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Day Twenty Three (Year Three)

So, I'm writing this in advance of the 16th, although I will schedule it to post then, if only because I'm not sure what challenges tomorrow will bring.  Friday will be tough as well, but I haven't missed a posting all year, and I don't plan on starting now.  What follows will be a jumble of thoughts on the last five years spent at B&N, not well organized, but still coherent enough to be turned into something more polished later on.

Thursday will be (with the exception of two days in the beginning of September) my last day in the music department at Barnes & Noble.  It's been an amazing five years, filled with highs and lows and crazy customer stories and lots of life changes.  My little corner of the music industry has been a personal rock in a time when the industry itself has undergone massive amounts of change.  While itunes wasn't brand new five years ago, it was certainly nowhere near as prevalent as it is today.

To say nothing of the life lessons I've learned in the last five years, I've also seen the redemptive power of music.  I've felt the high of discovering something new, I've shared that joy with others, I've bonded with strangers over rock & roll, and had those strangers turn into people I can't see my life without anymore.  I've seen vinyl come back (at least somewhat) from the dead, and come away clear in the knowledge that, while the world keeps writing the obituary for the CD, album sales have (at least somewhat) hung in there.  Talk to Adele about that.  Or Mumford & Sons.  Or Fun.

Everything about B&N, from the co-workers to the customers to the concerts has only served to enhance my appreciation for, and love of music.  And for that, I'm eternally grateful.

As I stated above, there's a lot more that needs to go into this, but my brain is starting to short out tonight.  Trust me when I say that I'll return to this to flesh out my thoughts, and by the end, it'll be a much longer essay.

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