One Abnormal Girl

Expect more mundane things from this blog, because I feel like using it more now, for example to express how much I want the new phone that I can order in 10 days. Blackberry, it’s been fun, but Android is named after one of my favorite things and it wants to be my friend.

I’m also moving my fic back to Livejournal, because though it took me a long time to face it, fanfiction is a Livejournal thing. So all that will be on arcapelago.  That will free up this journal for blathering.  Blather.

Now that I feel I covered the important things, I can move on to how much my music collection upsets me.  I like the music in it, but I hate how difficult it is to put together a playlist.  I want songs that are similar to each other to be easy to find, but tagging things by genre really isn’t enough.  (I can’t put things in genre categories anyway, so trying to organize my collection is like a dog trying to sort laundry.)  If I liked a narrower range of music, it wouldn’t be so hard.  Or maybe if I studied music theory, it would be more clear.  But more and more I feel like I need to sort music by mood because I don’t care if a Josh Groban song starts mingling with Linkin Park as long as the mood is the same.  But that can’t take the place of genre entirely–uugh.

Anybody with a similar neurosis find a solution to this problem?  I just need some categories that I can stick to–that all of my current collection can be sorted into without my having to wonder if something is Rock or Alternative.  UGH.  Back to theorizing.

So I’ve been using foobar2000 as my music player for about two weeks now. After months of agonizing–yes, agonizing–over what to do about my regrettable dependence on iTunes, I finally mapped out what I’d need to do to break myself out of it and still be listening to my music collection the same day. I detailed the steps and predicted difficulties out on paper while I was supposed to be studying for the GRE, of course. (Does anybody else avoid stress this way?)

I was originally using this foobear skin, which was really the skin that enticed me into foobar to begin with, but I didn’t like that it didn’t have a lyrics panel. (For anyone unfamiliar with foobar, the base player offers customization up the @$$, and of course, offers a lyrics panel if you install that plugin. When you start installing certain all-controlling skins, though, you lose some of that customization, and are restricted to what the skin is built to show you.) So I moved on to this one (but with the “compact” option), and I’ve been pretty pleased so far.

I think I’ve got it to the point now where anything I got from iTunes, I get from foobar, and, of course, much more. Here’s a rundown of everything I have installed on it and what it does. It’s as much a list for me as for–well, for just me, unless you too are interested in foobar, but need assurance about leaving the other players behind. (more…)

It feels like I’ve been working all day, and yet I didn’t get so much done.  I did however conquer a few tasks on my list, of both “have to do this” and “want to do this” types.

•  Sent OSU recommendation forms to my recommending professors after a long and un-victorious fight with my black ink cartridge.  A new cartridge will print about 10 pages of text before it mysteriously prints nothing at all, or just a few streaks here and there.  A soft cleaning does nothing, and the printer doesn’t report an ink shortage.  Its inconsistent behavior leads me to believe it’s not the cartridge drying out, but a driver, or some other piece of the hardware.   But that makes less sense when you consider that it prints fine when you replace the cartridge.  I’d just rather not have to pay $15 for 10 pages of text.
• E-mailed about 10 professors at other schools to beg  ask them if they’d work with me if I were admitted.  Not looking forward to those responses; should have done this at the beginning of the process rather than somewhere in the middle.
• Took my music out of the iTunes library, set up a sync between music on my harddrive and music on my external drive for backup purposes (and so I can play it from the desktop or laptop), and added it all to foobar instead.  Feeling somewhat crippled now but mostly freer.

Using this flavor of foobar.

Now I can watch some Dexter, actually eat something for the day, and get some sleep before I have to accost my mail man for what happened to the mail I didn’t feel like bringing in for a few days.

The other night I was poking around for some new Evan and Jaron, and it turns out they’re about 6 weeks into a 52-week project where they release one new track every Sunday for a year. Looks like some of the first ones were free for a bit, but they’re now 95 cents per track, which I really don’t mind, as I know most of the money is going directly to them. (Not to mention the note where they encourage fans to get the tracks from a friend if they can’t afford them, which just makes me want to buy them all the more.)

Crazy for This Girl is still one of my most favorite songs in the history of ever, but I love them for all sorts of other reasons, too. For one, they’re identical twins, and they sure are pretty. Two, they just make honest music. They don’t sound like they’re trying to ride on a gimmick just to appeal to the greater American public. Even their more melancholy songs avoid being emo. I feel like I’m actually listening to them, not their label. I also just like the sound of their voices. They’re nice-guy voices? Likable, lovable. And their songs are very catchy.

Furthermore, they’ve somehow merged in my head with the Winchesters, I guess because they too are brothers, and the twins kind of look like Sam–other than that, I got nothin’. (It’s an especially difficult comparison to resist when they sing lyrics like

I see a shadow, it’s getting closer / I’m barely breathing, who touched my shoulder / Look in the mirror, but I don’t see me, just the writing on the wall behind me [...] I see monsters, screaming in my head / they’re underneath my bed / I’ve had enough, they’re out to get me )

Anyway, I’m really excited for the tracks they’ll be putting out over the next year. :D They’ve been taking on some non-musical projects (including hosting some show I’ve never seen?), so I’m happy to see they haven’t moved on from their music entirely. Fans for rockstars are normal, but fans for screenwriters are a little weird. I’d rather fangirl them from the safety of rockstardom.

So much love. <3