Dailyroutine - Blog Posts

Daily Routine (9/27/17) - Night Ride

Another short one tonight. Nothing too significant happened today, but I’m pretty happy at the place I am in my life right now. I’ve finally got a good routine going for me and it’s becoming part of my life style. It’s nice having structure in your life, but I understand it isn’t for everyone. For me though, it works and I’m happy for it. 

This picture may be a bit grainy, but I biked to an overlook of the river today. I finally got my bike tires pumped and was able to use it again. It’s been way too long. I missed riding my bike. My freshman year, it was my life essentially. I never used it much last year though and I’m not so sure why. But I’m happy I have it up and running again. It allowed me to see views like this right before the sun set for the night. 

Honestly, I’m just happy. I hope this mental state continues. 

Daily Routine (9/26/17) - Straight Bumming

Today’s DR will be short. Pictured above you can see me in what I like to call my “summer moccasins”, AKA Sanuk slippers. They’re very comfortable but not the most stylish -- I don’t care though, especially since I paired them with my mesh shorts. 

So like my outfit suggests, this post will be of similar content. Laziness. I’ve been being kind of a bum lately. I should be training for my half-marathon in November, but I run so inconsistently now. I think it’s mostly due to my schedule just becoming so busy, but also I’ve already gotten that mid-semester laziness. I need to get it in check soon or else my grades will slip. 

But it’s okay to be lazy sometimes. Your body needs it. To just sit back and relax without a care in the world. Recharge your batteries per say. Just don’t let it get to you or the laziness will consume you. 

Daily Routine (9/25/17) - Strawberry Jam

If today could be defined by one thing, it would be music. I spent the majority of the day listening to Spotify while simultaneously catching up on homework. Also, I recently have been reacquainted with my beautiful guitar. I’ve been playing on and off now for the better part of 6 years, with many hiatuses in between. I haven’t play since at least over 6 months ago, but for the past 3 days now I have consistently been playing. 

I want to not only become proficient in guitar again, but also play live. I’ve only ever been in a band once and we only played live once, but that doesn’t deter me in slightest. Going to the house show last week and becoming more in touch with the local music scene have inspired me to find people to jam with and hopefully play live shows. It’s always been a dream of mine to be part of a successful band. I want to get started on it now. 

So today I changed her strings. The new high E string snapped when I was tightening the peg, which was quite the bitch because it was the last string for me to change. Luckily I had a few extra packets of strings, but now I have a packet without the high E string, which irritates my inner OCD. She now sounds wonderful -- like brand new. I always forget how great your guitar sounds whenever you change their strings. It really makes a difference. 

With my guitar re-stringed and me consistently practicing, I’m ready to start jamming with other people. I have actually met a few people who are already interested, they just have to free up their schedules. I also am in need of a drummer. If you live in the Richmond area and want to jam, just hit me up with a PM. I’m always looking for people to play music with (starting now). 

Daily Routine (9/24/17) - Welcome Back

To my those who have been following, I’m sorry I have not updated in over a week. It has been a whirlwind of events in my life and I simply haven’t had time to update. Regular updates will probably resume again. I’ll keep this a bit short though, as the details are tad too personal to share here. However, I would like to discuss the main theme of my past week in a broader sense.

Relationships. 

Your mind probably immediately went to something romantic. Something regarding a boyfriend/girlfriend. Something along the lines of “woe is me” and “why don’t they love me?” when you read that word following the paragraph explaining my absence. 

I’ll be honest, this is partly true. But again, I’m thinking of relationships in a broader sense. I’ve had an odd start to this semester. Friends seem to come and go. People who I thought I could be in a relationship with (yes, I’m talking about a girlfriend now) seem to come and go as well. To me, it seems that people in my life come for the pleasure of the interaction and then leave me in the dust. They want the instant gratification of seeing me, not the long term comfort of what I have to offer. 

This is melodramatic. I’m fully aware of this. People have busy schedules -- work, classes, and other ventures. They hardly have time for themselves, let alone time for to see other people. It seems to me though that I have nothing but time, even though I have essentially the same responsibilities. I want to see people and hang out with them on a regular basis, but it seems that no one else wants to make the effort. I feel at times I’m the only one doing anything when it comes to making plans with people and then they cancel at the last minute, leaving me with a feeling of self-doubt and hatred. 

It's an awful feeling, feeling alone. You feel as if no one wants you at all. You feel like you did something wrong for them to stop talking to you. Like you messed up forever and there’s no going back. What’s funny about all of this though, is that this feeling is blown completely out of proportion. It is overplayed, overdramatic, and can even be absurd. Life has a funny way of tricking you into thinking this way, even though it isn’t true. They’ll text you back. They want to see you too. They want be the world to you too.

But they just don't know how. 

Daily Routine (9/16/17) - A collision with fate

It is odd the way life works out. I didn’t forget about DR yesterday, the post I had got deleted. Well actually, I was in a rush and didn’t have a chance to be at my computer so I had to type it out on my phone. Right when I was about to post it, the app crashed on me, deleting the entire post. I was so irritated by it that I just decided I wasn’t going to post it. I now see that this was a good thing though. 

The subject matter of the post was very ranty as I was annoyed at a lot of people and I just wanted to vent. Looking back, I now know that that is definitely something I don’t want on my blog and it was very in the moment, as the problems I was complaining about were solved about an later after it was deleted. But I find it funny how fate works out like that. How you think a problem will be solved by something only to have it set you back further. Patience is key in situations like this, as simply just waiting can make things make a lot more sense than they would if you try to attack them head on. I’m glad I was reminded of this lesson yesterday. 

Yesterday was also full of other surprises. I went to a house show for a few local bands - some from Richmond and others from Williamsburg. House shows are my favorite concerts to go to. You’re within spitting distance of the band playing and you can see each and every detail of their set; Their reactions, their stage presence, and not to mention, the full brunt of their sound (it’s loud as hell). It’s an experience you don’t get by seeing a band at a stadium or even a club. It’s personal and real - especially if you’re friends with the people playing. 

The reason I found this show to be a surprise though, is because I was able to have a great time without worrying about any of my past relationships. I was able to meet many new people and just be myself without any worry. It’s taken me awhile to get to this point and I’m proud of myself for being who I am now. Aside from personal surprises, I also saw a lot of people that I met at a music festival I went to this summer. They’re the kind of interactions where you don’t think you’ll ever see them again, but then they show up again in a place where you least expect it. So that was a pleasant surprise. 

The only thing that did suck about the show was that the cops shut it down, so the last band didn’t get to play their set. They had to wait through over 2 hours of live music only to not get to play. A pity that our society values being able to sleep at night without any loud noises over the creative arts. That is a rant for another day though. 

I have now decided that this was my favorite local show I’ve ever been to. Not only because of what I talked about above, but the actual musical content. The first band (who I didn’t know beforehand) had an irresistible groove to it that was still able to bring the punchiness of indie rock. They had great stage presence and people were able to dance to it quickly - which is always a good sign considering how hit or miss local bands can be. The next band, Talk to Plants, were the band I went to the show for. This was my third and favorite time seeing them, as they played a good mix of their old cuts and new ones from their upcoming LP. Their unique psychedelic-folk-rock sound translates well in an intimate setting, especially when you’re able to see that they’re having just as good of a time as you are. This is evident in the photo I chose for this post. 

Kind of a long post today I know, but I felt it was necessary since I didn’t have one yesterday. Send me your local music. Any genre or style - just as long as it’s local to where you live. I would love to hear all of it. 

Daily Routine (9/14/17) - Coffee Break

I went to a local coffee shop called The Lab at Alchemy (Alchemy Coffee for short). You will probably see me post about this place often, as it is one of my favorite coffee shops in Richmond. Today’s experience at The Lab wasn’t really any different from any other day (except for the barista thinking I ordered a mocha instead of a normal coffee - only mildly infuriating). I ordered my coffee and muffin and sat down to be productive. 

Productive in a sense at least. 

I usually go to coffee shops to do homework, usually reading from my various textbooks or writing a paper on my laptop. Alchemy is different though. For some reason I can’t do anything academic while sitting in this quaint college student hangout spot. I’m not sure if it’s the people coming in and out, the buzz of drinks being made, or just being so close in proximity to people (if it’s crowded, space to breath can be pretty tight). It may be that I always have associated the place with de-stressing, but I add in stressors that prevent me from working. So now Alchemy is no longer a place where I can do “work” in an academic manner. I now see at as a place to unwind, and let my creativity sprawl in a different way

Creative writing.

I have determined that Alchemy is now my go to place when I want to write. Poetry, short stories, journal entries, and other forms of short prose - I feel safe and comfortable writing it there. Which leads me to this picture I’ve included. It’s an off kilter shot of my coffee mug and personal journal where I write all of my ideas for everything. I try and write in it at least once a day, whether it be a journal entry or something creative. Shown above is a series of short poems I came up with while listening to the song “Visiting Friends” by Animal Collective. In short, it’s a hypnotic, ambient, and drawn out acoustic guitar track with odd voices and sounds sampled into the background. While repetitive and long, the song is able to put me into an odd feeling where I make can write these unique dialogue poems that I’ve never been able to do unless I’m listening to this song. I now have 4 full pages of content while listening to this song. I’ll post them separately someday, probably with edits and rewrites in order for them to flow better. I also transcribed a short story that I wrote in my journal into a word document. It’s currently a mess, but I’m happy that I did it. I’ll post that story someday too when it’s ready.

It was quite a time at The Lab today filled with lots of creative energy and much needed de-stressing. I hope to be able to find a lot of other places in Richmond that have the same effect, hopefully free, as money can be tight for a college student. Honestly, any place that can get the creative juices flowing is fine by me. If you’re an RVA native and you write, please comment/PM with your go to places (oddly specific and far reaching I know, but one can hope). 

Daily Routine (9/13/17) - A Description

I’ll start this first DR by saying how I’m going to format these. Each post will be accompanied by a photo I have taken from something I did that day. It does not necessarily mean that the photo is related to the DR. I just want a photo in it to make it look *nicer*. I’ll try my best to keep these brief - as in no more than a 1000 words each. 

Today has been quite a whirlwind of events. I decided to embark on a new journey and have this blog be evidence of it. Why? I guess I finally decided I need to start expressing myself more - in ways that I’m not necessarily comfortable with or used to. So now I’ve decided to make Daily Routines and in general, be more active on this blog. This is marked by the change of name, description, and pictures for my profile. 

First I’ll start with the name; Why “Ode To Overstreet”? Well it comes from one of my favorite songs of the same name by one of my favorite bands of all time: Console Warriors. So the name is near and dear to my heart - but I’ve given it my own meaning as well. I want to think of it as a description of this blog. “Ode to Overstreet” meaning in a sense: the song of my life. A far reaching metaphor, but I feel it works.

“Ode” meaning song and then “to Overstreet“ meaning describing a street where it may be difficult getting past (or in this case, going over). 

The description on my profile is self explanatory. The new profile picture I found on Reddit on r/animalcollective. I just found it cool, especially since it was inspired by another one of my favorite bands of all time. I wish I could credit the original author. The cover photo is just a picture of myself that I’ve really liked. You can search my old posts to find it. 

Well, there you have it - a full description of my blog. I guess to wrap up this first DR, I’ll comment on the picture I chose. This was a delicious cup of coffee I had while writing all of this. To me, it symbolizes the work I did to transform this blog and the effort I’m putting into it. A cup of coffee makes the creative juices flow. 

An update of sorts

Hello followers of my blog (New people welcome!),

For those following Chill Co., I am sorry to say that that moniker is now no more. I have decided to rebrand my entire blog. New name, new pictures, and new well...everything. 

I have gone through and deleted the majority of my posts. This is mostly due to how almost all of them perpetuated this false notion of the indie lifestyle. After going through these posts (and cringing at the majority of them), I’ve realized that I tried so hard to push this since it was the title of my blog. I advocated for the hipster-indie lifestyle that I thought was for me. I realize now that this was pretty dumb of me, as I tried to be somebody I wasn’t.

I also went ahead and deleted pretty much of all of the Spotify link posts as I realized that that is only one medium for listening to music and it will in turn not be nearly as far reaching. This doesn’t mean that I won’t post about music -- quite the opposite in fact. Expect music still, but now much more than just that.

The goal I have now set for my blog is to catalogue my life; I want to show this site who I can be by posting all of my creative content in this one place. Sounds selfish yes, but I don’t want to limit myself content wise. I want this to be about me and if you’re interested in what I have to offer, I welcome you with open arms. 

So what can you expect from me? First, I’m going to start a daily posting series called “Daily Routine” which will be a similar to diary/journal update, but not super personal. Basically just something significant that happened in my day and my thoughts behind it. I want to do it as a way to connect to my audience further and in turn, use it as a way for you all to get to know. My other hope is that Daily Routine will spawn many thoughtful discussion and conversation between users. As a side note, if you can guess what Daily Routine is in reference to you will get a shoutout.

Next, you can expect pretty much more of what I’ve already been posting about but at a higher frequency. However, I will also post about my short prose/poems on the occasion. Music appreciation, daily activities, and nature (LOTS of nature). Seldom will I reblog something unless it pertains to the aesthetic or lifestyle of my blog. 

I’ll wrap it up now as this post is getting quite long. Thank you if you got this far and thank you to anyone who has actually been loyally following my blog. It means a lot to me. Expect the first Daily Routine later tonight.