Making a Mix Pt.1
From December 23, 2008:
The last few days, I’ve been preparing for my trip home. Sure, I know what you’re thinking, “well Thom, you were just home for thanksgiving less than a month ago. Shouldn’t you already be prepared?” This is true, I should be prepared already, but going home for Christmas is different. It isn’t like the short jaunts you have in between, during the year, it is nearly 2 full weeks of vacation. There’s so much more going on, so much more to plan for, and so much more time to mentally prepare for. It is almost like moving away for a few days. On top of that, it is the holidays, and there’s so many more consequences and places that your mind can wander to in these situations.
This year, I got a head start on my year end mix cd. In years past, I’ve prepared some of it before but never sent it out until after I got back. My usual excuse was that I was going to listen to all kinds of stuff the last two weeks and that might throw off my final track listing. I’ve decided against that this year though. The last two weeks of the year, I’m not sitting at home with enough free time to delve deep into new music and old. The last two weeks of the year, I’m out and about, usually home for the holidays, trying to squish in every last drop of time I have at home with friends and family as I can. It isn’t time for me to significantly change a list that took the other 50 weeks of the year to produce.
Selfishly, the other reason is that I don’t want to have to send out all the cds. That is time consuming, and as a Christmas present, it is so much better to get it before the 1st of the year; otherwise it feels just like any old thing.
That’s just it though, I feel like this exercise is all the more useful this way. I’m preparing mentally for the holidays and all that comes with it, but making this track listing is just another step in that process. I feel like I’m remembering a lot of things that happen, that I’ve tried to forget. Also, I’m remembering a lot of things I’ve wanted to remember, but let slip by.
I haven’t always done it this way, but I’ve been trying harder and harder to have my mix follow a bit of a chronological order. It isn’t perfect. I make some concessions to keep the pacing of it from grinding too much, but it feel like this helps me put everything that’s happened to me in perspective. The end of the year, the holidays, my birthday, these all fall in the same month, and it makes reflection all the more precarious.
The last few days, I’ve been preparing for my trip home. Sure, I know what you’re thinking, “well Thom, you were just home for thanksgiving less than a month ago. Shouldn’t you already be prepared?” This is true, I should be prepared already, but going home for Christmas is different. It isn’t like the short jaunts you have in between, during the year, it is nearly 2 full weeks of vacation. There’s so much more going on, so much more to plan for, and so much more time to mentally prepare for. It is almost like moving away for a few days. On top of that, it is the holidays, and there’s so many more consequences and places that your mind can wander to in these situations.
This year, I got a head start on my year end mix cd. In years past, I’ve prepared some of it before but never sent it out until after I got back. My usual excuse was that I was going to listen to all kinds of stuff the last two weeks and that might throw off my final track listing. I’ve decided against that this year though. The last two weeks of the year, I’m not sitting at home with enough free time to delve deep into new music and old. The last two weeks of the year, I’m out and about, usually home for the holidays, trying to squish in every last drop of time I have at home with friends and family as I can. It isn’t time for me to significantly change a list that took the other 50 weeks of the year to produce.
Selfishly, the other reason is that I don’t want to have to send out all the cds. That is time consuming, and as a Christmas present, it is so much better to get it before the 1st of the year; otherwise it feels just like any old thing.
That’s just it though, I feel like this exercise is all the more useful this way. I’m preparing mentally for the holidays and all that comes with it, but making this track listing is just another step in that process. I feel like I’m remembering a lot of things that happen, that I’ve tried to forget. Also, I’m remembering a lot of things I’ve wanted to remember, but let slip by.
I haven’t always done it this way, but I’ve been trying harder and harder to have my mix follow a bit of a chronological order. It isn’t perfect. I make some concessions to keep the pacing of it from grinding too much, but it feel like this helps me put everything that’s happened to me in perspective. The end of the year, the holidays, my birthday, these all fall in the same month, and it makes reflection all the more precarious.