Conspicuous Consumerism

I have way too many CDs.

Well, really I don't. But I do. But I don't.

I generally feel my CD collection is pitiful. Just pitiful. I have no Nepalese music in the stacks, for instance. Buddhist monks and Catholic monks chanting (2 separate disks, natch), folk music from Uganda, the Wisconsin Badger Marching Band, and the Minnesota Orchestra's recent recording of Beethoven 1, but nothing from Nepal. This may seem silly to most folks but it came back to haunt me at work today when I got caught a bit flat footed knowing nothing about music from Nepal. Long story.

(http://www.ccoder-usa.org/, if you must know)

Anyway, that was fairly fresh in my mind when in a fit of work avoidance this evening I decided to put my CDs in some semblance of order. Hence the "too many CDs!" "not enough CDs!" plaint. In the too many category: What a storage nightmare. Not enough shelf space so things are jammed in every which way and I can't see what I have. I ran across at least two CDs that I'd totally forgotten I own. They're sorted loosely by category, but with lack of space I can't do much more than that. ABC order might be even too anal for me, but I'm getting to that point.

But yet. No music from Nepal. One lousy CD from Australia. One! Only one CD of Japanese music as well, and it's orchestral - no folk music. I still don't own U2 Joshua Tree or Beatles Sergeant Pepper, which is a travesty. I mean, really.

CD thoughts remind me of a stand partner from long ago. Professional ensemble, but this was a young kid with much to learn. Much. OK, middle of rehearsal, swear to God:

"I have 200 CDs."

Really? Wow. Amazing. Now:

KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT DURING REHEARSAL, FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU, TWELVE?!?

He was annoying in many ways, but I really coulda smacked him after that one.

Freakin' phone was out much of yesterday which also meant no internet; drat you Qwest.

Random thing that has nothing to do with the previous (two) rant(s): My loud upstairs neighbors reached a new low today. Beautiful out there this evening (i.e. up above 60) so I opened my patio door to let in sun and air and let the cats smell smells and see sights.

Problem is, the neighbors thought the same way. They sent their two elephants disguised as small children out to their deck just above mine to go play. Lovely.

SQUEEEE! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM SQUEEEEEEEEE! BOOM BOOM SQUEEEEEEEE!

Oh. My. God. Cats were looking at me like the world was going to come crashing in on us at any time and I was fairly certain they were right. The "BOOM BOOM BOOM" noise was familiar to me as that's the soundtrack to my life on a regular basis - I think they may be interior designers as they're continually doing something that sounds like moving furniture - but the "SQUEEEE!" is usually more muffled.

Almost makes me wish for cold weather again... but not quite...