfast as fast as possible so as to not miss out on one single minute of the city. We ended up spending the day walking the entire length of 5th Avenue, seeing/witnessing Rockefeller Center, Macy's, The Empire State Building, Tiffany's, Harry Winston, NBC Studios, Trump Tower, Sephora, The American Girl Store, Papyrus, FAO Schwartz, the very edge of Central Park, the Apple Store, and of course, the New York City Public Library, among other things that I can't remember off the top of my head. At around 5-ish, we went back to our hotel to collect our bags and make our way to the airport to go home. I'm so lucky and blessed to have had this opportunity, because it's literally been my dream since forever to sight-see around New York City. The one thing I realized about the city, however, is that as magical as it is, it is more magical on TV. We all agreed at the end of the trip that while we loved it, we are definitely not cut out for a New York City lifestyle. I don't mean to sound ungrateful at all, because I am totally grateful. I now know, though, that even though I used to want to live in New York City, I don't think I'm cut out for it, as sad as it is. I would go back for vacation in a heartbeat, though. Most definitely. Especially because they apparently have Gossip Girl tours. ;) 

Times Square baby! <3

After the excitement of New York, and my birthday (which was on the 10th,) the next thing to get hyped about was Christmas! I love Christmas, not just because of the presents (although, let's not kid ourselves, we all love the presents,) but also because of the time I get to spend with my family, the universally-acknowledged Christmas breakfast of cinnamon rolls and bacon, swimming around in a sea of wrapping paper, getting dolled up in a new Christmas outfit. It literally makes me want to sprawl out on the floor and smile up at the ceiling whilst belting "Jingle Bell Rock" just thinking about it. This past Christmas was the best Christmas I can remember. We went to my mom's brother's apartment for dinner, and because it was an apartment and there wasn't a whole lot of room to spread out, all of us kind of had to be around each other and engage in conversation, which, again, was way better than it used to be. I also made everyone a DVD as a gift, because I'm good at them and I'm also really broke. It was just a slideshow of pictures of the family put to music, but we ended up watching it and everyone loved it and I kind of felt really awesome because I was so happy that they liked it. Anyway, after we cleaned up from dinner, it was about 6 or 7 by then, and everyone started to head out, so we did as well. But because we go hard and party hard, we went to another family Christmas party, this time at my dad's brother's house, and it was also a ton of fun. We just hung out and ate chocolate cake, but I love being around my family, and I think I was still high off of the previous family party so nothing could bring me down. I hope you all had a fabulously awesome love-filled holiday, no matter what you celebrate. 2013 was definitely the year of successful holidays, for sure. Hopefully 2014 brings the same luck. :)

I'm finally in this picture! I'm the one in the middle with the white polka-dot shirt. :)

Lastly, I want conclude this post with a list of all the songs I've been listening to of late, that I absolutely adore and wish to share with you because you can't complain like people in real life do when I say such things. :) Here ya go.

• "Classic" by MKTO (I absolutely adore this song and I could listen to it on repeat for days.)
• The entire Midnight Memories album by One Direction, but "Little White Lies," "Does He Know?," "Better Than Words," "Strong," and "Alive," in particular.
• "From This Valley" by The Civil Wars (I included this in my Christmas video for my family, and they loved it.)
• "Same Old Same Old" by The Civil Wars (basically anything by The Civil Wars is worth listening to and loving, but this one in particular is especially wonderful.)
• "Chocolate" by The 1975 (Love love love love love. Enough said.)
• "Girls" by The 1975 (This song is so good and so catchy, and I love the cover by R5.)
• "Oh My Goodness" by Olly Murs (Every time this song comes on Pandora, I jam out hardcore and dance around like nobody's business, so of course, I bought it.)
• "L-O-V-E" by Nat "King" Cole (This song is a classic. It WILL be played at my wedding one day.)
• "Look What They've Done to My Song" cover by Miley Cyrus (This is an old song by a person that I am not familiar with, but Miley covered it a while ago on YouTube and I illegally downloaded it and listen to it often because I love it so much.)
• "Wishing I Was 23" by R5 (This band is my guilty pleasure, because they're not technically a Disney band, but they're featured on Radio Disney, so they kind of are, but I don't care because I think they're really good and this song is catchy as heck and I bought their entire album with no shame, ok? Ok.)
• "Everybody's Got Somebody But Me (feat. Jason Mraz)" by Hunter Hayes (I like this song a lot because I can relate to it on a painfully accurate level. It's also catchy and I like Hunter Hayes's voice with Jason Mraz's voice. They make pretty sounds come out of their mouths and I love it. This mashup video featuring Jason Mraz, Hunter Hayes, and a bunch of YouTubers is also phenomenal.) 
• Also, the Live Lounge sessions on the Youtube channel for BBC Radio1 is addictive and so awesome and you should check it out.

Songs That Never Get Old

I don't have a whole lot of time but it's been on my mind lately to create a list of songs that never get old, no matter how many times you listen to them. After careful contemplation, here are a few on my personal list. 

"Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp

"Boomerang" by The Summer Set

"Radioactive" by Marina and the Diamonds

"Poison and Wine" by The Civil Wars

"I Will Never Stop" by *NSYNC

Of course, as I think of more, I'll post more to let you know. But if you haven't listened to these songs yet, I require of you to stop what you're doing and listen to them. You will only regret the fact that they will inevitably get stuck in your head. ;)

Clubs on Clubs on Clubs

This year, I've decided to get more involved within my high school than I have in recent years, because I'm an upperclassmen, and I think it's about time I pushed myself out of my comfort zone. I want to try things that I would normally shy away from, because why the hell not? There's nobody telling me I can't but myself, so I'm just gonna shut myself up and do the things I want to do. For example, I'm gonna play football for my school's Homecoming Powder Puff game. It's something that never would've even crossed my mind until this year. To be totally honest, I'm absolutely terrified, especially because the majority of the girls that are doing it are friends with each other, but not necessarily friends with me. I have three other friends of mine that are doing it with me, so that's comforting, but I'm also worried that I'll make a fool of myself. But at the end of the day, I'm just going to regret not doing it if I convince myself to back out. It's a memory in the making, and I know that the triumph of overcoming my social anxiety will be worth a few minutes of terrifying exposure out on the field. This school year is going to be the year of trying really hard to be the best possible version of myself. (That was my New Year's Resolution for 2013, but I'm just going to reiterate it and make it the New School Year Resolution for 2013-2014.) I can only benefit from that mentality.

Speaking of clubs and activities, I'm planning on taking part in A LOT of them, which will make for some pretty interesting, diverse posts in the future. ;) Here's a brief list of  said current and/or potential clubs/activities.

• Film Club
• French Club
• French National Honor Society
• FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America)
• Fitness and Adventure Club
• Tri-M (Music Honor Society) (of which I am treasurer, thankyouverymuch.) 
• Powder Puff 2013
• Interact Club
• NHS (National Honor Society) 

I don't know how I'm going to find the time to fit all this in plus fencing that I do outside of school, a rigorous honors/AP schedule, and trying to maintain a semblance of a social life. But having a license opens up, literally, a world of opportunities. :) Here's to sleepless weeks of making memories! 

I Should've Gotten Over Them and Yet...

Right this very second, I'm listening to the new Backstreet Boys album, "In A World Like This" to prepare myself for their concert next week. Admittedly, I have NOT grown out of my boy band phase, and I can't tell you if I ever will. There is just something about the dynamic of a band of boys, even if that something is simply me with an excess amount of hormones. That being said, the new BSB album is actually really good. It still has, in essence, the classic feel of their old albums, but they're all older, with more mature voices and the influence of a 10 year hiatus. They've adjusted to the changing times, but they're still singing about the same kind of things they sang about back in the day, i.e. - Girls, Love, and That Sort of Thing. That doesn't mean the appeal has lessened one bit. ;)Plus, if anything it's amusing hearing five 30-something men singing the same type of songs they did when they were teens, yet... We all know we still love them. Some of my favorite songs so far are "In A World Like This," "Breathe," "Madeleine," and "Trust Me." I appreciate this album because while they still sound like the typical boy band with the synchronized harmonies, I like the fact that they tried out different sounds with each song. "Feels Like Home" starts out with a country vibe, and "Madeleine" sounds very Jack Johnson-meets-John Mayer. Overall, I give it a 9.3 out of 10.

On another note, I also recently acquired two other boy band CDs - Emblem3's "Nothing to Lose" and *NSYNC's "Greatest Hits." Emblem3 are considered rap on iTunes, but they sound more like if Bob Marley and Blink-182 had a baby and it was raised by One Direction on the beaches of California. In other words, it's kind of awesome. And *NSYNC's "Greatest Hits" speaks for itself if you lived in the general public within the past two decades. No commentary necessary. ;)

  

In Defense of T. Swizzle

So, as many of you know, Miss Taylor Swift has come a long way since her "Picture to Burn" days, but at the same time, not much has changed in reference to her fantastical romantic notions. She's known for nearly always placing the blame on the boy in a relationship gone wrong, and has many people criticizing her for not realizing the common denominator in all her relationships. But then again, not all of her songs are about breakup. Some of them are about new romance, new love, or a relationship that actually worked, in the case of "Mine."

So, why am I writing this, you're probably asking. It's because I want to make an attempt to defend Taylor, as a fellow girl. A lot of her songs include overly-romanticized ideals about relationships between two people, how the man should always be chivalrous and sweet, otherwise he's a monster. There's even a Twitter account under the tag @feministtswift which changes certain Swift lyrics to be more, well, feminist. I don't necessarily disagree with this Twitter account, because it makes me realize that in a lot of her songs, Taylor expects to be treated as something other than equal to a man, though not in a bad way. She is expressing her want for a fairy-tale romance, which is just not rational. But at the same time we have to realize, for Taylor, her songs are like her diary, and she's letting us read it. We have no right to criticize someone's fantasies, however screwed they may be. She's simply expressing how she wishes things were. I don't believe she is completely delusional to how men really act, as exemplified in the sheer amount of guys she's rumored to have dated, which should be evidence enough.

 It's not wrong for a woman to want to be treated right by a man, or even wish that he put in a little effort to be more romantic and Ryan Gosling-like. What's wrong is to not admit that maybe you, as the female, could put in more effort to appeal to your partner. It's wrong to expect that he give up everything that makes him happy to go out and do whatever you want to make you happy. A relationship has to be a two way street with give and take on both sides for it to work, and I think most people's problem with Taylor Swift and her songs is that she nearly always portrays herself as either the victim or the doted-upon princess. Don't get me wrong, I do like her as an artist, but I see where she's kind of missing the mark, so to speak. Sure, there are songs in which she admits to being at fault, such as "Back to December," but most people remember her for "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together," which are kind of self-indicting in this case. Overall, I think Taylor Swift is majorly successful because she appeals to the wannabe-princess-slash-Rachel-McAdams in all of us girls out there, but she can definitely improve by writing songs in which blame is placed on those who truly deserve it. I think this will come with age though, because look at this way - at least she's not still writing about being Juliet Capulet.

P.S. - Keep in mind, if we're going to criticize Taylor Swift for portraying herself as somewhat of a princess, why can't we criticize male musicians who portray women as prostitutional low-lifes who were made only to provide sexual pleasure to men? Because I mean, really, they're both distorted portrayals of women, but we only seem to focus on the extreme presented by a girl. Which makes everything you argue complete hypocrisy. Just remember that. ;)

UPDATE: I recently saw an article in the Huffington Post stating that the Westboro Baptist Church is now calling Swift a "whore." For whatever reason they are claiming, this is not ok. It's people like this that create chaos, promote injustice and inequality, and allow hatred to spread. Not ok. 

They're like the Vinyls of the 90's

Recently, I posted a picture on Instagram of the cover of the new Paramore album, "Paramore," with the caption "I still buy CDs because I'm paranoid that iTunes will crash one day and I'll lose all my music." And it's true. I like the physicality of a CD and the insurance it brings. Plus, back in the day, I had a pretty impressive CD collection, and some habits die hard. I started out only buying CDs in which I liked the artist and wanted the whole album. That's still the case, but I'm beginning to branch out and change my conditions for purchasing CDs. If I like the majority of the songs on the album, and wish to buy it, I'll buy the physical copy. Also, somewhere in the back of my mind is the want to show my future kids my music collection, the same way my parents so proudly present to me their records from high school. You just can't get that kind of sentimentality with a $1.29 digital copy of a song. 

Progress in Progress

Currently, I am preparing two separate posts, but am much too tired to create anything worth publishing at the moment. So instead, I'm going to quickly present to you the new music video for the song "Boomerang" by The Summer Set. It. Is. Wonderful. :) Enjoy. ;)