New Passion Pit song! They’ve really changed their style a lot in this song and I love it. Happy but gritty, I feel like its a perfect song going into the post-college world.
Been so long since I’ve sat down and really listened to music.
Over the past few years my recreational drug use has expanded to many places I never thought I would’ve tread coming out of high school. Even so, I believe I’ve stood well within my limits of drug use. The absence of drugs doesn’t strike me as a void, yet I have been exceedingly appreciative of the assisted experience I have had through their use.
Drugs - prescription or synthetic - are all chemicals which interact with us in different ways. Uppers, downers, psychedelics - its amazing how these pills can change my mood, alter my personality, or even affect my perception of the world. Even more amazing is that most of these drugs are prescribed in some way to combat the various psychological syndromes that are prevalent in society. Meth is a part of adderall which treats ADHD, ecstacy can be used to treat fear associations, Xanax is used to treat anxiety, the list goes on.. But what I find this pertinent to is that many of these drugs mimic naturally occurring chemicals in the body.
Our bodies each have a unique chemical balance, but these drugs allow me to take a peek at a different life that isn’t my own. Altering myself, I gain perspective on what my life could be. What if I were more concentrated, what if I were just a more relaxed person, what if I were fearless. I find it fascinating to see these sides of myself that I am not normally.
What if I swapped lives with you, Freaky Friday style. You’d live my life. I’d live yours. How would I even begin to understand your life after jumping into it? I’ve always liked thinking about what other people’s lives must be like. Not in the sort of way where I wonder how it would be like to have your job, have your family, or have your friends as you may think typically think of a body switch, but instead how do you even experience life. What if I could put my mind over yours. You would still be the exact same, unknowing of my co-habitance, but I would essentially live your life.
I would feel what you feel. The balance of your body, the weight of your stride; what would that be like? Would the light reflect against water exactly the way I see it? There are people who cannot distinguish colors, but how do we even know that what we see is universal. Would the world look strange from my channeling of your senses, seeing shades of colors I had never known could exist? How about the texture of the walls, the feeling of wind against the face, what do people other than myself experience in their lives?
And what about your mind. How do you think? Is it the stream of consciousness that is familiar to myself or is it an entirely different web of conscious thought, one I could not even fathom to entangle even if I had years. What do you see as happiness, sadness, fear, love, and hate. Do you feel the same wave of pleasure when that certain song hits its climax, do you feel the withdrawn emptiness when you are swept with sadness.
How is anybody able to really judge a person when we don’t know the first thing about them? Living an entire life in our own perspectives, of course we believe that we may understand one another when we connect with language and emotion, but who isn’t to say we may entirely be strangers to one another. You and I are nothing alike, and we most likely will never understand why.
lulz
RIP Joe Martinez.
I heard about his death the day of a week ago from Brandon. I was in the middle of working for a group project and thought it was weird that he would be calling me. Oddly enough, I wasn’t affected. I continued the project like nothing had happened. I was disturbed at myself a bit. He was a very important part of my life, coaching me for swimming since I was in Barracudas in elementary school. I’ve never actually had much experience with death. I hear about it all the time, but I think this is the first time someone so close to me has died and so prematurely in his life for that matter. And what do I feel? Nothing much. I don’t quite get it myself.
Joe. Looking back at high school, you were so important to me. You would put up with my laziness but always encourage me to do my best. We were the lane 6 slackers. But you would make sure that we would perform when we needed to. Over the four years in high school when I really began to take swimming seriously, you were at my back, pushing me to work harder. Who would’ve known that I would become one of the fastest sprinters on the team and finally overcome my goal in the 100 fly. I know I wouldn’t have been able to do it without your support. I came back after freshman year and you welcomed me with open arms, letting me practice with the old team, laughing it up with that big smile as you always did.
And yet, I still feel nothing. What’s the loss in death? Have you lost anything? Once you’ve died do you feel regret? What happens to what you wanted to do in your life? For you, now none of that matters. The only ones who feel the loss of death are the ones left by the deceased’s shadow. But for you I think all you’ve left me with is satisfaction. I went through your guidance, you left me with something I can never forget. Are there any more words to share between us? I am supremely grateful to you Joe.
Why mourn when all that he’s left me with is the amazing experience I had in the swim team. Why mourn when he continues to live in the memory of the people he has blessed. Why mourn when the man who is deceased is finally resting in peace.
