Day 34

Man of the Year by ScHoolboy Q

Snow brings simplicity, or at least it should. Chicago has not seen a day above 10 degrees in two weeks. These days bring me back to simpler times, freshman year of high school to be exact. You’d wait for the text in the group chat or the name of your school on the bottom row of the local news like the last ball in the lottery. Whether it was the first or last one called, the feeling was still the same – a weight off your shoulders followed by a deep exhale, all while the twinkle in a particular snowflake mimics the one in your eye with a smile fully cracked. The possibility becomes a reality – a snow day.

Might be a more personal anecdote, and I’ll never understand why, but the idea of borrowed time is always way more exciting than the borrowed time in itself. The night before a snow day is way better than the actual day. Anticipation soon turns into sort of this melancholic dread, at least for me, when I would try to find side quests to fill the day we all looked forward to.

On this particular snow day in 2014, my best friend’s babysitter picked us up and we went to Sarkis (if you know you know). Trying to mimic the older high schoolers who were old enough to drive and live a life that wasn’t quite yet ours but could test the waters in the meantime. He’s deep into music – he played me a version of “Man of the Year” mixed with another song about halfway through. This song always reminds me of that melancholy feeling you get on a Sunday afternoon or a snow day dread.

On a lighter note, if you were in high school in 2014, ScHoolboy Q, you KNEW the weight of this song. I’d argue this album was just as important as Travis’s Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight. They both hold the same nostalgic weight.

Oxymoron dropped in February, right near our first big high school dance, turnabout. The girl would ask the guy to the dance, not the other traditional way around, hence the name.

I had a girlfriend at the time – she wrapped crime scene tape around my front porch with a sign that said “it’d be a crime not to go to TB with me”. I remember my dad calling me out to go to the front door. We took our picture, then she went back in her car, I went back in my house, both our parents watching from afar.

Anyways, I had this song playing right before pictures, I had this song blasting on the JBL while I’d play NHL 14. ScHoolboy will forever be a high school memory.