OK…this is going to be my first really interactive blog.
I’ve had media that I’ve inserted and sent out…but I never tried to “direct” before. I never told anyone what to do or got even a little bit bossy.
I need to be bossy this time.
If I’m going to be able to channel the feelings this song gave me….and pass them along to the reader…I am going to need to orchestrate the scene a little.
Imagine this: I’ve finished casing my mail and I’m ready for the day of delivering the mail. I pull the mail down out of the case (carefully keeping it in delivery order), setting it in my big plastic trays as I go, then I put the trays in my wheeled canvas cart, and load my scanner and the smaller plastic tray that I deliver out of onto the top of the organized pile of mail I’ve just made.
I put all my marked packages into the bin…the smaller ones in one of the deep plastic tubs…write my departing time in the log book…then go outside to load my old Toyota truck (with the camper shell) that I’m using to deliver the mail.
(This scene takes place before I buy the Mail Jeep later in the year.)
After everything is loaded into the truck, I manipulate myself into the passenger seat and stretch my leg over to the accelerator and brake pedals, reaching across with my left hand to steer with.
And then the real work of the day begins.
I put this mixed CD in the CD player…and hit play.
The first song begins, and for a short period of time, I’m transported.
(Now here comes the part where I do the directing. When I deliver the mail, I’m all alone. I’m by myself…so if I want to crank it up and really feel all the power that a 20 watt car stereo can provide, I’m going to do it. When I’m by myself, I do what I want. The reason I’m saying that is that, for maximum “relatable” effect, you need to turn up your sound before you hit play. You need to crank this to understand what I felt when I started out with another load o’ letters to deliver.)
So….CRANK THESE JAMS NOW!!!!
The music begins to play…as loudly as I can play it…and my day begins.
My ROCKING DAY begins!!!!
I pull slowly out of the parking lot in my small Japanese truck, using my turn signal and looking both ways before I pull out into the road like I always do…but in my head, I’m not driving a little truck….I’m driving a very courteous TANK…a very mighty tank. I’m a Viking Warrior driving a mighty, but courteous, TANK!
All because I put this song at the beginning of the latest mix of songs I burned onto a CD.
Of course, I may have, in my musical wisdom, put something like Starland Vocal Band on the CD as the second song just to pull me back down into my hard reality.
I don’t remember.
I don’t think that I could sustain a high like the high that “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” gave me that particular morning.
You can’t go through your whole life thinking that you’re a bada** every single moment.
But what a fun thing to be able to program that mighty feeling of powerful public service for even a short moment.
Music is so great. I’m glad we have it around.
It makes my day.
Sweet Home Alabama & Walk This Way (the one Run DMC)are a couple of my go to soundtracks.
We still know how to ROCK (in the USA), don’t we, Jeff?!