Turn It Up!

My car has become the “everyday car.” That means things might be different when you get in, depending on the most-recent driver. We both keep the seat all the way back and the rear-view stays the same. If I put it Park last, the AC will be off and the parking break set, because Dad taught me to drive. But the biggest difference is sound. If Chris has been out by himself, a sports guy’ll be yelling in your ear. If I’ve been out by myself, the music’ll be blaring.

Notice: If you don’t care about My Life Trivia, just skip the remaining intro. paragraphs. and check out The Playlist. You’ll feel better.

One of the strangest ways Chris and I are different, I think, is our tolerance for different kinds of noise. I have a semi-low cap for recorded talking, especially commercials and radio. I ask Chris to turn down the TV almost every night. (Movies don’t count.) Seeing the talkers makes a difference too. I’m not a TV-in-the-background gal, but it’s on if I’m doing something and Chris is in the living room. I usually handle it, but not with The Simpsons. Despite my mother’s best efforts, I don’t hate The Simpsons at all. There’s just something about only hearing their voices.

I’ve got a time limit too. Three hours of talk radio in the car makes me nauseous. Three hours of TV (w/ commercials, DVDs & Apple TV don’t count) gives me a headache.

But so long as it’s not something I hate, I can take music as loud as you can give it. It can be on in the background. It can be in the foreground. It can be on all day. Chris has the music loud in his earphones, but only because he needs to drown Caelyn out. In the car, I turn it up; he turns it down. When he comes out for dinner, he turns down the music, then switches to TV.

For sure, on cleaning day, it’s gonna be loud . . . unless I’ve got help. If Chris pitches in, he’ll put on a movie, which I totally don’t get. Of course, he takes breaks and sits and watches. I don’t.

Well, guess what? It’s cleaning day. Tomorrow will bring the first of many visitors, including parents, siblings, nieces, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The chance that many of those will actually be in our apartment isn’t great, but cleaning’s still appropriate.

It’s also laundry day, which is way beyond “appropriate.”

You already know that I’m not fond of such days, but there’s one redeeming quality about them:

The Playlist

(I’d share a few mp3s and give this post a purpose, but I haven’t mastered that on the new blog yet. When I do, maybe I’ll update. Most of this stuff isn’t new, so you probably have it anyway.)

Sun Giant by Fleet Foxes

Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend

Dear Catastrophe Waitress by Belle & Sebastian

Ga, Ga, Ga, Ga, Ga by Spoon

Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? by Of Montreal

Fort Recovery by Centro-matic

Disc 2 (Mix)

I realize that tells you nothing, so:

1. “Voodoo Candle” by Jay Farrar (Sebastopol)
2. “Falling Away” by Preston School of Industry (All This Sounds Gas)
3. “Take the 5th” by Spoon (Girls Can Tell)
4. “Fall In a River” by Badly Drawn Boy (The Hour of Bewilderbeast)
5. “Decorated Equals” by Centro-matic (Distance and Clime)
6. “Simple Life” by The New Year (Newness Ends)
7. “A Good Flying Bird” by Guided By Voices (Alien Lanes)
8. “Shakin’ Sugar” by Edward Burch & Jay Bennett (The Palace at 4 a.m. Part I)
9. “Start Choppin’” by Dinosaur Jr. (Where You Been?)
10. “Everything Is Free” by Gillian Welch (Time — The Revelator)
11. “Difference” by Varnaline (Songs in a Northern Key)
12. “I’m Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman” by The White Stripes (White Blood Cells)
13. “Someday” by The Strokes (Is This It)
14. “Art Class (Song for Yayoi Kusama)” by Superchunk (Here’s to Shutting Up)
15. “2-Step” by Low (Secret Name)
16. “Philo Manitoba” by Will Johnson (Murder Of Tides)
17. “Lose My Head” by Damien Jurado (I Break Chairs)
    ***

God Don’t Make Junk Mixtape No. 3 mixed by Lex . . .

. . . and available to you for free right here. You should check it out. It may be my favorite GDMNJ mixtape so far.

(Lex, all those family members will be here for July 4th too and I’ll have to clean again, so if you felt like mixing something around then, I wouldn’t complain.)

And that’s it. Caelyn’s about to call it quits on this nap and I have to clean the bathroom. Crap. And think about dinner. I’m the worst at setting stuff out for dinner.
***

PS — I’ll try to jump back in here for comment responding and posting, but it’ll be busy, so please hang tight with me!