Playlist #53 : Benji’s Cool Times Summer Jamz Mix edition

Hey there lil internet babies. Long time no entry. I’ve actually started sevvvveral entries here and abandoned them all. But yeah, that’s how it goes sometimes. I keep trying to re-cap the end of my semester and my current events but I just keep getting stuck and not wanting to finish talking about it, so maybe we just won’t, okay? Cool. It’s about to be summer vacation, which is a cool good thing. And so I’m gonna stick to songs that have a sort of summer-ish-vibe to me for this playlist. In my own purely subjective opinion, they have a summer-ish-vibe. Ready?

The Neighborhood – Devil’s Advocate

Like that one. See? maybe? yeah. Anyway, I’m trying to write a 100 word scary story. *exactly* 100 words, for a call for submissions. I’ve never done that before. I did a 300 word one a couple weeks ago, and I really wanna do this one too, but so far it’s hard. The 300 word one was pretty hard too, but this is just hard in a different way. It’s real hard to fit beginning middle and end in 100 words in some sort of way that’s compelling and spooky. My goal is to get it done and submitted by Friday tho. I like the challenge even though it’s annoying. It’s like exercising a muscle in a way you’re not used to, and I like that. It’s fun to do some creative writing and just projects for myself because I want to instead of because I have to.

August – Ingellegency

I bought us a new -somewhat bigger and nicer- above ground pool for this summer, speaking of summer. I’m pretty excited about that. It arrives on Monday, but I dunno if I’ll be ready to set it up on Monday, it might take a few more days to get everything in order to set it up. I need to get a cover and all of the chemicals (I probably still have some from last season but I’ll have to check) I feel a little guilty for doing it, honestly, because it wasn’t exactly THE MOST financially sound decision, plus the big ass water bill that’s gonna happen, and just using that much water in general, buuuut … we deserve nice things sometimes. I deserve to spend MY money on nice things that I will enjoy sometimes. And based on how much fun we had in our smaller pool last year, I would make a very educated guess that it will be worth the money. For sure need a cover this time tho.

Goth Babe – End summer

This song has a lyric that I mis-heard, and I really really prefer my mis-heard version to the real version, but that’s okay. It still has The Vibe(tm) I’m looking for for this playlist, despite the title. I’m hoping to get a weed burn done sometime in the next few days, before I try to set up the pool. I would love to get some landscaping going here soon. It’s on my list, okay? It’s definitely on my list. I want rock in some places, natural / native grasses in some places, low water xeroscaping plants, etc. I fucking love the bushes and tree we have in the front yard. There’s a secluded shaded area that’s just beautiful and I know I know I know how much a childhood version of myself would have adored it, and wanted to make a little fort in there.

Half-alive – What’s Wrong

I have a grocery delivery coming tomorrow. We are fully vaccinated and we can go to the store normal styles now, but I’ve still been getting deliveries sometimes. It’s a lot more convenient really, and shopping like this is literally the first time in my life that I have gotten groceries like a real adult, instead of just going to the store basically every day to get whatever stuff we wanted for that meal and that meal alone. It became a necessity to shop like that during Covid and I guess that’s just … something I can do now. It’s weird. I said from the beginning that this shit was changing me forever an I was never going to be the same, and I’m not. I honestly even haven’t begun to unpack how much I’m not. But hey! That’s a topic for another entry where I talk about serious stuff, or maybe it’s a topic for never if I don’t feel like writing about it! The point is, I have a grocery delivery coming and that’s cool and having groceries is nice. Let’s let the Cool Times Summer Jamz continue.

KennyHoopla – How will I rest in peace if I’m buried by a highway?

I do have some serious stuff I have to take care of this summer, but currently at this moment I’m feeling mostly okay about it. I think it could be fun to go camping, and to go to Taos, and those are both reasonable, obtainable things if we decided to do it. Camping is a lot scarier when you’re the adult tho, and if something scary happens you are the one who has to deal with it. I hardly slept at all last time. But, it’s been a long time, and now we have a cool dog who we would bring with us andalsoihaveagunnowthatiwouldalsobringwithus. so I would prrrobably be willing to give it a go. Camping is one of few occasions when I’m not in the mood to watch or read or listen to anything in the horror genre. haha. Wow, time is going really fast. I need to go to bed now. I’ll probably just leave this draft style and pick back up in the morning.

Hayley Williams – Color me in

Heyooo! It’s the next day, not morning at all, but we’re here again. Trying to work through this 100 word story still. Have I mentioned how hard it is to fit an actual story into 100 words? Because it’s hella hard. I just really have to pare it down to essentials, I can’t keep any of the details I want to keep. What are the bare bones necessary to get this story across? Anything not fully necessary gets cut. I think I’m getting pretty close, I’m circling in on it. For now I’m gonna go to bed, because it’s already later than I wanted it to be. Time, she does move. To be continued again.

Twin XL – Lemonade

It’s Sunday night now. Aboutta be Monday morning. I’m feeling hella stressed but I can’t fully pinpoint exactly why. I guess just … everything, I dunno. It’s okay. I finished my 100 word story and submitted it. I’m kinda proud of myself for that. It’s been nice to work on some creative writing projects, and these short form ones are perfect for my current state of mind, where I don’t feel super capable of working on long projects. (I still might try tho.) I haven’t submitted creative writing anywhere in a long time actually, and I think it’s good for me, even if nothing comes of it. But yeah, we’ll see.

Saint Motel – It’s All Happening

Maybe I’m just feeling kinda bad because I haven’t been taking good care of my body all weekend, and I really need to take better care of my body and it’s really important to me. Yeah. I did get my backyard weed burning taken care of, which is nice. That means we can probably get the pool set up sometime next week, which is fun. Oh shit, I do need to buy a cover for it tho. I should maybe do that like right now. Okay, I bought it. Cool. Hopefully it actually works. I need to do a bunch of raking and some weeding in front and also I should water everything. Also I just took melatonin and brushed by teeth because I’m gonna try to go to bed soon. I guess I’m probably gonna continue this tomorrow. This is such a long playlist compared to the 4-song-playlist-entries I usually make. What a weird and chaotic form of blogging, honestly, but I like it. Anyway, this next one is a big time current radio hit so you can just skip it if you listen to the radio and have already heard it to death. But I don’t and I haven’t yet so I still like it.

AJR – Way Less Sad

Last night (actually at like 5am lmao) I saw what I’m pretty sure was the starlink satellites passing overhead. Either that or it was straight up alien shit. Basically it was a loonnnng line of lights passing overhead one after another in a perfect line. Like at least 50 lights maybe more. And I didn’t know what it was at the time, until I came inside and looked it up, so I was like… slightly trippin’ out like what the actual fuck am I seeing right now?! But it was pretty interesting, and just random and lucky that I happened to go outside just in time to see it. Speaking of which, it’s time for me to go outside right now to take the dog out for her night time business. Then I’m gonna try to sleep. I guess see y’all later, in the way that it won’t be later for you at all, but it will be for me. Yeah. that’s time baby.

Bbno$ & Diamond Pistols – Help Herself

Hey there, it’s Monday night now. I’m going to finish this hella long playlist / entry tonight. Partially because I’m running out of things to say and partially because I’m running out of songs. Both good reasons. It’s aboutta be summer after tomorrow, I killed some weeds and trimmed up some bushes in my front yard so the city doesn’t get up in my business about it. I didn’t do the dishes tho, because unloading and reloading again sounded like … the worst worst thing today. So I guess maybe tomorrow for that. We’ll see. I’m feeling hella burnt out on doing care tasks in general to be honest, and it’s been hard to force myself to do them. It is what it is tho. It’s gonna be super hard for me to stop myself from drinking all the time since it’s aboutta be summer, but it’s like … really important to me that I don’t fucking do that. But I know I know I know I’m going to want to and it’s gonna be hard. So yeah I’m feeling trepidation about that whole situation. It is what it is tho. I have to be in control of myself. I can be in control of myself.

The Neighborhood – Stargazing

We have to take care of some important serious life things over the summer, some of which we should start working on soon, but we will also have time for life, and at this current moment I’m not feeling tooooo stressed about it. Maybe I’ll grill sometime later this week. We still have a decent amount of food money and that would be fun. I want to organize a little date night as well, since I haven’t gotten the chance to do that for a while, and now we can actually at least kinda sorta go places. Also for sure pool setup is happening soon, and we are going to hang out with my brother and his fiancee, and maybe we should invite the whole family over here for a movie night or a grill night or just general chillin’. Also we should hang out with some of our friends that we haven’t seen in a million years like literally since before Covid, and yeah. Those things and more hopefully coming soon. I’m going to end this rambling playlist entry here. Peace.

Playlist # ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I wonder if I’ll always remember what it felt like to run around drunk in our new backyard, free and full and unbelieving.  I wonder if I’ll always remember those first few months of painting and cleaning and claiming. Building and breaking and breaking in. I wonder if I’ll always feel a stab of anxiety when I see people not wearing masks, or getting too close. I know this is changing me forever. I wonder what that means.

Grandson – Is this what you wanted?

Caffeine doesn’t do as much as it should. Alcohol doesn’t do as much as it should. Hot sauce still does as much as it should, so that’s nice. Time feels frozen but everything is still moving, everything is still happening. It seems immoral to bring a child into the world right now. We couldn’t even make it 100 years before another fascist regime came to power? Jesus fucking christ.

Sub urban – Cirque

I just want to have a successful little business selling cute jewelry or soaps or candles or quasi-occult trinkets or all of the above. I want to bring in 45k per year. That would be enough to pay everything, maybe travel once a year, maybe get a car that isn’t old enough to drink. Is that too much to ask? 45k for my whole household. In the scheme of things, that’s nothing. In the scale of glutinous billionaire wealth hoarding, that’s one smoke break’s worth of money.  I should be able to have that. I should be able to have that.

Mother mother – In the wings

I’m looking into planting an eco-lawn in part of my back yard. It’s supposed to be no mow (you can but you don’t have to). You aren’t supposed to have to water it at all after it is established, and it supports local biodiversity. could be cool, but I would need to rent real equipment to prep the area and also we are on the very edge of the zone where you can plant this type of grass, so no guarantee it would actually work out. But it wouldn’t be a HUGE financial gamble, and if it worked out it would be pretty great. Our dog would love it so much.

Chris Garneau – Fireflies

Our dog would love another dog so much, but during a global pandemic seems like not a good time to get one. Like … socialization would be a hell of a lot harder when I’m trying to not leave my house or come into contact with any other people if I can help it. I might be able to get them into a daycare or something so they could have other dog socialization, but … I dunno. It would be A Lot. It can wait.

Shayfer James – Mercy down

It’s time for me to be done with this and move on. It’s been raining a lot the past few days and I love it. It’s good. It’s good for my soul. I watch it, or walk in it and let it cover me. Cold and wet in the middle of summer. Yes. This.

Playlist #???: Remember when I used to do playlists? Edition

Remember when I used to make playlists on here? Like a million years ago? I would do it because I was up late doing work, and it gave me a sort of nice little outlet, and it was nice to listen to them later. Maybe I’ll do one right now. Shit has been weird lately. A lot of stuff is happening. Right now I’m trying to finish up the supplemental items I need to submit now that I submitted my application for a doctoral program. It’s a lot and I’m stressed.

(Stealing Sheep – Shut Eye)

Yesterday I climbed up on my roof for the first time. It was Very Scary (lol). When I was a kid I loved climbing on the roof, I thought it was so amusing. But like… I was scared yo. It felt soooo steep, way steeper than my parents’ roof. But now that I’ve done it and survived, I could do it again if I have to.

(Tally Hall – Turn The Lights Off) 

Yesterday I put up xmas lights. For the first time ever in my life, I put xmas lights up outside of *my* house. It felt really good and sort of magical in a way. Just me, the cold, the shimmering lights. Also, they came out looking pretty dang good, if I do say so myself, especially since I was working with nothing but miss-matched strands, the majority of which only partially lit up. I used the long strands of broken dark bulbs as extension cords, and managed to set it up so there’s only one plug even though it goes across most of the yard.

(Lenka – Everything At Once)

I’m pretty stoked about the impeachment. Like… I know, I know, he’s probably not going to get kicked out of office because the senate is filled with fucking republican scumbags with no sense of morals, but it’s still good. It still happened. It’s a sliver of justice and I’ll take it.

(Lincoln – Saint Bernard) 

It’s cold. I should have brought my water bottle in here with me. My whole body is sore and it feels a little bit good. I’m shivering and it feels a little bit good. I’m kinda in the mood to bite and cut and tear and rend (and it feels a little bit good). Writing shit is stupid. I just want to learn a bunch of new rope ties. Too bad you can’t get a doctorate in tying people up. (unless…??)

(Mother Mother – Calm Me Down)

Ugh. It’s like 1am now. Maybe I should just let myself go to sleep and work on this more tomorrow. What else do I even have to do? (a lot of stuff dude) I should probably do a little more at least. Tomorrow is winter break (not really for me but sort of for me in a way) It’s nice, and sorta luxurious, and I’m not going to let myself lose track of myself and drink every fucking day. Need to schedule the logistics of holiday projects. I want a huge pile of firewood. I want to take a melatonin and try to get some fucking sleep.

(Mother Mother – Bit By Bit) 

Playlist #?? : I am not the dead

So much work. So many hours and words. And all for this and that and the other thing. All for money and soil and toiling. But I am free here and now, for a flash few hours. Peace and love.

Miike Snow – Bavarian #1 (Say You Will)

The Strumbellas – Spirits

Lorde – Buzzcut Season

Arctic Monkeys – Crying Lightning

Alt-J – Fitzpleasure (Jim James Apple C Remix)

Wedding songs (playlist)

I haven’t made a playlist in forever, but doing a ton of writing always makes me want to make one. This little batch of wedding writing is about done, but I’m hoping there will be another one soon. I wrote a total of 38 guides this week, roughly 19,000 words. There are a handful more in the pool, and I could stay up and do them, but I’m so tired. I’m so so tired. So! here are some songs that made me twitch around and rock back and forth and feel slightly better while I was working. Don’t question it, it is what it is.

1. Three Days Grace – Painkiller (yeah yeah, I know I know. I really like the chorus. Suck it.)

2. Panic! at the disco – Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time (stupid but fun)

3. Caravan Palace – Brotherswing (this song sounded so familiar and I thought I might have had it on an earlier playlist, but I totally didn’t. I was recognizing it from a Darlings show.)

4. Metric – Black Sheep (this is like the most famous metric song and I’ve only heard it a few times)

5. Cake Bake Betty – One By One (I love the lyrics for this song but can’t find a lyric vid)

6. Purity Ring – Saltkin (yeah, nice. nice, yeah)

Saturday Slaylist

Welp, it’s am and I should absolutely be finishing up my night’s work so I can catch a few hours of sleep… but I had this like 80% put together and I just wanted to have it for tomorrow. (Plus that Kongos shit just came on my pandora again and I was like fuck … I gotta. ) So, hopefully by the time I’m listening to this I will be free, and hopefully it will be a nice Saturday night. This is a beautifully eclectic combination of songs, and I couldn’t be happier with it honestly.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros -40 day dream (rejected this one from an earlier playlist but it’s making a comeback today)

Wax Taylor – Say yes Instrumental mix (What’s a playlist without some electro swing?)

Kongos – I’m only joking (This song grabs a HOLD of me. weird and almost scary. “there’s a song, you’re trembling to it’s tune, at the request of the moon”)

The Bravery – Fistful of Sand (moon version) (this is one of those lyrically  sad songs that make me feel uplifted for some reason??)

Twenty one pilots – Tear in my Heart (“But my taste in music is your face!”)

Skeewiff – Don’t Rock the Boat (electro swing again, just delicious beats and sounds and harmonies and mmm nice)

Atreyu – Bleeding Mascara (Because I flailed around in a mosh pit and screamed my face off to this song yo! always one of my Atreyu faves. Couldn’t resist.)

 

Monday Madness Manic Playlist

I’m not even numbering this shit because I don’t feel like it. It is what it is. It stands alone, like a lone wolf on a lonely mountain. I just felt like making it, so I did. No reasons, no ulterior motives. Just songs, sounds. Listen to them, or don’t. It’s for me and a little bit for you.

Dragonette – Get Around (Midnight Juggernaut Mix) A catchy gym jam

Modest Mouse – Lampshades on Fire The new modest mouse album is tripping me out, some of the songs hardly sound like them. This one does tho. 

Fall Out Boy – Uma Thurman Why do I like this? Top scientists are working ’round the clock to find the answer.

Odesza – It’s only (feat. Zyra) rad sad sweet beats

Modest Mouse – Sugar Boats Jazzed up, but I can hear the modest and the mouse.

playlist 38: Autumn Official

Sometimes it’s the weekend, in the waning week of September and the fall air slowly starts to fall over your city. Sometimes you look at Friday night against a backdrop of city lights and feel your chest grow tight tight tight.

STRFKR: Golden Light

Purity Ring – Begin Again

District 78 – Toxic (feat. Cheesa)

Chvrches – Lungs

SOHN – The Wheel

Playlist 37: why am i even still numbering these edition

Today’s playlist features 100% electro pop type stuff… with all female vocals. Deal with it kids. this is what I’ve been listening to lately because i just have yo. It doesn’t hit me in the feels but it still sometimes makes me feel. It’s fun and light and flighty. Wishing you all as well as my bad self a good weekend. Much love.

1. Purity Ring – Flood on the Floor

2. Melanie Martinez – Soap

3. Tritonal – Still with me (Ft. Cristina Soto) (Seven Lions Mix)

4. Lips – Everything to me (Adventure Club Mix)

5. Calvin Harris – Sweet Nothing (Feat. Florence Welch)

I felt them bite

So, you guys. If you haven’t already you seriously need to listen to my freakin’ album. I HAVE A FREAKIN’ ALBUM! THAT I MADE! WITH MY BRAIN! Ever wonder what this strange, mysterious blogger you follow sounds like when she sings? Ever wonder about what sort of lyrics I would write, considering the disjointed and far from artistic tone of this blog? Well beautiful people, wonder no more. My band is called kind smart dangerous, and you can get the full 13 song album for free / pay what you want at kindsmartdangerous.com But! if you aren’t ready to commit to going to a whole ‘nother page to listen, I’m going to make it easy for you and add a couple of our lyric videos. Please listen!! Please share on social media if you like it!! You can tell all your friends you heard about us before we were popular.