Rainy Daze

WELL! It may still need tweaking because I kinda never stop tinkering with most of my playlists, with the exception of those that sit on dusty shelves, a bit neglected. I have so, so many of them. And my passion for novelty means some things get left behind.

I’ll have to make an effort to actually check out some of my older Daylist saves that I liked the looks of but hadn’t really given a chance. BUT! The rain playlist is vaguely complete, at nearly 13 hours long.

I didn’t add every rain song I came across. Some sounded heavier than what I like. I’m not much for true metal, but I do enjoy some ballads and gentler stuff from metal bands. Lookin’ at you, Metallica’s cover of “Whiskey in the Jar.” Is Metallica still considered metal? That’s hazy in my mind.

I even had successful intuition that there had been at LEAST one Tori Amos song that mentioned rain. The one I found wasn’t even one I had heard before. It just seemed like something she’d enjoy writing about.

AND the Reddit thread had also named songs that just felt rainy-day, without mentioning rain specifically. These included a couple Nine Inch Nails tracks. I do love me some NIN. So I added both of those. I also threw in Velvet Underground & Nico’s “Sunday Morning,” because a song that does mention rain also named “Sunday Morning” brought it up, when I searched the other title.

I like the Velvet Underground one a lot more. It has a sort of sleeping in on a Sunday kind of vibe.

OH HEY that reminds me… “Outside it’s cold. It’s misty, and it’s raining. They’ve got each other. Neither one’s complaining.”

Rod Stewart’s lyrics, but I think I’d likely add the “RevCo” version. It’s a smidge more hardcore and has some very cheeky alterations to the original song.

Mkay it may stand out against everything else on the list a little? Some of it has a bit of bite to it. But I don’t know if anything else hits as raunchy?

I also Googled NIN songs that mention rain, because I wondered if maybe there wasn’t a more direct fit from Trent Reznor to add. And I was not disappointed. I had entirely forgotten about “Rain rain go away” etc from the outro to “Down In It.”

Edited what I’d written last night, a little, and added in some more bits of Haven sleeping heavier and longer, to kind of build up that plot point, so if she maybe doesn’t wake up once, it won’t seem as glaring.

Might add to the most recent scene yet tonight.

I’m off tomorrow. Just have a virtual therapy appointment in the morning. And I will have to get some groceries, and maybe do some laundry. But none of that precludes my staying up a LITTLE late, to write, then read a teensy bit more Lost Souls.

I just discovered that you can, in fact, mark something as read multiple times in Goodreads. I had thought I saw where someone else had done it, but it’s a lot easier than I had imagined. You just add a “Read” book back to your “Currently Reading” shelf and update your progress, then tap that “I’ve finished this book” all over again, when you’re done.

I guess it wasn’t as much of an issue before, because most of my rereads, I had originally read before I even had a Goodreads account. So all I had to do was mention in my progress statuses or reviews that I had read it before.

Today, I felt very sensitive. I mentioned this to a close friend, and she said it was that kind of day for her, too. Everything, she said, felt “raw and sh!tty.” Especially while she was at work. Lots of drama and arguments.

And my daughter called in, today. She said it felt like her whole lower body was trying to secede. Not her words, but I like the phrasing, if not the unfortunate reality that kiddo is in pain on a regular basis.

BUT she did set up a doctor’s appointment, finally, and is therefore on track to get an accomodation for her Fibromyalgia, to cover additional absences beyond what’s typically allowed.

So yeah, I cried a few times today, and experienced some disillusionment, and disappointment. All that said, I also attended a poetry night at a local indie bookstore. I think I mentioned that in an earlier post? That I was planning to go?

I even found a copy of a book written by the local author who’s coming to my fave library branch soon. Picked that up, in the hopes that she might sign it.

A queer mom, wife and child in tow, read some very powerful stuff. I cried during her reading, as she described what it was like to share motherhood with their surrogate, that the fulfillment of her happiness came from someone else’s sorrow. The images she used about her connection to their daughter hit me hard.

But many of the pieces were outstanding, not just those.

I read the poem I put together for the dance/poetry collaboration project with a former classmate. I was so nervous I don’t even remember what kind of reception I got after I had finished. And my nose started running from a combination of allergies and the tears I’d shed during the previous reading.

Still, it was a good adventure. I get so shy around strangers in person. Maybe I should have tried harder to socialize, but they did say there would be forthcoming poetry nights there, since this one was so well-attended. A rather outgoing poet there with her husband introduced herself, and made me feel pretty welcome. And the event host was amazing.

I also had a delicious iced chai latte.

AND it was the happy maiden voyage of my brand new sandals which I bought when there may have still been snow on the ground. It got much colder as sundown approached, as I had seen that it might, on my weather app.

Regardless, I REALLY wanted to wear them. Caution to the wind!

Did that and a cute kinda hippie vibe tee, a pendant necklace with a chunk of what looks like Turquoise on it but is actually imitation (still pretty)… and my infamous denim jacket, with art from a Blondie “Call Me” t-shirt stitched onto the back. And lots and lots of buttons. An excessive amount, really.

One of the other poets complimented them. At some point, I will have to reevaluate which ones I want to keep on it, and maybe shuffle them around. At a minimum, take them all off temporarily to give the jacket a thorough washing.

My mom accompanied me to the event, and I think she enjoyed herself. After, we went to Applebee’s, and I had some penne pasta with a Cajun-inspired Alfredo, and chicken, and some slivers of Andouille sausage that I kinda wished had been bigger. But the chicken was tender and delicious. The breadstick was even better than how I remembered them. Not dry at all. Soft, and buttery, and well-seasoned.

They’re advertising “dirty” soda. Dash of whipped cream and a cherry on top. May try that next time. Tonight, I just had straight diet soda. Just one.

Gah, that infamous “Rainy Day Women” song by Bob Dylan just came on. I had to smile. Does he even mention rain once? Maybe not. It’s just so much the delightful essence of hippiedom, you gotta love it. The raucous cheering in the background, and the playful lyrics. The lilting instrumentation. One particular member of what sounds like his audience, had me bursting into laughter.

I have Googled ways to describe laughter SO many times writing Mystery Train. Kiefer Sutherland had such a rich and sexy laugh in The Lost Boys, as David. I’ve elicited laughter in that tone from men, myself. Knowing, masculine, laughter, coming from deep in the throat or chest, sounding dark and rich, and rippling.

I suppose there are also whiskey-voice women out there who laugh in similar fashion. Divas, femme fatales. I guess when a guy does it, it works intense alchemy on me, making it that much more memorable. It’s sexy AF on anyone, I suppose.

But I can still remember exactly how two of them sounded at the time (or that’s how it feels… I suppose memories can lie).

That’s the kind of laughter I am trying to evoke, mainly with Dorian, the David-esque character, but Jared does it, too, at times, when he’s the one who has the upper hand.

Going back to the playlist… I found a Grace Jones song I really dig. Previously came across one of her songs while Spotify was riffing on its own, and I was out for a long walk. That one, I wasn’t as crazy about. Something about a bumper. But this one. DAMN! “Walking in the Rain.”

I did add some songs that were covers of songs already on the list, including a cover of Grace Jones’s song. Not several, but a few. They felt different enough to me that it seemed okay. Besides, it’s not like there are playlist police judging me LOL.

More than likely, very few people besides myself will even check it out. I fully realize that, even though I will post a link here, momentarily. I’ve looked at playlists advertised on Instagram, and have sometimes shared playlists with friends.

One of my friends is a big fan of my “CALL OF BOOTY” playlist, in caps to mimic the font of “CALL OF DUTY.” And I think a guy I know on Facebook may have added my playlist about space and aliens and such.

But that’s about it. And that’s okay.

I am proud, however, that my long-distance bestie just adored one of the mixes I sent her, which later became a much longer, more rambling one on Spotify. She had a stint as a pirate DJ, so a musical compliment from her is damn significant. I pulled out all the stops.

And the “Malibu Mix” I made for a call center coworker. Unfortunately, not all the songs on that one saw the light of day on Spotify. I did my best to catch its overall vibe there, but I think the original was probably a little better.

Still, “Malibu” by The Expendables is on both. Kiddo needed me to tell her the artist so she could listen to it on her own. Apparently, she had formative childhood/teen memories of me playing it in the car.

Ooooh, Morphine’s “You Look Like Rain.” This is a damn fine playlist, if’n I do say so, myself. Sure, I got some help, but some of the songs, I found on my own. And maybe there’s an artistry to the selection process, sampling them, deciding what goes where. I tried to split up songs that had very similar titles, even if they were lyrically very different.

It feels like another way to stretch my creative muscles. And music adds so much to life, and gives creative inspiration right back.

Yow, after adding “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy,” it’s just two minutes shy of 13 hours. HA I found a track that was precisely two minutes of rain sound effects. I had a sound effect track at the beginning, too. Bookends. Fun stuff. Good times.

177 songs. Yay!!!

I guess that means I have to stop tinkering with it at this point. For now.

Alright, here’s the playlist. I’m off to spend time with the vampires– both mine and those in Lost Souls.