New Favourite

Oh, so, I don't have lots of time, nasty thesis thing about my neck, but a quick update of my two favourite new websites.

Website 1 - Musicovery

How it works is both elegant and simple. You move the mouse to where you feel your current desired "mood" of music would fall on the grid. The site loads a playlist of music of that mood, ie. the Mood Radio. You can then customise it by whether you want hit music and/or non hit music, and if you are heavily into music from the 80s, or you don't like anything put out after the 50s you can change the range on the timeline. You can also customise the musical genres played, so if you only want to listen to metal, or you love everything except classical there is a setting for that. You can choose to play an artist, and by pressing the play button on the artist name beneath the track you can play another song by that artist, otherwise the playlist continues on with songs of the same mood.

There is also a Dance Radio, where instead of selecting for mood you select by tempo and dance (which I guess is a function of how easy it is to dance to or something? Paint it black by the Rolling Stones is considered Dance +, One headlight by the Wallflowers and 1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins count as Dance -).

Generally awesome site for just listening to some music that you like and that is consistent in vibe, which I really like.

Website 2 - Logic puzzles.

I love logic puzzles. I get bored of crosswords (and the spelling is an issue) similar issues with acrostics and ciphers, cryptic crosswords annoy me, word searches are too easy. Sudoku get dull too, they are fun at first, but there is only so much fitting into the boxes I can be bothered with. But logic puzzles I love, I love the word clues, I love ticking the little grids, I love working out how things work together, and what clues exclude what aspects, etc. And this site a) provides a challenge by telling how long the puzzle took and comparing that time with other peoples, and b) easy, online access, no waste of paper. Brilliant.

Now going to do more work.

Secrets

by One Republic.

I like this song, I enjoyed the movie and the bit with the Tesla coils was awesome and this song has the violins and the cello and there is something really nice and open about the singers voice and the lyrics (until you actually read them, then its a bit disappointing, it isn't as well written as it sounds, the references to critics and albums and such breaks the immersion, so don't think about that...).

I heard it in a store today (immediately following an Adele song I like too) during my very quick "rush out of the house and buy a vacuum cleaner head and then rush BACK to the house to keep working on my thesis proposal" expedition that took longer than expected. Of course. A South African man proposed I marry his friend (the latter of whom had just told me that the wife of the former had previously been his wife for 15 years, and the formers proposal began with an assertion of the latter's wealth). Fortunately, I don't think they were serious, and I was amused.

The silence is screaming at me.

"I'm sick of all the insincere
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away"

Song of the day : Little wing.

Jimi Hendrix.

This is one of my favourite songs. And no one does this song like Jimi.

I am really struggling with my stress levels at the moment, and I am recognising counter-productive behaviours. Irritation, apathy, exhaustion, depression. Procrastination, negative self talk, lack of focus, fretting (generally disjointedly and without a resolution), distraction, despair, inefficient and nonsensical "coping" strategies like eating all the chocolate I can get my hands on. Taking things personally when I shouldn't, when I know better, when to do so would be to subscribe to a different version of reality - one where leaky walls have hostile agendas. Its all there, the stuff I do in reaction to stress, which ultimately increases my stress levels. I am hoping acknowledgement is the first step.

"Fly on little wing, "

Song of the day : White Blank Page.

by Mumford and Sons.

Every time I hear this song I fall in love again.

There is something about it. Something beautiful, something raw, something almost... painful? heartbreaking? but at the same time captivating and comforting and ... yearning about it? It makes me feel devastated and exultant. It makes me feel.

I believe it. I believe he feels it. I wish it was about me...

I want it to be true, I want him really to have felt this when he wrote it, I want all people to have felt this. I want to believe that other people feel this way... and that it is this beautiful. Even the pain is beautiful.

I like that it is so true, and yet so vague at the same time, and yet I don't question what he is talking about, I feel like I understand completely.

"You desired my attention but denied my affections, affections

But tell me now where was my fault, in loving you with my whole heart."