I drove out to a nice hotel by the airport tonight and made a quick 70 bucks. I sold my music tastes to a big market research company in exchange for enough money to pay for the heart rate monitor and exercise mat I purhcased for my yearly trip into hard core exercise mode. Did you know I work out? Why yes, yes I do. Since January 3rd 2008.
I worked out a little last year but this year I’m hard core. I have a heart monitor for the love of Pete’s Dragon! I use it to monitor my heart and things. I love it. This weekend Dan and I played a rousing game of Super Mario 3 on my Christmas Wii and I measured my heart rate throughout the evening to see if I was getting an aerobic workout simply from stress and thumb strain. It’s fun to check your heart rate during all kinds of activities. You know. Just because.
Which doesn’t really bring me back to my evening of market research but I will talk about it anyway. In a 2 hour period, I texted Dan a couple of times, drank 20 oz of water, avoided putting my kids to bed and rated 550 popular songs on a scale of 1-5 of how much I liked them and a scale of A-C of how tired I am of hearing them played on the radio. It was quite emotionally taxing for me.
I’m someone who’s fairly private about my listening preferences because in part but not limited to the fact that I am embarrassed about what I like. My everyday music choices are not exactly highbrow and sitting in that room full of 25-35 year old women rating the songs I like in a computer database that will most likely go on my personal file somewhere where they keep permanent personal files of embarrassing things had me worried. I thought, “If I had not been born in Canada and were thusly eligible to run for President of the United States one day, and had also not seen every episode of the West Wing, therefore learning that becoming the POTUS is the last thing I’d ever want to do besides, you know, other things I’d less rather do, and I was one day running in a political race for the aforementioned office, would it somehow surface in a vicious smear campaign that I think The Police are overplayed but I somehow remain strangely charmed by Ace of Base?”
I also thought as I listened to one Hip Hop song that it would be cool to have one of those Hip Hop sidekick people following me around saying, “Unh, yeah, uh-huh uh-huh, GIRL, sing it Kathryn, UNH!” every time I opened my mouth, you know, with the approving grunts and such.
As I left they gave me $70 cash which I tucked away somewhere where cash should be tucked and headed home, feeling a little weird about exposing my music tastes in such a reckless and feckless fashion.
When working out at the gym as I am wont to do, I have been known to occasionally trip on the treadmill and go flying off the back end. Rather than worrying about possible injury or the fact that I look like a flailing spaztard, I’m generally just very anxious that my MP3 player not get disconnected from my headphones, thus turning on its external speaker and revealing to my fellow gladiators that I work out to a mix of Gwen Stefani, Carol King, Out”k”ast, Abba and Milli Vanilli. That’s just private.
My current blogging heart rate is 75, temperature 98.6F.
Back when I worked out, we played our music on a gym system that supplied several different channels, so more than one person could plug their headphones in and listen to your music. When I worked out to fast-paced bluegrass from Ricky Skaggs, a young guy actually stopped his workout, walked over to my elliptical trainer and said, “What. the. h&#@.”
I also sometimes put in the fast songs from Finnish folk group Varttina. That was fun.
And you are way cooler than I am, because I did not even know half the names you mentioned.
I liked Milli Vanilli and one of my favourite songs is “All that she wants” by Ace of Base not forgetting “The Sign” which is also good.
You are NOT alone.
The Police are NOT overplayed. In fact, many of their best are grossly underplayed. To each his own.
My 22 year old brother just told me that I listen to 35 year old mother of three music. And here I’d thought I was so hip.
I remain strangely charmed by Ace of Base too! And I even posted about Milli Vanilli today, too–what are the odds?
Dude, I am so inspired by the image of a hip-hop guy following you around cheering you on
I feel a photoshop comin’ on! 😉
I workout to Blues Traveler & Toby Mac (Don’t tell my secret!)
I like Milli Vanilli. Not really a fan of Ace of Base. And you got $70 for that!!! That’s good.
I am SO not “cool” when it comes to musical tastes. This post was fabulous! Isn’t it fun to play with electronic measuring devices? I love weighing things on my little culinary scale. Weird, I know.
Found you through Surcie’s site, and glad that I did. You go, with your, um, eclectic funny self!
Found you through Surcie’s site, and glad that I did. You go, with your, um, eclectic funny self!
GREAT post! Great writing, and sooo funny!
I live in fear that I will keep over dead someday with my iPod and people will discover what I am really listening to.
My husband got a heart rate monitor recently, and I’m just jealous. I want one of my very own. I do have a pedometer, at least, and there’s a lot of fun packed into that little baby.
I’ve got to move to a bigger city where I can make quick cash like that. I’m too tired to try to make any quick cash here…
I have no problem sharing my iPod tunes with the world. I figure music helped to make me who I am to today. It will be nice to push the blame off someone or something other than me.
Your music would totally feel at home in my iPod.
you are too funny.
We’ll keep it just between us.
I love Ace of Base…and DOWN with the Police!
I bet if you had the right amount of money in it, you could find a hip hop sidekick.
If I was more hip I would apply for the job.
I love the “for the love of pete’s dragon” can I quote you on that one?
Wow.
You just made me SO GLAD that my mp3 player doesn’t have an external speaker that kicks in if it comes unplugged accidentally. That WOULD be scary.
And let’s talk about eclectic music choices, maybe when I come to your family reunion next summer.
I clicked “where cash should be tucked” thinking I’d get a link to Target. Because that’s how I roll. (Bad, very bad.)
I totally have Abba on my walk-workout playlist (“Lay All Your Love on Me” has a good beat!). Instead of Milli Vanilli, though, I’ve got Tone Loc singing “Funky Cold Medina.”
I don’t feel so weird about my Ipod mix now…
Ooh- I am so with you on the new heart monitor obsession! I just got mine two days ago and I love it!
The Police are always welcome on my ipod, along with ABBA Ace of Bass, however, is highly questionable…as is Milli Vanilli. It’s true I danced my fair share to them at stake dances back in the day…but if you can state to the bloggyverse you love them, I can bravely state that I love showtunes. Lots and lots of showtunes.
Not only do I not want people seeing my playlist, but I am to afraid to even listen in public because I sing (quietly) to myself without realizing it! My boss catches me all the time at my desk singing to the radio. Of course I realize what I am doing when she starts laughing at me.