Week Note #31 - Jan 30 to Feb 05

2025-02-06

• 🙈 This month I've decided to sign out of my Fedi account and pretty much everything else. I'm just tired of being bombarded by everything, and I have a propensity to doom scroll, or, rather, procrastination scroll. Not the best thing to do as I've been trying to keep on top of my school work. So I've decided to cut it out. I've also blocked Reddit (except for my city subreddit because I am paranoid, infer what you will).
• 🧑‍🏫 Often times, my English lit prof says stuff, and I understand each word she says, but I have no idea what she's trying to say. Other times, she manages to say something in her meandering way, and it just clicks in my mind, and I go, "yes!!!" I can't think of any example at the moment, but when that does happen, I always nod enthusiastically at my screen.
• 🎓 Depending on how things go, I think I might transfer out of my university after this semester, to a local Canadian one (I am doing an online degree). Right now, I don't know if I can trust the U.S. with my education. Some of my classmates have been asking our profs or TAs about it. Everyone is really on edge. One of my TAs said, "I know it's easier said than done, but we need a place where we can just not think about it. I think here is a good place for that." Ironic, because that TA is the TA of my American History course, and for the past weeks we've been talking about the Civil War era. That is the course where I think, "Wow, hm, I'm seeing a lot of parallels," or "That really explains a lot about Americans today," the most.
• 🎥 I finally finished watching Arcane. The pacing for the second season has been... Not good. I felt like I kept getting tugged in a new direction multiple times per episode. I think about the first season, and how I gushed over the writing. I could not do the same for this season. It's a disappointment, really. But, I will say that the finale was, good. Next, I'll be watching Attack on Titan. I never finished season 2 and my brother has been on my case for literally years about getting caught up. I have procrastinated enough on it!
• 📚 I finished reading The Murder on the Links. Love a good Poirot mystery. I also started collecting literary magazine PDFs, and I've been reading those of late. Stuff from undergrad lit mags, indie lit mags, super prestigious lit mags, everything. This all started because one of my classmates mentioned how they published some poetry in one. I've been obsessed ever since. I did, at the end of last year, subscribe to some Canadian lit mags (physical!!) so, they were on my radar before, but now I'm all in. If anyone has any recommendations, please send them my way!
• 💢 I haven't read much manga in a hot minute. I started reading and am now caught up with the English translation of Hibiki - Shousetsuka ni Naru Houhou. It's about a literary genius. The mangaka has a very rigid philosophy around talent, which, I'm not so sure about. It also sent me spiraling into an existential crisis. Maybe more about that later. I also started reading manga by Haruno Nanae. Their art style is so pretty. Not timeless, it's very 90s, but it feels classic.
• 💿 Two new albums came out last week. The Weeknd released Hurry Up Tomorrow. I'm actually a big Weeknd fan, but, this one fell flat for me. I have only listened to it twice, but I find it rather boring. There are some songs that I quite like in the first quarter, but the rest is a bit of a slog. L.S. Dunes also came out with a new release, Violet. I'm listening to it right now! Of the two releases, I like this one a lot more. However, the band has released sooo many singles for it already that I feel like I already know half the album? Whatever, it's a good listen.
• 🎹 Because I've been so locked in with school, I've been listening to a lot of piano music, specifically dark academia playlists. It's definitely reflective in my top albums this week. A little embarrassing, but I can't deny that's what happened this week.

Top albums from the past week:

• Lush by Snail Mail
• "Watch Out!" by Alexisonfire
• Awkward & Depressed by Canadian Softball
• After Hours by The Weeknd
• Serenity by Minoire
• Hurry Up Tomorrow by The Weeknd
• Dark Academia by Imaginary Poet
• Aemeralds presents: Library Aesthetics, Vol. 1 by Various Artists