New Car Smell

So, I had this really stupid epiphany while listening to Alanis Morissette on they way to work yesterday...

Yes, I did just write that, and no, I don't mind waiting while you finish laughing and snorting coffee out of your nose...
...
...

Finished? Okay then.

Anyway, so I was listening to an ITunes compilation of Alanis' 6 or 7 decent songs off of something like 3 or 4 albums (complete with artist commentary), and it got me thinking. Jagged Little Pill was my soundtrack as an angst-ridden 16-year-old. I remember lying on my bed, over-identifying with this screaming, angry rocker chick the first time my heart was broken. (In hindsight it was only slightly bruised, but I didn't know that at the time). I can identify exact points in my life through music. Now, I'm not a particularly music-obsessed individual, but play me a song and I can tell you exactly where it puts me in my 'story'. Our Lady Peace Superman's Dead? Freshman year. Incubus Drive? Winter of my Sophomore year. Audioslave? September, 2005. You get the point.

So, yeah, the epiphany. Theoretically, as you grow up, you become wiser and more worldly... life becomes more layered and complex. We are trained to think of our lives and time as directional, going constantly forward. With that being said, it seems only logical that your soundtrack would do the same... considering that (for me, at least) the music is something you identify with at that exact moment in time. Yet here I am... rocking out to Alanis Morissette in my car, 8 years later. Granted, I'm rocking out in my brand-new, self-purchased car on my way to a full-time job to a much more placid, engaged, and earth-bound Alanis, but still. Does this mean that I've made no great strides? Is the idea of 'forward' merely an illusion? Does it mean that I've been running on a treadmill since 16? Is all the personal growth I like to think I've made obsolete? Or does it indicate that life is cyclical... that as far as you think you've gone from where you once were, you will inevitably find yourself back there at some point, with a few alterations. Concentric, repeating, slowly advancing rings instead of a projectile tragectory, hurtling through time.

All of this from Alanis and a cup of coffee. Then again, it could have just been that New Car Smell.