Once in awhile I try to do grown-up things, like cleaning out a CD cabinet and arranging its contents. But it got so complicated and took me 3 days. Despite my love for music, I only have about 150 CDs because it’s all downloaded now. So really the task should’ve taken only a few hours.
EXCEPT – that I got bogged down trying to make sense of the alphabetizing system. For example, Stevie Wonder and Steve Winwood clearly would be near each other, whether I organized them by first or last name. But what about The Steve Miller Band? He’s definitely under “S”; not under “B”, but could he possibly be under “M”? Which now makes me wonder why is it that at Target or Best Buy, sometimes CDs are under the performer’s last name and sometimes not?
Or how about Spyro Gyra? I know it’s under “S” because it’s a band. BUT – what if a person was named Spyro Gyra? Then not only would I snicker, but would I file it under “G”?
So I decided to stick with whatever the first letter of the person/band/group name is. And then I didn’t know what to do with “The”. Such as one of my favorites – “The Ray Conniff Singers” (don’t judge me).
Well, then it got worse. My “extremely mild” OCD took over and it just didn’t feel right that certain artists were standing next to each other on my shelves. For example: Avril Lavigne and Bach? Followed by Baha “who let the dogs out” Men, and Barry Manilow (of whom I’m a Fanilow).
It’s like a poorly planned cocktail party in my cupboard. What could these folks, standing among each other, possibly have to say to one another? Or this set-up:
A pair of Eminems sandwiched by Ella Fitzgerald and Englebert Humperdinck. I think Em would get a really long lecture about his language.
This last one, on both sides of Louis Armstrong, I’m pretty sure the country boys and Luda would all feel totally honored to be in such close proximity to the legend. And Louis would be all cool with it and not be like, “Man, what are they doing here at this party?”
After I stopped agonizing over the genres being all mixed up, I realized that music brings people of all backgrounds together and my CD cabinet is now in full harmony with the musical universe.
WAIT! – there was one unbelievably out of place guest on my shelf:
And yet, I couldn’t bear to throw it out.
8 kids playing along so far ↓
1 ReformingGeek
// Apr 18, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Whoa! That sounds like way too much work!
Sit down. Take a breath and eat a piece of cheesecake.
2 marissa
// Apr 18, 2010 at 8:05 pm
ReformingGeek: Way too much work. Pass me some cheesecake!
3 otin
// Apr 19, 2010 at 4:42 am
I have never alphabetized anything in my entire life! LOL I just throw everything into a box and go from there.
It is nice to see you around. I am slowing it down a bit, myself.
4 Old School
// Apr 19, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Nice work!
I’ll admit that I still have my Milli Vanilli too.
I’ll also admit to having two Ray Conniff Christmas albums that are holiday staples for me.
I still own lots of my CDs even though anything I really want has long since been downloaded into my iTunes. They are alphabetical by shelf, but each shelf is a different type of music, with the bottom shelf being any leftover styles that did not warrant an entire shelf to themselves.
Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I went to those shelves myself. Good stuff though! Thanks for sharing.
5 marissa
// Apr 19, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Otin: I look in on your blog regularly. You have way too many fans, LOL! I’ll be depressed if you slow down, but I’ll totally understand.
I’m going to blog once a week from now on (it’s good to set outrageous goals, right?)
Old School: Yay! You have Milli Vanilli too? AND Ray Conniff? See, I just knew I wasn’t alone. Wait – did you say “albums”? Whew, that IS old school!
That’s so cool that you organized your CDs by types of music. That’s how I felt like I should do it, but then I agonized over whether something was really “rock” or whatever genre.
I like your “leftover” shelf. I have one where all my “Various Artists” CDs sit.
6 Rowing Sculls
// Apr 23, 2010 at 6:18 am
Hahaha.. this post was truly funny. I have often tried to sort my CD collection too. Currently it has generic names like Pop, Rock, Hip Hop and the CDs are grouped together only according to the preference I give them
7 marissa
// Apr 23, 2010 at 10:52 am
Rowing Sculls: It can drive one batty. I should’ve done what Otin does and thrown them all in a box and called it a day. Thanks for stopping by!
8 TV Show Theme Songs at the Tip of My Tongue | WhaHappen? // Apr 24, 2010 at 8:15 pm
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