a partridge in a pear tree

On the first day of xmas: First official day of vacation. This past weekend doesn't count cuz everybody gets weekends off (well, not everyone, but salary men and office ladies normally do, and as I am a salary man, I am not counting it). I actually did quite a bit today. I made a sour cream cheesecake; I am making cornish game hens with a pepperjack cheese sauce for dinner; I returned four pairs of Keen shoes to REI; I bought a Marmot jacket (hedge color Thunder Ridge Medium) from REI while I was there returning the shoes; I went grocery shopping at Lucky's, Safeway's and Sunset Super; and I got a haircut at Hong Kong Hair Salon.

Oh and I made a list of my 58 favorite songs of 2008. Why 58, you ask? It's because I was trying really hard to narrow to 50 and then realize that was not going to be fair to the eight orphan songs I was going to leave out.

58. Shut Up And Let Me go - The Ting Tings
57. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab For Cutie
56. Who's Gonna Save Your Soul - Gnarls Barkley (Best video of the year.)
55. Pocketful Of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield
54. If I Had Eyes - Jack Johnson
53. If A Song Could Get Me You - Marit Larsen
52. Mercy - Duffy
51. I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry
50. Cry Just A Little Bit - Cloetta Paris
49. Sunset Shell - Ossian Ekenger
48. Paparazzi - Lady GaGa (I need to get her cd. I hear it's awesome.)
47. No More Rain - Kylie Minogue
46. The Show - Lenka
45. Petite Bonheur - Loane
44. Lucky - Jason Mraz with Colbie Caillat
43. LES Artistes - Santogold
42. Just Behind A Brickwall - Tobias Froberg
41. Digital Love - Alphabeat (Made me go back and appreciate the Daft Punk original.)
40. We Got Some Breaking Up To Do - Private
39. I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me - Annie (Can't wait til 2009 for brand new cd from her.)
38. Bruises - Chairlift
37. Hello Seattle - Owl City
36. New Soul - Yael Naim
35. Walking On A Dream - Empire Of The Sun
34. Live High - Jason Mraz
33. Stop And Stare - One Republic
32. She Loves Everybody - Chester French
31. Soul On Fire - Spiritualized
30. Sexual Eruption - Snoop Dogg with Robyn
29. Lights & Music - Cut Copy
28. The Kids Don't Stand A Chance - Vampire Weekend
27. True Affection - The Blow (Love the line You are out of my league.)
26. Impossible Germany - Wilco
25. Mansford Roof - Vampire Weekend
23. Miles Away - Madonna (Guy Ritchie is miles away but $90M richer for it)
22. PGDM - Pretty Good Dance Moves (Any video that features people dancing with motorcycle helmets on is cool with me.)
21. I'm Good I'm Gone - Lykke Li (Sweden represent!)
20. Ara Batur - Sigur Ros (Iceland is not bankrupt for musical genius, as long as it's got Sigur Ros.)
19. Homecoming - Kanye West with Chris Martin
18. End Of The World News (Live) - Tom McRae (From the live cd I acquired during my first Tom McRae live experience - you know, the one where I shook his hand, twice.)
17. I'm The Worrying Kind - Maia Hirasawa (The namesake of this blog.)
16. Time To Pretend - MGMT
15. Speed Feels Better - Michael Tolcher (From the Summer Beijing Olympics.)
14. Strawberry Swing - Coldplay (Oh, what a perfect day...)
13. True Love Will Find You In The End - Daniel Johnston (An oldie. I first heard of this as a remake but thought I would include the original here.)
12. She's Not Me - Madonna (Infectious, fun, and vengeful. We like Madonna this way. Way better than preachy Madonna.)
11. Electric Feel - MGMT (These guys are just plain cool.)
10. Human - The Killers (I am human, not dancer. I am addicted.)
9. California - Joey Ryan (A beautiful ode to my home state. Like that Phantom Planet song.)
8. Leaving - Jesse McCartney (Jesse McCartney? Seriously? Yeah, I am such a tween.)
7. Viva La Vida - Coldplay (My favorite band hit it big big time this year. This song reminds me of that HBO show The Tudors, even though I have never seen The Tudors. It's epic, with strings and all.)
6. Button - Shugo Tokumaru (Intricate, experimental, beautiful. It transports me everytime to a new musical wonderland.)
5. Made In The Dark - Hot Chip (Hot Chip can slow it down and bring it to a melancholy simmer.)
4. Ready For The Floor - Hot Chip (And then they can turn it up and bring it to a full boil. What a slick dance anthem.)
3. Lovers In Japan - Coldplay (Dreaming of the Osaka sun still.)
2. American Boy - Estelle (Don't like his baggy jeans, but I like what's underneath them...haha.)
1. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz (He made the Jack Johnson cd I wanted Jack Johnson to make. I love the vibe of this song and the whole cd. I'm a big fan now and would love to see him live.)

Wait - that's not all I'm giving you today. I am also sharing this hilarious video. The Dubya is in Iraq and got not one but two shoes thrown at him: