hi hi & hello. this week I was plagued with allergies at all times of each day. the worst of it is waking up with them. ugh. couple allergies with a two day heatwave here in the bay area: terrible terrible terrible. but, when I wasn’t suffering from allergies or the heat, I was enjoying and reading about lots of cool things. so, please enjoy this random assortment of bookish and music stuff, photography thoughts, tech I'm loving, and more. please comment below on the things you've been thinking about or loving most this week. 🤍🙂
i. musica
as much as I despise the guy, allen's midnight in paris is in my top five movies. and the movie's soundtrack is my all time favorite album. but after listening to it a few hundred times, I wanted more. so I searched around and found this lovely little amazing album. there's no vocals, only instruments. each song is like taking a walk on a breezy, warm spring day. for anyone who wants to read, write, study, or clean while gentle, paris cafe-like music plays in the background, this one is for you.
ii. livres
I've been thinking about taking some online classes on religious studies. or, I can scour youtube for those recorded classes some universities post. I recently bought an annotated King James Bible and want to read it but I think I'll need some guidance on what the heck is going on there. I'm not religious by any means: I was raised slightly catholic in that I was baptized, took catachism classes, and celebrated my first communion, but after all this: nothing. I went to church maybe no more than five times in my 30 years, I've never prayed before, I don't fully believe in any god. at most, I teeter between agnostic and atheist, but lean atheist. but religious texts have always been an interest of mine. I took a few classes on Judaism in college. I don't know why, it just all sounded interesting; I still have my Tanakh from one of those classes, too. I also want to learn as much as I can so when I start rereading some classic epic poems, I can read them with the necessary religious lens to understand them better.
iii. fotos
like a reading slump, I'm currently in a photography slump. I have a bunch of film I need to process and scan but as far as packing my camera bag and going on an outing: it's been a few years. I've been picky about using my remaining film on simple hikes and walks. I want to save what I have for my next big trip. I did find this awesome app called old roll that simulates the film camera. the following photos were taken with my samsung s24.
iv. vidéos
ignore all the drama swirling around this year’s actors on actors because the conversation between these two is so interesting, heartwarming, beautiful, and a must watch. seriously. go watch it. then go watch Nyad or Panic Room. then watch Sr. or Good Night, Good Luck.
I was looking for other musical numbers to add to my musical playlist and I came upon a song called “Company” from a musical titled Company. I loved this song and added it straight to my playlist. but as I was listening to it, the main singer’s voice sounded so familiar to me. then when I looked it up on youtube, not only did I find the full 2008 musical but I saw that Raul Esparza was the voice that sounded so familiar! for those of you that watch law & order: svu, it’s our very own ADA Rafael Barba! when he left svu many years ago, he had said he wanted to return to the theatre, but I never even thought to look more into this. but boy oh boy does he have a beautiful voice!
oh my god, he’s also here in the bay area for a new play called Galileo. fingers crossed that I can get one of the few remaining tickets for next week! 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽
last video for today! I love these two and love this segment of theirs.
I definitely agree with both of them on the first dilemma: if your friend is always the one to talk and never listen then tell them this. this makes it a one-sided friendship. not cool. for the second dilemma, I disagree. but, this situation needs more info to determine anything more. third dilemma: absolutely agree. and this applies to other appointments in health, dentistry, mechanics, etc. of course, the seldom lateness is ok, but lateness over and over is rude and unprofessional.
v. technologique
as much as I love my google pixel buds pro 2 (what a mouthful of a name), the sound quality is incomparable to my airpods pro 2. plus, it’s so incredibly annoying how apple products have the coolest accessories on planet earth.
however, not all is bad. my mom did buy me this cool watch strap for my samsung watch. very retro and g-shock (I remember my 9th or 10th grade english teacher wearing one of these watches and being so jealous).
lastly, I’m taking a break from physical books and returning to my kindle paperwhite/scribe. since renewing my kindle unlimited to catch up on some unfinished sapphic romcoms, I figured I might as well use the devices meant for e-books instead of using my small phone screen. this is the book I’m finishing up first.
that’s it for this week. don’t be afraid to use the comments to tell me what interesting or fun things you’ve enjoyed or thought about this week!
until next time,
mere
I recently watched Jodie Foster and RD Jr's chat. It was delightful. Right now, because I'm sick, I'm binge watching A Gentleman in Moscow. The book was one of my favorites and they've stayed to with the miniseries. Take care! xo