from Hidden Place to High Council Meeting

Day 653, Session 120:
When/Where: Thursday April 3rd - Running around the neighborhood, again.
First song: Hidden Place by Bjork
Last full song: High Council Meeting by John Williams
Progress: 1921-1926 of 5833
Total Songs Heard: 1536

Here is what I forgot about running (or really exercise in general:) the next day's soreness. It wasn't awful, but I did notice it any time I was going down stairs and by notice it, I mean I was saying "ow, ow, ow, ow, ow" every time stairs happened.

This run went faster, but it seemed harder. I covered the same distance in less time but the third running portion of my run walk alternating was aborted early. I realize I'm just starting out here, but I'm still waiting for the part where the actual running makes me feel good instead of shitty. I know the last entry said I was pleased with how things went, but I just meant I'm glad I didn't die, and I'm glad I didn't immediately notice a body part straining or breaking. As far as why someone would enjoy running... I still don't get it. I've heard about that thing called a runner's high but I'm pretty sure that's only for people that are going real distances for an extended period, so what is the point for short distance pavement pounders?

I also noticed today that when the running is harder, I hardly hear the music. I know 6 songs played while I was out today, but I hardly remember hearing them. It seems I heard both James Blunt's High and Travis' High As A Kite, so one of those seems like a good idea to apply to today. I'm just not sure if I'll find the high that runner's get, or if I may as well be high (as a kite) for even attempting this experiment. (I sure seem ready to give up quick, eh?)

High As A Kite - Travis

One more thing about this day. I realized as I was running that when I threw a date on this session it was going to be the 16th anniversary of this story. That was 16 years ago. I was 16 at the time. That officially took place half a lifetime ago. Fuck that makes me feel old. Older than sucking wind after a mile run/walk.

from Gold Dust Woman to Goodnight Rose

Day 584, Session 107:
When/Where: Friday January 25th - In the living room, conquering the Freezeflame galaxy.
First song: Gold Dust Woman by Sister Hazel
Last full song: Goodnight Rose by Ryan Adams
Progress: 1639-1671 of 5676 (one skipped repeat)
Total Songs Heard: 1331

First of all, Well Hello to everyone visiting the blog for the first time as a result of the recent blurb this blog received in Time Out Chicago. If you didn't see it and are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, check here.

If you're new here, I recommend the links over on the left for a taste of what it's usually like around here (which is to say light and mostly nonsensical.) The last post's sap is certainly not normal and this one is a bit mopey even for me.

We used to go to the (cleverly named) campus pub, The Pub, to see the few bands that would come to UD. The Pub really wasn't much of a student hang out. That might have had something to do with the fact that it was connected directly to the largest cafeteria on campus. It's hard to enjoy spending a lot of time in a place where the smell of Pier 17 baked cod hangs in the air. On the plus side The Pub was a decent place to get some underage drinking done. When there was live music, the lights would go down and it would be much harder to see the big black X on the back of your hand indicating that you shouldn't be drinking.

It was during one of these 3-beer drunk (I was a lightweight) nights that Hello Dave first came to town. They seemed to be the classic college band; perfectly happy playing small college 'bars,' going to parties afterward, and then packing the van and driving 5 hours to the next place. There's a part of me that would love that life. The whole getting to perform for a living thing, getting paid to entertain people, seeing different parts of the country. It just seems like it would be a fun and completely different from the 'corporate' life I've been a part of for the last 8 years.

On the other hand, that life is hard. Hello Dave is still together and over the next 2 months play a total of 11 gigs. They're playing in such exotic locations as Island Lake, Downers Grove (both Illinois,) and Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This isn't to put them down... they've been together at least 13 years. That's a successful run! But working at something for 13 years and to still be playing bars and clubs... wouldn't that eventually get old? Not to mention how hard it would be to potentially raise a family in a city like Chicago on musician money. I'm reasonably sure musician is not your only job at that point, and if you're working multiple jobs to make ends meet, then how fun can all that traveling be when you can't go to the after show party because you have to be up to work in the morning?

I guess what I'm saying is... I don't know what to do with my life. I love the idea of entertaining/performing for a living. But just getting to the point of being good enough at something to be able to do that is almost impossible since the spots are few and the people looking for those spots are endless. Then, even if you get your chance, that life is so hard... and I am so weak.

Anywho, that shouldn't take away from the fact that Hello Dave's song Golden is pretty great. In fact, it's a nice tonic for the mope-fest that I just spit out.

Golden - Hello Dave (song coming soon)

It's not often that I find a song so lousy that I feel no choice but to delete it, however, today I am willing to make an exception. So say goodnight Goodnight L.A. you've been erased. (See, performing is hard! You're Strangeways and you've recorded this song and it was good enough to be included in a Metal Ballads compilation and then years later this jerk with a blog says the song sucks so much that he had to delete it!)

Finally, we passed 1300 songs, so lets do some math:
1331 songs in 584 days = 2.28 songs per day (so slow...)
5676-1671 = 4005 tracks to go
Of 1671 tracks so far, 340 (1671-1331) have been skipped/podcasts/added later/whatever = 20.3% skipped
4005-(4005*20.3%) = approximately 3192 songs to go accounting for skipped tracks
3192 songs/2.28 songs a day = 1400 days to go (3.8 years)
Estimated date of project completion = October 2011

So yeah, looks like there's work to be done. The good news is after the prolonged slow period that was 2007, I think things will pick up significantly in 2008 and that estimated completion date will start to go down in the next 100 songs or so. It will also be hard for me to add many more songs seeing as how the Ipod is now approximately 97% full.

from Explanation to Ezekiel

Day 433, Session 89:
When/Where: Wednesday August 29th - Cursing the L for being too slow on the way home.
First song: Explanation by SNMNMNM
Last full song: Ezekiel 25-17 by Samuel L. Jackson
Progress: 1248-1255 of 5296
Total Songs Heard: 1022

The end of the E's comes not with a song, but with the clip of Jules Winnfield giving last rites to poor dumb Brett. Pulp Fiction was a phenomena of a movie for me. It was the last movie I've seen in a theater more than once. We actually saw Pulp Fiction in the theater 3 times. This actually said much more about the movie than you would think at first blush. (Is that even a phrase? Screw it, I'm keeping it.)

It was 1st semester freshman year of college and freshman weren't technically allowed to have cars on campus. The closest movie theater was out at the Dayton Mall which was a 25 minute bus ride from campus. Lucky for us, we were the type of freshmen who weren't getting into a lot of parties in the Ghetto (*cough* losers? *cough*) so we ended up on the bus (90 cents each way) out to the mall on multiple occasions the first few weeks of the year. It's strange for me to think back on it now and realize that I went with three different groups of people to see the movie, but I can't for the life of me think of who all those people were. At the time though it was a huge deal. Those first few weeks of school were so strange and I was so out of sorts... the fact that I had already made enough friends to go to see the movie three different times was somewhat of a relief.

If I had to guess, I would say that by the end of sophomore year I was only hanging out with one trip's worth of people. But by that time, that was ok. Routine had been established... that all important core group (the group I still talk to today) had been found. I didn't need to make a run with three different crowds.

These days that core group is scattered all over the place, but we're still in touch. The only problem is, I don't think I'm really friends with enough people here to justify taking 3 different trips. So I guess that's sad? I don't know. How many friends do you need as you get older? Hopefully not too many.

I have recently started taking the bus again. It's $2 a trip now.

from Evil vs. Good to Exotic Night

Day 431, Session 88:
When/Where: Monday August 27th - Struggling to stay awake on the train ride to work.
First song: Evil Vs. Good by Clem Snide
Last full song: Exotic Night by Martin Denny
Progress: 1241-1247 of 5301
Total Songs Heard: 1014

Is it a bad sign that while beginning to type this on Tuesday afternoon I was thinking that I had actually listened to these songs some time last week? In other words, the distance between Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon felt like between 3 & 5 days, instead of the 30 hours it actually was. Something inside my head isn't working correctly at the moment. Time, which usually has a pretty consistent feel, has been moving in fits and starts for the last few months.

I'm blaming this latest spell on the current state of general upheaval going on around me. The job upheaval is detailed below. The other upheaval is happening at home. We're currently remodeling our kitchen (ok, we aren't actively doing it, but we're paying people to do it for us,) which is another one of those so-very-adult-things-that-kind-of-blows-my-mind things. (Like when I mowed my own lawn for the first time about a month ago.) The fact that I'm very excited by the prospect of new cabinets is foreign to my usual outlook (unless those cabinets have built in video screens.)

Turns out, in order to remodel a kitchen, you have to take it all apart first. So right now our house looks something like this:
Kitchen cabinets: In the basement.
Kitchen floor and counter: In a dumpster in the alley.
Refrigerator, Oven, Dishes, Glasses and all other small appliances: In the living room.
Kitchen itself: Empty.

No wait, that's not quite right...
Toilet: In the kitchen. (Oh man do I hope I don't get up in the middle of the night to take a sleep walking trip to use the bathroom only to stop at the first toilet I see.)

It's a little disconcerting.

So anyway... what was the point to all this? Oh, yeah. Due to both work and home life being out of order, my head is messed up.

If my head were in a better place, this would be the part where I would tie everything into one of the songs I heard. Maybe later.

from Everything Old to Evil Genius

Day 424, Session 87:
When/Where: Monday August 20th - Fullerton to home.
First song: Everything Old Is New Again by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: Evil Genius by Jonathan Coulton
Progress: 1227-1233 of 5271
Total Songs Heard: 1007

Usually I try to fill this space with memories that are inspired by the songs that come along, more or less avoiding discussion of day to day life. This time however, the song titles are too applicable to resist.

The last couple of weeks at work have not been fun.

Everything Old Is New Again: I've been in the same position for 3 years now, doing pretty much the same job for the last 2 years or so. At least that was the case until recently. A couple of weeks ago I was offered another position in the same department, but here's the fun part, it would be a completely lateral move (no pay/title increase) to work with a product I know nothing about and have no interest in. So I politely declined. I wasn't really interested in making my old job new again.

Everything Right Is Wrong Again: A weekend went by and I pretty much forgot about the other position. Monday came and I got back to work on the things that I did. It's not the best job I've ever had, but it's the longest I've ever been employed at one place and that means something right? Or in song title form... there must be something "right" about the place to keep me there, no? Yeah, well, 4 days after turning down the lateral move to a position I wasn't really interested in I was told that I was being moved to that position anyway. Now I'm now business expert... but that would seem to be a very "wrong" way to go about things. Don't offer me the choice of whether or not to move if there's no choice actually involved. So ever since, a place that previously had felt right enough, now feels completely wrong.

Everything You Know Is Wrong: The two years of knowledge I had gathered in my previous position? All wrong for my new position. It's so different from what I was doing before that I might as well be a new hire.

Good times.

Although I usually don't post later on Fridays, I should be posting part 2 of the First 1000 mix later today.

from Easy to El Fin

Day 221, Session 79:
When/Where: Monday January 29th - In the air between Nashville and Chicago.
First song: Easy by Barenaked Ladies
Last full song: El Fin de la Infancia (Live KCRW 1996) by Cafe Tacuba
Progress: 1060-1075 of 4791
Total Songs Heard: 922

***Updated 7/6***

What happened to June? Apologies for the absence... a short vacation and work and the general feeling that I needed to pull my brain out of my skull and scrub it off have kept me away. And when I was so close to finally being caught up again... anywho, this doesn't really count as a post or anything, just wanted you to know I wasn't gone. More to come.
_______

Ok. Good riddance to you June. The topper to a real winner of a month? Flooding. 3-inches of water in our basement. Goodbye 2 mattresses, a bunch of books, a PS2, a box full of letters from college (ouch,) most of my Dayton radio career (double ouch,) probably a couch, and possibly a rug that we just dropped a good chunk of money on less than a year ago (not to mention the super thick carpet padding that made the carpet so awesome, but that ended up being around 350 pounds of soaking wet grossness.)

So yeah, June was shit.

The good news is, with this post. I am now officially caught up on everything. What does that mean? I haven't listened to any new music in order since January 29th. What have I been listening to in the meantime? Podcasts, lots of podcasts.

Allow me to recommend the following:
Slate's Explainer and Story of the Day podcasts
NPR's Story of the Day and Unger Report
The Onion Radio News
This American Life
and
The News from Lake Wobegon from A Prairie Home Companion (that's right, I recently turned 60)

So the next time I go a month without updating, try listening to some of those and reading this.

What's next? First, another vacation (hooray for the Jersey shore!) Then, the return of "regular" updates written the same day as the listening (what a novel idea!) And if we're reaching... the hope is to have a lot more actual music linked through the blog.

Thanks to everyone (all 5 of you) who kept stopping by during my absence. Things will fire up again around July 13th.

In the meantime, here is the final song heard during the first stage of this project. The title means "Childhood's End." Usually I'm against that sort of thing, but in this case (since I don't understand the words) the end of childhood sounds like a rollicking good time.

Cafe Tacuba - El Fin de la Infancia

Tuesday October 24th

Day 124, Session 47:
Location: The train, the desk, the first hour at work
First song: Change In Speak by De La Soul
Last full song: Chinese Baby by Clem Snide
Progress: 614-632 of 4508
Total Songs Heard: 546

Two different versions of Chicago by Sufjan Stevens was the big song of the day. Normally having two versions of the same song on the same cd would seem like a waste of time to me. Not in this case. The two songs are different enough that it's justified. Chicago...

I've been in Chicago for 5 and a half years now. I did not arrive in Chicago under the best of circumstances. I had been fired from a job I loved. I had been unemployed for 4 months. Chicago wasn't really on my radar of places to go next except for that one minor point... it's where the girl was. I spent 4 more months unemployed once I moved here, so while I was free for an entire summer in a great city, I was also broke which meant not a whole lot of actually being able to do anything. And nothing I did! I had a standing date with the television every day for 4 or 5 hours.

I tried to jump into the improv scene in town, but I found a few problems... 1) I had never done any improv before and there was no improv at UD so 2) I wasn't very good and 3) I wasn't very good at meeting new people. So while the folks I was in class with either had A) preexisting bonds from past improv experience or college, or B) were able to mesh by being good on stage together or at the very least C) had basic people skills, I didn't have any of those things. It left me feeling like an outsider among the group I was with. The only thing better than being an outsider among people you're hanging out with semi-regularly is paying (a lot) for the privilege (when you're already kind of broke.)

(I should note here for the record that as far as I remember, no one actively rejected me or anything. I just wasn't able to make it work. It's possible that people actually didn't like me, but no one ever said so to my face.)

To recap for the first few months in town I had no job, no new real friends and an expensive new hobby that I wasn't very good at.

Eventually I did get a job (which kind of sucked) and then another job (which didn't suck at first, but eventually, unless you're doing something you really love, all jobs suck.) Eventually I made some new friends, but still no one all that close. (Which raises the question of whether it's even possible to make new friends after a certain age.) Eventually I even became not terrible at the whole improv/theater thing. Luckily, the whole reason for moving here (the girl) worked out in the end.

But still... looking back, I'm pretty sure I still haven't gotten over the way I arrived and the first year in this city.

I'm not sure Chicago and I will ever feel good about each other, but now I'm stuck here. Married home owners can not just up and leave any time they feel like it.

So maybe Chicago and I need to reevaluate our relationship. Maybe it's time to (finally) move past the rough start.

I made a lot of mistakes in my mind, in my mind

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.

Monday September 25th

Day 95, Session 27:
Location: On the train and at my desk at work.
First song: Between Song Banter by Moxy Fruvous
Last full song: Bikers by Ben Folds Five
Progress: 379-397 of 4316
Total Songs Heard: 348

The wife and I recently became homeowners for the first time. In a development that I'm sure will shock anyone who has owned a place before, not everything has gone smoothly. Turns out our basement takes on water. Yep, takes on water through one of the walls despite the previous owner signing a document saying the basement had never taken on water, and an inspector looking at the walls of the house and saying "no water here." Seeing the water come flooding into our bathroom immediately filled me with two thoughts:

1) This is America, we'll sue! Surely between the previous owner and the inspection company someone should have been up front/noticed the whole water in the basement thing. Sadly, according to our lawyer, unless the cost of fixing the problem is huge, we're basically SOL and should chalk this up to the costs of being a home owner. Personally I think that is bullshit, but I don't have any sort of lawyerin' background, so we're kinda forced to take his word for it.
2) We abandon the house and move! Sure financially this is a horrible idea. I'm pretty sure we're still on the hook for the place even if we do abandon ship. One of today's songs however gave me an idea of where we could go. Before we do take this radical plan, I thought it would be best to come up with a list of pros and cons for moving to Big Rock Candy Mountain. (BRCM from here on out.)

One evening as the sun went down and the jungle fire was burning
Down the track came a hobo hiking and he said boys I'm not turning
I'm headin for a land that's far away beside the crystal fountains
So come with me we'll go and see the Big Rock Candy Mountains.

Con- "A land that's far away" - we live about a 6 hour drive from the parents now, it'd be nice to live a little closer to family. A land that's far away sounds farther away.
Pro- "beside the crystal fountains" - Crystal fountains sound nice, would probably raise local real estate values making eventual resale easier.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains there's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes and you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars are all empty and the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees
Where the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Pro- "land that's fair and bright" - Assuming they're talking about the weather, who could complain about fair and bright?
Pro/Con- "handouts grow on bushes" - Less panhandlers is good, but I'm not sure how the larger ramifications of a bush based economy would work.
Con- "you sleep out every night" - I like sleeping indoors.
Con- "the boxcars all are empty" - It sounds as though there may be bandits on the way to BRCM which are robbing the boxcars. May also indicate mafia presence in town. Either way, someone was waiting for what was supposed to be in those boxcars, now it's gone.
Pro- "and the sun shines everyday On the birds" - Again, sunshine is good, and who doesn't like birds.
Con- "and the bees" - I've long been an advocate of bee eradication. Bees in BRCM allows the eventuality that those bees will cross breed with Africanized Killer Bees. Nobody wants killer bees in their town.
Con- "and the cigarette trees" - Smoking is gross.
Pro- "Where the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings" I like singing bluebirds and, while I'm not a huge lemonade fan, who could argue with lemonade coming straight from springs? Unless you're worried about the potential soil instabilities that the root systems of an underground crop of lemon trees could cause, then this could be a Con.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains all the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs
The farmer's trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay
Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Con- "In the Big Rock Candy Mountains all the cops have wooden legs" - With the previously alluded to crime problems in BRCM and the surrounding area, I'd like able bodied cops around should problems arise.
Con- "And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs" - I've never had any problems with bulldogs so I see pulling and replacing their teeth to be unnecessarily cruel. Soft-boiled eggs? First of all yuck, I prefer fried or scrambled. Second, I'm assuming if the eggs come out pre-soft-boiled I wouldn't be able to use them in recipes. What if I want to bake brownies or make a cake?
Pro- "The farmer's trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay" Nothing wrong with either of these things.
Con Con Con- "Oh, I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow Where the rain don't fall and the wind don't blow" - What?? I was all for the general nice weather in BRCM, but this is going too far. I like the occasional rain, and I love a nice snowstorm every once in a while. I like my life with seasons. If I wanted warm and sunny every single day, I'd move to Arizona. I suppose the fact that the wind don't blow makes it very difficult for different weather fronts to move in.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you never change your socks
And the little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind
There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too
You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Con- "In the Big Rock Candy Mountains you never change your socks" - I'm all for being lazy about socks but after 3 or 4 days mine really start to stink. Mulitply my sock stink by the population of BRCM... ewwww.
Pro!- "And the little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocks" - Holy shit. Alcohol streams? The strongest pro-BRCM argument yet.
Pro/Con- "The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind" - Polite brakemen, good. Blind bulls near the railroad tracks, possibly bad for both train and bull.
Pro- "There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too" - When I was kid I didn't much like stew, but now I occasionally will indulge in stew. When I was a kid I liked whiskey. Now I love it and indulge as often as my liver will allow.
Con- "You can paddle all around 'em in a big canoe" - I don't think paddling a canoe through my dinner and after dinner drink is particularly sanitary.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in
There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks
I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Con- "In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in" - With the obvious crime problems in BRCM we'll need strong jails to keep the criminals in. Add in the quick and easy availability to alcohol and you'll also need some strong drunk tanks to allow folks to sleep it off. Tin jails serve neither of these purposes. These rampant crime issues should more than offset any property value bumps from the crystal fountains.
Pro- "There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks" - As long as they still have the internet, I'm ok with the lack of hand tools.
Con- "I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day" - Another sad wave at the fact that I'm getting older. Once upon a time sleeping all day seemed like a fine idea. Now, I want to spend as little time possible sleeping. There's too much playing to do to spend all day in bed.
Pro- "Where they hung the jerk that invented work" - Working is teh suck and interferes more with playing than sleep does. I'm all in favor of hanging the guy who invented it.

I'll see you all this coming fall in the Big Rock Candy Mountains

No, you won't. Upon further review, even with the current water in the basement problems, I believe I'm still better off staying in my current home. While it is tough to deny the BRCM pros of easy and easier access to alcohol, the cons of an unsustainable economic model as well as an apparent tolerance, even encouragement, of lawlessness make BRMC sound like a risky proposition for building a future.

Tuesday Septeber 12th - Afternoon

Day 82, Session 23:
Location: Wooo! Heading home!
First song: Barcelona by Rufus Wainwright
Last full song: Be My Yoko Ono by Barenaked Ladies
Progress: 304-345 of 4293
Total Songs Heard: 299

First... happy belated birthday to Mike out in California, who happens to be my most loyal reader (and only real commenter) so far. Punch a dolphin for me. And happy on time birthday to my sister. Hope you're famous soon.

Who'd have thunk that there'd be two different tunes about Barcelona and neither of them would be about the Olympics or the Whit Stillman movie.

In case you're wondering how I got through 42 tracks, but only heard 14 songs, I skipped a bunch of Barenaked Ladies podcasts they did while recording their most recent cd.

Heard Basket Case by Green Day. If there's another song that better brings to mind my first semester of college, I'm not quite sure what it would be. Fall of 1994 was a confusing time. I certainly never intended to end up at college in Ohio (state motto: "Starts with a hole, ends with a hole, pretty describes everything in between.") I grew up in suburban Philly, I took all honors classes and did a bunch of extracurriculars like all my friends, and yet they all ended up going to the elite east coast schools (Williams, Cornell, Georgetown to name a few) and I ended up at a C-level college in the middle of nowhere. (It should be noted that they all had much better grades than I did.) Somewhere along the way something went terribly wrong. Only my friend Zach ended up in the same boat, but a year later he was at Dartmouth and I was still in Ohio.

"Do you have the time, to listen to me whine? About nothing and everything all at once."

I never really caught up. My friends from high school have gone on to become doctors and nurses, engineers and lawyers, two of them are getting doctorates in things they love. What do I do? Like Max Belmont, I do nothing. I mean sure, I have a job, but it's nothing. I perform occasionally, but I'm not particularly good at it (not by comparison to the folks around here who perform, anyhow.) Of course, it doesn't really matter where you go to college. At least a few successful people have attended the same college I did. But ending up there was pretty much a defeat for me, which is why hearing this song brings back such conflicting feelings. Good memories because that first semester at college ended up being such a good time... bad memories cause how in the world did I end up there? (and by extension... here.)

Which isn't to say there's anything particularly wrong with my life now. Basket Case has simply inspired me to whine about everything... which of course means nothing... um, all at once.

Lest you be concerned about my perpetually negative mental state, let me share a few good things that my C-list college did net me... several good friends... a chance to play for a few years as a radio guy... an appreciation of all things beer and of course we can't forget... a pretty awesome wife. (I would have said that even if she hadn't brought home God of War for me this weekend.)

Wednesday June 28 - Afternoon

Day 6, Session 6:
Location: The afternoon at work and the train ride home.
First song: Adrian by Jewel
Last full song: Aftertaste by Ben Lee
Progress: 106-115 of 3962

Ugh. Ok, so Jewel is on my iPod. So? I happen to like folky sounding power pop-ish songs. Jewel happens to have recorded several of them. And... she has a really nice body. Why should that influence my music selection? I don't know... but it's probably not the first time I did something because someone had a nice body. Plus, in college, I thought having some Jewel in my music collection would make me appear more sensitive to the ladies... and ladies love the sensitive guys right? Of course I realize now that this isn't particularly true.

Joey and I had a radio show in college. One of my earliest memories of the show involved the playing of the Jewel song I'm Sensitive ("so am I! and you have a nice body, so let’s mess around!") The first time we played it we were horrified by the whiny little girl voice that we had suddenly put over the airwaves. The song Adrian is about 10000x worse... clawing at your ears bad. I will not be deleting it though. As long as the rest of the cd is on the iPod, I have to keep this song to maintain album integrity. I forced myself to listen to the whole thing as punishment for having it in the first place and felt really bad afterward.

A couple of songs later I felt good again when Afternoons and Coffeespoons by Crash Test Dummies played. This particular tune was always the closing song of the aforementioned radio show. Why? I don't know. I think it had something to do with the line about wearing pajamas in the daytime. Our show was from 5-8am, so most times the afternoon after the show was spent trying to catch up on sleep. The fact that we were usually exhausted by the time the show was ending is the excuse I use to explain the fact that I thought there was a line in the song that said, "Someday, I'll have a disappearing headlight."

Ummm, it's hairline, not headlight. You know, like going bald, not like driving around with one headlight out. (Although perhaps this misheard lyric would later inspire Jacob Dylan.) Mishearing the lyric wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't spend 3 months using it as my e-mail signature.