This Month in Internet (May 2017)

Let's start this post by getting the bad news out of the way first. Remember in my last post how I was so excited that Avi Kaplan was starting a side project in addition to Pentatonix? It isn't a side project. He is leaving the group. I should have known, but I didn't think it was possible. As long as they find another bass as good as Avi, Pentatonix can survive without him, but it won't be ever quite the same. Anyway, here's the next song from his new EP. It's amazing. As sad as I am about PTX, I know Avriel & the Sequoias is going to be amazing.



Okay, let's lighten the mood a bit, shall we? Here's a sketch by Studio C that has me in stitches every time I watch it. And I've watched it quite a lot. :p



You haven't lived until you've listened to Steve Urkel as remixed by the amazing remix master extraordinaire, Melodysheep.



Here's something quite a bit different. I recently discovered a YouTuber who goes by the name Peter Draws, as that is what he mostly does. However, there is no drawing in this video, but it's one of the best videos he's ever made. And make sure you watch until the very end.



Lindsey Stirling has been busy. She released several videos and a full length documentary this month! This was her best video of the month, a thematic sequel to her Shatter Me video.



And then The Piano Guys came back with a bang! This is their best video in ages!



And the trifecta is complete with an amazing new Peter Hollens video! You're Welcome, from Disney's Moana, with Andrew Huang!



Then Blimey Cow released a new Homeschoolers video, several points of which were, as usual, uncomfortably real. :p



And speaking of real, this video from Glove and Boots, BEAUTIFULLY explains my social media policy. It uses a little more language than I myself would, so, fair warning, but the sentiments expressed are exactly how I feel.



Next, we have a brand new video from the other remix master extraordinaire, Pogo!

Next up we have an AMAZING video from Funny or Die. However, unless you and I share a similar taste for absurd humor, you are unlikely to find this as side-splittingly hilarious as I do. Side note, have I ever mentioned how much I love Louie Anderson? The man is a treasure.



And finally, we have a brand new, amazing video from Puddles Pity Party. Normally when I feature the most amazing clown in the universe, it's with Postmodern Jukebox. Not that he's not good on his own, it's just that he's usually at his best with the musical styling of Scott Bradlee and Co. Well not this time! This video was (mostly) on his own and it's amazing!!! Side note, P³ is on this season of America's Got Talent! I am so excited! I hope he goes all the way!



And that was May! There were a few more videos than I normally put in one of these posts, but it's probably going to vary from month to month, depending on how many great videos I see. This month we had a lot of great ones! I'll see you again in June!

Catch Up 3: Everything Else

So, the past two days I covered everything from the holidays that I'd missed, today, I'm just going to finish it off with everything that happened between January and May.

First up: I learned to knit!

On my way back to Ames for the Spring semester, I stopped at a Barnes & Nobel, where I found a really cheap knitting kit on clearance. I had been talking to a couple people about how I'd kind of wanted to learn, so I impulse bought it on sight.

And I made a scarf!

After I started knitting grandma found this (very) old skein of yarn in a desk and gave it to me. I took me well over an hour, maybe two, to untangle it. :p

Then I started buying more stuff and started a new scarf.

It was done in just a couple of weeks!

I was pretty happy with it!

Then I got some ring looms to help me knit hats.

These were for Shaina, and she loved them. :)

There was a flock of Canada geese on central campus one day!

They just made themselves at home.

There was a lot of melting happening, so maybe they thought it was a lake?

In late January I came home for a family get together, (where I took no pictures) but since I was going to be home, and since we'd had so much fun at the last one, and since we'd already been planning to binge watch the brand new Netflix Series of Unfortunate Events, my cousins decided to throw another themed tea party.

It was not quite as themed as before. No real decorations or costumes.

A lot of it was just stuff they wanted an excuse to make. Like more scones. :p

And eat. :p

Some of the sandwiches had mushrooms on them.

And some had horseradish.

If you've read book 11, then you know why these things are appropriate. :p

I don't think the tea was themed. I just wanted a picture of my cup. :)

Peppermint cream cheese bon bons.

Peppermint being the themed ingredient. Book 3, the Baudelaires were allergic. :)

We also had cold soup. (See book 3 again. :p)

These were basically Little Debbie cakes with gummy snakes frosting'd on.

A nod to the Incredibly Deadly Viper from book 2. (And 13!)

And that was that event. Like I said before, I didn't take any picture at the family thing I'd come home for, but Jackson was with us too, and I did get a couple pictures of him. :p

He was getting swaddled. :)

So cute! :p

The next big thing might be news to you if you haven't seen me in awhile: I got contacts!

I've had glasses since I was 6, so this is kind of a big deal.

This was a picture I took to text to Shaina when I first got them.

The next event was another trip to Minnesota. I was doing a job shadow at my cousin Kyle's workplace, and Shaina and Sasha came along for the ride so we could visit Mandi and Co. Sadly, I again neglected to take many pictures. :( I did take a bunch this one night though. :)

Trinity decided to bury Shaina alive. :p

She wanted me to document it.

Shaina found it hilarious. :)

Then Trinity decided that wasn't enough.

She wanted to model.

And then she wanted my phone. :p

And proceeded to take pictures of everyone and everything.

Most of them were of the floor and halves of faces, so I pruned before posting. :p

Mandi knows what kind of kids she's raising: Goofballs. :p

Awesome goofballs. :)

My last big event was another job shadow, and I did take a few at this one. I was applying for an internship at IPTV. (PBS) I didn't get it, but I had fun that day anyway. :)

I sat in on two episodes of Iowa Press.

In the first episode they were interviewing former governor of Iowa and former US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack.

It was so interesting learning a lot of behind the scenes stuff!

They had these guys standing in the offices.

I think I remember them from PBS pledge drives when I was a kid!

And that's pretty much it. I didn't photograph much else. I am however photographing a LOT of things this summer as I am building a portfolio of my work, photography and otherwise. To do that I'm going to lots of different places and taking a ton of pictures, hoping I'll get just a few awesome ones I can show off in a portfolio. But that means I have tons of other pictures that don't quite make the cut that I can just post on my blog for fun! So stay tuned! I've got lots of stuff coming! I'll leave you with this one picture I took after I got back to Harlan this summer. :)

Catch Up Part 2: Shaina's Birthday

Yesterday I posted pictures from Christmas, these pictures were from Shaina's birthday party, which happened not too much after the holidays. Sarah has always loved making specialty foods, and she recently got into planning tea parties, so for Shaina's birthday we planned an Alice In Wonderland themed tea party.

This was the spread. The Wonderland details are subtle.

The blue butterfly.

A white rabbit.

Sasha even provided Steve, so we'd have a walrus. :p

Sarah made a whole bunch of tiny tarts and muffins.

And she has a large collection of assorted china.

Sasha made a crown for the birthday girl. I should mention that this was a surprise, so she wasn't warned in advance to dress for the occasion. Which explains the hoodie. :p I was the most dressed up, as I own a Mad Hatter costume. However, I neglected to get a picture of myself that day, so here's one from a few years ago instead. :p

A sample of the fare.

Sarah made her own lemon curd, and clotted cream!

Sasha made all the tea sandwiches.

They went all out!

I blew up balloons. :p And these were actually more difficult that they look, because those aren't polka dots, it's confetti that had to be stuffed into the balloons before blowing them up!

After the tea we watched Disney's Alice in Wonderland.

I have like five different versions of the movie, but Sarah wanted to stick with the classic. :)

Later Shaina opened her gifts, I gave her four Funko Pops from one of her all-time favorite movies, Labyrinth. Can you spot the fourth Pop? It's slightly hidden. :p

My friend Sam gave me two Irish unicorns to give to her, because she knew I had a cousin who absolutely loved unicorns. And Shaina absolutely loved them. :p

Sasha made Shaina a rainbow cake, which we had later that night.

Shaina loves rainbow anything.

She LOVES rainbows. :p

Even the inside was rainbow'd. :)

Shaina was suitably impressed. :)

And that's all from that day! I am pretty sure I have some other pictures to catch up on as well, but those were all the other big holiday pictures. I'll get to the others eventually. :)