It's so easy.

I've learned this lesson so many times, and every time I remind myself of it, my life gets so much better.

Listen to your music on good speakers or headphones.

The easiest way to do this is to buy a pair of headphones at your larger record store or Best Buy or Circuit City for about twenty dollars. Or even less. But get some decent headphones. And listen to your music on it. Friends, I promise you, your life will become better.

Or, get good speakers. You'll need a decent receiver, a CD player if you have nostalgic qualities (ha ha oh our generation is so funny ha ha ha), and a place to plug your iPod into. Tape deck? Vinyl turntable? Sure, go ahead! I have them! I haven't used the tape deck in a while, but if I were to find myself back in a car-driving situation, BOOM! Boom goes the dynamite. I am fully prepared to go back to a tape-listening lifestyle. Hey, seriously, my iPod broke, I'm preparing CD "mixtapes" for my traveling listening, honestly.

But, a nice set of speakers is also pretty desirable. Is anything better than a decent subwoofer? Well, few things, but never dismiss the good old cabinet speaker. First of all, they provide attractive end tables for the couch in your bullshit living room. Also, you will not do much to be cooler, but you will be way cooler if you have cabinet speakers. And here's a really good design tip I learned from my mom. Take the screens off of your cabinet speakers, and pull off the gross fabric shit. Replace it with an attractive fabric from your local textile store for the cost of about two dollars. Your home now looks 9000 times cooler for a cash outlay of $2.00 and a time expenditure of three minutes.

Seriously, if you aren't moving in the next two months, get cabinet speakers, good ones.

I've actually very tech-mindedly rigged my bedroom to have 5.1 sound in my bed. I have the rear speakers hanging on the wall and shit - it took me about four minutes of work. And I utilize this to its full extent not enough. Sometimes I pop a CD into that system and listen to it and, friends, it blows my mind that I'm still willing to listen to music on my computer instead of this system of pure butt-quaking beauty.

Although, that concern becomes immaterial when I actually plug my $16 headphones into my computer, because then I become lost in a world of pure beautiful sound.

I have, in my life, owned two pairs of HIGH-END headphones. They were great - they were amazing! I had a pair of Sennheisers about the size of a typical human baby, and GOD-DAMN did they sound good. The right earphone stopped working a few months into their lifecycle. I think I could have gotten a replacement if I sent the right letter to the right place, but I'm too stupid. I have also, in my life, owned about eight pairs of $15 headphones. Each pair - each pair - each of those eight pairs made a valuable imprint on my life. Each improved my life substantially from just before I had those headphones and used them.

Because I've also in my life owned some budget-ass Circuit City pure bullshit style headphones from manufacturers like Panasonic and Sony, and I've gotten some very fine months of enjoyment out of them.

I've gone on too long, the real point here is: If you are content with your computer's speakers, or your Aiwa portable stereo, or even your portable dorm-room-bullshit-style stereo by Sony or whatever, or whatever else bullshit you content yourself with... well... Because let's be honest, many of you deal with your shitty computer speakers or your Aiwa dorm stereo.... Buy headphones. Not even nice ones! Just buy headphones that are not visibly for joggers, and start using them. Even when you're sitting on your ass at your computer. Listen. Listen to the music on your new headphones. Even if there's a computer subwoofer hooked up to your computer! It's not a good enough subwoofer! (Although it is great.)

Get headphones. Big ugly ones. And use them.

And every now and then, take an hour to sit down and listen to your favorite music on your headphones. It's for what happens when you just chill out and sit down and take a little bit of time for yourself and listen to the music you love on headphones instead of computer speakers or earbuds that I say what I'm about to say.

YOU'RE WELCOME


PS: seriously, buy some Salvation Army Speakers, and put some floral print fabric on them. Your living room now looks so badass your brain explodes. My mom's a genius.