what a song.

i've been listening to rbf again lately.  i've owned turn the radio off since eighth grade, it was the first ska album i bought.  just thinking back to eighth grade, my inane crushes, my problems then, and seeing how the cd has stuck with me.  i've known every song on it since the day i first got it, and every one of them has some sort of special meaning for me.  through ninth grade, maybe the least pleasant year of my life.  tenth grade, accidents, friend's mother's contracting cancer, new friendships, old ones stripped away.  eleventh grade, the year i began to break out of the shell which i've built around myself, started opening up to others, found myself with new ideas regarding politics, love, religion, the like.  senior year, the trials of the "best year of your life," new knowledge about life myself everything the world, finding myself in the midst of friends i'd lost years ago the bond reformed, sensing a connection strengthening with those you've known the longest, wanting things to change and at the same time wanting them to stay the same.

this cd has been there through it all, inside my head, inside my stereo, keeping me sane, assuring me that there was someone who'd been through what i was experiencing before, he'd survived, so would i.  it's okay to loath life at times, it's okay to hate everyone around you at times, it's okay to want to cut loose, it's okay to want to be serious, it's okay to loathe people at times.

reel big fish; turn the radio off.

the album that's gotten me through it all.