Strange Radiation Archive
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Sep 5 08: things that make us happy
And so we reach the end of another week spent copy editing at Major Publication. Current music-in-head: Elvis Costello & the Attractions, (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea, specifically the seriously kick-ass bass line. The bass lines in EC&tA stuff is always completely fabulous, and fractal with little moments of musical interestingness — little variations from verse to verse and even from line to line. Arranging their stuff for a cappella groups is surely a ferocious balancing act; you want to capture every little nuance, every great little bit, but then memorizing the arbitrary inversions and ornaments becomes an utter nightmare, so how do you standardize something that draws some of its coolness from the way it never stands still?
And on the subject of work at Major Publication: I love what I do for a living. Having wandered down several career paths that emphatically did not inspire that sort of happy, I know how lucky I am. Work at MP, when I get it, is particularly choice, because the people are great, the writing I am given to shepherd is already of high caliber, and the pay is sufficient for comfortable rent-payment.
This weekend’s plans are vague but include a mountain of laundry, meeting the visiting parents of a dear friend for lunch, and getting some exercise. Oh, and finding out how my niece’s first day of kindergarten went. She’s getting so big; I am so very proud of her. She and her brother are great kids and the thought of them is a source of joy when I’m blue.