Sneaker Pimps - Curl

I just realized that this weekend is Labor Day Weekend, what?! The end of summer always arrives abruptly, as does the pressing need for fresh pencils and perfectly crisp notebooks. Even if one is not heading back to school, because cute stationery is the best thing ever. I will start teaching towards the end of September, so thankfully summer isn't quite over yet. I should be working on the next essay for my Applied Linguistics program but the shiny sun is not a good excuse makes it hard to get stuff done sometimes.

This weekend will feature a trip to Temecula Valley, where I've never been before. The main mission is to sample as much delicious wine as possible. Hopefully the scenery will be good, too.

Mujuice - Каждый день

It's been an exceptionally good day for music hunting on 8tracks today. The title means 'every day'.

lfwe - Вся моя радость

Stumbled onto this (Russian!!) song. The title means 'all of my joy'. 

Young Galaxy - Pretty Boy + Bring Back Tangible Things

I've been rewatching Gilmore Girls seasons 1-3 (since it's downhill from there, arg) and besides feeling warm and fuzzy and nostalgic and such, it has also made me want to go and buy about twenty thousand CDs. Yes, actual discs that spin and have pictures on them and contain real music. Every time Lane lifts up a floorboard or opens her fantastic closet full of shiny colorful lights and assorted wonderful things (and music!!) it reminds me of the difference between listening and watching digital everything that's just floating around everywhere and easily disappears or gets buried by other invisible files, and actually owning the things you love, putting them together in one place, feeling inspired just by seeing an album cover, being reminded of all the memories and moments associated with those little discs. Also, for visual type people, I think the music is just one dimension and all the artwork and images and colors and fonts associated with it are equally important.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I want a magic little room/closet like Lane's where I can escape into a beautiful musical world. Or maybe I just wish that my discman still worked (that discman was the best birthday present I've ever gotten, I still think about it sometimes, sigh). And that I had more space for CDs and didn't feel guilty about buying more of them because it creates waste, but how can music ever be thought of as waste!! Never :)

In other news, I'm really enjoying this trend of dystopian and post-apocalyptic YA novels and have just started reading The 5th Wave. I finished Divergent before that and quite liked it. In grade 7 I read Z for Zachariah and I think I've been obsessed with this genre ever since. It's also interesting (and disturbing) how many originally sci-fi concepts and technologies are now coming true. I do not want to eat meat that was grown in a lab, but apparently many people think this is an excellent idea, eek. Somehow, I'm still fascinated by all this stuff even though much of it makes me cringe. 

On a more positive note, favorite things lately include: cucumber water (refreshing!), ahi tuna, grilled portobello mushroom, botanical garden (butterflies everywhere!), cozy coffee shops, purple articles of clothing, Little Italy, and summer glorious sunny summer!! California still feels like a dream.

T. Rex - Cosmic Dancer

Almost finished the second draft of an essay. Just ate some nectarine-strawberry-blueberry crumble. Sun is shining. Mighty fine music. All is good :-)

Etta James - At Last

I feel like I've gone back in time...rewatching Gilmore Girls, baking, enjoying a proper summer vacation, (kind of) knitting, wearing skirts everyday, and other such summery relax-y things. It's quite nice. 

Yesterday I went to a lovely Italian restaurant by the ocean (no view, but the ocean breeze felt good) and had cornmeal basil pesto pizza with veggies and goat cheese, and then an affogato for dessert. Yum yum. The atmosphere was great but the evening a little bittersweet because earlier that day I had to say goodbye to three great people, including two of the most adorable and sweetest children ever. I will miss them. 

Rewatching GG makes me feel incredibly good and incredibly old at the same time.

M83 - Claudia Lewis

Firstly, this video is pretty phenomenal. I wish there were more blue-haired aliens, fire tricks on the beach, and well placed light bulbs in my life. M83's music videos are mostly always great. 

I don't even know what I've been doing, time is going by so crazy fast. My parents' friend from Russia is visiting California so I've been tutoring his two adorable kids...but they're going back home at the end of the week so it's almost time to say goodbye. Children are fantastic. They just know how to live in the moment and feel everything deeply and concentrate really hard when eating meals. I love teaching kids (and then relaxing and recharging afterwards). 

I also got my work visa so it looks like I'll be staying in sunny California for at least another year or so. I still feel like I'm in paradise - a neverending summer vacation. My next goal (besides going back to Japan) is traveling to Germany and Austria. I want to see all the castles and fairy tale landscapes and learn more about their history and culture. 

To cap off this rather random catch-up post, I suddenly really want to attempt to knit something. I learned basic knitting skills from my mum when I was little but now I don't remember much at all. But I want to make something that I can wear. I've looked up a couple of knitting books and will possibly definitely begin as soon as possible. Hooray for craftiness!

Cheerio!