You are reading the blog of someone Not Cool

Last night when I was walking home on a completely deserted street, a black cat ran in front of me. Not just once, but TWICE. It had the whole street to itself, yet it still chose to dash in front of me. I stood, transfixed, knowing I was supposed to do something, because the good luck I’ve been having can’t last. I visited a small town yesterday, and as I was just strolling along the sidewalk, a huge truck carrying lots of metal canisters stopped suddenly and a whole bunch of these metal barrels came tumbling down a few feet in front of me. Now THAT’S luck, everyone.

So I stood there, and weighed the consequences. I could either live life on the edge, and hope that since it ran in front of me twice, the bad luck would have somehow cancelled itself out. Yet if it hadn’t, then there was a very big chance that I would be abducted by a dozen of cannibalistic aliens before I got to my hotel at the end of the street.

Against my best judgment, I did nothing.

And today, the beginning of my bad luck streak has begun.

Kristopher Capello has tagged me to list 5 songs corresponding to 5 moods.

Now, people like me don’t just go listing favorite songs on a whim. As I was sitting wondering how I was going to do this, I realized that I don’t think I’m even an advanced enough organism to HAVE 5 moods, since my mood varies between pissed-off and livid. And I am the type of person who:

1. While walking yesterday, I tore off a leaf from a plant. And for the rest of my walk, I stared critically at my leaf, trying to recall the ATP cycle with all of its glorious biological mysteries, while marveling at HOW MUCH REALLY goes on in a simple leaf.

2. The biggest decisions I’ve had to make in the past week has been to decide when to turn over onto my belly or my back while tanning, or if I should walk on the shady or sunny side of the street.

3..Today at lunch, I realized that I could still sing all the lyrics to Britney Spears’ “Lucky."

I´m not the person to ask to reveal musical taste. It´s like asking Oscar on Sesame Street to make you perfume, or asking Hellen Keller to put together a flattering outfit for you. You don´t do it simple because their opinions don´t matter. It´s apparent, especially after number 3, that asking me to list 5 different songs to 5 different moods is just EMBARASSING.

Which is precisely why I’m going to do it. And probably exactly why Kris nominated me to do it, because he knows how much I abhor saying anything about music to anyone.

My moods are very basic and simple. I think I listen to songs to be put into a certain mood most of the time, so I’m just going to do what I feel like, and no one can criticize me, because everyone already knows my taste in music is not like the “cool people’s” taste in music.

To Be Put In A Happy Mood: “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole and “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” by Dean Martin. The second one is, yes, I know, a Christmas song, but that’s the point of Christmas songs, isn’t it? To feel happy! So, YOU might think these songs are lame, but they always bring a smile to my face no matter how bleak everything seems, especially when I sing along with them.

When I Am Excited About Something and Feel Like Boogie-ing Alone: “Flores y Tambores” by Orquesta de la Luz. So this is a salsa band from Japan, and I found out about them on one of the several CDs I found when I got into my latin music kick, which has lasted for a while now, and which drives my mom up the wall, because she says all of the music sounds the same. I like this song because I’ve listened to it enough times to understand what’s being said (it helps that there isn’t a whole lot of lyrics), and, I don’t know, even though I’m one of the whitest people out there (ok, maybe not after 4 weeks of beach), I still really do like salsa music, and I have a great time listening to the music and pretending I could actually dance. Either that, or Luna Llena by Elvis Crespo.

GO AHEAD AND LAUGH. WHAT DO I CARE? At least I can SING TO THEM.

Romantic Mood: From 3:20-end of Juan Diego Florez and Vesselina Kasaroa singing...hmmm, this is a downloaded version, but of them singing together right after they’ve met each other and they fell in love at first sight. Admittedly, there are other operas that are more obviously romantic and their melodies basically drip instead of flow, but this opera has always been special for me, since I’ve been watching it since I’ve been a kid. I went to go see it at the Chicago Lyric Opera house last year, and I nearly melted off my seat when Juan Diego Florez started to sing. I hadn’t heard of him before, but for me he was the star of the opera and not the Cinderella. After that I went on a mission to find all the other operas he’s sung in.

Lonely Mood: I’m not listing any of the sad mood songs, because I don’t usually enjoy being sad and so I try everything possible to get out of them, but when I’m just feeling more or less alone, then Dvorak Romance in F minor, op. 11 does a pretty good job of making me not happy but okay with whatever it is that is going on. I think violins, along with piano concertos, are the most soothing sounds to listen to, and listening to this song does not force a mood on me. Rather, I can just sit and enjoy something when I can’t find anything else to enjoy.

Relaxing mood, especially after running: Angelique Kidjo. And I have far better things to do right now, like putting pictures up.

There we have it. Kris’s is a lot more developed and actually focuses on the music and sounds and stuff like that, but now he can’t say I didn’t do it.

Now, be content knowing that this is the kind of person I am. Don´t say I didn´t warn you.