I feel music has become such a huge part in my everyday life.
I listen to it when I commute to and from work. I “allow” myself to buy one new song, once a week. And when I cook, I need to have the right kind of music playing to fit my mood, or else it may feel like what I’m doing is “work.”
Some people can cook in silence. Some people may enjoy cooking in silence (does it have to do something with your chi? Your yang? Please enlighten me, because I can’t do it.) I on the other hand, need the music blaring from the iHome I bought on sale from TJ Maxx (oh that’s why it was discounted, there’s no remote and two of the buttons are faulty), placed on top of our Keurig, teetering, threatening to fall off, basically a metaphor for my life.
Just as a random aside, do you ever look at things and basically say to yourself, “metaphor for my life.”
My friend S and I do this all. the. time.
Perhaps it’s because we have screw loose, but we love sending each other picture texts of inanimate objects looking incredibly sad, and just title it, “metaphor.”
Like, this used up umbrella by the bus stop after the rainstorm?
Metaphor.
Wait, you don’t get it?
Yeah, S and I are completely delusional that we’re “hilarious” (said in crazy cat lady voice, who probably has been smoking 2 packs a day for 40 years).
I need to call her…
Anyways, back on track.
I am definitely a believer that music is very personal, and I feel that it expresses a part of us that many may not know. For example, my good friend J, who is probably one of the most professional, astute businessmen, loves loves loves Brit-Brit, ie Britney Spears. I, on the other hand, am sometimes manic, to which good friends that I haven’t seen in a while will email me, “I miss your crazy, I haven’t had a good laugh in ages. When can we get together?,” love me some old fashioned Etta James and Ottis Redding.
Seriously, one of the best ways to get to know someone is by what they listen to.
Do you have a road trip with a friend coming up? Bring your iPod, and demand that they do too. Screw battling static and “emergency broadcast alerts,” who needs to know where that twister is anyways? ”You’re on the road to have fun” (if I could insert my friend M’s impersonation of her hardcore Jewish mother’s Brooklyn accent, that sentence would be so. much. better). This is how you will really get to know the other person. It’s true, no iPod owner can lie about what’s in their song collection, because who else downloaded it? No one else has access to their iTunes account and then transferred it to their mobile device, except for them, and them alone.
And it definitely is one of the reasons I loved Roo just a little bit more, when he played, unapologetically, Sarah McLachlan in his car once. Ok, maybe more than once.
With that, I give to you, the playlist I listened to when cooking dinner tonight. It usually takes me an hour to make dinner, so this was perfectly timed with prep, actual cooking, and plating. I like to start with something upbeat, getting me in the mood to start chopping away at veg, moving around in the kitchen. Then, I slow it down a bit, probably throwing some sad sad sad (I love me some emo, though it’s probably not cool to call it “emo” anymore…is it even emo? This is how lame I am.) tunes in, so that I can focus on the braising, stewing, etc. There is usually one or two random fast, upbeat songs in the middle, just to get my focus back (I think about this playlist way to much, I need help.) Plating of course is usually when I play songs that make me feel “triumphant,” (weirdo) knowing that I’m about to be done and eat.
To me, cooking dinner is like a very good battle, one in which I hope to win every time. I may cry (damn you onions), I may have loss (oh garlic, why must you burn?), but I usually come out of it at the end, victorious (I beat you, you sneaky, slimy piece of okra).
If no one exactly hates this, I hope that I can post something like this once a week.
And in case that embedded youtube video doesn’t work, you can go here.
