On Cards, Discs and My Musical Ode to 2008

I got three Christmas cards this year. Usually I get somewhere between ten and twenty. This year I got three. And in a stroke of odd luck, all three cards arrived to my apartment on the same day. There was no spreading out of the Christmas cheer this year.

I did not send out Christmas cards. I have no bothered to send out Christmas cards for at least a decade. Call me Scrooge, but I just fail to see the point. It takes up a lot of time. It costs money. And at the end of the day the cards just end up in a landfill someplace (assuming the recipients chose not to recycle).

I did, however, send out a rather charming little email greeting. I rewrote the classic poem A Visit from St. Nicholas (or, for those who may not know it by its official title, The Night Before Christmas) to reflect my dislike of the season and my love of those close to me. It went over rather nicely if I do say so myself.

As this season wore on and Christmas gave way to a new year, I began to think that it might be a novel idea (at least in my own personal history) to create a disc of music and send it out to a select group of close compatriots. I’m a huge fan of music and I wanted to share some of my favorite tunes of the past year. I sat down one evening with my iPod and my collection of discs and generated a list of songs I came to be rather proud of. I created a playlist on my iPod and listened to it for a few days to make sure the flow was correct. After a few tweaks, I was finally ready to send out my masterpiece.

And then time got away from me. And the new year came and went. And before I knew it, it was January 8 and it seemed like a rather silly idea to send out musical greetings for the new year at such a late date. And so my well-crafted musical ode to 2008 went nowhere.

I could not just let it die, however. And so I now present all you readers of Welcome to My Truth with my first-ever year-end mix.

No More Gas -  DJ Earworm
Konichiwa Bitches – Robin
Cherry Bomb – Kylie Minogue
The Fame – Lady Gaga
Beat Goes On – Madonna featuring Kanye West
Me, Myself and (I) – Darren Hayes
Rock With U – Janet Jackson
Kill the Lights – Britney Spears
Set It on Fire - Eve
Damaged (Global Factory Radio Edit) – Danity Kane
How Many Words (Jake Benson Radio Edit) – Blake Lewis
Ride (Tiesto Radio Edit) – Cary Brothers
Same Ol’ Story – Cyndi Lauper

United States of Pop 2008 – DJ Earworm
I Hate This Part – The Pussycat Dolls
Touch My Hand – David Archuleta
Better in Time – Leona Lewis
You’ll Be Fine - Anastacia
You’re Not Sorry – Taylor Swift
Colgone - Dolly Parton
The Memories You’ve Forgotten – Ari Hest
Daydreamer – Adele
Almost Lover – A Fine Frenzy
Come Home – OneRepublic
Dreamworld – Robin Thicke
I Don’t Believe You – Pink
What a Catch, Donnie – Fall Out Boy

The songs before the break are your classic up-tempo pop songs, with a few mild remixes thrown in for good measure. The songs after the break slow things down a bit. You know how I do.

Feel free to go out into the world and listen to the songs at your leisure. Maybe by next December, I’ll get my act together enough to actually produce the damn discs. In the meantime, I’ve got them on my iPod and they make my morning commutes just joyous.

Happy listening in 2009 to you all!