De-Loused in the Comatorium
This doesn't really go anywhere in particular, but what the hey.

My last year of uni was something of a let down. A protracted and painful split from my first 'proper' girlfriend, making a balls-up of finding somewhere to live - which resulted in nine months of inhabiting a cupboard with one plug socket - and the ever growing realisation that three years of revelry with a new found bunch of fantastic mates was fizzling out to an anti-climatic end.

I had a weekend job in the local HMV at the time, which essentially acted as a premises for laundering my wages - money gets paid; money gets spent; money doesn't leave the building.

Anywho, on a regular spending splurge, I picked up a copy of the first Mars Volta album on the strength of the press cuttings stuck on the front cover, and headed home for the night. Perched on my bedroom window sil with a bottle of Jim Beam and a carefully rolled selection of spliffs, I must have listened to this entire album (apart from the instrumental bit at the end - the piss in an otherwise fantastic plate of chips) on repeat at least 3-4 times before retiring to bed. The lasting thought I can remember having is "this is the music that I've been waiting to hear" (even though I obviously didn't know it until then).

Concentrating on the majesty of all that's in that recording gave me a focus and a distraction all at once and I believe genuinely helped improve my mindset and get me through that final push to get my degree.

Apologies for length. That's just the size it is.
(i.charlius *Two Ronnies Theme*, Thu 28 Jan 2010, 17:21, Reply)