Reasons…

It’s too easy for me to stay plugged into technology. I know some folks don’t have broadband cable or DSL at home, but we do. This week, it’s been too easy for me to come home to an empty apartment and flip on the TV and switch on my powerbook. I don’t like listening to the silence echoing through the empty rooms.

So, I manage to keep my mind cluttered with more websites and sitcoms after an eight hour day in from my dual flat screens at work, listening to the police scanner and checking out the three TV screens every now and then. It doesn’t sound healthy, does it?

When Mark was here, it was easy to drag him away from his laptop and hang out on the couch with only the radio to accompany our after-work play-by-play.

After I got home last night, I left messages on a few people’s voice mail and flipped on our Christmas Tree lights and KJHK on the radio. I curled up with some Joan Didion and proceeded to tune rest of the world.

It felt awesome. I re-read the last few pages of her essay on Haight and Asbury during the 60’s, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem.” In one the last few graphs, she paints a picture of a 5-year-old girl in “High Kindergarden.” She found the little girl was on an acid trip. It’s a fascinating essay.

“Remember what it was to be me: that is always the point.”
(“On Keeping A Notebook” by Joan Didion)

Yeah, I have several notebooks I use for keeping track of To Do lists, phone numbers, addresses and observations about the world around me. I try to keep my work notebooks separated from my music notebooks and my personal journals….but sometimes I just need a blank sheet of paper to jot down a quote, number or something that I don’t want to forget. I love this quote by Didion, ’cause I think it’s true for anybody who writes in journals, blogs and/or notebooks.

It’s not too cold outsite. It started snowing this morning. I dreaded driving in that weather to get gas and to work out. But as I wiped off the snow from my car, I got that sweet pleasure of being outside during the first snowfall. It was gentle and it looked beautiful. I didn’t have ice drops forming inside my nostrils, so I could enjoy being surrounded by snowflakes.

While driving around Topeka this morning, I had some great tunes to accompany that whimsical groove I got from watching the snow fall. I came up with a list of awesome songs to listen to when you’re driving through snowfall.

1. Postal Service, “Such Great Heights”: When I walked to class in Chicago, I had this track playing on my Dell Jukebox. It has this great tinkling vibe and at times, it almost seemed like those synth-y keyboard notes synched up with the snowfall.

2. They Might Be Giants, “Ang Ng”: I digged the bob-your-head chorus line…I always tell Mark it sounds like cats would bop around to that refrain.

3. Caribou, “Yeti”: It has a great carnival-like sound.

4. Four Tet, “Smile Around the Face”: It sounds like chipmunks are doing the vocals.

5. Death Cab for Cutie, “I Will Follow You into the Dark”: A pretty acoustic tune with beautiful lyrics. It leaves a wistfulness in your soul.