The idea has finally come. While sitting in class on Wednesday, discussing what we need to do for our first essay, the idea struck me suddenly. I was still playing around with the idea that my friend had suggested. There was no reason that I couldn’t write about mine and my boyfriends relationship. But I scrawled in my notebook: “Need a concept. FOCUS ON IT!” because that is what I needed to figure out (and at the moment that is what we were talking about in class).

And then the first idea came to me. One aspect of our relationship that I think plays a big role is music. We both love music, and in fact the majority of the music that I listen to today was introduced to me by him. As I also stated in my last entry, I really wanted to try to do a patterning format. Luckily we were now at the point of talking about patterning essays, and as Dr. Chandler explained, my brain got moving. What if I took a band that we both liked, focused on one album, and each song in the album represented a new section. Okay, good, now FOCUS!

Aspect number 2: when we started going out my boyfriend constantly made me mix tapes (or mix cds) and I loved them. I also have a bunch of songs from a bunch of different bands that I think would be good in this essay. So why not? Each section would be a different song from a different band like a mix tape. That’s one idea, but I still need to FOCUS on what the story is going to be ABOUT.

A fact about me and my boyfriend that is different from a lot of couples: at the moment he is currently in Hong Kong studying to get his master’s. No, he is not Chinese (you’d be surprised how often I get that question). He minored in Chinese here at Kean. So right now we are in a long distance relationship which, society has taught me, is one of the hardest kinds of relationships to be in. While the separation is tough, I wouldn’t say it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life. Not only is that different, but it is also oddly specific. Draw an arrow off of concept —> How to survive a long distance relationship (through music). Of course this is going to be fixed some, but it’s a start.

Later I brainstormed about what songs I would have. I made sure to go through all the music on my MP3 player and came up with:

Across the Sea –Weezer

The Luckiest –Ben Folds

Lightswitch –dredg

This Heart of Mine (I Pledge) –Pain of Salvation

3 Libras –A Perfect Circle

The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight –Blind Guardian

And You And I –Yes

I mostly tried to stick with lovie songs, but as you can tell not all of them are (3 Libras by A Perfect Circle definitely isn’t, but it has a specific story about the early part of our relationship). Each song has a story to it that I can relate back to another time in our relationship (some more than others).  Not every song in that list will be used, but I wanted to have a variety.

Then, I started to think what each section would be about. So far I have 3 sections.

1) The day he called and asked “What would you think if I told you I wanted to study in China?”

2) The day we met.

3) The present day.

I believe there will be at least 2 other sections, but right now I have no idea what they will be. I plan on working on this over the weekend. Hopefully I will get more ideas.

Finally, the working title: My Long Distance Mix Tape.

Now that it is 1 AM, I think my late night writing is complete. Some more thinking will be done when the sun is high on this side of the world. Over and out.