Friday, October 29, 2010

old mix (CDs)

It's very telling of what generation you grew up in when you speak more of 'old mix CDs' in lieu of the almost ubiquitous pop-culture term 'old mix tapes.' I'm not sure how I began this recent process, but I recently came across my 'sought-after' series of K-State Mix CDs and, as I deemed them then, Home Mix CDs (because I was home over the summer when I burned those).

The 16 K-State mixes and 14 Home mixes were burned, if I recall correctly, during the course of freshman year at Kansas State (fall 2000, spring 2001) and through the next summer. What I've been doing lately, as I refresh the selection of CDs that I listen to in my car while I drive to and from work, is grabbing one or two of these mix CDs as a part of my listening menu.

And, quite honestly, I haven't been this excited about popping in a CD in a long time. There's a true excitement of the unknown with each CD (especially the ones where I didn't write track names on the front, which I stopped doing after the first couple discs). It's corny and probably fairly nerdy, but also really fun to not know what's coming next, and knowing at least at one point in time, that I liked these songs.

Not to sound too heady or hipster or whatever the appropriate term might be (douchey?), but it's fun to 'glimpse' back at that time in my life about ten years ago, via the music that I listened to (most of it probably downloaded via Napster -- talk about dating yourself, throwing around archaic software program names like that). I was but a wee 17-year-old lad, with peach fuzz mustache and backwards baseball cap proudly sported.

And the results have been enjoyable -- more often than not, my reaction has been 'YES, that song was awesome,' or 'cool, I remember this point in college when I was listening to that song (walking across campus or what have you).' Also on multiple occasions, I have skipped past a track. Phil Anselmo, I love you dearly, but I am not into the heavy stuff like I used to be (though you can never go wrong with 'A Good Friend and a Bottle of Pills,' am I right??).

Anyway, kind of a nerdy project that I'm in the middle of, but it's been really fun, slowly listening to each of these mix CDs from my 'distant' college days. I invite anyone who might have some old mixes lying around to pop one in when they have a free minute. Explore your past, brah.

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