Making lists

I remember when my older brother first started college and I was a junior in high school. During one of his breaks, maybe Christmas or summer break, he was telling us about these extracurricular goals that some of his friends had. I don't remember particulars; perhaps it was a list of books they wanted to read, or new skills that they wanted to learn. In any case, I rolled my eyes and said, completely baffled, "You college students. Why do you always have to have all these random goals?" In my mind, I thought that when on break, you should just take a break.

I will say that as a college student, I definitely did just that. When I wasn't waitressing and earning money for school, I was definitely apt to "take a break" versus embark on some other educational or personal goal. Yet, now that I am done with my undergraduate education as well as my graduate education (at least for now), I have found myself eager to fill the void of having specific course projects and following course syllabi with goals for me own personal edification, in the form of lists.

I didn't set out to create these lists on purpose, per se. They just kind of happened as songs came on the radio that I wanted to remember, or books that I found out about on a blog. My two main lists right now are of songs that I enjoy (and want to download or eventually see performed live) and books that I want to read. I am most excited about my additions to my music list of classical pieces. While working, I often listen to the local classic station, WETA. It's exciting to listen to selections and hear pieces that I really enjoy the sound, style, complexity, and performance of.
Growing up, perhaps in my musical naivety, I often thought that pretty much all classical music sounded the same. It's neat to be able to recognize the different musical styles and complexities within a given classical piece and satisfying to begin to better appreciate the uniqueness of each composer. A goal related to this list? Being able to recognize more classical pieces, as gain a deeper understanding of the styles of specific composers. One of my favorite latest discoveries is the piece, "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Moddest Mussorgsky. I'm pretty sure that it's a famous piece, but I was excited to match a title and composer with a piece.

So I will continue to add to my lists because it's exciting to be able to expand my repertoire of culture, whether through music, books, or other art forms, and making lists helps me to keep track of new things I have discovered, and new things that I want to explore. Call it a lifelong learning approach. As a librarian, that's what we're all about, so personally endorse it I do!