Okay

I worked very intensely for what, granted, was a short time, and got most of the trash and recyclables together, cleaned out the fridge, and that was enough for now. (I am ashamed to admit just how much stuff was built up. Let's just say it's a good thing that I have a small granny cart; the one from the fridge is very heavy, for example. My kitchen bags are pretty small, and I don't have them full to bursting, but I've got six of them in the kitchen full of trash and another four of recyclables. That's unusual--usually there's more of the latter. Some of that trash is packaging from the speaker, which is bulky, as well freezer and refrigerated containers, which can't be recycled at our centre (if they're coated for cold, basically)). I still have some mail to go through in the dining room and a little in the bedroom (mostly receipts from my pockets), but that is something for later when I work on those rooms. I have to be over at a friend's house at 8 or 8:30 in the morning to help him with something important, so I may turn in for now, take the trash and recyclables out at first light, and maybe work a bit more then. I got quite a bit finished in a short time, so if I really work for say, an hour, there may be some better progress in the morning. I'll try to get up at 5 am with the hope of getting up at 6. :) Ah, de-hoarding is a good thing. I'm usually pretty decent for awhile if I'm spending much time at home, but when I go for days on end coming home late, I tend to just throw stuff on the loveseat or dining room table, or wherever, in bags, etc.

And I need to get some stuff out of here, because I have a couple of boxes in the trunk of my car full of my friends' old audio tapes. We cleaned out their shed last weekend, and it's been cool enough here that I haven't really had to worry about them in the car, but it's warmer this weekend and I need the room for grocery shopping. Since the point of my having the tapes is to check them for damage and see if they play (I have a couple of boom boxes with tape players, and they don't).

Listening to

'John Riley' by Joan Baez

Several years ago I was partly laid off and as a result, was evicted from my apartment at the time.  During that stressful time, I abandoned my record collection, justifying it because I did not have any way to listen to the vinyl at the time. These included albums of my parents from the 1960s and my own coming of age in the 80s. YKWIA advised me against it, but I ignored very good advice, and if course came to regret it.

So it made me happy to find an audio tape I'd made of Joan Baez' Ballad Book album, one of the lost ones. Not too long ago I bought a CD boom box that still of all things had a tape player, because I wanted to listen to my old tapes. It also had an auxiliary so I can plug in my phone. So I get the best of both worlds.

I was very fortunate to see Baez in concert a couple of years ago, with great third row seats, and I enjoyed every bit of the show. But it's nice to have this as well.  It's nice as an accompaniment to reading as well.

So I'm listening to some tapes from my youth

(there was a reason why I bought a boom box with a radio/CD player that also played tapes and had an auxiliary connection for my phone). My old player was trying to eat the tapes, and the CDs were sometimes an issue, too. I'm listening to Kate Bush's The Whole Story. My favourite song is 'Experiment IV', although there are several other great songs on the album.



Lyrics:

We were working secretly
For the military.
Our experiment in sound,
Was nearly ready to begin.
We only know in theory
What we are doing:
Music made for pleasure,
Music made to thrill.
It was music we were making here until

They told us
All they wanted
Was a sound that could kill someone
From a distance.
So we go ahead,
And the meters are over in the red.
It's a mistake in the making.

From the painful cry of mothers,
To the terrifying scream,
We recorded it and put it into our machine.

But they told us
All they wanted
Was a sound that could kill someone
From a distance.
So we go ahead,
And the meters are over in the red.
It's a mistake in the making.

It could feel like falling in love.
It could feel so bad.
But it could feel so good.
It could sing you to sleep.

But that dream is your enemy.

We won't be there to be blamed.
We won't be there to snitch.
I just pray that someone there
Can hit the switch.

But they told us
All they wanted
Was a sound that could kill someone
From a distance.
So we go ahead,
And the meters are over in the red.
It's a mistake we've made.

Hmm hmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm.
And the public are warned to stay off.

The video is very good, and the whole thing reminds me of something out of our Call of Cthulhu game.