Rant #3,711: Picking Up the Pieces

Records ...

Records ...

Records ...

Records to the left of me, records to the right of me ...

And here I am ...

Stuck in the middle--

With boxes.

Yes, I am at it again, with the final boxes I have to empty, which contain my wife's records.

Yes, her collection is not as prolific as mine, but she still has a good 300-400 12-inch records--

And it is my job to alphabetize them, just like I did with my own collection.

If my records were a mess, her records are a cataclysm.

So many of the records are mixed up, in no order at all, and I have a sneaking suspicion that these vinyl disks haven't been in order for decades, or even ever.

That, alone, makes it difficult enough to put them in order.

But what makes it even worse is that many of her 12-inch records are 12-inch singles, which were very popular in the 1970s and into the 1980s.

Most of these are dance/disco recordings, and you can't really see who the artist is because the singers usually aren't prominently featured on the sleeves.

Some are, but for every Madonna, there are Stevie B, Flaspoint, Cerrone and dozens of others who I have to look at the record label to try to find out who the performers on the records are.

And since I never heard of most of them--this is a genre of music I never got into and really didn't like to begin with--it makes it all the more difficult to figure out who is who.

I have all today to get these things in order, as we have another piece of furniture that will be up and ready to go by the end of the day.

I have already filled two boxes full of records in alphabetical order, with about a box to go before everything is in the proper order.

Then once the furniture is ready to go, I can put these away, get rid of the boxes, and finally move on.

I honestly did not realize that my wife had so many records, but she does, and the care I put on getting my own records in order is a mandate I have to follow with my wife's records.

And her 45s ...

Don't get me started ... .