Weather, a Thesis, and Outstanding Music as Usual

The weather here the past few days has been kind of crazy. We were bracing ourselves for a nightmare of a winter weather system, but other parts of the state seem to have taken the hit instead of us. We just got some freezing rain and sleet. I woke up this morning to a chilly 26 degrees and a thin layer of ice on the grass and trees. Not enough to close the university, though. While I would have loved to have had some fun with some snow and ice, I'm really glad that we didn't lose power to our home like thousands of others around the state have. Both of my parents living in different parts of northeast Arkansas lost electricity to their homes and still don't know when their services will return. My dad said his neighborhood looks like a war zone with all of the fallen trees and power lines. All I can do is hope things get fixed soon. I feel really bad for all of them. At least he and his wife have a fireplace and my mom, stepfather, and siblings are in possession of a propane heater. I can sleep knowing they won't freeze.

I wrote five pages on my thesis proposal today. I got the proposed experiment, hypotheses, ethical considerations, and methods sections completed. Now, I just have to get the introduction and the literature review put together. That's the hardest part for me. There's just so much literature to sift through and make sense of. It's difficult to know what I should and shouldn't include when SO MUCH of it seems completely relevant in some form. Either way, I hope to have a rough draft to submit to my adviser by the end of this week. I really want to get this thing written and proposed within the next couple of weeks so I can get approval from the Human Subjects Research Committee to go forward with my project. I'd really like to have the experiment completed and date collected by the time spring break gets here so I can analyze and defend my findings in April. I don't want to be finishing this thing the week before I graduate.

There's yet another Death Cab for Cutie concert on the horizon. They're going to be playing a show in Memphis at the Orpheum Theater with Ra Ra Riot (!!!!!!!!!) on April 11th, along with the Cold War Kids. I've never listened to the Cold War Kids, but I LOVE Ra Ra Riot and never imagined that I'd get to see them before moving to Seattle. Tickets are only $40 and it's only a 3 hour drive from here to Memphis (as opposed to the 6 and a half I drove to St. Louis for the one in October). Not a bad deal in my eyes. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to see Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla, Nick Harmer, and Jason McGerr make awesome music together yet again. And always adds a really sweet icing to the cake when they play with other great bands (as they did with Rogue Wave last May in Columbia and Fleet Foxes last October in St. Louis). Tickets go on sale Friday. Wish me luck for good seats!

If you're not familiar with Fleet Foxes drummer J. Tillman, you should really check him out. He's put out a number of solo albums over the past few years. I got three of them Monday night and have been listening to them every since. It's really laid back, quiet, folky stuff that I find equally soothing and haunting simultaneously. His voice really does a number on me, much like Robin Pecknold's and Ben Gibbard's. Anyway, his music is my companion for the week. I highly recommend it.

I must shut down the music lab now and head to my house. Hot tea and good music will be had upon arriving home. The night is young.

Peace.