Reminiscing

I like to watch Cops whenever it's an episode in Las Vegas. Don't get me wrong, though. I love my new home in Alabama, but I really miss living in the desert. The scenery was incredible and so unique. Heck, I even start missing the desert when I see a car commercial filmed in the desert. One of these days, I'm going to see a place I recognize in one of those commercials.

It's funny, too. I see pictures of my friends back in Death Valley, and I realize that they have moved on without me. There was a certain hard-to-define quality there. Some of the same things that made it good also made it bad. The fact that it was such a small community made it feel homey, but at the same time it made things kind of claustrophobic.

I think that I'm feeling this way right now because  in a little over three weeks, it will have been exactly one year since I left the beauty of the California desert. At the time, things weren't going so well for me and I couldn't wait to get out of there. As much as I miss that place and as much as I miss some of my friends, I really don't miss it at all. I don't actually miss most of the people there, nor the cramped living arrangements. I know I've made the best decision possible, and perhaps it is time for me to sever ties with my friends from Death Valley. I act sometimes like I'm missing out on something and they've moved on, but in reality, they are the people stuck in a rather dead-end situation. They all have crappy jobs and crappy houses, and they really don't have much of a future there. I'm not missing anything.

I think that eventually I will go back to Las Vegas for a vacation, but I will definitely not be visiting Death Valley. One day I will go back, but it will be when I'm sure that people I used to know are long gone. I do love Death Valley, and I always will. It's hard to live there for 3 1/2 years and not develop an affection for it.

Pandora's Box

Recently I added a Pandora box to this blog. I'm not actually sure why I did this, but since the option was available, it seemed like a good thing to do. Now anyone who reads this blog can see what I've thumbed up on Pandora. Hopefully, doing this will give you a little bit of insight into who I am, musically-speaking, anyway.

For the most part, I use Pandora while I'm in my car. At home, I pretty much listen to my own collection. Pandora is fantastic for discovering other artists who are similar to what I like. There's something about the constant fine-tuning of my Pandora station that excites me. Along with that, I like the fact that I never know what might come up next, and since it's a station I've created, I can be fairly sure that it will be at least close to my kind of music. This is in stark contrast to regular radio that doesn't even touch this kind of music.

I suppose a lot of people would refer to the music I listen to as dark and depressing, and I'm ok with that. To each his own, I say. The thing is, I like dark and depressing music. Not that I am one to dwell upon the negative aspects of life, but I would really rather listen to music that reflects true emotions. I can't stand the garbage that most people call music, and even though that seems to contradict my "to each his own" statement, I'm sticking with my opinion that most music these days is pure crap. It is throwaway music with a lifespan of a few months at the most. I just can't deal with that. If I like something, I don't ditch it the minute the next big thing comes along. That's really a slap in the face to the artists.

Bored

I have absolutely nothing to write about at the moment, but I'm bored. I could be using this time to continue learning how to use Reason 4.0, perhaps. I could watch tv. I could read. I could do just about anything. Instead, I am choosing to just sit here and revel in my boredom. I'm about to grab a couple of string cheeses, a soda, and then continue being bored. Maybe I should really just go to bed.

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