As we travel through life, the travails, trials, tribulations & treats the days bring we learn & acquire new stuff - material & otherwise. I’m finding that as much as I "get" new stuff (be it actual acquisition of material goods or acquiring new knowledge), I still hold on to the old stuff. I think it’s important to blend to two. If you never acquire new stuff you’ll end up finding yourself to be exactly the same as you were ten or twenty years ago. And I’ve definitely found that if you don’t evolve, change, and adapt, you’re overcome, surpassed, and left behind. But as much as I look for new things: experiences, music, clothes, friends, home decor, I still hold onto things from my past I really like, value, and treasure. I’m guessing we all do...
Me thinks this train of thought has been spurred by my recent rediscovery of Third Eye Blind, one of my favorite bands (if not the favorite) of the late 90’s. I literally wore out my first copy of their first self-titled release. I think that CD (or the second copy thereof) sat in my book of discs for years w/out making it’s way to my home or car stereo. But recently I saw a concert of theirs at the Fillmore in San Fran on HDNet, and had the craving to break out their first disc again. And upon doing so I realized I had not given their second or third efforts a fair shake or serious listening. So after approximately 96-120 hours of Third Eye Blind I’ve fallen in love w/their first disc all over again, and have new-found appreciation for "Blue" and "Out of the Vein". Being a child of the 80’s I still listen to hair bands like Poison, Bon Jovi, Sammy Hagar, and on occasion go back even farther to the likes of Boston, REO Speedwagon, and Journey. And I still love all those bands, and know more of the songs than I do diagramming a sentence or quadratic equations.
But by the same token, as much as I love the old music, w/out the ability or willingness to sip & gulp the new, I’d have never discovered bands like Disturbed or Breaking Benjamim, Drowning Pool, Theory of a Deadman. Plus, I’d still be stuck in the era of Headbanger’s Ball, and w/out evolution would never have come to love reggae (Bob Marley lives on despite an ephemeral time on Earth), or be able to groove to decent dance tracks (Timbaland grooves). So while you can find comfort with & revel in the old favorites, you have to mix in the new & give it a chance in order to be well-rounded, keep up, evolve, and not stagnate.
The same can be said for many other facets of life, it just so happens that music is very much at the forefront of my mind at the moment. But to expand, I’d hate to be watching an old CRT, clicky-turn-dial TV instead of the slick LCD HD model I have now. God knows I’d hate to still have a mullet, or being wearing nothing but OP (Ocean Pacific for those too young to recognize the acronym) or Hobie gear. And for fuck’s sake I’d hate to still be drinking Bud Light instead of enjoying Sam Adams White Ale!!!
I’ve also reconnected w/some old friends, some from way back like my friend Jay, who I first met in pre-kindergarten day-care, and Justin, a good friend from college. We’re fellow veterans of the same psychic wars, and therefore have many experiences that bind us & to which we relate. But if you move from your hometown & various stops thereafter- and you damn well should every once in a while - if you don’t make new friends you find yourself alone. And that kinda sucks. So again, you treasure the old & never lose that, but you gotta make room for the new too. Anyone who’s gone through a break-up or failed relationship (and I know no one that hasn’t) knows the same: in order to move on, grow, be happy, and uh, move on, you gotta be ready & willing at some point for something new.
I used to be a pretty serious, devoted, knowledgeable, natural bodybuilder. One tenet of bodybuilding is that you have to change up your routine & regimen in order to force the muscle(s) to grow. Your body will eventually adjust to the same workout routine (sets, reps, exercises) and diet over time. In order to trigger new growth you have to switch shit up, change the order of exercises, modify the number of reps, or totally change exercises (incline vs. decline bench, machines vs. free weights, etc.). The mental & emotional Self is very much like the Physical self: in order to induce and/or stimulate growth you gotta change things up. Otherwise you stop growing, and end up the same day after day, year after year. Mentally, emotionally, physically, intellectually.
So it’s an interesting dichotomy: new vs. old. So many debates in the media about regression into or re-emergance of old trends, sometimes merging with, and sometimes colliding against new concepts. I think in this regard it’s a matter of balance ("all things in moderation"), not going overboard or swaying too far towards one extreme or another, and mixing the best of both worlds. (Speaking of old music I just realized I dropped two Van Halen references there, again the seeding & installation of the "old" in my core). Can’t lose track of the old stuff, because Newer doesn’t always mean or equate to Better. But you also have to be willing to experience what you have not, expand your tastes, your horizons, your Self in order to progress, proceed, and succeed.
So that’s my two cents for the night. Take a healthy dose of the old, a liberal smattering of new, mix vigorously, and gulp it all down. Savor the flavor cuz due to our unique backgrounds & individual experiences, it’s totally your own.
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