Apple podcasts that make my day and what's been on my menu lately

Lately, I have been doing better search queries on YouTube and found so many great playlists to listen to there. I found artists I forgot about from the 1990's and 2000's such as "Always in my Heart" by Tevin Campbell, Tony Braxton's "You Mean the World to Me." I found a whole list of songs by Aaliyah that had when I was a child in 1995. I had a tape of her One in a Million album. I found great gospel music by Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Choir. I finally found "The Will of God" from his Family Affair album. I have heard a lot of these songs before, but I did not know who was singing them. I have really been getting into music this summer and listening to the Moth Radio Hour and David Burn's Feeling Good Podcast. I found three radio stations on my phone that are by Apple that I had not listened to in a long time. I'm listening to the Daily on Apple Podcasts.  I did not realize this was by the New York Times. There are so many daily newspapers across the country. This podcast is really informative and goes deep into stories. They talked about why there is really a baby formula shortage this week on the Daily and questioned why it took police in Uvalde, TX 78 minutes to stop the shooter at that elementary school. 

I am really getting somewhere with Dr. David Burn's Feeling Good podcast. This week, he discussed acceptance. I feel like I need to celebrate how far I have come when accepting my flaws. Then, acceptance is much easier. It is a process. Sometimes it can be hard to settle for yourself and the way you are. That is what acceptance looks like to some people according to Dr. David Burn's podcast. They went really deep this week. Some simple ideas help me to think healthier thoughts. Therapy is on podcasts now, and this makes it much more affordable. I'm really "feeling good" about myself this week.

Gas prices are so high. I worry about being able to afford it in the future unless prices go back down. I hope inflation will be controlled and better regulated in the future. Something needs to be done. These prices are ridiculous. 

I went shopping today and had the most delicious dinner. I can combine a few low-cost items I picked up at a neighborhood Wal-Mart and something pretty good comes out. Today I had a green latte. The green and white tea infusion combined with coffee or tea lightens the strong coffee flavor on the palate. It doesn't taste so bad and all three teas are good for your heart. Black tea has flavonoids and green and white tea and especially good for your blood pressure. I had creamy chicken and wild rice with Sargento Swiss cheese with wild caught Alaskan pollock sushi and thought about eating it with pork rinds but was too full. Maybe I will try it tomorrow and see if that goes together. I found Oikos plain Greek yogurt with probiotic cultures in it today. I had to read the fine print, but it has probiotics in it as well as being Kosher. I found Kosher salt that is fresher than the regular salt in my opinion. I have been adding it to my oatmeal with butter and stevia natural sweetener. It tastes delicious for breakfast. 

You will not believe this, but I found wild caught Alaskan fish from a United Kingdom fishery at Food Lion this month. I baked it in olive oil and it tasted like I fried it. I added extra oil. Olive oil has lots of healthy mono and unsaturated fats in addition to saturated fat. I try eating Zebra Cakes slightly chilled in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. It is like an ice cream cake. I had one of those today too. I had ballpark franks on keto bread with mayonnaise, olive oil and salsa verde (green) this week. They "plump when you cook 'em." They were delicious. I boiled them. It was therapeutic for me. I had not boiled hotdogs in years. I refrigerate my keto bread. It was so fresh. I had to buy some more today. I also tried Jewish Rye bread. I trust what is Kosher. Their food has a high standard like USDA organic foods.

Trying Out Celine Dion's French Releases

I found my transcript today and was relieved. I am now more sure about my progress and GPA than before. I was having trouble finding my unofficial transcript because everything was moved from Banner to another application for registration. I found it very confusing. I have been listening to Celine Dion's music in French. She was a superstar in the 1990s that crossed over between singing for French Canadians to Americans in English. My French pronunciation of the songs are much improved after practicing with several and listening to her songs. I can find the lyrics translated into English along with the original French with a quick Google search. Celine Dion has a quality to her music that rivals opera and trained vocalists. It has good sound quality. Lately, I have been enjoying opera by Mozart like Laudate Dominum and Josh Groban's Si Volvieras a Mi, Per Te, and My Confession from his Closer album. I had that album in the 2000s. 

French and Spanish are similar because they book come from Latin. My Spanish is rusty, but it is good enough to enjoy Si Volvieras a Mi, the meaning things usually lost in translation. I particularly like the line at the end that says he would be happy again (seria feliz otra vez) if his love interest comes back to him (si volvieras a mi). I'm pretty nerdy about languages. I can conjugate verbs like a cowboy draws. I'm conjugating so fast when I'm listening to conversations. Spanish is an extremely fast language. It is quickly spoken and yet, it is not too fast. When you learn it, you will realize that it is smart to speak and understand quickly. Natives do not speak Spanish slowly and think you are not normal if you speak slowly as they do in English. So, I remember practicing my speed over the last few years. First, I learn pronunciation and grammar for a sentence I want to use in conversation. Then, I practice it again trying to say it faster so that people take me more seriously. 

Spring 2022 Final Exams

I managed to finish my exams for the spring semester. It looks like I am on track. The last exam was more difficult that I expected it to be. I did not study enough for it because I thought the professor told us exactly what areas/questions to study for the exam. However, I needed to remember some math I learned years ago while taking a year of Precalculus at the local community college. After panicking for a while, I managed to remember what I needed to know to solve the problem. I still did not do well on the exam, but I could have done worse. I managed to get a passing grade in the class from the other assignments. I had to take the field lab exam early for this class (surveying). We got the chance to work with a total station like real surveyor. I do not want to be a surveyor, but I still gained something from this class. My level would not level. I was not able to complete the assignment. I took exams for infrastructure, estimating I, intro to computers (for my business minor), and construction planning and scheduling by May 4th. Then, I had to pack up my things to move out of my dorm. I have been living on campus although I am in my 30's. It has saved me time and money I would have used commuting and allowed me to focus entirely on my studies.