Stuck in Our Heads - Vol. 15 - June 2008

This past week or so has turned Our Nation's Capital in to the battleground for an epic struggle between the seasons. The campaign has brought an unpredictable but intoxicating mix of bright, crisp mornings and sweaty evenings punctuated by the occasional violent cloudburst. I've been pleased to find each turn of weather brings its own delights.

The vernal mornings have permitted me to recreate Sunday mornings on my front porch back at 1164 with Kind of Blue dancing on the freshening breeze coming in off Cheasapeake Bay. (This pleasant association set, as it is, in my backyard has momentarily cooled the conflict between the sparrows and me.) The steamy nights have taken me back to sweating through my July flannels at a sidewalk table outside the Paper Moon Cafe where the coffee flowed like wine. The cloudbursts...well, the cloudbursts and their attendant tornado warnings have given me a more plausible than usual excuse to seek shelter in basement bars for hours and hours at a time.

With such an aggressive display of transition before me, it finally occurred to me to do some spring cleaning this weekend. The state of cleanliness in my world is defined almost exclusively by the condition of the desk in my bedroom. It follows a cycle along these lines:
1 - I experience my semi-annual to annual cleaning frenzy and restore my desk to smart-looking and functional condition.
2 - After a month or so of dedicated maintenance, I leave one day's worth of unopened mail on my desk.
3 - I add to that a magazine I intend to read fully, as soon as I get one of the replica Sunday mornings described above.
4 - I add to that a book I will read as soon as I finish this one.
5 - I add to that the half-ton of change that has somehow accumulated in my pocket.
6 - Sediment continues to accumulate until there is no longer room on the desk to use my computer.
7 - I move my computer to the living room.
8 - I continue to pile shit on my desk until I begin to use the chair as a holding tank for shit that falls off the desk.
9 - I bemoan the deplorable state of my desk. (This usually lasts for about a month.)
10 - Repeat.

This past weekend, I started a new cycle, but it wasn't just any cleaning frenzy. No, sir. I didn't just sort and organize the shit piled on my desk. I also sorted through two shelves and a milk crate full of shit relegated at some point in the ill-defined past to a growing pile of Shit I'll Sort Out Someday. Lest you think said pile consisted only of shit I have cleared off my desk in the past couple of years in my current residence, I should note at the heart of this larger pile was a smaller pile of Shit I'll Sort Out Someday that I actually moved with me from my previous residence (and, likely, a residence or two before that).

That's right. I not only kept a crateful of daily detritus in my room but carried it with me from room to room, from state to state, from year to year. (The receipt from a Nashville ATM dated 8/24/02? Wow.)

It's okay. Let it sink in. Has the initial disbelief and horror subsided? Good. Now, ask the question, "Paul, what of this monstrosity of pack-rattage? Now that you have introduced this notion to me, I will not be able to sleep at night until I know where it is! Give me the rest of the story, you heartless bastard!"

Now there's really no need for namecalling. Calm down. Go get some water. Better now? Okay. In answer to your question, the Shit I'll Sort Out Someday was sorted out.

You can breathe easy again.


Title - Artist

A Wet Dream - Kip Addotta
The Heart of the Matter - India Arie
Black Tornado - DanBern
Tide Is High - Blondie
Blue Canoe - Blue Mountain
Virginia Reel Around the Fountain - Built to Spill
Bubbly - Colbie Caillat
Lovefool - The Cardigans
Viva la Vida - Coldplay
To Live is to Fly - Cowboy Junkies
Zombie - The Cranberries
See You Again - Miley Cyrus
Damaged - Danity Kane
#41 - Dave Matthews Band
What chu Blingin' to da Party - DC Juicy
American Boy - Estelle feat. Kanye West
We Care A Lot - Faith No More
Frankie's Gun - The Felice Brothers
Labels or Love - Fergie
I Feel Better - Frightened Rabbit
Waiting Room - Fugazi
Go Cubs Go - Steve Goodman
Elevate Myself - Grandaddy
Tennessee Jed - Strand Lyceum, May 23, 1972 - Grateful Dead
No Pussy Blues - Grinderman
I Believe in Love - Indigo Girls
Laid - James
Volunteers - Jefferson Airplane
I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
If I Ain't Got You - Alicia Keys
Superwoman - Alicia Keys
Dejalo - Rilo Kiley
Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston
Ain't Going Anywhere Soon - Kleenex Girl Wonder
I Cut Myself in Half - Kleenex Girl Wonder
Feels Like Home - Chantal Kreviazuk
Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
The Loco-Motion - Little Eva
Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins
4 Minutes - Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake and Timabaland
Mandy - Barry Manilow
Ik Ben Mega Mindy - Mega Mindy
Blame It on the Rain - Milli Vanilli
Where Eagles Dare - The Misfits
Make it Mine - Jason Mraz
Big Poppa - Notorious B.I.G.
Last Day of Our Acquaintance - Sinead O'Connor
I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
Fortune Teller - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
The Coffee Song - Ralph's World
I Don't Feel Like Dancin' - Scissor Sisters
Angel - Shaggy and Rayvon
The Girl You Lost to Cocaine - Sia
Fidelity - Regina Spektor
Rock Your Body - Justin Timberlake
Long Nights - Eddie Vedder
Born to Love You - Ty Webb
Waiting for Somebody - Paul Westerberg
The Promise - When in Rome
Yo Yo Bye Bye - Why?
FreeCreditReport.com jingle
I Dream of Jeannie theme
Lead On, O King Eternal