Blast from the Past

Have you ever suddenly been given a whammy by someone or something triggering a lever that dredges past memories that have been buried, not because they were bad things that happened to you, but just because there's so many new things for your mind to process? If you have had this experience, you'll know exactly what I mean. A hundred scattered images and words that were spoken and others that were heard are all dug up by your suddenly efficient brain like some paleontologist after stegosauri bones. Then you begin thinking about all those days when you were young. You sigh, knowing those days are gone. They only exist in your memory in Technicolor detailing with high contrast. Gone are those school days when you used to commute by school van. Gone are those days when you'd try and shine your scruffy shoes by rubbing them against the back of your socked legs before the assembly on Monday mornings. Gone are those days when you'd lustily join in singing the morning prayer-song, albeit off-key. You still sing these days. The songs've changed. Your voice hasn't. Its still off-key. Then, you turn your mind to the characters. The ones who featured in your recently reintroduced memory. "Whatever happened to them?", you think. You realise you haven't heard about most of the characters in years. The yearning to know what became of them is overwhelming. You try a few messages and phone-calls to people you think would have kept in touch with them. You try a search on social networking sites. Mostly, you find them. And you get their phone numbers or add them as friends on your profile and promise to keep in touch. Though you both know it isn't going to happen forever. A few messages and emails later, the memory is again back where it belongs - under a thought about the Organization of the Russian Mafia and another about that new movie you just watched. Maybe even a thought about "What would have happened if Hitler didn't opt for a career-change from being an artist to a warmonger?" might put itself right on top of this particular memory and erase it from your mind. Until next time. When a new whammy comes your way. My brain happens to be very musical. I have my very own music player inbuilt in my brain. It plays music throughout the day. The music just keeps playing in the background. If I strain my ears hard enough and focus them inside my mind, I can hear the music all the time. My brain is smart. This I know because it creates playlists that suit my mood. There are happy songs and the disco variety when I'm being happy and hyperactive. There are slow, sad ones for when I'm depressed. And heavy metal to fuel my anger and vintage hard rock for when I'm being me and fully in control of myself - physically, mentally and emotionally. There music playing even while I'm writing exams. I've found out I turn in my best papers if there's Pink Floyd or Coldplay stuck in my head. So, its very reassuring to wake up on an exam morning and find "Comfortably Numb" echoing within the cranium. An hour ago, when I went down to Six's room so that we could go have dinner, I heard the musical strains of an oddly familiar song emanating from my old roommate Pogo's room. Like a man sleepwalking though a rather surreal dream, I walked into his room and sat enraptured by the song. The song behind this post. REO Speedwagon's "Keep on Loving You" - the song that was playing in my head during my first kiss.