blandin mjök

I remember making mix tapes. I had a primitive double tape deck, and it took forever to get the timing between tracks right and to fit the desired songs onto each side of the chosen cassette. I preferred the 90-minute tapes, 45 minutes to a side. That seemed like a good length. It was long enough---it gave the compiler room to manoeuver (though that manoeuvering was time consuming)---but the A side and B side provided necessary structure, a simple but unforgivingly strict meter for am earnest genre.

Now there are MP3s and things like that. I have some. I have even compiled a songlist with a recipient in mind, ready to be burned (as I understand it is called) onto a ready CD. I've had it since sometime in the winter, when my first attempt failed. I may very well be hopelessly analog, though now my wineglass rests on a digital coaster. I tell myself I will try again soon.

Meanwhile I will try to suppress the urge to fuss with the track list. The long, free verse form of the mix CD invites endless fidgeting, and I miss the way the A and B sides would snap into place like a good rhyme.