Music Monday ft. Hey Ocean!

Haven't done this in a while. But I was motivated to make this post because I have just found a new band to obsess over. Like, literally, just found this band.

Okay maybe not just found. The first time I heard a song by Hey Ocean! was last year - when this song popped up on the 8tracks playlist I was listening to:

Islands
(Here is the playlist by the way - one of my favourites.)

It immediately caught my attention because firstly, it was completely different from the pop-rock/punk tracks that most of the playlist had already been; and secondly, it was a male/female duet! And, goodness, have I ever expressed my love for duets? I mean, it's not a duet in the sense that it's one voice singing to another; but it is, in the sense that two voice are performing together, I suppose.

I remember looking them up after that and adding a few tracks to my Grooveshark collection. I learned that they are a Canadian band (woohoo!) from Vancouver, BC. Oh, and that the female vocalist is a voice actress who does the voice of some My Little Pony character. Her singing voice is oh-so-sweet and light though.

Anyhow, after that, I didn't really delve into their music any further. I rediscovered them yesterday afternoon when I pulled up their album on my phone's playlist that I forgot I had downloaded a while ago (from NoiseTrade - a great site to discover and download new music).

Alley Ways

It was this song that kinda sparked my interest in them again. Oh, and I love songs in 6/8 time.

I went through a whole bunch of songs last night, and here are some more awesome songs (and the videos themselves are great too).

Big Blue Wave

I am a Heart

Make A New Dance Up

This song has been on the radio these days, and I always get so excited when it comes on. It just has that reggae-ish groove that makes you wanna dance. Ugh, it's such a happy, happy song as are the other two. But this is definitely one you'd find me dancing around the house to when no one else is at home.

Fifteen Words

A bit more somber than the last videos. I love the vocalizing parts. Those harmonies make me melt. Oh and speaking of harmonies:

Jolene (acoustic)

What's that dripping noise? OH SHIT, I'M MELTING.

I guess this has been a Hey Ocean! post. But here's an extra song if you didn't like any of those...

Still Into You - Paramore

I don't know why it took me so long to get into this song. But I think I was frightened by Hayley's haircut...

Anyhow, that is it for this edition of Music Monday. If you didn't like any of it, that's too bad... Happy listening!

First week wrap-up

I seriously cannot believe that only one week has passed since classes started. ONE. It feels like it's been MONTHS! Holy moly. Well, I guess going into your fifth year of university does that to you. I mean, you'd think 19 years of being in school would be enough, eh?

Nineteen years. That's counting from junior kindergarten 'til now. By the end of this year, 86% of my life will have been spent in school. Wow.

My classes all seem really, really great. I think my favourite class at the moment (even though it is pretty soon to tell) is Classical Mythology. Ever since I was in grade 3, when my mom bought us an encyclopedia which happened to have an index of Greek/Roman gods, I've been absolutely interested in mythology. Enchanted by it even; like how little girls are into fairy tale stories about princesses and princes. I read the tiny "biographies" of every single god and titan or nymph; and in my spare time, I did my own research and looked up some of their back-stories. Now, I get to learn about them all, and you do not understand how excited I am for the rest of this course (despite the truck-load of readings I have to do each week...)!

My least favourite - or at least the class that I least look forward to next week, is the English course I'm taking. It's called "Reading Pop Culture" and it was recommended to me by my friend as a course she took to fulfill the English course prerequisite for medical school. The first lecture wasn't too bad, but generally, English has never been an enjoyable class for me, nor have I ever done well it in; so I am a bit nervous for it. Despite this, we get to watch a lot of video clips from TV shows, so I guess that is an upside to the course!

I am a bit nervous for this semester because I am overloading - i.e. I have six courses this semester as opposed to the usual five, and it has to do with my physiology lab course counting as a half-course, despite running the full year. Part of me is begging me to drop the lab course, but the main reason for taking this course is so that I have a chance at getting to interact with some professors, and hopefully get some references from them when it comes time to apply to other schools.

Moving onto something not quite school-related... we saw some craaaaaaaazy weather on Wednesday evening! Actually, the weather for this entire week has been quite bizarre (welcome to Canada!). Summer reasserted her presence on Monday and Tuesday - it was HOT. My sweat glands were more active in those two days alone than during the summer break. We're talking 30's feeling like 40's. It was brutal!

Then, Wednesday rolled around... and it was warm and sunny during the day too, but by approximately 4:30 (I know that was the time, because that's when we were dismissed from class), the sky was dark and we could already hear thunder. Rain started coming down lightly while I waited from the bus, but held off until I got home (thankfully). At some time after, our school's tornado alarm apparently went off - I didn't hear it, but the weather network website and our school's Twitter account told us we were on tornado watch! Students were told to stay indoors, and in some buildings where there were basements, students were moved down there. At the same time, rain had already started coming down hard, and there was more thunder, preceded by the brightest lightning I have ever seen.

If you didn't know, I love thunderstorms. I love listening to the thunder. I love watching lightning. I generally like when it's rainy. (all this is true when I'm indoors). The lightning show that mother nature put on that day was spectacular. Ten out of 10.

Anyhow, the tornado warning was off a few hours later, but the thunder and lightning continued until around 11 p.m. Luckily, throughout the storm, our neighbourhood didn't experience any blackouts, though I know other areas in the city did. I overheard one guy in my histology class telling his friend that he and his friend's laptops and a few other appliances had short-circuited during the storm and how he had to get an entirely new laptop now. I am so thankful that didn't happen to us!

It cooled down on Thursday, and even more so today (I mean Friday, so I should say yesterday). It wasn't cold enough to see our breath in the air or anything, but it was still quite a contrast from Monday's weather!

I've got a boat-load of readings to do now...

Backpack essentials

This is the first time I'm writing something like this... I had thought about making a video instead... buuuuuut my camera is currently packed away, just waiting for anyone in the family to bring it to Canon for cleaning. Anyhow, backpack essentials.

I started carrying around my backpack from class to class in high school, probably midway through grade 9. Between classes, I took out whatever books and binders I didn't need, and threw whatever books and binders I needed for the next class (or the next two classes, if the one after was too far away for me to visit my locker); and carried along whatever else I had lying around in my backpack. Over the years, the amount of stuff that stays in my backpack has increased - but it's not like I'm carrying around six tonnes of necessities. No, I'd hire a butler for that.

1) An extra snack. By the way, this list isn't in order of importance, but you know, food is kind of important. I usually throw a granola bar, or one of those individually wrapped Ms. Field's cookies in my backpack in addition to the other snacks I pack with my lunch. The emergency snack often comes in handy on days where I'm running late and can't grab breakfast before lunch, days where I end up staying out later than normal, or whenever the munchies kick in.

2) A mirror. Actually, this has sorta been weeded out ever since the discovery that my cell phone's screen could act like a mirror; but it wasn't great. Prior to that, I did carry around either a tiny mirror that someone bought me from the dollar store (it broke a week ago, boo - the mirror itself didn't crack, so no seven years of bad luck!), or a tiny eyeshadow compact that had a mirror in it. Having a mirror may seem a little vain, but everyone has their insecurities, and it doesn't hurt to check if you look okay. Just don't do it too often.

3) Bobby pins! I always have at least one bobby pin with me, clamped on my bus pass holder. If bobby pins aren't your thing, then tiny hair clips are a good substitute. I usually walk around with a clip clipped onto the lapel of my cardigans, or on my lanyard with my keys (but beware! They fall easily like that, so I have unfortunately learned). P.S. Paper clips also work as hair clips. I've done it before, but the trend hasn't seem to have caught on, so...

4) An extra pen, pencil, writing utensil. I mean, having one in one of the pockets of your backpack, outside of the ones you keep in your pencil case; so on days when you might forget your pencil case at home, you'll at least have something to take notes with!

5) Tissues. A lot of my lecture halls are extreeeeeeeeemely cold, even in the winter, which is cool (haha) with me, because that'll force my body to undergo more metabolism to produce heat, and hence use up my fat stores. But my nose often ends up a little runny. If you're like me, you don't want to be that person without a tissue who sniffs loudly every few minutes during the lecture to keep your snot from running down your face. Oh! And you could also offer a tissue to any snifflers around you.

6) A pad. Or tampon. Whatever you use. Even if it's not your time of month, keep one in your backpack. You'll thank yourself later when your time of month DOES show up while you're on campus away from any sources of sanitary napkins. It's also nice to have in case another girl is in need. Help a sister out!

7) Chapstick, or lip balm. I have to have my lip balm with me all the time (currently using the green EOS one), because my lips get dry pretty often; and out of habit, I would always lick them, which I have learned is NOT good for the state of hydration of your lips (plus, it hasn't proven to be a turn-on for guys, hmmm)! So. Yeah. Lip balm.

8) Extra change. I usually keep a toonie (that's two dollars for you Americans) and a few quarters in one of the small pockets in my backpack. This is usually for buying snacks from vending machines, on days when I don't have any food on me at all (or after I've eaten all of it - I eat a lot...); but it's also nice for times when I'm paying for something from whatever's in my wallet (which isn't a lot), and then I realize I'm short a few cents. Quarters are especially handy for payphones, in case your phone runs out of battery.

9) Tylenol, or Advil. Nice for days after all-nighters.

So those are my essentials! I also have a few other items that may be more specific for me - oil blotting paper (because my skin is stupidly oily), some Halls (not like I cough all the time, but just in case), and a USB key, for example. Other people might have more items, or fewer items. It just depends on how you are and what you find important. I've listed the things I think are the basic of the basic essentials, so go ahead and add onto the list.

Hopefully this was helpful to someone. Stay in school, don't do drugs,