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In the spirit of xkcd, I have constructed a graph:

I’m supposed to be studying today. But I couldn’t get into it. My brain kept pulling cruel tricks on me. So in the end I started doing procrastination cleaning. And to accompany my cleaning? Some music! I should turn on my stereo every so often, after all. Ooh! And look! I have shelves full of CDs! Why don’t I put one on?

Hmm, the pillows! Bloody hell, when was the last time I listened to them?

I’ve been living on a musical diet of Triple J and whatever I can hear from my housemate’s bedroom lately. I haven’t had iTunes on in a while and even then I’ve kept it to the whole playlist, rather than the Japanese or pillows-specific playlists. Kyo-kun hasn’t even been charged in the last ….three months, maybe?

As soon as the CD started playing though, I instantly felt happier. Cleaning and sorting the laundry was fun, I had something nice to eat and I could settle down at my laptop to do a bit of study.

I probably haven’t been the easiest person to be around recently. If I’m not bitchy and hermit-y then I’m stressed and slightly hysterical. Apologies to my friends and family who have had to put up with me this semester. It hasn’t been an easy one. Nearly over though.

And now I know the real cause behind my bad moods! It all became so clear this afternoon, listening to My Foot…I haven’t been listening to enough pillows!

Hahaaahaaahahaha!! That must be it!!! All better now!!!

Probably will be better still when my exams are over and I get a decent grade for them, but for now the pillows is the panacea.

Meanwhile, the procrastination cleaning, then drawing up this graph and blogging about it means I’ve wasted three hours that I could’ve used studying.

But at least I feel better about it!

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3.31pm: Get excited and go “whee!” when Robbie Buck plays Cats, Rats and Pigeons by Jackson Jackson. Noticed with pleasant surprise that Harry falls into a bit of Pogues action when he sings refrains from Dirty Old Town.

3.35pm: Vow to buy Jackson Jackson album despite the fact that I’m meant to be saving for Japan.

3:36pm: Get pissed off at Robbie Buck when he plays Missy fucking Higgins’ mainstream trash again. Switch to PBS.

3:37pm: Do a double take when the first words I hear on PBS are “dirty old town” being sung country and western style by Frank Black. Ok, Frank Black, awesomeness incarnated with the Pixies, etc etc. But a country style of Dirty Old Town? Actually, probably not as bizarre as Harry’s rendition.

3:41pm: Wonder idley whether Shane McGowan would be turning in his grave over these multiple and often bizarre remakes of his music.

3:43pm: Discover on Wikipedia that Shane McGowan isn’t actually dead yet. WTF? Biggest surprise of the last 15 minutes.

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Some background:

My sister is a closet emo goth with a Ragnarok Online account rather than a MySpace. Her taste in music goes along what I call the “wailing man” vein. For the last few years I’ve been subjected to the likes of Radiohead, Muse and Jeff Buckley being played through the bedroom wall, quite loudly at all hours. Sometimes, it’s the same song again and again and again.

Because of the wonders of physics, the Bedroom Wall Speaker wouldn’t actually let me enjoy the songs’ melodies, but would instead distort and muffle the music so that all I could hear was perhaps a dischord being banged out non-stop for 4 minutes, or the sound of someone moaning like a cat that hadn’t been killed when the car hit it.

In other words, I grew to hate it. My sister completely ruined any enjoyment I may have gotten out of this music. Now, Muse and Radiohead I could probably live without, but Jeff Buckley! JEFF BUCKLEY! That’s a crime against humanity. I can’t listen to any of that music now even if I had a state-of-the-art digital surround sound system to listen with!

Then, today, on Triple J, I heard a track by Mark Ronson. He covered Radiohead’s Just but did it in a funk style! Trumpets and sax where the guitars once where! It was Radiohead you could DANCE to!

I’m really liking the funk music that seems to be sneaking back into the music scene. In fact, I’m really liking just about all the music on JJJ at the moment. This Mark Ronson track has been around for about a year apparently. I’m really not up-to-date with new music, I admit. I’ve been tuning out of the emo bullshit that’s been overplayed on JJJ and tuning in to ABC News instead. But now that the ratings season is over, and the summer DJs are on, the music has magically improved. It seems that they’re more interested now in playing what they enjoy, not playing what they think would be good for them commercially.

Which means that songs over the day have included:

• Mark Ronson’s cover of Just
• Cornelius (yay! Japanese music is back on the radio!)
• Arctic Monkeys
• Jamie T
• …and what appears to be some old school Sex Pistols

Yep. Am enjoying music muchly. I’ll actually be listening in to the J’s more often, I think. Especially since Jackson Jackson have now released their first single for radio airplay. Album is due out in March. I’m hanging out for some Flicker and the Spark action, personally.

Anyway. Time for me to put some headphones on and enjoy my music without disturbing anyone else.

EDIT: I take it all back. Dools just played original Radiohead and some emo bastard band back to back. AFI, I think? Yech. I’m changing to PBS.

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