k, i've got the track rebuilt, if not mixed.

tonight's task is to figure out what to do with it.

well, i got my permanent record mailed to me, but it's not my permanent record. it's for somebody else with the same name born in july, 1981. i was born in january, 1981. so i need to figure out where my files are...

the one thing i did get back was standardized testing results from when i was in grade two. apparently, they identified me as being at a ninth grade level at that time. i passed a test to skip me past grade five, but the principal vetoed it because she thought i needed to stay the year for maturity reasons.

the truth is i was always almost a year older than everybody because i was born thirteen days past the cutoff. so, i was almost eight going into grade two. the skip probably would have helped more than hindered in terms of behavioural issues.

anyways, these were my grade two standardized test results. these are percentiles, not grades.

vocabulary - 99
reading - 95
language - 96
work-study - 99
mathematics - 93
total rank: 99th percentile (national)

i look back and don't wish i would have spent more time on school, i look back and wish i wouldn't have bothered at all. and, had i not been pressured into it, i probably wouldn't have.

i mean, i'd probably have more of this discography done at this point.

but i think i got to the right approach eventually.

speaking of which, i need to start the next remix....

that reliable feeling of disappointment that one expects following a new smashing pumpkins release

all three of these tracks seem geared for radio play. it's not like the pumpkins weren't always a radio band, but...

i don't listen to the radio anymore and haven't in a really, really long time but i suspect that none of these songs are going to fit in well with anything remotely approaching an existing singles market. which gives them that left-field advantage. but that's low probability. hey, i hope it works out. but...

how many people are going to post the tired old "it's like everything else since insert event - it's ok, but it just doesn't grab me". well, they're right on some level but they're not able to articulate it.

the smashing pumpkins sound requires the integration of virtuoso guitar work.

that's the missing link, the je ne sais quoi, the intangible, the mystery ingredient...

sadly, it's probably the exact opposite thing that william (hey, he asked, have some respect) has heard from every label head, marketing expert, friend and pet over the last fifteen years.

this is alright. for a pop song. but it doesn't have that virtuosic angular energy.

which in the end just means i'm not in the intended audience. which is ok, too.