Neuroticism Wins Again

I was so surprised...that I may be really neurotic.

Okay, so I'm not actually surprised by that, and if you know me at all, you're not either. But I learned something about myself today--something it seems I should've already known...But, alas, I did not.

Let's start with this: I was walking back from class today (like half an hour ago, really), listening to my iPod friend--his name's Phoenix Jr. cause my computer is Phoenix, and really, it's irrelevant.

Unlike this picture.

 Well, I was skipping through songs, trying to find one that I can walk to--do other people do that?--when I stumbled upon (or is it shuffle upon?) Clocks by Coldplay. I'm thinking, "Okay, I like this song. Acceptable." And I probably literally thought that. I tucked Phoenix Jr. in my pocket and walked along. And then, suddenly, I realized I was walking to the beat of the music. I had actually, finally, found a song that perfectly fits my walking speed--it was like Coldplay wrote the song just for me. "You know," the members of Coldplay thought to themselves, "Brandi needs something she can walk to. Let's give it to her."

So anyway, I was probably grinning along, thinking, "Wow! I need to remember this!" And then I realized, about halfway through the song, that I was actually thinking less than when I listen to songs I can't match my speed to. My mind was paying such close attention to making sure I matched each step with the beat that I didn't even notice that I was listening really hard for the beats of the song, and commenting to myself on how the cymbals were just slightly off and that it was trying to throw me off, but, well, I was still firmly walking to the beat, right? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Yeah, I'm still walking to the beat. I'm totally on. But listen to that cymbal again. Maybe it's the piano. There's something just a hair off the beat of the music. No, but I can stay on the beat. I've got this. I've been on-beat for 4 minutes now. There's just a minute left. I've got this.

Seriously. I literally was thinking those things.

I, of course, didn't really grasp what was happening until the end of the song, and I found it so funny that I knew I would need to share it with you, three people who read this. So, when the time came for my iPod to play a new song, I waited, thinking, "I wonder if it'll match my walking speed, too!" And then came What's Love Got to Do. Not appropriate walking speed. Unless you're a turtle or a gangster.

So, instead of ridiculously trying to match my footsteps to the beat, one part of me was singing along with Tina Turner, and another was, like any sane person, repeating over and over to myself this sentence: "It is actually worse for me to walk to a song that matches my speed." Or something like that...I stopped repeating it about five hours ago...But you get the picture. I discovered myself repeating and repeating so I wouldn't forget to tell someone--Caroline will surely laugh with me! And she did.

And all was right in the world. And, now that I'm finally coming back to this post, five hours later, this story is just really sad. I'm sorry I just subjected you to it. But I'm still pushing Publish Post...Now!

Ah, look. He's happy. I can be, too!