can't take my mind off you...
part refusal and part inability, i haven't stopped listening (figuratively, of course) to Damien Rice's "O," since i bought it. it's been months.

i've never let an album overtake everything like this. listening to anything else just feels like killing time until i get to listen to O again.

i think it's cycled at least 5 times today at work. listening to music at work serves two purposes for me. first, with earphones in, i'm less likely to rely on my keen sense of hearing as someone approaches or walks by. this keeps me off the internet. genius, i tell you! secondly, i get happy, motivated, and hypnotic. there's nothing more satisfying than being able to concentrate on something so technical, like encoders and cables and which goddamned size screw you'll need (etc), while a raw irish voice sings to amie in my left ear and a cello soars peacefully in the other.

and there's the times when i'm not really concentrating on the encoders, cables, and screws. then, the pretty music guides my wandering thoughts through such tech writerly creative catastrophies as why you can use the verb "unplug" without a preposition, but "plug" needs "in." in fact, "unplug" can't be used with a preposition. right? i'd say the "un-" does the trick.

step one: unplug the cable. bam.
step two: plug the cable. in. plug in the cable.

unless, as one dear friend retorted, you're talking about statements of support, etc. plug can stand alone.

julia: "true. we're not activists for our cables here at [monkey job], though."
elizabeth: "well maybe you should be. UP WITH CABLE RIGHTS!"
julia: "UNPLUG THE APATHY TOWARDS CABLES!"

and so it is, indeed. damien rice and cable rights. 'twas quite the frabjous day.

and while we're here, may i have his backup singer, lisa hannigan's job? when she's done with it, of course.