from I'm So Happy to I've Changed

Day 778, Session 133:
When/Where: Wednesday August 6th - Out for a jog up and down the street.
First song: I'm So Happy by The Interiors
Last full song: I've Changed (alternate version) by Josh Joplin Group
Progress: 2045-2062 of 6018
Total Songs Heard: 1686

The summer after 7th grade my parents sent me on my one and only trip to summer camp. It was 2 weeks in the Poconos with my friend Pete and an international house of pancakes of cabin mates. Besides me and Pete, there was a French guy named Chuck (whose real name it turned out was Florian,) a German guy named Janko (who enjoyed eating ketchup sandwiches for every meal of the day,) a counselor from New Zealand named Darren who pronounced the word aluminum ah-loo-min-ee-um (which eventually caused me to almost punch my 8th grade science teacher in the face,) and a Chinese guy named Ben (who didn't say more than 10 words the whole 2 weeks I was there (we got along great btw.)) There were also 3 other American kids in the bunk, but one of them was a big dumb lunk who wasn't exactly skilled at English either.

Communication was difficult sometimes. Luckily we all spoke the language of Anthrax. Yep, Anthrax. I'm The Man is only Anthrax song I have in my collection. Actually, it's the only Anthrax song I've ever heard. It's a pretty stupid song actually, but it really spoke to the mismatched band of teenagers in the Arapahoe bunk. Probably has something to do with the swearing and the undeniable Hava Nagila hook.

I'm The Man - Anthrax

According to Anthrax, this is also the first ever merger of rap and metal. If you're like me and generally dislike that type of music, now you know who to blame.

In other news, congrats to I've Changed by Josh Joplin (in solo, Band, and Group forms.) I've Changed now claims the title of most versions of one song with 5.

Tuesday July 18th - Morning

Day 26, Session 12:
Location: Going to work in the morning after a solid 13 day delay in moving through the alphabet
First song: Aluminum by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: American Made by Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Band
Progress: 167-176 of 3937

Why did I wait 13 days between listening sessions, did some horrible accident befall my ears?

No accidents thankfully. One of the main exercises for this whole project is to prove to myself that I can write all the way through it. So, things got busy/I got lazy and I've fallen seriously behind on my entries. I'm forcing myself to slow down moving forward through the music. If I get much further behind, then I won't remember what it was I was listening to and how am I supposed to reflect on things I can't really remember (cause they happened more than 3 days ago and my short term memory is shot.)

If you're particularly observant you'll notice that the progress count has gone backwards as has the total number of songs. As this goes on I'm constantly adding and deleting files from the iPod (mostly do to the disposible nature of podcasts.) It occurs to me now that I should probably keep a running count of how many tracks I've actually listened to. I'll be right back. While I'm gone try to wrap your mind around the thought of a singing Hulk Hogan...

Total Songs Heard To Date: 180!

Hooray, another stat! I love stats.

The song Aluminum contains the line "Aluminum to me, aluminium to some..." The summer after 7th grade I went for my only experience at summer camp up in the Poconos. One of my cabin's counselors was a guy from New Zealand (I think his name was Darren) who insisted that the material soda cans are made out of was pronounced "ah-lou-min-ee-um." At the time I thought that meant everyone from New Zealand was nuts.

Flash ahead slightly to an 8th grade science quiz on the periodic table. Just before class my friends and I were reviewing the periodic table that was hanging in the classroom. On the chart, aluminum was spelled aluminium, thus showing me that perhaps Kiwis weren't so crazy after all. So, since that was what we had just looked at moments before taking the quiz, my friends and I all spelled it aluminium on the quiz. Mr. Decampli (who was not well liked) marked it wrong on all of our quizzes. When we pointed out that the periodic chart in HIS CLASSROOM showed it spelled as aluminium, he accused us all of cheating by looking at the chart during the test. I remember being very angry about the injustice of it all at the time.

Looking back on it years later... I'm still very angry! IT WAS HANGING IN HIS CLASSROOM! IF IT WAS WRONG WHY WAS HE DISPLAYING IT!!!!!