Do I listen to pop music because I’m miserable? Or am I miserable because I listen to pop music?

I’ve been tagged by Lisa at Time to Take The Cyanide Pill. Normally I ignore those e-mail forwards where you fill out personal information about yourself and send it on, but this is different and kind of interesting, so I'll have a go at it....

The total volume of music files on my computer:
Somewhere in the vicinity of five gigs, making decision to buy a six gig iPod mini or a full fledged iPod agonizing. This morning I finally settled on the mini, so now I’m deleting tracks from the Get Up Kids that frankly just suck.

The last CD I bought was:
Uhh, can I plead the 5^th? If we go with full albums, the answer is JustinCase. Honestly, I had a song stuck in my head that I heard on that damn "Sports Club Network" while running on the treadmill that I couldn’t find on iTunes, and well, I just broke. If instead of “CD” we go with “lots of songs by an artist downloaded off iTunes” then the answer becomes a semi-more-respectable Anna Nalick.

Song playing right now:
"Seeing Other People” by Belle and Sebastian. Great song. Didn’t realize for the six months I had it stuck in my head that I was living it. Sometimes the subconscious can be a real bitch.

Five songs I listen to a lot or mean a lot to me, in no particular order:
Okay, I only recently realized that the songs I tend to listen to on repeat one obsessently reflect on what’s going on in my life. I first listed my most recent five and then realized it was WAY more of me than I really wanted to share. So as not to chicken out completely, here are five with some deep meaning – well, to me at least:

“Anna Begins” by Counting Crows. I always come back to it. Different pieces of the song have taken on different meanings over the years. I lost the ability to listen to it for over a year.

“Hey Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms. Love it, if not only for the middle chorus. It’s another one I come back to at points in my life, and recently I’ve realized that as soon as this makes it back onto a play list, I need to step back and re-evaluate whatever relationship I’m in.

“Hey Ya” by Outkast. Come on, it just rocks. I’m a firm believer that you can’t not be happy after listening to it. Oh, and I like to have a few drinks and lead everyone in it.

“Hands Down” by Dashboard Confessional. Damn you Sheila for getting it stuck in my head for playing it on repeat one in the cubicle next to mine for a year straight. Well, you succeeded, not only did I end up eventually liking the song, but it’s a regular feature on the playlist.

“Mr. Brightside” by the Killers. The current theme song. I tend to be my own worst enemy, and well, it's also kinda catchy.

And while I'm at it, let me just add that if I ever have a bitter, angry breakup, I've already chosen the theme song for it -- "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" by Brand New. What's better than a song that includes the lyrics "and even if her plane crashes tonight she'll find some way to disappoint me by not burning in the wreckage or drowning at the bottom of the sea"?

Who I am tagging and why?

I’m going to go with three very different personalities to see how they tackle this:

• Sean has very eclectic taste in music – I’d like to see where he goes with this.
• Jay has an interesting take on things.
• And Ryan in the hopes that maybe it convinces him to pick the blog up again. Plus he and I have an interesting background when it comes to our musical choices….

and yes, the title comes from High Fidelity