Making Connections (In response to prompt 1)

If a stranger were to take a look at the music library on my computer he or she would probably be a little confused. I don't listen to just one type or genre of music. In fact, if you looked at my playlists you would notice that I make each playlist according to genre or band. When I listen to music, I like to listen to one type of music at a time. It's actually kind of weird.

Some days I wake up in a very relaxed mellow mood and I end up just listening to reggae all day. Other days, I may be be really excited about something and want to be super pumped up so I blast techno. You see, I go through phases. Sometimes the phase may last a day, a week, or even months. It all just depends on my mindset.

As you age, you grow both physically and mentally. Your mindset changes as you go through different stages in your life. My musical choices have also changed as I went through those different stages. There are a lot of artists in my music library that I haven't listened to since I was in high school. It's like their albums are just there collecting virtual dust. I have thought of just deleting the music files, knowing that I will probably never want to listen to it again since my taste in music is now so different, but I can't bring myself to do that. I think it's because every time I see it there in my library I might not want to actually listen to it, but it reminds of when all I did was listen to that band or that type of music. It reminds me of a different time in my life.

For example, rock bands like Armor for Sleep, Senses Fail, Dance Gavin Dance and Hit the Lights are all bands I saw perform at Warped Tour in Ventura, Ca when I was a sophomore in high school. Listening to their songs takes me back to that day. Almost like a mental slide show. I remember what I was wearing, who I was there with, the crowd, how excited I was to see them perform, everything. That is what is so great about music; it represents eras. Just like listening to The Beatles reminds you of the 60's or what you could at least imagine the 60's were like if you weren't alive yet. This is why I can't just delete the files, stop wasting iTunes space, and call it a day. It would be like looking through my yearbook and tearing out the pages. Memories would be thrown away.

I know that I may be into one particular kind of music right now, but that I will soon be on to something else. Why? Because soon I will also be in a different place in my life. Whether it be new friends, a new career, or new surroundings, the end result is always just a “new” me. Well, a new STAGE of me, and the music I will be listening will represent that stage. I can't wait until I am fifty and I can look back at how much my musical choices have changed throughout my lifetime.