Week 1041 - Welcome back to my life, again

Hello, internet. Been a while. Per usual, my absence has probably gone unnoticed to everyone except some ISP in Germany that seems to be routing all the link bots through to this blog, and although its pushing the hit count up it's ultimately pointless.
In short, I've only had automated computers come and visit and wonder where I went. Glad to know I was missed. Ha ha.

This week: Where I've been, Life in 2013, and Lounge pop music revival.

So coming back after such another lengthy break warrants a long, convoluted explanation, right? Well yes, if that explanation included interesting things. Which... it doesn't.

But if post #137 was any explanation, I kind of want to forget about my last semester at university in general. A lot of stuff got piled up and didn't get dealt with. And pushed other priorities back. And for that I am sorry. Sorry for basically letting myself and other potential investors in my life down.

Now that's a bit of a downer to start. And I've probably said too many times on this blog, I'd like to try and focus on a more optimistic take on things. I'm sure that I've come back to this realisation too many times in the last 137 posts... and we're gonna try and keep that down... again. My track record doesn't promise anything.

Ok, so... Week 1041. I've used that calendar image loads of times before, mainly keeping track of the number of days I've been on campus at university. That image series kinda got depreciated since, well... I lost count. But know it's an accurate count of how long I've been living, each week essentially counting for another chapter. And without sounding too poetic, I like to consider the thought that everyone on the planet has a story, that starts and ends, with varying plot arcs, and I guess some people have a few more "skip-this-part-its-irrelevant-to-the-main-plot" bits than others. But here's what I've turned up for the masses this week.

With the potential 2012, um, 'problem' around 150 days away, I've seen a lot more media trying to cash in on this limited-time offer of a subject. Recently I came across a documentary on National Geographic about "Doomsday Preppers", people across the globe spending the relative low amount of time left to prepare for food shortages, collapses in the economy, zombies... possibly?...

So it got me thinking... shouldn't the whole world be getting ready for this? I mean, shouldn't we be seeing cities and nations around the world come up with plans for the ultimate disaster? I guess Wellington got the ball rolling somewhat back in June 2011 with its Zombie Apocalypse Plan (tentative)...

Watching documentaries like this always send me into panic attacks, as I explained back in post #111. So I try to avoid topics such as imminent doom when clicking on random stuff on the internet.

But then I found this... [Warning: Vulgar language]

For those unwilling to click the link... essentially it's a half-hour documentary in which two famous magicians, Penn Jillette and Teller, debunk the 2012 apocalypse theory while making crazy people look like idiots. Great viewing. It's actually part of a now-ended series, which never got shown in New Zealand, sadly.

So because of high-profile celebrities my mind is now put at ease and will be enjoying 2013 quite possibly in Auckland doing an honours year or actually joining the software development workforce. What's making the decision harder is a whole bunch of people giving me different pieces of advice. Guess what... it doesn't make it any easier. I think general conversation etiquette dictates that I feign consideration for whatever you tell me though. Just a heads up.

Lastly this week, jazz.

No seriously.

Have you ever considered the high energy pop song from the 80s, "Walking on Sunshine", as a jazz song? No? Well you can now...

So yes, I was basically thumbing through the YouTube catalogue on one of my slow days, and after watching Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra and listening to a Belgian Jazz cover of the Doctor Who theme...

It got me thinking about lounge music in general for some reason and ended up uncovering a large stash of jazz and bossa nova covers of popular songs on one YouTube account. And if you're not a fan of the songs, you can still look at the coffee pictures.

There's You're Beautiful by James Blunt...

Bad Romance by Lady Gaga...

and Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars...

...so if you have some time on a lazy Sunday afternoon, you know exactly what songs to look up on YouTube!

Have a good weekend everyone... and enjoy the Olympics opening ceremony! See you next Thursday.