escritoireazul | Entries tagged with fandom: 31 days of december

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( 31 Days )

Day 17: something that made you happy this year

Why yes, it is nearly May and I am still finishing a meme from December 2015. I am delightful like that.

In 2015, the things that made me happiest was time spent with family and friends. I had multiple trips with friends, both here locally and across the US for various reunions, and I spent a great deal of time with my family, which is always nice.

Something that's made me happy in 2016 is returning to full time work. It's not a job I ever thought I'd have in my career, but it is interesting and a challenge, but it can also be left at work. When I leave for the day (and I generally leave before 530), I don't have to worry about it until I go back the next morning. That is not something I will ever take for granted again, not after my previous job. Also, it is amazing how much just having steady work has improved my mental state. Don't get me wrong, when I am back in full treatment again, it will be even better, but this helps. Having a schedule, the steadiness of work, earning my own money -- I started working when I was 15, and before that I baby-sat, and I had not been unemployed so long since then. It was a hard year for me. This is better.

I've also been writing a ton, and that makes me happy, too. Even the days when the writing doesn't go well are better than before.

( 31 Days )

Day 16: something that made you sad this year

Just one thing? Good lord. The worst was seeing Mom's gravesite for the first time since we buried her. My uncle died a few months ago, and he was buried in the same graveyard. I knew this, but didn't actually realize what that meant until we were on our way to the graveyard, and by then it was too late. Seeing her stone, her name, was so, so much harder than I thought it would be. I wish I'd gone by myself the first time, because I absolutely lost it, and couldn't stop crying. Then I felt terrible, because I wasn't so much crying over my uncle as over Mom, who I miss, still, so hard. It will be four years this September, and it hurts, it hurts, it hurts. My poor aunt, who lost both her sister and her husband to the same disease.

( 31 Days )

Day 15: something that made you laugh this year

As usual, my December blogging fell to the wayside for Yuletide writing. Good thing I don't care if I'm posting a December daily meme in January. (Or February ... or March ... oh dear.)

I spent a lot of time fighting either depression or those oh so fun bipolar mixed states (where the terrible darkness of depression mixes with mania, so basically I want to destroy everything immediately because it is all terrible and I can't shut off my brain's whirling thoughts long enough to deal with it), but I did manage to laugh a lot. I spent a great deal of time with grad school friends (reunions in Chicago, St. Louis [twice], and Memphis), my siblings (who are hilarious and delightful), J and his family (competitive card playing is hilarious), and my beloved dog, who is so cuddly and warm and silly and delightful I laugh at her pretty much daily.

And you guys are all pretty great, too, smart and funny and supportive.

So I've had a lot of laughter even during the darkest years, and I know how lucky I am for that. I will leave you with a quote from the holiday celebration I had with a couple of my siblings:

Brother M: [The alarm clock] sounds like R2D2 having an orgasm.

I thought one of us was going to pass out, we were all laughing so hard.

( 31 Days )

Day 14: What you are proud of from this year

My first instinct is to say nothing, because I feel like I have done nothing this year but fail and be mentally ill. However, that's pretty much bullshit, so I am going to talk about pottery. I've planned to talk about it more ever since Day 7, when I talked a little bit about a productive class, and you guys seemed interested, and this is a good time to do it, because really, I am proud of pottery.

I started taking classes because I wanted to challenge myself. I love learning new things (when I finished grad school, everyone else kept talking about how happy they were to be done with school and never going back, which makes sense, because our degrees were doctoral level degrees, but even then I was ready to find a new program and go back to school. It is a shame that I don't want to teach.), but I am terrible at being bad at new things in front of other people. I taught myself to play basic piano long before I let my parents sign me up for actual classes. I practiced for hours on my own before I ever even admitted to anyone I wanted to try out for color guard back in high school. I'd been writing stories for years before I ever let anyone read them. (Fandom was good for this. Yes, I'd already been writing for years, but it taught me to share stories and take criticism, and has been incredibly useful for everything else in my life.)

I am not artistic. I struggle to draw a straight line. I've never been big into painting until last fall, right after I got laid off, when I finally started teaching myself watercolors. I design jewelry and clothes all the time, but I never let anyone see, because they're not yet good enough. I love making art and cards with my arty friends and Sister K, but I hate letting them see what I'm doing, because it's never good enough. (I've been going to card making events with Ms J, where we create cards that have already been designed, and the instructor is right there to show the technique, and even then, (a) I can't stick to the design I have to make it my own (which is encouraged), and (b) I hate that people see me struggling.)

So with all that background, plus the fact I've spent most of this year job hunting and failing at getting a job, in my field and casual jobs alike, I decided what my bipolar brain needed was ~~something else to fail at~~ something new to learn.

Long story short, J and I reconnected with a friend of the family at the end of last year, who is also called J because dear god no one believes in any other initial in my world. I would call him Brother J, but J's brother was Brother J, so. Fuck it. Baby J is like a little brother to me (he was bffs with Brother M back in the day), and his wife, K, owns a pottery studio. She offered me lessons for free, and gifted me my first bag of clay, which I actually have yet to finish, though I am down to the very last of it, and J just bought me a new bag. After that first set of lessons (technically six weeks, but because of scheduling, as long as the first bag lasted), I'm exchanging work around the shop for studio and kiln time. (Last week, I helped her price a bunch of new pieces she was taking to an event over the weekend.)

I am good at pottery, and that is a problem.

I showed a lot of progress early on, and then had a couple classes where nothing came off the kiln, I kept damaging it while trying to raise the walls (the move that allows you to make the walls the same thickness from top to bottom) or while trying to cut off the top (because I kept making one side higher than the other while raising the walls). I struggled a lot with that. More than once, I ended up crying over a piece, either sitting at the wheel (not ideal because then K worries) or while scrubbing my hands after class (still not ideal because JFC why am I crying it is just clay, but better than where anyone can see). The early success was actually terrible for me, because then I felt like I should be doing better, I could be doing better, I was just failing because I am a big failure. (See also: time at my last job, or this job hunt, or my writing, or pretty much everything I've ever done but especially the last few years. Grad school + bipolar + incredibly stressful more than full time job did a number on my confidence, my mental health, and my physical health.)

I thought about giving up, a lot. I felt like I was wasting clay and K's time. (Who cares about my time. I am clearly doing nothing with my life.) It is hard enough to even get myself out of the house for class some weeks. But when it works, when it clicks and I finally understand something I have been struggling to get, god, that is a good moment. (Pottery skills are not skills I had picked up anywhere else in life. Everything, from kneading the clay to centering it on the wheel to doing any sort of shape, is new and difficult and I can't wrap my brain around it. Until I do.)

I'm going to keep trying, because being bad at something is good for me, and having to work to learn something is good for me, and I really love it. There was a time, before my most recent bipolar crash, that I even loved the failures, because hands on clay is such a good feeling. I want that back. (Plus K wants to sell my work, eventually, which is stressful and wonderful at the same time. I am so far from there, but I want to get there, and that requires putting in the time at the wheel.)

I am trying to challenge myself more in 2016, and pottery will be a part of it.

Now, for pictures. I've had about 8 two hour lessons, total, though sometimes they are split up into a couple one hour lessons depending on scheduling.

( Pictures of Pottery Wins and Fails )

In short, pottery joy, and woe.

( 31 Days )

Day 13: new items you’ve added to collections this year

I don't really collect much, and I certainly haven't bought many things. Physical books, maybe; Jennifer Lynn Barnes is one of the authors I automatically buy her books, and in physical copies, so I added ALL IN and THE FIXER this year. Mostly I bought ebooks, though, which doesn't feel like a collection in the same way, even though, for example Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series is an auto-buy for me, but as ebooks. A friend gave me a Funko POP Black Widow for my birthday back in January, and

das_hydra added to my werewolf book collection with a paperback copy of SISTERS RED and my scarf collection with a new handmade scarf. (Among other awesome gifts, but those were the two for collections.) If you follow my instagram, I'm collecting pictures of my dog and sometimes other dogs (my dad's toy poodle, my inlaws' pomeranian, any Australian cattle dog I can find).

I have a giant collection of Stitch toys, from Lilo & Stitch, but I haven't added to it in a long while.

( 31 Days )

Day 12: your favorite website this year

I don't really have one, but here are a handful of websites I love. (Not including DW/LJ, where I have been reading and posting more.)

+ Puzzle Baron's Logic Puzzles

I find logic puzzles incredibly satisfying, and often do them to relax before bed or when I'm very stressed. Which is a lot of the time.

+ Hulu and Netflix, where we do all of our tv watching.

+ 2048

A numbers game that is also soothing and satisfying, but can lead to me being obsessive, so I try not to play it too much. But it is just -- all those numbers, and they match up in set ways, and it is wonderful.

+ Gmail, for most of my communication needs.

( 31 Days )

Day 11: your favorite photo this year

I swear, I skimmed the list before deciding to do it, but I did not realize there were so many photo posts so early. I don't know, meme. I am not a super visual person, but I have a ton of much loved images that were taken or created this year, by me, by Sister K, by friends and complete strangers.

So instead, have a random photo from the photos I've loved taking this year. First time I ever took pictures at a hockey game. (Actually, have two, I saw another fun one when uploading the first.) Team is the Missouri State University Ice Bears.

( 31 Days )

Day 10: a photo of you taken over ten years ago

On the horse, that's Brother M, me, and Sister K, and Sister C is leading it.

( 31 Days )

Day 9: a photo that makes you happy taken this year

I made three glittery tutus for Sister T to give out for Easter this year, and they were the most sickeningly adorable and wonderful things ever. I would like to make a billion more. They shed glitter everywhere. J was home from work for less than a minute before he had glitter on his eyelashes. It was awesome.

( 31 Days )

Day 8: your Hanukkah wish list

Well, it's more a winter holiday wish list. I'm not really sure what to put here; I have a wishlist for family this time of year, but it's just books and art supplies that I plan to buy for myself eventually. (Back when I was working, it consisted of things I wouldn't buy for myself starting in September, but since I'm broke, buying things happens less often.)

+ a job

Preferably a full time job in my field of expertise, but at this point. Well.

Fuck, I don't even know. Everything I need, much less things I want, are tied to that. Healthcare. Bipolar meds. Money to pay off my student loans and help take care of my family. Better food for my dog.

Writing this sucks. Next topic.

( 31 Days )

Day 7: your week, in great detail

Yeah, no. My week involves a lot of job hunting and being depressed. I went to pottery class this week, though, and that was fun. I actually managed to take a piece off the wheel, for the first time in weeks. I needed the win that brought; I've been feeling like a complete failure, and even considering quitting (I came to the end of one cycle, i.e, the end of one big bag of clay), because it felt like I wasn't making any progress and I wasn't learning anything, so all I was doing was wasting my instructor's time and all that clay. (Technically, the clay can be processed to be reused, but it still feels like a failure.) But I finally finished a piece enough to take it off the wheel, and I actually figured out what was going wrong when I try to raise the walls (which is how you make the walls an even thickness from top to bottom and add a little height). That was a relief, and I'm proud that I figured out I needed the win of finishing something on the wheel, because I could have tried to make the new piece taller, but there was the risk I would ruin it, and I needed the win more than I needed a more perfect piece. That is a concept that is difficult for me and my perfectionism.

Also, the first piece I ever took off the wheel at my very first class has been glazed and fired, and while there are so, so many errors, it is a gorgeous blue color and really thrilling to hold something that I created.

( 31 Days )

Day 6: talk about food this year

I don't know that I have anything to say about food. I love to hear about food from people who really love it, but that is not me. If I could switch over to pills and get all my sustenance, I would be fine. I don't enjoy cooking, I could eat the same thing every day and I would be fine.

That being said, I have had some delicious meals this year. A friend of ours is Hawaiian and used to own a Hawaiian restaurant here locally; she threw a giant party for the birthday of one of her grandsons, and the food was amazing. My grad school bffs and I ate our way through Memphis, which was a great time. I've had delicious alcoholic drinks in St Louis, Chicago, and Memphis, as well as here at the house. The two Thanksgiving dinners we had were fantastic. We've had a bunch of spicy deer sausage from Sister T's boyfriend, and it was great. I've found a sugar cookie recipe that will work for some of my art food plans this month, and Nephew was thrilled with the test run. Once a week or so J and I have dinner with friends at a little brew pub, and once a month they have a special burger, and those have been ridiculous but pretty great.

I'd much rather hear you guys talk about food. Tell me your favorite things?

( 31 Days )

Day 5: talk about books this year

I should have known this topic would be next, because it's another long one for me. I've started more than 100 different books this year, and finished the majority of them, some of them more than once. All of this is not counting the ones I read on bad days, but didn't have the energy to track.

Here are some of the ones I enjoyed:

Beware the Wild - Natalie Parker: Really fun teen southern supernatural mystery.

Trust Me, I'm Lying - Mary Elizabeth Summer: Super entertaining teen con artist and friends.

Shutter - Courtney Alameda: Excellent teen horror, though there's a bit of Our Girl is Badass (Other Girls Aren't).

Nearly Gone - Elle Cosimano: Suspenseful teen thrilled with characters I loved.

Little House series (minus Farmer Boy) - Laura Ingalls Wilder: I never read Farmer Boy. I do not care about Almonzo unless he's around Laura. I missed my mother a lot earlier this year, and my first memory is of her reading this series to me, so I read it again, and mourned.

Incryptid series - Seanan McGuire: Supernatural adventures about a family of cryptozoologists. The fourth book came out this year, and it was about werewolves, so pretty much Made For Me in a series that already feels made for me. So I reread the first three in a marathon to celebrate the fourth book. Then, last month, I reread all four again. Even when I'm bothered by things (there's a big thread of White Savior to the universe), I love them so hard.

Uglies series - Scott Westerfeld: I wanted a dose of dystopia, and I love the main characters of this series a lot, so I did a marthon reread over a weekend.

Caszandra series - Andrea K. Host: Sci-fi portal fantasy, and one of my favorite self-published books ever. It is really satisfying, even though I don't normally enjoy the journal format in books. Cassandra is a fantastic narrator, and the world building delightful. I read this series (three books and a Gratuitous Epilogue that is entitled as such) three times this year.

Kilmer Cure - Lynn Schneider: Lynn Schneider is the best, y'all, and her collection of essays about bipolar, framed around Val Kilmer's movies, broke me wide open.

Under the Lights - Dahlia Adler: This was a delightful story about teen friendship and romance with two of my favorite queer girl characters ever.

United States of Asgard series - Tessa Gratton: I keep getting caught up wanting to know where the hell all the Indian tribes have gone, because they are hardly ever mentioned, and the one time a Native American character shows up onscreen, it's a trick. Even with new gods coming in, the native gods, and the people who worshipped them, still fucking exist. That being said, I love this series and its characters so much; fierce, angry teen girls who are strong in different ways and who have such grand adventures. I read this series twice this year.

Parasitology series - Mira Grant: I marathoned the first and second book right before the third came out this year, and ever since have been super annoyed by the fact there is a GIANT CONTINUITY ERROR at the beginning of book two. It keeps bleeding into my overall enjoyment of the series, which is really great zombie fiction with fantastic science behind it.

20-sided Sorceress series - Annie Bellet: The first couple books of this supernatural adventure series is fantastic! The main character is a geeky woman who owns a gaming shop and learned to control her sorcerer powers through D&D references. And then the latest book in the series absolutely fell flat; it felt more like a couple chapters cut off from a much bigger story.

A Trifle Dead, Blackmail Blend, and Drowned Vanilla - Livia Day: Super fun, sweet cozy mysteries set in Hobart about a baker who knows everyone in town and keeps getting pulled into mysteries.

( 31 Days )

Day 4: talk about television this year

Don't mind if I do! I've been watching a lot of television this year, both current shows and old shows I missed the first time around. I really love television; I like having it on while I write, art, or play games, and J and have a handful of shows we specifically wait to watch together. (Which is much easier now that we live together again.)

In no particular order, things I have watched this year (that I can remember off the top of my head):

Friends: I never watched this when it first aired, and started watching it the end of last year, I think. I still haven't finished it, though I only have maybe half a season left, because I know what happens with Ross and Rachel, and I just can't bring myself to watch it. (Ross is terrible. He potentially could have been my favorite character [dinosaurs], but he is just so, so terrible.) I loved Monica just like I knew I would, and ended up loving Chandler and Joey a hell of a lot more than expected. This NYC is so white it is bullshit, but I've enjoyed finally watching something that is treated as quite the cultural touchstone.

Bones: This show. Oh, this show. It is ridiculous at the best of times any more, but something about the characters keeps bringing me back. I've watched it since episode one aired, and I'll probably keep watching it until the end. J and I watch this one together.

Castle: See above. It is also ridiculous, but in a more heartfelt, wonderful way, and it is 100% the characters that bring me back. Well, all the characters but Castle, who I don't actually much like. He's fine, he's just -- at the heart of it, he's an entitled rich straight white guy, and I get annoyed by him because I see so much of the annoying parts of actual people in him. I will say he annoys me less when I'm not working in a certain environment, so I'm liking him more these days. Another show J and I watch together.

Gotham: Oddly enough, this is J's addition to our list, even though it is clearly a comic book adaptation. He's not a big fan of superheroes, but apparently more open to DC than my beloved Marvel (of course he is), and he seems to like Batman well enough. I love baaaaaaaby!Selena best, and mostly enjoy seeing the way (somewhat) familiar characters start coming to life. I am infuriated by the way it keeps killing off people of color, though, and of course the treatment of mental illness was never going to be great, not in Gotham.

Flash: I have watched none of this season, but I'll catch up soon. It sort of slipped away from me, but I really loved last season.

Arrow: I'm still back in season one, but have been trying to catch up. It keeps falling to the side, and I much prefer the Flash, but I know I like some of what happens in the future, so I'll keep going.

Supergirl: OMG ADORABLE. I love this show so far, enough that I actually use CBS' on-site streaming, which until this point I was only willing to do for Criminal Minds. It, and its focus on sisters, just makes me happy.

Criminal Minds: There were a couple season where the cases where just over-the-top ridiculous and stupid. It seems like they've pulled back from that a little bit, but I don't trust them to not go back to that well just to be salacious in the future. I love the characters so much, that's why I keep watching, and I've rewatched the first ten seasons a couple times this year. I find it soothing; despite the violence, it was one of my mother's favorite shows. That helps, I think; she introduced me to it a few years before she died.

Jane the Virgin: HELLO FAVORITE SHOW. It is wonderful, heart-warming and sweet and sad and beautiful and funny. I love Jane the most, but everyone is fantastic and understandable even when they're being terrible, and the narrator is the best.

Girl Meets World: Nostalgia forever, plus adorable friendship between the girls, and even more nostalgia, and, oh, I love this world. It makes me happy.

WWE: I don't watch the PPVs anymore, and I'm super behind on the weekly episodes, and I've only just started watching NXT because Nia Jax is everything I've wanted in a woman wrestler at the WWE, but I do love it so.

iZombie: Another J choice (though I would have added it if he didn't), and another surprise, because he also doesn't like comic book adaptations. (Though he also watches the Walking Dead.) I love Liv, and I generally love the way her personality changes each week, and I have no idea what happens in the comics, so I like the surprise of the story. Ravi is a doll, and I love when the science things.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Still not a fan of Jake, and therefore don't really care about Jake and Amy, and could definitely use fewer fat and trans jokes, but I love the rest of the characters a ton. It is mostly hilarious and touching and the chosen family feelings are strong.

Muppets: I don't even know what to say about this show, beyond nostalgia and hilarity.

Pretty Little Liars: I just flail in this show's general direction. I've watched the first season and a half a bunch of times, because each time I sat down to watch it, I felt like I needed to start at the beginning in order for things to make sense. I did that straight through with this last mid-season break, and nope, it didn't really make any more sense from watching it from the beginning. Love the hell out of the characters, find much of the story choices unbelievable at best and downright terrible at worst in the last season or so. Will keep watching until the end.

Blindspot: I will put up with a lot to watch Sif kick ass each week on my television, and this is nowhere near my limit of ridiculousness yet. Jaimie Alexander is so lovely.

Quantico: I've only watched the first couple episodes, and I really liked that. I should get caught up soon.

Mysteries of Laura: Sort of feels like Castle without as much love for the supporting characters. I find it super enjoyable when I watch it, but I rarely think about it after.

The Simpsons: I'm not sure why I keep watching. It has its moments, as always, but no episode really makes an impression.

Jessica Jones: Haven't quite finished it, and generally hate stories where rape is so central to the plot, but I fucking love this show, and I'm glad it exists in the MCU.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: Haven't seen most of the current season, and the stories aren't as satisfying now as they were in season one, but it is still adorable and sweet and often heartwrenching.

House: J watches this, and sometimes I sit around doing other things while he watches it. I've never had any interest in watching it, but I've caught a lot about the characters while he's been watching it, and I don't hate it.

Cupcake Wars: I ... am not actually sure how I got sucked into watching this, but I watched the random episode collection on Netflix (which gives no real sense of continuity for the many people who come on the show multiple times), and enjoyed it, though I got disproportionately annoyed by so many contestants saying some variation on "I didn't come here to lose." Well no shit! No one does!

Great British Bake-off: Such a fantastic palate cleanser to the above. I watched not the most recent season, but I think the one before that, and it was lovely and sweet and funny and I actually feel like I learned a lot. I texted Sister K and her BFFs about a billion times while watching it, because they were watching it too, and that just added to my joy.

I am pretty sure that's not everything I've watched this year, but that's all from off the top of my head, and I'm out of time, so phew. A ton of television. Such good times. What are you guys watching? Any recommendations?

( 31 Days )

Day 3: talk about movies this year

I did not get out to see many movies this year, in part because I'm trying to spend as little money as possible and in part because the local theater is a four screen theater that doesn't even have stadium seating. It is old and terrible. There is a much nicer theater that opened in a nearby town (it has my beloved red leather recliners and a 21-and-up section with a bar); I introduced J to the nicer theater concept, and he loves it, but it's a pretty good drive (probably an hour and a half round trip) on top of the time spent watching the movie itself, so we often can't go because of his schedule.

I did manage to watch some of the movies released this year, though. Not always in the bar section of the theater, much to J's chagrin.

Jupiter Ascending: I loved the hell out of this movie, had an absolute blast watching it, and can't wait for some sort of group viewing here at the house with alcohol and all the laughter. J wishes he'd had alcohol for this one.

Furious 7: The only movie in the franchise I don't like is 2 Fast 2 Furious, and they just keep getting better. Bigger and more ridiculous, too. The stunts are absolutely unbelievable, the storyline has hit the part of things I hate (Haaaaaaaaaaan, and poor Giselle), but it remains the story of family at its heart, with all the flashy cars and hot people on top of it. It's even more a story of family now than it was back when Fast and the Furious first came out, and I never thought that would be possible. This franchise goes straight to my heart and my love of chosen family, and I'll be along for the ride until the end.

J wishes he'd had alcohol for this one, too.

Unfriended: Ridiculous horror that wasn't terrible, but also wasn't scary or atmospheric and did little for me beyond light entertainment. J hated it, and Nephew thought it was absolutely stupid. (BFF's husband recommended it to us, even though he's not a big horror fan, so I think J had higher expectations than he should have. It was basically a live action Point Horror.)

Avengers: Age of Ultron: Not my favorite in the series, but no worse than I expected, really. It was a big let down after the joy of Captain America: Winter Soldier, but I kept reminding myself it was a follow-up to Avengers, not to any of the individual movies, because Whedon's being Whedon. There are moments I absolutely loved.

Mad Max: Fury Road: Ridiculous road trip adventures with fire and stupid weapons and amazing, over the top everything. I loved it. J had alcohol for this one, and says it wasn't enough.

Jurassic World: Simultaneously wonderful and the biggest disappointment. Amazingly, the most nostalgic thing I watched this year, despite it being a year with a new Fast and the Furious movie. Raptors. Every time the score calls back to Jurassic Park, I tear up. Jurassic Park has meant so much to me for so long, and Jurassic World could have been the greatest thing ever. Unfortunately, nope. Still, I love it even as I rage at it.

J had alcohol for this one, too. He also bought a giant bucket of popcorn, even though neither of us like popcorn, so I could have a dinosaur bucket. A+ job of upselling that, woman at the counter. She saw me and my "clever girl" shirt coming.

Inside Out: We only recently watched this, so I missed a lot of the meta (if there was any, but I bet it exists) about the emotions. I'd like to find some, because I have thoughts about what it says (or doesn't say) about mental illness, but it was super heartbreaking at times, and absolutely delightful. J loved it, and has already watched it multiple times.

Magic Mike XXL: GREATEST CINEMA EXPERIENCE OF THE YEAR. I went with J and my grad school bffs during one of our many reunions this year, and it was the best. time. ever. Mostly because of the people, but I did like some of the things the movie said about a specific type of women's sexuality and desires.

Amazingly, I have not yet seen the Last Witch Hunter (the second Vin Diesel movie of the year), but that will happen soon. (J's movie agreement this year was that he would watch anything except superhero movies with me. Little did he know it was a double Vin Diesel kind of year.) We'll also see the last Hunger Games, the Good Dinosaur, and, if I have my way, Krampus. I'm not sure if I want to see the new Star Wars right away or not. Certainly not the first few weekends, when the theater will be packed.

( 31 Days )

Day 2: talk about music this year

I haven't really listened to much new music this year, mostly because I haven't been listening to the radio. (In part because I generally only listen to the radio in the car, and since I haven't been commuting for work, I haven't been driving as much; in part because when I do drive, I listen to podcasts.) Instead, I will give you some of the songs off my Top 25 Most Played song list (of songs on my music player).

1. "Monster" Imagine Dragons: Hahahahahaha, oh, man, such a prime example of how WWE has influenced my musical tastes. I fell in love with this song when it was used for Wrestlemania 30 promo package for Daniel Bryan, and keep playing because it fits so nicely with a story BFF and I wrote.

( embedded video )

2. "One More Time" 7Lions: ... yet another WWE inspired music discovery, used in the all the tribute stuff for the Ultimate Warrior. I listen to it A LOT when I can't sleep.

( embedded video )

3. "Should've Known" The Heroes Lie: OKAY THIS IS RIDICULOUS I SWEAR I LISTEN TO MUSIC THAT WASN'T FEATURED BY WWE. This was used in a promo for Paul Heyman's dvd, and Paul Heyman is the Greatest Talker Ever, but I mostly love this song outside of the promo. The rhythm is infectious, and it makes me want to hit things, which is something I love in my music.

( embedded video )

4. "Lights Go Out" Fozzy: *headdesk*

(Fozzy's lead singer is Chris Jericho, a WWE wrestler. I give up. Another song that makes me want to hit things. I used to pound on the roof of the car while listening to it as I drove.)

( embedded video )

5. "Stand in the Storm" Meat Loaf: OH THANK FUCK A SONG NOT INSPIRED BY WWE. I freaking love Meat Loaf, and though I still love his older stuff more, I adore this song. Great writing inspiration, and also something I listen to when I need to be inspired to just keep pushing through life.

( embedded video )

I don't even watch that much wrestling anymore! COME ON, MUSIC PLAYER, WHY YOU GOTTA BE THAT WAY?

Other songs from the Top 25:
"Radioactive" cover by Pentatonix and Lindsey Stirling
"Bad Moon Rising" cover by Voices in Your Head
"Bad Moon Rising" cover by Rosa Chance Well
"Bad Moon Rising" cover by Juliana Hatfield (I really like "Bad Moon Rising" covers, obviously. Also "Carol of the Bells" covers.)
"Ride to California" Paper Tongues (Discovered this from an Iron Man fanvid.)
"Gorgeous Nightmare" Escape the Fate
"Shut Up and Drive" Rihanna
"Monster" Skillet (It was only a year or so ago that I learned this is a Christian hard rock band.)
"Come With Me Now" KONGOS (OKAY YES MORE WWE MUSIC WHAT THE HELL.)