In my return to Google, I thought I'd settle with its toolbox. And yet, where do I find myself: on my Linux box, using Brave and composing in Visual Studio Code. I do have Lux playing in the background via a YouTube stream so I'm not wholly apart from Google. And still...

There was one more wave of nostalgia this weekend: I acquired a batch of old CDs. It's a part of my plan to break away from streaming services. It was a yard sale find of a couple of wooden cabinets and 350+ CDs, ALL for $5. I retained these:

1. Better Than Ezra, Friction, Baby (1996)
2. Bon Jovi, Cross Road (1994)
3. Bryan Adams, Waking Up the Neighbors (1991)
4. Bush, The Science of Things (1999)
5. Bush, Razorblade Suitcase (1996)
6. Coldplay, A Rush of Blood in My Head (2002)
7. Collective Soul, Collective Soul (1995)
8. Creed, Human Clay (1999)
9. Enigma, The Cross of Changes (1993)
10. Enya, A Day Without Rain (2000)
11. Eric Clapton, The Cream of Clapton (1995)
12. Frank Sinatra, Come Fly with Me (1958)
13. Frank Sinatra, Sinatra Reprise: The Very Good Years (1991)
14. Frank Sinatra, Nothing But the Best (2008)
15. Lenny Kravitz, Greatest Hits (2000)
16. Live, Secret Samadhi (1997)
17. Live, The Distance to Here (1999)
18. Matchbox 20, Yourself or Someone Like You (1996)
19. Matchbox 20, Mad Season (2000)
20. Moby, Play (1999)
21. R.E.M., Out of Time (1991)
22. R.E.M., Automatic for the People (1992)
23. R.E.M., eponymous (1988)
24. Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Toward Ecstasy (1993)
25. Silverchair, Frogstomp (1995)
26. Tangerine Dream, Turn of the Tides (1994)
27. The Platters, Golden Hits (1959)
28. The Righteous Brothers, The Moonglow Years (1993)
29. U2, Pop (1997)
30. U2, All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
31. Various, Forrest Gump the Soundtrack (1994)
32. Various, Twilight soundtrack (2008)
33. Vertical Horizon, Everything You Want (1999)

Again, I got all of that with the with the hinged wooden towers to house them for $5. What's the current price for a tall Americano from Starbucks? In time, I'll rip them all to FLAC and convert them to ogg or mp3 as needed for portability/practicality.

There are a ton of memories on those discs. I suppose the only album that wouldn't have something is that Tangerine Dream title, a band that I began digging weeks back for their Love on a Real Train.

The rest can be associated to a memory—some the entire album, others particular tracks.

My heart drops to some...surges for others...

With this nostalgia of these past days, I must do what is found on a U2 album: I gotta Walk On. There's not much of '23 left and 2024 is gonna be a special one. Still, the past will forever mean something special to me, all the pivotal shifts, whether...

...1994's freedoms...

...2004's journeys...

...2014's new beginnings...

...2024's...