mollysweasleys:

ambiants:

ambiants:

what do you get when you mix alcohol and literature?

tequila mockingbird

or ernest hemingway

I’m sitting in my room, and all the members of Drawn to Scale (an acapella group) are sitting in the living room outside, singing their hearts out and just having an all-out blast. I can feel their immense love for music and performing right in my bones, and it elicited tremors deep down. Coming back from UChorus practice, I was able to similarly relate to their love. 

There was one thing that I couldn’t help noticing: the sense of fostered kinship between these singers. From living with current/past members, I know that they have their share of hardships and turmoil. And maybe it’s my impressions being influenced by the past semester. But I couldn’t help envying the tight-knit community that they were able to have - all of them being intimate with one another and being able to bring together a common drive - one that I have inside as well - into a performative unit. 

While my experiences with choirs at Berkeley have been amazing, they’ve all lacked one major factor: camaraderie. It’s impossible to do so with groups of over 100, and now I really understand why people are so keen on joining acapella groups. There’s the enjoyment of the style, but there’s also the recognition that one would get much more connected to the group than one would get in a choir. 

I’m not too disappointed. I’ve had my share of fantastic, mind-blowing musical experiences at Berkeley. I don’t have enough time to cover every single thing I’d like to do in my 4 years here. But I can say that if I were ever given the chance to do this again, I know I’d want to be a part of some kind of a capella group. 

And with this reflection, part of me is starting to think that it might be something more innate with me, instead of the groups that I’m in. I already know that I’m someone who MUCH prefers one-to-one interaction than group interaction. I shine in dinners, drawn-out talks, and slow conversation. Groups never give me the opportunity to grow into someone. This isn’t something that really bothers me a lot anymore, but there are still tinges of…it’s not even envy, it’s the feeling that things could be different, but I may never know how they could be. 

In other news, these last few weeks are really turning out to be my YOLO times…

I will have had 2-3 beers by the time it’s my turn to present.

This could be a disaster, or it could be AMAZING.

2:50 am: Ugh, I’m so done with beer. I’ll just wait until I’m not sick anymore.

3:10 pm: OOOH FREE BEER IN CLASS GIMME

Sigh.

My preliminary final list of spiders! So happy that I made it to the end =) 

1. Araneidae: Cyclosa (conica?); Zygiella. 7-8 points. 

2. Salticidae. 3 points

3. Linyphiidae: Nereine. 5 points.

4. Desidae: Badumna longiqua - 6 points

5. Agelenidae: Hololena - 5 points

6. Pholcidae: Holocnemus pluchei - 6 points

7. Segestriidae: Segestria - 5 points

8. Oecobidae: Oecobius annulipes - 6 points

9. Pimoidae: Pimoa - 5 points

10. Cybaeidae: Cybaeus - 5 points

11. Amaurobiidae: Callobius severus - 6 points

12. Lycosidae: 3 points

13. Anyphaenidae: Anyphaena - 5 points

14. Gnaphosidae: Scotophaeus blackwalli - 6 points

15. Theridiidae: Steatoda grossa; Theridion: 8 points. 

16. Opiliones: 3 points

17. Acari: 3 points

18. Oxyopidae: Oxyopes - 5 points

19. Zodariidae: Zodarion - 5 points

21. Hahniidae: Calymmaria - 5 points

Plus 5 extra points for getting over 15 families.

Total: 107 points / 100!!!

Go me =D