Richard Pennycuick writes:

>The problem I have is 40+ years' worth of Gramophones which have
>overflowed a cupboard and are rapidly filling a bookshelf near another
>one that's nearly full of Fanfares.

40 years is a record I could never reach.  Getting the two periodicals
Richard mentions in addition to American Record Guide and the BBC Music
Magazine, I found myself with having to decide how many issues of each
to keep on hand.  I opted for 1 1/2 years of each magazine and thought
that was a generous amount of time.  Evidently, it's very little time
compared to a keeper like Richard.

Actually, I only subscribe to Fanfare, obtaining the others at stores
such as Borders.  To be more accurate, my wife gave me a 2-year subscription
as a present.  Now that I'm retired, I take care of her coffee requirements,
and I am amazed at how appreciative she is about it (I don't drink the
stuff).  So, maybe the present was for the coffee services or perhaps
just for my sparkling personality.  I'll go with the latter.

I apologize to Richard for not having any suggestions as to what he could
do with all his past music magazines, but I'm the type who discards
before he should.  When I embark on one of my frequent "throw out"
sessions, other members of the family stand at the ready near the trash
containers.  My employees at work used to do the same thing, because
they thought I might be throwing out crucial documents - they were right.

Here's a total "aside", but I'm very proud of it.  I started a smoking
reduction program a few weeks ago, the goal being to go from over 1 1/2
packs a day to zero.  I'm now at the 1/2 pack a day point and feeling
confident and ready to reach my goal.  I'm winning this time because I
finally caught on to the fact that the basic problem was not physical
addiction but the habit of associating smoking with a host of activities
- first thing after waking up, after showering, while shaving, just
before dinner, just after dinner, right after love-making, on and on.
I've been dumping these associations one by one and am close to the end.

Does music sound better with less smoke?  Not really.

Don Satz
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