Things I Like Right Now {Podcasts and CGP Grey}

Recently, I did a blog post about some blogs I read, and I thought maybe it would be fun to do a similar post, but instead of blogs, it would just be other random stuff I'm into. If you guys like this, maybe I'll try to do these regularly, maybe every month or two.

My big obsession recently has been podcasts. I've been listening to Welcome to Nightvale for almost a year now, and it introduced me to the wide world of podcasts. Radiolab, and This American Life are classics that are favorites of mine, and of course I had to jump on the bandwagon with Serial as well.

Nightvale is definitely my favorite fictional podcast, but of the talk show/educational variety, there is also little competition. Hello Internet is by far my favorite. It's a podcast of the "Two Dudes Talking" style, and if you don't like that, or if you don't like the two dudes (CGP Grey and Brady Haran), you wouldn't like it. It's nerdy, it's educational, it's funny, it's weird, and best of all, there are currently 31 episodes of nearly two hours each, meaning you won't run out too quickly. 

Finding this picture was a dangerous endeavor: I had to do a Google image search for CGP Grey. Grey is anonymous on the web, you never see what he looks like in any of his videos, and while pictures of him aren't that hard to find, I don't want to see them. I just don't.

CGP Grey has long been one of my favorite YouTubers, and since listening to his podcast, he has become one of my very favorite internet people (somewhere up there with Hank Green and Wil Wheaton). I am nowhere near as anal or organized as he is, but is is kind of what I aspire to be. Since listening to him, I've started using a lot of his suggested apps and here are a few that I've come to really like.

1. Overcast. This is a free podcast app that I started using at his suggestion (and the suggestion of a friend of mine who is probably a bigger Hello Internet fan than I am). I haven't been using it very long, but so far I like it. It's a thousand times better than the one that comes on iOS (not that that's very hard), and it's well organized.

2. Anki. This is a flashcard app that I absolutely love. It allows you to create cards and decks, and has many options to personalize how you use it. It's not the prettiest app, but it is very functional. It shuffles your cards for you, and shows them to you at intervals that are optimal for memorization. It can be a bit confusing at first, partly because of it's rather bare bones structure, but if you put some time into getting it how you want it, it's amazing. The desktop app is free to use. You can purchase a mobile app for the hefty sum of $24.99, but I haven't tried that personally (mainly because of the cost), so I can't vouch to it's quality. 

Another random thing not related to podcasts that I love is the webcomic XKCD. I've been a fan of  XKCD for a long time, and I can't believe I've never mentioned it on the blog before. It's funny, it's geeky, it's current, and it's sometimes a little inappropriate, and I highly recommend checking it out. 

In Which Hank Green is Inspiring

So today I've been doing a lot of nothing. I haven't gotten a lot of work done, but I have been doing a lot of things that are a) not very practical, and b) rather thought provoking. First of all, for the last few months, I've been watching all of the Vlogbrother videos, in order. I've seen a lot of them before (at least the newer one, and all of the ones in 2013 and 2014), but there are a lot I haven't seen before, or at least not in a long time. It's been really interesting in a lot of ways, and it's taken me a long time. I started in the middle of July, and I've only gotten to May 2011, which means I'm about half way though.

The videos I find most interesting are the ones that are a reaction to an current news event. These videos often try to predict what the outcome will be, and, living in the future, it's very interesting to see what they thought our world would look like.

But there are also videos that are just funny, or insightful, that are still just as funny and insightful today.

I'm thinking about putting together a playlist of my favorite Vlogbrothers videos, and putting it up here, but I don't have time to do that today. Instead, I just want to share this one video I was watching this afternoon. Just a warning, it does contain some adult language, just fyi. I'm not sure if you can see the title or not, but hopefully that should be warning enough.

It's funny, it rhymes, it's kind of standard advice, but it's said in a way that makes you (or at least me) think about it a little more.

And, in case you need something funny, here's a playlist of Hank Green songs. Two warnings: first, there are 90 videos in this playlist, so it's kind of a timewaster. Second, some of these are a bit NSFW, but most of them are fine. Also, the best songs (in my opinion) are the earliest ones, which also happen to be at the very bottom of the playlist.

I've been spending a good bit of my afternoon watching Hank and John while outlining my 2014 NaNoWriMo novel (yay for NaNo progress). I'm finally getting really excited about it. I kind of got some inspiration today, and I'm not sure how good my idea will be, but I like it.

I hope you're having a good Tuesday. I have more outlining (and actual school work) to do. And mom, if you're reading this, I actually have gotten schoolwork and chores done today, just not as much as I could have considering the time I had available. Don't worry. :)

A Life Update

I haven't done one of these in a while! I've been pretty busy lately, and I haven't had time to sit down an write up one of these in several months.

School is going pretty well, though you already know that, since school is the one part of life I manage to consistently blog about. :) Here are some other random things I have been doing and thinking about lately.

1. Our little homeschool choir just started up again, and I am really excited. This Sunday, we started working on our first song, The First Nowell, and I thought it went amazingly well. I moved from the Altos to the Tenors this time around, and I am really happy with the switch. While I can sing both parts, singing alto was often a strain for me.

2. Emma Approved just started!!! I loved, loved, loved The Lizzie Bennett Diaries last year, and I'm thrilled that they are keeping going with the idea. Unlike with Pride and Prejudice, I am not familiar with the story of Emma, which is a bit exciting. I actually don't know what is going to happen this time around!

3.  November is coming very quickly, and I am trying to get prepared. Mainly, I am writing 750 words every day (750words.com is what I use. It is no longer free after the first month, though I was grandfathered with a life time free account in since I was using it before it went to pay only)to get myself back into the habit of writing.

4. Halloween is coming just as quickly, and I am trying to get the last of my Sam (LOTR) costume together. I still need pants, a backpack/sack, and to decide what to do about the feet. Since there is a group of us being the Fellowship, us four hobbits kind of need to be in agreement about how to handle the feet. Some people are saying just go barefoot, but since we will probably walking around outside quite a bit, I'm not fond of that idea.

5. I'm about half way through the Joy Luck Club, which is this month's World Lit book. So far, I am really liking it.

That's about it for now. I don't have time to do a longer post today, so this is it. I'll try to come back tomorrow with a sponsored book review!