From The Bottom of My Nest

I got a couple of early Christmas presents tonight, including some new kicks and a new pair of headphones for my iPod, which was very cool. Some years for Christmas, Mom and I will do this type of thing, and I'll pick out the gifts that are highly stylistically dependent. For those who are curious about these things, I picked up a set of Sony MDR-EX71s, white. They came very highly reviewed on iPodlounge, and the review didn't lie. I'm very pleased with the sound and comfortable fit; they're a much worthier set of earbuds than the sets that came with my iPod. They're rather expensive, though, but I've found with audio equipment, you really do get what you pay for. At $50 or so, they won't break the bank, at least.

This year, Annie went with us. It was very cool getting to spend quality time with her and mom, even if I did get a little impatient at times. That was just my energy level getting low during the course of the evening, though. Here's a little snippet of one of the conversations heading toward Huntington tonight (Mom had been humming "Feliz Navidad" for a while directly before this):

I yelled, in my most exaggerated singing voice ever, "I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas, I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas... I wanna wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BOTTOM ..."

I had the guttaral voice rolls, the embellishments, everything going on. It was beautiful. Mom provided backup notes for me, and Annie matched my enthusiasm from the back seat. Our improvised chorus over, I moved to the verse. With a song like "Feliz Navidad," though, I have to provide vocal percussion or some kind of simulation of the beat in between the words. It's just a requirement. I was happily doot doot dooting when Annie took it away from me.

"Feliz Navidad," she sang, followed by my beat. Then she paused, as if trying to remember the next line.

"Sparrows on my chin," she sang triumphantly.

After Mom and I calmed down from laughing so much, Annie could only say that she liked to put her own words in the songs she sang from time to time. Who can argue with that?

I think Jose Feliciano would be proud.