I'm in Vienna. Let's talk about music.

I'm actually in Poland now and have written so much but won't overwhelm you with boredom all at once. Here's one. 

Interest in music is one of the few things that, as I've recently discovered, has remained or even increased. It's 2am and I have got to get this down. I have a question for all my fans out there. Sort of rhetorical, so I don't get disappointed with 0 comments..

Are you supposed to listen to music that corresponds to:

A) how you want to feel (i.e. exact opposite of how you presently feel)

B) how you presently feel

C) all of the above..?

Option (A) just never works and results in me turning it off for want of silence. 

Option (B) is the more favourable choice of course. In these cases I feel a lot better for the entire duration of the songs for all the minutes I'm listening. Though eventually you have to go back to the real world, be polite and turn it off, and then I am actually left feeling even worse because my (wrong?) thoughts  have almost been justified or "understood" (sorry, I can't think of a better word), like you're not the only one. But what good is feeling like that? So the negative thinking continues in a vicious cycle. It often keeps me at this non-transient state of being. Not "moving forward" (Julia Gillard voice). Ergo, not helpful.

It would work like drugs right? By going with the second option, the nice music would induce dopamine release and activate similar reward pathways that illicit drugs would exploit, and because of this reward, it's positively reinforced and you keep wanting more even though it may be bad for you to continue do so. 

(C) I just added for lols.

More options...

- Go for a middle line. Get a song that has melancholic lyrics but in a funky tune so you sort of get the best of both worlds? The other day I went to Haus der Music and sampled CDs of Mozart in various modern remixes (with mixed opinions..) so in this case, I'm thinking Goo Goo Dolls' Soldier lyrics played at Swedish House Mafia's techno fast style. Maybe just listen to The Cranberries' Zombie. Dare you to try and get that song out of your head within 48 hours of first listening.

- Oh or put a different song in each ear and see how well that fares? Says the half-deaf girl.

- Or suck it up and just take option A.

Is this question even worth asking/interesting? Kapische? Hah allow me to entertain myself a little longer.

New line of thought.

What if we applied it like Pavlovian conditioning? Like so,

1. Queue favourite melancholic songs and pair it with the experience of short physical pain like a small electric shock (if unavailable, a simple punch on left side of face will do. No not left, that's my good side).

2. Repeat with 106 songs of a similar genre or band so as to generalise the aversion and its not just an aversion to a specific song.

3. Et voila, you're bound to hate it. Hence will cause you to take option A.

4. Yuck, option A. Problem not solved and I got carried away. Initial premises are illogical and confusing at best. It was fun anyway. If I could just get it past the ethics board..

Oh or maybe try more pleasant positive reinforcement! Like give yourself a good reward for doing good instead of giving punishment for the bad (technically also "positive conditioning" if memory serves me well, but don't need to go into detail). Like the lipanzzer horses today at Spanish Riding School that received cubes of sugar each time they mastered a skill or trick. Hah idiot Rochelle, you are human not a horse, and you have an intellect and a will so use it. The horses' morning exercises were so beautiful to watch for the couple of hours anyway. Magnificent white horses of Europe's oldest breed prancing and dancing to the classical Viennese music of Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss. So light in foot. Horse ballet.

The chandeliers were pretty über cool too. Like if you stare at them for long periods of time and then blink repetitively at the blank white wall and the image magically transposes in green and red onto the wall to light it up and decorate it in swirly neon lines. Bit awkward when people catch you doing it though. Ya spastic.