Songs and Memories

Hi, Benjamin here. My Pandora playlist has just dredged up some memories from last semester, so without further ado, I will tell my tale. Story story. Once upon a time...

It was a pretty bad day. My phone had stopped working the night before, so I woke up late. I didn't have any classes, but I was scheduled to work at the museum from 10 AM to 4 PM. I ended up getting to the museum just a few minutes late, but in my haste, I forgot my watch in my dorm room. For the whole day, I had no way to keep track of the hours. My gallery was pretty quiet, so I sat and read by myself for large, indeterminate amounts of time.

I had a coffee meeting scheduled at four with a friend, so it would be a rush to get there straight after work ended. As I sat and read, though, I started to notice that things were unnaturally silent. I assumed it was just a quiet afternoon until my boss came around, locking up the doors. It was five o'clock, and when the museum had closed an hour before, none of my coworkers had checked that I was clear, assuming I knew the time, as I usually did.

I would have texted my friend to inform them what the situation was, but as I've mentioned, my phone was malfunctioning, so I had no choice but to return to my room. I was feeling quite downtrodden, and slightly lonely, having had less than two minutes of human contact through the entire day. I booted up my laptop and opened Pandora, hoping to find solace in music. The first song to come on was One by Three Dog Night-- One... is the loneliest number...

This isn't the first song I've identified with at a point in time (Crying in the Rain is great for angst), but the perfect fit of One, considering the situation, actually raised my strange emotions. Does this story have a conclusion? Not really-- I forget what happened next, but the happy ending is that things only improved through the following days and weeks. I got a new phone, met new people, and had more success-- either a sad country song in reverse, or most of the pop songs I've heard forwards.