Bloggers road trip. The playlist. Win a New Ford Territory for a Year and $5,000

I've found myself in another blogging competition. The Kidspot and Ford Territory Top 50 Bloggers competition. A friend asked if there is any competition I haven't entered into. The Olympics. Duh. And considering I am not a mummy blogger, don't have children, have only written about children a few times, and I don't handle other peoples' poo or spew well (the requisites of being a good parent, in my opinion), I find myself pretty lucky to be on this list! If I win this competition, I will get to drive around a new Ford Territory for a year, and also pocket $5000 (is this more than the baby bonus??)! 

You can help me win by voting for me - it only takes one click. You don't even have to enter your email address. Easy.

Some of the other fabulous bloggers in the Kidspot Top 50 invited me on a virtual road trip as a part of this competition. Yay! (You can vote for them in the competition too!)

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Nikki at Styling You compiled a list of fashion must haves for the road trip, Jodie from Mummy Mayhem vlogged about it in a way only she can, Bern from So Now What wrote a post about road hazards and Bianca from Big Words Blog thought it'd be a good idea to put down some road rules. I am living up to my blog's name by taking charge of the tunes. Last time I was on a road trip with my friend, I was singing along to Bob Evans, and my friend told me I 'ain't no Australian Idol'. Thanks. Can't wait to receive those insults about my singing again on this road trip!
 
I asked the girls what music they liked. Fortunately a lot some of it was daggy. Just the kind I like to sing along to in the car! And I had a think about some driving-themed songs, to up the ante on the dag scale.  Driving-themed songs are all about escape. When I drive alone I like to take the time to listen to lyrics - reflect on my life and think about the life the singer may have had. I also like to sing loud to fast songs. It makes me the trip go faster.

Singing along in the car is sober karaoke. You can hit all the high notes and bust air guitar moves as far as your seatbelt will stretch. Of course your fellow passengers may groan at at least one of your song choices. And you may even make other travellers laugh when they pull up alongside you at the traffic lights and hear you singing any of these songs:

Big Red Car Ford Territory - The Wiggles

Chances are I'll be the only one in the car not knowing the words. But this will give me time to rest my vocal chords before I belt out the Darren Hayes song.

Hey Driver - Motor Ace

Motor Ace. One of the most underrated Australian bands ever. I vote we play this song each time we change drivers.

Sweet Child Of Mine - Guns n Roses

Bianca knows every word. And I love doing Guns n Roses at karaoke.

Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi

There's no guilt about singing to bogan rock when you're in the comfort of your car.

Fast Car - Tracey Chapman

I don't condone speeding. But you have to admit it feels pretty good to drive along to Fast Car, with the windows down, pretending like you're taking off to start a new life.

Go Your Own Way - Glee does Fleetwood Mac

Jodie loves the Glee soundtrack. And I am quite besotted with this cover.

Casey - Darren Hayes

This song makes me think of the times I just wanted to escape my small town. And I can indeed belt out every word. I love Darren Hayes. He does a good driving song. Plus Bern is a Savage Garden fan too. So maybe we can do a duet?


Passenger - Powderfinger

One of Nikki's favourite bands. And is there a more appropriate song title for a road trip?!

Flame Trees - Cold Chisel

It's a song about returning to a familiar town. Perhaps the town you grew up in? Where the one that got away lives (and doesn't that apply to me?!). You might find find an old friend whose house you can stay the night. And chances are that on this road trip, we will pass through a town familiar to at least one of us. And maybe as we sit we sit at a table with old friends, will see our former sweetheart near where the pianola stands, falling in love with a young local factory out of worker, just holding hands.

Rest Stop - Matchbox Twenty

I often think about whether the woman who dumped Rob Thomas at the rest stop ever regrets it, seeing he's now a big rock star. Or maybe she has never turned on the radio since that night she rejected him.

Love at First Sight - Kylie Minogue 

So when I was six, my parents bought me a Kylie Minogue record for my birthday. Enjoy Yourself. I'd ask them to play the taped version of Enjoy Yourself on our trips to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. It was a 300 km trip. And we'd play Kylie over and over and over. I may have been a difficult child. This song is my favourite Kylie song ever. And it's only apt we play a Kylie song on our road trip!

Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler

This is my FAVOURITE karaoke song. Ever. It would sound so good being sung on a road trip. Every nooooowwwww and then I fall aparrrrrrtttttttttt.......

Thank you for reading/listening to my road trip playlist. Please consider voting for me and the other girls on our virtual road trip. Who knows - one of us may win the Ford Territory and we can all go on a road trip for real this year!

What are your favourite driving songs?

Music I've been missing - iTunes shuffle

I got this iTunes shuffle from Bern Morley's blog. She says it's easy and a lazy thing to do on a blog in the summer months. Hell, I even got this picture from her blog. I am lazy as.

I always listen to music on my computer if I am not watching TV. Currently my iTunes is on shuffle, which is very rare because usually I select/make a playlist of the artist/s I want to listen to.

Anyhow, here's my iTunes shuffle.  It's like the music I've been missing. You can do one too.

Instructions: Put your ipod or media player on Shuffle. The the first fifteen songs that play must be written down, with a short explanation of what it means to you (if anything).

I preface this by saying not all the music I listen to is on my Macbook. I have many CDs, another computer full of music, plus my iPod which I am too scared to load onto my Macbook in case the content gets deleted. (Can someone please tell me how to safely do this?)

Hold on my Heart - Sarah Blasko
I bought As Day Follows Night after I saw Sarah Blasko in Albury last year. She's got an unusual voice. Lovely music to drift to sleep to. 


Tears of Pearls - Savage Garden
Of course a Savage Garden song would come up. There is about four hours worth of Darren Hayes and Savage Garden on my Macbook. Tears of Pearls was from their 1997 self titled album. It's so pop! 'We twist and turn where angels burn. Like fallen soldiers we will learn...' I don't recall this video at all... And I call myself a fan...


Time is Running Out - Muse
My favourite Muse song, the first I heard. I love the beat. The gasps. It's theatrical. It was awesome live last year. I have very fond memories of listening to this song.


Your Song - Elton John
So someone I know said they like Elton John and so I downloaded some of his music for conversational purposes. Yep, the things I do for love. Now I am listening to the lyrics, Your Song is not too bad.


We Won't Run - Sarah Blasko
Another track from As Day Follows Night.  We Won't Run is one of my favourites of Sarah Blasko's. It's got a nice beat. And nice lyrics. 'Let's not waste another minute of our lives...'


By My Side - INXS
I loved INXS in the Michael Hutchence days, except I got into their music after he died. I remember buying their album when I was about 17. By My Side is probably my favourite song of theirs after Never Tear Us Apart. I remember when Michael Hutchence died - I was making up my bed and Mum told me he'd died, a few months after Princess Di. His coffin was covered in purple flowers. It was so very sad. I recently posted this article on my Facebook and offended some INXS fans. I got a little nostalgic at the U2 concert when Bono dedicated Stuck in a Moment to Michael.


Big Love (live) - Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac is a band my Dad got me into. They are my favourite band from my parents' era. I remember in 1997, we would sit in front of the TV watching The Dance on VHS. I bought the CD for my Dad's birthday and was afraid that me doing so would bump Savage Garden off the top spot of the charts!


Rabbit Heart - Florence and the Machine
I love Florence's power songs. She is quite beautiful and reminds me of Cate from All cats are grey at night. Is this a religious song? The official video is very ornate.


Goodbye Mr A - The Hoosiers
I have never heard this song til now. Sometimes I see a recommendation for a song by someone whose music choice I respect. So I do a disrespectful thing and illegally download it. And I think this was the case with the Hoosiers. I believe Darren Hayes pointed me in the direction of The Hoosiers. Because that's the kind of power Mr Hayes has over me. Disclaimer: Darren Hayes did not encourage me to illegally download music. Goodbye Mr A is nice and upbeat. I may have to respectfully purchase more of The Hoosiers.


Outside of Me - Killing Heidi
I LOVED Killing Heidi when I was 17 - 19. They were from Violet Town, quite close to Albury. When I was in first year uni, I saw them play live in Albury, then met them at the record store where they signed my CDs. I had a huge crush on the drummer Adam Pedretti (left on picture below) and took a million photos of him. I even wrote a poem about him. No I will not share it with you.

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Beauty on the Fire - Natalie Imbruglia
Oh Natalie Imbruglia. One of my girl crushes. I really liked her second album. And her first and third. I think she's underrated.


Family Portrait - P!nk
I have only become a fan of P!nk in recent times. 2007 was when I won tickets to her concert and I was blown away. I never much liked her old stuff, but I did like this song.


All the Colours - Angus and Julia Stone
This is Angus doing Julia's Wasted, reggae style. I love this particular concept of a cover version.


Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World - U2
From my favourite album by U2, Achtung! Baby. Two mentions of Dali. 'A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle...'


Hands Clean - Alanis Morissette
So was this song also about Alanis's underage relationship with Joey from Full House, just like You Oughta Know? Though, as I mentioned, I didn't like much of her stuff after Jagged Little Pill, I liked this one. The lyrics are sad, hinting at advantage taken, and possibly pedophilia, written from the perspective of whoever she had a relationship with.


Ok, so now that is done, I realise it was much harder work than being lazy. Lucky this is a blog entry I've prepared earlier ;)

Enough about me, let's talk about YOU for a minute: So Now What?

Welcome to the Enough about me, let's talk about YOU for a minute series on my blog. It's to celebrate my birthday and blogiversary week. Each day until and including 15 December I will feature a guest blogger who I admire. I hope you enjoy the series as much as I did collating it.

Bern Morley from So Now What? has a talent. She's successfully drawn me in to her blog which is part of a genre that I have little interest in. The Mummy Blog.

She writes her blog with such wit, intelligence, honesty and compassion that I can't help but love her blog. Even though I don't have children, I can relate to her so well.

Bern likes Savage Garden and is not afraid to blog about it - big tick! Bern tells funny and sometimes poo-filled stories about her kids. And heartfelt ones. She made me cry with the story of her mother's decline in health. And this blog entry about her father is one of the most moving pieces of writing I've ever read.

I've come to know her through Facebook and Twitter, and will be meeting her next March. She's beautiful inside and out. And I know she'd fight me for Callan Mulvey. Game on, Bern. But let everyone read your guest blog before we have the showdown!

Guest blog by Bern Morley:

WHY I BLOG

If you had asked me if I blog eighteen months ago, I would have thought you were enquiring as to my toileting habits. To be quite honest, you could have spoken Norwegian to me and made more sense, such was my ignorance.

Around that time though, I started using Twitter. I had tried Twitter before that, and it just hadn’t stuck. It was like I was sending little 140 character statements off into the ether and I guess I felt like a bit of dick. But this third time, more than likely because I was bored, I followed some local people and they answered me back. And then I got Retweeted for something witty I had said and BAM, I got it. Like Whitney to a crack pipe, twitter was my new addiction.

It wasn’t long before I noticed people tweeting about their blogs and I clicked their links to discover what in the hell they were talking about. I was and still am, an avid reader, so to think I may have missed out on all of this diverse information for so long kind of bummed me out. Imagine if these had been accessible to me when I couldn’t get my son to sleep all those years ago? Or when my 2 year old daughter at the time, started having night terrors? I especially wish I had been aware when our son was first diagnosed with Aspergers. Perhaps then I wouldn’t have felt so alone and ashamed of myself. Shared experiences count for so much more than any kind of information pamphlet a doctor can hand out.

I am a pretty bog standard working mother of three in the two thousand and tens. I am not crafty or incredibly talented in any one area. I have one child with Aspergers, one on the cusp of leaving her innocence and naivety behind, and one who is a natural disaster on legs. My husband, a plumber, just comes along for the ride in this theme park of a life and for the most part, does not complain.

I guess that doesn’t really explain why I blog.

To be completely l honest, I started blogging because I thought I had a book inside of me. Some years before, I had woken up one morning and seemingly out of nowhere, penned two chapters of a book. Then that was it. It was left to fester in the wasteland that is my overworked hard drive. So, probably more than likely trying to avoid an assignment one night, I signed myself up to blogger and then I posted those two chapters as my first blog post. And then I ran and hid in the toilet and held my breath.

Eventually I came back to face the music. And to my surprise and delight, not only were there comments but there were lovely comments. Encouraging. Almost instantly, I was addicted. Addicted to the positive (and sometimes negative) responses to something I, Bernadette Morley, wrote with my own hands and mind.

The funny thing is, I’ve gone back and read those two chapters and they are complete shit, but I do have them to thank for getting me started and keeping me there.

Thanks Carly. You are one of the other reasons I blog. Because you are inspirational, funny and quite possibly are one of the most unique individuals I have ever met without actually meeting. Oh, and you have the best freaking dress sense in the world. Thanks for having me. xxoo

http://bernmorley.blogspot.com/