Happy Hub: Get Weird, Serial, The Force Awakens (... again), & More!

With all the homework I have this quarter, I forgot to take note of the things that make me happy. However, that's not to say I haven't been. I'm on a schedule unlike any I've had before (there are days without class until three in the afternoon!) so I'm trying to find time to think about my blog alongside all my other endeavors. With this schedule comes the illusion of having time before a blog post goes up. If you want to read about the things that made me happy this month, click that read more! I'll try to remember as much as I can!

Tunes:

Every once in a while I'll find myself really craving music from before my time and this time around it happened to be Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra. I had never been aware of hearing that song before but I knew of it so I thought I'd check it out. In my mind, I was also going to listen to a bunch of Sinatra's other songs but I was hooked on Fly Me To The Moon. I'll have to revisit Sinatra some other time because it doesn't seem like I'm leaving Fly Me To The Moon anytime soon.

I forget what it was I was watching, but I heard Whitney Houston's How Will I Know and it stuck with me. After a few days humming the same couple seconds over and over again, I was driving myself crazy and looked it up. It ended up playing for days on end. Nothing like a fun eighties pop song to boost productivity.

While perusing the internet, I came across this Classical Music Mashup that combines 57 famous classical pieces by 33 composers and it is one of the best things I have ever heard. I guarantee you'll recognize most of these melodies and maybe even spark some nostalgia for you like it did for me. This video is seriously a work of genius. He got so many pieces to flow together so well. It reminded me of a lot of songs I haven't heard in a while and it's fun to watch those composers' heads bouncing on those staves.

I've been working on catching up on all the music that released in November because I was so engrossed with Ellie Goulding and Nick Carter that I didn't have time for anything else. It didn't help that there were oh so many albums that came out in such a short time period. One of those albums was Little Mix's Get Weird. I only just this month got around to listening to it and I have been thoroughly enjoying it. I'm in love with the entire album but I especially love Secret Love Song and I Won't. Really though, if those two are 10's, pretty much the rest of the album are 9's. There are a couple 8's, but hey, they're still 8's. As with a lot of albums that make it into my Happy Hubs, if I started listing out all the songs I liked, I'd end up giving you the tracklist. I would, however, recommend the deluxe version over the standard because that's where you'll find I Won't.

Recently I've been listening to podcasts. I'd listened to podcasts in the past but it was never prioritized over music, mostly because I can listen to music while doing homework or reading but podcasts are actually words that I need to pay attention to to get the most out of them. I've found that I listen to music when I'm not otherwise mentally occupied so I began to utilize those times to listen to podcasts and now I find myself finding time for my podcasts. It's entertaining listening to the Youtubers that I watch on a different medium (Grace Helbig, Tyler Oakley, and Hank and John Green) as well as Serial and other more education-based podcasts. I also love that there's an option to listen to podcasts at double speed on the app so I can catch up on all those podcasts I missed when I wasn't prioritizing them in half the time.

Films:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (x)

January is the dumping ground for movies so, while Mikaela and I tried to take advantage of our time together in the same state, there just wasn't much being offered in theaters. However, Mikaela hadn't had a chance to see the new Star Wars movie and I was definitely down to go again. It's a movie that lends itself well to repeat viewings. I had also gathered some more information and insight about the characters from the Star Wars fandom on Tumblr since the I saw The Force Awakens in December. It really enhanced my second viewing. I saw Rey in a new light and I was able to look more into the details, pay more attention to the dialogue, and analyze the clues hinting at Rey's parentage that I now know are there. I usually wouldn't pay to see the same movie twice in theaters but The Force Awakens was definitely worth it for the cinematography alone. 

Miscellaneous: 

I'm not one to take late afternoon or evening classes because it's so much nicer to have all your obligations done early in the day but sometimes the classes you need to take can only fit in those slots. Having a late class a couple days a week has the perk of allowing me to sleep in, and while you'll never catch me complaining about that, that's not what's making me happy. The best times for me to read are at night before I sleep or in the morning right after I wake up. Basically whenever I'm settled in bed. Since I now have a couple free mornings a week, I have a lot more opportunity to read. Once I get to school work, I'm in the zone and there is no going back. Having a late class time means I can delay starting my day and enjoy more me-time than I've had since I started college. This quarter is going to work out well for my 95 book Goodreads Reading Challenge.

Remember when I told myself I'd spend my winter break catching up on my TV shows? Yeah, that definitely did not happen. Surprisingly, I was able to find some time this month to catch up on a good handful of the shows I watch. It helps that most of them are on their midseason break so I have a clean stopping point. It feels so good to be checking shows like How To Get Away With Murder, Fresh Off the Boat, and Modern Family off my list. I still have a lot to go but progress feels good. Now it's like a race against time to finish up the long list of shows I've fallen behind on before their winter/spring premieres. At least I'm watching Galavant and Agent Carter as they come out.

Speaking of TV, Agents of Shield is one of the shows that I'd been neglecting this season and Steph just happened to be on the same page so we decided to get together to marathon the first five episodes together. It was a lot more fun watching it with someone else rather than sitting alone in my room with nobody to freak out about the episodes with. Of course, it was also a good time just hanging out with Steph.

Blogosphere: 

This month I've been trying to adjust to this new schedule and, while I have more reading time, I'm sacrificing some blogging time. Despite my poor time management, I was still able to churn out two end of the year summaries and one post looking forward. I put a lot of thought into building my Top 5 Movies of 2015, my Top 15 Books of 2015, and my Most Anticipated Entertainment of 2016. I wouldn't be surprised if my Top 15 Books post is the longest one to date. The only post I can think of that could possibly compete would be my very first travelog. I wanted to shine a spotlight on these three posts because blog posts don't usually consume my time and mental capacity as much as these did. I found myself thinking about what I was going to include in these posts all the time and I tried working on them whenever I could.


Those were hopefully all the things made me happy this month. I can't remember what I can't remember but I guess if it doesn't stand out at this point, it didn't leave as large of an impression on me as it should have if it wanted to be featured. If I could include my excitement for next month, I totally would. Well, my excitement is mostly for Deadpool but also for Chinese New Year among other things. For now, we'll stick with January. Enough about me, I'd love to hear what's made you happy this month! There's a lot to love out there. Let me know in the comments below!


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette