On this blog I've often written about my older cousin who made me a music fanatic when I was just 7. He would give me all of his scratched and chipped Kiss LP's and dogeared Kiss posters, and I was blown away. I would sit on the edge of his water bed, looking at all the black light posters and the Ted Nugent Double Live Gonzo and Blue Oyster Cult album covers and think it was the coolest. I think I've aspired to be my cousin ever since.

But last Saturday I talked to him on the phone for a few minutes for the first time in years, and I thanked him again for getting me into rock n' roll, and told him my CD collection and guitars were no doubt due to his influence.

He says, "Well, as you get older, you realize other things are more important and you have to change priorities, and take care of things you might not necessarily want to..." Then he went on to talk about the day's NASCAR races, something I knew zero about.

What was he talking about?! Music and guitars, along with writing and broadcasting, are still all I think about! Going to work is just an obstacle to when I can get home and either chat on a music forum, go to Guitar Center, work on a tune on the computer, or go to the used CD store. Am I supposed to be thinking about mowing the lawn and working on plumbing now? Sorry, ain't happenin'.

Anybody else ever get the feeling that you're the only one who still gets a charge out of the same things that excited you when you were 17?