Muxing Things Up a Bit

Credit goes to Mechberg, friend to children everywhere, for bringing Muxtape.com to my attention. Just the cassette imagery of the site is enough to give me nostalgia pangs for the good old days of making mixes on tapes!

For me, making mixes in college was frequently a procrastination technique, something to do when I really should have been doing something else. It was also often a chance to re-discover music I loved but hadn’t listened to in a while. That much still holds true, and the first song on my muxtape is from one of my all-time favorite albums, but I probably hadn’t listened to that song in years.

Also, making mixes back in the days of cassette tapes had complications that CD mix-making doesn’t have, like wanting to fill up each side of the tape as much as possible, without leaving too much dead space at the end, and while maintaining the flow and momentum of the songs. Oh, the agonizing decisions about what to include and what had to be cut! Looking back, I think these limitations somehow actually made the process more fun, since I had to think that much more about what I was doing. It certainly made the process more time-consuming, which was a definite plus. I feel sorry for college kids these days with nothing to do but drag the songs onto an iTunes playlist and hit Burn Disc. It takes no time at all! No thought! Where’s the art, the craft?!

Anyway, here's a little something I threw together. 12 songs isn't a whole lot to work with, but I had fun with it anyway. If you make one yourself, post the link for me to check out.

http://carolyn.muxtape.com/

The Waiting is the Hardest Part...

The week before last, I had a job interview for a technical writing position. The interview went swimmingly, and they called me in a few days later for a second interview, which also went quite well. I felt really comfortable with the people I met at the company, and although I've never had a burning passion to do technical writing or anything, it sure sounded like a nice change of pace after all the customer service work I've done for the past few years.

Over the course of last week, the job was just about all I could think about. (Well, that and how tired I am of being a boy, but that's such a constant that it hardly even seems worth mentioning.) I tried not to obsess about it, but in my mind I kept envisioning being offered the job, and not being offered the job. I think my brain deliberately tries to imagine possible disappointing outcomes for all sorts of situations as a defense mechanism, so that I'm more prepared for those outcomes if they come to pass, but I don't think this actually works, and I try not to do it. It's hard to stop, though. My brain has a mind of its own.

At the second interview, they'd told me that I'd find out on the following Friday if I got the job or not. This made for a very long week. I distracted myself some with reading, and watching a bit of The Wire, and playing some Burnout Paradise, but still, long week.

True to their word, on Friday, I got the call. "This was a really hard decision, you were a really strong candidate, but..." Indeed, despite my brain's attempts to prepare me for this possibility, I was pretty crushed.

But at the same time, at least the wait was over. And since then, I've found myself pouring my energy back into the job search with gusto. Many a resume and cover letter have been emailed. Of course, this is good, as I really need a job now. Things are starting to get a bit scary. I'm still hoping to find something that seems like an exciting opportunity, a nice change of pace, and some of the jobs I've applied for this weekend have fit that bill, but certainly not all of them. If need be, I can always take something along the lines of what I've been doing for the past few years and keep looking. Right now, I'm mostly just hoping to get something fast.

In other news, I wrote up a review of the NES game Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom, which hit the Wii's Virtual Console service last week. (Yes, my Virtual Console games are working again. Turns out the problem with my Wii was that I am an idiot.) I actually posted the review as a reader review at GameSpot. You can find it here. Here's the short version: Only five continues?! Are you fucking kidding me?! I plan to still write reviews of games from time to time, but I don't really know what to do with them. I may post them at GS and link to them in a blog post, as I'm doing here, but if you have any thoughts on what I should do with them, lemme know!

Finally, some good friends took me out on Saturday to see U23D. I'm a pretty big U2 fan, and although I don't think it's one of their best filmed performances--not like the ZOO TV concert from Sydney or the Elevation DVD from Boston--and although the novelty of having Bono get all up in my grill through the magic of 3D didn't really add much to the overall experience--I still really enjoyed seeing a U2 concert on the big screen. I sort of needed the soaring anthemic reassurance and passionate sense of determination only U2 can provide after Friday's disappointment.

I, I will begin again.