The Recording Box of Life.

Ants Marching-maybe the most popular Dave Matthews Band song of all time. (1) What I take from this song is that there are a lot of people on earth. I think that, obsessed in our own hectic lives, we forget that we're just one microscopic piece of the bigger picture. Imagine looking at earth from above, seeing millions of people bustling about, engulfed in their intense, insane schedule for that day. From a distance, we would look like little ants, all marching to the beat of our own drum. (2)

It reminds me of a theory that I have and often use as an excuse for short-commings. (3) I think that each human has a limit to what they can and can not do. A certain, pre-determined capacity. Our lives reach full potential when that capacity is filled.

I know that not everyone is always running around like chickens with their heads cut off, constantly busy and doing something at every minute, but that's how I roll. (4) Or, that's what I strive for, anyway. Any time spent doing something of lesser value, such as playing guitar hero (5) or watching tv is a waste of time that could be spent doing something of use. Things like that don't allow us to fill the capacity of our lives. Therefore our lives are split into two modes. One mode, the "important" one, is that in which we are doing something useful. In my case, my important mode is the mode I am in when I am doing something for the four aspects of my life. Any other "wasted" time falls into the mode of unimportant.

In this busy schedule that I do my best to maintain, there are multiple aspects. Personally, my life can be put into four short words. And at any given point, what I'm doing should fall into one of the four categories of my life. Those categories are: work, soccer, marching band, and friends. All of these are the things I value more than anything else. I imagine a big box with little knobs that can be slid up and down to control them... like the ones in recording studios that are used to make some parts louder, some softer. My box would have my name written on the top, and there would be four sliding knobs. Each knob would be paired with an aspect of my life and labeled accordingly.

The theory is that time and effort can flow freely to and from one category and to another, as if we put stock into one aspect of our life when we need it, but that stock has to come from somewhere else. If life was a metallic bond, electrons would be our time, energy, and effort, in that they are shared, but the quanity is never changed. There is a constant balance between categories, again, because we can not overflow our capacity. Therefore, when it is the week of band camp and I'm required to be at the high school for 7 hours each day, another aspect of my life will need to be decreased in order to meet that requirement. This week, my paycheck from my beloved job at the Stafford CC may be cut in half. The work aspect of my life was forced to be put on the back-burner for the week.

If ever my life was at a point where I could do something like band camp and not a single other aspect of life was needed to be decreased in order to meet that need, I would know that I am not packing my schedule tight enough. My capacity would be wasted... not filled. My goal in life is to never get to that point. I always want to maintain a level of efficiency. I want to spend as much "important" time as possible.

When our schedules are packed tightly, and we have the need to turn down one dial on our recording box in order to turn another up, priorities become the key in the way we live and the decisions we make. We all need to actively think about what our priorities are. Personally, I love working and think it's very important. But nevertheless, I am in high school. And I'm not quite ready to throw away all childhood. Therefore, marching band and soccer take priority over work. I would never miss a day of band camp or soccer pre-season to be at work.

This way of thinking of things leads to an incredibly organized life and keeps me on track and productive. Is it time you thought of what your recording box looks like? How many knobs there are, and what their position should be?

1. Which says a lot, being that DMB is god. Tonight, the band faked Everyday, only to go into Halloween in the middle of the set! Unheard of! As if that weren't enough, there was an Everyday reprise later in the show, following Anyone seen the bridge and a faked Too Much. Wow.

2. Totally a Drum Line reference! What a great movie.

3. Although, those are infrequent.

4. Pimps is Hoes too! Gangsta day at Band Camp!

5. Dang... I'm good at that game.