RING RING RINGTONES

Whenever I can't come up with a title or something to write about, I would follow what my brother wrote in his blog. I don't care much for features such as calendar alarm, text message alert on my cell phone and I don't have too many friends, so setting up the ringtones would be just for calls from family members. If I wish to identify the callers by the ringtones, I would organize the ringtones as follows:

Calls from my husband - Do Wah Diddy Diddy (performed by Manfred Mann) because it was the song my husband kept singing on our first date walking around NYC. He said the lyrics "There she was just a-walkin' down the street .... She looked good (looked good), she looked fine (looked fine). Whoa-oh, I knew we was falling in love. I'm hers, she's mine, wedding bells are gonna chime" - was perfect for the story of how we met as I walked into the cafeteria at the United Nations while he and his father were there on their way to Poland, and then how we fell in love and got married.

When we have a disagreement and don't talk to each other, the ringtone would be "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel!

We like most of Neil Diamond's songs such as Solitary Man, I'm a Believer, Red Red Wine. My husband likes Neil Diamond also because Diamond came from a Polish/Russian family from Brooklyn. My husband said he particularly likes the song America more after he met me because of how my family came to the country. When we went to the concert, a drunken woman in the row behind us kept singing all the songs. We had to politely tell her that we did not pay good money to hear her lousy, off-key singing.
Calls from home, most likely my husband too, would be Homeward Bound by Simon & Garfunkel. We went to their concert and had a great time. I particularly like the song The Sound of Silence. I read that Paul and Art grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, where I lived for about 7 months, renting a basement converted to living space with kitchen and bathroom, for $500 a month. All I had was a small fold-out bed, a desk and a chair to study, a bookcase and a small drawer. I kept most of my clothes in two suitcases the whole time I was living there.


Calls from work - She works hard for her money by Donna Summer or Take this Job and Shove It by Johnny Paycheck (Not his real name but appropriate for this song).

Calls from my brother VL - John Lennon's Beautiful Boys for now. I could switch over to my favorite nephew JL and then I would change to the Peanuts tune for my brother. Or when JL is old enough to have his own phone, the ringtone will be I Love You by Louis Armstrong.

Calls from my Mom would be Love me Tender or any songs from Elvis Presley because he was her heartthrob when she was a young lady in Viet Nam. Elvis was an international well known performer that language, race or cultures was not an issue stopping young women to fall in love with such a handsome and charming man.

For my late father, the song would be Hello from Leonard Richie. The same thing with Dad, although he did not understand much English but the songs by Richie were mellow and the melody was pleasing to the listeners. Also Dad commented that Richie was a well-dressed man and that was important. Dad did not care much for torn shirts, messy hair or colorful clothing on male performers. Dad shoke his head, laughing when my sister and I used to go crazy over Boy George.

Calls from my sister, CH, would be Back to the USA or any songs from the Beatles as CH is very fond of the group and she would pack her bags, move to England if an opportunity comes along at a moment of notice. We had fun at Sir McCartney concert when the tour included St. Louis in the 2002 World Tour. I particularly liked the guitar he used with the Red Wings logo on it. St. Louis Blues hockey fans shouted "boo" when the guitar was shown on the jumbotron.