Friday, January 11, 2013
Chicago
Looking west to the Trump Intl. Hotel and Tower in Chicago: Looking west to the Trump Intl. Hotel and Tower in Chicago. Gotta love the city at dusk!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
A Time Machine For Us All
Many books and movies have been written and filmed about time travel, something which holds fascination for most of us out in the world today. As much as we'd like to go forward or backward in time, the reality is sobering, it just isn't possible no matter what the entertainment industry and a few authors would have you believe. Sorry folks, isn't gonna happen.
The closest thing to time travel, in my opinion, is music. I'll bet that we all have a certain song or songs that when we hear it played, we are instantly transported back to younger days. For me, that song is Bob Seger's "Night Moves". Listening to that song, I have vivid memories of lying in my bed on an early summer's night, windows open, the plastic curtain pull gently banging on the windowsill as the fresh breeze flows into the room, filling my nostrils with the sweet smell that only warm weather brings. I remember the room as it was down to the smallest detail, and as the music continues even my thoughts from long ago re-surface. People and events from those days which were long forgotten about suddenly fill my mind as if I were 15 again. In fact, I DO feel the feelings of my former 15 year old self, I can recall quite vividly the teenage angst and doubts which accompanied those times. But that song also enables me to recall days of joy, innocence, and discovery that only the teen years can bring, I was young and all of life was ahead, as yet unencumbered by the stresses and responsibilities of adulthood which lurked a few years up the road.
Perhaps this is why studies have found that as adults, most people listen to the music they grew up with. Those special songs transport us back to a time when life was not so complicated (though I am sure at the time we didn't always feel that way!), when our only worries might be an upcoming test, or possibly whether a certain guy or girl "liked" you as much as you liked them. As we become older we want to hold on to certain memories, and music from when we were young (er) allows us to do just that, the CD player, i-Pod, and even the turntable become real time machines...now if only the movie makers will catch on, we'll have a movie in which playing a certain tune transports a person back in time. But this time (no pun intended) it won't be entirely a fantasy.
The closest thing to time travel, in my opinion, is music. I'll bet that we all have a certain song or songs that when we hear it played, we are instantly transported back to younger days. For me, that song is Bob Seger's "Night Moves". Listening to that song, I have vivid memories of lying in my bed on an early summer's night, windows open, the plastic curtain pull gently banging on the windowsill as the fresh breeze flows into the room, filling my nostrils with the sweet smell that only warm weather brings. I remember the room as it was down to the smallest detail, and as the music continues even my thoughts from long ago re-surface. People and events from those days which were long forgotten about suddenly fill my mind as if I were 15 again. In fact, I DO feel the feelings of my former 15 year old self, I can recall quite vividly the teenage angst and doubts which accompanied those times. But that song also enables me to recall days of joy, innocence, and discovery that only the teen years can bring, I was young and all of life was ahead, as yet unencumbered by the stresses and responsibilities of adulthood which lurked a few years up the road.
Perhaps this is why studies have found that as adults, most people listen to the music they grew up with. Those special songs transport us back to a time when life was not so complicated (though I am sure at the time we didn't always feel that way!), when our only worries might be an upcoming test, or possibly whether a certain guy or girl "liked" you as much as you liked them. As we become older we want to hold on to certain memories, and music from when we were young (er) allows us to do just that, the CD player, i-Pod, and even the turntable become real time machines...now if only the movie makers will catch on, we'll have a movie in which playing a certain tune transports a person back in time. But this time (no pun intended) it won't be entirely a fantasy.
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