crazystargrl

My iTunes has been disorganized for about a year (ever since I switched to Windows Vista) and I have so many files (about 10,000) that it’s hard to organize it all.

I think I finally got it organized though. Here’s what I did:

- I used MusicBrainz to go through all my files and tag them. It took a while to get some of the B-Sides I had done, but I got most of my files tagged with that program. You just have to be careful not to mistag something.

- I used this program called iTunes Library Updater to transfer all my files in my music folder to iTunes. This helped a lot because usually I would just add it through iTunes and when I did this before, sometimes I’d get duplicates. This program made it really easy.

- I used the “Show Duplicates” feature on iTunes to go through my duplicates. I organize them by “album” or “time” to make it easier. I didn’t get every single duplicates, but I do a little at a time and it’s not noticeable that I have duplicates now.

- I added artwork to all my files by selecting all, right clicking “Clear Downloaded Artwork”, and then clicking “Get Album Artwork”. I haven’t tried using a program that adds artwork yet. I think the built in iTunes artwork system works pretty well for now.

- I also made a bunch of playlists. I made these smart playlists: New Music (music that came out this year), Not Heard Recently, and Songs Not Heard Before. I also added all my mixtape playlists (mixes I’ve made for other people) in to a folder to keep it organized.

For some reason, a bunch of my artists/albums are missing, so I have to download those again. I also have a few mistagged files and duplicates, but I think it’s finished enough that I can say “I’ve done this”. Good luck to anyone organizing their library. I hope my tips help. :)

So I kind of forgot I had this goal, but I started two journals. :) One is a livejournal.com one (I’ve used journals on Xanga, MySpace, and other sites, but never tried a livejournal). It’s nice to have a place online where I can write things down. I also made myself a journal out of an old scarf and I’ve used it for a couple days. Sofar, I’ve been really successful – I’ve written in it, made lists, pasted scraps in, used watercolor, etc. I also joined a group on livejournal where people post their own journal entries (which usually are really artistic and beautiful) and it has really inspired me. Hopefully I’ll keep it up because I really like journaling and it’s a nice way to express myself.

So I think I’m almost at the point where I can basically say “I’ve done this”. I had a website before which was kind of like a business, but this is my first time actually selling something. I’m starting a business this summer on Etsy where I’m selling handcrafted journals and other items like that. My Etsy shop is called “Move the Needle” (movetheneedle.etsy.com) and I’ve registered a domain name (movetheneedlecreations.com) and working on making it a “registered” business with the state. I haven’t got any items up yet, but I’m excited to get it up. It’s definitely a lot of fun and I’ve learned so much already.

I never seem to keep writing in journals I start. I started making my own journals recently to sell and after looking at some really creative journal pages, it made me want to start a journal again. I think I have to remember that journals don’t necessarily have to be just writing in them, but can be used to keep pictures, drawings, little scraps, etc. Hopefully I can start one and be creative with it. :)

We had to give my dog, Bruno, away after he bit another dog on my block. My neighbor sort of threatened my family because they were worried he was going to attack a kid so we thought it was best to let Bruno live with his original family. He seems really content living with them (and we still get to visit), but I would love to have another dog. My parents don’t want to get another dog because they’re worried about my neighbor and I can’t really get my own dog while I’m in college, but I miss having a pet at home. :( Luckily, I think we might be getting another cat, so that will be nice to have another pet.

As part of my Freshmen Seminar/APL class, I wrote about my future plans for studying abroad. Looking at programs abroad got me really excited about going to Italy. I’d love to study in Florence. Florence has a lot of art and culture and is known as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is also centrally located, so you can travel to near regions in Italy, such as Venice and Rome. I’d probably study art. There’s a lot of interesting classes for one abroad program I found (Global Education Solutions) such as all the art classes, Book Arts (which is basically book binding), and Italian famlies. I also like that in this program, you get to live in an apartment in the city so you get to actually experience living in Italy. I signed up to get info for some abroad programs. I probably won’t actually go to Italy for a few years (maybe my junior year of college?), but now I feel like I can actually imagine myself going.

My iTunes always seems to be unorganized. Ever since I switched to a new laptop, my music files (and my files in general) have been pretty messy. iTunes messed with a lot of my music files and changed the names of them and recently I almost lost all my files because my hard drive crashed… so I’m just doing a mass cleaning. I’ve been going through a ton of programs that help clean music files for you and I think I’m almost done cleaning my library completely. I think it’ll be really nice to have all my music files cleaned because I’ll be able to go through my music easily (with the right file names, artwork, etc.) and be able to enjoy my music more.

I would love to go to Italy one day. I’ve studied italian a little, but would love to explore the culture and language more.

I think sometimes it’s hard for me to keep in touch with old friends. It’s definitely easier today with Facebook and everything, but sometimes I have to make the effort to reach out again. I guess this is sort of a constant goal.

This is always a constant goal for me. I always try to stop thinking what other people think of me, but I also have to realize that this part of me is also my compassionate side and my caring nature for others can be positive and negative. I guess I have to find a balance of caring for people who respect me back and to not hold on as much to what other people (especially those who don’t matter) think of me.