If ever there was a chance I could conceal my nerdy obsession with organization, I ruined it today. I can't tell you how many hours I spent cataloging the list I keep of the inspirational songs, so that I can have an easier time referencing them. Yes, I said it, I burned hours of good gardening time this morning, putting the running list of the songs I put at the top of each post, into alphabetical order by artist. Alphabetical by song will be tomorrow. But since there are over 370 on the list already, and it's only going to keep growing, this is the best chance I have to avoid repeating myself. Unfortunately, I learned early on that I already did repeat myself, far sooner than I imagined. I was starting to feel so cocky too, thinking I'd made it a year without a duplication. But there it was, staring me in the face--two listings for Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. Almost ironic, that my disappointment was because of that song.
I know most people would have considered this cataloging exercise to be torture. I couldn't have been happier myself. I enjoyed deciding that it would indeed be listed as "Lady Gaga" rather than "Gaga, Lady," yet it was definitely "Glitter, Gary." I looked it up to be sure that "Reverend Horton Heat" is the band name, not the man, thus no "Heat, Rev. Horton." I have learned that I used far more Beatles songs that I realized, and far fewer Marillion, which surprised me. I wasn't surprised at all to see how often The Who turned up on the list. Ten times actually sounds like a small total for my favorite band. I can probably count on one hand the number of times the songs I chose were throwaways. I really do consider them an intrinsic part of each post, the soundtrack that should be rolling through your head while you read. There are nights I don't start writing until the late news is almost over, because I have a topic and no song. There are professionals who get paid the big bucks to select well-known songs to accompany movies (I'm thinking of you, Nick Angel), so why shouldn't I take this part of my format just as seriously?
I was born to this level of nerdiness. I couldn't shake it if I tried. Back in seventh grade, I was the flute player who organized the music in her folder in alphabetical order, and the eighth graders who picked on me (first and third chair to my second) would rearrange it just to watch me freak out. In tenth grade, I started a hand-written list of every band I could think of, and two of the best songs they released. I enlisted help from my friends, and I think a few of them enjoyed the thought exercise. I remember the boy I had the hugest crush on that year read over it, and was horrified that I had chosen the follow up single to Twilight Zone for Golden Earring, rather than Radar Love, which at the time I didn't remember was their song. This craziness has only increased as I have aged. My dear friend was over here a few weeks ago, and when we mentioned how much we each love the movie Amadeus, I told her to pop in it in to play while I cooked for us. I told her to find the musicals genre, and it would be in chronological order. She looked at me like I'd grown a second head, when I explained how I'd cataloged my DVDs. It's probably a good thing I didn't need her to help me retrieve anything in the kitchen...
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