The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

Today is my birthday. I am now 37 years old. Fuck, that sounds old, but you know what, I don't feel old, and sometimes I wonder if I have anything in common with other people that are my age. I enjoy what I do for my job, but I could give a shit about my "career". I'd rather chill with family, spend hours going through my record collection, or hang out with friends playing video games, than waste my time and mind at happy hour with drones who's sole existence seems to revolve around when they can drink. I love my life, and live it the way that makes sense to me. I remember when I was around 17 years old and was really getting into Thrash Metal...listening to a lot of Metallica, Slayer, Testament, and Overkill. A co-worker of mine at McDonalds told me that soon I would grow out of that style of music...like I was going to enter adulthood and toss out my Heavy Metal tapes and tune into some radio station playing "the hits of yesterday and today". I don't know if that is how it works for some people, but it sure as Hell wasn't how it was going to work for me. Music makes up a large part of who I am. As an awkward teenager with zero self-confidence, it was a safe haven. It was where I could go and not concern myself with how I measured up against others.

So here I am 20 years later, 37 years old and finding myself getting a charge out of buying the newest Slayer release on vinyl. This is a re-issue of their Christ Illusion album, which was released on my birthday last year. Apparently they had another song, Final Six, that didn't get finished during the recording session because Tom Araya got sick and couldn't finish the vocals on time. After the album was released, they finished up the song and re-released it to include the extra song. In addition to the new song, there is an alternate version of the song Black Serenade, and a different album cover. Saw it on vinyl for $15, so I picked it up. The other Slayer item that I picked up this week was the Soundtrack to the Apocalypse box set. I got $60 in gift certificates for my birthday, and saw it as the perfect opportunity to pick this up as well. 4 CD's and a DVD, a really cool and detailed book about their existence, plus a couple of other trinkets (a banner and a laminated pass). Very cool, and since it is limited, I was happy to get a copy (unlike that Iron Maiden box set that I missed out on a few years ago). So, yeah, 37 years old and listening to Slayer...yeah, maybe I'll outgrow this music someday...right.