My record collection has never failed to cheer me up. After a hard day, a happy day, or an unproductive day, I play one of these records, and the music that each artist carries brings me a daily boost. On a day you catch me talking about my passions, it’s no doubt that these records will come up.

Let’s be honest, sunsets are way better than sunrises. I can’t really explain why, but to those who agree, they know what I mean. Looking at sunsets in my opinion is so beautiful, and it’s something that can be shared through everyone in the city. Imagine the 6 PM sunset, and every person good and bad in Tucson looking at it, admiring it. Brings a tear to my eye.

Music is a clear necessity in my life. Whether it’s making or listening to it, I enjoy it so much. These are my guitars, my electric (Lewis), my acoustic (Chantelle), and my ukulele (Shakira).

When I was a kid, I was always made fun of for having dirty shoes. It was kind of my fault, they weren’t old, I just didn’t take care of them. My family always offered to buy me new ones, and for some unknown reason I denied the gifts. These are my Vans. I started out with the black ones, and when I got my first job I bought the light pink ones with them. I noticed that shoes matter in outfits, so whenever I could afford it, I just bought more Vans.

This is my car. I call her Rosalinda, after the Billy Joel song. I’m not much of a car person if we’re being honest, I actually don’t know anything about them. However, I know the memories I had in this car, the songs that have blasted through the speakers, the one cup-holder with a weird stain on it, and that’s perfectly enough for me.

Playing piano is something I recently just got back into. When I first got this piano, it was a surprise on Christmas and I had wanted it for a while. Truth be told, self-teaching is hard. Expectations from your family is hard, so I stopped. However, I realized that I loved playing the piano when I did, I was just not motivated enough to learn. I decided to pick it back up, and everyday for a little while I play. I’m slowly learning for myself.

Imagine this: you’re in 7th grade, you hear weird chucking noises behind you, you turn around and see a scrawny boy solving a rubik’s cube- something you’ve never seen in your life. Instantly intrigued, you go over to watch him with all the other kids. Now, he allows everyone an attempt to solve it, except he leaves you out, you can’t figure out why. So, you go home and order one yourself to prove that girls can do it too, after the regular cube you order more complex ones. Eventually, you dominate rubik’s cubes, solving 12 sided ones in under 4 minutes, having competitions at lunchtime with the kid and winning. Rubik’s cubes are the one thing that makes me look smart, and playing with them (even if it’s to fidget) is one of the best feelings.

Yes, here is yet another slide about music. Surprise: It’s my biggest coping mechanism. Here are my favorite albums of all-time. These albums hold true meaning behind them for me. I think every music geek has an album they’ve listened to that sparked it up for them. These were mine, these were the albums that made me realize I was in love with music. When I listened to these albums, I realized that I not only wanted to learn about music, but its history, the artists, the meaning, I loved to learn it all.

This image has no specific deep meaning behind it, Brisk Iced Tea is just my favorite drink of all time. I have a can everyday, I drink it more than water, and if you were to slice me open I’d be half water- half Brisk. The way Jesus should have been. I like to identify myself as Brisk Iced Tea’s commercialized love child.

Last, but the most important, is my Spotify account. I know if no one got me, my playlists do. It helps me discover new music, music from the past, music from the present, bad music, sad music, anything you can reach for – Spotify has. And on a good day, if you look in the right places, you can find a song that changes your life.