Just some thoughts

Generally, I *try* to be a happy person, but more often than not, I am frustrated or upset by something that I probably shouldn't be, and end up pretty miserable because of stuff that is usually out of my control or that doesn't really matter much anyway, in the long run.

Friends let me down. Boys are pretty much non-existent in my life. I work all of the time yet somehow NEVER have any cash. I am generally unsatisfied with the way my life is currently progressing.

But then there is music.

Yesterday alone, I found out something that was already widely speculated, but one of the bands that I adored in college, The Starting Line, is heading out on a 10 year anniversary tour in support of their debut album Say It Like You Mean It. This show, for me, is happening on December 30 and I have already made plans to attend. I wont have work, so its a done deal for me.

Also, The Gaslight Anthem has a new album hitting the stores next Tuesday, and NPR started streaming it yesterday. I already wrote about this in more detail yesterday so I wont go there again.

Then there is the fact that sometimes I do "grown-up" things, like supporting a listener-supported radio station. And sometimes, when someone does something like this, they are rewarded. My reward just happened to be a pair of passes to the XPonential Festival  this coming weekend. I am going to have the opportunity to see some bands that I love, including Counting Crows, The Hold Steady, The Avett Brothers, Good Old War, and a new favorite Dawes. I have been listening to a playlist of all of those bands, plus some others from the festival, for a few days now, in between spins of Handwritten, and I am getting pretty excited.

Music is the thing that drives me. The bands that I love are my passion. When I am fruitless in my search to find a friend to spend some time with me, I know that my record collection will not let me down. Long rides with a good disk and the windows down are where dreams are born and nurtured. You know that cliche'd deserted island question? my answer is always my music collection and the ability to listen to it.

Today after work, when the car started, "Einstein on the Beach" by the Counting Crows was on the radio. I know I had a big cheesy grin on my face, because that song just does that to me, so when I drove passed the Medical Intern also walking to his car, he looked at me kind of funny and smiled back. He must have thought I was smiling at him, but really, I was just happy about the Eggman. That's all, dude. Just smiling about some silly song that the artist never wanted anyone to hear, but that I adore, and that makes me happier than any person ever could.

When I meet the man that can put that same shit-eating grin on my face, he had better be prepared to put a ring on my finger immediately.