Day 47

Where's my iPod?!?

Normally when I work out I listen to new music. This time I really didn't feel like listening to anything new, even though I had some quality tunes that had yet to be heard. This time I decided to make a playlist of my favorite Metallica songs. Some of my metalhead readers may be turned off by that fact, but I really don't care. Despite the transformations they've gone through over the years, they have managed to put out some of top shelf heavy metal. I'm sorry, Darren, but this is one point of contention you and I could never resolve, but it's all good.

The cool part was that I got nearly 3 hours of music on one playlist, which got me through both my morning cardio and my evening weight training. I got some from every album except Garage Days... and S + M. Listening to some of the older songs brought me back to the days when I first got into Metallica (Master of Puppets!!!!) way back in 9th grade. I remember at that point I was one of only 2 in my school I knew that appreciated Metallica, having been introduced to them by the other person. Even the "metalheads" in my school didn't appreciate the sonic assault that was "Battery" or the lyrical genius that was "Master of Puppets" or the intense anguish of "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)".

It's not to say that I was an instant fan - it took a little while for it to sink in. But here's the kicker - even though I didn't fully appreciate it at first, I couldn't stop listening to it. Perhaps it was a morbid curiosity about the appeal of the music, but it definitely grew on me. It was Metallica that opened up the world to a more mean, more gritty brand of heavy metal for me. While I wouldn't be into the extreme stuff for many years yet, I didn't limit myself to the crap the major labels tried to push down our throats in 1980's (almost ruining heavy metal in the process).

The negative energy? Well, some is still there, but things are definitely turning for the better. Even though my birthday is still 2 months away, I definitely have an idea of what I want this year. I really think I could get a lot out of it. I'll keep you all posted as I try to figure out details and figure out a way to see if it can be done.

Thus ends my post for Day 47. Owing to the necessity of waking up early I must bid all of you, my faithful and not-so-faithful readers, a good night.