Mood Swings

I'm somewhat of a  snob about certain things.  I'm a snob about beer. I realize that the vast majority of American beer drinkers prefer domestic beer. But  I would rather drink a nice glass of lemonade than drink a domestic beer.  I'm a snob about camping. I understand that even a tour bus sized recreational vehicle in a camp ground is still considered camping.  When I quit boy scouts, I was working on eagle. I had done everything but the project when I quit.  Not my best decision.  That means that I had spent a multitude of hours over a period of years at Camp AlaFlo  outside of Enterprise, Alabama.  When we went camping it involved a tent and a fire.   We cooked on the fire and slept in a tent.  There was no bedroom, air conditioning, kitchen, full bathroom, multiple flat screen TVs and internet connection. Occasionally we stayed in a cabin.  We slept on sleeping bags on mattresses on springs. It still wasn't air conditioned but it was more comfortable than a tent. That was a lot of fun but it wasn't really camping.

I'm very much a snob about music. I don't pretend to think that my taste in music is the only worthwhile opinion, I just  have certain preferences.  It doesn't make them right; it just makes them mine.

Today I ate lunch in the Waffle House that I frequent most often near Tunnel Hill, Georgia. Besides the breakfast foods that I usually eat, they make a BLT salad for me that isn't even on the menu.  It is a generous amount of food for the money and is fairly nutritious and healthy. All that was good. But the music was horrible. My experience with music in a Waffle House are random songs from the jukebox.  Today they were playing an entire album of Johnny Cash. I had rather listen to an hour of the awful music at the Cracker Barrel than listen to one song by Johnny Cash.  I don't like his voice. I don't like the guitar.  I don't like the repetitive boom chick rhythms. I don't like the lyrics that are on a third grade level (no offense to third graders).  I don't like anything about it. I was in a really good mood when I went in but with each passing measure of music my mood was sagging.

Then it occurred to me that I had put my Bose ear buds in the truck.  I walked out to the truck, retrieved my ear buds, hooked it up to my iPhone and booted up my Marc Cohn playlist. The swing of music and emotions was immediate and dramatic.  I not only wasn't listening to Johnny Cash drone on and on about nothing in particular, but I was listening to one of my favorite singers. If I was in a good mood when I entered the Waffle House, I was in a much better mood when I left.

I'm going through a "needs improvement" phase of my life. I'm not the sort of person who is in a perpetual state of self-help.  I like who I am.  I enjoy my own company.  But lately I have become aware of some things about my personality that I think can be much better.  I'm not beating myself up during the process; I am just taking a step at a time in some new directions.  One of the things I'm looking at is my snobbery.  I'm considering that my preferences, though good, do not leave enough room for the preferences of other people.  I say that you're welcome to like Johnny Cash if you want to, but  I'm judging you. Then there are a couple of other areas that are under the microscope. When I emerge from this personality transformation, I don't expect to be perfect, I just hope to be better.

You don't like the Waffle House?  Just shows what you know about fine dining.