Playlist: Pre-Orals Edition

Clearly, among the more important things I can do the night before my two day pre-oral exam begins is make a playlist for the 2 or 3 hours before 10 AM I'll be up. So I've spent the last few minutes putting together some of my favorite music into my Pre-Orals Playlist. There'll be more later (i.e., the list itself, which is, I think, in its final form) -- but for now, here's the music I plan to get me through the morning...

1. Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd
2. Aliens Exist, Blink-182
3. Will It Ever Stop Raining, Saw Doctors
4. Head Over Heels, ABBA
5. Invisible Sun, Sting and Aswad (from X-Files Soundtrack)
6. Landed, Ben Folds
7. Accidentally in Love, Counting Crows
8. Mr. Spock, Nerf Herder
9. Pleasant Valley Sunday, Monkees
10. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
11. My Life, Billy Joel
12. Mamma Mia, ABBA
13. David Duchovny, Bree Sharp
14. N17, Saw Doctors
15. One Week, Barenaked Ladies
16. Boys of Summer, The Ataris
17. Dress Up In You, Belle and Sebastian
18. Dr. Who On Holiday, Dean Gray (a mix of Dr. Who and Green Day!)
19. Kate, Ben Folds Five
20. This Side, Nickel Creek

A weird mix of music, I know. I'll only explain two parts of it. First, a shout out to my Renaissance-studying friend who got me into Dean Gray's stuff -- it's awesome. And I guess at that point I should also thank my 18th centuryist friend who got me into Doctor Who (which will probably be watched at my lunch break...).

Secondly, "This Side", by Nickel Creek. Theatre Sis bought the second Nickel Creek CD for my birthday, right before I left for France my junior year of college. The lyrics are perfect for anyone facing big changes and/or events -- and/or journeys. I feel like orals is, in some ways, all of this -- and so the final words of the song work perfectly:

Your first dawn blinded you, left you cursing the day:
entrance is crucial, and its not without pain
there's no path to follow once you're here
you climb up the slide and then you slide down the stairs.

It's foreign on this side, but it feels like I'm home again.
There's no place to hide -- but I don't think I'm scared.

And the funny thing is -- past the "gotta read one more homily" thing, and the compulsive organization of my books -- I'm pretty sure I'm not. I'm just...ready.