The Soundtrack of My Life

Have you ever wondered what your life's soundtrack would be? In every movie there is music playing in the background that is supposed to fit the scene. In the scenes of life what music would be playing for you? For me I honestly am not sure. I mean would it be the music you listen to most? For me that would most definitely be hip hop, but honestly I'm a middle class white kid so why would songs about struggle and turmoil in slums and ghettos fit my life? It wouldn't so that couldn't be it.

Your favorite song at that moment perhaps? If you are anything like me your favorite song changes just about every couple of days. One day it's "Thug's Mansion" by Tupac, the next it's "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John. Except if you look at a movie's soundtrack there is very little variety in the sound. It sticks to one genre and then hits different points within that. So clearly that theory is out.

So after a lot of thought and scouring my iTunes music I have come up with the soundtrack to my life, enjoy. Perhaps you'll see something you'll want to hear that you hadn't thought about before. Also included is a brief explanation as to why the song was included.



1. Dear Life - Anthony Hamilton. It's the sound of it that I absolutely love. That smooth jazzy music and Hamilton's bluesy vocals. The lyrics are simply genius as well.

2. In this Diary - The Ataris. Now I am already breaking the rules for what makes a soundtrack by picking a rock song after a R&B song, but honestly I couldn't think of a better song to capture my teenage years. Because after all, being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up.

3. Knocking on Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan. Sure this song has been covered by about a billion people ranging from Bon Jovi to Avril Lavigne but nothing can compare to Dylan. This is the song I want played at my funeral. How often have we felt like the pressure is too hard on us to continue and like our life is coming to an end only to overcome it and move on and learn from the lesson? For me it's far too many to think.

4. If You Think You're Lonely Now - Bobby Womack. Quite honestly it never gets better than Bobby Womack. Only he could make a song about getting fed up with your woman and walking out on her sound like a wonderful love song.

5. Buddy Holly - Weezer. Quite simply Weezer is amazing. While I may not look like Buddy Holly, this is still the perfect courting song, and if anyone of you have read my blog for any length of time you would know I do love me some courting.

6. The Girl All the Bad Guys Want - Bowling For Soup. Let's be honest now here guys there will always be that one girl in our past that we tried too hard to impress to no avail because she was into bad boys. We do some stupid things and this song is the epitome of that era in our lives.

7. I Can't Make Me - Butterfly Boucher. At the same time there will also be that amazing girl who you know would do anything for you, and will love you unconditionally no matter how often you screw up that you just can't bring yourself to be interested in. She's your Duckie.

8. The Light - Common. This song helped me understand exactly what love is supposed to be and how to make a relationship work. It also contains my absolute favorite lyrics ever, here's just a sample - "If relationship is effort I will match your work/I wanna be the one to make you happiest, it hurts you the most/They say the end is near, its important that we close../.. to the most, high/Regardless of what happen on him lets rely."

9.Your Precious Love - D'Angelo & Eryka Badu. Another smooth R&B joint. It's a throw back to those classic Temptations and Supremes songs with a contemporary feel. I simply love this song.

10. Passenger Seat - Deathcab For Cutie. I don't know exactly why but every time I hear this song I think of my dad when I was growing up and trips up to my Grandparents home. We didn't spend a whole lot of time together then but when we did it is some of my favorite memories of growing up.

11. Father of Mine - Everclear. Like I said we didn't spend a whole lot of time together.

12. Land of Confusion - Genesis. Okay sure I am picking this mostly for the music video but honestly considering the political climate of most of my life, first with Regan and continuing all the way to Bush Jr. this song perfectly fits my feelings of how we have carried ourselves and how we need to fix it.

13. Cheeseburger in Paradise - Jimmy Buffett. Let's be honest here everyone loves a good burger. And this song is just fun.

14. Hey Mama - Kanye West. What playlist of mine would be complete without an ode to my mother. She's the most amazing woman I have ever met, and the model I use to decide if I a woman is worth my time. I would of went with Tupac's Dear Mama but this one is more positive and fits my mom better.

15. Love Me Or Hate Me - Lady Soverign. Honestly there isn't a better song to describe how people view me and my personality. Sure I am a lovable person but at the same time when you first meet me chances are you will hate me. Once you get past that first impression you will see just who I am and you will love me, but there is no middle ground.

16. Wanna Be Startin' Something - Michael Jackson. The final track on my soundtrack would have to be Michael. The man simply dominated my early childhood. I remember how absolutely horrible I felt when I accidentally left my Thriller LP out in the sun and destroyed it (that feeling only increases every time I think about how much that thing would be worth right now). The man could simply do no wrong at that point. I may not like the man now, but his music is undeniably perfection.



Well there you have it. I think I managed to follow the soundtrack rules, with a few exceptions but then again my life has always been full of exceptions so why should this be any different? So what's your soundtrack look like?

Does not work well under pressure

When I was a kid I would play football almost every day with my best friends Shawn and Tyler. It was great. Shawn was always the running back, Tyler since he was the only nonfat one of the three of us played Wide Receiver. That left me with the ever important role of Quarterback. Now I will be the first to admit I don't fit the traditional role of QB but I still loved to play that position. I grew up idolizing Joe Montana and Steve Young and I would often pretend I was them when we played. Anyway there is a point to this little trip down memory lane I promise. As we got older I noticed that my throws were lazy and too short when I didn't have a pass rush. And yet when I had to react quickly because of the impending blitzer (always 5 Mississippi ALWAYS) I was usually on target and the result was a completion. For some reason the pressure helped me to succeed and develop as a player.

Now fast forward to present day. Due to a recent lay off of our Assistant Manager, I am now the second in charge at my store. I owe a lot of my success and knowledge of how the store runs to Brent and without him I'm not sure of myself. I feel as if I lost my number 1 compatriot out there. And while work is rather slow I still find myself feeling vaguely lost and unsure of my decisions. Slowly I am adapting to my new role and growing into the person both Wes and Brent know I can be. Slowly I am becoming comfortable with my role and knowing what it is. Slowly I am believing I can do this and succeed.

My boss leaves for Mexico on Friday and he's gone for an entire week. That leaves me as the one in charge. The one everyone turns to when they need help. the one that makes the decisions. The one that has to make sure everything gets done. On Friday I become The Man. It's my show. I won't have the time to grow into the role. I won't have Wes in my ear telling me how good I'm doing. There will be no texts telling me how awesome my close was or how he wishes everyone would work as hard as I do. There will only be fear. There will only be stress. There will only be doubt. There will only be me.