Week #21 - Nov 20 to Nov 26

2024-11-26

🐲 Server migration

I migrated Bookrastinating to a new server last week. Its contract is expiring next month and I wasn't happy with the amount that I was paying, so I thought it was a good time to change hosts. It was a bit of a debacle. I tried to import a SQL dump into the database and it wouldn't work for a bit, so I had to go in and edit a lot of the SQL to get it to work. And even with that, there turned out to be lingering problems. It seemed that not all of the database migrations applied correctly. So a few days after the server migration, I had to fix that too. I'm glad that's over. Now the website is a bit more snappier and I can save some money.

🍩 Dozens of doughnuts

Recently a new mini-doughnut place opened up and my brother ordered literally dozens of them. Thankfully we were expecting visitors and the donuts were small (like a little larger than a Tim Horton's timbit). They were soooo good. They tasted like Filipino donuts. We ate so many. Thankfully we had a lot to share. My cousins came over the next day and we shared some leftovers with them. We don't often talk to cousins from my dad's side so it was a nice time to bond. It was like three hours of talking though, which was a lot for me, hah.

🏆 MAMA 2024

Last week was the annual Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) show. It says Asian in the name, but really, it's a K-pop awards show. I didn't bother watching until the 3rd day because one of my favourite K-pop artists was performing for the first time in several years: G-DRAGON. He's part of the boy group BIGBANG and they were one of first groups that got me into K-pop. He's a huge cultural icon in K-pop and his comeback was much awaited by fans (including me!).

When GD appeared on stage, I couldn't believe it. He performed his new song, Power (which, honestly, is not my favourite) and it was a lot of fun. Then he brought out Taeyang and Daesung and the crowd was seriously so loud, probably the loudest they got that night.

The three of them performed Bang Bang Bang and a snippet of Fantastic Baby and I was so hyped. I was like squealing and singing and dancing along in my chair. My mom even knocked on my door to see if I was okay. Yes, I am a grown adult woman. BIGBANG is one of the only K-pop groups who could do that to me, honestly. It was so fun and I loved it! It was worth staying up late for.

🎹 Music night

I'm a closet atheist, so my mom dragged us to an event at church and I went along anyway, but I was glad I went. It was a music night where people from the parish showed off a particular musical talent. There was dancing, instruments, and a lot of singing. Really, barriers break down when it comes to music. You often forget how people are still people and how at the end of the day, at least people can connect on one, truly universal, thing: music (or if you want to be more general, art). I was able to see some old friends too. I used to be really active in church so it was nice to say hi to some of them. I really haven't talked to any of them since I moved out (and since moved back in) from my parent's home. I have some talented friends, I wish I had a musical talent! Alas, I can only listen to music.

💿 New release: GNX

Kendrick Lamar dropped a new album out of the blue: GNX. I really liked it. I think my favourite tracks on it are Reincarnated, peekaboo, and heart pt. 6 .I'm usually not a huge fan of rap, but I can make an exception for one of the coolest rappers of our time. There is just something about Kendrick's voice that I really like, it's nice to listen to and then his lyricism is really top notch, too. I also took the opportunity to listen to Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers again because I feel like I didn't give it a proper listen. I honestly think I prefer that over GNX but the new album is still solid!

📊 Weekly listening

In order from most listened to least: Green Day, Kendrick Lamar, XG, G-DRAGON, Little Big League, Coheed and Cambria, My Chemical Romance, AFI. I can't stop listening to Green Day's American Idiot 20th Anniversary Deluxe Version that came out this year. I forgot how much I loved that album. AFI was a surprise to me. I read somewhere that Davey Havok thinks AFI is better than My Chemical Romance. I like both so I was like, y'know what, I'm going to give AFI some love. I've been listening to their latest album. I liked the singles from it when they first came out, but I ended up liking a lot more tracks from the album!