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Friday, October 09th, 2020

Near the end of August, I started thinking about how crazy it was that I had an entire box of records, mostly from The Cure, but no record player. I have never owned one despite acquiring the majority of my collection in the mid 90’s, one of which was new and unopened (Mixed Up).

Cure Vinyl - Albums

Cure Albums

Cure Vinyl - Singles

Cure Singles

This train of thought was prompted by this year’s Record Store Day special picture disc releases of Seventeen Seconds and Bloodflowers which I learned about the day before RSD. I decided I’d like Seventeen Seconds, but was on the fence about Bloodflowers since even though I don’t own a copy on vinyl, it’s really not my favorite album. It was a moot point, however, when we arrived at Kiss The Sky in Batavia and were told all the copies had sold out, and quickly, according to the owner.

Before we arrived, my attitude was it wasn’t a big deal if I couldn’t get my hands on the special releases, but once I was told they were gone I was surprised at how sad I felt. As we drove home, Joe suggested I call a record store closer to us, Mile Long Records, in Wheaton. I hadn’t even considered them because of how busy they get on Record Store Day. Plus I read some negative reviews about the owner. But I called anyway, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that they had several copies of both albums still available even though it was noon by that time.

Record Store Day

At Joe’s urging I ended up getting both albums.

Record Store Day Cure Picture Discs

I shared my excitement on social media and a couple people questioned why I would get them if I had no means of listening to them. I’ve fielded that question before and stated I like collecting the records for the artwork, which is true. In fact, I had no plans to ever open those two records. But then I started reminiscing about the records we’d listen to all the time growing up. I decided I didn’t want my collection to turn into that situation where you have special dishes no one ever uses because they’re too “special”. So, I started researching turntables. After a week of looking at used record players, I decided to buy a new one from Target. Nothing fancy, mind you, but one with a built-in preamp so I could hook it up to our existing stereo system.

Turntable

I’m really liking it, and don’t think I’ll really need anything fancier in the future, but you never know. It looks good in our existing audio cabinet. I removed our old Disney honeymoon memorabilia and shifted the PS4 down a shelf so the record player could go on top with plenty of room to lift the cover up.

Audio Cabinet

After that it was off to the races. Over the course of two weekends we visited a few record stores because I missed the thrill of the hunt like back in the day before Spotify let you listen to whatever you wanted at any time.

At Mile Long Records again I got No Jacket Required by Phil Collins (which was the first CD I ever purchased) and The Head On The Door by The Cure (new), which the owner put aside when I messaged him on Facebook letting him know I was searching for it. Turns out he’s actually really nice and a Cure fan himself, which is why he had so many copies of their releases on Record Store Day.

At Algonquin Records we found multiple gems: Michael Jackson’s Thriller (new), Sports by Huey Lewis and The News, and We Are The World, and I got the Big Time single by Peter Gabriel from a shop called Record Wonderland in Roselle.

New Albums

They also had the pink/purple vinyl of Friday I’m in Love single by The Cure for $40 (which I already own).

Since then I’ve only picked up one more record – Dancing On The People by Sofi Tukker, which was another Record Store Day release recently (there are three RSDs this year). Mile Long Records didn’t order that one, however, so I ordered it directly form the artist’s website.

Dancing On The People by Sofi Tukker

It was only $18 which was nice since the other RSD releases were $27 (Seventeen Seconds) and $37 (Bloodflowers). I also got a copy on CD because I have their other albums and I want to support them.

We haven’t gone to any record stores since mid September because it was quickly adding up. We did peruse the available LPs at Half Price Books recently, however. Shockingly, they did have a Cure title (The Top) but it was $30 and the jacket was in poor condition. I already own it anyway, and my copy is in much better shape.

Speaking of jackets, however – I don’t plan on buying picture discs in the future if I can help it. I love The Cure’s album artwork and the picture discs just leave a hole in the jacket. I dunno, I like the classic record look better. In any case, I only need the following albums to complete my Cure collection now:

Wish (1992)
Wild Mood Swings (1996)
The Cure (2004)
4:13 Dream (2008)

I’m not a big fan of those last two AT ALL, so it will be awhile before I get them unless I find them for a good price used. Wish is currently out of print so that’s going to be a tough one unless Robert Smith decides to finally do a reissue. Fingers crossed! I have a soft spot for that album since it was their first new release after I got into them.

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Wednesday, June 10th, 2020

Reorganized the freezer and pantry. I am especially pleased with the freezer because I’ve wanted to make it easier to find and remove things forever but the narrow shelves made that next to impossible. Thanks to TikTok, though, I found the perfectly sized containers at none other than The Container Store.

Organized Freezer

Now I’m just working on finding the best labeling process for the bins. As you can see in the photo, I’m testing a few options.

Label Option 1 Label Option 2

For the bins with several items, I can’t see using a general label as much, as I want to know exactly what’s inside. For the bins that are all chicken or beef, though, I can use the new Dollar Tree sticky labels I found. I think I will use my label maker, however, so they look nicer since I don’t have the best penmanship.

Sorted through and categorized all our paper manuals so everything is easy to find.

Reorganized closet in the former rat room, now Joe’s office.

A month or so ago I used the Discover cash back to buy Groupon bucks and ordered a couple of cabinet shelves as well as a sink organizer. I hate the latter. It is so annoying!

Groupon Sink Organizer

I ended up boxing it up and plan to give it to my step-daughter if she wants it. I am now using this set up instead and prefer it because either way water collects at the bottom of any container I use and it’s easier to pour out of the pot vs. the organizer that has a piece that slides out if you don’t hold it the correct way.

Sink Organization

Plus I prefer the look of the planter better anyway. I would love for Savers to re-open so I could find another planter since I like using this one for fake flowers in the house.

I was cleaning the cold air return in the dining room one day when I realized that while, yes, it was dirty, the paint was also yellowed, so no matter how clean it was it still wouldn’t look like it. I bought a can of white spray paint and quickly remedied that issue. Now it looks brand new. Of course there’s no before photo because I always forget to take one!

The garage in general is more organized that ever, although we still have a lot of stuff. We did free up a couple of “under the bed” organizers that never actually fit under our bed, so were in the garage. I used two of them to store my fake flowers and one to hold party supplies. Because they are so lightweight I can store them at the top of the shelf by the door and not kill myself trying to get them down.

I went through my Cure memorabilia and put all the LPs in the special vinyl box I ordered from The Container Store.

Vinyl Storage

I went through the magazines and clippings and put them in clear plastic pockets in a binder, and moved the t-shirts and cassette tapes elsewhere, thus freeing up a storage tote I can use in the garage for other things. I also came across Cure posters, as well as other posters, in the garage.

Robert Smith Poster The Cure Poster

Yin Yang PosterGlow Poster

I took them out of the tubes they were in and combined them all in one very wide tube that I also put my Cure calendars in.


Cure Calendar (1993)

Cure Calendar (1995)

Cure Calendar (2009)

Because of all the organizing, we are now up to six large boxes in the garage waiting for Savers to open so we can donate them.

Pending Donations

If they don’t open soon we will either donate them to Goodwill or post them on a free site.

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Sunday, September 11th, 2016

Now that The Cure’s tour has headed overseas I figured I wouldn’t be able to tune into any shows since the time difference means they’d be playing while I was at work. I forgot about Bestival, however, which was this weekend.

A couple of hours before The Cure was due to go on stage I learned that they were live streaming the show thanks to Red Bull. Not only that, but there was an app for that. And even better? There was a Smart TV app for that! I turned on our TV, went into apps, and for whatever reason it was literally the first app to show up in the list. I installed it and tested the stream (they were streaming Bestival performances all day) and it was full HD. Woo!

Just after 3 pm our time The Cure’s performance began. They played for a little over two hours and it looked fantastic.

20160910_210908000_ios-1

I didn’t think they sounded all that great at first but the sound seemed to improve as their performance went on. They primarily played their hits, although they surprised everyone with a new song for this tour – The Baby Screams. I checked my tracking list and I’ve never seen them perform that song live before so that was a treat even though it didn’t sound quite as good as the album version.

It’s really awesome that we have the technology to watch a live concert another continent away. I ended up telling a new Cure friend of mine, Gavin, who hosts an all-Cure podcast called The Holy Hour about it when they announced the replay later the same evening. He was very grateful for the tip and said I made his night. Which reminds me – I totally forgot to mention that my Cure story is featured in Episode #29 – The Drowning Fans – Post 2016 Tour Blues. How cool is that? You can listen to it below.


powered by podcast garden

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Monday, July 18th, 2016

Ugh, I feel hungover today. It’s mostly lack of sleep related and not alcohol induced since I didn’t really drink much last night at my friend’s annual party. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

Early Saturday morning (around 1 am) I woke up with the worst panic attack ever. It doesn’t matter how many times they happen, I’m always certain I’m going to die. It’s so damn scary! I immediately took a Xanax, stripped off most of my clothing, and ran a rag under the water and put it on the back of my neck since I was overheated. Then I turned on Netflix as a distraction to wait for the medication to kick in. Joe was sleeping during all this, but I woke him up when I started shaking uncontrollably. That was a new thing that hasn’t happened before, but apparently is common during panic attacks. At some point I passed out because Joe said at 3 am he woke up and had to turn off the TV and remove my glasses.

Needless to say, Saturday morning I was feeling crappy even though I slept in. We had plans to visit my second cousin for a pool/game day around 3 pm. I started baking brownies (two batches – one for my cousin and one for the party we were attending on Sunday) when suddenly the power went out. There weren’t any storms or anything, but everyone on the block lost power. I immediately reported it to ComEd and gave my cousin a head’s up since I hadn’t even showered yet! That threw a kink in everything so we decided to postpone for another day. I felt simultaneously relieved and bummed because it would be nice to get to know her better (we recently connected on Facebook after seeing her at a funeral, the only place it ever seems like the majority of our family sees one another) but I was feeling really out of it thanks to the panic attack so it was for the best.

Once the power came back on I just finished baking the brownies. That evening Joe ordered pizza and we watched Wild Card which is the worst Jason Statham movie we’ve ever seen. What a total crapfast! I rated it half a star on Flixster because it’s pure garbage. In contrast, we watched Pixels on Friday night which was actually better than I was expecting. I gave it 3 stars out of 5 because it wasn’t anything spectacular but at least it held my interest and I liked the CGI video game characters.

Sunday we met up with our friends at Bulldog Ale House at 3 pm for lunch before the party. I was planning on ordering tator tots with my boneless wings since every year I drool over my friend’s tots, but they no longer offer them. WTF? How hard is it to have tator tots on the menu? Joe and I shared an order of waffle fries but they weren’t worth the $4 we were charged. They also started charging for dipping sauce for the wings. I’m pretty sure that’s a new thing too. Overall I was a little irked but it was still fun catching up with our friends who we hadn’t seen in awhile.

We arrived at the party sometime after 4 pm and it was hot, humid, and sunny. Some clouds rolled in shortly after, however, which made things much more comfortable. As I vowed last year, we brought chips. Three bags, in fact, in addition to the two batches of brownies I brought (which received more than a few glowing reviews) and the vodka infused cherries Joe made. We brought our bathing suits fulling intending to jump in the pool or hot tub but never got around to it. The pool was occupied by kids splashing around most of the time and it was too humid to make going into the hot tub any fun. That’s ok, though. We walked down a few blocks to the fest to watch the fireworks and due to the wind got pelted with debris from them which was rather annoying. Afterwards we hung out for a little while before taking off when it started to rain. My friend had to be up early for work anyway since unlike previous years she couldn’t take the day off as she had just gone back to work after being out for three months for medical reasons.

I was rather awake when we got home so I put Netflix on for awhile. Joe fell asleep and I was surfing on my phone when I realized The Cure was playing a show in Hawaii which is five hours behind us. I hadn’t planned on watching it, but since I was up I figured what the hell. Someone was Periscoping the whole thing and it sounded so good! They played a great set, including a Seventeen Seconds encore (At Night, M, Play for Today, and A Forest) which was awesome. By the time that was over it was 4 am!

I managed to drag my butt out of bed around 11 am because the landscapers were making a racket outside. Even though I only had 3 vodka cherries and a little bit of an amaretto sour, I feel hungover. I’m eating pizza and potato chips as I write this. I’m going to be so screwed up trying to get to bed at a decent hour tonight for work tomorrow! My boss is on vacation all this week so it should be pretty quiet at least. As if that even matters – my boss never micromanages me so it’s not going to be much different than any other week.

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Monday, July 18th, 2016

Friday we went to Half Price Books since we had coupons and hadn’t been there in awhile. They moved the video game section to a wider aisle which is helpful since it gets more traffic. Now it’s much easier to browse without getting in someone’s way. I was hoping to find a Wii U for cheap since I’d like to have one eventually, but I don’t want to pay full price. They didn’t have any, however.

I enjoyed browsing the store looking at everything from board games, to CDs, to vinyl records. It brought back that feeling I’d get when I would go to shops in the city like Evil Clown (no longer in business) for bootlegs, or one of the old record stores on Clark St. for vinyl. Even both Tower Records locations in Chicago hold a special place in my heart, particularly the one on Clark St. because that’s where I purchased Substance by New Order and bought my tickets to the first Cure show I ever attended in 1996.

I came across a Cure tribute album and wasn’t sure whether I had it so I bought it; with the coupon it was just over $3. Turns out I had more than half the songs already on my hard drive even though I didn’t own the CD. The cover art looked familiar, however, so I’m guessing my ex must have owned it and I had a copy of some of the songs. Now I have them all. It’s not a bad tribute album overall, especially the version of The Walk which is my favorite.

I also picked up DJ Hero for the Xbox360. I’ve always been drawn to the game but never enough to buy it. With the coupon and some credit from selling some books it was only $3 so I figured why not. As long as I get even an hour of enjoyment from playing it then it will have been well worth it.

Once we got home I decided to clean the rat cages and listen to The Holy Hour which is a Cure podcast I recently discovered. I’m now up to episode 17 and am loving listening to these guys talk about all things Cure.

Once I was done with the cages I pulled out all my Cure memorabilia of which I have a decent amount. I have way more vinyl than I remembered. Too bad I don’t have a record player! I had to take a couple of pictures although I’d like to take better quality ones at some point.


The Cure Vinyl - Albums

The Cure Vinyl - Singles

That concert last month really did a number on me and I feel like I’ve become a rabid Cure fan. I’ve always loved them more than any band but the obsession has hit me like a 2×4 over the past two months.

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