The Mix CD Project

Is this still a thing?

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 17:36:26 -0500

I thiiiink so! I don’t know. It was held up for a really long time and now I don’t know where it is.

Is the package still going around?

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:11:17 -0500

Yeah, it is! It’s been stalling a ton but I’m trying to push people forward. It hasn’t been as seamless as I would have liked but it’s still goin’ on.

sooo I haven't seen hide nor hair of this package. I've been eagerly awaiting its arrival. what's the word?

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:59:17 -0500

The address you gave me didn’t work - Cecily had the package returned to her. I contacted you once and asked for the right address and you never responded. I contacted you again and asked you to contact Cecily with the right address and you never responded to her. We skipped you since you didn’t respond and we couldn’t wait forever. If you still want it, then you need to provide me a working address and we can add you back in later down the list.

Final order!

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 09:33:00 -0500

~~Mary Ruth (me)~~
~~Cecily (laufeysons)~~
Elizabeth (rainbowkittykittie)
~~Taylor (thetaylordetroye)~~
Sue (alloursongswillbelullabies)
Frankie (hurryuppleaseitstime)
Megan (takeadifferentnumber)
Mikayla (gloriousturmoil)
Maryssa (theycallmerampage)
Taylor (carolines-a-victim)
Paige (sore-ribs)
Allyson (burnyourstencil)
Lexie (fairintentions)
Lauren (laurenisdem)

Sent!

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 08:44:32 -0500

Cecily’s sent the package and it’s headed on to the next stop. I updated the post with the order to show where it is, and I’ll keep updating that as the package moves on, so check there if you’re curious. I also added the names everyone gave me to that post by request, so, that’s been updated too.

You can access that at any time by clicking “Where’s the package now?” on the sidebar. Or here.

ok phew, i was worried it had shown up at my house and my parents hadn't told me about it

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 14:11:23 -0500

Haha, no, I’ll make sure to message people to let them know when the package is headed to them! Shouldn’t be any confusion.

where is it right now? do you know?

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 14:08:33 -0500

Embarrassingly enough, it’s still with the first person, about half a month later. Ugh. I’m bad at nagging people to hurry but I need to start doing that. It’s her birthday today so I’ll probably save pushing her to finish until tomorrow.

C’mon, Cecily, step up your CD game.

Can we post however much of our names we're comfortable with being seen right here? It would be nice for post cards sake and also for some low low form of fellowship.

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 14:05:46 -0500

Yeah, for sure! I think everyone told me it was okay to use their names for mailing so everyone should be fine with exchanging first names; almost everyone has theirs on their blog anyway. So I’ll add first names to the list of participants if no one objects in the next 24 hours.

Anyway, on an unrelated note for everyone to see, so I don’t have to make a separate post…sorry for the lagging pace! People are very slow at this. I was hoping it would be a lot further done by now. Oh well.

Hey, I bought enough postcards for everybody, but I'm a bit confused as to how many to write/send because I'm not sure how they'd get to the people who got the package before me. Do we include the one's for the people before us, or just send them to the people after us?

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 08:57:16 -0500

Oh, just the people after you. Or even just the one person after you. Ugh, whoops, I definitely messed up on making that clear - sorry!

So, everyone, with postcards, you can include just one if that’s easiest for you, or you can look at the post with the list of order and just include one for everyone after you.

The package is officially in Cecily's hands!

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 17:05:58 -0500

It’s begun!

Hey, hey, I know I keep promising things will happen faster than they are happening and I’m...

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:13:28 -0500

Hey, hey, I know I keep promising things will happen faster than they are happening and I’m really sorry! I’ve been very stressed and busy with family stuff and other stuff but I’m trying as hard as I can! I appreciate everyone’s patience a lot.

I now have every address!

Wed, 30 May 2012 18:59:40 -0500

Later this evening I’ll post the list of what order the CDs will be moving in, and I think I can get it mailed by this weekend or sometime this week. I’ll also have another post coming up soon outlining a few more ideas/regulations/etc.

If you didn’t see the post earlier in the day, please go read that now!

An update!

Wed, 30 May 2012 15:49:22 -0500

The vote on the method we’ll be using was 5 to 2, with 1 neutral. That’s 8 out of 13 of you, and I’m pretty sure that’s the most votes I’ll be able to muster.

Despite the vote, I was considering making an executive decision towards Option 2. I decided the postage cost was the most important factor and I was willing to ignore the will of the people to save a few cents (something that sounds a lot more capitalistic than I’ve ever wanted to be).

But wait! Democracy prevails!

I made up sample packages to get a gauge on the weight, and there’s almost no difference. CDs barely weigh anything, and the case to hold all 13 CDs isn’t very heavy at all. In fact, a few people had asked me if I could provide CD jewel cases for them - if I’d had to do that, it would be more expensive to do Option 2 with the extra cases in there than to do Option 1.

So, we’re going with the majority vote. Option 1 it is, with the addition that Megan suggested of local postcards so everyone has a souvenir. I happen to have a whole collection of Nashville postcards sitting around, but if you aren’t a crazy hoarder like me, then head out and pick up a postcard somewhere! If you absolutely positively can’t get a postcard, then message me and we’ll figure out something else you can do. But, since you won’t need to buy a blank CD - I’ll be able to provide those with this method, another reason some of you liked it - you should probably be able to buy a postcard.

Thanks for being so helpful, democracy.

Still missing a few addresses.

Sat, 26 May 2012 20:22:20 -0500

If you haven’t given me yours yet, please do! Trying to get this started as soon as possible.

Follow-up.

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:09:00 -0500

So far we’ve got four more votes for option one, the collaborative mailing - along with the exchanging of postcards, which was Megan’s wonderful idea - and two votes for option two where each person gets a single CD, plus one neutral vote for anything as long as everyone gets all the music.

5 to 2 (to 1? it’s kind of a neutral category) right now…which is eight out of thirteen people participating, so if anyone else wants to share an opinion one way or the other or suggest a whole new idea, please do so!

(You can see the post that this is talking about on the front page of the blog right now, if you missed it earlier.)

Maybe we could do the collaborative thing, because that sounds like the best option, but include something like a postcard from where we live which the next person could keep. And then we have the music and a souvenir?

Thu, 24 May 2012 16:41:32 -0500

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: YOU’RE THE BEST.

I think this idea sounds really fun and it solves the problem in a cool way! It ensures that the music will be collaborative at the end, in a handy little .zip file, but it also emphasizes the fact that, hey, wow, people from different parts of the country and the world are able to share music and communicate! And that last part is a really important element to ensure for me, so I like this idea a whole lot. So everyone let me know what you think about this additional option!

What's Happening, Exactly?

Thu, 24 May 2012 16:28:06 -0500

Okay, here’s the thing about this project: I’m…not totally sure about what we’re doing. See, here’s the original post that inspired me: here. It’s awfully vague and a little contradictory about what’s happening. (In fact, it sounds terribly organized. That’s what I’m doing this.) So here are some ideas about how this is going to work, and you can vote by number or provide input if you want to.

All the CDs accumulate. This is what I thought was happening in that original post at first. The CDs add up in the sleeve and then they get mailed back to me. What would happen with that is that I’d rip all the CDs after they came to me and then upload them somewhere so each person could download each CD. Pros: everyone gets all the music, I’m able to provide blank CDs for people. Cons: no one gets something solid, the package will weigh a (small) bit more.
The CDs switch out. This is what I’m starting to think is happening in that original post. One case is sent out, with one CD, and when it gets to someone they take that CD for themselves and add in a new one, which then the next person takes and adds a new one. Pros: everyone gets a physical CD so that feels more fair, the package weighs less. Cons: people will be limited to one CD out of all the ones made, it’ll feel less collaborative.

I really like the collaborative nature of the first idea, but I don’t like the idea of everyone not getting a souvenir of sorts! I want it to be fair but still group-oriented. So send input my way so I can figure out how this is going to work.

The Address Policy/The Next Step in Starting This

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:35:00 -0500

I know the main potential concern with this project is privacy and safety - that’s why I decided to start my own one of these instead of joining the one I saw going around. It’s absolutely integral to me that everyone feels safe and secure.

Here’s the anecdotal part before I get to my plan: Almost all of the participants are people I’m friends with, or at least Tumblr-friends. I absolutely trust these people! The idea of, say, Taylor or Cecily doing something malicious with someone else’s address is totally laughable. So, if anyone can feel secure based solely on my endorsement of these people, there you go. However! That doesn’t mean we’re all going to post our addresses on a public website and hope for the best.

So here’s the deal - only two people will ever see your address (and you don’t need to include your full name if you aren’t comfortable with that). I’ll see everyone’s, and everyone else will see a single address: that of the person they’re mailing it to.

Example: I have a list of the addresses. I send the package to Taylor. He gets it, and messages me on Tumblr saying he’s received it. I message back and give him Frankie’s address. She gets the package, messages me, and I give her Lauren’s address. Et cetera, et cetera. Obviously it won’t take place in that impractical order, but…

Oh, and also, vaguely related sidenote: I’ll make up return address labels with my PO box on them, so if anything goes wrong, everything won’t be lost.

That’s the safest way I can think of to do this. I mean, we could get it down to just one person if you all individually exchanged addresses, but that seems sketchier to me and I’d rather be able to administrate things. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to improve this process, let me know!

I’ll put the order that the package will be traveling in together once I’ve received everyone’s addresses so I can map it out and make sure it’s moving in a practical manner. So message me with any questions, suggestions, or your address as soon as possible!

Current list of participants:

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:23:00 -0500

Here’s everyone who has specifically confirmed their interest to me.

(A bold a is for everyone who’s gotten me their address so far.)

If I don’t hear from anyone else by the end of the day, this is who will be participating. I’ll update this once it’s totally finalized. You can always drop out, but please don’t unless you have to. It’ll be fun! Yeah! Everyone get exciting!

There are already some followers here who aren’t signed on to participate, so just let me reiterate my little spiel that you’ve seen a million times already: If you want to join, you’re still welcome, but you only have until the end of the day!

sounds good, i'm in

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:49:02 -0500

Awesome! I’ll add you.