Richard Marx drove me to it

I tote my iPod -- last year's awesome Christmas gift -- around faithfully with me almost wherever I go, but so rarely break it out and listen to it.

Today, I had no choice. I had some crappy song that I used to do aerobics to in gym class in the '80s stuck in my head. Yikes.

And, you know what? It took me about 25 seconds to extricate it from the depths of my purse. Not really a sacrifice. And I've so enjoyed listening to it for the past 45 minutes or so. Just think about how the quality of my life would improve in general if I weren't so lazy about so very many things.

In honor of my newfound friend, I thought I'd do something that I've seen on a couple of blogs. I'll write down the first 10 songs that come up on shuffle.

Here they are:

1. Piano in the Dark -- Brenda Russell
I admit, I have a girly weakness for overwrought, emotional songs. This is one of my faves of that type. I actually hunted it down on iTunes and forked over my 99 cents for it.

2. Material Girl -- Madonna
I'm a little surprised I have this one on there. I didn't like it at the time, but I've learned to embrace the '80s in all of its cheese. Many's the artist I'm quite fond of that I really didn't like when I was in high school. (can you say Prince, for instance?)

3. Dependin' on you -- Doobie Brothers.
I love the Doobie Brothers. More specifically, I LOVE Michael McDonald. (and, yes, I've seen 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin.' ha HA.)

4. Soul Dance Number Three -- Wilson Pickett
This one's DEFINITELY Matt's fault. He's the Pickett fan. One of his favorite songs is 'Man and a Half.'

5. Deep and Wide -- Veggie Tales
You can guess whose fault THIS one is. Believe me, it got skipped over right quick.

6. Jump -- Van Halen
I LOVE Van Halen. Heck, I think I loved this song even in 1985. How can you not love this song? It's one of the all-time classics.

7. I Still Believe -- Jeremy Camp (from the WOW No. 1s album)
There's also a large place still in my heart for the stuff I did listen to a lot in the 80s -- cheesy, heartfelt, not necessarily musically good Christian stuff.

8. Hold Me, I'm Falling -- The Unknown (an instrumental from the 'Monsoon Wedding' soundtrack)
I love soundtracks. I love, love movie soundtracks. Someone else went to all the trouble to compile a bunch of awesome music for me! And in some cases, I get to relive the memories of some of my favorite movies! This should really be the 'Nora Ephron award moment.'
Oddly, I haven't even seen 'Monsoon Wedding,' now that I think about it. I just love the sound of Indian-style music.

9. How -- The Cranberries.
Uh, yeah. I guess I like the Cranberries, too. Not this particular song, per se. I don't generally care for angry music, with Alanis Morrisette the occasional exception.

10. A Time to Love -- Stevie Wonder
Another musical master I didn't appreciate in the '80s. Hey -- I thought of him for years as the guy who sang 'I Just Called To Say I Love You'! Ugh.