paper graffiti

It’s been hard lately, folks. I’ve had a lot going on, but I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, the home office is coming along, I’ve got to have a long talk with my doctor about how not having headaches every day may not be worth the price of drug-induced nail-biting anxiety, and the fact that I write and manage projects for a living always has to take precedence over my own writing.

Today I was in a horrible mood. I’m not really sure why; again, it could have been drug-induced moodiness (I find it unfair that a drug I take for chronic pain that is ANTI-anxiety and PRO-calming could make me a cracked out freak) or just the fact that I wished I was working in the comfort of my apartment with my sweet kitties keeping me company. It could have been the fact that a bunch of someones flaked out on something important that I needed for a project. It could have been the fact that it was only Tuesday, and I want it to be Friday. But I was not just moody–I was flat out SURLY.

When I get in a mood like that in the office, I find it best to retreat behind the comfort of my High Fidelity-worthy giant headphones and block out the environment so that I can focus better. Today I fired up the My Neighbourhood radio station on my last.fm account, and suddenly I was more myself again.

I have been a last.fm user for the last three years, but I’d stopped using it awhile ago when a playlist got stuck playing on my laptop one long weekend and totally screwed up my play counts. I could have gone in manually and fixed it, but that was too much of a pain in the ass. So, recently I set it all back to zero and started fresh. I’ve been scrobbling the tunes I play on my iPod during my 30-45 minute commute each way, and I’ve rediscovered their radio stations.

One of the cool features on last.fm is the tagging feature–you can tag a song you’re listening to with anything that you like. When the song is playing, you can see what other people have tagged it with. I haven’t gone so far to tag all the songs in my played library yet, but I have started tagging songs that I like but do not have “toget” so that I can go back and remember who to search for in the iTunes Store or at Good Records.

Music has always been a balm to my soul–it sounds cheesy, but music is a big part of who I am, and it grounds me. My husband is the same way and it’s one of the biggest things we bonded about when we first started dating. Let’s put it this way–he always leaves the house with his iPod, but doesn’t always make it out of the house with his cell phone! (That will all change when we both get iPhone 2.0 in August, of course!) I know that as I get back to writing for myself again, iTunes and my iPod will be keeping me company.

In the meantime, check out my recently listened tracks in the sidebar of this blog, or click below to listen to My Neighbourhood radio. To see more about what I’m grooving to these days, you can visit my last.fm profile for some serious track stats.

What are you listening to these days?

Word Counts - Today: 0 | June: 0 | 2008: 4,473

I had a thoroughly enjoyable and tiring 3-day weekend, which was the capstone on a very hard, tiring week. I am glad to put that behind me and plan to keep forging ahead.  We did a lot of IKEA shopping, which turned into a lot of cleaning and putting together new furniture. We also did a lot of socializing–there was Indiana Jones, there was Mario Kart, there was cooking out on our new tiny charcoal grill, and there wasn’t much sleeping. I will admit I wasn’t looking forward to starting real life again, but I am glad to be one step closer to another weekend!

1. Rilo Kiley - Smoke Detector
2. St. Vincent - What Me Worry
3. Kate Nash - Foundations
4. Peter Bjorn and John - Let’s Call It Off
5. Emma Pollock - This Rope’s Getting Tighter
6. Goldfrapp - Some People
7. PJ Harvey - Piano
8. Nickel Creek - Scotch and Chocolate
9. The Shins - Gone for Good
10. Patty Griffin - Top of the World

Tonight there will be yet more socializing, as we’re having a friend over for dinner. I am hoping to also get a little cleaning and organizing done in our office (since it has all new awesome furniture!!) and do some writing to boot. I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!

Word Counts - Today: 0 | May: 4,473 | 2008: 4,473

I’ve been doing some writing for my Twitter friend Daniel’s great site, Culture Feast. He has two of my music reviews up with more to come. Culture Feast is full of really interesting articles on things like film, TV, politics, music, and books written by a handful of very talented bloggers, so be sure to check it out! Leave some comment love for Daniel and the team while you’re there.

Review - Counting Crows, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings

Review - The Breeders, Mountain Battles

My friend Ronnie is many things.  He’s incredibly funny, a great blogger, a good husband and father, and a wonderful musician.  I met Ronnie on my third date with Shawn, when he was playing a show at the now-defunct original Barley House.  I was incredibly nervous to meet some of Shawn’s friends, but I didn’t really need to worry.  The group made me feel at ease immediately (thanks el mol) and I connected with Ronnie over our mutual love of music.  We grew to be friends through the songwriting circle at church, and he truly encouraged me and inspired me as a musician.  I also met Evan through the songwriting circle, and I felt guilty even trying to make music in the same room as he was.  He is an amazing guitarist and songwriter.  I respect and admire both Ronnie and Evan a lot, and I don’t get to hear from either one of them as much as I would like to these days.

That’s why I’m really excited to go hear them play at Opening Bell this Saturday, April 5.  The show starts at 8 and promises to be a good time.  If you want to hear some great music, feel free to join me!  I’ll be the girl in the back cheering really loud…and I might be dressed up, since I’m coming straight from a dear friend’s wedding.  So be sure to tell me how pretty I look!

Word Counts - Today: 0 | April: 0 | 2008: 0