Bon Iver’s For Emma (Forever Ago) performed a cappella spontaneously in a hallway in Paris before a house show. Cut from a La Blogotheque podcast.
3 things to know about Erica. 1) I love Bon Iver to death. 2) I love The xx to death. 3) See numbers one and two.
Here’s what’s up. Here is today’s lunch at the office. It’s a beef patty with peameal bacon, caramelized onions, tomato, lettuce and hot sauce. It’s kind of a big deal.
Greetings from an endless summer of sunshine in Toronto, right as we are on the brink of the fresh month of June. First off, a huge congrats to everyone at UBC who is graduating this past week and this upcoming week. There are three people (one of which has already graduated but now done their education fully after this year) that I wanna give a little shout out to.
Alex Lougheed, thanks for giving me insights into your own political scandals and how UBC politics works. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t know about the war against fun, or the problems with private and student housing on campus, and I wouldn’t have been placed in so many cool opportunities in these last few months. It’s all because of you, and I’ve enjoyed having the extreme pleasure of being a small part of the UBC Insiders world through interviewing graduates at TeleStudios and getting random emails with hearts attached. Thank you & I’m stoked to see what small part of the world you dominate next.
Kevin Byers, when I lost my passport 2 business days before I left for Guatemala and it was 1am during exams, you invited me to play Mario Party in your room with you. Did I accept this offer? Yes. Do I regret it? No. I also don’t regret the chicken flavored pork chops that turned out to be a tasty mix of disastrous spices. Thank you for being an amazing friend, for listening to my boy drama, always being on facebook chat in the middle of the night without fail, having great music taste, and for having the biggest heart a person could possibly contain. You may not be at UBC anymore, but I look forward to cooking adventures at your new place, representing you through RezLife and continuing to become a future little blogging hack. Thank you for being you.
Kyla Brophy, without you, I would of been completely lost. I came into first year with a huge weight of scholarship pressures and you let me know what the real deal was and how to manage. You gave me your own personal stories, you treated me as if I was one of your closest friends that you’ve known for years, and you exemplified who I want to be in my fourth year, even if that means staying up all night trying to figure out my thesis. You have my kind of attitude of making a search for ice cream in the IFL your number one priority over being to a workshop on time. Seriously my friend, you forever will be Momma Loran and I love you for it. You are the funniest, sweetest, and busiest person out there who will still find time for others. Thank you, truly, thank you.
That’s it. I just wanted to give a shout out to those people who have helped me along the way into becoming who is now Erica at the end of her first year. I still haven’t grown any taller, but I hold myself in a different way than before and these people had a role in that.
Now for Music Monday.
Here’s my Music Monday choice for today, passed on by Mr. Jobin Sam here at MOB baseCamp. The song is called Fake Empire, by The National.
That’s the deal for today. I’m off to do another photo shoot for the MOB, this time at Yonge & Dundas (the heart of Toronto). Tomorrow I’ve got a benefit concert in Lindsay, Ontario and hopefully I’ll have some laundry done before then. The situation is getting pretty bad when it comes to clean clothes choices.
West coast trees, laser tag and warm hearts,
Erica
Baby Monster- She Comes Alive
I have so much to write about. This weekend was a long and intense time. I’ll be back soon.
This is why I love my friends:
We kind of, sort of, climb into fountains on campus at night time.
Recently, I admitted to knowing that random girl who was in a photo of me above my blog biography. Well it’s true, I just so happen to know her. You can find the fancy dancy new photos to complete the “do I actually know Megan?” series.
But you see, the thing is that Maegan and Katie, the other core members of our wicked dangerous crew, are not featured in those photos. They deserve a huge shout out. Katie even provided me with space on a moving truck, which I didn’t give her credit for during my blog post about moving out of Totem Park, so she deserves some huge props for that.
Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy my Photoshop skills.
Also we can’t forget everyone else who often appears in my photos. Lauren, Nicola, AJ, and so forth. Nootka 2nd clearly rocks way too much.
Now that I’ve recognized my solid crew, it’s time for some tunes.
Ellie Goulding’s Under The Sheets (Baby Monster Remix)
Sally is a…
by Shwayze
Hello summer. Hello sunshine tunes.
Exams. Freak Out.
Ben Gibbard & Feist- Train Song
“He’s not sure who he sympathizes with anymore. It’s a very romantic idea- this particular vision of what it means to live inside the enemy camp. How you lose your barrings and you forget how to fight because some other impulse inside you takes over.” – Ira Glass, This American Life, Episode #404 Enemy Camp
I lead a Mob. New today, check out my really random bio (all the way at the bottom) and explore our new website, here.
M.I.A. vs Vampire Weekend Giving Up The Sunshowers (The Hood Internet Remix)
We just got through Totem Park’s Final Epic Weekend. How epic was it? Girls shaving their heads for BC Children’s Hospital, WTFL Finals, Casino Night, Totem Formal, Bass Love Dance Party, Totem & Vanier Pool Party and a multi-level fort in Maegan & Megan’s room.
Casino Night rocked, not because of the creepy guy walking around who was supposed to be a magician, but because of the free photo booth. We took advantage.
Tegan and Sara’s Alligator. La Blogotheque/Live acoustic version.
I’ve always felt like I have had all these ideas floating around in my head that would make really good books. My mother has tried convincing me to go into English but I’ve always thought she was crazy when she said that. I finally think I should start writing. I’ve got an idea and inspiration but, can I actually write something worth reading?
Lust for Life by Girls
Warning: They use graphic language, I counted, only twice in this song, so it’s not recommended that you watch this if you are uncool with that.
∞
Adjusting to university-level work is not easy.
This past weekend, I made a few dozen paper cranes out of my beautiful new paper, watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off three times, and learned how to save a life, again, through renewing my CPR training. The school year is coming to a close very soon (last day of class, April 15th, whuddup!) but things are still happening on campus and I love it. Storm The Wall kicked off yesterday, which is absolutely insane and amazing. If you are an incoming UBC student, you should for sure look forward to this event.
Even though things are really busy, my academic responsibilities have picked up too. Last night, I worked really hard on my term paper that is due on Thursday. I’ve found that the hardest academic adjustment for me coming into first year is term papers. Last semester, I had three of them. The first one, for my Modern Art class, I worked so hard on. I got help with writing it, even went to a research workshop and visited the subject librarian. I still got a pretty bad mark on it for not doing research “properly.” Honestly, high school wasn’t that tough on me and essays will never compare to the work of a term paper in university.
Things slightly balanced out, my English paper received a little bit better of a mark and my Political Science paper even received an A. Research still seems like a mystery to me, and I find that it’s really scary trying to figure it all out. This semester, I have a paper for my Women’s Studies Feminism course and for another English course. I can already tell that things will turn out better this semester compared to the outcomes of last, but I still want to grasp the daunting task of term paper writing and researching even better.
My recommendations for incoming first years who will have lots of term papers to write:
– Visit your subject librarian. For example, for Art History, you can go see Vanessa Kam in Irving K.
– Talk to your prof & TA. Even better, go see them during office hours and bring pieces of your term paper to discuss.
– Start your research & writing as soon as it is assigned. Unlike some high school essays, it cannot be done in one night.
– Become friends with upper year students who can peer edit and help you along the way.
– Visit the writing centre in Ponderosa or go to the drop in help inside Irving K’s Chapman Learning Commons.
And since you bothered to read my blog, enjoy some images of gorgeous male bands to compliment this week’s Music Monday post.
Last week, I finally created my ultimate playlist on iTunes. I usually only play albums all as one piece, but now I’ve mashed together all my favorites which has me enjoying some long lost music and pieces I forgot about over time.
Some strong suggestions of songs to download if you are in search of new music!
Creature Fear Bon Iver
Wolf Like Me TV On The Radio
Calendar Girl Stars
Crystalized The xx
Rebellion (Lies) The Arcade Fire
Fans Kings of Leon
The Seed (2.0) The Roots
Oxford Comma Vampire Weekend
Young Americans David Bowie
Fraust Arp Radiohead
And now, a classic YouTube video choice. Here is the lovely new video for Ok Go’s This Too Shall Pass. It’s incredibly entertaining to watch, and if you click play you will figure out quickly just why that is.
