Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Shoulda Been a Cowboy/girl

I've been craving country music lately, and I just found Playlist. I've spent far too much time already, searching for more and more songs to add to an ever-growing number of playlists. Thus far, my country playlist is the only one that's "complete," so I thought I'd share it with y'all on my sidebar. It's been great to dig up some bands/singers from a few years ago who're fantastic, but not so popular any more - Blackhawk, anyone?

Once again, I noticed that my tastes run decidedly along masculine lines. All of the songs I compiled are sung by guys, and only part of that was intentional (after I had most of them and realized what was going on, I figured I might as well see it through).

More importantly, playing with music reminded me of something. I used to have arguments with my dad when I was in middle school because I turned the radio on while I did my homework. He believed I needed quiet to concentrate, and in reality, silence was what distracted me.

When you're writing, or doing anything else where you're concentrating, do you need quiet? Or, do you find that you work best with background noise? If you need background noise, what works best for you?

2 comments:

Jenny Maloney said...

Right now I'm writing with Matt's computer game blasting full downstairs, the television turned to a movie that I do not intend to watch, and Shane rustling around papers somewhere behind me. That seems to be the typical kinda noise. If I waited for quiet I'd never get anything done!

But I think that's actually a skill kids need to learn. We put so much focus on kids needing to focus that we forget the *reason* they need to learn to focus is because the world is so busy. A deadline won't be postponed because you 'can't concentrate' because the kids are doing homework, practicing their instrument, watching television, etc etc etc. You have to learn to pay attention through the distractions because I don't think the world will slow down around us. Though it should.

Don't they know the world revolves around me?

Minion GIR said...

Of course it should. At least this little part of it does--when it's not all about me.

I am the youngest of four kids. My mother listened to the radio in the kitchen while my sister practiced clarinet in our bedroom and my brother practiced saxophone in his. I did homework in front of the television. Quiet can distract me faster than anything.