CDs

"We gave her everything money could buy

She's leaving home

After living alone

For so many years...."

-- The Beatles, "She's Leaving Home"

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Four new roadtrip CDs to get me through this 11-hour drive to Bellevue, NE:

- Led Zeppelin (mix)

- The Beatles (mix)

- A Prairie Home Companion (podcasts)

- The Moth (podcasts)

For the LZ mix, I tried to take only one track from each album. Found that it was difficult not to take all of their third album; "Since I've Been Loving You" was my first choice, and it might be my favorite LZ song period...but I just had to add "Gallows Pole," "Tangerine," and "That's the Way." Was sad to see that "Immigrant Song" didn't make it, or for that matter, "Friends" or "Braun-Yr-Aur Stomp." Seriously, I wanted to add the whole album.

As for the others.... The Beatles CD is comprised mostly of Anthology tracks, though the most-represented albums are White and Sgt. Pepper. And the APHC and Moth CDs are just my favorites of their recent podcasts. Makes me wish my car played MP3 CDs as well as regular CDs; I'd get more material per disc.

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At TCTC, our bosses want us to work until the day before Christmas Eve, and I think that's crap. We all remember being told we were released on Dec. 18, last Friday, and it was ironically on that Friday that we found out they expected us to work half of this week, too. I had planned to leave today at 1pm.

And that's exactly what I intend to do. Take the vacation days or count them as personal; I'm going home.

It's a great day for it. Checked the weather along the route. Looks like no rain or snowfall until I get to Iowa (of course, it would be Iowa where the crummy weather begins). And looking ahead to Christmas Eve, looks like Nebraska's in for quite a wintry wallop, making it a white Christmas this year.

Good.

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Played Rock Band for the first time on Saturday night at a friend's party. I'd had some mojitos and plenty of peppermint schnapps by the time I worked up the courage to take a guitar. Ended up doing all four: two guitars, drums, and singing.

First bass song: "Eye of the Tiger"

First guitar song: "Carry On My Wayward Son"

First drum song: don't remember, but I rocked it

First singing song: "Dear Prudence" (also rocked "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?", which is surprisingly high)

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Everything's a mix: drinks, songs, weather, work. If the name of the game is reflect and regroup, I guess that's what I've got in my hand this year. Not that it's all madness; there is method, lurking somewhere, or perhaps embarrassed; the only thing for it is to put on an antic disposition. Eat, drink, be merry, and take long drives.

See you in Nebraska.