My 101 favourite songs… for now

The 77th goal on my 101 things in 1001 days list is to make a playlist of my 101 favourite songs. (Well, it’s my 101 favourite songs for now; I’m sure this will change over time.) I’ve finally completed it and thought it would make a fun post.

Disclaimer: Before I share my list with you, I feel I have to add some quick caveats…

• Firstly, I am by no means claiming that all of these songs classify as great music. Heck, some of them can’t even be called good music! I know that some of these pieces are downright lame, and I guess they really give away my age too 😉 If a laughable song is on the list, it’s more because it evokes a specific memory for me than because I think it’s an unbeatable classic.
• Secondly, this isn’t a playlist for the church choir. I love many great hymns and other Christian songs, but I’ve limited them on this list because I wanted a more even spread of music that I enjoy.
• Thirdly, one or two of the songs do have some bad language and/or slightly dodgy lyrics, but they’re in the minority and they’re there coz they symbolise a specific period in my life – one that’s still valid though not particularly pious.
• Fourthly (and I guess this one is kinda obvious), just because one song from a particular band or artist is on the list doesn’t mean I enjoy or endorse or have even listened to any of their other songs.

OK, enough covering my hiney. Here’s the list! With a few random thoughts in pink 🙂

1. Scatman John – Scatman’s World (Remix) (Oh wow, that’s a pretty embarrassing start… should’ve hidden it somewhere in the middle of the list…)
2. SUM41 – Heart Attack
3. The Turtles – Happy Together (60s music)
4. Enrique Iglesias – Escape
5. Blink182 – Feeling This
6. Herman’s Hermits – Silhouettes (More 60s music)
7. Cosmic Gate – Exploration of Space
8. Westlife – What I Want Is What I’ve Got
9. Angels & Airwaves – Epic Holiday
10. Rufio – Still
11. Green Day – Whatsername
12. My Chemical Romance – I’m Not Okay (I Promise)
13. Goo Goo Dolls – Iris
14. Sonique – It Feels So Good
15. Eagle Eye Cherry – Save Tonight
16. Relient K – Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been
17. Mark Schultz – I Am
18. Walk Off The Earth – I Knew You Were Trouble (If you’ve not yet seen the amazing a capella version, click here)
19. Puddle of Mudd – Blurry
20. Avril Lavigne – How Does It Feel
21. Faith Hill – Breathe
22. Dashboard Confessional – Hands Down
23. SUM41 – All To Blame
24. Baha Men – Who Let The Dogs Out (Remix)
25. Paps ‘n’ Skar – Loving You
26. Shania Twain – From This Moment On
27. Yellowcard – Believe
28. Savage Garden – Crash and Burn
29. Lindsay Lohan – The Ultimate You
30. O-Town – All Or Nothing
31. Ann Lee – Two Times
32. Linkin Park – What I’ve Done (I’m a big LP fan; tried to limit their songs on the list though)
33. Pillar – Fireproof
34. REM – Imitation of Life
35. Linkin Park – Crawling
36. Blink 182 – Man Overboard
37. Shania Twain – You’re Still The One
38. Billie Myers – Kiss The Rain
39. Mikeschair – Let The Waters Rise
40. Tweak – My Favourite Girl
41. Toten Hosen – Herz Brennt (German)
42. Feeder – Buck Rogers
43. Stephan Foster – Oh, Susannah
44. Tal Bachman – She’s So High
45. Tommy James & The Shondells – Crimson & Clover (Even more 60s music!)
46. ‘NSync – I Need Love
47. All American Rejects – Paper Heart
48. Westlife – Love Crime
49. Yellowcard – Only One
50. Savage Garden – Truly Madly Deeply
51. Rufio – Like A Prayer (A rockin’ cover of a famous song)
52. The Offspring – Walla Walla
53. Switchfoot – This Is Your Life
54. Rufio – Above Me
55. Backstreet Boys – Shape Of My Heart
56. American Hi-Fi – Flavor of the Weak
57. AFI – Crying
58. Creed – One Last Breath
59. Shaft – (Mucho Mambo) Sway
60. Ronan Keating – Life Is A Rollercoaster
61. Bosson – One In A Million (What’s Bosson doing on this list? I know, right?!)
62. Finch – Bury Me
63. Good Charlotte – Movin’ On
64. Blink 182 – All The Small Things
65. Enrique Iglesias – Hero
66. Lee Ann Womack – I Hope You Dance
67. Angels & Airwaves – The Adventure (We walked down the aisle to this after our vows)
68. Shankar Mahadevan – Pretty Woman (Hindi)
69. Bowling For Soup – 1985
70. The Ataris – San Dimas Highschool Football Rules
71. Snapping Strings – Easier To Quit (A local band some of my friends formed)
72. Blue – All Rise
73. Tweak – Last Goodbye
74. O-Zone – Dragostea Din Tei (Romanian)
75. Linkin Park – Lies Greed Misery
76. NSync – This I Promise You
77. Eiffel 65 – The Edge
78. Nena – 99 Luftballons (German)
79. Blink182 – Online Songs
80. Michelle Branch – All you Wanted
81. NewFoundGlory – Broken Sound
82. Avril Lavigne – Nobody’s Home
83. Evanescence – My Immortal
84. James Horner – Braveheart Theme
85. Dashboard Confessional – Dying To Love
86. James Horner – The Portrait
87. Mendelssohn – Wedding March
88. Celine Dion – My Heart Will Go On
89. Carter Burwell – Bella’s Lullaby
90. Christina Perri – A Thousand Years
91. Enya – May It Be
92. Sonu Nigam – Kal Ho Na Ho (Hindi)
93. Thrice – The Artist In The Ambulance
94. Edwina Hayes – Feels Like Home
95. Blink182 – Stockholm Syndrome
96. The Offspring – The Kids Aren’t Alright
97. Blink 182 – Stay Together For The Kids
98. Wizo – Quadrat im Kreis (German)
99. Linkin Park – Numb
100. Blink 182 – Adam’s Song
101. Sigur Rós – Festival (Probably my favourite piece of music of all time)

So, I’m curious. How many of these do you know? love? hate? If you made a similar list, would any of these be on it? 🙂

Twilight saga and strange veggies

This week I’ve crossed off two more goals on my 101 things in 1001 days list 🙂

I completed Goal #24 by reading all of the Twilight books, loaned to me by my MIL:

Goal #24: done!

This was one of those fun, random goals on my list. After reading each book I watched the corresponding movie, which complemented the books well. Of course, I now have that beautiful song of Christina Perri’s stuck in my head too.

I’m not exactly a Twihard, and I’ve discovered it a few years late, but on the whole I’ve enjoyed this series. It’s not that the writing is the best I’ve ever read (it’s definitely not). And there were a few things I didn’t agree with, such as Bella’s lack of concern for her soul (being a Christian, that just jars for me), the suggestion that good works should get a person to heaven, and the silly undercurrent of feminism in some places. But I was impressed at how ‘clean’ the series was, considering prevailing modern morals and all. There are also some universal truths about guys, girls and relationships that are cleverly explored in the Twilight saga.

In a way it’s almost like the girly version of some of the Marvel comic superheroes that Ninja and my guy friends are always going on about. It’s also refreshing to have a heroine like Bella Swan who’s not perfect; I’m sure part of the series’ popularity stems from the fact that so many fans can identify with her. I don’t know if I’d consider myself a fan per se; I’ve got the movies on my shelf and now I’ve read the books, but that’s about it. It didn’t consume me in a teenage daydream the way Jack and Rose from Titanic did back when I was a teen… hehehe. But I suppose if there have to be Twilight teams, if I’m not hopelessly too old for teams, I’d probably be Team Jacob. What can I say – I’ve always had a thing for wolves 😉

Anyway, I’ve also completed Goal #46 by cooking the last two of my 5 new veggies I’d never cooked before. I’ve posted previously about the Swiss chard, patty pans and purple carrots I’ve tried. Last week I also cooked brinjal (aubergine or eggplant) for the first time, and the other night I steamed some pak choi.

Goal #46: Brinjals

I’ll post separately about the delicious moussaka I made with the brinjals. Here’s a pic of the pak choi… I must say, neither Ninja nor I enjoyed it much. The white parts at the bottom were quite sweet, but the rest was bitter. Maybe steaming just wasn’t the best way to cook it?

Goal #46: Pak choi

It’s been fun to stretch my tastebuds and culinary skills with this simple little goal. I suppose it’s similar to Goal #42 (Eat 5 things I’ve never tried before), but what I had in mind for that goal wasn’t necessarily veggies, or me cooking them myself. I’ll be on the lookout for other interesting things to try out for that goal.

Speaking of food and stuff, wowwee… this ‘month of vegetarianism’ has not been easy. Even though I don’t eat much red meat in general, cutting out chicken and meaty snacks such as dried or cold meats has been tough. In fact, yesterday I caved in to the best dried beef sausage ever… and blew my vegetarian month in three mouthfuls. Sigh. But hey, though I haven’t managed to stick to it this month, it’s not the end of the world: my deadline for my 101 things is only in 2015. Better luck another month 😛