Listening My Way Out

What I Did On My Worldwide Pandemic, Chapter Two

In my sixth week of semi-quarantine. I go somewhere other than my neighborhood once a week on average. Once a week to church to run the camera for our service stream,

and sometimes to a nearby store. But it’s less than a dozen trips into the public sphere in that time period. I’ve done one Zoom meeting with some friends from college, and a meeting with the church board of which I’m a member. The rest of my “social interaction” is on social media.

And the shine has worn off.

Last week, I talked about fighting back against the boredom with cooking. I continue to work my way through the daily menu and working as many of my toys into the routine as I can. My toy count total is now 31 (I swear, every time I open a cupboard I find another one!), and I have used 10 of them. Sounds great, but it’s the low hanging fruit! I need to be more creative moving forward. New recipes continue to appear on the menu as well.

But that can’t be the only thing. Besides, not everyone enjoys cooking. So what else can I suggest as ways to stave off “quarantine brain”?

If you multiply the number of kitchen toys I own by ten, you are right around the number of music CDs/albums I own. Yes, I still own albums. I kept those that were hard to find, or that held particular sentimental value for me. So I have LOTS of music in my house. I was a radio DJ for 20 years, so that’s not surprising.

Think about that number. Call it 300 albums (sorry, old school. I still think of music in those terms). If I listen to one selection from my library a day, that’s roughly ten months of music to explore. Even two a day is enough to carry me through till the middle of September! And as much as I love my music, I guarantee you there are selections I haven’t listened to in years. Jazz, classical, rock, pop, world music, folk music, movie soundtracks, comedy albums, heck, I’ve got an album of whale song! I have lots of things to keep me from staring off into the middle distance. It almost doesn’t matter how long this Great Isolation goes, I can keep listening to my tunes.

(I am NOT hoping this goes on forever. For a variety of reasons-economic, educational and mental health among others, there needs to be a light at the end of the tunnel. I will be ecstatic if the isolation ends before the music does.)

So along with the exploration of all the joys of cooking, I will make my way through all that music I’ve collected. Years ago, my father and I had one of our many “bumping heads” moments. Like his eldest son, my father was, um, firm in his opinions. I was still in my 20s when he told me that there was no point in hanging on to my music. “You’ll never listen to it again” is what he told me. As much as we are similar, this is a place we are different. I continue to listen to music from my teen years, plus all the other music I’ve discovered since.

And now, I have all the time I could want to do so.

Now the only question is this-do I start at the beginning and go through alphabetically, or choose at random? In order is too boring, random it shall be! Hope you find the time to check out your music as well!

Peace

Jay