My Five Special Songs

Hello Hiveians!

This is my 7th entry of my 30-Day Blogging Challenge which was initiated by @tegoshei. I'm really glad that a handful have expressed their enthusiasm in taking up the challenge. Some have started and some have stopped sometime somewhere. Some have skipped and picked up later. I would say that the challenge itself is not that easy, maybe that's why it's called a challenge in the first place. Although the topics are already laid out from the very beginning, I really have difficulties in crafting a post about them until the last minute. Procrastinator as always.

What really surprised me was that I'm on my 7th day when I thought I would only last until the 3rd day. I guess my mind works differently when my honor and reputation is on the line. 😂 I felt I should continue with this until the end because I started it. Also, there's no one who can do this for me.

Today's topic should be about my top five favorite songs, but I guess it will be the first time that I will deviate from the designated topic. I already made it clear from the moment I decided to join this challenge that I will skip or change the topic of the day depending on my mood. It's not that I'm moody today. I just don't know how to approach the topic.

The thing is, I'm not musically inclined. I don't have a life anthem. I don't enjoy music as much as I enjoy a great movie. But there are exceptions and that's what I'm going to discuss here. They're not necessarily my favorite songs, but they hold a special meaning to me as they hold a memory. Here are my five chosen songs:

I encountered this song when I watched The Politician on Netflix and my life has never been the same since. I cried when I first heard the song. Aside from Ben Platt's incredible voice, the lyrics hit me that hard that I pinned it on my Twitter profile. Parts of the lyrics that hit me the most:

Whenever I feel down and pressured by the expectations of the society, I listen to the song in order for me to get back on track. No matter how I say to myself that it's my life and I could lead it to where I want it to be, there are times that I gave in to what the society dictates I should achieve at my age. It feels as if I'm a failure for not having a milestone, for not figuring out what I should do in life, for not having a family and a house or a car. I hate the idea of having those as milestones in the first place. What if my milestone is not the same as the society dictates? What if my milestones are mileage, cultures experienced, people met, food tasted, or places visited? Am I still a failure in life? The song reminds me to slow down even if the world seems to be moving faster.

As someone who wants to travel the world, the term "Vienna waits for you" is a hope and a declaration that one day, I'll visit the place. Vienna is still there, waiting for me to be explored, the same as the rest of the world.

This song was sang by Queenie, my best friend who's now studying in New Zealand, and it holds a special place me. It's not about the song. I mean I couldn't even familiarize the song. It's about the person. Queenie and I have been inseparable since the first day in college. She's my reference person and my confidant. I told her everything there is to know about me.

We have been groupmates or partners in school activities, we joined the same organization, we became thesis mates, and we both graduated cum laude albeit delayed. I don't know why, but when we were together, we just kept on laughing and smiling even if there's no word that came out of our mouths. We know what we're up to by just looking at each other. We get each other's jokes. Or at least she's so funny to me I'm always laughing when she's around. The list could go on.

And it's her birthday yesterday. What a coincidence... or not.

When she was leaving for New Zealand five months ago to pursue her dreams, that was the first time that we won't be together after a decade of friendship. The song was just too emotional to bear.

This is our batch song when we joined our organization - USCChES (University of San Carlos Chemical Engineering Society). I can't stress enough how ChES made a difference in my college life. ChES was my only way of socializing and without that organization, I would have been a different person, a recluse even. ChES played a big part of who I am today.

If given a chance, I wouldn't have taken Chemical Engineering. It was one choice I regretted in my life, but because of ChES, my college life had at least some color and meaning. The song made me remember the people I was with during the training who became "my siblings by choice".

^{We were strangers, starting out on a journey. Never dreaming, what we'd have to go through. Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing. At the beginning with you.}

This was our wake up call in the first leadership training that I attended when I was in first year high school. It wouldn't leave my head since then. The song was a reminder of how we were taught to be aware of the world living in. If you think I'm too strong on my stance on social and political issues, blame the song.

^{I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.}

They could have picked a different song, but they chose the Greatest Love of All. We were taught to think on our own, assess things on our own, and learn to depend on ourselves.

It was a rainy night and I was with the person I just met. We were on a bus on the way somewhere north. We were sharing earphones and our hands were locked as this song was playing. Seemed like a fairytale, straight from a movie scene, but laden with beautiful lies. Should I say more? Just read my Day 4 entry: It Was an Avalanche.

I swear this series made me discover about myself more than I could share.

Kim Ybañez

_{Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession, but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits secluded destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines) and the rest of the world even if he's still a poor corporate slave with tons of bills to pay and two siblings to support in college.}

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