I woke up this morning, feeling rather ordinary… bit of a chesty cough, the start of a headache and a slight fever.  I splashed some cold water on my face and looked in the mirror and thought to myself, “Meh, you’ll be right.”  Not exactly bright eyed and bushy tailed or overflowing with squirrel-esque enthusiasm, but I’ll start worrying about it when I actually look like the age stated on my birth certificate or if I bear anything more than a passing resemblance to my passport photo – whichever comes first.  In the meantime, however, I think, “I can get through this!”

And by ‘this’, I mean the BIG day of Latin study I had ahead of me which at this point is simply not optional given the potentially horrendous end of semester exam I have to face tomorrow, which involves copious quantities of rote learned verb conjugations and noun declensions, not to mention things like interrogative pronouns, pronominal adjectives and demonstrative pronouns and adjectives, infinitives, imperatives, actives, deponents and all other no doubt important things I can’t remember! :S   So I tried to tidy myself up a bit. Put on a bright pink jumper (people tend not to notice ‘that’ look around your eyes when you’re in bright colours) some jeans and sneakers.  Packed up my school bag with all my Latin study notes, threw in my laptop, grabbed my keys and jumped in the car. Heading for Uni feeling only so-so, but trying sooo hard to pretend that I’m fine and just heading off to campus to study like any other poor sucker… err I mean student.  So far so good.

Then from out of nowhere, the radio gives me a swift spiritual kick to the head in the form of Eric Carmen’s “Make Me Lose Control”.  Now seriously?  Who would credit Eric Carmen with being able to do that?   Well, it came on the radio and without realizing it, I had done exactly what I was told and ‘turned that radio up’ as I zipped along in my little red Suzuki Swift down Macrossan Avenue and through McClelland Corner, which suddenly became a trip down memory lane of many other trips taken that way years ago in a little red Gemini!  All the while Eric and memories of that hair serenaded me along!

Turn the radio up for that sweet sound
Hold me close never let me go
Keep this feelin’ alive make me lose control – Baby

When I look in your eyes, I go crazy
Fever’s high with the lights down low
Take me over the edge
Make me lose control – Baby, baby!

I was even vaguely amused and smiled to myself when it got to the bit where he’s belting out: ‘Jennifer’s singin’ “Stand By Me”, and she knows every single word by heart’ as it dawned on me that I had been singing along and knew all the words to this song by heart, even though I have not heard it for years!

And then the radio DJ came on with his forced levity which is oft accompanied by cringeworthy attempts at humour, and do you know what he says?  Well, I’ll tell you.  He says, in a typical smoothed out radio voice, “And that was Eric Carmen’s ‘Make Me Lose Control’ which hit the Number 3 spot on the US charts and hung around for about 13 weeks in the Top 40 waaay on back in 1988!”

You ever get that feeling that someone has just pricked your balloon, and you’re going ‘Ptbtbtbtbtbt!’ while bouncing all around the room like an unwanted leftover from a kids birthday party???  Sigh… Well, all of a sudden, I felt old and more than a little bit tired, and all my efforts to get up and go; got up and went!  Thank you, 97.3FM.