3 on Thursday
Songs, stories, and things worth noticing. Every Thursday.
Thursday, September 3, 2026 · 3 min read · revised from the archives
This week’s newsletter is made possible by Nicole Rubis, a longtime supporter and music teacher at Rocky Top Middle School in Thornton, Colorado. A few years ago, Nicole invited me to speak with her seventh-grade Music Explorations class about careers in music.
So this week, a little extra love to young people curious about making music—and to teachers like Nicole who help them see all the different ways they might find a place in it.
Thank you, Nicole.
1. THE STORY
When I was in high school, I worked at a Taco Bell Express inside a gas station. It was on the far wall, and our customers included everyone from the Sunday church crowd to shift workers at the snowmobile factory.
One of my coworkers was a middle-aged man named Jim. He was average height and thin, with a brown mustache and glasses. A single dad of three kids, serving late-night burritos was just one of his several jobs.
The thing about Jim was that he was always whistling. Not particularly well, either. And no tunes I ever recognized. I think he made them up, but I’m not even sure he was conscious he was whistling.
At first it seemed like he whistled because he was happy. After all, have you ever seen anyone whistle while they were mad? It rubbed off on me. I felt myself being a little lighter on my feet, washing dishes in the back or squirting guacamole out of a squeeze-gun dispenser. But thinking about it later in life, I realized Jim’s whistling probably helped him get through the day.
Years down the road, I’d find myself doing lots of jobs I didn’t love. Delivering flyers door to door for a carpet-cleaning business. Sweeping construction sites or shoveling rock for a landscape company. I’d remember my old coworker and start whistling or humming to myself.
To my surprise, it really helped.
You might be thinking, Well, yeah, it’s the old “whistle while you work” idea from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
But it’s not just that whistling can distract you from the work, like singing does for Snow White while she cleans the dwarfs’ cottage. It’s that action can actually change your mood. Mood can follow action instead of vice versa. Whistling can make sprinkling lettuce and cheese over a tortilla kind of fun.
Have you ever heard of James Gills? He’s in his nineties now, but earlier in life he completed six Double Iron triathlons. That’s swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112, and running 26.2—then doing it all again twenty-four hours later. He did that six times!
When author Jon Gordon asked him how he managed it, Gills said, “I have learned to talk to myself instead of listening to myself.”
If you’re Snow White scrubbing floors, you can sing. If you’re James Gills running a marathon, you can talk to yourself. And if you’re a forty-year-old Jim working at a Taco Bell Express inside a gas station, you can whistle. Unfortunately, I’m still trying to figure out what librarians can do.
Love,
Aaron
2. LISTEN
All ten tracks from the upcoming album are still in the Listening Room. If you haven’t listened through yet—or want to revisit one—you can hear them here. Listen here →
3. NOTICE
What’s one of your least favorite jobs you’ve had—and who or what made it bearable, or even fun?
Support
For more than twenty years, I’ve been able to keep making songs, stories, records, and other things because of people like you. If something I make adds a bit of good to your life, you can help keep this whole thing going.
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