Panic on the streets of Birmingham

I pride myself on my skills of making mix CDs. I don't think I could make a comprehensive list of all the people I've made one for (including tapes, of course) over the years, but to date, my favorite is for my friend A. I have made her three over the course of our friendship, but the best one I made for her 35th birthday, remixed ever so slightly to be more for me:

1) Close (to the Edit) by Art of Noise
2) Lo Boob Oscillator by Stereolab
3) Redemption Song performed by Joe Strummer
4) Life in a Northern Town by Dream Academy
5) I Was In the House when the House Burned Down by Warren Zevon
6) Pepper by Butthole Surfers
7) Polyester Bride by Liz Phair
8) Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in my Hand by Primitive Radio Gods
9) When Yer 22 by Flaming Lips
10) Pink Moon performed by Walt Mink
11) Habanera from Carmen by Georges Bizet
12) Alabama Song performed by the Doors
13) In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry
14) Oh Carolina! by Shaggy
15) Salsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel
16) High and Dry by Radiohead
17) Question by the Old 97's
18) Atlantis by Donovan

Basically I replaced two songs, but it didn't interrupt the flow of the CD. I used to make myself a CD every year for my birthday, basically a collection of songs that I had been listening to for the last year, things I liked, things I thought were important at that time. Then I got a job working at Tower, and, well, there was just too much, and making double CD's for oneself seemed a little silly. I should get back into that habit, though, now that I'm all corporate again. Except, of course, that now that I've worked in a record store, I hate everything. Well, almost everything.

Anyways, I turned on my shuffle again this morning, and it hit on track two almost right away, so instead of posting the first 10 tracks or so, I thought I'd write about this CD.

Doesn't make much sense, does it?

I don't make much sense today. I got home yesterday with the insurmountable task of making my apartment look like I live like a pig. After all, I have an important guest this weekend and I'd like her to be comfortable in my apartment. The difficulty with my apartment is simple. I have lived there for 3 1/2 years. When I moved in, my roommate at the time owned, well, basically nothing. A bed, a desk, a small dresser, and a chair. Me, I had more than enough belongings to fill the rest of the space.

Fast forward to last spring, when said roommate closed on his condo and moved out. I had the option of staying in the place by myself, which I naturally could not practically afford, although I did for a painful ramen-eating month, or to find a new roommate. My best friend stepped up, got out of the apartment with a very bad roommate and moved in. The only problem? We both have enough furniture and belongings to fill my place.

I'm not trying to complain. I love living with J again. We are very symbiotic. She hates taking out the trash, I hate, as you well know, doing dishes. Solution? I take out the trash, she does the dishes. But we are so cluttered and on top of each other it looks a little silly. Efforts have been made to reduce the clutter, but with my crazy hectic lifestyle, I just don't have the time necessary to invest in such a project. Perhaps now that we're resetting the vacation time for a new calendar year, and providing that I don't get laid off, I should really consider spending the time.

Fuck it. I'm hiring a maid service. I'm too damn busy anyways. Enough about my skills as a DJ and my lack of skills as a housekeeper. I've got to keep awake this morning, and I'm doing a fairly shitty job of it. ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.