I just finished a long run of music that made me so happy, and I realized it was a mishmash of genres, probably a lot like yours. Right?

three times a lady – the commodores
crazy train – ozzy osbourne
jesus just left chicago – zz top
let’s get it on – marvin gaye
the world at large – modest mouse
seems like old times (from annie hall) – diane keaton
sugar daddy (soundtrack to hedwig & the angry inch) – john cameron mitchell
wilkommon (sountrack to cabaret) – alan cumming
blue grass breakdown – bill monroe
keep living – jean grae
ode to billy joe – bobby gentry
believe – cher
yellow dog blues – geoff muldaur & the texas sheiks
cello suite V in c minor – rostropovich
hablame – gipsy kings
light & day – polyphonic spree
souvenirs – john prine
liquid dance – a r rahman
sing – annie lennox
bang bang – sara schiralli
boogie shoes – k c and the sunshine band

One of my friends from graduate school did a lot of research on personality and what we know about others from their “behavioral residue” – i.e., how their rooms or offices look, their amazon wishlists, their iPod music lists, etc. So you see a photo of someone’s dorm room and you have a really good sense of them, right? He’s not very neat, he has travel posters on his walls, CDs scattered on his desk, a black leather jacket hung on the chair, and a dead plant. Based on nothing more than that information, it turns out that your description of his personality would be a very good match to a description offered by his friends, by people who know him quite well.

Of course we all know this and operate on it in the world. When you go to someone’s house for the first time, don’t you look at their bookshelves? Their music collection? You probably do it to find points of connection, but you’re also looking for more information about them. You scroll through a friend’s iPod for the same reasons.

What does my recent list of music say about me? If I’d jotted down more, you’d have thought “wow, she really loves disco.”