Greetings, Internet! Hope everyone’s doing as well as they can. I got drunk and ordered a lot of chocolate, finally learned how to properly harmonize, and watched a lot of the DNC. Daily summaries below!

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Five (8/14/20)

• And I’m down to 30 subscribers. Alas.
• Did arm workouts while watching “The Great British Baking Show.”
• Virtual hangout with a friend! We online grocery window-shopped. I feel like that’s a thing? She also was on team “just order yourself the flowers.” So I’m going to do that.
• Writing surveys is hard. Definitely going to have to run this draft by a couple of wheelchair users before it reaches an acceptable final draft.
• There is someone revving an engine really loudly outside my building (it is currently 10:45pm), and a lot of people yelling/cheering(?). I can’t tell. Please tell me it’s a protest and not a crowd of drunk people being irresponsible. Then again, most protests don’t involve someone revving an engine so loudly it makes me want to throw something out my window.
• Currently feeling: Is it even worth it to try to get YouTube subscribers? It’s so much effort and I’m already juggling a lot. Eh. I’ll think about it.
• Currently looping: Evanescence’s “Use My Voice.” That’s right, there’s new Evanescence!

 

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Six (8/15/20)

• Did the FES cycle.
• Finished my reading for Tuesday’s reading group.
• Attempted to curl my hair. Felt like it was about time that I learned how to give myself curls, particularly because it’s long enough now that I’m not as worried about accidentally burning my neck/face. Plugged in the curling iron, set the temperature, and then the iron refused to heat up. Tried another outlet. Same result. Rats.
• Wine and FaceTime with my sister! I drank wayyy too much wine too quickly.
• Currently feeling: Was reading this article and totally agreeing with the premise, only for the author to say that she did, in fact, get married, and then she had the gall to reassure her readers, “A full and meaningful life belongs to us all, no wedding required.” I would’ve believed her if she had written the article while still happily single. It’s like the equivalent of Ina Garten saying that homemade chicken stock is best, “but store-bought works, too.” We all know that Ina Garten would rather set her kitchen on fire than use store-bought chicken stock. She just says that store-bought is okay so that us mere mortals don’t hate ourselves for using it. Although, as I drunkenly complained about the article to my sister, she noted that the author seemed to think that marriage wasn’t a big deal, which might seem a bit insulting to her partner (imagine if your spouse was published in the NYT telling everyone that being married to you wasn’t life-changing). My sister also mentioned that one positive takeaway is that the author met the person she married and probably would’ve married them ten years earlier or ten years later, so it really comes down to chance. Meanwhile, here I am trying to live my best life while self-partnered and looking for examples to validate my perpetual singlehood. I’ll give it ten years and then I’ll pitch an article to the NYT about how I’m still single and happy, because some people just weren’t meant to have a partner. And that’s okay. Gosh, everything honest comes out when you’re drunk.
• Currently looping: Hans Zimmer did a “Dark Phoenix” album with like…I’m guessing outtakes? Anyway, it’s on Spotify and it’s awesome.

 

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Seven (8/16/20)

• Did some recording. Might have to rerecord. I always underestimate how long it’ll take me to figure out a harmony (and then realize I haven’t actually figured it out).
• Watched “Megamind.” ‘Twas cute.
• Evening of “Star Wars” movies and rosé while I work on my writing workshop draft. Never seen “Solo” before. It’s not as bad as people have been saying it is. Like, there are so many ballers in the cast. Why did no one tell me that Phoebe Waller-Bridge voices an android?! She’s spectacular. Side note: how have I not seen “Fleabag” yet?
• Placed a drunk order on The Chocolate Room’s website. I might have ordered a pound of chocolate almond bark. #shoplocal
• Placed a drunk order on Burdick’s website. #shoplocal
• Currently feeling: It’s just a drunk chocolate ordering kind of night, okay? I will be heartbroken if my favorite chocolate establishments don’t survive this pandemic.
• Currently looping: Katy Perry’s “The One That Got Away.”

 

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Eight (8/17/20)

• Did the FES cycle.
• Songwriting lesson! Learned how to harmonize. Like, properly. Before I was mostly just winging it and hoping I hit the correct note. Now I know how to check on my guitar.
• FaceTime and baking with a friend from Princeton! I made five-ingredient peanut butter cookies (peanut butter + sugar + vanilla + egg + salt). When I made them in England, I used brown sugar instead of white sugar, and pretty fresh peanut butter (this one had been sitting in the fridge for a while). I should’ve done that this time. They came out a bit grainy and way too sweet. Noted for next time!
• Watched Michelle Obama’s speech. I’m pretty sure she’s broken the internet/filled it with completely justifiable fear.
• Currently feeling: I’ve noticed that when my astrology app starts to tell me that I’m going to be irritated, my period just shows up. Like, that’s so accurate, but also so disconcerting.
• Currently looping: Watched a Halestorm concert from back when concerts were a thing. I’m pretty sure Lzzy Hale’s heels are nine inches long. And she can shred a guitar. In those nine-inch heels. I feel like I haven’t done nearly enough with my life.

 

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Nine (8/18/20)

• My mom stopped by for an hour, so that was a delightful surprise!
• Recorded backup vocals (again) and some flute. Then, after mixing the audio, realized that the finished product definitely needed a reduction in flute volume. I’ll fix it later this week.
• Reading group got postponed. Sadness.
• Received my order from The Chocolate Room. One of the owners was concerned about shipping it in this heat, so she drove it here from Cobble Hill. I should do a haul video for my Insta. I wish my apartment had a better natural lighting setup.
• Hangout with writing buddy! We’re both behind on our drafts, so we worked on those. I may have been tipsy.
• Currently feeling: Hey, guess who’s back in “guess I’ll go to bed around 2am” mode? Eep. I need to work on that.
• Currently looping: In This Moment’s “The In-Between.” Sometimes you just need to hear the power of Maria Brink’s voice.

 

Day One Hundred and Sixty (8/19/20)

• Did the FES cycle.
• Work Skyped with a friend. So many emails. So many emails.
• Audio mixing. Can’t decide whether or not I like the exciter plug-in.
• And the Obamas have succeeded in terrifying me even more. Did not think that was possible. Thanks, Obama(s).
• Currently feeling: My external hard drive doesn’t want to backup my laptop for some reason? Oh dear. Time to run all of the things to make sure the external hard drive is okay.
• Currently looping: “Negative” from the “Dark Phoenix” original soundtrack (composed by Hans Zimmer). Still haven’t seen the movie, but dang, that is some good work music.

 

Day One Hundred and Sixty-One (8/20/20)

• Posted my cover of Jimmy Eat World’s “Hear You Me.”
• My mom’s here! She brought croissants.
• The latest in articles about how the pandemic is just exacerbating issues that women face in academia. Like, are we really surprised?
• Therapy! Continuing on the plan of going outside more, which I totally plan to do this weekend and upcoming week.
• Princeton had all the undergrads and grad students complete a virtual covid training. Yeah, still not planning to go to campus.
• Mets?! WHY?!
• My laptop finally backed up! Yay!
• Currently feeling: I know people shouldn’t meet their heroes, but I really want to meet Lzzy Hale. This interview is amazing, and it comes with guitar riffs. I was also watching an interview yesterday with Lzzy Hale, Maria Brink, and Ash Costello. The common thread was that they: A. realized at some point, “Hey, we’re watching these bands on stage, and wait, we could totally do that, too”; and B. did what felt right to them. Totally taking that as a sign to embrace my songwriting adolescence.
• Currently looping: Halestorm’s “Chemicals.” Just really stanning Lzzy Hale today, okay?

Thanks so much for reading! Stay safe out there, fight the power, and wear a mask.