My love for early 2000s music and internet culture runs deep. But this era means so much more to me than another shallow aesthetic taken out of context, or passing trend. I was a very sheltered kid growing up, and went to a school that was almost an hour away from where I lived, so I spent about two hours each day on a rainy bus ride from Olympia to Tacoma and back again, listening to my beloved CDs, and eventually mp3s when that format took over. I felt like an outsider from my classmates because of the distance, and an outsider to my local community because of my school. Music was my constant companion that didn't depend on any physical location -- I could put on headphones anytime and immediately be transported to wherever I wanted to go.