I remember music

Day 427 -

As a kid, I remember having an interest in music even before I learned to play it on my own. My parents even noticed my interest when they hear me singing along to Hotel California while we were out to dinner one night. It didn't take long before I was playing piano, clarinet, and even the guitar. And even after I stopped taking lessons and playing any instruments for fun, music was very important to me. Music in the car, music on my home computer, music at work, and music in my head. Everywhere I went, music came with me.

When The End came, music was one of the last things on my mind. But lately its been one of the first. Its been more than a year since we moved into this small cabin in the Cascade mountains, and with no electricity, the only source of music has been our cars CD player. And even then, its an extravagence we cannot afford. Gasoline is very hard to come by anymore, so our travelling is restricted. But sometimes, in the deepest hours of the night, I sneak out and listen to a few of my favorite songs. They sound like choirs of angels.

Even an old MP3 player is an infrequent blessing. Before The End, I'd had two. One had a built-in battery, unreplacable and completely unchargable without a computer and USB port. The second, an inexpensive 'reward' I'd received from work years ago, runs on a single AA battery. It has very few songs on it, and we rarely find functional batteries, but when we do we are blessed with a few hours of musical heaven. Sadly, such a blessing is not without its faults.

As batteries become harder and harder to scrounge, music becomes exponentially harder to justify. I fear that this time next year, the music I so dearly loved growing up will exist only in my head. The soulful guitar solos of David Gilmour, the mourning voice of James Maynard Keenan, the heart-breaking lyrics of Amy Lee, the symbolic brilliance of Roger Waters, all consigned to a small corner of my mind. And while some small portion of the remaining people left on earth may find solitude maddening, I fear a lack of music is what will drive me insane.