Cyndi's Favorites - October 2002

This Cyndi story starts with some background. First, I work on the 19th floor of the Key Bank Tower in downtown Dayton. What this means is that we only get a handful of radio stations, but I'm not sure why. So I'm stuck listening to Mixx 107.7 (mostly 80's, 90's, and today) or 99.9 (just a step above elevator music).

I normally listen to 107.7 but lately "Pour Some Sugar On Me" has come on several times a day. I hate that song. I HATE that song. (I call it the breakfast cereal song to mock it.) So I switched over to 99.9. That was okay but I really couldn't put up with some of those songs from the 70's. Let's just say they aren't that much better than the breakfast cereal song.

I posted my frustration on  facebook and had many suggestions:

- listen to pandora online. Our IS department has asked us not to stream live videos or music online. So listening to music online is not an option.

- listen to klove. I love klove and their alternative station, air1. However I can't get their stations in on my radio at work. I could listen to either one online (www.klove.com and www.air1.com), however as stated above, we're not supposed to. (If I work late or on the weekends, sometimes I will though.)

- listen to an ipod. Oh! I have one of those! The problem is that I don't have all my music on it. At one point I did - I took a lot of time to put all my CD's on my Macbook and organize my music and then pick the good stuff to put on my ipod. But then my Macbook got stolen and the next time I sync'd to ipod to my new Macbook, it wiped out all my music. (There was a setting I could have clicked on to prevent this, however I wasn't aware of it until it was too late.)

So here I am, trying to get all my CD's back onto my "new" Macbook. (It's almost 2 years old.) It's taken me almost 2 weeks but I'm on the home stretch! Next I have to organize all my music, because it won't all fit onto my ipod.

As I'm going through my CD's I sometimes find two CD's stuffed into one case. So I try to find the case the extra fits into in an attempt to also get organized. I open one of my favorite CD's (Michael W. Smith) and there's a blank CD with "Cyndi's Favorites - October 2002" written on it. My heart stopped! After many years I had finally found it! The absolute best mix CD anyone has ever made me! (Thank you Belynda & Bryan!!)

If you're curious, here's the list...

• Emily - Michael W. Smith
• Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell
• Iko Iko - Cyndi Lauper
• More Than Words (acoustic version) - Extreme
• Next To Be With You - Mr. Big
• Little Black Backpack - Stroke 9
• Flag Pole Sitta - Harvey Danger
• I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - Proclaimer
• Island in the Sun - Weezer
• Thank You - Dido
• 1000 Miles - Vanessa Carlton
• Near You Always - Jewel
• Days Gone By - Dirty Vegas

Expecting some of those? Surprised by some of them too? If you've been out with me for karaoke you'll probably recognize a few of them.

I smile at the remembrance of why I love each song. The songs really represent where I was at that time - sad, hurt by love but still hopeful, a little lonely, a bit rebellious, and definitely trying to figure out life. Some people have scrapbooks, I have mix CD's.

You know, if I had to do a mix CD of the songs that represent who I am now, I think about half of those songs would be on it. So eight years later I'm in a much different place in life, but I think the core of me is still the same.

So what songs would your favorite mix tape have on it? What songs make you smile and bring memories that you want to hold on to?