Random Access

Sunday – 06 June 2021
Kids can delightful, laughter-inducing angels of joy.

They can also be emissaries from the deepest pits of Hell.

And sometimes they can be both, within a matter of minutes. Seriously. The change can be as fickle and swift as the direction from which the wind blows.

Something that people – usually those who’ve had a kid or two before you – neglect to tell you is about the vigor with which kids sometimes glom onto new things, like toys, games, TV shows, or music.

Our ladies are BIG FANS of the L.O.L Surprise Dolls line of toys, for example.

And, NO, I’m not giving them flak for that, given that I have an ever-growing collection of dolls action figures “photography subjects.” I’m self-aware enough to realize how hypocritical that would be.

Likewise, they have become big supporters of our Nintendo Switch, especially when they ask me to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

And when I say “ask me to play,” I actually mean “get me to play so that they can tell me what to do/where to go in the game.”

I won’t even go into how they’ve binged TV shows that catch their interest, but I will say that I had NO IDEA how many “magical girl,” Sailor Moon-esque series there were and I’m sure that we’ve only barely scratched the surface there.

And, music…? Same brand, different flavor.

I should have known that something was up when I started listening to Jungle’s Busy Earnin’ and they effectively put it on solid repeat on our smart speaker.

But I didn’t.

Perhaps I should have gotten a clue when they did the same thing with Just Loud’s Soul Train.

Nope.

Ghostbusters (I’m Not Afraid), by Fallout Boy? Still nope.

Sucker, by the Jonas Brothers?  I might have started to get an inkling of an idea. Maybe.

What can I say, I’m a slow learner sometimes.

The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights?

Okay, by this time, I finally managed to find two brain cells to rub together and come up with “a clue.”

Their latest infatuation has been Dua Lipa. Mostly Levitating…

…but they have branched out a bit and will just tell the smart speaker to shuffle her songs. And it’s not just playing her songs, but randomly breaking out into song, like they’re on Fame or in Enchanted. Repeatedly.

At this point, I might as well just save some money and quit my Spotify and Amazon Music subscriptions because I have in-home, stereophonic singing. On repeat. Sometimes with the added benefit of dancing.

And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.