Forever in Motion, “Hot Air Balloon”: This video shows a tiny red and white balloon with a miniature wicker basket floating across beautiful landscape. The lyrics of this song describe a hot air balloon, lifting you away from your problems and setting you free. This is the feeling that hot air balloons used to give me. When I was younger, every year my family would travel to the Aksarben area in Omaha to watch the annual balloon show. Our day started early in the morning because the balloons would take off just after sunrise. We picked up donuts and juice and eat as we watched dozens of massive, Technicolor balloons majestically rise from the ground. When we arrived the majority of the balloons were laid across the huge field, waiting for life to be injected into them. We picked a spot and watched as the balloons were slowly filled until the massive, multicolor canvases were upright and ready to take off. It was amazing to watch as these enormous balloons rose from the ground as if they were weightless. As the final balloon became a distant spot on the horizon, we gathered our blankets and chairs and headed home. I have not been able to ride in a hot air balloon, but this experience gave me a feeling similar to that described in the song. It was so much fun to be able to spend the morning together as a family and just take time off to enjoy watching something so simple and beautiful.
Aqua, “Barbie Girl”:Ken pulls up to Barbie’s bright pink house in his equally pink convertible. At the sight of Ken she drops everything and jumps in the car to cruise the palm tree lined streets. The video continues with scenes of them partying in Barbie’s pool, sunbathing beside the pool or roller blading around the house. These scenes calls to mind the endless hours I spent with my sisters creating similar scenes with our own Barbie dolls. My sisters and I would spend hours setting up a small town for our Barbies to inhabit, the center of which was our Barbie Dream House. With plastic pink floors, pink flowery cardboard walls and a full set of pastel furniture, this house was all a Barbie could ask for. The town was completed with a swimming pool constructed out of a large blue dish, situated under our bunk bed, which served as a diving board for the dolls to be catapulted off of,. This tiny town was surrounded by any other landscape that we could imagine, such as a forest, mountains or a beautiful beach. After the setup of the town was complete, the drama began. We always imagined vivid, intricate plots similar to the soap operas that mom would watch as we played. After playing for hours, we would have to demolish the town and put the toys away, only to reconstruct a new town tomorrow. This elaborate play kept us entertained for hours and provided many wonderful memories.
Nsync, “Gone”: This video reminds me of my first ever concert, it was my favorite Nsync song and the song I most vividly remember from the concert. During middle school my two best friends were obsessed with Nsync, I liked them too, but I was not that interested in them. My friends mothers decided to surprise them with a trip to Kansas City to see their concert at Arrowhead Stadium, they also bought me a ticket so I ended up getting dragged along. But I really ended up having a lot of fun. The night before we left we stayed up the whole night making posters for our favorite band members and chatting excitedly about our favorite songs. My sign was probably the ugliest thing I could have created, but I think it is still in my attic somewhere, tucked away as a memory of our little adventure. I painted the entire background electric blue and glued a huge picture of Justin Timberlake on one side, surrounded by glitter. Over the picture in neon yellow was a ridiculous message, probably something like “I love you Justin” or “You rock Justin.” While the paint was still wet I threw handfuls of glitter onto the sign, making it even more gaudy. Having completed our signs, we left them to dry and got a couple hours of sleep. In the morning we jumped into the car and played games and chatted throughout the three hour trip. We got to the stadium and bought some souvenirs then headed to our sits. Just as the concert was about to start I unrolled my poster, only to find that the paint was not fully dry and had gotten all over the picture of Justin. I was a little disappointed after all my hard work, but it did not really matter, I doubt Justin could see my poster anyways.
The Coors, “At your side”: This song was my class song during high school. We first picked this song during Sophomore year. It was sung after every class play with pride. The first time we sang it together was after our Sophomore Talent Show. Our voices were a little shaky because we had not practiced that much, but it did not matter, we just belted out the words and hoped they were right. The final time we sang this song our voices where once again shaky and uncertain, like when we had first sang together as a class. It was not because we did not know the words but because we could not get them out through the tears. It was Farewell Day and it was the last time we would be together as a class besides graduation. My graduating class of sixty-four girls were squeezed together onto the three large steps of the stage after the final scene, still dressed in our ridiculous costumes, arms around each other with the stages lights glaring in our eyes. When the music started, our voices were strong, singing comically both the high and low parts, but as the song progressed, our voices lost their strength as one by one we began to cry. After the last refrain, there were more tears and plenty of hugs. I was sad that high school was ending, but excited for a new adventure and I will always have great memories of my four years at Mercy.
Fort Minor, “Remember the Name”: “This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill/Fifteen percent concentrated power of will/Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain/And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!” These lyrics embody this past soccer season and my first season playing for Nebraska Wesleyan. I did not know what to expect when we gathered for our preseason meeting, I only knew a few a the girls and had not meet two of the coaches, but I was excited for the season. The meeting started with the introductions, then the head coach played several songs to inspire the team. The final song was “Remember the Name” and definitely pumped up the whole group. Our gathering ended with the new players having to do a short skit, which was slightly embarrassing, but mostly hilarious. From that moment on a new that the season would be a lot of fun. At our first practice the next morning I realized how much work the season would be. Practice started out with fitness test, which was basically tons of running. I also knew that it would take some time and a lot of work for us to play well as a team. There were ten new players and only eight returning players, so the first few weeks were a little rough as we struggled to communicate and come together as a team. We needed that extra will power and a little luck to win some games and by the end of the season, we were playing very well and winning most of our games. And with this came the pleasure of knowing that we were playing our best.
Michael Buble, “Home” : The video shows Buble traveling across the globe having the time of his life, but he still misses those who he left behind. His lyrics talk about his longing to return home and see his loved ones. “And I’m surrounded by, A million people I, Still feel all alone, Oh, let me go home, Oh, I miss you, you know.” This is the first year that I am living away from my family and even though they are only an hour away, there are times when a feel alone and just want to be home. When I do get the chance to go home, me and my sisters try to go out together. Last weekend we were all crammed on a small sofa, flipping through the newspaper trying to pick a movie to see. Because it was her only night off that week, my older sister, Katy, tried to convince us to see her choice. After a long debate, we all decided to stay home and rent a movie, all of us except Katy. This did not go over well with her because she thought we were flaking on plans and this was the only night she could go out. This escalated to and argument that ended with her storming off to her room. This may not sound like as story of a family that is close, but it is because we are close that me and my siblings argue, but we always reconcile within several hours. After several hours in her room, Katy emerged and she sat down with us to watch the end of the movie, and that was the end of the fight.
Chris Brown, “This Christmas”: As Brown sings “This Christmas, And as we trim the tree, How much fun its, gonna be together, yeah ha, this Christmas” there are scenes of a family bringing in their Christmas tree and decorating it with all the trimmings. Christmas is a very important holiday for my family and we spend hours decorating our tree. Every year, the weekend after Christmas, we all pile into the car and head out to the tree farm. After nearly an hour running around, looking for the perfect tree, we settle for a short, fat and usually lopsided tree. When we get home, the tree is immediately set up, the Christmas music is turned up and several boxes filled with decorations are dug out of storage. Dozens of ornaments, accumulated over the years are delicately lifted from the tattered boxes and unwrapped from the aged newspaper wrappings. The blue, red, green, gold and silver bulbs are carefully placed on the branches. Every child is handed their special ornaments to place in near the top of the tree. I gently place the beautiful angel onto a sturdy looking branch. I have had this ornament since I was a baby and all eleven members of the family have a similar one. Mine is a chubby cherub, clothed in a beautiful pick dress and a delicate golden halo hovering over its curly blond locks, resting on a yellow half moon, with my name scrawled across it. After the final ornaments have been placed, we all pose in front of the tree for a family photo. This is one of my favorite family traditions during my favorite time of the year.
John Mayer, “Daughters”: This simple video features Mayer playing his guitar and singing the lyrics in a dark room shown in black and white. The image of a beautiful but melancholy woman also flash across the screen. This video is simple and does not distract from the beauty of the lyrics of this song. Mayer sings, “Fathers, be good to your daughters, Daughters will love like you do, Girls become lovers who turn into mothers, So mothers, be good to your daughters too” These lyrics reflect how important having a good relationship with your parents can be. I am fortunate enough to have a very good relationship with both of my parents, especially my mother. She is very important to me and I know that my life would be so much different if our relationship was not as strong as it is. The line “Girls become lovers, who turn into mothers/ so mothers, be good to your daughters too” is one of the most striking in the song. My relationship with my mother will shape the relationship that I will have with my daughters when I have children. I want to be as important to my children as my parents are to me and my siblings. My mother is someone that I can always turn to no matter what and I will trust her advice. She is the leader of our family and has the strength to hold our family together and keep us close. Whenever I have problems, I know that I can turn to my mother and her advice will help me.
