Yeah, that’s right. I’m still lamenting aspects of my life that currently reside in Tucson.

This time I’m focusing on my actual minidiscs. I had dozens of those things all filled up with perfectly crafted mixes. I’d spend hours poring over discographies trying to come up with the precise mix to encapsulate an artist. And if you were an artist that I really dug, you’d get more than one disc.

You’ll believe me when I tell you that I had the most perfect Radiohead mix ever. It was amazing. It had scope and an arc that charted the vibe of the whole thing. And I’ll be damned if I can’t remember five songs that were on it. I’m pretty sure that “Talk Show Host” and “Bishops Robes” were on it. And maybe “True Love Waits”. Nope, nope… scratch that; that was on my minidisc devoted to live versions of Radiohead songs.

I had another minidisc that featured nothing but Biggie in his storytelling finest and one that consisted of him rhyming with others. And speaking of the dead, I even had a minidisc with nothing but my favorite Dilla beats.

And of course I had entire minidiscs dedicated to television theme songs. I had one for sitcoms, one for dramas and one for kids shows and game shows.

Sometimes I’d put together a mix built on a theme, like hip-hop tracks that were under two minutes and thirty seconds in length. And I had another that consisted of only the snippets of dialogue found on soundtracks.

And speaking of soundtracks, I’d often compose soundtracks for the screenplays that I’d write and put it on minidisc. Granted I only did it twice, but still, they exist.

My minidiscs were like a glimpse of my entire collection, or my collection in shorthand. They were almost the essence of my collection, in that they were made of the songs that I wanted to hear the most when I wanted to hear a specific artist.

And I really don’t know what troubles me the most; that I no longer have access to that CliffsNotes version of my collection and I could really use it now, or that I’ve pretty much lost those mixes and will probably have to remake them—all of them.

It’s kind of cool to think about compiling the perfect Nas mix, but knowing that I’ve already made one and it’s beyond my reach balances out that goodness with a pang.