Blowing Off Dust
For the two minute drive from this fine night's destination and the Suite, I hastily picked a playlist from the top of my serpentine and poorly organized collection: "''''''''''problems"
I remember, vaguely, making this playlist. While certain friends of mine are very sparse with their playlist making, paring everything down into ten (or so) playlists that fit certain moods or themes, I have a rather more unorganized method which operates under a certain set of rules :
1. Never delete any playlist that has more than a single song in it. The reasons for this are both positive and negative; negative in that, given that a "playlist" occupies maybe 16kb of space on your computer, your music library should always overshadow your playlists in terms of volume occupied and, given that, there is no practical reason not to keep everything; positive in that, any grouping of two or more songs could, and should, have a significance which is worth holding onto.
2. Playlist names should be minimally descriptive, or, less is more. If you care enough about the playlists you make, you should be able to remember which one fits a given mood, as necessary. When people are forced to navigate my ipod, they instinctually go to the playlists, at which point they become baffled by my nomenclature. Who, but me, could know the difference between "''''''''''Sigrid" and "''''''Falleika", or "!!!!!!!!!ack". I know the difference, and that's all that matters.
3. Things that do not belong in an existing playlist, deserve a new playlist. This one is pretty simple.
My reasons rhyme. Order = chaos. Bless it all, it works. Just not for anybody but me.
I feel a little delirious, actually. The reason I started writing is, the only playlists I've made all semester have been those for my radio show. So jumping, without warning or preceding thought, into something as old and weighty as "''''''''''problems" may not have been my smartest move. The list seems to be a compilation of all my best morbid songs. Of course, these aren't really morbid songs if you listen to them; I've just buried them in morbid connotations. "Canary", "Hands Away", "Glass Vase Cello Case", "Dramamine", "Wise Up". It's fucking with me.
I feel like some ghost of myself is whispering to me in the darkness. What's worse is this feeling of darkness, as my room light is on and burning high.
I haven't had the heart to eat dinner recently. My new year's resolution was to cut down on my fast food intake, limiting myself to Chick-Fil-A. In the last few weeks, I've completely blown that resolution by realizing that I essentially eat fast-food when I eat on campus. I started making evening drives over to Jack In The Box and White Castle (same intersection, which would be convenient if I ever felt the simultaneous need for both, which I don't). It was only in the last few days that I lost the desire to do even that. It's all bad for me.
So dinnertime would come, and it would linger, as it does, from 5 to 10. And at various times in this stretch, I would feel hungry and not hungry intermittently. But for the last three days, I've come out of that stretch not having eaten anything. I made the even more difficult stretch from 10 to bed without eating, as well.
And I'm hungry, but my options disgust me. And there are other options, but the effort involved disgusts me just as much.
And now my ipod is reminding me of some of my most twisted and ''''''''''problematic times, and I'm hungry enough to eat it. And it's dry. And I'm still hungry.
-Alan
I remember, vaguely, making this playlist. While certain friends of mine are very sparse with their playlist making, paring everything down into ten (or so) playlists that fit certain moods or themes, I have a rather more unorganized method which operates under a certain set of rules :
1. Never delete any playlist that has more than a single song in it. The reasons for this are both positive and negative; negative in that, given that a "playlist" occupies maybe 16kb of space on your computer, your music library should always overshadow your playlists in terms of volume occupied and, given that, there is no practical reason not to keep everything; positive in that, any grouping of two or more songs could, and should, have a significance which is worth holding onto.
2. Playlist names should be minimally descriptive, or, less is more. If you care enough about the playlists you make, you should be able to remember which one fits a given mood, as necessary. When people are forced to navigate my ipod, they instinctually go to the playlists, at which point they become baffled by my nomenclature. Who, but me, could know the difference between "''''''''''Sigrid" and "''''''Falleika", or "!!!!!!!!!ack". I know the difference, and that's all that matters.
3. Things that do not belong in an existing playlist, deserve a new playlist. This one is pretty simple.
My reasons rhyme. Order = chaos. Bless it all, it works. Just not for anybody but me.
I feel a little delirious, actually. The reason I started writing is, the only playlists I've made all semester have been those for my radio show. So jumping, without warning or preceding thought, into something as old and weighty as "''''''''''problems" may not have been my smartest move. The list seems to be a compilation of all my best morbid songs. Of course, these aren't really morbid songs if you listen to them; I've just buried them in morbid connotations. "Canary", "Hands Away", "Glass Vase Cello Case", "Dramamine", "Wise Up". It's fucking with me.
I feel like some ghost of myself is whispering to me in the darkness. What's worse is this feeling of darkness, as my room light is on and burning high.
I haven't had the heart to eat dinner recently. My new year's resolution was to cut down on my fast food intake, limiting myself to Chick-Fil-A. In the last few weeks, I've completely blown that resolution by realizing that I essentially eat fast-food when I eat on campus. I started making evening drives over to Jack In The Box and White Castle (same intersection, which would be convenient if I ever felt the simultaneous need for both, which I don't). It was only in the last few days that I lost the desire to do even that. It's all bad for me.
So dinnertime would come, and it would linger, as it does, from 5 to 10. And at various times in this stretch, I would feel hungry and not hungry intermittently. But for the last three days, I've come out of that stretch not having eaten anything. I made the even more difficult stretch from 10 to bed without eating, as well.
And I'm hungry, but my options disgust me. And there are other options, but the effort involved disgusts me just as much.
And now my ipod is reminding me of some of my most twisted and ''''''''''problematic times, and I'm hungry enough to eat it. And it's dry. And I'm still hungry.
-Alan
posted by Alan Orlanski at 3:11 AM
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