Today I did not plan to post until later. But I realised something. I haven’t posted a random music moment in a while! It seems my head has been filled with THESIS is EVERYTHING and TEACHING is TIME CONSUMING conceptual metaphors and all their variations. I’m also still writing, working on my writing project, and it’s getting there. Everything is getting there, but not yet, and it’s taking over my mind each part claiming and warring between each other for attention.
So I was a little bit surprised when this morning – even though I was in a rush, it seems these days being in a rush is the norm and having plenty of time a desired norm, is this normal to being an adult? (Puzzles the girl who has just started really appreciating her newly found lifestyle of study, work, and something she calls ‘leisure time’ which is just more work but fun work!) – I stopped and looked outside and felt the tinkle and rhythm of a tune in my head. It’s been so long since I could put a song to a scene or moment, I just felt somewhat calm. Somewhat relieved and relaxed by this moment. Odd. Yet not so odd, the sky was whitewashed with clouds with patches of blue, but that feeling was there – the feeling and premonition knowledge that today is going to be a good, warm, sunny day. Today, it’s going to be a beautiful day.
Have you guessed it yet?
Haha, correct!
Today’s random music moment is Beautiful Day by U2.
P.s. I’m writing this on my phone, so I’m not sure how the format will come out!
This is positively awful! I abhor this piece of music! (Scuse my language, I’ve been reading a book set in the Victorian Era).
But jokes aside, I do dislike (not really, I love it too much to hate it, then again I love it so much I hate it?) this piece of fabulous music to a certain degree because I found it while I was looking for study music to study with! Instead, I became captivated with this song, and wanted nothing more than to share it!
There something very hauntingly epic about this, and while it did little to egg me on in concentration, it did steal my attention and hold me captive for the duration of the song.
This is well and truly a very random music moment. First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS (or HAPPY HOLIDAYS to those who don’t celebrate christmas–though I don’t really celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense, rather Christmas to me is about family getting together and having a good time (sorry big man, you weren’t in the forefront of my mind)). I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and if not, were out enjoying the boxing day sales/sales after christmas the day/s after. I celebrated christmas with the classic family bbq!
Second, I went and saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens last week and am now in SUCH a spin, I can’t even get it out of my head. To be honest, I really want to go see it again, even though I felt like there were so many things shoved into it, and there were so many unanswered questions, and I LOVED IT. I can’t wait until the next one comes out, and pray so hard that it’ll be soon! (Though I think it’s set for end of 2016, start of 2017 or something?)
Third, today’s random music moment. I caught it while they were playing on the Morning Show (I think that’s right since it’s a little late in the day for it to be Sunrise lol). I don’t know what it is about this song, but I loved it the instant I heard it. So here, to you, I share with you this random music moment! Enjoy!
Whoa….They changed the style of wordpress again since the last time I was on here. Ugh. Again, I am so sorry for disappearing. I have been at uni, working on my thesis (WHICH btw is going at a snail’s pace, I’m working on my intro–not the best place to start, but a place–and I’m only up 500 words of well, I won’t lie, but rubbish. I’m not happy with it, but at least I’m trying. If I can write something than the second draft will be clearer), working on my writing project for the Nanowrimo (really wanted to write this, but also involves so much research), and trying my best to keep up reading (I really want to read right now, and I’m making the best use of this desire as much as possible!)
However, I am here, for now! You know, I hope, that I would never abandon my readers. I’ve never liked the idea of starting something and then not finishing. My blog is here to stay and unless I plan to close up shop, I’ll be here.
And now down to business!
Today’s random music moment is actually a song I’d heard a while back. I meant to blog about it earlier but of course, since I had no time, I didn’t. However, I do really like this artist. Not only is she Australian, she’s really young, and I think, if she works really hard, she can be the next Jessica Mauboy. I hope so, she has a nice quality to her voice! Plus I like her newest single. I think this kind of style really suits her. (But really, my favourite performance from her was last year when she performed Titanium.)
I think it’s obvious why I chose this song today—it’s been stuck in my head! It’s only stuck there because it’s on a cancer council ad calling for a girls night out to help raise money for the cause; a very admirable cause indeed. I love the light feeling of the lyrics–I like the happy images that come into my head. I’ve always been one to believe in being friends forever regardless of the highs or lows, or when we see each other.
And as we all know I know nothing about the technicalities of music, but, well, I just really love how the tone (?) seems to rise as the song goes on, so becomes more and more powerful, and well, for me, the feelings just really swell up and I kind of wish I played this song on my graduation day a few months back!
Today’s random music moment is: Graduation Song by Vitamin C
Today’s random music moment is from one of my favourite Australian Artists! Even though I don’t regularly listen to her, I remember the year she came runner up in Australian Idol, and over the years, I can’t help but say ‘she’s doing astonishingly well for herself’. In many ways she inspires me, not to be a singer of course (because who knows how terrible my singing has gotten since I stopped doing school choir back in primary school), but to build my own career and to chase my dreams. The hardest thing is chasing dreams, but watching her journey from that small Alice Springs girl auditioning for Australian Idol to seeing her at Eurovision and on X-Factor, just a super Australian Star, it’s VERY inspiring. I love her just for that, and therefore, today’s random music moment is This Ain’t Love by Jessica Mauboy. It’s a pretty catchy song, and I love how she sings the chorus. I kept hearing it on tv for ages, but it wasn’t until she performed as a guest star on x-factor did I realise it was a Jessica Mauboy song!!! (It’s also the theme song for the Quantico drama promo down here.)
I’m so sorry for disappearing again!! This week has been hectic, and until the Friday coming, I will be awol again! That’s the first reason for my lack of post in the last few days. My other reason is that I’ve been wanting so badly to blog about this particular song from a particular tv ad, which admittedly, when I first saw the ad, I did not make a note of what it was advertising, hence why I had to wait until I caught the ad again in order to know what to look up! But lucky me! Today I happen to catch it right on time. And I never expected it to be a Subway ad…still, the song caught my attention, and I like the upbeat, proactive, sunny kind of feeling I get from the song! (Unfortunately, it won’t be getting me to buy subway anytime soon, but I sure don’t mind listening to the song again.)
Today’s Random Music Moment is It’s a Beautiful Day by Tim Morrison–Enjoy!
Fem power! Today’s Random Music Moment is all about the females! Actually I had this song bookmarked and saved to my Youtube playlist–Things to Blog About–for a long time, and I’ve never really got around to blogging about it. I remember the first time I encountered this song. I was bored, sitting in front of the tv, pretty much just working on my laptop, while sort of paying attention to the tv. And you know how you’re not really paying attention, yet because you’re the only one in the room, therefore you are the one in control of the tv so you have it on anyway because these days sitting in silence is like the most unforgivable thing to do in the world? Well yeah, that was my night was like, and since I didn’t want to sit in silence with only the sound of keys tapping away breaking the silence every once in a while, I had the tv on. The sound was on low, so as not to overwhelm me, and like most nights, there was nothing interesting on tv so I left it on Britain’s Got Talent (I do believe that’s what I had it on lol). I figured, why not? There’s probably an interesting act to distract me, maybe an act performing a favourite song of mine, or something to laugh at.
It was also the grand final episode too, and you know how they have those interval performances? Well Little Mix happened to be one of those acts. And they were performing Salute, which totally captivated me. I mean I always love a good, strong song about girl power. And this song is definitely one of those! Granted, I’m not a huge Little Mix fan, not because I don’t think they’re great or anything, but I’m more of an alternative rock person (as well as someone who loves instrumental/soundtrack/composition music) so that’s why. But then again, it’s not as though I don’t end up loving random songs that pop into my head/catch my attention for whatever reason!
Therefore, below is today’s random music moment: Salute by Little Mix.
Today’s Random Music Moment is Fearless by Taylor Swift. I chose song mainly for it’s title. “Fearless”. I’m not usually a listener of Taylor Swift’s music, though I have nothing against and she is one of the world’s biggest pop stars. And truthfully, I like watching her in the media, and think she’s done are really good job, and really well for herself. Why I chose her song Fearless today isn’t because it was stuck in my head. It isn’t because I randomly heard it somewhere either. Rather, I was looking for anthem that will help me defeat my fears right now. Well, not really defeat my fears, since while I am afraid, so deathly afraid that I’ll fail miserably, I needed something to remind me. In her song, Taylor Swift is singing about a guy who makes her feel ‘fearless’.
For me, it’s not about a guy.
For me, it’s about my career. My future. Tomorrow.
I see it all in front of me, and all these pathways from my past have converged at my current point, exceeded me and placed so many more options in front of me. They are extending bright colourful, rainbow bridges, and bridges in front of me.
During my undergrad studies (I’m currently postgrad at the moment) I never really had a notion of the distant future. Sure I knew what I wanted, sure I knew where I wanted to go and how I wanted to live the future. I want what everyone wants: To Be Happy. Easy. Not so easy. What would make me happy? I knew and I didn’t know. I wanted to study linguistics–specifically cultural linguistics, so that’s what the area I studied in for my bachelors. And then I knew what I wanted to do after. And I knew where I wanted to go. But now that I’m here, my breath is fogging up the glass that I’m looking out. It’s like I’ve been locked in a little room with no windows, and plenty of wall space to scribble on for a long time and books on shelves to explore and formulate the theoretical world. Yes, there was so much for me learn, yes I was using what I was learning, but at that point, within that little room, do you really actually see beyond that narrow space? How I got into that room, hadn’t always been entirely my choice. I had chosen it, picked what I wanted to do in uni, and went. I also went there because it was expected of me. I was determined to appease my parents, and also, appease myself. Their dream for me, became mine. Even if I have my own other dreams to fulfil.
And then suddenly my time in the box ended, the minute I passed that milestone in my life and I held a bachelors–a window appeared, giving a peek outside. And I suddenly see everything. I see the pathways my time in the box has afforded me, and I don’t regret anything. Everything outside that little box is so much more vibrant, sparkling, and dazzling than I remembered it before I entered the box. Before I was exposed to knowledge. I am beginning a new stage in my journey, embarking on a new pathway, and it’s scary. I’m standing at the window. I’ve already pushed it open, and I’m looking out to the colourful bridges, and some are dull, pulling at me, telling me to take that path. But it’s not the one I want, even though it’s a necessity to deal with. The one I want is right in front of me, and it’s the most dazzling. From it, there are so many other pathways that split from this one path, and I know this is the one I want. But even though I know this is the one I want, I am afraid.
I am not in a box anymore with four bare walls to scribble on and a bookshelf of books to tell me things. I am standing at the bridge that will take me to the other side. I won’t be ‘just’ the reader anymore. I’ll be the writer of those books of knowledge too, if I take the dazzling pathway. And it’s terrifying. Who knows what would happen out there on the pathway? Maybe I’ll be eaten by mistakes, swallowed by my own quietness, chewed up and spat out for being too hasty and careless in what I do. And yet, I want this so much, it’s slowly making me fearless. Because you can’t be afraid if you want to achieve something meaningful; if you want to do the one thing you want. You can’t let your fear take a hold of you and sweep you away on a harsh current. You can’t let all those insignificant black box ideas tell you that you can’t step onto the dazzling pathway.
You have to be Fearless. And as they say, take life by the balls. Taylor Swift sure did in her song!–it was right, so why not?
So just the other day I had issues with what kind of song I would blog about for the RMM. Lately, I haven’t really been inspired by music lately, and it’s no wonder, since everything feels very similar lately, and also, my usual perkiness has been in the dips for one reason or another! (One of which is the fact that I’ve started postgrad, and the stress of starting a new, different level of learning is getting to me, just like with various other things that are new. I can’t help it, it’s just who I am. Though strangely, I have been worrying so much about a variety of things lately, that I’m losing myself of the rubble of worry that I’m beginning to despise.) But yesterday, I was having a nice lazy evening in front of the couch, not in the mood much, and my eyes were drooping–I don’t know my limits, but with the recent change in my sleeping schedule, my body is being rebellious and uncooperative haha!–I decided to amuse myself with a variety of fun but sort of rather farfetched quizzes (now I’ve forgotten which site it was, but usually these Quizzes are like ‘which movie is based on your life?’ ‘We can guess your age in 5 questions’ and if those of you have followed my twitter feed, you’ll have seen me tweet about a couple of quiz results.
The first one was about the brain, whether it’s more male than female, etc (turns out my brain is 75% male and only 25% female if I were to really believe it. Which I partly do, since I’ve noticed that I find typical ‘female’ (if I were to stereotype it) behaviour as really annoying and pointless. In saying that, I also find myself doing the same things every now and then. No surprise, I am female after all! The Quiz about what kind of weather my anger is like, seemed pretty accurate. I do feel like my anger is like lightning and thunder. When I get angry, I do yell, I also spark and say things I don’t entirely want to say aloud, generally provocative, and I cry. Sometimes. A couple of people I know have anger that’s like a silent storm–quiet, yet raging internally, or like a volcano, simmering for a long time, before finally erupting! Mind you, it’s no surprise I turned out the way I did with my anger, particularly when the people around me generally like to go silent–see why I end up saying provocative things? I don’t like the silence, so I get angry, worked up, and try and provoke a certain number of people out of their silence to respond to me. And while I generally feel better, and in control, sometimes I regret it (there’s only so much you can say before you push someone over the ledge).
But anyway, moving away from my angry habits, since I’m sure you all don’t really care and I’m blabbering on since I suddenly feel in the mood to stretching my fingers on my keyboard and avoid other work by procrastination, let me get to today’s RMM.
One of the random quizzes I took yesterday, purely out of curiosity was called ‘What song was written about you?” And with these quizzes, the answers to the questions are pretty limited, and sometimes you wonder why you’re doing something so stupid. Yet it’s really fascinating and fun seeing how these quizzes can sketch this image of you based on your answers to the questions they provide. Some people only do each Quiz once and take that result, me, I’m not that superstitious, and nor do I really care. I just do the quizzes for fun even though some are just so silly! When I took the song Quiz though, I was surprised to find that I didn’t disagree with it. Sure, some of the results on the other quizzes had me wondering….um? For example, I did one quiz and it said I was introspective/introverted. Did another (similar but different direction and objective) and it told me that I was a very social person. Granted, I can be both–I’m Pisces after all, two fishes, drawn almost like Yin and Yang, a constant cycle of positive and negative, and one of the most sociable, easy going signs on the whole astrological chart. Even if I don’t religiously follow the Star Signs, I’m aware of them (I’m not religious at all), and while I generally don’t believe in horoscopes and stuff, and feel like all the star signs are pretty general about their categorisations, even I have to say I’m definitely a Pisces girl through and through. We hide our emotions, and relatively easy to talk to. We worry obsessively, yet also accept the rational logic behind things. We are generally happy people (I sure as hell want to be happy more than depressed in my life!) and we have our many weaknesses, usually tied with self, and usually related to indecisiveness, daydreaming, etc. Again, very general, very stereotypical, but half the time I look at what one might write about a pisces personality, and it’s nice to see it so straightforwardly written out.
Oh boy, it seems I really am in a mood to stretch my writing today! What I like about the result from my Song Quiz is the title of the song itself. Plus, it’s also a song I know, and I love how powerful it is. While I haven’t been in a relationship which makes me reminisce with the intricate details of the song’s contents, the title says it all. Through thick and thin, though rough and happy times, through the hardest moments, choices, over the bridges I might have to cross, I will survive. Nothing is the end of the world. And even if it feels like it, there’s always something else. Just don’t wallow about in a misery just because you’re afraid of making the next step. You can see how you can be happy, and all you have to do is take that giant step out, and swing that arm. Knock back the obstacle that’s holding you back.
That’s what I must remember. And when I heard that song yesterday as the result of the quiz that took, I kind of laughed at the coincidence. I guess I needed this reminder too! Alongside my famous Quote post from yesterday this was just one more thing to push me. Nag me. And hopefully, yank me out of the circle of thoughts that have been going on in my head lately!
Finally, finally, after all my above ranting, today’s Random Music Moment is: I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. A good old classic.
I have been obsessed with epic music lately. I’m not sure why, but I guess this one has been striking the heart profoundly lately! Called Never Surrender by Phantom Power Music, for some things I just don’t want to give up. And lately, that’s two things. One is the direction of my career, and the other, well 😉 that remains to be seen.
Enjoy today’s Random Music Moment! (I intend to not let the weather get to me either–with it being absolutely freezing and wet, completely dampening my days and making me want to stay in bed all day which I can’t because there’s just so much to do sometimes!)
I never knew this was a Simon & Garfunkel song, but when I found out I was shocked…turns out I’ve been in love with a few of their songs for as long as I can remember, but never knew who sung them!
Today’s Random Music Moment is Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel:
Of late, I’ve been in the mood for something more instrumental. And while I was looking around Goodreads, I noticed this song that had been posted as a theme song for an original character. I clicked the link became absorbed, then went with the flow on youtube and started clicking all the suggested videos on the side, and boy was it like I hit the treasure spot! Anyway, the one that has me hooked lately is Life goes on by Florian Blur and it sounds like the most accurate soundtrack for my life right at this moment. Even if I’m stuck in the middle of one place and another, I can’t just stay still. Life goes on no matter what, waiting can wait until my last days, until then, I want to be doing something, so I do. In the midst of waiting to find out if I can indeed get an offer for postgrad, and putting in job applications, I am also filling up my time working on an academic journal article (my first! but also the thing that’s got me on my toes because I do and don’t know where to begin) AND enjoying my personal writing project and art/design/hobbyist project. One of which is here (the Curse Mark) while the other is on my deviantART and is essentially my interpretation of the Tarot cards. I’ve always wanted to do one of those!
I’ve been watching this Taiwanese drama lately, and this is the opening theme for it. It might just be because I haven’t listened to a large amount of Taiwanese/Chinese pop music, but this is perhaps the first time I’ve heard something like this. Clearly I’m highly naive in this are of music, but the way this sounds, it really reflects the theme of the drama. Undeniably gloomy, as it’s about death, yet at the same time, it talk about issues. But yeah, you know how sometimes it’s the score that drags you into a something rather than the plot and then later you get into the plot? Well this was one of those cases. I watched it mainly for the opening theme. And now, I’m watching it for the story. At the moment, I just finished an episode which ended on a lighter, happier note than the previous six episodes, and without a single death too, however, someone is going to die again, and I think I can guess who. You see, every 2-3 episodes, the story shifts to the tale of a different set of people, with only two characters that are constantly appearing in every episode (they’re the main ones, though you don’t actually see much of them in the beginning). I like this kind of story telling, you get to know your characters, see their lives, then when their story ends, you get to see some more. It’s a good change compared to other dramas where you follow the same set of people through every episode and sometimes…it becomes a drainer. Though mysteries/crime fiction/etc are a special case.
Today’s random music moment, Gloomy Salad Days performed by Wan Fang (萬芳)
I heard this song while I was shopping in Daiso (it’s this Japanese branded store where everything is AUD$2.80) and staring at all the cute stationary (really, they have such adorable stationary, I just droolllllllll) listening casually to the music overhead. Sometimes it’s a whole playlist of songs sung in English, and in particular, songs one of my best friends know and love. But that day, the music was pretty much all Asian related. Since I was in one of my good moods, a few songs stuck in my head. One of them was this one by Block B. To be honest, it’s not my favourite song ever, but at that particular moment, I was caught up in the song….
Today’s Random Music Moment is Very Good by Block B.
This song has been stuck in my head for days. Even though I love it, I actually don’t entirely love the stage performance. Is it strange that I think this song sounds better in my head after I’ve heard it? 🙂 haha, well, today’s Random Music Moment is Miracle by Paula Seling & Ovi (Performed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014).
Which reminds me, I’m really excited for this year’s Eurovision!
Today’s random music moment is Ticking Bomb by Aloe Blacc which I heard while watching The Expendables 3. And yes, I’m kind of a sucker for old style action movies full of plenty of big explosive scenes and bullets being fired out of machine guns and wicked awesome looking guns that result in a thousand pointless deaths even if it kind of looks really cool. I grew up watching Arnold Schwarzenegger after all, Terminator 2 and Kindergarten Cop are a few of my favourite movies (even if sometimes when I watch movies where he’s not an emotionless cyborg, I think he’s really…not that great an actor). So I can’t really not watch a good action movie. Anyway moving back to the point, I chose Ticking Bomb as today’s Random Music Moment, because it was a song that really got me into the movie (well kinda, since I think I was distracted by the fact that it reminded me of the song that they use on the tourist ad for Adelaide and the Barossa Valley — which honestly, was a really awesome ad, totally made me want to go there even though I don’t really like South Australia much).
Inspired by the most recent event in all our lives: the coming and passing of the New Year, I wanted to share a Random Music Moment that I think you should all be familiar with. Auld Lang Syne performed by Lea Michele in the movie, New Year’s Eve. It’s a little bit late, but here it is!
Words That Flow Like Water 