Alarming

This week I noticed that my calendar reminder system is not working so well.  If I have the alarms on low, there is always the highly-likely risk that I won’t hear them.  If they are too melodic, they tend to cause me to dig deeper into whatever I’m doing:  occasionally I’ll start to hum the melody.  If the alarm is a song I really like, I might just sing along depending on where I am when it goes off.  And that was my ah-ha moment because you see, I love good lyrics.  Heck, I love silly lyrics.  I love ironic lyrics.

I love to sing.

And I do pay attention to the words.

And this is important to me because there are so many electronic sounds in our environment now that for me they become like white noise;  with the exception of a real fire alarm–I often ignore them.

So today, I developed a new system! I created a playlist on my phone entitled:  Alarm Songs

(https://www.freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/62176/)

The criteria for each song is that the lyrics must SAY something that reminds me of WHY it is playing.  (insert me nodding at my own cleverness here)

I’ve been using this approach for a couple of years with great success for my Sunday morning alarm, which goes off at 5:00.  The alarm that wakes me is the song “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5.  It’s a win/win — I love Adam Levine’s voice.  The song is upbeat enough to actually wake me and gentle enough so that I don’t have a heart attack.  And the words begin “Sunday morning…”

I hear it.  I wake up.  I smile for having been woken so gently.  I hear the word “Sunday.”  I GET UP.

Works every single time.

So today, I expanded the concept and shut off all other “pings” that my phone makes to tell me I have a text / an email / a Breaking News report of a 6 car pile up in Ohio, which strikes terror into my heart and about which I can do … nothing) [really?? — why was that ever ON to begin with?!]

It’s a funny thought:  to have so many alarms, and so many things in the world designed now to alarm us, that we no longer find our alarms … alarming.

I’m sure there’s something profound and deep in that, but today is Friday, my lone day off, so deep thoughts aren’t on my to do list.

Sharing my new Alarm Playlist with you, however, is.  I invite your suggestions for other occasions.  I’m still looking for a good Thursday Song.

Alarm Playlist

• Come Monday (Jimmy Buffett)
• Independence Day (Martina McBride) — which of course I only get to hear once a year now lest I get confused and wear red, white, and blue on the wrong day.
• Save Me, San Francisco (Train) — again, only on the list in case I ever have to wake up and catch a plane to the west coast.
• Be Prepared (Lion King Soundtrack) — seemed like a good one to use as a general purpose alarm
• Some Beach (Blake Shelton) — those who know the song, understand … it reminds me of my dentist appt.
• The Morning Report (Lion King Soundtrack) — for night’s when I go to sleep near dawn and wake up a half a dream later feeling disoriented and unsure of the time (and the day and the season…)
• Hakuna Matata (Fridays — I considered “It’s 5:00 somewhere, but rejected that because it had the potential to just confuse me)
• The Lion Sleeps Tonight (for when I have to meet with Sister Michelle, who hails from Kenya)
• Ruby Tuesday (Rolling Stones) [Drake’s “Tuesday” was a contender for the intro but then I thought…what if I’m not in the room when the alarm goes off … and someone else is?]
• Wednesday (Drive-By Truckers)
• Heal Me (Melissa Etheridge — doctor appointment)
• Doctor My Eyes (Jackson Browne — self-explanatory, huh?)
• Night of Silence (sung by Pastor Dave — for when I have to meet with Pastor Dave) [I considered the theme song from Star Trek, but decided that I would likely just hit mute and wonder why that was playing.  I also considered Princess Leia’s theme song, but decided that would make me think it was nap time.]
• Watching Airplanes (Gary Allan — for when I have to get to the airport)
• Amazing Grace (the Phil Vassar one — not the classic song because I would never question why that one was playing anywhere — it’s the soundtrack of my life)
• The Sun The Trees (Russian Red — for meetings at Suntree Campus)
• That’s What I Love About Sundays (Craig Morgan — for all the picnics / parties / other life-giving occasions we gather to share on Sunday afternoons)