Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 31 - Veronica

Thank you for coming along on this musical journey of remembrance through my iPod for another year.  It's always a little bittersweet to get to this point.  I'm relieved to have the month over to let off on the pressure of having to post daily, but by the same token, I'm sad to not be so fully involved with my blog usually until November when NaBloPoMo starts.  There'll be posts though as I continue to travel and explore, and see what this 48th year of my life has in store... and, I truly hope you'll continue to come along for the ride...

Birthday Shuffle Year I

Birthday Shuffle Year II

Birthday Shuffle Year III

Birthday Shuffle Year IV

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 30 - Here It Goes Again

Ok I have to admit, I fell in love with this song because of the video...


I first saw it while working out and, since I couldn't here the music, it took a bit of detective work to finally find the group name and song name.  And I added the video to my iPod.  It's one of only a couple I have where the video really makes the song... I just always wonder how many takes it took to get this right...?

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 29 - 50 Ways to Say Goodbye

I love quirky songs, and when I first heard this one I was hooked...  especially when I heard the mariachi music for the opening...

 

 

And then I really heard the lyrics... I mean, what else could be funner, and more truer, than this..?

 

"My heart is paralyzed
My head was over sized
I'll take the high road like I should

 You said it's meant to be
That it's not you, it's me
You're leaving now for my own good

 

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntan
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!

She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died

 

My pride still feels the sting
You were my everything
Some day I'll find a love like yours (a love like yours)

She'll think I'm Superman
Not super minivan
How could you leave on Yom Kippur?

 

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!

She dried up in the desert
Drowned in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east side night club
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died

 

I wanna live a thousand lives with you
I wanna be the one you're dying to
Love, but you don't want to

 

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

 

She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntan
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water
Fell and no one caught her
I returned everything I ever bought her
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies

She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!

She dried up in the desert
Drowned in a hot tub
Danced to death at an east-side night club
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say goodbye"

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 28 - Mamba Negra

I've mentioned many times how I get a lot of my music recently from the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance."  I heard a small snippet of this song during one of the solos by a contestant named Paul.


And I loved it!  I knew I had to add it to my collection of music.  Having a sexy Latin dancer gyrating to it may have helped a little.

Are there songs you've fallen in love with at first hearing.

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 27 - They Don't Know

This was life in the 80's.  Tracey Ullman had her own show.  She sang.  Videos were made and featured on MTV.  Yeah...

This song was first released in 1983.  I was in high school and falling in love for the first time.  I wasn't supposed to date until I was 16 and being in love when you just turned 15 was hard.  A WHOLE YEAR until I could go out!!?!  So this song perfectly fit the situation because, of course, I was going to see my love every chance I could even if we weren't supposed to be "officially dating."

This song still brings back memories of that innocent time and first love that turned somewhat complicated as the years went by... maybe I should have learned to have a little patience, but then my life would have been so different... or maybe not... if you've ever watched "Peggy Sue Got Married" from 1986, you understand that she had the opportunity to change her destiny, and she still ended up in the same place.  What's your thought on destiny...?

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 26 - Cool Change

I really miss summer sailing races...

I have always loved to sail, and while I was in residency,

one of my attendings asked if I would be willing to crew

on his boat.

I, of course, said "YES!"

I crewed for two summers, every Wednesday evening

on a J24, doing everything from grinding the main sail during turns

to being in the "pit" and hoisting and retrieving the spinnaker during

the downwind leg.

I created a video of some of the over 300 pictures I took during

those two summers.  And, I took the music that this boat pictured

up above was playing one day when there was no wind,

and they were just motoring around the fleet...

I had boat lust from the first time I saw her...

She's a beauty...!

Anyway, the song in today's shuffle has been a favorite of mine

from the time I was a child.  Released in 1979, I always imagined

myself sailing on a boat, just being pushed by wind,

the feel of the ocean gliding beneath,

and the excitement of uncharted and exotic destinations...

Have I mentioned how much I love sailing...?

Enjoy!

I also used this song when I made a video of our first cruise ever.

The song is the first of three as the video is kinda long...

but then, it was a week long cruise and I took over 1500 pics...

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 25 - I Have Nothing

I've written about this song before as a part of my favorite love songs, but this is the first time the song has come up in the shuffle.  As I wrote then, I love to sing this song out loud.  My hubby laughs as I try to hit those high notes and somehow not take a breath the way Whitney does.... but, no one can sing like Whitney could.  Shame what happened to her and her daughter.  Sometimes money doesn't buy happiness.

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 24 - Daydream Believer

I've written in two prior posts how much I love The Monkees, and today a third song of theirs made the shuffle.

 

 

The song is about a relationship moving from the intial fantasy phase to a steady everyday phase with love triumphing in the end.  I just know it's a great song by one of my favorite groups.  And who wasn't in love with Davey Jones?

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 23 - All I Need is a Miracle

1985, and the world was her oyster...

By February of 1986 when this song came out

so much had changed.

She was still hopeful, though.

UL 2 (unrequited love #2) still seemed

like a possibility.

And this song helped spur on those

naive dreams of finding your

Prince Charming...

Supid girl...

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 22 - I Hope I Get It

While this isn't the music from "A Chorus Line" the movie... I think you get the idea...


I've written before that I love musicals.  And this is one of my favorites.  It's a story about dancers trying to reach their dreams.  Which is probably why I have liked "So You Think You Can Dance" for the last 10 years.  Again, people working hard to reach their dreams.

Not to make a political commentary, but as I have been watching the Tour de France and watching SYTYCD this summer, I think sports and dance are the only places left where people who work hard get rewarded for their effort and not just for showing up.  There's no free ride.  If you don't put in the time, you don't have a chance to win the prize.

Ok, and off the soapbox.  What's your favorite musical?

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 21 - Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)

I have a bunch of Kelly Clarkson music on my iPod, so it's interesting that after five years of doing this shuffle, this is the first time that one of her songs comes up... and, one of her newer songs to boot.

I've loved her music since that first season of "American Idol."  I remember her as the contestant that could sing anything!  No matter what was thrown at her, she could sing it...

And through it all, she was so humble and down to earth.  And still seems to be...

As for today's shuffle pick, like most people, I first heard this song on the Toyota Camry commercial.

I was immediately attracted to the beat and to the lyrics.  It's now one of my favorite cycling songs because just as I am feeling as though a hill is about to beat me this song comes on, and I feel like I can power through and go up and over.  And that holds true to anything else that life might throw at me... With inspirational music like this, you just keep going on and on.

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 20 - Our Song

All through out relationship, my DH and I have had a variety of "our songs." I've written about this before in another post, and the post has links to all the videos.

Initially, it was "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic since we had established a long distance relationship while I was in medical school in Wisconsin and he was in Atlanta.

We had some difficulties, as any couple does, during the early part of our relationship.  When we finally sorted through those hard times, and he gave me a promise ring as I entered my internship year, our song became "Con Los Anos Que Me Quedan" which talks about basically spending the rest of your life making up for the difficulties which were caused by immaturity or pride.  This was our first dance at our wedding to this song.

Since our wedding, I can't say that we really have a song now.  Or, at least, not one that we identify with.  So, I like Taylor Swift's "Our Song" because it talks about finding your song in the daily things that happen.  And, it's those little things that continue to build the relationship.  "...'fore I said "Amen" asking God if He could play it again."

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 19 - It Takes Two

What can I say...? It's just a fun song, with a great beat, easy to dance to, which I did in 1988 when this song came out. Just more college memories...!

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 18 - Be Not Afraid

I've been riding my bike for several months now.  I generally try to ride every other day, and I always listen to music while I am riding.  On Sundays when I ride, I have a playlist of religious music that I listen to.  I'm Catholic, and I have to admit to lapses when it comes to going to Mass every Sunday, but when I ride on Sundays, I do take the time to meditate on God and my faith.

This is one of the songs in my playlist.  I've said before that I used to play in the church choir.  During that time, I played a lot of music and had a lot of favorites.  This is one of them.

It's a song that gave me a lot of comfort during my high school and into college years.  And, when I started to collect music on my iPod, I actually sought out and found some of those songs that used to make me feel good about and encouraged my faith in God.  This is one of them... enjoy!

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 17 - Sweet Caroline

I LOVE Neil Diamond...

His music has been a part of my life since high school.

I have a lot of his music on my iPod,

and today this song came up...

This year, I was lucky enough to go see him in concert,

and it was AWESOME!

We had great seats, center floor about row 10...

and, I drove my husband crazy singing along with most of the songs..

but then, so was most of the crowd around us

and I didn't feel bad at all about it...

Especially when he played "Sweet Caroline"...

I'd share the video I shot during the song, but there's a lot of

me singing "bham bham bham"

and 

"so good! so good!  SO GOOD!"

If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you need to watch this video

which was shot at Fenway Park in Boston after the marathon bombing.

They play this song at every game (I went to one while I lived in Boston),

and it's always great to have the crowd singing together...

Enjoy!  Sing Along!

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 16 - Hot N Cold

Who hasn't been in this situation in a relationship?  I remember several relationships in college that went along like this... then I met my DH.  And, we did have some early struggles, but then everything settled out.


I think my favorite line of the song is "Someone, call the doctor, got a case of the love bipolar."
So glad to not be in this situation any more.... but I do enjoy the song...!

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 15 - Low

Another one of those dance-until-my-feet-fall-off songs. I loved the beat from the first time I heard it, and then I heard the lyrics. Just a fun dance song all around. I then saw it in the movie "Step Up 2 the Streets" and I think that made me like it even more...

   

 I wrote about it in another post about dancing it out.  And, that's what it's really all about... taking the time to work off a little stress, have a little fun, and just recharge your batteries so you can get set to get the job done. That's why it's on my dance list favorites and on my cycling audio list. 

 And, why it should be on yours too...!

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 14 - All About the Bass

If you haven't heard this song, you've been living somewhere out of touch with the world.  This is another of those heard-it-on-the-radio-and-knew-I-had-to-own-it songs.  One because of the beat, but two, as I wrote about yesterday, I like songs that are inspirational.  And, believe me, if you're not a size 2 (which 60% of the population aren't), you know what it's like to have some confidence issues.  Or maybe you don't.  I did.

Regardless, this is a fun song, and well worth the listen:

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 13 - Try

I'm alway listening for new inspirational music, and

I know from the moment I heard this song I had to have it.

So I immediately added it to my collection.

I especially enjoy listening to music like this when I'm out riding...

Enjoy...!  Be inspired like I was...

"Wait a second,

Why, should you care, what they think of you

When you're all alone, by yourself, do you like you?

Do you like you?

You don't have to try so hard

You don't have to, give it all away

You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up

You don't have to change a single thing

You don't have to try so hard

You don't have to bend until you break

You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up

You don't have to change a single thing"

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 12 - iPod Medley

When your husband surprises you with this

for your birthday...

One song just isn't going to be enough...

So my three favorite "I love life" songs for today are:

Good to Be Alive by Jason Gray

Living in the Moment by Jason Mraz

and

Best Day of My Life by American Authors

Cheers to what this next year of life is

going to bring and feeling thankful

for the blessings I have received this last year...

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day 11 - I Feel Good

In honor of my dog Dillon's birthday,

I am using the song that I used in his birthday video.

For those that don't know me,

I don't have kids, I have dogs.

And, I like making videos of all the pics I take of them...

and posting things to their blog...

Don't judge me...

And, rock on with James Brown!

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Ten - Just Dance

During the November NaBloPoMo, I wrote about dancing.  I wrote about my love of dancing.  I wrote about my favorite dance songs.  This one by Lady Gaga on today's shuffle didn't make it to my list.  It's got a nice beat, but it's not the "jump-out-of-your-seat-and-grab-the-closest-partner" kind of dance song that really gets me moving.



Still, it's a good song, with good lyrics, most of which say it plain and simply "just dance."

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Nine - Sexy & I Know It

I have a lot of songs on my iPod that just make me happy.  This is one of them.  Back when it was released in 2011, I heard it on the radio, and I almost immediately added it to my iPod list.  It's a romp.

I like listening to it when I work out because I could almost imagine some of the guys at the gym looking at themselves in the mirror and thinking of themselves in the manner of the song...
yeah, I see you checking yourself out...

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Eight - Here I Am (Come and Take Me)

I can still him standing in the kitchen, making us dinner...

UL3 (unrequited love #3).

This song was playing in the background.

He was so cool.  He was so confident.

He was so out of my league,

but I fantasized about a relationship with him anyway.

And, he was a friend... one that would make me dinner

and hang out

and tease

and always remain just out of reach.

Years later I saw him again for the first time

and, I realized that he had not aged well,

and while I am not someone to ever judge someone on their looks,

seriously, what happened?

But this song takes me back to the college him

and the college me

and the lust that comes with youthful fancy.

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Seven - Turn Down For What

I think I've said before that I have a very eclectic taste in music.

I do have some rap music in amoungst the pop and the Latin and the rock.

This song I first heard on SYTYCD (so you think you can dance)
which is my summer weakness.

Again, it's all about the beat.

Which when you're battling a 7% grade really helps.

Here's the original routine with Ricky and Valerie:

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Six - Are You Gonna Go My Way?

I first heard this Lenny Kravitz song when he appeared on

the David Letterman Show.

I liked the beat, and I immediately

developed a girl crush on his drummer.

This song is on my cycling playlist because I can

rock out and keep pedaling to the beat.

Of course, Lenny Kravitz is more familiar now

as Cinna on the "Hunger Games" series.

I always get misty during that scene in the second movie...

I'm not going to spoil it, you know the one...

Regardless, this is a great song,

and he is a great singer/actor.

And, it's the second time he's

been on the birthday shuffle.

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Five - Do You Love Me?

Original by the Contours




I could not dance.  Yes, I'm Hispanic, and I should have that inner rhythm, but I seriously could not dance.  I remember going to dances in high school and just sort of moving along with the rhythm, but I didn't really dance.  And, my good friend in college laughed at me during that freshman year whenever I tried dancing because, well, I sucked.

During that summer between college freshman and sophomore year, I started going to 18 and over dance clubs with my friend P.  He challenged me to not care about what anyone thought as we danced.  And, how we danced.  We went to various clubs from local small clubs to larger LA beach clubs.  And, we danced and danced and danced.

I watched the other people around me and started to copy their moves.  And, as I did so, I gained a lot of confidence.  I remember once being at a club with no one dancing and P and I being the first ones on the dance floor to get the night started.  Yeah, that was fun.

When I came back to college that fall, I remember my friend asking me where I had finally learned to dance.  I told her about going to dance clubs all summer.  "Dirty Dancing" came out later during that year, and it soon became like a theme song for me, because I remembered the time when I couldn't dance.  Plus, being that mom had listened to 60's music while I was growing up, I actually knew how to "mash potato" and how to "do the twist."  Do you...?

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Four - Music

Given my love of music,
it's only appropriate that Madonna's Music
finally comes out early in this year's shuffle.

Released in 2000, it's got a great beat,
and the lyrics really say what it's all about:

"Hey, Mr. DJ, put a record on, I wanna dance with my baby.
And when the music starts, I never want to stop..."

Love, Love, Love it!
Reminds me of being young and
dancing till I thought my feet were going to fall off...

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Three - Coldhearted

It's always sad to lose a friendship, and worse when it's over something stupid like a man.  

I went to college in San Diego, and I had a close circle of friends;  in particular, two friends that I had made while living in the residence halls.  In my senior year, we ended up living together.

Now, over the prior four years, we'd had our share of relationships  Of ups and downs, of late nights crying and hugging, of burning photos and drinking wine coolers (yes, this was the 80's), and of promising that no matter what, we'd always be there for each other.  Until "Malone" (alias) came along.

I can't remember how they met.  We were all over 21 at this point and going to bars and clubs on the weekend was a usual occurrence.  We had a wider circle of friends, and it wasn't unusual to be headed to a frat party followed by a party at a friend's house stopping off at a bar for last call.  And, that was just Friday night.  Oh, my liver.

Anyway.  They met and soon weekends were spent going to places where Malone would meet us later.  Then, she started going out alone with him and maybe meeting us later.  Soon, the mid-week booty calls.  Always at his beck and call.

Paula Abdul's "Cold Hearted" came out in June of 1989, and the lyrics fit the situation perfectly.  At least that's how I felt, and how I voiced my concerns to my friend.  Our other friend said "the song wasn't being fair to snakes."  Regardless, I committed the girl friend sin of not supporting my friend in her new relationship.  As she got in deeper and deeper with Malone, our relationship suffered until we no longer had a friendship.  We stopped doing things together.  She stopped talking to me.

This was difficult given that we were living together at the time, but I was just a few months from graduating involved in finals and resumes and job hunting, and she was spending more time with Malone whenever he was available to her.  Our other friend kept neutral and maintained her friendship with both us.  She tried to advise me to support our friend, but I insisted that she was in an unhealthy relationship that was only going to end bad for her.  I explained that I would be there for her when it did, but until that point, I didn't want to see her continuously subjecting herself to Malone's whims and demands.

Years later when I hear this song, I think about that friendship.  I wonder if my 20-something year old self could have handled it better.  I know that around the time I graduated, she stopped seeing Malone.  Through our mutual friend, I know years later she eventually ended up on the East Coast, married, and had kids.  A part of me wishes I could have continued to be her friend.  Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation?  How did you handle it?

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day Two - Geronimo

Music has always been a part of what I do.

Writing, working, riding my bike...

This song by Sheppard has become a sort of "war cry" for me

during this time that I've been cycling and training.

It's got a good beat that I can do my cadence training to.

And, the lyrics...

As a kid, did you ever see the cartoons where when someone

was about to do something scary, they would yell out

"Geronimo!" right before they did it?

That's how I felt about cycling.

Unfamiliar, challenging, kinda scary.

But, I pulled up my biking shorts,

plugged in my iPod, 

and rode...

Thinking "Geronimo!" whenever 

I faced my next challenge...

Birthday Shuffle Year V - Day One - Home

Four years ago, I was a month away from finally realizing one of the dreams 

I had been working toward for many years... my own house.  

I started the "myPod Shuffle" then to count down the days until we would be able to move in.

I've done it every year since as a means of keeping up my blog,

and also to remember the path that brought me here

through the music on my iPod.

We had actually bought the house in April, but we gave the prior owners a few months to be able to transition to their new house.

Our house in July 2011

The house was built in 1980 and had not been worked on since.

We came up with the "5 year plan" and started to work

on making the house our own...

Over the last 4 years, dramatic changes have been happening 

on both the outside and inside of the home.

Here are the ways in which the outside changed...

This is how our home looks now...

There are still a few more changes that need to be made;

windows, deck, landscaping, etc... 

but I'm feeling proud and blessed to be able to call this place

my home...

I hope you'll join me over the next month as I celebrate another birthday month,

relive my memories through the music on my iPod,

and maybe I'll share a little more of the home and life 

I've built in this little corner of Northern California.