Ryan's 30th Mixtape

My bedroom at 20.

This whole decade thing is weirding me out. Tomorrow I will be one day older than I am today, but for matters of categorization I pass out of the turbulent twenties into a whole new bracket. (People who walk into my classroom assuming I am a teacher's assistant or high school student will be even more embarrassed!) Admittedly, any discomfort with the number 30 is due to endless harassment of older friends (and "Old Man Boyd" as I like to call Ryan) on my part.

I'm fond of my twenties. This is my decade of learning how to teach, how to be a good spouse, how to retain my idealism while dealing in the real, my decade of learning what I really believe in every centimeter of my heart, my years of finally getting so see some of the world, my years of taking the lead, the leap, the unsure steps into knowing it's okay not to know.

There were years there in my twenties where I was just living for the end of the day and the weekends, but I've learned to make a point of enjoying my day-- each part-- because I am not living for the day I retire, I'm living right now. I'm working in the only (albeit more difficult each year) job I can imagine investing myself in. My Horn is in the shop fixed and ready to be picked up, my bass amp is plugged in, and I am still reading and writing.

In much appreciation of my twenties (and the determined teenage me), I am excited to start a new measurable chunk of living. It'll be nice to be able to look back when I hit 40 and see the growth I've made in this next decade. In the meantime, I'm gonna comfort myself through the end of 29 with this mix I made Ryan for his 30th birthday.

***I originally included "Grew Up Fast" by Tom Petty as track four, but couldn't find it on Youtube.

Counting Back the Years

What can I say? I like to perform.

I'm busy getting ready to be 30. It's been a few years since a milestone birthday, and this is generally not one people are too excited about...something about those tens.

I decided to project my mind back over time, try to come up with a song I remember being on repeat during each of my years, a song that had significance. For example, when I was 23 and facing the fact that I had a huge credit card bill, students loans newly consolidated and entering repayment, my car in need of repair, and no teaching job on the horizon, Coldplay had songs that met me in my self-doubt and fear. I want to remember that.

The early stuff (strangely) was easiest to figure out because I have clear memories of those songs. It was most challenging to choose songs for my late teens/early twenties when I was consuming music like a pig at trough. The girl had to have tunes all the time! Non-stop!

If you want to experience this list aurally, see the embedded playlist below .

29 "The Glorious Land" - PJ Harvey
28 "Converter" - Helio Sequence
27  "No Fit State" - Hot Chip
26 "Far Away" - Cut Copy
25 "Hounds of Love" - Kate Bush
24 "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" - Arcade Fire
23 "Talk" - Coldplay
22 "Got to Get Up" - Siouxie and the Banshees
21 "Pissing in a River" - Patti Smith
20 "One Line" - PJ Harvey
19 "It's No Good" - Depeche Mode
18 "Vanishing Point" - New Order
17 "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" - The Smiths
16"Love is a Stranger" - Eurythmics
15 "Discotheque" - U2
14 "With our Without You" - U2
13 "Dreams" - The Cranberries
12 "Don't Turn Around" - Ace of Base
11 "What is Love?"- Haddaway (the first song I recorded off the radio.

-----> ANNO STEREO <-----

9/10 Amy Grant (massive obsession that also involves rollerskating)
8 "These Boots Were Made for Walking"- Nancy Sinatra
7  The Beach Boys' album Surfer Girl
6 "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" - Whitney Houston
5 "Walk like an Egyptian" - The Bangles
4 Ella Fitzgerald, live (I thought I could scat after I heard her, even though I couldn't whistle or snap yet!)
3 My own music...I liked to perform for guests.