Music Takes Me Back

I subscribe to Napster. It's quite handy, except that I need a Napster-friendly MP3 player so I can play my tunes at the gym. I happened to be at Wally World and thought I would check and see if such Napster-friendly devices could be found with the Napster label on it. Afterall, I would hate to drop money on something, only to take it home and find out that it's not compatible.

Besides, I already did that.

Standing there at the electronics counter, the Slow Kid in the blue vest approaches and asks if he be of any help. I give him the benefit of a doubt and ask him if they carried Napster-compatible MP3 players. He slurred that Napster was shut down years ago.

With that, I went to Target.

So, I'm sitting here, downloading any song that tickles my fancy. My latest thing is 80's tunes. I hear certain songs, and I am transported to that time where all I did was hibernate in my room and write... which really isn't a whole lot different from now, only I have an entire apartment to hibernate in.

Funny how it seems that everyone has that one song that always conjures up the images of their first love. I am no exception. For me, that song is "Everything I Do" by Bryan Adams...otherwise known as the main song from that Robin Hood movie. You know, the one with Kevin Costner who lost his English accent five minutes into the movie?

Yeah, it reminds me of James (who incidentally took me to see that movie). He was my first boyfriend. He was a twin, and he lived the next town over, his parents were folk/bluegrass singers, and his biggest aspiration was to be a fireman. He idolized firemen so much, he wanted to re-enact that scene from Backdraft with me. Fortunately, I was too chicken to.

For the next two years, we were on-again, off-again in true teen-angst fashion. I thought I loved him. I thought I would marry him. I remember the first time I told him I loved him, and he just looked at me with what I think was a smirk, and said, "I'm not one for sentimentality."

What a douchebag! Is it any wonder why I have never been the first to say "I love you" to any guy I've dated ever since???

Needless to say, we didn't get married. He went on to marry some butt-ugly chick (of whom he was cheating on me with anyway) and have a butt-load of kids. I saw him once when I went home to see the family. He was at the store and struck up conversation with my mother. While time may have been kind to his twin, it certain wasn't as generous as James looked like a bag of chewed up assholes. He's now the deputy sheriff in some dinky little county up north, and his wife is works in the jail. Direct authority tells me that she routinely shags the inmates when she works the late shift.

So you see, it all worked out in Karma's eye.

So now when I hear Bryan Adams crooning that sappy song, I remember James, the crappy First Boyfriend.

And I remember that there are much worse things out there than being single.