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I haven't done anything massively interesting in the past week and some. I did, however, go to see Ghost Train Porters (a local country-ish band) at The Bull (a pub which does not serve food >.< ) last week.

Normally, I'm not big on country music. I don't hate it, but I don't truly hate any genre of music. I grew up listening to country music because that's pretty much the only thing my dad will stand to listen to in the car. Oh, and NPR if Mom's driving. So I do like a good handful of songs. I like Reba McEntire, though not so much that I didn't have to Google her to check the spelling of her name. And it turns out that I haven't heard a Johnny Cash song I didn't like. However, I'm not a huge fan of Taylor Swift and I do not think that "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" is a classic masterpiece. (I am not making that song up. It exists and it is very, very bad)

But anyone who has lived in the rural US is aware that everyone, at some point, tries to form a country group. And usually they're mediocre at best.

Ghost Train Porters was the best local country group I've seen. And they're freaking British. WTF. They were a lot of fun to listen to, though -- they had a strong reggae influence, even nodding to it by explaining that one song was specifically "cowboy reggae." The singer was good, with a touch of growliness to his voice -- which I like in male singers. Probably helped that he and the other guitarist were kinda cute. :3

Also, I wanted to thank them afterward for not all showing up wearing cowboy boots, chaps, and cowboy hats. I appreciated the lack of bullshit there.

I've also discovered yet another Sam, who Mona and I have dubbed Achilles because we simply cannot have two Sams in one conversation (Samuel is now Samwise to us as well, just because we can). Unfortunately, Achilles and I have discovered that we are perfectly capable of having an entire conversation in tropes (if you don't know what I mean by that, go to this site and search for your favorite movie or book. I'll wait). This can only end badly. (And if you don't know why that is, go here.)

I probably should acknowledge Valentine's Day -- though I'm the sort of person who always kinda likes it, regardless of my relationship status. I don't like the marketing, I don't like the assumption that you're supposed to spend as much as you care about a person because that's bogus any time of the year, but I like the general idea of a day reminding people to be thoughtful. To not take their boyfriend-girlfriend-spouse-serious-sort-of-whatever-thing for granted. Of course, the majority don't think like this, and plenty of couples get into arguments because someone forgot somehow or "didn't spend enough" or whatever. Me, I like making cards, or going to a chocolate shop and picking out a few specialty truffles, or baking things. Please note that none of those things would cost more than $15 maximum. I like thoughtful gifts, and while shinies are very nice and I love getting them, I've never been in a relationship where I expected to receive them as a matter of course.

And if you don't have a serious-sort-of-thing-going, Valentine's Day is an excuse to hang out with other friends who don't and eat chocolate and watch bad movies. This year, I made brownies for my flat- and class-mates. Which were delicious, by the way. The brownies. Not the people.


Also, I always get something on Valentine's Day regardless, because my father always gives all the females in the family gifts -- my mother, my sister, and me. Chocolates and a card, and this year was not an exception and I have chocolates with booze in them. :D This probably has something to do with me liking the holiday. Chocolate is awesome.