you take the dark and carve me out a home

Alrighty, we're getting caught up. One day, I'll post these the day they happen. LOL, sure, Jo.

Thursday's Album-A-Day was Nirvana's Nevermind, released in 1991. I was too much into Celine Dion and sugar pop, radio r&b and such to really appreciate Nirvana while I was in my teens but coming back to listen to this album was definitely a good choice. My step-dad would gladly take the blame for my interest in more rock in my music listening proclivities. This album is as good as they say it is, and I am very glad I listened to it this day. Nirvana is on my list to listen to so expect them to come up again in a month or so.

The Music Shuffle Nostalgia for Thursday was Olivia Lufkin's album OLIVIA inspi' REIRA (TRAPNEST) from the soundtrack for the anime Nana, which, ironically, I watched only 20 or so episodes of before I was distracted by something else and thought I would go back to but never ended up going back to it LOL. Anyways, I LOVED Olivia as Reira's singing voice and all the music she did that was as a result of that. I love this album so much that I ended up listening to it TWICE because I couldn't help myself. Such a good album.

See you next post!

 Tuesday's Album-A-Day was Angela Aki's album from 2006, Home. I found Angela's music because a few friends liked Final Fantasy and "Kiss Me Goodbye" was a song for one of the versions of it and I downloaded it and ended up downloading everything I could get back then. She was another artist I lost track of after a while due to various reasons and it looks like she stopped producing after a few years, but Spotify has the rest of her discography, so she's on my list of predetermined album-a-days so you'll see more of her in the future.

Anyhow, I loved this album and nearly every song on it, especially "Your Love Song" as it really spoke to my heart. I forgot how much I loved her music and I am so excited to have her back in rotation!

The Music Shuffle Nostalgia today is a compilation of m-flo's Loves series called Loves Best from 2008 but it seems that it may be a fan compilation rather than an actual release by the group. I checked their website and www.discogs.com but there is nothing listed there, so I'm pretty sure it's fan made. It's a great mix so I will include it here.

I remember the first time I heard ASTROSEXY and it's such a good memory of myself and my friend Kikuko_Kamimura in my car, jamming out while we drove around Missoula.

An unwritten rule of this project of mine with no end date is that I will listen to released albums, or rather, official albums, EPs, etc., rather than fanmixes and such. So if a song comes up from a fanmix, I will listen to the album that song was officially released on. I may do a project solely for fanmixes but not at this time.

 Here I go, needing to catch up again LOL. Posts will be up soon for this week.

The artist to listen to today is Aaliyah, an artist that I remember the exact moment I learned she died. It made me really sad because she was sweet, she was lovely, and talented and I had such high hopes for her moving forward. It makes me wonder what she might have come up with as she got older and who she might have collaborated with.

The album I listened to today was her first full album released in 1994, Age Ain't Nothing But A Number, which is the only album available on streaming anywhere along with about 4 or 5 singles. I think it's a crime that this is the case and I am sure her family (mainly her uncle, who was her manager) has their reasons. However I am glad I bought the albums I did at the time so I have what was released before her passing.

 For Tuesday, the artist next on my list was BoA and her debut album, ID;Peace B from 2000. It seems so weird to me that this album is 20 years old. 21, actually. Being 41 and understanding how your parents felt whenever they make comments about how long ago things are but don't feel like they were that long ago is a new thing that I've really become aware of recently. 

Listening to BoA's first album and the quality of her voice and the songs on this album made me wonder how the reception was when it was released. I'm sure there were many then who recognized the absolute powerhouse she would become, especially in the Korean music industry. I know she spread out to the Japanese charts but when she attempted to break in to the USA scene, it wasn't as successful as I hoped. C'est la vie. Not all of my favorites are able to be like BTS. I am not a fan, but they are one group that seems to have exploded worldwide.

Anyhow, I liked this album and enjoyed listening to it.
Next up on Tuesday's Music Shuffle Nostalgia, was a group called The Pretty Reckless and their self-titled EP from 2010. I am not sure how this ended up in my hoarded music library but my suspicion is from a fanmix somewhere. I was actually pretty happy with listening to this as I don't remember if I ever did before. Their sound is definitely along the lines of Paramore and Halestorm and by that virtue, something I would enjoy listening to again.

 Good day to you, reader. Today's Album-A-Day was Janne da Arc's album, Gaia, released in 2002. 

The thing I appreciate about this whole project of mine is that it gives me a chance to experience full albums of artists that I may have not spent a lot of time on based on how I came to acquire said music. Whether by fanmix, or someone offering a sample of the album, some of these I have never heard all the way through or only listened to maybe once or twice. That being said, when I had first been introduced to Janne da Arc, a lot of the reasons why I listened to some of the songs I did by them was due to my friend @kikuko_kamimura being a fan. Mind you, this is all the way back in 2004/2005 so it's been quite a long time and the band has since officially disbanded after being on hiatus for 10 years while the members worked on solo projects. My point in bringing the previous comment up is that I wasn't that fond of their music at the time. I was more in to Evanescence, Linkin Park, or even Gackt and Ayumi Hamasaki but it was nice to have a similar interest as Kiku, especially since she was one of my small group of friends. Not saying I didn't like their music, but it's that I liked their music less.

Fast forward to now, 16 or 17 years after the fact, re-listening to these albums means I get to enjoy them as the person I am now, and by golly gosh, I did enjoy this album. So many good songs and ones I remember adding to my playlist of liked songs at the time. Essentially, this whole thing is definitely a good decision.


Next up today for Music Shuffle Nostalgia, is Kirsty Hawkshaw's album, Meta Message (2005). At first I didn't recognise the album or the songs, but as I looked at the song listing and saw the name "Delerium", it clicked that I had bought (or downloaded? I can't remember LOL) this album because of a previous album by a group of people called Delerium. I liked their ethereal style, similar to Enigma's style and wanted to check out Kirsty because of how lovely her singing was/is. This is a good album, with a mix of great songs, collabs, and what have you. Definitely my style. I recommend it if you want to check it out.

Bloom Volume 2 Podfic Part 1

Podfic of the fanfic "Nexus" by thechaoscryptid. Fic is recorded with author's permission. Audio is not for public use or for any other purpose.

NOTE: The author changed their name before I published this recording so be aware that the author listed is indeed thechaoscryptid, just under their previous author ID.

AO3 Tags: Alternate Universe - Repo! The Genetic Opera Fusion, also inspired by the Host, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, trans keith, Developing Relationship, AFAB and gender neutral language, Implied/Referenced Violence, implied/referenced nonconsensual drug use, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Hopeful Ending

Podfic (Ao3): https://archiveofourown.org/works/30307299
Original (Ao3): https://archiveofourown.org/works/27175702

Twitter | Tumblr



Summary

“Live the life you want,” Honerva says, and Shiro shuts his ears against the rest of the sentiments. They’re ingrained in every person tasked with taking back what’s GalCo’s—we’re here, you’re ours, and all it costs is the small fee of compliance. It’s a vicious thing, but their order is what separates them from the madness of the desert outside Daibazaal’s limits, and so viciousness becomes vital when that order is threatened.

Podfic of the fanfic "Made of Nebulas and Novas" by stardropdream. Fic is recorded with authors' permission. Audio is not for public use or for any other purpose.

AO3 Tags: Age Regression/De-Aging, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Magical Realism, Season/Series 07, Mutual Pining, Getting Together

Podfic (Ao3): https://archiveofourown.org/works/29747337
Original (Ao3): https://archiveofourown.org/works/15800259

Twitter | Tumblr



Summary

While on their journey back to Earth, the lions get hit by a blinding light that leaves them unaffected-- except for one very specific, unavoidable thing.

“Pidge, get eyes on Shiro now,” he commands, his voice hitching up an octave in his distress.

Once she does, maybe Keith should have expected that Shiro would suddenly be younger, too. On Pidge’s shaking screen is a young boy with soft, floppy black hair falling into his eyes. He’s tugging at the glove of his paladin suit, a blanket at his feet from where he’s taken a sudden tumble. He looks up when the door opens and he turns his head, blinking up at Pidge, looking dazed, confused, and a little guarded.

It's Shiro, just over a decade or so younger.

 

Sometimes I have trouble focusing. Like I know I want to do something but it just ends up revolving in my brain and I run out of time. I know my ADHD is partly to blame (SURPRISE I HAVE ADHD IN ADDITION TO EVERYTHING ELSE) so I just have to give myself a bit of forgiveness and deal with it. I've also been struggling with making a decision (also related) to how I want to move forward. In the end, I just have to let go of trying to impress people or cater to people and do my own thing. But it's hard as I want to have people like me and I hate conflict and stress out over it.

Life is difficult and finding your own path in all things is hard. Especially when society doesn't much care for those individuals who don't fit the norm, unless you do it in a fashion they find beautiful or interesting or shocking.

Recently I purchased a copy of The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman because a high school friend of mine posted about it on his Instagram and I found that it rang a bell in my brain so hard that I immediately had to get the book. Since then, I haven't been consistent, but it's been nice to read these tidbits of wisdom. It fits well with my inner melting pot of buddhism and atheism and paganistic tendencies.

Today's passage was about "The Glass is Already Broken". Talking about how when things happen, for those who expect it to happen, the effect of the loss or change in fortune is less and basically, what I took from it is that your suffering is less. Yes, your favorite cup broke, or yes, your phone was stolen, but if you prepare for that eventuality, you can enjoy it as well as ensure that you have a back up plan, or a second favorite cup, or something along those lines.

I think about how I live that way in how many things I have backed up and how many cups, or coffee mugs in my case, I have because at one time I had my phone stolen out of my car. And one time, my current favorite mug broke. I know that in some cases, this might be considered too much of a backlash to something that happened to me, but it just means that the loss is less to me. That my attachment isn't so strong or devastating if such a thing is lost or broken.

At any rate, this is how I have coped and how I move forward. Every so often though, I try to lessen the things I have because it would be a lovely life to live minimally but alas, this is what makes the suffering of life less and makes me happier, so I will accept it and move on.

Life update is basically I edit a small podcast about sports and socialism and things and it's a fulfilling thing, although sometimes I am tired of it because I don't manage my time well enough to do podfic and edit this podcast, but I'm hopeful recent attempts to organize my self and my time will alleviate that. Basically I need to stop playing SIMS4 on the weekend so I have time to do podfic. LOL

This afternoon we are recording episode 30 and I like to sit in on the zoom call with them. Mainly I do that because I enjoy feeling a part of something, especially since most of my social events are non-existent because of the pandemic. But anyways, they are a good group of women and they make me laugh.

I will try to write more here and use the other sites for mirrors so people can follow but I will not add anymore unless my main group of fandom friends move anywhere else.

Thank you for reading.