Music, anyone?

I think I need to start playing some music when I write day job stuff. Because trust me, my day job stuff is very boring. Playing some music might help alleviate some of the monotony of it.

But it has to be completely instrumental. I have several classical music CDs, so I can start listening to those today. George Winston is great too. And that new age music with the nature sounds in the background. I think those are the only instrumentals I have.

I've already tried listening to some music while writing before. It was...Michael Jackson, I think. Bad? Dangerous? I don't remember, really, but it doesn't matter. And I got so into it that when I went back and looked at what I wrote...Oh my God. It made no damn sense at all. So it definitely has to be music that is just background noise, not something that's going to completely take over my concentration.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Speaking of writing, I need to get started on that here shortly, so I better take a quick shower and load up my music so I can get on with it already.

ETA: I put in 3 CDs for starters: one classical, and 2 kind of new-age ones with nature sounds in the background - one of them is Niagara Falls - it kind of works. But the current music has the background noise of Niagara Falls and a tour guide from the Maid of the Mist, which is a bit annoying. I got this damn CD from an ex-boyfriend.

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Why does the Pac NW always have the opposite weather of what everyone else is having? When we had our heat wave 2 weeks ago, most of the rest of the country was having below average temps and lots of rain.

Now, y'all are complaining of the heat. Here, it's currently 64 degrees. And it rained most of the night (thank God!), so it's a bit damp and overcast outside.

I made an early lunch - butternut squash soup with mini saltines (which are probably old and stale, but they're in my soup, so I can't notice it). It's a good day for staying in, curling up under a blanket, and working. Even the dog agrees...she's been napping for most of the morning.

I have the urge to bake...as I always do when it feels like this outside. It's very autumnal. But I think warmer temps are supposed to come back soon. So summer isn't quite over yet, I hope.

Also, I think the blackberries out back are ready to be harvested. There are blackberries all over the extensive wooded areas in our neighborhood. Just the other evening, when I was walking Reece, I saw some people with a basket picking blackberries off a bush at the edge of a woody area at the end of our subdivision. The question is...what to do with them? I keep making jokes about starting a homemade blackberry jam factory and people are starting to take me seriously. I don't even know how to make jam (I made pomegranate and pepper jelly once, and that turned out pretty awesome, so I could probably do it), but I can't see myself slaving over a hot stove amid piles of canning jars anyhow.

hmmm...

So...it looks like in addition to the tuition assistance I get from the military, I will also get a 10% discount on tuition.

This makes the overall tuition costs much cheaper than I had originally thought.

Good sign.

I am also only required to do 6-9 credit hours per quarter, meaning the tuition assistance will pay for almost 2 terms.

So now I feel a little more positive about my chances of making this happen.

ETA: Oh...and I got an info packet in the mail today!