Hip Waders Welcome

Why is it that out of the hundreds or thousands of songs that you hear on the radio growing up that you gravitate to a handful? Why do you seek out and buy only certain albums? Why is it that when I borrowed some cassettes from my older brother while growing up that Freeze Frame by J. Geils Band hit me hard while the rest were either glancing blows or complete misses? Why is it that lonely music appeals to me, that minor keys feel like home?

What was going to be a post on Freeze Frame and how it impressed me greatly in my tender years, what with it's rich textures, massive bass lines, and sophisticated pop compositions has instead become a kind of typical musings on why we like certain things. Do you hear music that your parents like and because they play it often or talk it up and kids want to please their parents so then you start to like that kind of music, albeit the youthful version that incorporates the same musical DNA? Or is it that a thousand ears pass your ears and the ones that fit your genetic predisposition are the ones that grab you, the ones that you go out and buy?

I'm personally inclined for the latter.

My home is a kind of experimental lab where two test subjects are not under the direct influence of half of their genetic sponsorship and have not been since near toddlerhood (and pardon the heady lingo as they have been known to read this blog). What I've noticed is that certain "foreign" predispositions can show up that can be tamed or encouraged, but predispositions that are so uncannily similar to parentage long gone that the only explanation is genetic.

So how much of ourselves is really ourselves? Yes, we have free will and our decisions are our own. Everyone is dealt a specific hand of cards and it's up to you on what you do with them. It's the whole idea of one man being given ten talents, another five and yet another just one.

That's all I have. I should get back to my exciting work. Did I choose this line of work or did it choose me? Sorry, there I go again.