Revisitation

As the end of the year nears, folks everywhere scramble to put together their "best of the year" lists. These lists can cover any imaginable interest, whether it be the best books, best new restaurants, best wacky presents, best fads, best movies, best albums. Before 2007 becomes the past, we seek anxiously to quickly summarize what has passed in the year. All of this before we set out to resolve any number of changes in our personal lives.

Not only do I seek out these lists with avid curiosity, but I also compile my own "best of" list. For several years now, I have compiled an annual holiday mix. I send it out to many friends, new and old. I always find myself in late November scrolling through my music collection trying to find songs that either came out this year or those that have meant something special to me this year. I usually go through a couple of drafts, as I try out different song orders. I'm on draft two right now, which I think might be the winning transition.

As I did one last scroll tonight, I found myself listening to older songs that have found their way hidden in my collection of music. Songs that I had long forgotten about. As I listened to Pavement's Wowee Zowee, I discovered that the songs, the lyrics, the music- all had a different feel to me now.

Such is the case with any art form, the meaning may change for you over the years. This album didn't resonate in the same way years ago when I first heard it, as it did tonight. Perhaps there was something about the song We Dance that just didn't carry the same emotion to me in the past as it did tonight. This experience seems to speak to our own personal experience interpreting media for the first time and each subsequent time. The changes are representative of our travels and experiences.

All of this reminded me of Proust's Rememberance of Things Past, which I painfully admit I have not completed. I have picked up this novel several times. I have made it a hundred pages or so, but have not yet finished. I recognize the irony of this of course, given my research. I suppose I wonder if I just haven't arrived at the place in my life where this particular book will resonate to the point where I will flip through the pages in reckless abandon. Perhaps it will make it to my best of 2008 list.

And then maybe 2009 too.