Blogcember: Nostalgia

[sabotabby]

firinel asked what I get nostalgic over.

I have an embarrassingly large number of entries on my nostalgia tag, so I guess the answer is a lot. When I look back, there are probably more entries about how I miss being a young, mentally unstable radical anarchist (a period in my life where I was at my absolute lowest emotionally, by the way) than about, say, mixed tapes. (Which I also miss. I make a lot of playlists and force them on people but it’s not the same as making a mixed tape for someone.)

I guess the thing I’m most nostalgic for is discovering something for the first time, having a sense of unlimited potential. I still have new experiences—this summer, for example, was the first time I ever LARPed, and right before I had to stop because tumour, I was starting to get into skateboarding. But the unfortunate reality is that as you get older, the number of new things in your life, be it a new philosophical idea, or a new band that you love, or a new kink, or whatever floats your boat, does become less frequent. And I think that’s why I get nostalgic for things like summit-hopping even though I would never want to go back to that time. Your first really scary demo is a thrill; after twenty demos that are all the fucking same, you start to notice the same old faces and the same boring speeches and the same march route and even some of the same cops.

There are two positive counterpoints to this. First, I have much more of an appreciation for routine as I age. I don’t constantly need new experiences because I’ve figured out what works. This sounds kind of boring, but eh. Doesn’t need to be. Second, when you do discover a new thing that’s exciting, it is by extension more exciting because the thrill of the new happens less often. Probably why I get so excited and drive everyone crazy when I discover some new author or TV show or band that I like.

Weren’t mixed tapes great, though?

Comments

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

i still make mixtapes on a regular basis!

[sabotabby]

Awesome! I'd ask for one but I don't even own a tape player.

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

HARUMPH.
.
it's weird, aside from a couple years where i was kept too sick to do much of anything, i feel like i've always had the same sense of adventure.
while i can appreciate routine, i find that too much of it for too long massively increases my anxiety.

[sabotabby]

It's a fine balance for me. Too much routine and I get freaked out that life is passing me by. Not enough and I just get freaked out.

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

I still have a fairly strong drive to discover and try new things, although these days it's more often music and books. But sometimes other things. I absolutely loved the Bollywood Fitness class I signed up for this past fall, and will really miss that when I move away from this area.

BTW, on the new music front, did you ever get a chance to check out >Speed Caravan or Mano Negra (of the latter, I particularly recommend the album Patchanka)? And in an entirely different musical direction, the new Leaves' Eyes album is pretty awesome.

Here, have a few samples.




(highly ironic cover version)


(kind of cheesy in that particular Scandinavian-metal-band kind of way. But I really want the dress Liv is wearing...)

[sabotabby]

I haven't heard of any of these. *checks out*

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

Mixed tapes, yes, with our without a lock of hair...http://karinmollberg.livejournal.com/100072.html

[sabotabby]

In other news, we are losing mail service in Canada. :(

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

i was just reading about that and i think it's fucking horrible.

[ironed_orchid]

The thing I miss maybe more than mix tapes is when a friend would tape an album for me, and then add some extra songs at the end because there was space left over.

[sabotabby]

Yes! And then you discover some new exciting thing.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

I find it really, really hard that I seem so jaded when it comes to reading. I find it so hard to get enthusiastic any more. I remember as a teenager being shocked when a friend's mother, an editor and journalist, said that once you're about 30 you lose the excitement/enthusiasm for reading so much. My friend and I swore a pact never to let it happen. Guilt!

[sabotabby]

Aww, I get so enthusiastic. Probably more so because it's the only thing that gets me through my commute, and occasionally I'll stumble on a book so good that I'm like, "Oh it's okay that I need to be up at this shitty hour because I can find out what happens next."

Just geeked out about Iain M. Banks with another teacher after school. It was fun.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

I still haven't read much Iain (M) Banks but I think it might not suit me at the moment as need bland, lighthearted stuff.

[sabotabby]

Well, he's definitely not that. But maybe Whit? It's not bland, but it is very funny and less dark than most of his stuff.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

Watching a baby discover new things, lots and lots of them, is quite cool, but then I noticed how quickly a baby becomes nonchalent about things that were so new the other day!

[sabotabby]

Babies are so jaded, man.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

so true, indeed, and yet so debonair in their ennui!

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

like cats, in fact.

[sabotabby]

Not Marinetti, weirdly! He's always discovering new and exciting ways to be annoying, and never seems to get bored of them.

(Cat toys, he gets bored of. Waking me up at 3 in the morning, not so much.)

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

awwwwwww! Sausage used to wake me up at 3 a.m.because he was bored and felt like having a long walk. I sort of miss that. He does it still to Ian but Ian does not get up and walk him like I did. He sleeps through the whining and pawing more easily!