Let us begin with shame

I can't like this!

I refuse to like this!

Man, I REALLY like this!

Everyone has to have felt this at one point in his or her life. You suddenly find yourself exposed to some sort of medium that you have decided to loathe for one reason or another and all of the sudden you find yourself enjoying it. Maybe it’s because you will look uncouth to your peers. Whether it’s food, music, movies, clothes, whatever...the pressures to stay in the "cool" are always there.

Such an incident happened today at work. I left the comfort of my office on the second floor, filled with the posh aura of indie sounds like Metric and Creeper Lagoon, and ventured into the warehouse to run a quick errand. The warehouse is ran by a great group of guys who all live up in the mountains and whom I affectionately refer to as "Mountain Folk." I get along with the entire "Mountain Folk" just fine, but we are from two different worlds. They tend to have more hippie tendencies then a normal city boy would have. So as you may have guessed, a lot of Grateful Dead and Phish get airplay in the warehouse. Probably great bands, but the hippies can have them, I'm OK without.

However, today it was Bob Marley.

When I was in High School I had a "I really like Bob Marley" phase as I assume most people do, but it quickly passed and I put Marley in my category of music I don't listen to anymore because I'm not a hippie. Today was different, I L-O-V-E-D, loved it! I wanted to go upstairs a throw away my Marley-less Ipod. It was now inadequate for my needs.

This is where my dilemma began. I couldn't love it. It was on my list of music not to love. But who's to say I can't love it now. Of course I can, I'm my own boss. Right?

I can remember a few years ago when I thought metal was probably one of the most confusing types of music around. I didn't get it; a guy screams his lungs out so you can't understand what he's saying while a guitarist plays ridiculous solos on his guitar. And then BAM! I understand what's so great about metal. The extreme emotion portrayed, the insane rhythms expressed through guitars and some of the best drumming in all of music.

It's amazing to me how we as people can learn to love things we detest in such short time expanses. Who knows what’s next for me? The feel of fleece? Mushrooms? or dare I say it, Country Music?? Watch out Vince Gill, here I come!