The iPod is the best Christmas present I ever received and it has taken me this long to make it my own. After reading Dooce and her blog about music, I realized it was time to load up the iPod that has been sitting in the drawer since December 25. To make a long and boring story short, it dawned on me that I could do it through iTunes without having to upgrade my soon-to-die computer. I spent two days loading all my favorite songs, from when I was in junior high, till the present time. Thanks to Apple, I feel like I am the DJ of my own private radio station. And a damn good one at that!
I realize how much music means to me and how it can make me feel happy, melancholia, sentimental and invoke memories from the past. Every relationship I was ever in is equated with a certain song. If you are important in my life, you have a designated song. I have a song for everything, from my first drink, to my first xxx use, to the night I lost my virginity.
I think the fact that I am the worst singer on the face of the earth, and could never even remotely carry a tune, causes me to envy people who can sing. I am mesmerized by American Idol and I literally loose a night's sleep when someone looses. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Paris Hilton's new CD. There is a void in my life since Brittany choose mother hood over her career.
When I was in college, one of my friends would ask me to sing for her when she was depressed. It never failed that by the time I finished, she had tears running down her face caused by laughing hysterically. In kinder garden, the teacher made me the conductor (silent) of the other kids, because my singing threw everyone off key. That didn't stop me from singing - Barbara Ann, Benny and the Jets, Roxanne to the people I knew who were lucky enough to have a song named after them. It was probably funny the first time.
I can't hear YMCA without seeing my friend Joe, projectile puking over everyone on the dance floor at a wedding while making the letter Y. Then there's "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow," from Annie, that my daughter watched every day for three years. The theme from Sesame Street is forever etched in my mind, along with "It's a Small, Small World" from Disneyland. My wedding song was the Notre Dame fight song, and my daughter's was Hey Ya. Regardless, I do have good taste in music, and I attribute it to growing up with the Beatles, Stones and Pink Floyd.
I have friends who can really sing and play instruments and I admire them deeply. I recently watched a DVD of a friend's workshop gig and was blown away. I had no idea she was so talented and had such a powerful voice. I watched another friend heal from her daughter's untimely death by writing and singing songs dedicated to her. Another friend teaches guitar at USC and travels all over the world performing. He is soon to launch his own web site, that offers virtual guitar lessons. And I can't even sing Happy Birthday in tune.
All I know, is that I was so happy today listening to all my songs and thinking of good times past. A perfect day for me is walking along the beach with my iPod blasting in my ears and now that the weather is good, I plan on doing it quite often. It doesn't get any better than that. As long as I don't sing along.
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