I don’t really know how to put this. I have given my fare share of advice, and I can’t really tell how much if it was good advice and how much it was questionable advice. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so I have never really developed a skill set of tips and tricks for younger siblings, so the way I give advice could be bias I guess. Nevertheless, a couple of things I do know for certain are good advice: Go to concerts as much as you can. Have a back light when you’re playing video games late into the night so your eyes don’t feel like sunny side up eggs. Toast that bread before you make a pb+j sandwich. Stuff like that. When it comes to money however, I am not the one you want advice from.

It gets a bit complicated because some of the issues dip into the whole “goes to concerts as much as you can” part stated above. I really don’t want to try to count how much I have spent on live music, especially when you take into account all the merch I get at each show. Regardless, I have never regretted a ticket. Now, everyone might be part of the group that has gone to a concert before. I cant recall anyone who hasn’t attended one. However, the thing I am about to bring up, that might not be the case. At least it was my case, before.

Revisiting the whole no siblings detail, is I think the biggest factor into why I became obsessed with music. Don’t go thinking I am a prodigy guitar player or something. My craft was the recorder. And whatever, lets not go over it. Anyways, what I meant to say was while everyone had ipods and shit, I started out humble with mp3s, and climbed my way up throughout the years. The earphones where in at all times possible. In bed, at breakfast, at school, in the bathroom, in the back seat, in the front seat, before the movie showing, after the movie showing, walking around, on the bike, at lunch, at recess, in between classes, at the gym, at the video game store pretending to be at the gym and telling my mom I went, at dinner, waking up, falling asleep, playing video games, doing homework, fuck it you get the point.

Earphones nonetheless. Some friends had headphones. Now that I wanted to get my hands on. I never did. I sometimes, very rarely get to try someone’s on, but that was only at people’s house, where it was their parents or something like that. I envied anyone at the airport for wearing them, “Big dumb looking headphones!” I’d tell myself as I tried to crank up the volume to 11 trying to drown out the plane engine, or the PA lady telling people from flight 2357 are fucked and have to wait another hour again.

Freshman year came along. Diego had himself a debit card. Another wish from my teenage hood come true. Alas I only spent money on food and booze, with the occasional video game punch to the checking account. But I found myself flying back home for the break. At Dulles or Houston, or some airport that wasn’t Logan International. I am walking around trying to kill time after pounding some Chinese food. I see it. The electronics store. I already know what is going to happen, my feet start moving on their own. I reach for the wallet. I already knew where they would be. They always put them in the same place at all the airports. No way I’m going white, don’t want to get them dirty. Black and Cyan, can’t complain about that. I put them on the counter; I muffle the price out of my mind. He asks me if I want batteries, I say go ahead. I walked out of there with my Bose headphones, and ever since then music has changed.

When you turn them on, everything goes quiet.. No more crying baby in the cabin. No more screeching of the orange line. No more weird drunk dude on the train trying to get a free ride. You can be like me and blast it pretty loud, to the point your professor are concerned. But you cant go wrong with playing just low enough that it feel like the music is coming from far away, filling your head like water filling a tank. Slowly, you start turning it up throughout the songs. One click at a time, every step up filling your head even more.

Like I said, sometimes my advice can be questionable. But if you follow these steps, all you have to pay is $300, and possible deafening of the ears. But by then there should be a procedure to fix that, right? ~ad astra ultraque