Reflecting on address

I've finally gotten through the official paperwork transition to living in the city. After 10 months in my apartment, I switched driver's licenses today.

Registered to vote too.

And got the title of the car figured out. (I'd already changed the plates.)

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My old place didn't have an address.

I looked at the map the UPS guy had in his truck. My trailer wasn't there. It's the same map the emergency services used, so I made up an address based on the neighbors'. Put it on the fridge in case we needed it.

Honestly, I don't even remember the street.

But driver's licenses require a street address. The PO box won't do. "Ummm....I live in teacher housing?" I offered when asked. So my official address for those years was Tchr Hsing.

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Today I got asked if I wanted to include my apartment number on my new license.

I didn't. Figured it was safer not to. The lady checking me through agreed.

When I said I lived in teacher housing, it was with the confidence that people would be able to find me in town. Just find the school security guard. It's not that hard.

Even with the street address given, I still feel more hidden here.

Best Playlist Ever? Perhaps...

It's not that I don't like making mix playlists. The screenshot isn't even half of my handbuilt ones.

Lots of variety for various moods. But not so good when I want a mix. And the shuffle is never quite the right mix. I have different mixes of smart playlists that I go to sometimes, but, nothing that I was loving.

And then a Lifehacker genius shared a system of playlists to randomly play music based on a combination of how much you love the song and when it was last played, and, well, I'm liking this.

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I'm going to tell you how I adapted it. So either follow the link above first or stop reading now.

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My biggest tweak was setting my initial playlist to exclude songs that had been played 0 times. I have a bunch of SXSW songs that I haven't heard yet. I like doing listening/rating/trashing marathons with those. Don't want them sneaking into random mixes, so they're banned.

Unlike the original poster, I've ranked songs in iTunes for years. Different threshholds for different artists. I might prefer a 2 star Jars of Clay song to a SXSW song with 4 stars. But Jars songs have to be rated so that my favorite songs show up on top when I'm in Jars mood. And SXSW songs that don't get at least 4 stars get deleted.

Related, I have lots of kiddy music that gets top rankings, so my initial playlist was overtaken by songs that I like, but don't want to hear every week. But there's a playlist called "kids." Woah. Kick that out of the 4 and 5 star unplayed music lists. Still shows up, but it's a trickle, not a flood.

Love is Lentils

That summer I'd cook my weekend dinner
Boil the water
Pour in the pebbly beans
Run outside, across the bridge, to the camp kitchen's garden
Grab a handful of herbs to add to the pot
Melt a section of frozen spinach and
Thaw out a piece of pita bread
Drain, transfer from pot to bowl
Top with feta cheese and scoop some hummus on the side
Slip out the back door, leaving sandals by the edge of the creek
Step in the cold water finding the best rock to recline
Listen to the sounds of home

It's not a recipe my parents made
But it's comfort just the same

Unpacking continues the purge

Note to self.

Do not give jewelry boxes as presents.

Unless they're requested.



And especially,



Not heart-shaped ones.

(Thank you Anna, and Jesse's sister, and whoever the other one was from. No offense to you. We were younger then.)