constance | Dear bowdlerized,

01). Total volume of music files on my computer: 3094 songs; 9 days, 19 hours, 18 minutes, and 57 seconds total listening time; 11.80 GB (but at least 1 GB is Harry Potter books).

02). The last CD I bought was: Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol was the last one I downloaded from emusic. The last one I bought a physical copy of was Guero by Beck. Man, that collector's edition is so irresistibly pretty.

03a). The last song I listened to before writing this was: "Ikebana," off the Lost in Translation soundtrack. Wordless and wistful, as in any Sofia Coppolla movie.

03b). Song playing right now: "The Infanta" by The Decemberists. Spanish-Influenced Story-Song Power-Pop. How banal and predictable! But as unoriginal as The Decemberists are, I am totally in love with the way Colin Meloy pronounces his Rs.

04). Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me: How about five songs that I feel changed my life, or at least altered the course of my younger listening life:

"So. Central Rain" by R.E.M. These rivers of suggestion, they're driving me away. I remember watching this video for the first time at 2am while babysitting and watching Night Flight on the USA network, and I was mesmerized. I went out the next day and bought their records and never looked back until, like, Monster came out.

"I Apologize" by Husker Du. Temper too quick, makes me blind. This was my favorite catharsis song (along with "White and Lazy" by the Replacements). It was just so fucking angry, and you could just slam yourself around a room to it for three or four repeats and you felt hot and sweaty and exhausted and so great when it was all over. One of the many reasons I love the HP story "Crucius" by Dolores Crane so bad is that she writes a scene depicting Harry doing this exact thing with this exact song, and I felt this acute shock of recognition and amazement and I still love her for reconnecting me to that feeling.

"Back of a Car" by Big Star. Thinking bout what to say and I can't find the lines. Was there ever a better song about being young and in love and in love with music? This is the song that I credit with beginning my abiding power-pop love.

"Windfall" by Son Volt. Sounds like 1963, but tonight it sounds like heaven. It never fails to electrify me when I hear it. And I mean that sort of literally, in that the hair on the back of my neck stands up when I hear it. It is a song that I can play and it doesn't matter where I am, I am suddenly driving down a pitch-black road with no one around listening to music I remember like a touch memory, not familiar in my head but in my whole body.

"Just Like Honey" by The Jesus and Mary Chain. Listen to the girl as she takes on half the world, moving up and so alive. This isn't a song, it's a fucking lifestyle, and when I was seventeen, I wanted to live it.

Yes, I know. You are cooler than me. I am okay with that.

05). Five people I am passing this baton to: Let's see. What about: