30-Day Song Challenge: Day 13 – A song that is a guilty pleasure

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What an interesting theme, haha! First thing that popped into my mind was this song.

In 2002 t.A.T.u., a Russian female duo, broke into the mainstream with the song "All the Things She Said". It was really catchy and an instant hit, having constant airplay for a while. The controversy regarding the duo's sexuality (they were rumored to be lesbians. Rumored? Confirmed? I'm not really sure actually) also helped boost their popularity.

The duo was formed by Ivan Shapovalov in 1999 by holding auditions for teen female vocalists. The duo was originally named "Тату" (Tatu), which is short for "Та любит Ту (Ta lyubit Tu)" meaning "She loves her". They used the name t.A.T.u. for their English album because there was already an Australian band called Tatu.

While researching on the band and the song I found out that the Russian version of the song is entitled "Ya Soshla S Uma". Of course, I can't understand the lyrics since they're in Russian, but it's worth a listen.

I also like t.A.T.u.'s version of "How Soon Is Now?", another guilty pleasure song of mine.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 12 – A song from a band you hate

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I can think of bands I don't like that much but I honestly cannot think of a band that I hate. Why waste effort on actively hating a band when you can just ignore them, change the station when you hear their song on the radio, or change the channel when you see their music video on TV? But, seriously, I can't think of a band I hate. That's it. No song post for today. Bye!

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 11 – A song from your favorite band

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Why is it so difficult to choose a favorite anything? I can name a couple of my favorite bands but it's difficult to say which ONE is my favorite.

So, one of my favorite bands is Incubus. I'm excited to watch them in concert again on the 28th. I haven't completely listened to their new album yet, which should worry me because the concert is only 2 weeks away. It's like I'm not studying for an upcoming midterm or something.

Losing a Smartphone

Losing my Nexus One is one of the most expensive material losses I've experienced, so far. And it's only the second item I've actually had stolen from me, as far as I know. The first time was my wallet, stolen from my unattended bag, during our NSTP, teaching kids in Montalban. Naturally, I was devastated. I had around P400.00 worth of money in my wallet plus my ATM card, other cards and photos, I think. I only realized that it was gone when we were back in school for our NSTP debriefing.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 10 – A song that makes you fall asleep

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If I'm sleepy enough I can easily fall asleep to any music. I can even fall asleep while listening to rock or heavy metal music.

There was a time when I had a tension headache every single day. I was used to sleeping late and I hated waking up early, and it took a toll on me. It felt like I had a heavy ball of nerves tightly packed in the middle of my forehead, in between my eyes and just right above my nose. It was tolerable but got really annoying, especially when I had to work, so I researched on tension headaches and how to relieve them. One of the "treatments" I tried was listening to relaxing music before and during sleeping as well as while I working. I found that it was effective when I listened to instrumental music so my brain wouldn't get distracted with lyrics, especially if I've become familiar or memorized them.

In my quest for instrumental relaxation I discovered Kitarō, a Japanese musician, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. His songs are amazing and listening to them kind of takes you to another place.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 09 – A song that you can dance to

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Technically, I can dance to any song out there, but I can't promise that the dancing would be very good for all songs, haha.

Anyway, for this day's theme, I'm picking "Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger featuring Craig David. It's so old school, I know, but I love this song. I remember dancing to this back when I was in high school. I still remember some of the choreography that we had for our performance, too.

30-Day Song Challenge: Day 08 – A song that you know all the words to

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I had to learn this song when I was in high school because we performed highlight songs from Rent for one of our classes. You can't have Rent without this song.

Seasons of Love

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets
In midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles
In laughter in strife

In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life?

How about love? (3x)
Measure in love
Seasons of love (2x)

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand journeys to plan
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?

In truths that she learned,
or in times that she cried
In bridges he burned,
or the way that she died?

It's time now to sing out,
though the story never ends
Let's celebrate, remember a year
in the life of friends

Remember the love (3x)
Measure in love
Seasons of love (2x)