MixMeister = Crack

Quiz for the day.

Q: What do The All-American Rejects, Laurie Anderson, B-52s, Barenaked Ladies, Basement Jaxx, Beastie Boys, Beyonce, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Black Eyed Peas, Blondie, Blue Man Group, Blue Oyster Cult, Bowling for Soup, Bumblebeez 81, Kate Bush, Butthole Surfers, Cake, The Clash, Clutch, Joe Cocker, Concrete Blonde, Elvis Costello, Counting Crows, The Cramps, Dashboard Confessional, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Eminem, Faith No More, Fischerspooner vs. Billy Squire, The Flaming Lips, Franz Ferdinand, Nelly Furtado, Peter Gabriel, Garbage, Green Day, Patty Griffin, Happy Mondays, Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians, INXS, Chris Isaak, Jane's Addiction, Janet Jackson, Jimmy Eat World, The Killers, Linkin Park, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Kirsty MacColl, Raul Malo, Maroon 5, The Mavericks, Sarah McLachlan, George Michael, Kylie Minogue, Modest Mouse, Alanis Morissette, Jason Mraz, New Found Glory, No Doubt, The Offspring, Oingo Boingo, Pet Shop Boys, Liz Phair, Poe, The Polyphonic Spree, Pretenders, Raffi, Reel Big Fish, The Replacements, Riddlin' Kids, Scissor Sisters, Screaming Blue Messiahs, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Staind, Joss Stone, The Stone Roses, Los Straightjackets, Gwen Stefani, Matthew Sweet, Sugar, The The, Toad the Wet Sprocket , Tool, U2, UNKLE, Velvet Revolver, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Rob Zombie, and about 4 dozen movie clips and sound effects have in common?

A: They’re all part of the 6 hour, 23 minute long MP3 mix (that's all in a single 525MB or so file) I’ve assembled for my Halloween party. I think it’s pretty much complete. Just need to get the video-dub version of "Ch-Ch-Check It Out" downloaded and converted to MP3 and I should be good to go.

Must have spent close to 24 hours on this thing, all together. Good lord, what is wrong with me?

-=-

So, party disaster was narrowly averted today. Last night, we get a call from the woman who we hired to run the kid’s party (ingeniously designed to keep the kids entertained and occupied while also keeping them the hell away from the adults for a few hours. Nefarious, yes, but so, so good…).

The conversation begins with “I am so sorry to have to do this….”

My blood ran cold.

“… but I won’t be able to work your party Saturday. Sorry for the short notice, but my mother just called and they are taking my grandfather off of life-support Saturday morning and she really needs all of the family with her.”

So, yeah, it’s kind of hard to question the woman’s priorities here. Of course she could be lying. This could be a really good variation of the “dead grandmother” excuse we’ve all used once or twice somewhere along the way.

Somehow I doubt it, though.

So, yeah. Panic at 9:30 last night, followed by a night of restless worrying and disastrous-party nightmares. 4 days to go, and suddenly we have no one to run the kids party. What to do? Either we get someone else, pronto, potentially at an exorbitant price, or else Christine and I would just have to take turns running the kid party while the other hosted things downstairs. After all, we couldn’t suddenly tell our guests that kids are no longer going to be allowed, and I’d be damned if I was going to have 1-2 dozen kids scampering around the downstairs while the adults were trying to enjoy themselves.

Luckily, however, our back-up guys (who work the Kid’s Zone at our gym, and who are AMAZING with kids) were still free, even at this late date. Huzzah!

Now, what the fuck costume and I gonna wear?

Mood: Stressed, yet relieved
Now Playing: Kirsty MacColl, “Galore”