Music Monday -- 1985

As part of my ongoing celebration for my 30th birthday, I am highlighting some popular songs from throughout my years. Songs were picked based off of a list of Grammy award winners and Billboard Top 100. Then, I chose my favorites to highlight.

Year: 1985

Book: Unknown

Music Selections: All of these songs are ones I remember singing as a child. Very popular! And I still love each and every one of them.

Simple Minds "Don't You (Forget About Me)"
Tears for Fears "Shout"
a-ha "Take on Me"
Starship "We Built This City"
Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"

2012 Reading Challenges Update #1

I thought it would be a good idea to do a periodic checkup on my reading challenges. A way of reminding myself of my successes and failures. So here goes... Total Challenges: 0/25 0%

Total Spots: 193/707 27.3%

Individual Challenge Progress:

Goodreads 52/200 26%
Zombies 12/24 50%
Young Adult 3/12 25%
Fantasy 4/10 40%
Vampires 2/10 20%
Romance 4/10 40%
Telling Tales (fairy tales) 0/10 0% ****
Historical Fiction 2/10 20%
Graphic Novels 7/20 35%
Shakespeare 3/12 25%
SciFi 1/5 20%
Outlander series 0/5 0% ***
Mixing It Up 3/16 18.8%
Back to the Classics 1/9 11.1%
Harry Potter series 3/7 42.9%
Fables 4/5 80% ***
Read Your Name 20/23 87% ***
A to Z 14/26 53.8%
What's in a Name? 5 3/6 50%
Library 18/37 48.6%
Mount TBR 24/150 16%
Dewey Decimal System 4/41 9.8%
Book2Movie 2/20 10%
MyYears 9/30 30%
Color Coded 1/9 11.1%

Successes: Fables and Read Your Name are almost finished. Very excited about that! Plus I have made some great headway with some others (HP, Romance, Fantasy, Zombies)

Failures (Needs Improvment): I really need to get moving on a couple of the challenges (Fairy tales and Outlander). I revised my master month-by-month spreadsheet plan (yes, I am that dorky) to try and compensate for my failures so far. I don't think I'm going to finish all 25 reading challenges, but I am shooting for a 75% completion rate by December. Hopefully by June I will have knocked out a few challenges...

Brain Test

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (30%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (72%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained? Personality Test by SimilarMinds.com

Left brain dominant individuals are more orderly, literal, articulate, and to the point. They are good at understanding directions and anything that is explicit and logical. They can have trouble comprehending emotions and abstract concepts, they can feel lost when things are not clear, doubting anything that is not stated and proven.

Right brain dominant individuals are more visual and intuitive. They are better at summarizing multiple points, picking up on what's not said, visualizing things, and making things up. They can lack attention to detail, directness, organization, and the ability to explain their ideas verbally, leaving them unable to communicate effectively.

Not that I completely beleive in this... but I just think these type of tests are fun. Maybe is the pyschology teacher in my. I just like learning about different theories on why we are the way we are.

So, do I agree with this? I do like details and instructions. I was one of those kids that freaked a bit when left with open-ended projects. I love when things are clear and explicit. Maybe I am a bit more left brained..

Quote Wednesday -- Holt

"Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience." -- Victoria Holt

Such good advice. I try not to regret. I try to remember that everything I do, good or bad, makes me who I am. However, I think everyone would like to change something from their past. And that's the trick: being okay with it even if you wish you had made a different decision. Ahhh... the joys of being an adult.

March 2012 Wrap-Up

Books Read and Reviewed (12 books)

1,000,000 Page Goal

Monthly Total: 3739 pages
Pages Remaining: 929,298 pages

Current Read

? I have a list of things to read, but don't know where to start.

Books Won (0)

There were two but somehow I packed them away before notating.. Crap.

Books I Gave Up On (1)

Shadowland by Alyson Noel (Immortals #3) -- I'm done with this series. I just couldn't get over the totally immature and ridiculous nature of the characters and storyline.

Comments

March wasn't the best reading month, but I did knock out quite a few library books. Since we're moving at the end of April, I really need to get library books read and returned and pack the rest of my books.

Next Month's TBR

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare
Allison Hewitt is Trapped by Madeleine Roux
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Ill Wind (Weather Warden series) by Rachel Caine
The Radleys by Matt Haig
Mythology by Edith Hamilton
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Bad Doings and Big Ideas
Snow Crash
The Girl from Jungchow by Kate Furnivall

Music Monday -- New Music II

As part of my Day Zero Project, I am finding some new music. Specifically I want to find a great new-to-me band for each letter of the alphabet. Today, I have a few songs to share.

Music Selections: Some of the new music (or new to me music) that I have been craving.

Cake "Mustache Man (Wasted)" -- Okay, okay Cake isn't new. I loved Fashion Nugget and "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" but their albums are so hit and miss. I am really digging this new song of theirs.

Fun "We are Young" -- I'm not young anymore, but I just love how infectious this song is. How can you not sing along?

Of Monsters and Men "Little Talks" -- I've heard them be described as "the Icelandic Mumford and Sons" and I love M&S, so how could I not love them? I really enjoy the back and forth between the singers. Makes me happy...

Complete A to Z list (so far):

A - Awolnation "Not Your Fault"
B -
C - Cake "Mustache Man (Wasted)"
D -
E - Ellie Goulding "Lights"
F - Fun "We are Young"
G - Gotye "Somebody That I Used to Know"
H -
I -
J -
K -
L -
M -
N - Neon Trees "Everybody Talks"
O - Of Mosnter and Men "Little Talks"
P -
Q -
R -
S -
T -
U -
V -
W -
X -
Y - Young the Giant "Cough Syrup"
Z -

Day Zero Project Update: Week 25-28

Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts. These will track my progress each week. I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits. Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links. Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…

What I Did

3. Listen to 26 new bands (one for each letter of the alphabet) (8/26)

Cake "Mustache Man"
Fun "We are Young"
Of Monsters and Men "Little Talks"

6. Watch all the James Bond movies (18/24)

GoldenEye
Tomorrow Never Dies

9. See 101 new movies (23/101)

Swimming with Sharks -- Awesome Devil Wears Prada-ish story before DWP and with evil boss Kevin Spacey. Loved it!
Catch-22 -- One of J's favorite movies and I'd never seen it. Alan Arkin was just amazing.
The Hunger Games -- OMG! Had to see it. Loved it, even with the changes from the book.

17. Reread all of the Harry Potter books (3/7)

24. Keep a journal for this project — Obviously an ongoing goal. I got a beautiful black soft cover journal to use. I am determined to journal at least a bit each day.

27. Make a list of 101 quotes that inspire me -- 11 more added to the page (36/101)

28. Blog 1001 times -- for this week 48 blog posts (297/1001)

33. Read my height in books — This week’s height: 3.5 in (42/68 in.)

37. Pass 250,000 pages read for my 1,000,000 pages challenge -- This month's pages 3739 (70,702/ 250,000)

38. Have a facial 39. Get a full body massage

55. Have manicure or pedicure

60. Try 30 new recipes (16/30)

Poppy Seed Pound Cake Muffins
Sour Cream Cornbread Muffins

96. Visit 5 museums (1/5)

Rosicrusian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, CA

100. Scrapbook 100 pages -- 10 pages this week (68/100)

What I Plan to Do Next Week

The next couple of weeks are going to be very busy with vacation and readying to move to California. I probably won't get a whole lot checked off of the list, but I'm going to try. I won't do another update post until the end of April...

Monthly Goal

I am going to start my "Day in 6 words" challenge. I have a "One Line a Day" 5 year journal, so I will just modify that. I might also keep a running tally on my update posts... And I swear we are going to finish James Bond Month(s) soon. We only have a few to go.

Overall Progress

7 / 101

Random Reads April

From I'm Loving Books:

It’s easy…
If you’re on Goodreads enable sorting to your to-read shelf (you should see numbers next to each book now).
Go to Random.org and type in the Min as 1 and the Max as how many ever books are on your to-read shelf.
Scroll down to the book matching the number Random.org picks.
Link up to your Random Reads post (below).
Read and be merry.

So, I've decided to join this fun meme. I thought this would be a great way to par down my TBR shelf and read some books I might not pick up right away. I used the Goodreads sorter and Random.org to find my Random Read.

This month's winner:

#1 Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

I've had this one for awhile. I even went to see the movie before I read the book (I know, Bad Tobe!). I guess I will now be getting around to reading this soon.