Month: August 2016

100

I’ve been tracking all the artists I’ve seen live since 2013, and a few weeks ago (at my third Outside Lands festival) this tally reached 100.

The first artist I saw live was Chevelle at the Fillmore in San Francisco, CA on July 8th 2014. I remember standing on the fringes of the mosh pit and being extremely scared that I would be sucked in (I didn’t). I also remember being amazed by how good the band sounded live, and how talented each and every member was. Needless to say I had a fantastic time — I was blown away by the whole experience, and by the time Chevelle came back on stage for their encore I’d already decided that I would try and see as many concerts as possible.

It’s really hard to pick a favorite show of the 100+ I’ve seen. A top 5 list (in no particular order) would probably feature Tame Impala (at Coachella 2016), AC/DC, Metallica, TesseracT, Deafheaven. Not only do Tame Impala sound sublime live (I’m so excited to see them again on September 3rd), but the lights and videos they use during their live sets elevate their music to another level. AC/DC and Metallica hold huge sentimental value for me since they were the bands I grew up listening to, and seeing them live was an emotional experience. TesseracT is my (current) favorite band and the first progressive metal band I enjoyed listening to, and they were awesome live (very excited to see them again with Gojira on October 7th). Plus I got to meet the band before the show which was very cool! Deafheaven was easily the most intense show I’ve been to. Though given the type of music they play this is to be expected.

The bands I’ve seen the most times live are Tennis and Mastodon. The last time I saw Mastodon was when they played the night before my 25th birthday. It was a great birthday gift (yes, I do know it was a day early).

The Chevelle show ignited a love for live music within me that still shines brightly today.

Sunrise

I got to see Haitus Kaiyote at Outside Lands 2016 last weekend. They were one of the best bands I’ve seen live so far. Seeing them live gave me a newfound love and appreciation for their music and I’ve been listening to their songs all of last week. Not only is their music beautiful, but the pictures they paint with their lyrics are gorgeous as well, and some of them seem to appeal to my current state of mind.

 

What I’m currently listening to: 65daysofstatic

No Man’s Sky came out recently. While I don’t intend to play the game (I own an XBox One, which I haven’t really used for the past 3-4 months) I heard very good things about the soundtrack that 65daysofstatic put together for the game and decided to give it a listen. It is sublime. My appreciation for the music grew even more after I learned how the album was created.

Quotes: July Edition

I wrote a blog post talking about how I write down lines from books I’m reading. Here are some lines that I loved from books that I read in July:

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. — Mother Night

No one has mastered the art of life. Everyone is just stumbling in the dark. — Here

It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety. — Foundation

To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well. — Foundation

Memories sting when they come suddenly. — Foundation

Goal Tracking: July Edition

At the beginning of the year I published a post outlining what some of my goals for the year were. In the spirit of being transparent, here is the progress I made on them over the course of July –

  1. Was there for everyone who needed me for most of the month.
  2. Volunteered for 0 hours.
  3. Quite a bit of procrastination.
  4. Honest and open. As always.
  5. Made some good progress on learning Rust! I wrote about it here and here.
  6. I read four books over the course of July: Mother Night (another amazing book by Kurt Vonnegut), Here (I LOVED the artwork in this graphic novel. I wish it had a better story though), DC/Dark Horse: Aliens (an action-packed, fun read), and Foundation (This is the first Asimov book I’ve read and I loved it! It was quite unlike any other sci-fi book I’ve ever read, and I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in this classic series).
  7. I read 2 research papers: Disruptor and COST. I’ll be writing about them soon.
  8. I wrote 8 posts.
  9. I learned to play at least one song on the guitar. Minus the solo.
  10. (a) (goal achieved)
    (b) (goal achieved)
    (c) (goal achieved)
    (d) I ran the first half of the SF Marathon!
    (e) (goal achieved)