I repeat therefore I am.

I’m a repeater. Fo’ serious. I repeat things. I repeat things. I repeat things.

Whenever I say something cute or clever or hilarious (!)—in my own opinion, of course—I have to say whatever it was again. Like several times. Like usually six times even if no one else is around. It’s a compulsion. Ask Justin. I honestly can’t help it.

The same is true of my music listening. I will listen to the same song for weeks. One song. Over and over and over again. Literally thousands of repeats. And every time—every conscious listen—I will hear something different, something new.

There are songs that I will listen to repeatedly from start to finish for just two seconds of breathtaking instrumentation or a single beautifully sustained note or a specific heart-wrenching lyric.

Some of my favorite moments—

2.50 into “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!” by Sufjan Stevens

0.59 into “This Is What It Is” from Wild Party by Michael John LaChuisa

0.44 into “Full Fathom Five” from Twelfth Night by HEM

First 20 seconds of “Under Pressure” by Queen (!)

3.35 into “Get Right” by Jennifer Lopez

4.50 into “At The Ballet” from Chorus Line with lyrics by Edward Kleban and music by Marvin Hamlisch

I’m not sure what it says about me on a deeper level—my habit of repeating things. Probably not much. In fact, you could probably learn more about me from my response to the question, are you a dog person or a cat person—a question that I will not be answering, well, not in this blog entry anyway. That would just be too revealing.

They say that human beings need to hear new information at least three times before it registers. Perhaps my repetition habit is simply confirmation of this, my humanity. I repeat therefore I am.

Something to think about. Something to think about. Something to think about.