We’re in the final countdown for our new boss and two of the three new reporters to arrive. (Our new boss is hiring the final reporter once he gets here.)

That also means we have about a month before the current managing editor leaves. I’ve come to like the guy a lot, so I’m a little sorry to see him go, although he’s been trying to go for quite some time now.

One of the two new copy editors has started. For those of you who have been reading this blog for nearly 11 years, you know what I’m going to say next: I know him from Jacksonville. I sat to his left, actually. He completes the Charlottesville set — at least one person from every newspaper I’ve ever worked (and interned) has been in that newsroom since I’ve been there.

Say it with me:

My life is like a sitcom with a very, very limited budget for casting. You also could say my life is the plot of a very, very bad Charles Dickens novel.

With all the changes that have happened, I had to make a big decision.

Back in 2008, I made a mix CD for my resignation from Petersburg and my moving to Hopewell. I decided to extend that playlist when I initially planned to head to Jacksonville, changed my mind and wound up in Jacksonville anyway. Typically I picked two leaving songs and two arrival songs. The exception is in leaving Petersburg, because the first song — despite being titled “Interlude” — is more of a prelude.

Here is the playlist through  arriving in Charlottesville. I posted this before in 2012, and mentioned including it in my perfect Charlottesvile-to-Nashville playlist. The amount of Death Cab for Cutie is unintentional. Ben Gibbard speaks to my soul, apparently.

ELLIOTTrobinson

Leaving Petersburg

1. “Interlude,” by Lunar
2. “The Unknown,” by Lunar, remixed by TWH
3. “Line of Best Fit,” by Death Cab for Cutie (Something About Airplanes version)

Heading to & Leaving Hopewell

1. “Don’t Be Afraid, You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed,” by múm
2. “The Ballad of the Eagle Claw: The Centipede,” by No BS Brass (Alive in Richmond 2.0 version)
3. “Stable Song,” by Death Cab for Cutie
4. “Stability,” by Death Cab for Cutie

Heading to & Leaving Jacksonville, N.C.

1. “Life in Mono,” by Mono
2. “Music Is Math,” by Boards of Canada
3. “Jungleland,” by Bruce Springsteen
4. “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks,” by The National

The Return to & the Final Departure from Hopewell

1. “I Didn’t See It Coming,” by Belle & Sebastian [no pun intended]
2. “Wrecking Ball,” by Bruce Springsteen
3. “That’s Incentive,” by Death Cab for Cutie
4. “Amputations,” by Death Cab for Cutie (Something About Airplanes version)

Charlottesville

1. “Night Moods,” by Bob James
2. “Git It Awn!” by No BS Brass

Although I haven’t gone anywhere, enough has changed to not only mark the changes but conclude this playlist.

The End of an Era

1. “Tiny Capers,” by Clifford Brown
2. “He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot,” by Grandaddy

But I just couldn’t end it right there. If we’re about to embark on a new phase, the playlist has to reflect that.

Since I titled this playlist ELLIOTTrobinson, it made sense to call this section

ELLIOTTreloaded: A New Beginning

1. “Frank Sinatra,” by Cake
2. “Barragán,” by Blonde Redhead

The playlist begins and ends on a prelude. I find the ending fitting because a prelude builds up anticipation for what’s yet to come.

I’ve started a new playlist that is called and begins with the two songs under ELLIOTTreloaded. I wonder, since the new beginning doesn’t begin until the 18th, if we’ll continue tradition with a third song for the playlist’s first phase.

The odds are pretty high that this hypothetical third song will be a by Death Cab. I’ve semi-purposely held off listening to the band’s 1-month-old album, Kintsugi, until this very second.