On with the countdown!

#20 to 1

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My top 40 songs of the decade (with commentary)

Inspired by my friend Dave, who preceded me as music director at our college radio station in the 1980s and who just published a list of his top 300 songs of the decade (!), I assembled a more modest top 40.

These are songs, not artists (indeed, there are a few artists here for whom I only own one song), but I did decide not to repeat any artists.

My original thought was to do this as an old-fashioned mix tape (except on cd) - but with 20 recipients at 3 cds each that was going to be a lot of postage and plastic (I couldn't get it down to two cds - somewhere along the way I started liking a lot of 6 minute songs) . So then I thought podcast, but after a few hours I felt like I had less understanding of the concept than when I started. So here are two formats I was able to figure out: a single big audio file you can download or stream.

Songs 40 to 21:
download (about 75 MB)
stream

Check back in a few days for 20 to 1.

16 Random Things About Me

A bit of viral fun swept through my batch of Facebook friends this week: You'd write a note entitled "16 Random Things About Me," in which you'd list, you know, 16 random things about yourself. And you'd "tag" 16 friends in the note, and they were supposed to write a note of their own.

I was tagged, so I complied. And I took it quite seriously. And then another person wrote a list...and another person...and another...and so on. I learned an awful lot about my friends: funny things, sad things, interesting things. Fears, regrets, passions.

So then I wrote a second list, which I now present to you.

1. At age 11, I decided to switch from being right-handed to being left-handed.

2. I am allergic to my own skin, requiring me to be covered in baby lotion at all times.

3. I was born on the International Date Line, so each year when my birthday arrives, it is already over.

4. I met my first wife, Katerina, by calling an international date line.

5. I love, love, love donuts, but I absolutely cannot stand doughnuts.

6. As a little kid, I desperately wanted an iguana. Each year at the holidays I’d say, “All I want is an iguana.” Each time my mom or dad came home from the store holding a bag, I’d ask, “Is there an iguana in there? Because that is the only thing I ever wanted.” And finally, finally, finally, as a gift, I was given....an iguana. I looked at it--the green skin, the long tail, the beady eyes--and realized that all along, I’d been thinking about a Rubik’s Cube.

7. I have used the same piece of dental floss since junior high.

8. On a business trip to Tucson in the late 90s, I killed a drifter with my bare hands and did not report it to the authorities.

9. In college, my junior year, some colleagues and I were in the lab, literally moments away from finalizing a cure for lupus, when somebody suggested heading out to the Quad and kicking around a hackysack instead.

10. My middle name is Cheech.

11. I have not once typed the word ....you know what, I still can’t do it, it’s just too painful.

12. At age 15, I made it to the state fencing championship, but was disqualified for competing pantsless.

13. For six years while a full-time magazine editor, I’d sit at my office desk and make telemarketing calls for the Police Athletic League.

14. I’d been going to the movies all my life but it wasn’t until age 32 that I realized, if you go around that first corner, there are rows and rows of seats, and a really big screen.

15. My first car was a 2002 Chevy Blazer, which I bought in 1996.

16. Before I die, I want to climb Kilimanjaro, swim the Channel, dance with pygmies, develop cataracts, experience hearing loss, resent young people, and ask if there’s a draft in here.