Odds and ends...

I may have jumped the fence too soon on Songza the other day. I already find myself back to 8Tracks, especially because their opera playlists are so much better and more unique.

I have been impatiently waiting three years for an English translation to be released from one of my favorite (okay, my only favorite) German writers, but it looks like it's not going to happen so I bought the novel through iBooks and am painfully (it's literally quite painful) translating it myself.

In trying to do that I discovered that Siri can read your iBooks for you herself (or himself, if you switch the gender in your settings) and though her German is quite quite good, her performance is very understated. Siri, where , oh where, is your willingness to get into character?? You are certainly no Jim Dale!

If you would like Siri to read to you...

Last night I couldn't sleep and happened to be reading this past Sunday's New York Times which featured a rather interesting article on the newest in music streaming sites and Apple's foray into it all: read here. I've always been a big fan and user of the 8Tracks and Pandora apps, but after seeing Songza mentioned I had to check it out. Boy, is it amazing!

Similar to 8Tracks, Songza lets you find playlists based on different categories, such as moods, activities and genres. Let's say, you choose "Sleepytime Indie." You pick that and suddenly you're hearing really relaxing, but still insightful music from some of the best (relatively) unheard of musicians and singers around. Richard Hawley's quietly heartbreaking "Baby You're My Light" came on and his warm, deep enveloped my ears like a nice blanket.

I couldn't help but be amused that Norah Jones was filed under just "Sleepy." I have nothing against her, but there's a reason her nickname is "Snorah Jones."

 

 



 



 

I can't be the only person who used to leave her window open as a little girl, hoping maybe Peter Pan would show up and take her on magical adventures.

I didn't have a big fancy picture window like the Darlings had. Mine, in fact, wouldn't have left much room at all for anyone to fit through and they would have to bust through the screen. But, still, from about the age of five until eight I used to sometimes dream I'd be off to Never Never Land with the whole gang. It wasn't so much that I didn't want to grow up, but that it seemed like it would be a very exciting place to be.

I saw this variation on the "Keep Calm" sayings recently and laughed because surely whoever designed it might have some of the same memories, the same need now to find a similar way to escape into something less...ordinary. I used to think finding your happy place had to be finding an actual place (say Hawaii), but now I realize you could picture the most beautiful, exotic place in the world and still not find your spot, if you don't have inner place.

 

 

Then, one of my favorite songs, "Further" by Correatown, came on my iTunes shuffle and I really listened to the words as if I hadn't heard them only a few hundred times before.

 

I think part of the problem is that sometimes we don't want to leave our dark places behind because we're so used to them and the light seems too good to be true or we believe that we don't deserve it.

 

I wish everyone, even the most mean and thoughtless people in the world, true inner peace because if you don't have that, if you can't leave the darkness behind, how can you ever live, except mechanically?

 

 "Further" by Correatown

If I can't let this go

I'm telling you I won't make it another year

If I go all the way

I'm telling you I can see all these things coming clear

'Cause we have so much love

But we need so much more

'Cause we have so much love

But we need so much more

If we go on like this

I'm telling you we won't make it another year

But if we go all the way

I'm telling you we'll finally see all these roads coming clear

'Cause we have so much love

But we need so much more

'Cause we have so much love

But we need so much more

We have a fascination with the darkness

Although we're standing in light

We have the strongest sense of kindness

But still we can't treat our own selves right

We have so much love

But we need so much more

We have so much love

But we need so much more

We go further

We go further

We go further

We go further

'Cause we have so much love

But we need so much more

'Cause we have so much love

But we need so much more

We have a fascination with the darkness

Although we're standing in light

We have the strongest sense of kindness

But still we can't treat our own selves right

We have so much love

But we need so much more

We have so much love

But we need so much more

We go further
 

My Internet is fixed. I'm almost sorry it is because I kind of liked being detached from the online world and getting all my errands done quickly. And I'm also sorry because it's once again easy to hop on here and confess things I probably shouldn't.

I love people, I really do. Even if I'm not always good with them, I love them and I love the concept of connecting with others.

Yet, I'm often horrible at socializing. Shy people come in all forms and some of us may not seem seem shy but we really are and secretly quake a bit inside when we talk to certain people.

And when someone doesn't like me I only want to try harder, which really can get kind of unintentionally creepy on my end. I don't mean to, I don't.

It takes me a while to get the "leave me alone" message sometimes. But I do get it and I just wish this one particular person I'm thinking of all the best. 

She is a nice person, hard-working and decent so if she doesn't like me I can't help but think I've done something wrong. I long to ask her if I have, but I can't help but think it would make things worse.

So I just literally walk on by, sometimes with a smile if I can muster one, and hope this uneasiness is all in my head. With her, at least, I can't help but think of that saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin109276.html#Xstsidt6Xwf8qw8S.99

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin109276.html#Xstsidt6Xwf8qw8S.99

Happy Monday (and anniversary of the Rubik's Cube)! If you go to Google and click the cube, you can actually play with it.

My home Internet has been down for almost a week now and I've been typing posts at home, then uploading them here when I have a chance with a public computer. I may be away for a while since I've discovered not having wifi in my place is actually a good thing and I'm getting lots of non-electronic things done. 

Have a great week! :)