Greetings, Internet! Hope everyone’s staying as safe and sane as possible. We’ve passed the one-hundred day mark, so, break out the confetti (or something, I don’t know, I eventually just treated myself to a pretty bracelet). Oh, and Phase II of NYC reopening is happening, so that’s exciting. I’m kind of enjoying my rockstar hair length at the moment though, so I’m okay with delaying a salon visit. Oh! And I wrote a breakup ballad. It’ll be a few weeks before I actually record/post/share with more than three people, but I’m excited for it. Anyway, daily summaries below!

 

Day Ninety-Nine (6/19/20)

• It’s nice to wake up and see a new holiday on my Google calendar. Welcome to Juneteenth! I’m going to celebrate by watching something to educate myself (still haven’t seen “13th”) and getting a couple of antiracist children’s books for my niece.
• My mom’s here! Why yes, she is planning to bake a pie.
• 3:30pm: hearing chants of “No justice! No peace!” outside my building.
• Therapy!
• Got to FaceTime with my niece! By which I mean, my mother and I got to watch my niece run around while my sister tried to catch up with her. So cute ❤
• 21 subscribers!
• Currently feeling: What happens when you write a song where you can’t even hit the high note? It just loses all intensity. Either I change the high note so I can hit it, or I sacrifice my vocal chords for the sake of emitting teenage angst. Decisions. Also, I’m kind of realizing why my songwriting is meh. Symphonic metal bands have very generic writing. Like, if you gave me lyrics to a symphonic metal artist, I literally could not tell you which band was responsible for it, but if I listened to a clip of an instrumental, I could tell you the band. The answer for better songwriting is to listen to less metal.
• Currently looping: Within Temptation’s “Somewhere” (the live version). Still technically metal, and still technically generic lyrics, but come on, that harmony!

 

Day One Hundred (6/20/20)

• It’s day one hundred, guys! Wahoo!
• Did the FES cycle.
• Movie night! “Knives Out.” Daniel Craig needs to do more movies where he has a charming southern accent.
• Currently feeling: My father found my YouTube channel. I hadn’t exactly advertised it to him because I feared he would start suggesting covers of songs I didn’t know (or care to learn), and then start to get insulted when I didn’t take the time to learn songs I had no interest in learning. I very much hope that fear will not come to pass, because my channel is my channel. I don’t have a lot of control over many things in my life, but I’d like my channel content to be something I curate myself. We shall see.
• Currently looping: Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi.” I think this would be really fun to layer over the vocals for the album version. Will have to test that out, especially because they sound like they’re in different keys, so it might not work.

 

Day One Hundred and One (6/21/20)

• Happy Father’s Day!
• My family came over (we were safe about it, as per usual). Got to see my niece, who is getting taller and more intelligent with every visit. She knows way more about what’s going on than she’s letting on. Also, she loves peach pie. Girl’s got her priorities in order.
• Virtual hangout with writing buddy! And now I’m tipsy. Time to edit the piece for next week.
• Currently feeling: Was feeling really tired today. I should probably fix my sleep schedule.
• Currently looping: The theme from “Howl’s Moving Castle.” It’s my favorite waltz ever.

 

Day One Hundred and Two (6/22/20)

• Happy Phase II of NYC reopening day!
• Posted my cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” for a birthday request.
• Did the FES cycle.
• Songwriting lesson! My teacher encouraged me to finish my breakup ballad (working title “Jackass”).
• Practiced a song for a birthday request.
• Currently feeling: I don’t even know what the other reopening phases are. I think Phase II is outdoor dining and limited salon services? On the one hand, I probably need a haircut. On the other hand, I’m starting to resemble Amy Lee from Evanescence, and I’m kind of on board with that? I have a very strong inclination to look up the other phases now.
• Currently looping: Reba McEntire’s cover of Beyoncé’s “If I Were a Boy.” I have no intention to cover this cover, but dang, I really do feel badly about hating on country music in the past. Actually, dang, this would be a fun song to cover.

 

Day One Hundred and Three (6/23/20)

• Recorded Thursday’s video, which is a birthday request. Learned that strumming patterns are difficult on barre chords. Definitely some buzzing could be heard. Sorry, friend who made the request. I’m like 50% leaning towards rerecording or finding a different song. Ack.
• Did a work hangout with a friend. I have to finish reading an article before one of my professor’s reading group meetings tomorrow.
• Had a phone call with a different friend. Have I ever mentioned how grateful I am for friends?
• Currently feeling: Some nights you just want to belt songs from Evanescence and lesser known songs from other artists that were super popular in the 2000s. Some nights you belt loudly in your room and hope the neighbors don’t hear/complain. This is one of those nights. Oh, and some nights you break out the cookies and cream ice cream. Your reasons are your own.
• Currently looping: Vanessa Carlton’s “Who’s to Say.” I know, throwback, am I right? Seriously underrated song of hers. Also great to belt out in my room (especially the backup part, which is basically screaming, “AAAHHHH!”).

 

Day One Hundred and Four (6/24/20)

• Did the FES cycle.
• Found out my refrigerator was like, not as cold as it should have been. This really explains why things seemed not to last in my fridge. Glad it only took me, what, ten months to realize this? And I didn’t even realize it. My sister did. On Sunday. “Hey, Val, this wine doesn’t seem that cold.” “Huh, yeah, it’s not that cold.” It’s the correct temperature now. Congratulations on not noticing basic things, Val.
• That moment in quarantine when you wonder if you’re losing more hair than before in the shower, or if your hair is just longer, so it looks like you’re losing more hair than you did pre-quarantine.
• Reading group zoominar with one of my professors. The article would’ve made way more sense if I was a Byzantinist. Or an Armenianist. Ah well.
• One of my shower wheelchair’s front wheels is wobbling rather dangerously. Best case scenario: it can be looked at and fixed in the very near future. Worst case scenario: the wheel snaps and I fall in the shower. The floor is really hard, so I’d prefer the best case scenario.
• My actual wheelchair has a warped tire. It’s like the tire is tearing and the inner tube is poking out. This does not bode well. My astrology app made it sound like this would be a rough week. I was warned.
• I bought myself a pretty pink bracelet. It was necessary.
• Currently feeling: I’m glad I have therapy tomorrow. There is so much to talk about.
• Currently looping: Neko Case’s “The Pharoahs.” I love the line, “You said I was your blue, blue baby, and you were right.”

 

Day One Hundred and Five (6/25/20)

• Posted my cover of “Paparazzi” for a friend whose birthday is on Sunday.
• Guess whose primary care physician closed up shop? And guess who needs to find a new one ASAP because otherwise she can’t get a prescription for catheters? Yup. And then guess who spent four hours trying to sort out the issue and still got nowhere because hardly any medical practices in my immediate area take my insurance (also my university health services appear to be not answering their phones??)? Yup yup. It’s fun to be dependent on medical supplies. Oh well. It’ll get sorted soon because it kind of has to.
• I have never looked forward to a therapy session more in my life. Then ended the therapy session feeling like a boss bitch building an empire. I mean, you know, nevermind that I still don’t have a catheter prescription, but empires build slowly, so.
• Currently feeling: I am a boss bitch building an empire. Did you not read the previous bullet point?
• Currently looping: KT Tunstall’s “It Took Me So Long to Get Here, But Here I Am.”

Thanks for reading! Stay safe, fight the power, do all the things!