Soundtracks

"Who's singing? I hear singing."  Oops.  I didn't think anyone could hear me.  I focused in on the work sitting on the desk in front of me and pretended I hadn't heard anything.  It didn't matter, it only took a second or two for her to reach my office and ask, "Was that you I heard singing when I walked by?"  While I don't like to admit singing in public, it wasn't worth a lie.  "Were you singing along to the radio?  No?  Oh, how cute.  You have your own little soundtrack."

It's true.  Most of the time I have a song running through my head.  Who doesn't?  I figure it's not a terrible way to spend the day.  It's like hold music or elevator music, just a little something to make you forget that you're not doing anything terribly exciting.  My "personal soundtrack" usually reflects my mood too.

The other day I turned a corner to see Tracy, our regional nutrition education supervisor.  She is responsible for overseeing all of the WIC certifiers, and conducts all of our annual audits.  I didn't even greet her when I saw her, I merely said, "I've been expecting you."  Tracy is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, but its always nerve-wracking to have someone stand over your shoulder, evaluating your every move.  "When you get your next chart, we'll do your audit," she said.  A few short minutes later, as I headed towards my room with my clients, the song "Phantom Regiment" by Leroy Anderson was going through my head.  "Lightly dark" is how I describe the mood of the song, and that's what I was feeling- a little nervous, but I knew I would be okay in the end.

Thursday through Saturday of last week was pure and simple torture for me.  I wanted so badly to be outside, enjoying the beautiful weather, and instead I was stuck in stinky diaper land.  The mantra around the clinic on busy days is, "Is it five o'clock yet?"  So naturally, as I sifted through non-participation letters that needed to be sent, set up for a hemoglobin finger stick, and sent various faxes, all I could think about was "Five O'Clock World" by The Vogues.  This is when my boss caught me singing, and she especially appreciated hearing, "while another day goes down the drain."

Last Tuesday, I was working on a project when a song on the TV drew me out of my work trance.  It was "Sh-Boom" by the Chords.  This has been my "happy song" for the last week.  I was in a good mood because of the gorgeous weather and I love oldies anyways, so the cheery song stuck in my head.  Over the last week any time I've been in a good mood, I've been singing "Sh-Boom."  As I've been working around the house, shopping, walking the dog, etc, I've been singing that song.  I realized today though, that until this morning when classes started going well, I haven't been singing the song at work.  Hmm...

My personal soundtrack goes with me wherever I am, whatever I'm doing; and not only does it make the mundane moments a little more tolerable, it also provides some humor.  Last night, as the dog and I were exercising around the grounds of Martins Creek, I was singing my happy song in my head as we walked around.  As we neared the end of the trip, Cooper went from walking beside me to jumping a foot in the air and almost knocking me over.  Flies were swarming a smushed toad in the driveway, and they scared him.  Because he had startled me, the song left my head and I walked the last two minutes of the loop in silence.  How disappointing and boring they were.