it's an acquired taste

The year was 2004.

I was 14 years old.

I was skipping school with my friend Ian.

Every now and then we would go find abandoned parking garages and bomb down the spiral section on our skateboards.

I thought Ian was so cool.

He was a few years older than me.

Had his license.

Dressed differently.

He was a pretty good skater and had a crazy sense of humor.

Despite constantly being bullied by the jocks, he maintained a great "DGAF" attitude.

He was your classic punk.

Ian was against the grain, but also a very loyal, good friend.

Something about the way he conducted himself made me look up to him.

I distinctively remember us peeling out of the high school parking lot at like 10am in his white pathfinder — me in the passenger seat.

He was blaring some kind of music that I remember to be borderline unlistenable.

In my cool voice, I asked: "What is this?"

"Every Time I Die" he responded.

I thought to myself: wow I can't believe anyone likes this.

But Ian liked it, so I thought maybe I should try to see it the way he does.

Perhaps it's an acquired taste?

I went home and found it on Kazaa and added a few songs to my mp3 player.

I listened to those couple songs all summer, amongst others, while working my landscaping job.

All of a sudden, Every Time I Die genuinely became one of my favorite bands. Even to this day.

I went from totally not understanding this kind of music ... to being a huge fan.

All because Ian had unique taste and proudly shared it with me.

I would even go on to start my own bands within the genre, which would become a major part of my own story in the best way.

I haven't talked to Ian in probably 15-20 years, and I'm sure he has zero idea of how he inspired me.

My point in sharing this with you is that your unique taste alone could offer value to those who you serve in ways that you may not realize.

So I encourage you to be willing to share the weird parts of yourself that you hold dear, and maybe even become known for them.

– Charles

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Song of the day​
​Ebolarama by Every Time I Die

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... how sick is that opening riff????