Monday, March 7, 2011

Soundtrack of my life continued - College and Young Adult Karen

Continuing the Soundtrack of my life, apologies for the lateness of this next installment.  Just to recap where this all started, I was inspired after reading an entry by Lady Estrogen on her blog, AdventuresinEstrogen.blogspot.com where she listed her top 10 songs of all time and told little stories about times in her life when she first heard those songs. (I still recommend her blog, it's awesome)
I started thinking about songs that I love but when I think about these songs they take me back to moments in my life.  So, I decided to put them in chronological order and share with you stories about the songs as they related to the different stages of my life.  We did childhood Karen and Awkward Teenager Karen in my first post, now we're up to College and Young Adult Karen.
College Karen:  College was a weird time for me, it took me awhile to figure out who I was and what I wanted to do.  I started out at UNCG and then transfered to Lenoir Rhyne College.  At LR, I found some great friends and lived out on my own for the first time.  I joined a sorority, and of course weekend parties were a must!  One of the songs that takes me back to that time and always makes me smile is "Come Baby Come" by K7.  It was played on our hall constantly, and at the frat house we migrated to every weekend.  I keep in touch with a few close sisters, and we still laugh about that stupid song.  Any of those other 90's party songs would do also: "Tootsie Roll,", "Gin and Juice,", "Fantastic Voyage," or anything by Coolio!
Another one I loved was "Anywhere Is" by Enya.  I loved Enya's ethereal voice, and still listen to her music now.  That song just really spoke to me at the time for some reason.  I played her music in my dorm room when I was studying, it just really quieted my mind. 
The 90's were all about the grunge music too, and I listened to Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, all of those bands...loved it!  "Black" by Pearl Jam was a song that has stuck with me, I still love it.  Back then, chat rooms were becoming a thing and a few of us would go to the computer lab in the library and "talk" to people from all over the world.  Well, I "met" a guy from Canada and we developed a relationship online. This developed to phone calls, mailing cards and little gifts to one another, etc.  There was a spark there, but he was in frickin Canada. Finally, he came down for a week to meet face to face.  There were definitely sparks, and it was heartbreaking when he had to leave but we both knew it just wasn't meant to be.  He made me this mixed tape, and "Black" was on it.  It stood out and brings back fond memories of that experience.

Young Adult Karen:   After college, I moved back home - it was a weird time for me.  Building a career, stilll figuring out what I wanted out of life, it was just a transitional time I think.  I reunited with an old friend that I had sung with in High School chorus, and she introduced me to Karaoke.  I had forgotten how much I loved singing in front of people.  One of the songs that I did regularly, and that I still love is "Criminal" by Fiona Apple.  I love her music, and that was her breakout song back in the 90's.  Love that song! I also started singing some country songs, and became a fan of Martina McBride.  "A Broken Wing" became one of my favorite songs ever to sing at Karaoke and is still one of my favorite songs period. 

Well, that sums up this period for me.  We'll wrap things up next time with when I met Hubby and Present day Karen. 

1 comment:

Lady Estrogen said...

Awe, thanks!!
Oh, Coolio brings me back for sure!

Ninja warriors unite :)