The Shower Song Renormalization

I got some pretty cool things for Christmas this year - a goat donated in my honor to a family in Africa (I fondly think of him as Phil), plenty of gift cards, a painting, and unique things like personalized dishcloths and a separator plate. But two things stand out above all that. My periodic table shower curtain, and my loofa ducky.

Now, I have a history of singing in the shower. I sing in the key of off, so I am quite thankful that my bathroom is central in my apartment, not sharing a wall with either of my neighbors. Normally, I'd sing fun songs - something from Broadway, or Disney maybe. However, the shower singing has decreased over the last few months, probably due to lack of time in the mornings. But, ever since I started using my new shower curtain and loofa, I've had some new songs to sing.

My loofa ducky is a long loofa - the kind designed for washing your back, with strings attached to either end - and has a plush duck head on one end, and the feet on the other end. It is absolutely adorable and the second I saw it, I was reminded of the Rubber Ducky song. Naturally, I had to alter it a bit to work with my loofa ducky, but every morning, guaranteed, as I scrub my back I sing "Loofa Ducky, you're the one! You make showers so much fun! Loofa Ducky, I'm awfully fond of you!".

If you watch The Big Bang Theory, it is likely you are familiar with a periodic table shower curtain. I have the same one. I also have a tendency to sing the periodic table. It started back in university, when I had four hour chem labs with nothing to do but watch a burrett drip. I'm not sure where the tune came from, but one day I just started singing the elements in order. And then, to spice it up, I added jazz hands at the end of each phrase. When I started teaching, I sang the song to some of my students to try and get them interested in chemistry (or at least see that they could have some fun with it). Ryan and Anne decided to come up with their own song, but have never actually made it past Boron, largely do to the fact that they dissolve into laughter at that point. They chose Carol of the Bells as their tune: One, hydrogen, two, helium, three lithium, four, beryllium, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-Boron. Normally it was somewhere during the "ha's" that the real laughing started. It probably didn't help much that when Ryan sang it, he would sing in either a really high or ridiculously low voice. So now, when I'm showering, I'll start off with my song - I can do up to silver from memory - and if I need a good laugh, I try to sing Anne and Ryan's song.

Life Lesson: Let the things around you inspire you, whether it is to go back to doing something you enjoy (like singing in the shower), or to try something new.