The Soundtrack of My Life

While I was listening to Imogen Heap today I realized that for the second time in a month the song I was listening to described my life (well, actually, a line in the song did, the rest of the song is pretty generic). So, instead of try to figure out which one to declare the official theme song of my life, I decided to create a list of songs that make up the Soundtrack of my Life:

1. The line "don't get yourself in situations" from I Am In Love With You - Imogen Heap
Lolo also understands this. :)

2. Taking the Long Way Around - Dixie Chicks
This one is pretty obvious...I can't figure out what is supposed to occur in my life, so I avoid committing to a profession, or to a relationship (although I feel as though I WOULD possibly commit to a relationship if a suitable one presented itself). And the particularities of the song do not correspond to my life, but I wish I was travelling around in a pink RV with stars on the ceiling, possibly one that flew, so I could travel to more places.

3. Is it Any Wonder? - Keane
One of the best lyrics on love I've ever heard: "...love is just a lyric in a children's rhyme." Yes, I'm bitter about love. Who isn't, really? P.S. to my Smug Married friends (especially those of you who didn't date anyone but your spouses, you just won't understand, and that's ok): that was a RHETORICAL QUESTION. Please don't try to contradict me. I know you're blissful, how nice for you. Really, I do think it is nice, I love all of you. But. Don't. Contradict.

4. Easy to Ignore - Sixpence None the Richer
While we are on the cynical-about-love kick, I thought I would throw this in. I will stop whining now, I promise.*

5. Good Love is on the Way - John Mayer
See? I really am optimistic!

6. Why Georgia - John Mayer
He is so wise, especially for someone who also wrote "You're Body is a Wonderland." Which, music wise, I actually like. I really can't bring myself to like lyrics that include the line "bubble gum tongue" though. I'm sorry. I just can't

7. More Than This - Peter Gabriel
Peter (yes, we are on a first name basis. I did listen to him in the womb after all) does such a great job of both summing up life and making you go "huh"? If you think you understand what his lyrics mean, you are probably wrong. Which is similar to how I feel about my life. This song blows my mind...

8. Signal to Noise - Peter Gabriel featuring Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
...but this one does even more. Plus the vocals are insano. And what describes me more than insano vocals? I just don't know.

9. She Stumbles Through the Door - Sarah Masen
This describes perfectly how I feel about my faith right now. Some key lines: "on the pages of a memo were picturesque cliches she once called Providence" and "were the angels fighting demons in the corner of the room or was it happenstance?"

10. Take the Bench - Sloan
"Take the bench, little girl, and sing your little heart out."
Ok, I will.

11. Crystal Ball - Keane
Same ol' "I don't know what is happening" theme. This is pretty much how I feel at all times.

12. Square One - Coldplay
I DO just want somebody listening to what I say. THANK YOU Chris Martin of Coldplay.


*Except to say that I wish "Paperweight" by Josh Radin and Schuyler Fisk was on this list. But alas, it is not. I am really done now, the rest of the list is not whiny at all. Except the YBIAW part, but John can take it.

And Also: Adventures in Life

Yesterday I discovered as I was driving to work that I was an hour late. I had changed all the clocks except for the one on my phone, which is serving as my alarm clock while I am with the animales. So, as soon as I got to work I changed my phone. Done. Problem solved. My boss was not in and I finished all the work I was supposed to so no harm done. Later I told the story to a friend of mine. He was surprised my phone hadn't updated itself. he asked if it had an Auto Update feature. I checked. It did. So I turned it on, to avoid this problem in the future.

Today I discovered upon waking that I was an hour late again. I looked at my phone and it had Auto Updated to the old time, probably because they moved DST this year. BAH! So I decided to skip breakfast and got ready super-fast. On the way to work, I decided to get a coffee. Normally I would go to Starbucks, but Tim Horton's was on the way, so I went and ordered a coffee and breakfast, only to discover that I HAVE NO CASH. I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE GONE TO STARBUCKS! So I went in the opposite direction that I should have been going to get to work, and I went to Starbucks and got my coffee. When I got back into the car the Dixie Chicks were singing "Taking the Long Way". And I realized that, not only did this song pertain to my morning, but it also describes my life. And that actually made me happy. Now I need to go drink my coffee.

THE END

Adventures in House Sitting, Part 2

Oh animales, how I love thee, let me count the ways:
2: Escape attempts, caused by
1: Very large, evil cat, that almost killed the dog (this is not the cat I'm looking after, she is nice, this one was the spawn of the devil).
23 hours per day: The amount of time the cat spends purring. Yes this includes when it is right next to my ear at night
0: The number of times the dog has to pee when I am at work for eight hours
1 or 2: The number of times the dog has to pee at night when I am sleeping for eight hours.
0.03: The number of milliseconds it took the cat to jump out of the tub when I turned the shower on.

You Too Can Be Happy For Just $10 000 per Year!

I read an interesting article yesterday. It is basically about happiness and what we need in order to be happy. Especially interesting (although not surprising) is the fact that although the GNP has been consistently on the rise for the last while, the level of satisfaction people claim to have has stayed basically the same. What I was surprised by is the "magic number" of 10 000. This magic number is the amount of dollars per person per year that it takes to be happy. People who make more than $10 000/person/year (so a family of four would need $40 000) are not happier than those who make only $10 000. That number seemed very low to me...I bet most of the people reading this make more than that (it doesn't count if you are in school!). Also worth checking out is the part about sustainable agriculture...there were some surprising numbers there too.

Adventures in House Sitting, Part 1

I am currently house sitting for my boss, who is away in Florida. Where it is warm. And not freezing. Or full of snow...but I digress.

The house that I am sitting contains one dog and one cat. We all know how I feel about dogs so I won't gush too much, but the dog is awesome. Not as awesome or as insano as my dog. But awesome nonetheless. The cat is CRAZY. In a good way. She enjoys:

• sleeping in my laundry.
• drinking from any source of water that is NOT her own water dish.
• batting at the drapes...which she must do RIGHT NOW so she must run across the house and take a flying leap at them.
• purring/licking my face/attacking my feet (which aren't even moving!) whilst I am trying to sleep.
• licking the drops of milk out of my cereal bowl while I am distracted by the dog.
• trying to attack the dog by employing the full body, limbs akimbo, giant ferocious leap but being foiled by (ie bouncing off) the arm of the couch.

Needless to say, it has been great fun so far!

Evangelism Is My Favourite!

Sometimes I just can't believe what lengths people go to for the sake of evangelism. But I am extremely grateful that God has a "wonderful, lead-free plan for [my] life." Because, really, who doesn't love a good lead-free plan?