Enjoying the new Christmas theme?

Please don’t ask me how long it took to put that goddamn candy cane in there.

Thanks to the dynamic duo Dan and Lil for their suggestion to plop something on my head.

I have a pretty diverse taste in music.

Not unusual, but open-minded. There are some things I know I dislike (heavy metal, for instance), and some genres I’ve always enjoyed to a degree (soft electronic music, for example).

The challenge is simple: Listen to the following seven songs and see if you can name the track and the artist (no cheating!). Some of them are semi-popular, but some are really, really obscure — so don’t beat yourself up.

For example, song #7 was sung by a single member of an obscure a capella group from Sweden. No joke. I don’t seriously expect anyone to know the sixth or the seventh selection, though they’re both sorta cult hits. Sorta.

Good luck, and I hope you find something you like, but didn’t know about before.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

I hope I’m not ruffling any (legal) feathers on this one. The tracks are seriously downgraded in quality, so if you really like any of the them, let me know and I’ll lead you towards the album.

It was an interesting getaway for the three of us.

The three of us being me, an American from Duke University, and an Englishman.

And while our nightly stay at a very English and very quaint home in the Bedford countryside — reminiscent of Cameron Diaz’s magical stay in The Holiday — was more suited for say, a romantic getaway for two, we still made it work.

Somehow.

I’m off. First to London, and then Bedford — this itty-bitty town — for a pair of days.

It’s part of my new regiment. You know, the whole, “You’re young, so you’d better party it up like it’s 1999.”

Except it’s not. It hasn’t been 1999-party-time for 7 years.

Shit. Who am I kidding. I wasn’t partying back then, either. Seven years ago, I was still eating paste and running around with safety scissors.

Funny.

I’ve been going to the gym.

Five days a week. Sometimes six.

Same time. Same place.

But Anna — she’s like gone, man. Vanished. Poof. I haven’t seen her since.

It’s like she never existed.

Her last words to me were, “I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

Damnit. She lied. She totally lied.

I got the “see you around” brush-off from Anna Stern. Anna Stern.

Oh man. That’s depressing.