Auditorial power

It's amazing to me how music connects me to memories that would otherwise be lost to history. When I put a particular song or album on, I'm instantly transported to what I was feeling in that minute. The joy, the expectations, the plans, the frustrations, whatever.

Right now I'm listening to Snow Patrol's A Hundred Million Suns, which I think is totally brilliant (especially The Planets Bend Between Us), and yet I've never gotten into any other album of theirs. But when I put this album on, I am instantly transported to my early days in Buenos Aires. I don't really remember what I wrote now, but there's tons of nervous energy wrapped up in this album for me. That's what I felt at the time -- energized, but terribly nervous. Completely uncomfortable, but enjoying the challenge. I specifically think of the apartment on Arevalo and the sun streaming in the window.

I didn't speak a word of Spanish. I'd never left the country before. I wasn't quite sure exactly why I had decided to move, and I wasn't sure how long I'd make myself stay if I hated it -- and I love the US, and hate being outside of Texas. When I left the house, I really had no idea what to expect and the easiest things in life were difficult for me.

All that has come flooding back to me as I listen to this album. Wow it's brilliant, and I have goosebumps from the combination of the music and the memories.

Final thought: it's also amazing to me that frequent listening to music tends to happen during particularly productive periods of my life. Causation =! correlation, yada yada yada, but I think it's a self-reinforcing mechanism. Virtuous cycle, as it were.