Vacancy.com

Don't you love it when the world seems to come together perfectly for you? That just happened for me! I'm preparing to leave for UCF in Orlando in about a month to begin my freshman year of college, and a part of those preparations is finding a place to live. After searching around the internet, I found a website, www.vacancy.com, that had a pretty wide selection of apartments available in the area. It looked like it was going to be a breeze to find a place to stay!

At the same time, I've been searching for scholarships to help pay for my school and the apartment I'm hoping to get. I happened to stumble up fastweb.com, which had a lot of scholarship opportunities that I've looked into. While looking around on the site, I found a scholarship FOR VACANCY.COM! Isn't that crazy? The same site I'd been looking on already for a place to live was offering a scholarship! To apply for the scholarship, I had to write an essay about why my favorite apartment on vacancy.com was the ideal apartment for me... easy! Here ya go:

My favorite apartment that I've found is in the Resort at Lake Fredrica, and it's just beautiful. The link to it is here: http://www.vacancy.com/florida/orlando-apartments/resort-at-lake-fredrica/amenities/, although I'm reluctant to share the link because I don't want anyone else to get it! Ha ha ha. It's a 3 bedroom / 2 bathroom apartment, which would mean I'd have the chance to live with both of my best friends, Randy and Alex, and we'd be able to split the rent between us, making it really affordable. In addition to the beautiful location, the actual apartment would make adjusting to Orlando life really easy for me and my friends because it includes all the basic amenities, including a refrigerator, microwave, oven, dishwasher, washer, and dryer. I'm not quite used to having to do my own laundry, but having the appliances right in my apartment would make it a lot easier than going to the local pay machines to wash my clothes.

In addition, the apartment offers access to the resort's volleyball court, which would give me and my best friends an opportunity to continue playing volleyball. Although having a volleyball court wasn't a necessity, it definitely is a plus because my friends and I have been playing volleyball recreationally for as long as I can remember, so it's exciting to think a court would be so close for us. Also on the resort grounds are two pools (two! how cool is that?!), a spa and hot tub, a 24 hour fitness center, and a clubhouse. Staying at the Resort at Lake Fredrica would help reduce the amount we currently spend going out to the movies and stuff because it offers us the opportunity to stay home and still have a lot of fun swimming, working out, playing volleyball, or just hanging out in the club house. Definitely can't do all that just staying home here in Land O' Lakes, ha ha ha.

The website listing makes it seem like this is pretty much my dream apartment, and I'm really excited to go check it out for myself in person with Alex and Randy. If you're in the area starting in August, be sure to hit me up and come visit me, Randy, and Alex at the Resort at Lake Fredrica! Thanks to www.vacancy.com (which I would definitely recommend if you're looking for a place to live) and www.fastweb.com (which really does have a lot of great scholarships!).

Talk to y'all later!

Vote for the Worst Caricatures

Okay, so I am a huge American Idol fan, and with that comes a love for all things AI, including the site "Vote for the Worst". My favorite part about the site is the caricatures they do of their "picks", but until recently I couldn't find them all. I finally did thanks to VFTW, and hopefully with this post, some of you will be able to find them, also.

You can just go to this link and scroll down to find every banner VFTW has had ever:

http://www.votefortheworst.com/forum/topic/65104/master-list-of-past-vftw-picks/page1

Season 6: (from left) LaKisha Jones, Blake Lewis, Phil Stacey, Sanjaya Malakar,

Antonella Barba, & Sundance Head

Season 7: (from left) Brooke White, David Archuleta, Jason Castro, Kristy Lee Cook,

Amanda Overmyer, Danny Noriega, & Amy Davis

Season 8: (from left) Lil Rounds, Tatiana Del Torro, Megan Joy, Kris Allen, Danny Gokey,

Nick Mitchell, Scott MacIntyre, & Matt Giraud

Season 9 (so far): (from left) Siobhan Magnus, Hayley Vaughn, Paige Miles, Tim Urban,

& Michael Lynche

Resident Evil 4 Sound Bytes

Okay, no clue if anyone will care or not, but I think this is so cool. I've never really played Resident Evil 4 besides a little bit at a very good friend of mine's house, but here are the sound bytes for the major characters, meaning all they say. It's so funny to listen to someone just shout "CHRIIIS"!! ha ha ha. Anyway, this is from the webpage: http://haoranc.livejournal.com/1570.html, so thank you so much!!! :D

Download:

http://www.iLev.nl/residentevil5/Speech.rar

The Music of Disney's One Saturday Morning

So, a long time ago, every Saturday Morning, I would watch Disney's One Saturday Morning. So, not-so-predictably, at this point in my life when I am being nostalgic out the wahoo, I found this soundtrack to it from a blog (special thanks to disneysongtape.blogspot.com) and downloaded it. The cassette rip contained all the songs, but they weren't labeled correctly, and towards the end, there were about 6 or 7 songs where the beginning of a song was tagged onto the end of the previous track (which I can understand, it being a cassette rip and all). So, I bring you the album completely correctly tagged and those few songs corrected. In addition, the cover artwork is my own. Enjoy! :)

Tracklist:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4zmcazhwn4y

Spongebob Squarepants: the Unreleased Collection

UNRELEASED SPONGEBOB MATERIAL! Okay, here is a collection I made personally using various DVD and iTunes rips. It is a collection of songs that have appeared in the Spongebob Squarepants TV Show but are not available for purchase, including the soundtrack from "Atlantis Squarepantis". Well, actually, there are about five songs that I purchased off of iTunes for inclusion on the album (tracks 5-9), but all the rest are my rips. I hope you enjoy! :)

01. Spongebob Squarepants Multi-Language Theme Medley 02. WhoBob WhatPants Opening

03. Spongebob Christmas Special Theme

04. Opening Sea Shanty (from various episodes)

05. Livin' In the Sunlight, Lovin' In the Moonlight (from the pilot "Help Wanted")

06. Daydream Believer (from "Spongebob vs. The Big One)

07. Rocket Sled to Oahu (recurring surf music used in several episodes)

08. Kung Fu Saturdays (recurring surf music used in several episodes)

09. The Very First Christmas (from the Spongebob Christmas Special)

10. I Love Krabby Patties (from "Banned in Bikini Bottom)

11. So Long, Bikini Bottom (from "Chimps Ahoy")

12. Down the Well (from "Wishing You Well")

13. Cha-Ching (from "Selling Out")

14. Krusty Krab Pizza (from "Pizza Delivery")

15. Oh, My Karen! (from "Single Cell Anniversary")

16. Dunces & Dragons Medley (from "Dunces & Dragons")

17. The Sponge Who Could Fly Medley (from "the Sponge Who Could Fly")

18. If I Could Talk to Money (from "Money Talks")

19. It's All About You / 4-Ply When I Cry (from "Whale of a Birthday")

20. Together (from "Inmates of Summer")

21 - 29 are from Atlantis Squarepantis

21. Atlantis Squarepantis Opening

22. Main Titles

23. Our Favorite Things / Fueling the Bus

24. All This Money

25. The Germ Warrior

26. Weapons

27. Art

28. Goodbye, Atlantis

29. Spongebob End Credits

30. I Love Krabby Patties (Karaoke Version)

31. Idiot Friends (Karaoke Version)

32. Goofy Goober Rock (Karaoke Version)

33. Treasure (Karaoke Version)

34. Goodbye, Atlantis (Karaoke Version)

http://www.mediafire.com/?zjojmdj2oor

You're Pitiful

Weird Al Yankovich was getting to release "Straight Out of Lynwood", which included a parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful". Blunt himself gave Weird Al permission to parody it, but his record company ended up coming back and saying no. So, instead of releasing it on the album, he just released it free online to his fans. Below you can download the song, which I think is hilarious.

www.al-oholicsanonymous.com/sounds/yourepitiful.mp3

Music from Merry Madagascar

So, Merry Madagascar premiered sometime last week. It was just a 1/2 hour special featuring the characters from Madagascar. There were a couple of songs in it, so I worked very hard to get them. The internet was no help so I ripped the audio from the credits and got the other info from the credits. So, here is the tracklist of all the songs, in the order they appear in the movie (just in case you care about that):

1. Every Woman in the World - Air Supply


2. I Like to Move It (Choral Intro Version)


3. Cool Yule - Louis Armstrong & the Commanders


4. Santa Claus is Coming to Madagascar


5. Suite from Merry Madagascar

and here is the link to tracks 2, 4, & 5. Tracks 1 & 3 are available on iTunes, so get them on there if you're interested. The tracks I am putting up are not available anywhere as far as I'm aware, so if I'm wrong, PLEASE let me know because a) I don't want to be illegal and share things that are available for purchase and b) I want to purchase the official versions!!!

http://www.mediafire.com/?tjy3a3jezom



Also, here's my album artwork for this little EP:

My Scene Music Mixes (UPDATED! COMPLETE!)

Okay, so this is gonna seem really, really lame, but I'm like the most nostalgic person ever, so I don't care.

Back in... 2002? 2003? Anyway, around then, the My Scene Barbie dolls were really, really popular. Anyway, my best friend and I (she was a girl) had some (yes, I had some; you don't understand, I grew up in a neighborhood with only girls), and at one point they came with a CD. My best friend and I had 3 of the 4 and used to listen to them like crazy.

When I moved, I somehow ended up with only one of them, and just kind of forgot about it.

Then, one day, I got this crazy random urge to hear them again. I was probably feeling... nostalgic. Shocker.

So, I tried to look them up, and... nada. It's like they were never in existence! I reserached SO hard and finally (FINALLY) found the tracklists for the three we had. So, I bought all the songs (EVEN THE ONES I DIDN'T LIKE!) off of iTunes. I have em now. :) And I love the songs in their own right, they're great songs. Plus, I have all the memories of them. It's a double win.

All the songs were clean cause it was a children's toy, so I don't have those versions, but, eh. No big.

Anyway, here's the tracklisting. In case I ever need to see it again or if anyone like me is looking for it. Otherwise you're gonna have to piece it together, annoyingly. I recently also came across the Barbie list from an eBay listing (special shout out and THANKS to member "warmster"). Also, if anyone has any of the covers, let me know :)

Chelsea's Mix
1) Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!) by Garbage (clean)
2) Head on Straight by Tonic
3) Just Can't Wait by Stroke 9
4) Best of Me by The Starting Line
5) Just When You're Leaving by Joanna Pacitti (alternate version)

Nolee's Mix
1) Soak Up the Sun by Sheryl Crow
2) Holiday in My Head by Smash Mouth
3) Big Yellow Taxi by Counting Crows (alternate version without Vanessa Carlton)
4) Chemistry by Semisonic
5) Intentions by Pseudopod

Madison's Mix
1) Take a Picture by Mya
2) Floorfiller by A*Teens
3) I'm A Be Alright by Thicke
4) AM to PM by Christina Milian
5) Gotta Get Thru This by Daniel Bedingfield
6) Ghetto Superstar by Corey

Barbie's Mix

1) Request + Line by the Black Eyed Peas

2) Dy-Na-Mi-Tee by Ms. Dynamite

3) We Are the Ones by Shaggy

4) Play Like Us by Lil' Romeo

5) Thank You by Ashanti

:) I hope this helps someone.

You & Me - Theme Song of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

During the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Liu Huan and Sarah Brightman performed the song "You and Me." The studio recording of the song, performed by Huan & Brightman, is available for free to download. I love this song, Sarah Brightman has an amazing voice and the whole song promotes 'family,' just being peaceful in international situations. Check it out! :)

Official Music Video (I think the music/video is off a bit):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELUQRiEjDtE&fmt=18

The Other Music Video (I prefer this one):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC0w7-RWm_U&feature=related&fmt=18

The Live Performance (I think it's lip-synced):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bZtrvkeZXg&fmt=18

The song to download: http://files.beijing2008.cn/20080808/Theme_Song/youandme.mp3
The link is from the official site, not my upload. It's legal & official! :)

My album artwork coming soon! :)

Successful Day!

Well, looking back on today, I accomplished quite a bit with this blog. ha ha I posted (I think) 5 posts, and a few more, but I deleted them because I didn't think they were that important. :)

Total Drama Island/Action Theme Song

I am in love with the Cartoon Network show "Total Drama Island" (/ Total Drama Action, the title for season 2). I love shows like Survivor, and Total Drama Island does that with cartoons... I just think that's hilarious. :) This is the link where you can download the show's theme song "I Wanna Be Famous" from the blog set up by the show's creators. If you can, check the show out Thursday nights at 9 pm. Enjoy!

http://totaldramaisland.blogspot.com/2008/06/tdi-opening-title-seq.html#links

And above are 2 different covers I made for it. :) Enjoy!

Mamma Mia & Dancing Queen Karaoke

Okay, so like my biggest passion ever is ABBA, including "Mamma Mia! The Movie." I am seriously obsessed with both. Anyway, here is the link to download the instrumental versions of Mamma Mia & Dancing Queen from the movie. I don't know how long they'll work, as the contest that they're for ended over a year ago, but as of today, they work!

http://www.ponds.us/dynamos.aspx

Fabric of Our Lives

Cotton has a new advertising strategy where they brought in three artists and had them write a song about, well, cotton. Each song uses the same chorus, but reflects each artist's personal interpretations. The artists are Zooey Deschanel (from "Elf" & "500 Days of Summer", her song is the "pop-ish" version, and my favorite), Miranda Lambert (she's a country singer, so her's is the country version), & Jazmine Sullivan (who I believe is classified as "R&B," but I am not sure).

To get all 3 songs for free:

http://www.thefabricofourlives.com/TheFabricOfMyLife/music.html

And above is the cover artwork I made for the EP. I just realized that I spelled Jazmine's name wrong, and am sorry!

"The Fruit Guys" EP

Ya know the commercials for Fruit of the Loom underwear where the guys dressed like fruit sing? Well, http://www.fruitguyfans.com/ offers them all for free! Check out the site and get the songs / lyrics. Above is the cover I made for the "EP", just because I'm a little OCD about having cover artwork for my music on iTunes. I wish I could have found a better picture, but that's all I could find. Anyone have anything else? :)

Hello!

My name is Hayden, I am from Tampa, FL, and I am starting a blog to share with others my random thoughts and passions. Hope you enjoy!