Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect

I'm not a hard man to please. Really, I'm very low-maintenance. If the way to a normal man's heart is through his stomach, the way to mine is--well, still through my stomach, but also through my ears. Hey, get that chicken wing away from my hearing canal.

It's come to my attention that I could be relatively content with any job that I have as long as there is music playing and I get complete control of the music. I may be low-maintenance, but I'm still a control freak. Just give me what I need and get out of my way. This fact is evidenced by my constant need to tinker with the playlists at parties I go to, or that when other people fiddle with those playlists or make comments about the music that I happen to disagree with, I can get grumpy very quickly. I get the same feeling as when I see a girl I like dancing with another guy. It makes my blood boil.

This may or may not be why I won't be out of college until well after the four-year plan that most journalism majors succeed in completing without any trouble. I have direction, but my standards are low. I have my goals, but I'm still content if I don't reach them. I can't write about music for a living? Okay, I'll just work at a record store. Honestly, I would be perfectly okay with that. And you know what? When I started thinking about this, I was reminded of High Fidelity, when Rob Gordon names his Top 5 dream jobs. I'm laying it down, right here (in no particular order):

• Editor-in-Chief of my own music review site: This is my new dream. My baby. When I get out of college, this is what I want to do, more than anything else. I'm going to get a cheap apartment in a crappy neighborhood of Philadelphia, and I'm going to start my own website. There was a little talk of doing something like this with a friend earlier this year, but we're both too busy for it right now. However, I have many friends and colleagues with both writing talent and good taste in music, and I also have a dream. There's no reason I couldn't make this happen, and I would love every second of it.
• A&R Rep, any major record label: This sounds like a pretty sexy job. In reality, it would probably be frustrating as all hell. However, working closely with any up-and-coming artist would be pretty sweet. Especially if they're actually good.
• Manager of a Tower Records: Yeah, that's right. CD sales are down and record stores are going bankrupt. Whatever. I'd get to control the music, I'd get to hear any CD I wanted, and I could just talk about music all day, every day. The downside is that I'd have to sell people Nickelback records.
• Program Director for a radio station: Another one of those cool-sounding-yet-insanely frustrating jobs, probably. But just like the A&R job, the small things are what would make it worth it.
• Musician: Well this one's pretty obvious. Why not? I figure if I quit school now and just played guitar and bass and sang all the time, I'd be good enough to be in a band within a year. And at the very least I'd probably be able to make enough money to pay the bills. And that's enough for me.

Of course, writing doesn't enter into any of those, really. But you know what? Writing isn't a job for me; it's a hobby. I just love doing it, so I do it. It will never be a job for me. I want it to stay that way, so it's staying off my list.