There’s so much I can say about the first month of 2016. It’s been pretty amazing. The Universe has gifted me things in unexpected packages and I am grateful I had enough sense and hutzpah to see opportunities and take them because it has taken me down roads I would have never taken without a nudge or a sign of do this you dolt! I have never been happier and had a more sense of self than I do right now. The main theme for January was “choose life”. Stop living in the past and in fear and in the unknown and just fucking live and choose to live and choose life. In other words, say yes to life. That’s what I’ve done and have been doing and hope to keep doing. Life is too short to not be fucking amazing.
“CHOOSE LIFE” from TRANSPOTTING by IRVINE WELSH
This might have inadvertently set the theme or tone of January. “Choose a life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers… Choose DSY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away in the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself, choose your future. Choose life…”
“MAYBE” by SICK PUPPIES
I think these lyrics sum up why this song was gifted to me this month: “Maybe I’m a dreamer. Maybe I’m misunderstood. Maybe you’re not seeing the side of me you should. Maybe I’m crazy…Maybe I’ve just had enough. Maybe it’s time to change and leave it all behind. I’ve never been one to walk alone. I’ve always been scared to try. So why does it feel so wrong to reach for something more. To wanna live a better life. What am I waiting for?”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFhRowkNrTM]
“AIN’T NOBODY” cover by FELIX JAEHN featuring JASMINE THOMPSON
This is a great little cover and I wonder if the kiddos hearing it now appreciate the original as much as I appreciate the cover. It’s fun and airy.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j1RCys4R0g]
“FAST CAR” cover by TOBTOK featuring RIVER
At first, I wasn’t completely in like with this cover, but boy does Aussie radio love this cover (and the one above) and the song just kind of grew on me. Is it as emotionally strong as Tracy Chapman’s version? No. Will the kiddos hear they lyrics and connect to the thoughts, feelings, Tracy originally sang about? Yes. They’ll just do it in a more upbeat way. I also prefer the original over the cover.
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“SUGAR” by ROBIN SCHULZ featuring FRANCESCO YATES
I love this song and video. I think Francesco Yates is like a 12 year old singing sensation (I know, I could Google, but honestly, I just don’t want to nor do I care enough to know the kid’s real age). Dude can sing. He looks 12. Probably a freaking pop star wherever the lad is from. Just know this song is fun as shit and the video is too and you cannot be in a bad mood when listening to it. Turn it up to 11 and shake your ass.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvC_0foemLY]
“FIRE AND THE FLOOD” by VANCE JOY
Maybe this song should have been in December as the very last day of the year, a super nice drunk guy named Nicholas and his friends took me into their group and made me feel welcome for a few moments at Lost Paradise. He drunkenly sang this song to me along with Taylor Swift, but I kept hearing it on the radio here in Australia in January and the lyric: “wherever I go, there you are” just kind of stuck with me as I thought of Suzanne Sugarbaker from Designing Women saying “No matter where you go, there you are” and both statements are true. I know wherever I go, my family and chosen family will be with me and that they are “…the fire and the flood and I’ll always feel you in my blood. Everything is fine…”[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKmWd8DPrEc]
“BLAME IT ON ME” by GEORGE EZRA
Another, maybe this should have been in December, but really glad it’s in January. These lyrics: “,,,your confidence forgotten, I see the gypsies rule…What you waiting for?” What are we waiting for when it comes to living our lives?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ifSrE8iSg]
“LET IT GO” by JAMES BAY
This song has been stuck in my head for days for many reasons, but I think mainly because we all worry about what others think about us (especially friends and family and even those that don’t matter) and that we let the outside world dictate who we should be. I know when I said to people I was packing my bags and heading to Australia, I got a lot of WTF moments, but I also knew I had to go. This song is my reminder to shut the naysayers out and “be who you is” (as my dad would quote to me growing up just as it was quoted to him growing up). There’s truth in the lyric: “So come on let it go. Just let it be. Why don’t you be you and I’ll be me…” Sometimes we just need to let things, people, thoughts, feelings and emotions go and let each other be and be ourselves and know it’s okay and that we’re okay and they’re okay.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsPq9mzFNGY]