Shuffle: All Songs

The emergence of the internet has definitely influenced the type and variety of music people listen to. The interaction of people on Twitter and Facebook, and the readily available music videos on YouTube, have all made the exposure and accessibility of music literally a click away. And now that we can carry over a few thousand songs in the palm of our hands, we have become walking music libraries. The beauty of this change in the way people listen and acquire music is that no one is ever complaining (except maybe for record labels).

Discovering a new album grants us hours of enjoyment in our cars, on Muskoka chairs, and even in depressing subway cars. We look forward to the chance of pressing play, and letting our thoughts and dreams dance with the tune of the song. The album eventually wears off its uniqueness and we go on to discover another one. If we ever choose to shuffle our music selection, we are bombarded with songs that define a specific time in our lives, songs that take us seamlessly through a past vacation, a season, or a celebration. A song simply becomes a label for a certain time in our lives.

So, following Isobel’s tag, I shuffled the songs on my iPhone and went through them one by one, until I got to 16. Below is the list:

1. A Message – Coldplay

2. The Rainbow – Charbel Rouhana/Hani Siblini

3. Rain Day – Jesse Cook

4. Ihtarif El Huzn Wal Intizar – Fairouz

5. Indama Ya’ti Al Masa’ – Abdel Wahab

6. Mata Ashofak – George Rassi

7. Nahawand – Haytham Safia

8. Taqasim Part 2 - Marcel Khalife

9. Beef and Brocoli –Immortal Technique

10. Anomaly (Calling Your Name) – Taylor

11. Ya Manta Wahishni – Fadel Shaker

12. Wherever I May Roam – Metallica

13. I Who Have Nothing – Ben E King

14. Sierra Maestra – Immortal Technique

15. Warako Al Assafar – Fairouz

16. Ya Roboo’ Biladi – Fairouz (I have a lot of Fairouz on my iPod)

I tag D.

Thoughts from a Saturday trip to the store

As winter takes its last few breaths, and as the snow melts revealing the yellow grass underneath it, Canadians are taking to the streets and to the hardware stores, anxious to start the summer season complete with camping, road trips, and endless BBQ’s. Motor cycles are back on the streets, their riders who have be waiting patiently for the day the temperatures turn above 5 Celsius seem to have maintained their obnoxious driving skills from last year.

I needed new wiper blades, so naturally I visited the nearest Canadian Tire to pick up some wipers and some car washing necessities. The store was flooded with people despite it being less than ideal outside. The seasonal department is already full of BBQ’s, gazebos, water toys, and patio furniture. I left the monstorous plaza built a few years ago, and lined with box stores like Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Old Navy. While waiting in a line of 5 cars or so at the stop sign waiting for my turn, a guy in a raised door-less Jeep with monster tires decided to cut me off, and speed his trip home by a second or two. As the Jeep sped away I couldn’t help but smile at the complete ignorance this guy must live in. The price of a litre of gas is already at a dollar, and we’re still dealing with a stagnant economy. I can’t begin to imagine the fuel economy of his unnecessarily oversized car, and given his driving habits, I figured he would be trading his car in for a Smart car in a few years. This recession has unfortunately made people believe that the price of gas we saw prior the recession was all part of the “bubble”.

I continue driving home and I come across another big box store, this one though is a grocery store, one of about 3 in a 2 km radius. The store, like all others, features foods from all over the world. Clementines from Morocco, strawberries from Mexico, and oranges from South Africa, sold to you by a friendly cashier wearing a uniform made in China, using a computer made in Taiwan. Across the checkout is the Wine Rack, a store within a store, selling wines from Ontario, Australia, France, among many others. A few more turns and I’m home.

I pass a Petro Canada gas station on the way, across from a Tim Horton’s, Canada’s favourite coffee shop. Both the gas stations and the coffee station have something in common, a line of cars idling patiently waiting for their turn. At Tim’s the cars are at a drive-thru, possibly the worst idea in the food industry’s history of horrible ideas. The cars inch slowly forward, the average car idling for about 5 minutes before the order is filled. At the gas station the wait in line is much longer, and the wait is not to fill gas but to get a car wash. Across Canada I thought there must be thousands of cars idling at that moment waiting for their turn to come.

I’m finally home. I jump on the internet and log onto facebook. Some friends posted pictures of their latest trip to Cuba. Another posted fresh pictures from her most recent mall harvest... I counted 5 boxes of shoes. The comments on the pictures are full of overtones of confessed jealousy and congratulations.

How long can we maintain this lifestyle?