my life to music

so the past couple weeks have just been absolutely crazy. its been ups and downs and I can only imagine that this is the stuff that soap operas are made of. regardless, I think the worst is over and I look back and think that
I had a lot of time to think. one of the many random things that floated through my head as I tried to sort things out is that our brain is such an amazing creation. even when it is working absolutely perfectly, it can still contort and color our lives in such drastic ways. it can turn a completely sane person into a babbling mess and a turn fantasy into logic. like I said, its been a wild week, but I think having time to think about a lot of things has really lifted the haze that I have been in.

the funny thing about all the chaos of the last week is that at times I would think about times when things seemed much simpler - not really any specfic time of my life, but just certain memories that have been permanently imprinted in my brain as happy or some variation thereof. the interesting thing about it is that each had some sort of musical component to it. here are a couple of examples that immediately come to mind.

"Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" by Vaughn Williams: This is such an awesome piece of classical music. I mostly associate it with Arizona, but also with the great times I had in high school. Yes, I was an orchestra nerd which I think is just under "band geek" on the high school social heirarchy. Anyway, I distinctly remember this piece because we played it the year we went to The Midwest Clinic. Somehow, we made a connection with the orchestra from Dobson High School in Mesa, AZ. I don't remember the exact details, but we somehow wound up taking a Spring Break trip to Arizona to do some sight-seeing, but also to do an exchange with the Dobson HS Orchestra. It was the perfect piece. Two orchestras separated by half a continent playing together on one stage.

"She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5: Nowhere near as complex a story as others. It was the song that was programmed into my alarm clock in Kirksville. Kinda funny that it can generate such a great feeling considering it was what goaded me to class nearly every day for an entire year. I don't know. I guess in a way, Kirksville was a simpler time. The schedule was set and we pretty much knew exactly what was coming our way everyday. Nowadays, studying is like taking shots in the dark. What I read at night may not even be in the right organ system as the pathology I'll see the next day.

"Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi: Shotgunning beers outside Henle Village during the thirtieth minute of the Chris Kreeger's Power Hour. How could anyone forget?

"Homecoming King" by Guster: Driving back to Champaign from Washington, D.C. via Baltimore via Pittsburgh. Best part was the fact that we were in Champaign for two days and the entire road trip lasted about four. Travelling companion on this crazy sojourn? None other than Matt Bassett.

"Rainbow Connection" by The Muppets: More orchestra nerd memories. But this song specifically stirs up memories of my good friends Tina Myers and Dave Hunsberger. Sadly, I have not kept in touch with either as often as I had thought, but there is still time to change that.

"Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced" by Dropkick Murphys: Part of the Ben Munroe/Andy Jou Power Hour masterpiece which occured not too long ago here in Tempe, Arizona.

"All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey: You know, it isn't a particularly good song, but when you are in South Africa and you can't quite remember the name of the guy driving your convee, you best just bop your head along and enjoy it.

"Question" by Old 97's: Some more Kirksville memories. This one is a bit more vague than others. It isn't so much of a specific time, but more of the times I spent with Dusten Wessel, John Epema, and Jeremiah Mason. The four of us practically lived in the breakout rooms at school for the entire first year in Kirksville. Between studying, ping pong, and the finale XBox session in the Breakout 4 we had a great time. I think this song has specific connotations because it is also the song that Dusten played for his wife Nicole the night they got engaged. As a side note, Dusten thought about his song first.

"Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey: Kirksville. Dukum. Lots of singing at the top of my lungs. Colored by the strong presence of Jake Shannon but also Ben Munroe, Nate Scherer, and Jeremiah Blankenship.

"Three In One:" With the Chief retired, I don't know what will happen to halftime. Not only does this remind me of Illinois, but also of all my good friends that I worked with at Illini EMS. I think being rooted in an organization so intimately involved with the University really made undergraduate special for me. It also gave me the foundation for a lot of what I am doing now.

"Johnny Can't Decide" by Jonathan Larson: If I remember correctly, this was just starting to make an emergence during my senior year at University of Illinois. The entire Tick, Tick... BOOM! soundtrack was in my car for a long time that year as I was getting a lot of my rejection letters from the first round of medical school applications. I guess that's kind of depressing in a way, but now that I'm in Arizona, I guess it also serves as a reminder that things did eventually work out. For some reason or another, it also reminds me a good friend of mine, Dave Wehby.

so now you can see the crazy way my brain works. neat, huh?