26. I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours

Hello and welcome, I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. A podcast meant for sharing thoughts, stories, enjoying idiomatic phrases and words in general. You can read along; the transcription is in the description of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation. A special thanks to Chuy Darío, my very talented sound partner. Thank you, Chuy. Today, I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours.  You might be wondering where this is going. I did too, until I got there. I’m all about the playlists these days. Ok, before you say… hey! That was done already in ‘High Fidelity’ or maybe you are thinking… can we be done with the music thing? I’m just going to say, yes, and it was done very well, in ‘High Fidelity’, but I want to do it too. And no, the music thing is not a phase. Unless there are 40 - year phases, in which case I say I’m right on track. Track, track, track, track, track, track track, under the train but also, on the playlist. There are so many reasons we make playlists. To motivate ourselves or someone else, to express kindness, love, desire.  What a thing to be on the other side of the expression of friendship, kindness, attraction, desire, love, affection, seduction… watching the other person fall in love, the things they say, how they say them, their intonation, the cadence with which they deliver a hello, how are you? The way words are said, uttered, blurted out, become songs. In a long courtship, those are the songs that are played over and over again, forget me nots that linger. Sometimes they are the distance between longing and touch. Said songs might be planned, or not. This might happen overtly, in your face, subversively, when all shields are up, surreptitiously, when, you know-... Anyway, being the observer of the other’s most vulnerable, and just for you, what a beautiful thing to presence. There is so much at play. The playlist, right  Just Push Play… That is the invitation when listening to a handmade, nay, made with the heart, playlist, with real songs. The auditory delight, the elation that comes from connecting through a song. I assume you are receiving a playlist because there is a relationship, emerging as it were, perhaps it is a sisterhood, or friendship. Just Push Play and Listen to what the other person wants you to hear, wants to say and wants you to feel. These are delivery systems of feelings, images, and sounds that will forever be associated to the designer of the list and the muse. Just listen. Listen to the lyrics, the feelings, the melody, and harmony, read the titles. Imagine what the other person was feeling, what motivated them to add that song, to that list, a list that will be yours, forever. And now my favorite part. Creating the playlist. You might say, hey, you should have started this part before the other person listened. But I’ll tell you something. When you are making a playlist, you have the other person in mind, and part of the motivation is how you want them to experience it. The end result. So, you are ruminating over one of two things:  Should the songs reflect what I’m feeling, in my language or should the songs be selected thinking of what they like? In their language. The second option acts like a translator.  There is another possibility, the longevity playlist. The spontaneous timeline. The window into the analyst's office.  Continue reading