My imaginary British boyfriend

I promise to write about Declan's next album soon, but I wanted to add another quick post. I stumbled on this website for the International Mixtape Project last month and decided to check it out. It's perfect for geeks like me who enjoy making mixes and forcing them upon friends. Now I get to force them upon perfect strangers.

Here's how it works: You sign up and pay $10 (for operating fees - I don't blame them, this thing's probably a hassle to run). Every month they send you the name and address of someone to send a mix CD to. The email usually contains a thematic suggestion but you can send anything you want. In turn, somebody else sends you a CD.

I signed up in May and sent a copy of "Sad Panda" to a guy in Canada. I was starting to think the whole thing might be too much of a hassle for me, what with the going to the post office and all, when one afternoon there was a lovely brown envelope in my mailbox with a Royal Mail stamp on it. My CD had arrived and it was from some British (and sad?) guy named James.

I immediately played the CD and it was great fun. It had a little British rap (which I love) and Neutral Milk Hotel (which I also love) and I found myself imagining my wonderful British boyfriend had sent this to me. If Shawn can have an imaginary German girlfriend and Nicolaj can have an imaginary New York girlfriend, why not me? Now, I can't wait to see what arrives this month. I have a brand new mix to ship off to New Zealand!