:: anne in the attic ::

Create Your Own Countdown

:: Friday, June 27, 2003 ::

For years, I've entertained ideas of "conceptual" music compilations. At any given time, I usually have four or five "in the works." New music is usually added to my active listening repertoire at such a rate that I can conceive of several different mood-altering or situation-appropriate CD's, usually for my own enjoyment, but sometimes for others, as well. To boot, I usually link visuals to these ideas in the form of album covers, if I have time. (The next step is, of course, to create music videos. I have already thrown together some slide shows with inter-frame effects, but these programs are limiting in creative segues, twists, stops, etc.) Anyway, I was ruminating upon my latest CD themes (e.g. etheral Brit pop, sort of.... like Radiohead, Phaser, Travis, Turin Brakes), and the usual visuals began playing in my head. And suddenly I felt saturated by predictable turns, the CD's where you always know what's coming next. It awakened in me a hunger for the good old radio, where you can't tell what's in the DJ's head, and you (usually) never know what's coming next. Well, a partial solution to this is to convert all of your CD players into mp3 players as well, record 200 songs per CD (instead of the usual 15 to 20), and hit the "random play" button. Viola... instant 8-hour radio station, but with only the songs YOU want to hear, sort of DMX-style. Yeah, okay, I'm probably not gonna go out and convert everything any time soon, but I do plan to make my next car stereo mp3-compatible. By then, typical CD's will probably be capable of storing gigabytes (like DVD's) instead of megabytes, and one CD/DVD filled with mp3's can last a person for days. Yeah - road trip.

:: Anne 9:05 PM [smartass remarks] ::
...

Kind of a hectic two weeks, it has been. Softball games, a friend's birthday, my brother's trips back and forth to Portland (and his house in chaos). After working 58 hours last week, I had only Sunday off to try to do all of the chores that have been waiting for me, including some serious yard work. I need a tree trimmer -- badly. I also need to do a lot of clearing of growth around the house itself. Well, anyway, Sunday was full of chores, mostly outdoors. All of that despite severe allergies this season -- thank the universe, Claritin-D is now over-the-counter. It doesn't completely squelch the symptoms, though, but its side effects are basically nil, so it's my drug of choice.

My brother is moving to Portland with his girlfriend, and I will be taking his cat, Joey. I'm pretty sure Joey and Sam will get along, as they're both eight-year-old spayed females, fairly socialized and mellowed with age. And now I will have two female kitties with butch names. And it will once again be strange not to be able to go hang out with my brother as the urge strikes. When I lived in Massachusetts, I used to have dreams about having coffee with my brother -- it was one of the things I sorely missed, being 3000 miles away. I wonder if the dreams will start again. Well, this time, I'll be only an hour and a half away (about 100 miles), so day trips are not out of the question, along with an occasional overnighter. It might be fun to get up to the big city now and then. He's getting pretty excited about his new neighborhood, all trendy-urban, with espresso places at every corner, exotic foods, other city people with dogs, and the basic proximity of everything within walking distance. He'll hang on to his house here (and rent it out), as a safety net for a while, in case things don't work out.

I've decided I must get serious about renting out a room in my house. It's the best way to ensure that I can squirrel away the money for a downpayment on this place (or another, who knows?) when I decide it's time to buy. I have a target amount that will make my mortgage payment reasonable. Actually, with mortgage rates as low as they are, I'm feeling the pressure of the market to get on it. So I will again begin the arduous process of taking calls from random strangers to find someone who is a suitable fit. For a year now, I've enjoyed the luxury of living here myself, walking about in my underwear, leaving the dishes if I chose, playing music at all hours, belching and farting as I pleased. Well, it was an expensive luxury, but I think I needed it after the crowded house I'd suffered for the two years before that. But also, the downstairs room sits completely empty -- a total waste of space. I'll run the ad next week.

But the greatest thing that happened this week is that the long-awaited Radiohead album was finally released. It definitely requires effort from the listener, but it is good ol' Thom Yorke, and will join my collection smoothly, like an old friend.

:: Anne 8:43 AM [smartass remarks] ::
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