Semester in Review via iPod Playlist

Today I finally managed to overcome laziness, weather, and general impetus to stay in Norman and drove back to AR. And the trip went well, for once - no major pre-trip screw-ups, no iced-up roads, no engines falling out, etc.

Anyway, I listened to my "A Drivetime Mix" playlist as I drove. (I only named it "A Drivetime Mix so it'll always be at the top of the list). It's an ever-changing collection of whatever I'm into at the time, and I clean it up every few months or so. As I'm listening, I realized that it was kind of a "semester in review" sort of thing - nearly every song had some sort of memory or moment attached to it. I decided to catalogue some of my favorite moments here.

• Hello - Hawk Nelson: Frontier City with Jules and Jack. Sibling rivalry, outdoor concert, and the neverending word games in the grass.
• Stronger - Kanye West: scaring Sweetie in the WalMart parking lot. (See? Told you that you knew the obnoxious rap song I meant ...)
• Go That Far - Bret Michaels Band: Rock of Love night with my girls! Yelling at Lacey and laughing at Bret. Oh, Bret.
• When You Were Young - The Killers: finally five-starring a Guitar Hero song on hard. Never before has my pinky finger been so useful.
• Show Me the Money - Petey Pablo: Julie's gangsta theme. Rocking out in the car until people around us just have to look.
• Suck My Kiss - Red Hot Chili Peppers: Alyson and Lola finally getting into the GH craze, shouting "suck my kiss!" at the television
• Paranoid - Black Sabbath: late-night Rock Band at Kevin and Joe's. The guys makes the girls sing hard rock songs, and the girls makes the guys sing "Roxanne."
• Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys: Lola, totally sober, singing songs like a drunk person. "Hol'day in C'MBODIA!"
• Welcome Home - Coheed and Cambria: venting a little stress by belting angry revenge-song lyrics; taking Rock Band to a whole new level by both singing the vocals and playing the main guitar part simultaneously. Kneel, for I am truly a Rock-Band badass.
  
• Talk Dirty to Me - Poison: more Rock of Love goodness; also, botched lyrics ("At the drive-in, in the old man's corpse" rather than "old man's Ford.")
• Welcome to the Jungle - Guns n Roses: finally, FINALLY, beating the guitar battle with Slash and shouting celebratory swears at the television; also, my discovery that I play better standing on my couch. The taller you are, the harder you can rock apparently.

There are some other amazing memories as well, although they come without a theme song. Fangirling out about ANTM with Allie, casino night at Riverwind (I guess that does have a theme song ... Alyson singing "Ladies' Night"), Joe offending people of all creeds and races at IHOP, endless quoting of Wizard People/Dr. Tran/youtube videos, late-night WalMart runs (why? because it's THERE!), and any post-midnight phone call from Julie. They always mean good things.

This has been easily one of the best semester of my college life, due in large part to the people involved. Mel, for helping to make me a published writer and for goading me until I wrote a 50,000 word novel; my fellow intro classmates, who took awesome lessons from Batman and came out all the better because of it; my family, for being there any time I need them; the guys, for being the newest facet of my social life and for making nearly every night memorable; and, of course, my girls. You ladies made this semester completely badass, and I love yall!

Oh, and thanks to Fig (my bug). For not falling apart this time around. =)