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I Almost Got It

Remember how I like to listen to music over and over again? And how I tend to do this at work as a means of helping me concentrate? Well, those two facts are back in order to add just a little more amusement to my life.

A while back, I was working away on something at the office, and I needed to listen to something to help me concentrate. I had heard a new song on the radio that morning that seemed like it'd do the trick, so I fired up YouTube and pulled up "Problem" by Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea. The song has enough of a beat and up-tempo energy that it would provide useful white noise while I chugged along. As is my wont, though, I ended up listening to that song repeatedly throughout the day.

That's all well and good, but since I listened to it so much, I figured out a decent chunk of the lyrics. Specifically, I heard enough of the rap verse to realize that I thought it was decent. It conveys the feeling of the song pretty well, I think. Anyhow, I was pleasantly surprised by that part of it, so I tucked it away for future reference.

As it turns out, that song has become fairly popular, so future reference has come up very quickly. I tend to hear that song on the radio quite a bit. It's not the type of song I'll hear every five minutes, but it's no surprise if I hear it at least once on my commute to or from work.

One other fact that I should mention is that I have a habit of "singing along" to rap verses I like. I suppose I also do this with other types of music, but it's a much more pronounced habit with rap. I guess I just appreciate the lyrics, and that's what prompts me to attempt this feat.

So, if we combine these two facts, we come to the conclusion that I try to sing along to the rap verse of "Problem" at least once during my commute every day. And for some reason or another, I can never quite get it right. I know all of the lyrics, to the point where I know if I screwed something up. But despite having it quasi-memorized, I will still miss a couple of words or somehow get tongue-tied to miss out on a couple of beats' worth of lyrics. Don't get me wrong, if this was a test, I'd still be pulling 90% scores, but it's still not quite right.

Better yet, I have realized that I seem to always get it slightly wrong, and this is where my OCD kicks in. I have now resolved to get that particular verse right, and every time I hear it on the radio, my brain unconsciously thinks, "challenge accepted." It's even funnier to others because there are three rough stanzas to that verse, and if I get the first couple right, then I start thinking, "wait wait, I'm gonna get it right this time." And most of the time, that slight bit of distraction is enough to throw me off for just long enough to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The cherry on top, however, is that I have managed to replicate that verse perfectly on one, and only one, occasion. So I know that it's possible for me to do it, but I can't seem to reach that elusive goal again. In a way, it's almost worse that I know I can do this. If I knew I wasn't capable of this feat, I might just let it go. But since I've managed to do it once, I relentlessly pursue that goal again, if for no other reason than to prove that it wasn't a fluke the first time around.

I'm not going to let this song get the better of me, I tell you.

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