"I can't go on, I'll go on"*

Like many people, sometimes I look at the train wrecks that are internet dating sites. I've never used one, but know people who have done so successfully, and, well, some less successfully.**

Some of the sites ask users make to lists, detailing "5 things I don't leave the house without" or "5 books that changed my life" and so on. One site instructs users to list "5 things you can't live without". It's always amusing to see what people answer. Some men*** try to be smart and list "Oxygen. Hydrogen. Nitrogen. Iron. Calcium", which isn't nearly as clever as they think it is. Others say things like "A childlike sense of whimsy", which is an instant boner killer (or, whatever the female equivalent of a "boner killer" is). Some men list items such as "a hand-tossed clay tagine oven bought off the streets of Morocco during a lazy summer day" or "a piece of a Persian rug dating back to the 15th century that I discovered in a curiosity shoppe in a forgotten city". And then there are those who say "Xbox, car, dog, beer, Phillies" - hey, at least they're honest.

I've never filled one of those lists out on a dating site, or even as a Facebook meme, but if I had to, here are ten things that I can't live without, ten things that get me out of bed in the morning, ten things that give me a reason to go on.

In no particular order:

• Opening 29 seconds of "Shake Some Action" by the Flamin' Groovies
• Opening 8 seconds of "September Gurls" by Big Star
• The handclaps that come in at 2:18 in "No Matter What" by Badfinger
• That still much debated and seemingly unidentifiable opening chord of The Beatles "A Hard Day's Night".
• All 2:01 of The Beatles "And Your Bird Can Sing", the ur-power pop song.
• At 3:01 into "Wig in a Box" (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch), when John Cameron Mitchell declares "This is the BEST way that I've FOUND to be the BEST you've ever seen."
• This little "zzzzz" sound of Bruce Springsteen running his fingers down the neck of his guitar that comes in at 0:14 of "Badlands". (He did this when I saw him live, and I nearly passed out with happiness.)
• The false ending of the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach" at 1:42, followed by four beats on Tommy Ramones' drums, and finally the last 23 seconds
• Opening 25 seconds of "What Is Life" by George Harrison. What an awesome opening guitar riff, which repeats about halfway through.
• Opening 15 seconds of "Teenage Kicks" by the Undertones. There's a reason John Peel used this as his theme song.

*Post title with apologies to Samuel Beckett and also The Broken West.
** For an amusing view on internet dating, see "Dances with Pixels" in Low Hug #10.
*** I've actually never looked at a girl's profile. For all I know they could be equally bad/pretentious/misspelled.