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It's been an insanely long time.  Literally everything has changed since I last updated.  Mostly for the better.  The rules I am breaking are two-fold:

1) This is going to be a non-30 day music challenge whatever post.
2) This is going to be a post featuring a song that is not going to be posted in the music blog...

Forgive me if my post doesn't make perfect sense.  I've been very sick on and off since the night of the 3rd and I have a 15-20 page paper I haven't started, a 13-page paper I need to edit down to 8 if at all possible (making history papers shorter is much harder than making them longer), an entire grad school application for the library science program to finish (which includes two essays [WHY WHEN HISTORY ONLY NEEDED ONE AND IT'S A MUCH HARDER PROGRAM TO GET INTO?], and a 300-page book written by my prof that I need to read (and criticize) off of a PDF online because I'm too poor to print it all by Dec. 15.  YAY.  The end.

What's good...what's good that I can share....?  I'm going to TA next semester so I don't have to pay tuition and I get a stipend.  Social stuff outside of school is going well.  I'm not a huge fan of a lot of people in my program.  Rather, I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the very visible people in my program so I guess it's not fair to generalize to everyone.  Here we have many guys who went straight from undergrad into a PhD program and while in their 4th or 5th year still have not matured into normal, mature adult males.  As I've probably mentioned, I have a hard time dealing with people who haven't lived lives where they've had to struggle somewhat and/or lives in the real adult world period.  I'm probably still not being fair here but I don't care.  I'm just glad I'm in a grad school near my family and friends.  If I went out-of-state and had my same classmates...  Let's just say I would probably have needed a leave of absence.  I need positive and supportive people in my life and I'm very lucky to have that.  How did my good thing paragraph turn into a rant?  Oy.

A real good thing -- there's a dual history/library science program at my school (good luck figuring out which one, (hopefully benign) stalkers!) and I'm applying to transfer into it next year.  It's an extra MA from a professional school with only one more year of in-state tuition (and that's if I don't get another TA position or assistantship).  Yay :)

Okay, the song I alluded to earlier.  I've had it in my iTunes library for over three years at least and I don't remember ever listening to it.  Big mistake, but good for me now because I can listen to it over and over without being sick of it.  

Why are the Smiths so amazing?  Why did the break up wayyyyyyy before I could ever have seen them live?  Moz is still great and all (except for the racist rants), but nothing can match this: 
Oh, and the worst thing that has happened to me so far this semester?  THE SMITHS BUTTON ON MY BACKPACK EITHER FELL OFF OR WAS STOLEN.  I can only hope that some indie undergrad found it (or stole it) so it's still having a good life outside of a landfill.  

The Smiths<333333<333333<3333333
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Damn, I was hoping I wouldn't have such long stretches in between posts while I was doing this exercise.  On the other hand, I wasn't expecting every single facet of my life to erupt in turmoil.  So I have my reasons!

Anyway, doing today's post will help alleviate some stress, especially because of the category.  The most recent song I've listened to that makes me laugh is "Pimmelmann" by And One because of the lyrics....  Look them up yourself (and then translate into English).  The song title itself is dirty.  Probably a vast majority of And One songs I've listened to make me laugh.  They're German and when they sing in English the lyrics don't really make sense.  I posted something to this effect on last.fm a couple of years ago and a German person responded and said the lyrics don't make sense in German either.  LOL.  What a silly band.

However, I'd rather do something that's funny to me on a deeper level.  And clearly *N'SYNC's version of sexy music wins.  It always will.  How did I listen to "Digital Getdown" with a straight face when it came out? Oh that's right, I was a teenager and blinded to what good music is (for a couple of years, at least).  There's no way any of the guys' solo efforts can live up to this song, though.  LOL.  Ready to laugh?
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Morbid one, huh?  The semantics of today's category don't really make sense to me.  A song that *I* want to play at *my* funeral?  I'm going to be dead so there really won't be a way for me to play a song -- either on my cornet (yes, I play) or a computer or stereo.  Now as for a song that I want played at my funeral (by someone else!), there really is no other option than "Georgia On My Mind."  It's inevitable.  It would be played regardless so why not request it?  ;-)
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The only band that I can think of as being 100% consistently sonically beautiful to me is The Smiths.  I would love to play them at my wedding and I have even talked about this with my friend who also loves them.  So many of their songs are sad, though, and you don't want to play a sad song on such a "special day" (gag me).  So in thinking about today's song choice, an idea hit me:
"Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" but instrumental!  This version of the song is amazing (although the quality isn't the best).  I could listen to it on a loop.  It's still haunting but not so down.  I love this scene and I love John Hughes (RIP<3), so that connection would be fun, too.  

I just know certain people would ask why the hell I had a Smiths song of all things playing at my wedding.  But then again, those people wouldn't understand me and thus wouldn't be invited ;-)

ETA: Okay, I just found out that this version is actually a cover by The Dream Academy.  Even though I specifically want a Smiths song played at my wedding, this technically still is one.  The end!
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Totally Jewel.  I used to love her, still do, but she's definitely something I find myself drawn to more when I'm not in a happy place.  In my preteens she was right up there with Culture Club and No Doubt (do I need to repeat that I was a unique child?) and I listened to songs like "You Were Meant For Me" (today's choice) and "Foolish Games" without appreciating how truly sad they were.  I have a completely different relationship with her music now and although I think it's gorgeous, it's not a place I visit too often.  I hope you love the song as much as I do but that it doesn't make you sad (although that has to have been Jewel's intention)!
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I've already mentioned that I can't listen to certain songs because of the memories they bring back.  I don't think I said (that I recall....) that some of those memories are actually good ones.  It's not that I don't like to remember the good times, it's just that it can be painful when I'm going through a rough patch.  It's like I think that all those good times are in the past and can't be matched in the future.  I know that's not true and this doesn't happen often, but still.  I've had some very good times even in the midst of my worst health stuff, but these are the tricks that my mind plays on me sometimes.  

So unless I'm happy, I don't like to listen to songs that make me think about the best times I feel I may not match again for a long time.  One of those songs is "Freedom" by Erasure.  I very well may have posted this song in the past because Erasure is one of my favorite bands, but it's the song that is best representative of today's category for the reasons I mention above.  Plus it's just a very happy song.
Okay, so Erasure is super good about yanking all videos of them without permission off of youtube and this one video I could find of the song isn't of great quality (although you can still tell it's a great song!).  

Here's another link which is much better.  
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Oy, so sorry I've been completely MIA for two weeks after being relatively good about posting for awhile.  I'm having some serious medical problems right now (and they're physical, for once!) and am also dealing with finding a new place/moving.  All of this is actually kind of appropriate for today's category.  I am very angry because all of this great stuff is happening--I'm going back to school and I'm moving out on my own again (albeit with roommates)--but I can't enjoy it because I'm in terrible pain and have to severely limit my physical activity.  WHY, UNIVERSE?!?!  

So what song have I been listening to to help me cope with my current anger (which is more just frustration and sadness because I don't often get "angry")?  
I've been listening to a bunch of stuff, including WAY more No Doubt than normal*, but "Head On" ALWAYS puts a smile on my face.  So do a lot of other Chains stuff.  I'm liking this band more and more every day.  

*This is mainly because I got to talking about them with my supervisor and I found out she likes them (almost) as much as I do.  She lost her copy of "Tragic Kingdom" so I burned her one (only to find out her husband had a copy all along, not that it really matters).  This was actually right after I posted that album on here as my favorite a few weeks ago.  It also turns out her husband owns even more Depeche Mode albums than I do and he burned me "Construction Time Again."  I honestly didn't believe I (personally) knew anyone who had that album.  You learn something new every day!
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I'm going to break the rules again.  Technically, my favorite album would be Substance by New Order (unless it doesn't count since it's a compilation album).  I feel like I've posted a ton of New Order over the years, though, and I want today's song to be something fresh.  My favorite CD before I got entrenched in the 80's stuff in middle school was No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom.  I still think it's an excellent album and I'm indebted to the band for leading me to Talk Talk.  Tragic Kingdom is one of the VERY few CD's I can listen to and never have to skip over a track, and that's why I'm going to pick a song from it for today's category.  Because I really like ALL of the songs, this is really difficult.  I don't even think I have a favorite.  

Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by its toe.......  Okay, I pick "Sunday Morning"!  That wasn't completely random.  It is one of my top No Doubt songs, I guess.  I miss Gwen Stefani from the 90's, btw.  She seems really happy now (haha), which is great, but I liked her style and overall look so much better then.  
I've always wondered what it would be like to be in a band with someone you dated for as long and seriously as Gwen and Tony did after breaking up.  Gwen's married, Tony may not be? (anymore?), but still.  They dated FOR YEARS and they got together when they were young enough for that relationship to really define love for them.  I couldn't do it.  Unless the money was good enough -- or the band awesome enough ;-)  I mean, No Doubt did initially get super famous because Gwen is awesome at penning break-up songs!
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There's this really neat radio station near me that plays "everything."  Seriously, it does play everything.  This even includes Talk Talk, Love and Rockets, tons of Depeche and New Order, the Pet Shops Boys, Information Society, Simple Minds, and I even think I heard them play Bauhaus once.  Bauhaus!  But the one band they NEVER play is The Smiths.  I have no idea why they don't even play "How Soon is Now?" which I believe I have heard on the radio at least once in my life.  

But now I never hear The Smiths on any station.  And they are incredible, so it's really a shame.  So for today's song, I'm posting my favorite song by them, which is "Cemetry [their spelling] Gates," although honorable mentions go out to "Reel Around the Fountain," "Frankly, Mr. Shankly," and "Stretch Out and Wait" among others.  The Smiths are just *that* amazing.  One of the things I would do if I had a time machine would be to go to a Smiths show when they were all still together<3  Sigh.

Anyway, here's one of my tip top favorite songs ever, which I may have already posted on my music blog.  However, I'm not going to check because this *is* the song I most wish I would hear on the radio:
While searching for the links for all these Smiths songs, I remembered that I used to have a DVD of some Smiths music videos and I have no idea where it went.  The last I remember of it was when I moved into my sophomore dorm and we used it to test that the TV was set up properly.  I still have the empty case somewhere but not the DVD.  Who the heck of all the people that I knew then would even want that DVD?  It must have been sitting on the ground somewhere until someone threw it out.  Boo.  Poor DVD.
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It's so funny that this is one of the categories because I'm actually being stalked by a song.  Seriously.  I spoke with my dad about it and he said it's one of those songs that's always been played a lot since it came out in 1976 which only kind of makes me feel better.  Is it normal to hear "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" SEVERAL times a week on the radio???  I listen to the radio a max of 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week.   There was seriously one week where I heard the song every single day.  There are coincidences and then there's eeriness..............  I also hear it on my Pandora but that's  a little bit more understandable. 

And yes, I definitely do fear the reaper right now.  Things are changing a lot.  I'm moving out, resigning my job, starting school.  Good things.  The reaper would really put a crimp in my plans.  I did read that the band says the song is about love and not death, hence Romeo and Juliet.  But one must remember that their love heavily involved death.  They are together in eternity *in death*. 

Alright, I'm done.  Here's the song!  I like it but I've definitely overheard it recently.
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