[lastflowers]

Growing up, I would revel in all of my father's records. During the summer I'd clean up the floor of his closet where he stored them all. I'd gaze in wonder at the bands that he never deemed worthy enough to buy the CD for.

Much like you, I remember listening to Blood on the Tracks on Saturday mornings playing GameBoy or reading The Hobbit. We'd have Asleep at the Wheel playing during a card-game, or overlaying bad sports commentary.

Fast Forward to High School. I was hired as a retail salesperson at a Mom-And-Pop hot-topic like store at the local mall. Given my somewhat decent taste in music, the shopkeeper let me determine music choice.

So now, as I've had Groove/Zune/Spotify subscriptions going on (basically continuously) for nearly 12 years, I still try to buy at least 15 or so LPs a year. That used to be CDs, but now that I'm an adult with some space, I carved out a section for Vinyl records. They weren't purchased for the different 'warmth', no, they were purchased because I love music and vinyl is one of the purest expressions of that love. It's cumbersome and pretty stupid, but it places the art with prominence and connects your body and actions to the music moreso than any other medium (purely since you have to flip sides every fifteen minutes or so). I like to think back to my saturday's playing GameBoy, and now I gulp down coffee while reading Gaddis or Foreign Affairs as Bob Wills blasts throughthe speakers