Pure Genius: Behind the Music (In My Car)

[sisabet]

So - while my computer was down, I took most of my CDs and I alphabetized them. I did many out-of-character things while I had no computer, but this is possibly the strangest one of them all.

Not that I don't usually have a filing system worked out - it is just is one that I rarely base on the alphabet. See, in Kindergarten we did A Letter A Day. I loved it - it was great. I already knew my letters and had a slightly firm grasp on what they looked and sounded like, so I was free to gaze at the block pile during the lessons, and imagine what I would build during playtime. Until the day we hit the letter "J" - I was convinced the teacher had made it up. I swear to you now - until that day in early September 1980, I had never seen, heard or knew of the existence of the letter "J" despite having fairly good reception for the Bowling Green PBS station and a concordant addiction to Sesame Street. I also had that little chalkboard/magnetic letter box thing (remember - and didn't it come with stencils?) and there had never been ANY J in that. Big Bird had never mentioned J. I think I accused my teacher of making it up. To this day, I feel a bit flustered around "J" and my middle name starts with "J" and why didn't anyone tell me about this before I had to learn it in front of a bunch of strangers?

So, pardon me if I usually don't trust things that matter to me to something as tricky and hard to define as the alphabet.

But I alphabetized my CDs and conquered such thorny ideas as "Do you file according to salutation or name?" Is Dr. John a "D" or a "J"? Is Ms. Dynamite an "M" or a "D"? Lum helped me figure this out.

There was also difficulty with ...and you will know us by the trail of our dead" as I usually think of them as trail of our dead and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult as I tend to just call them Thrill Kill Kult or TKK cause, even in my brain, I am lazy.

But I persevered and all of my CDs were eventually shelved. And yesterday I realized that it is difficult riding in the car with me as I tend to have about 15-40 loose CDs in cases just floating around at all times. And I have to do this because I never know when something will hit me while I am driving and the inability to access the song when I need it is one of my current top ten fears coming just over having to snake my bathroom sink drain but well under spiders.

And since Lum will be the next long term passenger in my car, and will be stuck there for quite a long time, I decided to try to make it a bit more comfy.

So - I had a moment of inspiration and I took one of the big CD binders that I was using as a source book and flung Smallville Season 4 to the side along with downloaded eps of Barney Miller (??) and some other stuff I never labelled (????) and then! I took my CDs out of their cases and put them in this binder. NOW - I have not all of my CDs, but a goodly chunk - centrally located in a secure and easily accessed location.

I think this is an idea that might spread like wildfire!!

Comments

[luminosity]

Until the day we hit the letter "J" - I was convinced the teacher had made it up. I swear to you now - until that day in early September 1980, I had never seen, heard or knew of the existence of the letter "J"

OMIGOD! You lived in Heinlein's "Universe Without a J" (circa Number of the Beast). I've never met a native of that 'verse--or so I thought--but I've been hanging with one for three years now! Wow!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Lum I promise you - my mother taught me the alphabet song. I knew three variations on the ending, but there was NEVER any J. That day we were supposed to be on "K" and I knew this and I was prepared for "K"! I even had a list of words and I was really hoping we could get a good discussion going about kites as it was an abiding interest.

So, there are other people like me?

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

I totally get the J thing, as it took me months to admit to the existence of the letter W. My parents were not fooling me with that one--I could tell perfectly well that they'd just taken an M and turned it upside down.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

d,p,b, and q. All I am saying.

It is like they want our heads to explode.

[smashsc.livejournal.com]

I still have a hard time believing that M comes before N. I understand that it does in most people's minds but it is not logical. I argued with teachers about it until about 3rd grade before I grudgingly accepted it as the first sign that the world was mad. M is two Ns put together so N should be first. U & W have the good sense to follow reason but not M & N.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Your a brave woman to have coped with so much at an early age.

But this *does* kind of create an air of mistrust with everything that follows, doesn't it? Like - yes, okay eventually you accept that they are correct, but that doesn't make it right.

[piper47.livejournal.com]

I've never questioned the alphabet before. Huh.

I also don't remember learning the alphabet so this could be why.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

I've never questioned the alphabet before.

Well you should. You better believe it is questioning you.

[piper47.livejournal.com]

Now I'm afraid of the alphabet. It's judgeing me isn't it? I always knew the letter "Q" was out to get me. Look at it, staring at me, sizing me up. It doesn't think I'm worthy of it's pressence.

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

I had a friend who, from kidnergarten to second grade, thought "lmno" was one letter. I'm still not quite sure what she thought the symbol for it was, but you had better believe it was all one letter and we were just lying to her, trying to break it up into horrible alphabet-fragments.

Though really, you can't trust anything the muppets tell you, so who knows -- maybe she's right! I learned my Alphabet from Sesame Street. Sneaky muppets.

Linzee

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

Also, because I completely forgot about it -- can I get you to watch "High as Monkeys" sometime soon if I e-mail it to you? No big deal if you cannot (I have broken up with SV and ergo am not looking at Clark -- hush, pretty alien boy, go away) but I would be curious to hear your opinion on the finished draft.

Linzee

[celtiknot.livejournal.com]

For the longest time (of course, when you're 6, that's like 9 months)I thought u came after q in the alphabet....cause it always did everywhere else. It made sense.