One day I’m gonna learn this dance, and be really good at it.

One day.

I finally caved and got an iPod.

I never saw the need to have thousands of songs. It was all a bit excessive if you asked me. I always reasoned that I’m never on the road for such an extended period of time that I’ll need to have an entire library of songs at my fingertips. I was also very happy with my Sony Discman (yes, I still buy CDs although the frequency of that has dropped drastically) and I had a functioning Samsung MP3 player, with a mere capacity of 512MB, which was really more than enough for my needs. So, no. The iPod was never on any of my wishlists.

Of course, all that has changed after 8? 9? years, since this tiny music device was first launched. Mostly because:

1. I now have the financial capacity to buy my own tech toys.
2. I’ve recently replaced my old Sennheiser headphones and they are begging to be used.
3. This new iPod nano has a nifty video recording function which kinda looks good.
4. I’m starting to miss listening to music as I travel from place to place.

Allow me to explain point number 4: You see, work is a mere 15-20 minutes away, so I’ve not bothered to listen to any music as I travel to and fro over the past few years, choosing to spend my time on the commute catching up with news/tweets on my BlackBerry. To me, music is an experience that needs to last wayyy longer than 15-20 minutes. Cutting it short just seems… wrong. But yes, because I’ve not been listening to any music outside of home and the office for at least 3 years, I’ve really come to miss it tremendously. There’s just something special about walking through a park, or taking a long bus ride while listening to music that speaks to your soul, y’know?

So there’s the product shot of my new iPod nano up there, which has been projected to arrive at my doorstep on May 13. I was originally gonna go with either the yellow or the black, but seeing as the red one was tied in with (RED), and I didn’t mind the colour, I picked this one instead. Anything to support a worthy cause, no?

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Music has always been a big part of my life ever since I knew how to work the radio on my own. So for this Tumblr Challenge (Day 18 is ‘Whatever tickles your fancy’), I’ve decided to come up with a whole list of my favourite Top 100 Billboard hits for every year that I’ve been around (I’m not including 2010 yet since we still have 7 months to go). This list is based on the hits as recorded by this site and is definitely not accurate in terms of what constitutes my favourite song that was released each year. Even so, trust me when I say that it was not easy for me to choose these songs here.

1982 – Centerfold, by J. Geils Band
1983 – Africa, by Toto
1984 – When Doves Cry, by Prince
1985 – Summer of ‘69, by Bryan Adams
1986 – That’s What Friends Are For, by Dionne Warwick and friends
1987 – With Or Without You, by U2
1988 – Man In The Mirror, by Michael Jackson
1989 – Smooth Criminal, by Michael Jackson
1990 – Nothing Compares 2 U, by Sinead O’Connor
1991 – It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over, by Lenny Kravitz
1992 – Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen
1993 – Cryin’, by Aerosmith
1994 – Stay (I Missed You), by Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories
1995 – Back For Good, by Take That
1996 – Wonderwall, by Oasis
1997 – The Freshmen, by Verve Pipe
1998 – Never Ever, by All Saints
1999 – Iris, by Goo Goo Dolls
2000 – Smooth, by Santana featuring Rob Thomas
2001 – Drive, by Incubus
2002 – No Such Thing, by John Mayer
2003 – The Remedy (I Won’t Worry), by Jason Mraz
2004 – You And I Both, by Jason Mraz
2005 – Collide, by Howie Day
2006 – How To Save A Life, by The Fray
2007 – Waiting On The World To Change, by John Mayer
2008 – Viva La Vida, by Coldplay
2009 – Use Somebody, by Kings Of Leon

Already, all the cousins are musically-inclined in our own special way. Put the entire extended family together and we’d be more than happy to entertain ourselves for hours, as long as there’s a guitar around. And I must say, none of us are bad singers. :p In fact, it takes very little for the cousins to get excited about singing together. Earlier this month, we were convinced we’d do a decent job with our own rendition of Glee’s version of Lean on Me that we even bought sheet music. Alas, we’ve only had that one practice since so I honestly have no idea when we’d finish learning the whole song. Heh.

Wow. That sure was a long intro to prove my point. Anyway, so earlier this evening, one of my younger cousins and I had a very short Twitter convo that only music-holics would approve:

@bittymacbeth: Ironing and listening to The Temper Trap. I think Five Iron Frenzy would be more apt …? HAHA, lame pun, I know sorry.

@allysont: @bittymacbeth I disagree. Iron Maiden would be more apt. Hur hur… :p

@bittymacbeth: @allysont Before I say “or Hot Hot Heat” HAHA THAT SHOWS YOU’RE LAMER THAN I AM!!

@allysont: @bittymacbeth What can I say? The ability to think up lame puns totally runs in the family.

This coming from 2 cousins who came up with code names for ourselves, all based on bands/song titles. Yes, we’re geeks.

Tell me you weren’t touched by this. Seriously, Chris Colfer (Kurt) has an ability to pull heartstrings.

I can already predict there will be tears shed (mine) in the next episode of Glee.

*sniffs*

I have a feeling I might wear out my DVD when the complete Season 1 comes out. :p

I know of some people who take karaoke soooo seriously that they’d probably walk out of the room as soon as I sing that first line of Wannabe. I don’t know man. Isn’t karaoke supposed to be fun? I mean, the whole setup of a karaoke outlet – from it’s private rooms, to the completely irrelevant accompanying video, down to the poor lighting – is designed in such a way that it allows us to unleash our inner cheesy pop stars, right? No? It’s just me?

Well, in any case, if you’re anything like me and my girls who enjoy nothing more than to mimic the boybands of yore, allow me to suggest some of our favourites, so you won’t have to waste too much time scrolling through the pages of songs, next time you hit the karaoke spots.

1. Dancing Queen – Abba (great starter piece; loosens you up rightaway)
2. Same Old Brand New You – A1 (catchy tune, and the choreography is really easy to pick up!)
3. Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) – Backstreet Boys (the chorus is always a crowd pleaser)
4. Flying Without Wings – Westlife (minimal choreography but totally fun to make fun of!)
5. Bye Bye Bye – NSync (gets a tad repetitive after awhile though)
6. I’ll Never Break Your Heart – Backstreet Boys (great pop ballad to get all dramatic on)
7. Barbie Girl – Aqua (needs no explanation, I’m sure?)
8. Boom Boom Boom – Vengaboys (feel free to jump to this one)
9. Spice Up Your Life – Spice Girls (you’ve gotta do this with at least 2 others)
10. Sweet Child Of Mine – Guns N Roses (a must if you enjoy wailing)

We (or, rather, Brayton) tried to figure out the harmonies first based on a preview page of the sample sheet music we got off the Internet, but after seeing how devoted we were to getting our melodies perfect, we promptly purchased/downloaded the rest of the sheet music, and gleefully – ha! see what I did there? – got down to learning our parts. It was an extremely serious session, with all of us displaying plenty of dedication as we eagerly took instructions from our 17-year-old conductor extraordinaire. Unfortunately, the song was a LOT more difficult than we thought, so we only managed to learn up until the end of the first chorus. All within 3 hours. LOL. You see, only 2 of the cousins can sight read. So um, yeah. :p

What I loved most about the whole experience was the exciting revelation that God may have a bigger purpose for us to fulfill. Not only has He blessed us in such a way that He has given us similar gifts, He’s even gone so far as to give each of us different vocal ranges so we could perfectly fill up the various SATB roles (Soprano: Rachel, Alto: Me, Tenor: Brennan, Bass: Bjorn & Ian, Soloist 1: Beth, Soloist 2 & Conductor: Brayton). Naturally, His blessings brought about indescribable feelings of pure bliss as we sang together as a family.

The 7 of us don’t get to come together very often, so I’m not sure when exactly we’ll finish learning the song. But I’m confident that the end product will be pretty decent, and dare I say, good, even. But yes, we’ll try to do a recording so you can judge. For now, I’m just deeply thankful that we all have this amazing connection with each other, that can simply be attributed to our love for God and music.

In fact, I’ve not been able to stop listening to this song since watching the most recent episode.

I dare you to remain indifferent after watching this. Go on. I dare you.