I am a very passive music listener. Music “died” for me about 4 years ago, and I haven’t bought/acquired a new CD since December 2005 (Derrick treated me to a CD around Christmas I think. I remember listening to it when it was snowing in Asheville). It’s not that I don’t enjoy music, but just that I don’t go out of my way to put it on. I haven’t been to a concert since before Derrick and I were together. It’s been a while. I enjoy a lot of what Derrick plays, and he’s compiled a Rachel-approved list. Every once in a while, I’ll go “Derrick, skip this crackhead song,” but usually I don’t complain.

One of the weirdest things to adjust to when you move is switching radio stations. I don’t even know how to change the presets on my CD player. I had Derrick do it for me. Last time we rode around, he left it on 107.1. I’ve never bothered to change it. I’m not a radio station flipper—never touch it when commercials come on. I listen straight through. This station is a local sort of urban/rap kind of station. It’s not half bad, honestly, but they play the same music over and over and over and over. There’s this one song “Would you be my daddy…my daddy…would you be my daddy…daddy…I need a daddy…daddy”. They play it a lot. Then there’s another one about the “a..a..a..a..a..alcohol”. Derrick thinks it’s REALLY funny when I try to sing that one. I don’t retain a lot of lyrics, but I can get the gist of what most songs are about and I most definitely recognize that 107.1 has the tiniest playlist of any radio station in the whole world.

I hear a Lil Wayne song every day on my drive to or from school–usually in the morning when I make my way over the train tracks. I’ve liked him for a while, especially with the “Lollipop” video set in Vegas (my favorite place in the whole world) and his super cute/endearing interview with Katie Couric: Part One & Part Two. But my affection for him has increased after listening to one of his songs every day for the past nine days. I think about him as soon as I get in my car. I might be in love.