My final paper of the semester, for Warring States China, is due on Wednesday. I’ve had the best of intentions about working on it, really, but the siren call of summer and doing nothing is loud in my ears. So far this weekend, I’ve gotten a haircut, dropped a lot of cash at the Gap (are we supposed to say “the” Gap anymore, or is it just “Gap”?), worked on Amelia’s graduation present, and watched a lot of TV. Now, to be fair, I am also on a deadline with the present since she graduates on the 9th and the object that I’m knitting will require a fair amount of time blocking. I won’t say what it is on the off chance that she’ll read this before I give it to her, but I have high hopes that she will like it. I’m also enjoying knitting again, which explains how I lost a whole day to that and the haircut and the shopping yesterday. I am the Queen of Procrastination when I want to be.
One of my favorite methods of procrastinating with papers is to think, “Hm, I need some new music to write to,” and then I’m off for an hour on iTunes . Today, as I’m downloading three albums, I thought back to the first time I ever bought three albums at once (actually, they were tapes, it was the 90s). I had really fallen under Queen’s spell after Freddie Mercury’s death because of “Wayne’s World,” and remembered that I liked their song “Another One Bites the Dust” even though it got me in trouble with nuns when I was in kindergarten, so I bought their Classic Queen album. I listened to that thing constantly, and was very glad that it listed which album each of the songs on it came from, because it was very obvious to me that I would have to own all of Queen’s albums.
My allowance was like $40 a month at the time, so it was no small thing when I decided that I would be getting three of their albums at once. I was going to be broke for the rest of the month, but by God, I would have new music to listen to! So I persuaded mom to take me to the mall, and we walked into the Sam Goody shop, where I picked out A Kind of Magic, The Miracle, and Innuendo, all snug in their giant plastic anti-theft devices (I really hope those were recyclable, because there must have been millions of those chunky things, remember them)? Mom asked was I sure I wanted to spend that much money all at once, didn’t I want to wait and get one later? Of course I didn’t want to wait! I wanted them all, right now. And I bought them, plunking my $30 down and then walking out of the store, sublimely happy with my purchases.
The three albums I bought today don’t have a lot in common with Queen–they’re all alternative acts, for starters, because I’m finally going over to that dark side–but they made me think of that day, the first day that I bought three albums at once because they were all brilliant and I had to have them. My first experience with impetuous consumerism, which has become a theme in my life: “I Want It All” has been my theme song for years, people. I’m lucky I didn’t get a credit card until college and that my credit card debts are all paid off. Well, except for what I charged on my Gap card yesterday, which I will pay off sensibly when I get the bill.
And now that these new albums have downloaded, I guess I’m going to work on this paper. Maybe I’ll listen to those three Queen albums today while I work…
