How do you sort 'em?

Today is pretty quiet at work. Everyone is off at a trade show that I decided to skip. My cubicle neighborhood is a ghost town but a few of us remain. Because it's so quiet, my neighbor introduced me to this retro offering and we spent some time giggling about the silly songs from our past. My neighbor also just received her brand new iPod in the mail. I told her she'd spend the next month uploading music like a freak. We then launched in to a "I have so many CDs conversation". It went something like this:

Neighbor: Seriously, my CD cabinet is taller than me.

Lucy: Yeah, mine are in drawers and closets all over the place.

Neighbor: (sweeping her hands up and down) I have girls on one side and guys on the other.

Lucy: ...? What ever happened to genre and alphabetical order?

Neighbor: It's my own system. I know where everything is. (More sweeping of hands) I have girls and guys then my jazz and rap, which I don't really listen to, and soundtracks and pop and rock. Oh, and then there's my new age-y stuff for meditation.

Lucy: ...

Neighbor: Then the newer CDs are up top then they get moved down as they get older.

Lucy: ...

Neighbor: Oh, and then I have the white people at the very bottom. NOW who's at the back of the bus?

Lucy: Bwaaaghahahah! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!

I swear I'm still laughing.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I have my CDs organized by genre (Pop/Rock, Jazz, Classical, Soundtracks and compilations. Within each they are sorted in alphabetical order. Call me crazy but that's how I do it. It's a pain to put stacks of CDs aways but at least I can find them when I want them.

My brother and I share many musical tastes so he often "borrows" my CDs. After a while we couldn't tell which were his and which were mine. I started using a gold paint pen to paint a tiny gold dot on the spines of my CDs. It took 3 minutes to do and now he can't figure out how I can quickly scan his CDs and pull mine out of the crowd. (hehe)

Just this weekend I uploaded a bunch of CDs to my iPod. I removed the showtunes because, as it turns out, I don't like them out of context and popping up in a shuffle. I prefer my showtunes in the car and in order of appearance. I then was horrified to find I didn't have any Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Louis Prima or Frank Sinatra on my iPod. I saw La Vie En Rose so I had to add some Edith Piaf as well. My new shuffles are super cool but now I have to put the CDs away. I'm dreading that task.