Awkward Beginnings

I've been writing songs since the day I received my first guitar. I was always fascinated with music, always wanted to be able to play music. Since the moment I got my first guitar I couldn't put it down. It was May of 1995, the month I graduated from high school. I wrote constantly. I spent most of my life at that point in the basement. I would record into this old RCA boom box through its built-in microphone. I must have fifty cassette tapes in a box in the garage. A couple of years later, I moved to the four track. I've probably got 100 hours of old songs and song ideas on tape. I blush to admit some part of me always wondered whether those tapes would one day become valuable, like the love letters that Keats wrote to Fanny Brawne. Moreover, I recorded to hear myself. Perhaps that's narcissistic, too--like looking in the mirror, or better yet, like looking in the mirror so that others will look and see you. The writer writes for others to read; the performer performs for others to witness. We all seek a measure of approval and want notice to be taken. I intend to share some of these old tapes with you in the coming days, to post an audio timeline of sorts. It is as much for me as it is for you. How can I argue otherwise?