...So, I like music and I like certain types of music. As with anyone else, right?

But then there's that music that I find and I just have to turn up the radio or the iPod volume and sing along. Naturally I do not do this in the gym, but it translates in how I respond on the treadmill, the bike or the weight machines. When I'm singing along in my own home, however, I am a perfect target for criticism.

A & B have their own criticisms concerning my voice, especially if I have not warmed up to sing anything first and have strayed off key (I have to warm up due to old strains from a choirmaster that decided this alto should be a soprano). When it's an especially fun song, I really don't care. It's just inspired spur of the moment singing - you've done it I'm sure. We all do.

And then there's DH. He doesn't really say anything about my voice. He comments on the music itself that I'm listening to.

Lately I've been listening to some really interesting things, and I've been rather fond of Pink. Specifically 'U + Ur Hand' and 'So What'. And All-American Rejects new song 'Gives You Hell'. Rihanna's 'Take a Bow'. What do these songs have in common? They're anti-relationship songs. In 'U + Ur Hand's case it's an anti-men song, or at least anti-hitting on me when I dressed up for the bar song.

They also have a great fun dance-y beat to them and are fun to sing along with. They instantly pick up my spirits. Well, maybe not 'Take a Bow', but that song is just fun especially if you've seen the video. Am I anti-relationship? Absolutely not. Am I about to drop a no-good spouse on the curb? Negative on that too. I'm just enjoying the music.

And yet, my loving DH has started to roll his eyes or give me grief about why I love these anti-everything songs. Especially when he notes that from looking over my shoulder lately there seems to be a thread of anti-relationship issues on the stitching board that I own (divorce and relationship crap seems to be going around sadly... but these things sometimes go in cycles).

In the case of 'U + UR Hand', which I love and understand the sentiment of, he doesn't get it. Why would a woman dress up to go to a bar in such a way that she's attracting attention and then not want any of that attention she's getting? Um, Duh. Because she's out to have a night on the town with her girlfriends just drinking and having fun? Because the bars she goes to and/or the friends she goes out with has a sort of standard about how they dress when they go out? Because she likes dressing up and looking good? Geez, not everything a woman does with her appearance is for everyone else's benefit. Even I used to go out with friends and dress up a bit and tell every guy that tried to buy me a drink to go away.

But let's look at another side of things. Sometimes you just need that music to be up, and party style to keep your mood elevated. In my case, I look at these songs as anti-everything else I listen to. Remember, I'm a big Chicago fan (we're talking the band, not the musical). I came of age when power ballads were huge and Chicago was pretty much THE power ballad/love song band. 'Hard Habit to Break', 'You're The Inspiration', 'Hard To Say I'm Sorry', 'Will You Still Love Me', etc.

Of course you cannot forget their 1970's ballad-y stuff, especially 'If You Leave Me Now', which if I hear it multiple times in a short timespan, I will come close to hurling. Pink, Rhianna, All-American Rejects?

This is my anti-Chicago music. It's my not Rippingtons, not Suzanne Ciani, not Trans-Siberian Orchestra or Def Leppard or Aerosmith stuff. This is my balance in the iPod playlist. This is just fun bouncy stuff that reminds me that I made good choices and am still on my feet in a solid relationship. I don't have to embrace a song like that to get me through the day or the night or remind me that I'm better off.

Yes, they speak to me because I wish they'd been around when I had to kick someone to the curb. Yes, I wish they'd been around when I was single and in college and needed to tell some guy to buzz off in a bar so that I could enjoy my mudslide in peace while I watched the others flit and flirt (I was usually the sober driver). Even so, it's not a statement on my life now...

...it's just fun music.