Natural Selection
I've been trying to keep a flexible schedule where possible this year, including giving myself permission to take a day or two off if there's not a pressing deadline, or change my mind about when to do something without feeling guilty for it, as long as the thing that needs doing gets done eventually. This might not sound like a lot, and it probably doesn't look all that different to the observer, but it's been a boon for my stress levels, which started 2025 at the highest they've ever been. I'm feeling much better now, despite the state of the world being what it is, and while I'm not claiming things are going great, at least I don't feel like every day is spent plodding my way through doom so tangible and viscous it's like molasses.
One thing I've been thinking about lately is the possibility of returning to school to finish my very unfinished college degree and pursue qualification to work in a library or archival position. Not anything too insane or intense, but I've realized how much I enjoy digging through old media and filing systems and helping make that information more accessible to other people. It also feels like it fits my strong suits, which are finding and relaying data, rather than trying to incorporate that data into something useful or designing those systems myself.
With regard to that last point, I spent Sunday afternoon pulling all of my records off the shelves and trying to organize them a little. Every time I try to do this I get overwhelmed by the lack of a structure I can solidly slot every piece in my collection into. Do I categorize by artist last name, and if so, where do soundtrack albums featuring multiple artists go? Or compilations featuring a specific style or period? Do I organize by genre, which presents multiple problems. Does Wang Chung's Points on the Curve belong that far from their soundtrack to To Live and Die in L.A.? Or should Eno's more rock-oriented output be orphaned from his experimental and ambient records, and which category does his No Pussyfooting EP with Robert Fripp go under if so?
I'm generally the member of the household likely to look for a record to put on, so I don't have to consider anyone else's systemic preferences, but my own are so jumbled and inconsistent that I know a week from now I'll be cursing Past Me for thinking it made sense to file a trip hop record I now can't find with the jazz and world music compilations. I organized about two-thirds of the albums before giving up and shoving them all back onto their shelves in a slightly more ordered state than the one they had been in hours before, but I still can't find the record I was looking for in the first place.
Please feel free to share any organizational tips or advice. Also, I'm planning to take next week off, spending it overstuffing myself on holiday snacks and re-watching Whit Stillman's Metropolitan, both of which are recommended wintertime activities, but who knows, maybe I'll feel inspired...
