...For We Are Many

I love my car, and not just because it's the first car that was "mine" that wasn't a Ford Escort (although that certainly plays a part). I'm currently driving Sailor Jody's hand me down: a black/black '99 4D Passat sedan...not the most exciting car in the world but it's pretty reliable, the design has held up over the years, and what can I say, I love driving stick (wink nudge blah).

The car has its problems: a black car with black interior gets hot as hell in the summers, the moon roof springs the occasional odd leak which floods the foot wells in the back seat, you pretty much have to be on top of the car to get the keyless entry to trigger, and the electrical system leaves much to be desired. This means that the cruise control hasn't worked in several years, the cigarette lighter is worthless for charging phones, and the radio reception is spotty at best.

The car has a CD changer in the back but I am both lazy and forgetful [Jones], so I'm guessing the CDs haven't been changed in at least a year. So, change the damned CDs, right? Wrong. Digging out the Christmas decorations this year, I came across the box of mix tapes that I have been carting around for the last decade, sitting dusty and unplayed for just as long.

I threw those tapes--some with cases/labels, some without--into the ol' Passat and have been playing them pretty much since this whole nonsense began, a fortunate coincidence at that, as the music has helped bring out that almost forgotten but certainly not completely gone part of myself: the stubborn, boozy, foolish, bitter, carefree, irresponsible, shit-starting, not-studying, smack-talking, random-mooning, parietals-breaking, skinny-dipping, shot-gunning, cup-flipping, Anchor-Manning, keg-tossing, The Bottle-spinning brigita of yore, the one who gave as good as she got, the one who would never back down from a challenge (even when she probably should have), the one who would never waste time dwelling on mistakes of the past when there were so many more fun ones to be made.

Aside: I promise not to make a habit out of talking about myself in the third person.

I got (and certainly deserved) the less-than-flattering nickname of No Rally (™ Gordo) my junior year for often failing to pace myself and crashing while the party was still going on. To finally learn my lesson these 10+ years later, I have to pace myself through this whole ordeal. Not rallying--not an option.

But getting back to the original topic (and the post title), big thanks to Lanny of the List for her mixes and Cappy for sending me a tape of a Legion of Doom performance. Because clearly my taste in music really hasn't changed since '96. RAWK.