Today my father handed me a CD-R that ended up being this mix I had made for my mother right after she and my dad divorced my senior year of high school. I have no idea why it was at his apartment - I guess it shows the level of attachment she had to it - but here's the track listing of songs that, in 2004, I deemed "cheer up single woman" style. (The best part of the CD isn't the music, but rather, my handwriting in thin-tip Sharpie. It looks EPIC.)

1. Here Comes My Baby - Cat Stevens
2. Stuck In the Middle With You - Steeler's Wheel
3. Fit But You Know It - The Streets * this is a really weird choice
4. Friend of the Devil - Grateful Dead
5. Good Morning Starshine - Hair
6. Ruby Tuesday - The Rolling Stones
7. Things Are What You Make of Them - Bishop Allen * they were like my second-favorite band in high school
8. Flowers On the Wall - Startler Brothers * this is also a really weird choice
9. Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan * shouldn't have included this on a divorce mix
10. I Was Wrong - Badly Drawn Boy * shouldn't have included this on a divorce mix
11. Radio, Radio - Elvis Costello
12. A Hard Day's Night - The Beatles
13. It's Only Time - Magnetic Fields * shouldn't have included this on a divorce mix
14. Beautiful Boy - John Lennon * known to anyone who's, like, ever seen a movie as "Beautiful Cole," probably not appropriate for this mix
15. Box of Rain - Grateful Dead
16. Two of Us - The Beatles * shouldn't have included this on a divorce mix
17. Alison - Elvis Costello
18. Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys * shouldn't have been included
19. Ooh La La - Faces
20. Carrot Rope - * this was like my favorite song by my favorite band in high school and a totally selfish way to close a CD for my Grateful Dead-loving mother

All in all not a great mix but not a bad one; definitely better than the post-divorce mix I made for her that included the song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls, but still lacking in cohesion.

(Also of note: I love Kashi Vive, it's the best, and I finally got the nerve to vandalize a Funny People poster, look for it at the Graham L stop.)

oh no i just bit my nails off

But also - Caitlin wasn't bluffing about the existence of this song.

Best lead-in sentence I've read in a while:

"If you want to buy the new album by the Dave Matthews Band, 'Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King' (RCA), next month, you have some choices to make."

This album title is even worse than the Coldplay one. It's reverting to the seventies. Also, another music-related fact I learned from the Times today ... Marilyn Manson's brand of absinthe is called "Mansinthe."

Am about six years too late in realizing that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs totally "get" it/me. Point is, It's Blitz! leaked, will complete downloading in thirty-eight minutes, and they don't love you like I love you.

Am reading this now and the feeling I feel isn't even angst but something else entirely. "I was born too late, you were born too soon, but every time I look at that ugly moon, it reminds me of you."

Edit: Didn't take away the quote because "American Music" is a great jam, but the book got old about fifteen pages in. Angst eradicated, left only with tinges of jealousy. Am reading a book partially about the movie Showgirls instead. Found out Prince wrote the song Nomi and her male suitor dance to in the warehouse. My head exploded.