Child-caused music funks and frozen Andalucia

I’ve been in a random music funk the past few months because my child has completely destroyed my Spotify algorithm. Every time I log on I’m bombarded with JoJo Siwa and music from the Descendants (which is surprisingly good, it has to be said). And this wouldn’t be a problem except I use Spotify to discover new music, and that has gone all haywire now.

I finally got around to signing her up for a Spotify Kids account linked to mine (not an easy task because we live abroad, and because with a family plan you all have to be in the same household, when I try to do it from Spain it reminds me that I’m in a different country than my billing address. There are so many reasons one needs a VPN when one lives abroad), thinking it would be great because she can use it on her Kindle. But nope, no Spotify Kids app on the Kindle (likely because Amazon wants you to use their own service. Damn walled content gardens). So now she’s using Spotify Kids on the old phone my dad gave her, which also houses her audiobooks from Scribd, and I can finally get my Spotify algorithm back in shape.

#firstworldproblems

But seriously, it’s been a pain. YouTube is beyond all hope, but that I can live with. Spotify being off has put me in a music funk, which makes me feel generally off kilter.

In other news, it’s freezing in Andalucia. Not just chilly, but legit frozen. Which would be kind of fun, except our homes are not set up to keep heat in. They’re designed to keep heat out. Awesome in August. Not so much in December. We’re walking around bundled in three layers, clutching hot drinks, with hot water bottles and heating pads on every surface. It feels very medieval. All I need is a boar roasting in the fireplace, and some minstrels to sing the Agincourt Carol, and it would be like a living history experience.

Blessing of the day: This morning when I got up, the full moon was setting across the valley, and I watched it set as I made my coffee. It was brilliant, and lit up the entire kitchen, as if a bright headlight was shining through the darkness. I watched it disappear behind the hill, all luminary and magical, and I thought about how only 130-odd years ago Gilded-Age Americans were convinced that the moon was inhabited by a civilization that was struggling with water supply, and all the lines and canyons on the moon were actually canals they were building to try to bring more water down from the frozen poles. And for a minute I thought I could see it. Little moon people building the California aqueduct to quench the thirst of their moon cities. It was almost believable for a minute.

Then the coffee kicked in, the trance was broken, and I went back to retraining my Spotify algorithm.