Goodbye 2005

As we approach the coming demise of 2005, I thought it would be a good time to look back upon my life and think about all the cool things I've been fortunate enough to experience. So here, in no particular order, is my:

Top 30 things I have done in my life

1) Celebrated Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras in New Orleans
2) Counted down to the New Year in German (drei, zwei, eins…)
3) Counted down to the New Year in Korean (set, dool, hanna…)
4) Partied on Beale Street in Memphis
5) Visited the Red Light district in Amsterdam
6) Marched in the Orange Bowl Parade
7) Watched the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center
8) Attended the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York
9) Performed on stage in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Tampa, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Orlando, Cleveland, Portland and Boston (and the list goes on…)
10) Performed at half-time at a 49’ers football game
11) Went to the top of the Empire State Building
12) Went to the top of Sears Tower
13) Went to the top of the St. Louis Arch
14) Went to the top of the Space Needle
15) Have lived in New York, Los Angeles, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Germany and South Korea
16) Swam with Manatees
17) Took part in the New York City Halloween Parade
18) Visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland
19) Went to the Grand Canyon
20) Attended Paul Simon’s Concert in Central Park
21) Visited the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials and went up in the Washington Monument
22) Dove on the kelp forests off the coast of Catalina Island
23) Toured the Mayflower and the Constitution
24) Toured Hearst Castle
25) Climbed the Statue of Liberty
26) Have been in all the U.S. states except Alaska
27) Surfed at Waikiki beach
28) Sang on Broadway (okay, it was karaoke, but still on Broadway)
29) Celebrated New Year’s Eve on the Strip in Las Vegas
30) Celebrated New Year’s Eve in Times Square

Christmas musi(ngs)c

Most major cities I know have some radio station that plays Christmas music 24 hours a day up to December 25th. If you have one, take a listen. It is surprising to me how un-inventive these musicians can get. I use the word musician loosely because we've all heard Debbie Gibson's "Sleigh Ride" or Madonna's rendition of "Santa Baby". But take a closer listen and you will hear a wide variety of songs from "Deck the Halls" to Nat King Cole's version of "The Christmas Song" (also known as "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire") ending with the oh-so-familiar tagline of "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way". Is it really so hard to come up with something original? I guess if you're someone who hasn't had a hit in 20 years (see Michael McDonald's newest "artistic" disaster, or worse yet, Regis Philbin) releasing a Holiday album is an easy way to pay off your debts. I mean, you're pretty much guaranteed to get airplay (at least during December) for the next 100 years. But do you really have to subject the general public to this trash?

Finally, "I'll be home for Christmas" is a holiday song loved for generations. Yet nobody can seem to agree on the damn lyrics. "You can plan on me" is also sometimes heard as "you can count on me". But my pet peeve has got to be "Please have snow, and mistletoe, and presents on the tree". I've also heard "by the tree", "near the tree", "beneath the tree", "under the tree" and even "presents and a tree". So what the hell is it? According to one website I found: "As Christmas presents arrive, they are generally placed underneath the tree on the tree skirt (depending on tradition, all Christmas gifts, or those too large to be hung on the tree, as in "presents on the tree" of the song "White Christmas")." Well great, that doesn't help. Not only do they list proper etiquette as placing presents on the tree but also underneath. On top of that it's not from "White Christmas". And just what the hell is a "love light" anyway? As in "where the love light gleams". Is it a heart shaped neon sign? Maybe something like Neil Diamond's "heart light"? Christmas lyrics seem to have no rhyme or reason as long as the word "Christmas" is in there somewhere.