Author: Emily

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A Song I Played At My Wedding

Day Twenty-Three – A Song I Played At My Wedding:

One of the movie dates Hubby & I went on when we were still dating was Aladdin. We had loved the humor of the movie so much (not to mention what cuteness occurred during our showing of the movie) that it quickly became a favorite of ours.

A few months later, in one of my rare displays of creativity … I surprised Future-Hubby with a nice romantic picnic on the floor of my dorm room. And since the movie was no longer in the theaters, I happened to find all the makings of an Aladdin-themed picnic for a very modestly cheap, “I’m a broke college student”-type price. To this day, Hubby & I look back on that “date” with such fond memories.

When it came time to plan our wedding, Hubby & I had no intention of having anything but your standard, middle-class Filipino-American reception. We never thought that we’d associate a theme with our wedding. But in another one of my rare displays of creativity (Hubby’s the one with the Fine Arts Degree … not me!), the thought of doing something around an Aladdin theme came to mind. And luckily, Hubby thought the idea was also brilliant.

So … here’s what we did to make our wedding unique. First off, Hubby wanted to design our wedding invitations; which, in 1996 was not a very common thing to pull off. Second, we decided that our wedding favors would be in the shape of Aladdin’s magic lamp and contain pieces of candy inside of it. Thirdly … we wanted to use a musical porcelain figurine of Aladdin & Jasmin on the Magic Carpet as our cake topper. And finally, the fact that the figurine could wind up and play “A Whole New World,” which we decided would be our “First Dance” song … well that was the icing on the cake (both literally and figuratively).

And that’s the song (one of many songs played that night) that we had at our wedding.

Here’s a video (seen on the Aladdin DVD) of how the song came to be …

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What is with this 30-day song challenge?

What was yesterday‘s song?

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A Song That I Listen To When I’m Sad

Day Twenty-Two – A Song That I Listen To When I’m Sad:

There’s something about music that can stir up the best and worst of emotions. Just like any INXS song can bring a smile to my face, so can another song drive me to tears.

I recently heard an episode of “Fresh Air” on NPR where Stephen Colbert talked about how he took voice lessons to help train for his one-time / one-performance role in Sondheim’s production of “The Company.”  Colbert, who graduated from Northwestern University with a Theater degree, said it was like having to retrain himself after all these years; exercising vocal cords and muscles that he hadn’t used in years. And while his vocal coach had taught him all the technical aspects of singing, he still hadn’t known how to sing with any “emotion.”

That is, until the day Colbert’s vocal coach told him to forget all he learned, to not worry so much about “breaking the rules” … he was told to sing “silly.”

And that’s when it clicked for Colbert. From that moment, he was able to use his voice – a voice that was meant for musical theater, according to Sondheim – and fill it with all the emotions that were required for his character.

There are certain recorded songs out there where you can “feel” the emotions behind the singer’s voice. Those are the songs that give you the goose bumps when you hear it … whether for the first time or the hundredth time.  Those are the songs that can make you cry; whether for joy or for sadness.

Those are the songs that can likely lift you up — even if it’s a sad song — out of the darkness.

James Blunt’s “Beautiful” does that to me. There’s something about his voice, matched with the lyrics to this song that speak to me … that make me even the slightest bit happier whenever I hear it.

Maybe it’s because Blunt talks about a chance encounter with a woman he will never know. Maybe it’s because it’s because he speaks of that moment with such reverence. But the way that Blunt sings his lyrics has a way of making me feel as if I could be that “angel” … that I could be that beautiful person who had caught some stranger’s eye and captured this stranger’s imagination.

Now realistically, I know that’s absolutely untrue. (Who would look twice at me?) But I think it’s the possibility that it could happen that captures my imagination … captures my smile long enough for the wave of sadness to dissipate.

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What is with this 30-day song challenge?

What was yesterday‘s song?

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A Song I Listen To When I’m Happy

Day Twenty-One – A Song I Listen To When I’m Happy:

I’m not sure where I was when I first heard the Black Eyed Peas’ song, “Where Is The Love?” In fact, I’m pretty sure I liked the song more for its addicting beats and catchy chorus more than I did for the actual lyrics of the song.

What got me listening to the song over and over (and over) again was on a trip to London, Ontario for my cousin’s wedding back in May of 2004. The only decent television station we could manage to get in our hotel room was Much Music (Canada’s version of MTV) and that Black Eyed Peas video must have been on high rotation for that weekend.

Regardless, it’s because of that weekend that I got a chance to listen closely to they lyrics for the entire song. And every time I heard it, I could feel the “hippie chick” in me growing stronger; the high-school and college activist who wanted to make a change. Who thought she could make a change.

Not that I don’t think I could make a change today … Obviously writing and speaking up about infertility and living child-free as a first-generation Asian American (where infertility is a “taboo” topic) is one way that I can make a change  …

But hearing the Black Eyed Peas singing exactly what I had always thought in my head (and with a catchy dance beat, at that!)? That was refreshing; especially knowing that there are still people in the world that are trying to affect positive change.

So that’s why I listen to this song when I’m happy. It reminds me that there are times where you can feel down in the dumps … but if you at least try to change the situation you might be, you can take that step forward in becoming a happier person.

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What is with this 30-day song challenge?

What was yesterday‘s song?

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A Song From My Favorite Album

Day Nineteen – A Song From My Favorite Album:

There is no doubt in my mind that my favorite album of all times is INXS’ “Kick” … Although, I must admit that there was a period of time that I shunned away from it.

Blame it on youth, but I remember liking INXS for so many years before they had become commercially huge. So when “Kick” was released and gained so much popularity with the masses, I felt as if the rest of those people had no clue as who INXS was before they became Global Rockstars. And that’s when I stuck to listening to their old albums more than I did “Kick.”

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