Life Songs: A Music Update

My spring break in Wales starts in less than 24 hours!
I've done this kind of thing a few times, but not since November, and anyone who knows me is aware that I like music maybe a little bit more than a lot. So here's another collection of my favorite tracks that I've discovered and listened relentlessly to over the past month. (Note: this doesn't mean everything listed is new, just that it's new to me.)
I'm including links with every song in this batch for the convenience of anyone who's curious. I hope it motivates you to at least give a brief listen to a few tracks.
I've also sorted them a bit based on the moods I've been in over the past month. If dubstep and electronic stuff isn't for you, skip the first section. The second is non-electronic upbeat songs. The third has a few instrumentals and generally less hardcore stuff.
*Disclaimer: Not all lyrics or videos are clean, particularly from the first two sections. Click at your own risk.

Song - Artist

Party-ish/dancey/dubstep stuff:
Falling Down (xKore Remix) - Sub Focus
Damaged - Adrian Lux
All Day I Dream (Getter Remix) - Fei-Fei
Halogen - Kevin Drew
The Source (Chaos & Confusion) - The Bloody Beetroots
Fat Lip (Acetronik Remix) - Sum 41 (I've been listening to this for weeks now)
End of Pretend - Black Cards & Matthew Koma (this video is a little weird)
(Black Cards was one of Pete Wentz's side projects and you should definitely download this entire 38 track album free here because it is magical)

Not-dubstep upbeat things:
Stay The Night (feat. Hayley Williams) - Zedd
White Light Moment - Tove Styrke
Red Lights - Tiësto
Pulse - Hit The Lights

Chillers:
For You - Wolf Rider
Always Gold - Radical Face
I Giorni - Ludovico Einaudi (this man is spectacular and everyone should listen to his music)
The Hymn of Acxiom - Vienna Teng (gorgeous -- all of her stuff is powerful)
Running Up That Hill - Placebo
Byegone - Volcano Choir (this video gives me chills)
Start A Riot - Jetta (itunes does an amazing job yet again in picking this single of the week)
By The Time - Mika
State Hospital - Frightened Rabbit
Bridges - Broods
Boats & Birds - Gregory and the Hawk
Riptide - Vance Joy
Where Have You Been? - Manchester Orchestra

Highly recommended albums:
The Prince of Egypt Soundtrack
No Mythologies to Follow - MØ
The Radio In My Head: Live at 54 Below - Aaron Tveit
seriously, anything and everything by Ludovico Einaudi (and he has a lot of stuff)

Oxford: The 2 Month Mark

Tomorrow (Monday--it's 1:17am) marks 2 months since I first arrived in Oxford, and some things are coming to an end. The craziness that was the first three days of this week is over, I am pleased to say. I am also extremely pleased with how well my final Creative Writing meeting went.
I said I would maybe talk a bit about my Shakespeare tutor in this post so I'll do that now. Dr. Thorpe is easier to talk to than most professors/teachers I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Early on, we had a discussion about my extreme distaste for academic writing. Or, what I thought academic writing was.
Dr. Thorpe helped me delve into the real reasons I dislike writing papers and ways to remedy them. His requirements for his students' papers are not about the number of words or pages or secondary sources. Rather, he looks for us to explore ideas we find interesting. Every week, he lets me pick which play I wish to read, and a few days later I either let him know what I want to write about or ask him for a random question. By the third week, he was complimenting how much my writing had improved since I started using my strengths instead of following the typical American standards.
We've also had conversations about Forrest Gump, the American opinion of Brits and vice versa, my experiences in Paris and Belgium, his experiences in Liverpool and Stratford, among other things. I ended up picking him to advise me on my seminar paper. My last tutorial with Dr. Thorpe is on Monday, but I look forward to working with him some over the rest of this semester.
Anyway, since I'm not about ask anyone to suffer through an entire paper on the puzzling nature of Shakespeare's sonnets, here is the ballad I wrote for my final meeting with Dr. Winn this past week in its unedited form. Happy Saturday/Sunday.

Adventures in Misplaced Trust

Little old Harry was a lively man,

Always ready to see.

But his buddy Jed was a tad unstable

So Harry offered a key.

Harry made a deal one day to Jed,

“I’ll do anything for no fee.”

He promised he’d do whatever Jed wished

As long as Harry was free.

Time arrived too soon for Harry’s tastes

That Jed came on a spree.

He knocked that day on Harry’s red door

And little old Harry was free.

“I’ve killed a man,” Jed said to him,

“I need you to help me.”

And Harry became the best gravedigger

That little old Harry could be.

When the cruiser pulled up, Jed disappeared;

Didn’t give the cops his plea.

They said someone would have to pay the price,

And little old Harry said, “Me.”

He was loaded up and processed quick.

Not even time for tea.

He served his sentence, twenty years in a cell,

But then little old Harry was free.

A month or two later, Harry found Jed,

Intending to change Jed’s plea.

But Harry, after spotting Jed’s uniform,

Let his good friend be.

A Study in Oxford Habits (AKA: I should be studying right now)

In case anyone didn't know at this point, I have not been in America since 2013. Yes, that is a true fact. I left on the last day of last year and am currently out experiencing the world British-style.

I've been in Oxford, England for over 50 days now and will be for about another 50. I have walked more miles, eaten more carbs, drunk more tea, read more books, stayed up later nights, worn more dresses, and spent more money this semester than any before.

I won't even try to explain the schooling system here because it's incredibly convoluted to those that are unfamiliar with it. Having said that, some of my favorite (and most intimidating) moments of the term so far have been meetings with my Creative Writing tutor, Dr. Winn. None of us knew what to think of him at first, but after sharing four meetings, three cups of tea, six of my own poems, and about a hundred jokes with him, I am extremely thankful for every moment he has spared for my benefit. I didn't know what it meant to have your work torn to pieces until I worked with Dr. Winn. I can say, however, that it has been a life-changing experience. I've read entire poetry books and written better verse than I thought I was capable of. Tomorrow (Tuesday, since it's 4:45am on Monday here) is my last meeting with him, and it truly saddens me to think of all the instruction I haven't received yet.

Anyway, in honor of the nearing end of my tutorials, and in prayer for the end of winter back home in Ohio, here's one of the sonnets I've spent the last three weeks working on.

Winter Song

I learned in all the snippet days I’ve seen

I can’t forget the winter’s touch. I love

Each one; brisk wind propels me like a shove.

I feel a portion of my soul careen.

When childhood calls me like a time machine,

And in soft light I fight the flakes above,

It is the cold that wrestles me enough

To prompt another thought about the scene.

I dare to dig and scour through piles of white

To find the mislaid pieces of my heart.

For though my search escorts me now through sand,

I never can recover from the sight

That winter made by sun and earth apart;

My summer-children cannot understand.

Dr. Winn said to me in our last meeting, "You tense up when you're scared of something. It makes everything harder. Just relax your shoulders and let it flow naturally. It'll take work, but there's no need to be scared." I hope all you cool people take this to heart (not necessarily about poetry, but whatever you need it for) and let yourselves relax once in a while. Happy Spring!

(P.S. My Shakespeare tutor has been equally encouraging and wonderful to work with. Perhaps I'll dedicate a post to him next week.)