Mood: It's my day off! Yay!
Music: Ani DiFranco ... which is why I'm posting.
Mind: In another world today.

Who knew that playing an Ani DiFranco CD would open up a two-year time warp?

That's how long it's been since Juliette came to Memphis. She brought all her Ani CDs from New Mexico with her, along with a few clothes and a big pile of sheet music. She didn't bring a TV or a refrigerator or her grandmother's cooking. I wondered how she was going to make it in Memphis an entire semester.

Well, it didn't take long to see she only really seemed alive when she was running through that sheet music or playing those CDs. That was a feeling I recognized, one that I envied because I missed my piano lessons and wished I had the same escape she did. It didn't matter that she was hundreds of miles from home. Within her music, she had created her own little heaven. I'd done the same thing with my music, but college had taken its toll on the amount of time I had to play.

After Juliette went home, I had another exchange roommate -- this one from Massachusetts. Jamie was the polar opposite of Juliette, and although we got along okay, we really didn't have a lot in common. That semester, things got a little crazy in my life. I really wasn't happy, although it had nothing to do with Jamie or anybody else. That summer, Paul had the research fellowship and I was at the Commercial Appeal ... and I hit rock bottom.

And finally, after all that, I realized that I, too, needed my music back in my life. So my last year in college was punctuated by daily practices at the keyboard in my dorm room and weekly piano lessons with pieces that really (Reeeeally) challenged me as a musician. My teacher, Russ, reminded me a lot of Juliette. Life is still rough, probably rougher than it's ever been. But I've always got my music to keep me company.

Okay, so that was the most disjointed post ever. But I'm going to let it slide so I can get some stuff done around here. And you can better believe I'm going to crank up the speakers and listen to Ani, too. It's going to be a good afternoon. :)