Dept. of Audio

 After Monday's post, a helpful reader, Margaret, suggested I listen to audiobooks to help me  get to sleep.

Just this one book is all I ask

So I took on Audible.  That seemed straightforward enough until I chose a book, a Barbara Pym novel, that would NOT allow itself to be bought by me.  After 23 minutes on the phone, I learned--I am truly not making this up--that there's some kind of "geoblock" on that book, that people who live in my area cannot order it for a discounted, new-member price.

I was ready to cancel my brand-new membership, until the earnest man on the phone said they'd ask for an exception.  I have no idea who they'll ask, but it'll take 5-8 business days to get an answer.

In the meantime, I decided to investigate how to download music to my iPhone, which is nearly a year old and without a single piece of music on it.  (I do have an MP3 player.)

After numerous deadends, I managed to move fourteen downloads from iTunes to computer to iPhone.  I shared the result with Jerry,  a slight downer because I put the earbud in his deafish ear.  No matter!   I've now got three songs on my iPhone that are absolutely dependable cheerer-uppers.  They're all pretty much inane (Jerry says they're "hokey").    Don't care!

No wonder she's smiling

"A Wink and a Smile," Harry Connick Jr.
"Make Someone Happy," Jimmy Durante
"The Puppy Song," Henry Nilsson

How do I know these gems?  Because they were all in movies that Nora Ephron produced and/or directed ("Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail").    Listen and you will smile, guaranteed.

So now I'm modern--sort of.  (A few years ago, I heard two old ladies talking in a doctor's waiting room, and one mentioned that she had to go an ATM afterward for cash.  The other looked surprised and said, "Oh, you're so modern!")