So I like to multi-task. I am cleaning my room, doing laundry, and conducting a musical experiment.

Remember, I'm odd.

So, I have decided to put the Ipod on random and let it play ten songs that are messages to my life...to my soul right now. I mean, what better to do on a Thursday night along with the household chores.

Yes people, this is how my mind works. So, I'm pushing play and sharing the results.

1. Leather - Tori Amos. Funny since this is the first song on the new Tori Amos remastered "Little Earthquakes" I just got, which is sort of my new old mantra album. She starts the song out with "Look I'm standing naked before you, don't you want more than my sex." I am feeling very naked and exposed these days, and I am learning to understand the feelings around that. And being naked, you want people to see beyond your skin. That's hard most of the time, especially when you can't get past your own skin either.

2. Islands In The Stream - Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. AWESOME! Making me feel like a kid again, when my sister Lisa and I use to do this as a duet in the living room. I love Dolly. Those of you who know me well know of my long-ago dream of wanting to go to Dollywood for my 30th. The closer things get, the harder they seem.

3. Satellite - Jewel. I have never heard this song. It's about being obsessed with saving ourselves through things like "volleyball and power bars." I mean, it's kinda silly. But she of course brings up Hollywood and how we are all obsessed with our looks and how "everybody has a nice body but their souls are like shadows." I mean, that is only true of certain parts in L.A. Like West Hollywood.

4. Longview - Green Day. The universe has a sense of humor like mine, and we are sharing a laugh.

5. You Get Me - Michelle Branch. I mean, what is it with me an chicks who sing? I'll take any of them. I have to admit, I was a bit obsessed with this one when I first got this CD. It's the story of a girl feeling like no one gets her. BUT "you get me." Lame. I know.

What about it?

6. Cooling (Live) - Tori Amos. More Tori. If I had a drag bone in my body, I'd be her for Halloween. A patron saint. Makes me think of Jessica and thinking WAY TOO MUCH about what this song was saying.

7. A Case of You - Tori Amos. How random is random? I guess not too much if one fourth of my collection is her. But this one takes me back to New York. A certain someone was a case for me back then, and I would drink and barely be on my feet. This song kept me standing. An idea of love forced to be forgotten.

8. On Your Wings - Iron and Wine. "God give us love in the time that we have."

9. Lovers In The Backseat - Scissor Sisters. Is my life telling me to be more a voyeur?

10. I'll Be There - Jackson 5. Be trustworthy. I love how he sings it to all the girls at the end. "I'll be there! Just call my name girls! And I'll be there!"

I so would've done that too at his age. Guess I need to reclaim that innocence, but shout it out to all my boys instead.

A BONUS:

"Walking In Circles" - Josh Murphy. A summer intern from my work out there following his dreams. This is a great song. Simple. Sweet. Insightful.

"Memory's just the part of the brain that keeps us from walking in circles."

So I started at Tori, naked and alone. And got through messages of an innocent past lost behind. A reminder of the alleyways I have walked in my days. A point to stop focusing so much on the outside and get focusing on my inside. And most important, to remember all this so as not to walk in any more circles.

And I have some cheesy music taste at times.

What about it?