All That Glitters

Research cites classical music as preferential to play when you're working. Perhaps it's due to the calming tones of the instruments or the lack of vocals.

I, on the other hand, prefer listening to contemporary music. I don't find it distracting because I pick one specific song and listen to it on repeat until it becomes some senseless droning in the background. 

I did this when I was studying. I did this when I was writing papers. It must have worked; I graduated magna cum laude. 

The downside of this method is that I can't listen to the song after completing the task, or else I'm transported back to a frantic all-nighter. 

I can recall being locked in my room in the townhouse, a bottle of vodka on the counter in my attached bathroom. The only times I get up are to refill my cup. It's like my actions are on repeat, along with the song.

I'm writing a paper about Mark Twain and the way he uses humor to something something, I don't know now and I probably didn't know then. I was intrigued by the use of the word "humor" in a graduate catalog yet incredibly disappointed by the course itself.

I don't know if I was punishing myself by choosing this track or if I truly enjoyed it at the time; all I know is by 11pm I was jamming. By 3am, I saved the file and printed the paper.

Over the next few months, the song became more popular as it was used as the butt of many jokes. I tried to laugh along but I couldn't even think of the lyrics without feeling the vodka slosh in my stomach, the sourness radiating from me as I turned in the final paper.

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