Top 5 "Desert Island Albums"

  The other day on Reddit I came across an interesting question: “If you were stuck on a desert island and can only listen to five albums for the rest of your life, which would you choose?” Figured I’d list out my choices on here, and elaborate on each. Before I begin, however, allow me to stress that these are NOT my favorite albums of all-time (you can find those here if you’re curious), but rather the five that I feel would be most effective if I could never listen to anything else ever again. There’s a difference…

With that out of the way, here you go:

Honorable Mention: Led Zeppelin - Mothership (2007)

This was a close-call for me, as this box set includes most of the band’s best work. Alas, I’m just not as big of a 60’s/70’s guy as I am an 80’s/90’s guy.

5.Outkast - Big Boi & Dre Present… Outkast (2001)

Yes, even a big rock fanatic like me needs to still listen to some rap every now and then, and everyone who knows me can tell you that Outkast is my favorite hip-hop group, by far. Not sure why. I guess Big Boi and Andre 3000 compliment each other well, yet also contrast each other well, if that makes sense. Either way, if I could only listen to one of their records again for the rest of my life, their greatest hits (a.k.a. Big Boi & Dre Present… Outkast) simply makes the most sense to me. Random aside, but Big Boi did a free show near me back in 2013, but I didn’t go, cause I was still a snobby rock purist back then. I missed out…

4.Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium (2006) - isolated guitar tracks

Once again, anyone who knows me can tell you that the Chili Peppers are among my favorite music artists ever, so if I could only keep one of their releases, their big double album Stadium Arcadium is a no-brainer for me. That said, if I could have it my way, I would take just the isolated guitar tracks from this entire album, cause I feel like I should have at least one instrumental entry on this list, and guitarist John Frusciante basically created an entire new universe with his guitar on this album (no offense to the other members, cause they’re all still great too). I suppose the songs themselves on here don’t have as much range as they could, but the guitar alone is so good that it makes up for it.

3.Guns N’ Roses - Use Your Illusion: Super Deluxe Edition (2022)

This was my first favorite band, so they had to show up on this list somewhere just for nostalgia alone. The 1991 double album Use Your Illusion has a lot of range, in terms of song styles and whatnot, and the 2022 box set expansion comes with two complete concerts that include some interesting covers, live renditions of Appetite for Destruction classics, etc. Both shows also have a lot of contrast from one another. New York 1991 is very raw, and features Shannon Hoon from Blind Melon on some songs, while Vegas 1992 is long and “bombastic” (mainly thanks to the backing musicians that were part of the band that year). Honestly, though, this album was always gonna make the cut just for “November Rain” alone (and the updated version on this box set in particular is pretty awesome, not gonna lie).

2.The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness: Deluxe Edition (2012)

Another 90’s double album (and a box set expansion of a double album, on top of that!). When it comes to range, I don’t think I’ve ever heard more of it than on this album right here. You get soft songs, hard songs, weird songs, short songs, long epics, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, piano, synths, orchestra, and so on. James Iha even sings on here, and the whole band sings on the end of the main album. The whole thing really takes you on quite a journey!

1.White Zombie - Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (2008)

Most of you are probably shocked that this is my #1, but let me explain! I need heavy music to function. Heavy music is like caffeine for my ears, and when it comes to heavy stuff, White Zombie is my favorite, by far, and this box set right here contains their entire catalog (all the albums, b-sides, etc.). Honestly, I could probably survive on just the 1995 album Astro-Creep: 2000 alone (I listen to it almost every day on my way to work), but I might as well have this right here, since it’s an option!

So there you have it! Mostly 90’s stuff (or 90’s adjacent), but I guess that should be expected, coming from me. I also wanted to include the Kiss Alive! box set from 2006, as Kiss is another one of my favorites, but even a diehard like me can admit that a lot of their songs sound the same. I’m sure artists like Hendrix and Sabbath also have a good box set or two. Oh, well…

Peace!

Related: List Repository

Specific Tips for Journaling

Scroll to the bottom for a TL;DR summary! 

Not too long ago I blogged about journaling and how beneficial it has become to my well-being in recent times, so I figured I should now take things a step further and detail how exactly I journal, in case it helps anyone out there who may be trying to get into it more…

No further introduction needed, so here we go:

Start with small notebooks

The smaller the notebook, the less intimidating the act of journaling itself will be. Holding a rather large notebook in your hands may feel daunting, whereas a smaller notebook may feel like something that can be filled out rather quickly (because it can). Completing your first few notebooks quickly and seeing them getting stocked on top of one another in a short amount of time may help you to stay motivated to journal longterm. Pocket-sized notebooks also have the convenience of being more portable, of course.

Skip every line between sentences

So if I had to guess, you’ll eventually run out of small notebooks and start having to fill out larger ones that you find around your home. No sense in wasting money on other small notebooks when you have plenty of big ones that haven’t been used yet, right? Well, when you eventually get to this stage, and still feel intimidated by normal, non-pocket-sized books, simply do what I do and start skipping every line between your sentences. Nobody ever said you had to fill our every line, after all (assuming you’re even using lined paper to begin with). Alternatively, you can simply skip every other line, even if your sentences are long enough to take up more than one line at a time. The handwritten version of “double spacing,” if you will.

Bullet-points/ incomplete sentences is fine

By skipping every line between sentences, you’re already doing a form of bullet-journaling, sorta. Therefore, I would argue that forgoing grammatical-correctness and simply writing in incomplete sentences is fine. More than fine, in fact. By prioritizing incomplete sentences, you’re allowing yourself the opportunity to get thoughts “out of your system” faster. Who cares if the writing itself is hard to follow? Nobody is gonna read your journal other than you anyways, most likely. Heck, you don’t even have to read back through old entries (I almost never do).

Try writing in cursive

A long time ago, someone encouraged that I write in cursive “to make writing more fun.” I started doing so, and never looked back. As this old friend of mine had said, writing in cursive is just simply much more fun. Plus, as another friend of mine from around that same time had said, it’s “a dying art.” As far as I’m concerned, we might as well all start writing in cursive just for the sake of keeping the art alive, so to speak.

Use a good pen

Going into journaling with a shitty pen is like going into battle with a shitty gun. Personally, I’m partial to either BIC or Pentel RSVP, fine-size, but you do you! My dad is really into fountain pens. I gave those a try, and they’re not my thing, but maybe they’re yours. More power to you if so. Pencils are cool too, of course. UPDATE: Now I’m into felt pens! They’re much better for the speed at which I wanna be journaling at, turns out!

Start your entries by noting daily things

While I personally feel it’s important to journal at least a little every day, I understand that some days are more “journal-worthy” than others. Because of this, I always like to start my entries by making note of a few things that are “constants” in my day-to-day life: How many hours of sleep I got the night before, the number of days since I started my diet (gotta stay motivated for that shit somehow), and what I plan to eat throughout the day. As the day itself progresses, I also like to use my journal to keep track of how many friends I text throughout the day (I prefer texting over in-person interactions by a landslide). Lately I’ve also been noting what I plan to do each day, and have also been reminding myself on a daily basis that “the only important thing in life for me is just to survive the present moment.” I also tell myself here daily to be alone as much as possible, though I understand why that’s not for everyone. UPDATE: Regarding what I do each day, it’s usually just journaling itself now, so I’ve been reminding myself “it’s okay to just journal today.” After all, the earliest humans just did cave drawings of the same stuff over and over…

Regrets/ worries (“that’s what journaling is for”)

Now this is the real “meat” of everything that I’ve been trying to accomplish by journaling as much as I do now. I mentioned in my last journaling-themed post that I struggle with two things in particular; regretting the past, and worrying about the future. I usually make note of that at least once per day in my journals. Sometimes I go into details about whatever specific worries or regrets I may be experiencing in that moment, but most of the time I just simply write something like “having regrets again this morning.” Either way, I usually follow this up with the sentence “But that’s what journaling is for.” Lately I’ve also been feeling nostalgic for my parents’ homeland (which I visit most summers), so every day now I write a quick sentence about the thing I miss most from there on that particular day (but also remind myself why I’m happy to be where I actually am now, despite the bad parts). I also make sure to (vaguely) write about at least one regret every day now, as well as at least one “second-hand embarrassment” moment.

Noting reactions to bad flashbacks

This may not apply to everyone reading this, but some of my past regrets are so bad that it causes me to have distressing “reactions” (twitching, cursing at the top of my lungs, etc.). That said, I’ve noticed that ever since I started journaling daily over this past year or so, I haven’t been having these sorta reactions as much, and I think I large part of that is because I journal about them. Again, I’m usually pretty vague, and just write something like “had a couple of reactions as I woke up this morning, but I think they’re getting less frequent still, so that’s good at least.” I also try to remind myself daily that my flashbacks are usually at their worst in the morning.

Noting current events

Even though I don’t like reading back through old entries, whenever a major event happens, I like to write it down, just for the sake of turning some of my entries into “time capsules,” of sorts. As I’m sure you all know, a lot of unprecedented events have been happening in the world recently, so I’ve been jotting down current events more than usual…

Stream-Of-Consciousness

This probably goes without saying, but when I can’t think of anything else to do, I just write whatever comes to mind, without really thinking about it. Sometimes I write about other tasks I might do later in the day, but it doesn’t always have to be that.

…Well, that’s it! Hopefully at least some of this helps someone out there…

Peace!

PS: I know there’s a stigma against straight men who journal, but that stigma seems to be fading, so pay it no mind! Also, while it goes without saying, what you write doesn’t need to make sense to anyone other than yourself!

UPDATE: Lately I’ve also been leaving my journaling notebook opened to the latest entry and laid out in front of me throughout the day as much as possible. I find that this also helps to keep me at ease. Also, now I write on the top-left corner every day “age brings wisdom (usually).” Additionally, I’ve also started using the Freeform app on my iPhone to do “raw” drawings to reflect stressful moments in my life. I call this visual journaling. I remind myself to do both this and mental journaling on the top-right corner of my physical journal daily now too. Lastly, alongside my daily diet count, I also note “my health is still bad, but it can be worse.”

TL;DR: I journal about 14 things daily: Sleep quality, “age brings wisdom,” friends spoken to, days since diet started, what I’m eating, “only important thing is survival/ being alone,” amount of bad flashbacks (roughly), thing I miss the most from Portugal, why I’m happy to be in the US (despite bad parts), biggest regret, 2nd-hand embarrassment moment, main thing(s) I’m doing, “health is bad but can be worse,” and reminders for mental & visual journaling. And this is all separate from any stream-of-consciousness stuff I might write for fun and/or additional stress relief. There’s actually 3 other things I journal daily too, but those are too private to share here.

Related: My Favorite Distractions

Related: List Repository