For Every Mood

Everyone has that one album or song that they listen to when they're feeling particularly down, mellow, or kickass. I have so many songs (and moods, apparently) like that that I've got 19 different playlists programmed on my iPod. Clearly, I quite enjoy making playlists. Usually, the inspiration to create a new one strikes either when I've just listened to a really good song and want to listen to others like it, or when I've got four chapters to read for P.R. class and would rather mess around on iTunes instead.

Often times, I like to listen to an album in its entirety-- whether I'm in the car, on the treadmill, lying in bed, whatever. That's why they were made. For the songs to be enjoyed in sequence. But when I'm sitting at my computer, doing work or otherwise, I usually tend to put all 4,000 of my songs on shuffle and see what comes up. A lot of times, I'll skip about 20 songs before coming to one I want to hear. Funny how you can turn on the shuffle feature with the intent of hearing something different for once, but end up skipping all that crap until you find the bands you really love.

But playlists are great because they include only the songs you know you love. And if you put enough songs on the playlist and put it on shuffle, it's even better, 'cause while you still don't know what exactly you're going to get next, you know you're already in the mood for it. For instance-- some of my playlist titles are "Acoustic Greatness," "'90s Mix," "Head Bangin' Car Songs," and "Singalong Mix." I've even got a mix dedicated to songs with names in the title. I straight-forwardly called it "Songs With Names." I get pretty bored sometimes.

I think I'll make the twentieth playlist "My Life Soundtrack." So if you ever see me walking on campus with my earphones in and an inspired look about me, that's probably what I'm listening to. Either that, or my "Inspirational Mix."

Currently Listening To: "Love Songs" mix