Monday September 25th - Evening (right before napping)

Day 95, Session 28:
Location: For the first few minutes of the ride home, before falling asleep.
First song: Billie Jean Medley by Moxy Fruvous
Last full song: Biminy by Hello Dave
Progress: 398-401 of 4316
Total Songs Heard: 352

Once again sacked out on the train on the way home. I only remember 4 tunes before the sweet sweet rocking of the train put me to sleep. From all the times I fall asleep on the train (you know, 2 so far) you may think that I have some sort of crazy sleep disorder. That's not the case at all. It's just that I desperately cling to the hours of the day when I'm not working. For me, work time is any time that I'm not free to do what I want. So yes, technically my work day runs from around 9:15a until around 5:45p. But in my mind, my work day begins the first time the alarm goes off in the morning and I'm fighting the battle of snooze (around 7:15a) until the moment I step off the train on the way home (usually around 6:20p.) The entire 11 hours and 5 minutes in between there is all devoted to getting myself ready to go to work, being at work, or getting home from work. 11 HOURS!!! Almost half my day. Leaving only 13 hours left for play. In order to maximize those hours I tend to stay up later than I should and get less sleep at night than I should. Even 6.5 hours of sleep a night (a good night for me,) cuts my play time in half. If sleeping for 20 minutes on the train (which is still technically part of the "work" part of the day and where all there is to do is read and sit and listen to music) gives me 20 more minutes play time from 1:00-1:20 AM at home (where I can be on the internet, play playstation, watch a movie and drink a beer... all at the same time!) then train sleeping is where it's at.

Seriously, think about that for a second:
24 hours in a day = 11 hours in "work" mode + 6.5 hours to sleep + 6.5 hours to play

And my work life isn't that bad. I could skim some time from the work hours by transferring some more to the sleep time in the morning. Plus I only have to work an 8.5 hour day and my job is tolerable. What about the people who hate their jobs or have a 3 hour commute or work 10 hour days?

No wonder so many people are unhappy most of the time. The people who are really happy are the ones that really enjoy their jobs and have a very short commute and don't need sleep.

In conclusion, lack of play time is fucking us all up! Play more! (Reading this counts as play unless you're at work.)

3 of the 4 songs I did hear today were Dayton related:
Billie Jean Medley is from a Moxy Fruvous concert at Canal St. in Dayton. A great night all around and one that I'm very lucky to have a recording of.

Biminy by Hello Dave was their most popular song when they would play at UD. Oddly enough they're a Chicago based band and I've seen them once or twice since I moved here, but it's never been quite as great as it was seeing them in college.

Billy & the Mystery Box is a song by Heywood Banks. Heywood is a touring comedic singer and a really nice guy. I met him several times during my Dayton radio days. I feel a little bad about having this song though. Apparently when I was cleaning out my desk at Z93 after getting fired, one of Heywood's cds ended up in my box of possessions. I always meant to take it back, but after the whole firing thing, I really didn't want to show my face around there again. Which was really too bad. Except for the peckerhead boss who fired me, I really liked almost everyone else who worked there, but after that morning I only spoke to one of them again (and I haven't heard from him in years.) My time at Z was the happiest I've ever been working, probably because being an on-air radio personality was a lot like playing all the time. I loved my job and my commute was short.

I still needed sleep though, so I guess it wasn't perfect.

Wednesday August 23rd

Day 62, Session 21:
Location: The beginning of a ride home from work
First song: Back O' Town Blues by Louis Armstrong
Last full song: Back to the Earth by Rusted Root
Progress: 298-300 of 4231
Total Songs Heard: 275

If I had been updating this thing as I was listening all along, there's no way I would have posted this next bit...

If you're super observant, you may have noticed that the total number of tracks on my iPod jumped from 3960 to 4231 between the last post and this one. You see, recently the wife and I moved into a new home. One of my jobs in the whole moving process was packing up all the media and entertainment stuff. All the DVDs, all the video game systems, most of the books... and all of the cds. Well of course, while I was packing cds, I had to double check to make sure they were all on my computer and it turns out almost 300 songs weren't. The thing is, I can't pack a cd until I've ripped it onto my hard drive. So, it took me 2 days just to pack all the cds.

Meanwhile, the wife cleaned the new place, painted two rooms there, and packed all the clothes and most of the kitchen.

Now that the move has been successfully completed (and I did end up pulling my fair share of the load,) I feel ok mentioning the fact that I took the time to load about 20 cds worth of music onto my computer when I should have been packing. I have the feeling however, that if I had mentioned this while we were trying to get packed... well, it probably wouldn't have gone over well.

You also may have noticed that I only managed to get through 3 songs this day. You see, I have this tendency to occasionally fall asleep on the train. And yes, I have slept right through my stop, once or twice riding all the way to the end of the line before waking up. There's something about a steady rocking that makes me sleepy. It's the same thing that makes me fall asleep on car trips as soon as I'm not driving. According to my parents, I've been this way all my life. As an baby, when they couldn't get me to fall asleep, they'd put me in the car and take a short drive. Or, if they didn't feel like going for a drive, they'd take my baby seat and place it on top of the washer while they were running a load of laundry.

In conclusion, today = me on top of the washer while listening to tunes.

Monday Morning Music

Day 4, Session 2:
Location: On the train on the way to work.
First song: #41 by Dave Matthews Band, the third and final song on my iPod in the #XX series from DMB
Last full song: 100 Years by Five For Fighting
Progress: 23-32 of 3962

Sadly for the songs that were heard this morning, their memory will forever be associated with the old woman who sat down next to me on the train. She must have got up this morning and decided today would be a good day to use her last half bottle of 'eau d'olde ladie'. If I inhale too deeply I can still smell it.

Favorite surprise tune of the morning: (Back Home Again In) Indiana by Louis Armstrong. Not that I'm surprised that a Louis Armstrong song was good, but it's from one of the cds that came from my wife's music library, so I don't think I had ever heard the song before.