Hey friends,
At the start of 2020 (or maybe it was the end of 2019) I decided that I’d pick one album to listen to A Lot for each month. It started because I listened to a podcast about the 1999 album by Prince and I realised that there were quite a few songs on the album that I didn’t know. So I decided to listen to that album in January 2020. Listening from start to finish, no skipping and no using shuffle. You know, like in the old days when music came on tapes and records (yes, yes, you could fast forward a song on a tape or skip on a record, but you know!), listening to the order of the songs as the artist had intended.
I really liked that, so when January was coming to a close, I wanted to pick an album for February. For that month I listened to Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel. Another album where I knew a couple of songs but couldn’t tell you what the rest of them might have been.
And so I picked an album for each month. I had a couple of very loose criteria for choosing the albums: they had to be from the 1970s, -80s or -90s. And it had to be an album I actually liked. Yeah, I know that seems like a no-brainer but I did briefly consider that the albums could be by artists that maybe I “should” like, from “rock history” or whatever. But what’s the point if it were music I didn’t really like? So, only music by artists I knew I could stand to listen to A Lot for a whole month. :-)
If you’re curious about what I listened to, apart from Prince and Simon & Garfunkel, you can check out my 2020 playlist here (or maybe I should call it “Soundtrack to A Pandemic”!)
I enjoyed picking an album for each month so much that I have done it in 2021 as well. Here is the 2021 playlist so far.
Random things and projects like this are a happiness boost, I find. Doing something just for the sake of it, because you find it enjoyable, is absolutely worth doing. I guess it’s a small act of self care? You’re doing it just for you, it doesn’t take a lot of time but it brings a lot of joy. To me anyway. Listening to a whole album, getting to know the songs, singing along (sorry, Tony). And you can do it pretty much anywhere that you can safely listen to music without bothering other people. :-)
And now I really should go and pick my album for October!
I hope you have a lovely weekend!
x Carina
Some Things I Enjoyed This Week
I dusted off (quite literally!) my proper camera and went for a walk. The camera in my mobile phone is very convenient but the proper camera only has one job, to take pictures, and it does that very well. I posted some pictures on my blog.
We randomly picked up some chocolate covered palmeras biscuits (because they were accidentally vegan) in a supermarket and they are very nice. Tony doesn’t love them so I guess that means more for me? :-D
On Monday I finished the pattern drawings for the November mandalas stitchalong (more about this next week) and the patterns turned out better than my pencil sketches. That is always a happy moment! Now I’m in the process of picking colours for the four patterns…