Do you miss me, Miss Misery?

(I'm leading with a photo today because what I felt like writing about has nothing to do with the outfit or style at all. But there is, in fact, an outfit.)

I spent this entire summer on a sort of music strike. I listened to one band and one band only... Fall Out Boy. Yes, you read that correctly. I've made my way through nearly their entire discography (I refuse to listen to their latest album), becoming obsessed with each album and each song as I went along.

Why, for the love of music, would I do this?  

Well, I have the tendency to get sucked into music in an extremely personal way. It's normal to relate to music. The extent to which I take it, or it takes me, is not normal. I'm fairly certain of that.

So, essentially, I needed a break from my intense relationship with music. I needed to listen to something fun. I needed to drown out the nagging bits and pieces floating around my head for a while. I needed to put aside the heaviness of mostly everything else I listen to... The songs I've carried with me through almost three decades. I cling to them so tightly, drag them through the mud over and over and over. It gets to the point where I can no longer separate myself from them. That's quite a bit of extra weight to carry around all the time.

And so, I let myself enjoy something for what it is and nothing more. I took a break from myself more than anything. (As a result, I annoyed the absolute hell out of my boyfriend and my friends... which was rather enjoyable, really!)

(Everything is ModCloth except the skirt... That's another mystery. One pitfall of not blogging and keeping track of purchases for two years.)

But today I had a quiet day in the office. So, I put all of my songs on shuffle. And no FOB came up. Not a single song. Instead, Elliott Smith, Elvis Costello, the National, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Rilo Kiley, Ryan Adams, Brand New, and so on. Quiet songs. Old favourites. It was as though my music collection had suddenly become sentient and somehow knew this was what I needed (well, I did just upgrade my phone to iOS7). 

All of the songs that came up still carry quite a bit of weight, but I hadn't listened to them in months. Instead of weighing me down, they felt good. They felt familiar and were, in their own ways, refreshing.

Title from "Miss Misery" by Elliott Smith.