This is going to be equally nerdy and petty

I realized yesterday that I haven't really recorded what it's like here...I'll put it on my to do list...it will be number #194,860,428. God I'm a psycho.

I just listened to an AWESOME interview with Moby on NPR. I think I'm in love. Well, re-in love. Remembering my in loveness. Whatever. He's so damn cool. He just released a new album "wait for me" and the clips they were playing were amazing. I can't wait to go home and give it a listen. And he did all the little cartoon drawings, too! So cute. AND he has a journal on his website. You all should give it a listen for sure - there are clips on his website. You won't regret it. jtlf particularly strikes me this afternoon.

Oh no...Alyssa, I'm sorry - I just used love three times in one paragraph...and yesterday was worse! Crap. Yell at me, please, if this becomes gross.

Moby was talking a bit about the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function. He was saying that there have been studies where music has been used to treat alzheimers and has actually halted the disease's progression. He also said something about people who were paralyzed being able to move around when certain music was played and when it stopped, they couldn't move their limbs again. Of course, the NIH doesn't recognize music therapy as a valid form of therapy. I mean, I guess I can understand it. It's been awhile since I've studied music therapy, but it seems like treatment would be so subjective and vary so much from person to person. Although I guess that's true with any form of therapy...hmm...

But it is incredible what an influence music can have even just on day to day tasks and moods. That's one of the things I miss about being at home - feeling comfortable enough to walk around with my Mp3 player on. It's like having a soundtrack to life and everything takes on different meanings and different energies. Sometimes I feel like I need to share a song or album with someone just so they can understand my mindset or mood at that time. Sometimes words don't do it or don't do it well enough.

I often play the "what if" game. Like what if I had gone to Clark U and studied psychology and followed the music therapy career path? Where would I be today? It's amazing how life can just twist and turn and throw curve balls. And then twist back again. I mean, much of my interest in post-conflict reconciliation is about the psychological aspects of it. What does it mean to reconcile? What does it mean to forgive? What is collective memory? How do practitioners in the field of transitional justice and post-conflict reconstruction take into account the variety of experiences that people have had, build on these experiences, and utilize the different skills, experiences, and memories that people have to work towards sustainable peace?

I love that I end all my posts with questions that I cannot answer. Oh god...is this another similarity with that blog which shall not be named??? Ack.