Variations on a Meme

Okay. I'll bite. B/c this is time consuming and seems like fun. Thanks Gardner. The game is to put your ipod on shuffle and wait for it to magically tell you things about your life. The first song to come on answers the question. Ready?

1. How am I feeling today?
Just a Touch by R.E.M.
You set the pace of what was to come
I have to carry on now that you're gone
A day in the life well nobody laughed
Look to the days how long can this last

Um. Hmm. I am feeling fear for the future? Yeah. That sounds about right.

2. Will I get far in life?
Op Hop Detonation by Stereolab
we who're young and beautiful
we who can stand up and walk
our lives we will learn to control
we who're young and beautiful
respond revolution when
we hear the word suffering

Apparently I will be a revolutionary at some point. And damn good at it.

3. How do my friends see me?
Daysleeper by R.E.M.
I see today with a newsprint fray
My night is colored headache grey
Don't wake me with so much.
The ocean machine is set to nine
I'll squeeze into heaven and valentine
My bed is pulling me,
Gravity
Daysleeper. Daysleeper.Daysleeper. Daysleeper. Daysleeper.

When did R.E.M. start controlling my brain? And that of my friends? So my friends see me as only going through the motions during the day and really living at night. I can take that. Except that in the song it's darn depressing.

4. Where will I get married?
I'm a Believer by The Monkees

England. And how apropos is that song?

5. What is my best friend's theme song?
Africa by Toto
It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

Hmmm. This one is an enigma. Partially because I could not begin to tell you which of my bestestes this is the theme song for. Though I think I'm inclined to say Stephen. You okay with a little Platinum Gold being your theme song, buddy? And, actually, it's kind of appropriate, Stephen being the most stand-up guy, like, ever.

6. What is the story of my life?
Throughout All Time by Dwight Yoakam
I'll still see you walking silently
Through the shadows in my mind
A vision of your sweet blue eyes
Creeps into my dreamful sleep at night
You still haunt the deepness of my memories
I guess you will throughout all time

Many nights I've sat and wondered
If you might be somebody's wife
But if you're not, I'd long to see you
If just to tell you how I've pined

So, completely obsessed with stuff that goes on in the past and hanging on to said past for as long as my feeble mind can stand it? Oh, and romanticizing and fetishizing. Yup. Sounds right.

7. What was high school like?
Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

Well, I don't know quite what to do with the fact that this song is an instrumental. So I'll go with this being the soundtrack to my life in high school, which would make it sort of plodding but with interesting changes in sound and some unexpected exciting bits.

8. How can I get ahead in life?
Elvis Presley Blues by Gillian Welch
I was thinking that night about Elvis
Day that he died, day that he died
I was thinking that night about Elvis
Day that he died, day that he died
How he took it all out of black and white
Grabbed his wand in the other hand and he held on tight
And he shook it like a hurricane
He shook it like to make it break
And he shook it like a holy roller, baby
With his soul at stake

Well, I think the lesson here is pretty obvious. You gotta grab life by the horns and take some chances. Hell with the naysayers. But definitely avoid the drugs so I don't "die along in long decline."

9. What is the best thing about me?
Yore Days by Apples in Stereo
The day will come when all you wanna do is run
Press on your heart with your thumbs
Leaving nothing in its place
What are you thinking? You're not out of time
I keep forgetting how you feel

Must be telling me that I am not afraid of failure. Or that I'm good at pump up speeches. Or something.

10. How is today going to be?
Begin the Begin by R.E.M. (Geez!)

Um. Hmm. Same s*** different day? Yep.

11. What's in store for this weekend?
The Nurse by The White Stripes
No I'm never, no I'm never, no I'm never gonna let you down now

I will mistakenly trust someone?

12. What song describes my parents? (This ought to be good)
"No battery power remains." Hmm. Sorry y'all.

13. My grandparents?
Broken Train by Beck
We're out of control
No one knows how low we'll go

No comment.

14. How is my life going?
What's the Frequency Kenneth? by R.E.M. (for the love!)
I'd studied your cartoons, radio, music, TV, movies, magazines
Richard said, "Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy"
A smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh

So I don't fit in. Apparently even R.E.M. knows it. But it's cool, at least I've learned not to be apathetic.

15. What song will they play at my funeral?
Why Don't We Do It In The Road? by The Beatles
Hey do you think we could of done that better?

I'm conveniently ignoring the first bit. Because for all we know I get to my funeral by doing something dumb like It in the Road.

16. How will the world see you?
King of Comedy by R.E.M. (I have learned that I need to vary my music a bit)
I'm not commodity
I'm not commodity
I'm not commodity
I'm not commodity
I'm not commodity

The world will see me as preachy and opinionated and holier than thou. And judgmental. And right.

17. Will I have a happy life?
The Golden Age by Beck
These day I barely get by
I don’t even try
It’s a treacherous road
With a desolated view
There’s distant lights
But here they’re far and few

I'm going to take this to mean that though things will seem bleak at times there will be moments of bliss and that the future looks generally bright.

18. Do people secretly lust after me?
Reservations by Wilco
I'm bound by these choices so hard to make
I'm bound by the feeling so easy to fake
None of this is real enough to take me from you

I'm going to go with a hell yeah on that one.

19. How can I make myself happy?
Down by the River by Neil Young (Indigo Girls cover)
Be on my side, I'll be on your side, baby
There is no reason for you to hide
It's so hard for me staying here all alone
When you could be taking me for a ride.

Get a partner in crime.

20. What should I do with my life?
Nowhere Man by The Beatles
Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere Man, please listen,
You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command.

So, magic ipod doesn't know exactly what I should do, only that I should decide soon and that my options are quite numerous. Thanks a mil.

21. Will I ever have children?
Sleeping In by The Postal Service
And then last night I had that strange dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where concerns about the world getting warmer
The people thought they were just being rewarded

So maybe, but they will live in a world of revisionist history where God gave us global warming to reward us for being us so that we can swim in the winter. Nifty.

22. What do I think my current theme song is?
Mysteries of Love by Julee Cruise
Sometimes a wind blows
And the mysteries of love
Come clear.

Hmmm. I might have to object.

23. What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Box Full of Letters by Wilco
I can't find time
To write my mind
The way I want it to read

My friends know me better than I know myself.

24. What is my signature dancing song?
The Celibate Life by The Shins

Well, that's more like it. But not so much dancy. Except that I do live in Athens where we have perfected the "I Don't Dance Indie Head Nod."

25. What kind of men do you like? (emotionally unavailable, obviously)
Crash Into Me by Dave Matthews
You’ve got your ball
You’ve got your chain
Tied to me tight tie me up again

I stand corrected. Unless I like men who resent being in relationships. I'm sticking with emotionally unavailable.

That took a long time and I learned nothing. Guess I'll do schoolwork now.