Dear Sabbatical: Entry 1
Dear Sabbatical,
It’s Thursday, which I think means I’ve been on the road for 4 days. Or 5, I’m not sure which. I left on Sunday, so technically 4 whole days since I’m just getting started on day 5. But I’m within 900 miles of my first “official” destination. That’s the good news. The bad news is that GPS says it will take over 22 hours to get there. It didn’t take that long to make it the first 2000 miles, which means this should be interesting driving.
Speaking of interesting driving, that’s part of why I’m talking to you right now. As I’ve spent the last few days alone in my head I’ve come to realize that I need some sort of creative outlet. Even if it’s just a tiny one. Twitter has largely been that trickle outlet for a while. Without access to internet up here, that outlet has been plugged. I find myself thinking of little quips to send out, but then realizing that it’s worthless. Poems rattle around in my head, but there’s not enough cohesiveness to make anything out of them. I need to sit with them and let the words pour somewhere.
Which brings us to now. I’m sitting, literally on the side of a mountain, in the Cricket (which I should consider naming), pounding out an entry because I need the words to go somewhere. I’ve been listening to some new music on this trip and Sirius XM has been trying to force me to listen to Rock on the Range performances on Octane. I’ve discovered that Linkin Park’s new album is crap. There is one good song, but Octane won’t play it because it’s not really a rock song. The reason I bring up music at all is because it’s another form of creative outlet. But the live performances from ROTR remind me that it’s a crappy situation. I despise live music, probably for much the same reason that I don’t like covers. It’s… off. Wrong. When an album is recorded, lots of people put a lot of effort into making it sound pleasant (usually). When it’s live, that’s all gone. You’re left with the raw talent (or lack there of, often) and it’s not the same. It’s not always musically bad, but it’s not what I’m familiar with. Some people thrive off that raw retelling, but I can’t. It’s like a painter taking a beautiful masterpiece that he spent countless hours perfecting and trying to re-create it in 30 minutes with watercolors. It’s never going to be as good as the original. So it’s a crappy situation because where the creativity is the purest (maybe?) is where I hate it the most. I think that’s a large part of why I don’t have an outlet there.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m just jealous. Maybe I’m cranky because I haven’t had my normal outlets. Whatever it is, I’ll need to ponder it some more from behind the wheel of the Jeep. There’s lots of driving left to do. Some idiot decided this road trip was a good idea. Someone should smack that guy.
EDIT: I’ve listened to Linkin Park’s album some more over the last few days because I WANT to like it. There are now two songs that I look forward to hearing, up from just one previously. A few others have good lyrics. But what every single one of them is missing is good music. Linkin Park DEFINED the Nu Metal genre, and has had a history of being awesome. However, this album, it’s just so… poppy. Hell, there are finger snaps on the first track! Snapping! And the music is far too happy for what the lyrics are really trying to say. I don’t know why this post became an outlet for my anger on Linkin Park, but I guess that’s where we live now.