skepticlysm

Tag: music

  • Lunch Hour

    Lunch Hour

    • Sitting here listening to Daft Punk’s Tron: Legacy soundtrack.
    • While I write random things for work.
    • And this.
    • Obviously.
    • I can go back and forth.
    • Also, it’s lunch hour.
    • (Was. – Editor)
    • EPIC cyberpunk sounds while writing a Code of Conduct for an internal communications platform I get to launch.
    • …
    • Let’s start that over.
    • I didn’t get any further than that last Friday and didn’t pick it up over the weekend.
    • The dependable lists died that quickly.
    • Which is frustrating as fuck.
    • Which makes me want to go into the whole indentured servitude rant again.
    • I won’t.
    • There’s no point.
    • And you’re tired of hearing it.
    • I’m tired of not being able to do much about it.
    • <Insert segue here.>
    • Yesterday, the kid and I went to meet my parents at Texas Roadhouse for lunch.
    • Dad’s birthday was Saturday.
    • When we got in the car, I handed her my phone, told her to find some music.
    • She put on a Punk playlist.
    • The first song was from Bad Brains.
    • Made me proud.
    • How much do we need Punk right now?
    • That raw, scream-in-the-face-of-the-system energy.
    • I popped in my earbuds getting out of car this morning, to continue listening to my “Liked Songs” playlist.
    • Turning out of the parking garage and onto the sidewalk, Rage’s “Guerilla Radio” came on.
    • There I am, gimpy from pred withdrawal, hobbling the block-and-a-half to work feeling the lyrics of that song.
    • We need Art like that so damn much.
    • The other observation: I’m experiencing right now what I’m going to feel like physically if I make it to my 70s.
    • Fucking prednisone.
    • Fast forward 20 years, I’ll be hobbling around with my hearing aids connected to my phone, still listening to Rage.
    • The kid told me a couple weeks back that sometimes, she listens to extreme Metal when she’s frustrated or mad or getting ready to do something she doesn’t want to do.
    • The hardcore, scream-o kind.
    • Surprised me.
    • Illuminating.
    • Because there have been more than a few mornings when she gets in the car and puts her headphones on.
    • I get it, kid.
    • What’s funny is that I never really subjected her to anything harder than Lamb of God.
    • She found it on her own.
    • Hours later, I’m still playing my “Liked Songs” playlist.
    • It just served up “Pocket Full of Sunshine.”
    • Been a helluva mix.
    • But how would it not be, really?
    • They’re all songs I’ve liked.
    • Genre chaos.
    • Most of the drive to work was thrash metal.
    • Two or three from And Justice for All.
    • And this Anthrax song, “Breathing Lightning,” which I love because of how it makes me feel.
    • Has this expansive, defiant, hopeful feel to it.
    • I can’t explain it better than that, and you probably wouldn’t like it like I do, especially if you’re not an Anthrax fan.
    • I won’t try to convert you, either.
    • We don’t do that here.
    • Trying to convince anyone of anything seems like a waste of time these days.
    • Try to get anyone to do anything these days …
    • (This one’s got a high Kid Quotient.)
    • The other night right before we all crashed, she said, “I really like writing down my thoughts about film.”
    • “Yeah?”
    • “Yes. Did you like writing about movies?”
    • “Yes I did. I liked it a lot.”
    • She’s really digging her “History through Film” class (I think I have that right).
    • A whole class where all you do is watch and discuss films?
    • Sounds like college to me.
    • But that “writing about movies” bit.
    • I wonder if there’s going to be a trend back toward strong voices in the fight against the algorithm.
    • I want that to be on the horizon.
    • Stop telling us what to see. What to think. What to feel. What to be mad about.
    • Start fixing things.
    • Oof.
    • Just deleted about … 15 bullets.
    • Because oversharing.
    • Not a good idea to disclose your vulnerabilities.
    • Emotional regulation when everything is full blast all the time.
    • So …
    • One of my friends who’s faculty at the college, gave me a mug when I got back from the brainssss.
    • *See photo if you’re on the Book of Faces.
    • (I promise I’ll get the blog template updated to something with pics. I miss the pics.)
    • Anyway, for those without … captions.
    • It’s one of those that looks like it has lines in a kind of nonsensical pattern.
    • Only when you turn the mug sideways and focus can you see what it says.
    • (Which is probably a truism for surviving the world.)
    • (Turn shit sideways. Focus. Conquer.)
    • Anyway, it says “Fuck This Shit.”
    • I feel like a rebellious teenager walking to and from the break room.
    • This just happened.
    • A person in the hall shook her head at me, said, “Hey.”
    • I said, “How are you?”
    • She kinda grumbled.
    • I nodded. “Yeah, it’s a Monday.”
    • She said, “How are you?”
    • I said, “It’s a Monday,” and then gave that raised mug mock salute … with the FTS Mug.
    • Now, if you’ll excuse me, lunch is over.
    • Back to the grind.
  • The $5.98 Blog Post

    The $5.98 Blog Post

    • Starship ain’t what it used to be.
    • When “we” were kids, Starship Records and Tapes sat in a small, converted house off 11th & Delaware.
    • Place was yellow and blue on the outside and had a really pointy roofline.
    • Smelled like weed on the inside.
    • Full of bongs.
    • Sorry.
    • Paraphernalia.
    • I’m pretty sure I bought my “Crash Course in Brain Surgery” t-shirt there in ninth grade.
    • (Metallica cover of Budgie.)
    • …waitaminute…
    • You don’t think …
    • …
    • …
    • Nah.
    • Anyway, had fond memories of the place from the two or three times I visited.
    • A while back, they moved.
    • Kinda over by Mother Road Market off Lewis.
    • The kid’s into traditional vinyl records, so I thought we could go.
    • And she could practice driving.
    • Down Lewis.
    • Which, like Peoria, is stupidly narrow for some dumb reason, curbs adding to the difficulty rating.
    • Weren’t cars fatter in the ‘50s and ‘60s than they are now?
    • You’d kill each other going four wide in some old Lincolns, Fords and Chevys.
    • Anyway.
    • She did well.
    • Starship … didn’t?
    • Took her to Studio Records to make up for it.
    • Shoulda seen her eyes light up when we entered.
    • And yes, we walked out with records.
    • She paid for most of them.
    • They actually had The $5.98 EP – Garage Days Revisited on vinyl.
    • Which was the first Metallica album I bought the day it came out.
    • Everything before that was out before I found them.
    • I still listen to that EP all the time.
    • I love those five songs.
    • Okay, the first four.
    • I can take or leave the Misfits cover.
    • The internet’s telling me that EP dropped August 21, 1987, which makes it … jfc … 38 years old.
    • Sigh.
    • Fuckit.
    • I’m not apologizing.
    • I still like a lot of the music I grew up with.
    • And I’ll defend my roots until they play this stuff at my wake.
    • Play “The Wait” at my wake.
    • Heh.
    • I’d be worried if I only listened to “old” music, but I still find new music.
    • I know, I know, I have recited that “do not go gentle” line a million times at this point.
    • Don’t know what to tell you.
    • I’m not going to stop.
    • Fuck it.
    • Like, I’m in the middle of reclaiming my fitness.
    • I’ve ridden my bike three times in the past two weeks, increasing my mileage a tad each time.
    • And each time, well the first two times, I’ve been wrecked after.
    • Sore all over.
    • I will overcome.
    • I will be back.
    • I cannot do this any other way.
    • I can’t imagine giving up.
    • Not now.
    • I’ve mentioned the immobility, stiffness, lack of flexibility, and lack of strength.
    • Holy shit, some people just give up and age like that?
    • If this were a PT problem, I’d be at PT.
    • (I might, btw, if my heels don’t improve.)
    • I’ll give work a month or so before I start leaving for PT.
    • But … damn, man.
    • I need to be able to ride at least 35 miles (or 25 on gravel).
    • I need to be able to ride Turkey Mountain.
    • I need to be able to run a damn 5k.
    • And do 40 pushups.
    • Hell, it’d be nice to be able to run a 50-yard sprint, but … I’m trying to be patient here.
    • The point is age takes things from you.
    • Some of which are unavoidable.
    • Maybe you can affect the pace.
    • But holy shit, don’t just shrug your shoulders and go, “Okay.”
    • I can say that because it’s what I’ve been doing for three years.
    • I let this shit beat me for a while.
    • And I still don’t know if I’ve won or not.
    • I’m just no longer lying on the couch and taking it.
    • I’m working on applying that to everything in my life.
    • Anything I feel deficient at.
    • I’m coming for you.
    • Okay, the “Green Hell” portion of the Misfits song is pretty great.
    • (Of course I put the EP on when I started typing. After the fifth bullet point.)
    • I can’t actually imagine hearing Danzig sing it.
    • I was never into the Misfits.
    • I know Cliff wore the shirt, but …
    • We didn’t have streaming back then.
    • What you gonna do?
    • I only owned like a dozen tapes.
    • Maybe a few more than that, but not much.
    • Got what I could from Columbia, got out.
    • I still have some in a red metal lunchbox in the upstairs closet.
    • One of them’s the “Creeping Death” single.
    • I wrote a list on Friday.
    • Facebook did not like it.
    • Gave me an “error” each time I tried to post.
    • It’s over on the blog if you want to read it.
    • I liked it.
    • For what that’s worth.
    • My favorite song on that EP was “The Small Hours,” which apparently belonged to a band called Holocaust.
    • Didn’t remember that.
    • I’m sure I knew back when.
    • Cause I sat on the bed and read the jackets for everything I had while I listened to it.
    • According to the Internet, Metallica’s played that song live a whole seven times, the last being in 2009.
    • I always imagine bands whose songs get covered by modern acts are grateful, because there’s money involved.
    • Each time a song gets played, someone gets a royalty check.
    • Unless it’s by Spotify, then they get screwed.
    • Another example of some rich asshole getting paid for something a creative person created.
    • We watched Argo again this afternoon.
    • They kept showing scenes of Iranians burning things in effigy.
    • Future flashback.
    • And now we’re at the end of  the EP where they butcher the beginning of Maiden’s “Run to the Hills,” which seems a fitting sentiment to end on.
    • Better than sitting here letting the Monday Dreads win.
    • F it.
  • Trepidatious

    Trepidatious

    • What a long, strange week that was.
    • And now we sit on the Wall of Trepidation, the Precipice of Return.
    • I haven’t missed work.
    • I didn’t think I’d be out this long, but … apparently recovery from a craniotomy and treatment of a brain growth takes longer than you expect.
    • Even sick, even with all the health nonsense wrapping up, I enjoyed my time of freedom.
    • It gave me perspective.
    • I won’t get into that because some of my TCC people are on here.
    • But once you’ve had daily freedom for a substantial amount of time, combined with a nearish-death experience, well …
    • Epiphanies occur.
    • I had two for my book, for instance.
    • One of them means I have to go back and rewrite almost every interaction between my two mainish characters.
    • The other is probably for book two, but … might make it into this one.
    • Then there were the self-revelations.
    • The elation of not being told what to do.
    • (I cannot overstate the feeling of that; I could do so much more without that in my life.)
    • Sigh.
    • At least I’m returning triumphant.
    • The enemy might be vanquished.
    • Or it might be regrouping like Sauron, the eye ever watchful.
    • We’ll wait and see.
    • I’ll battle my hope, keep it battened down.
    • I’m not sure if I’ll have time to continue the Black List here.
    • Okay, that’s horseshit.
    • I’ll fit it in.
    • It might not be every day.
    • I need it to be every day.
    • Good habits are only good if you keep them.
    • Another aspect of my return to work, especially as it relates to this … I’m not sure I want to go back to writing sanitized versions for work.
    • Sure, that’s where this all started.
    • And most of what I write here is fine.
    • But I like the NSFW bits.
    • I like not censoring myself.
    • Though, frankly, I have still avoided politics and I’m not sure why.
    • I have a list of unrelated-to-work To-Dos.
    • Get the LLCs done.
    • Get the mic I need for the podcasts.
    • Get the websites built.
    • Get the merch train rolling.
    • Keep writing.
    • Get back in shape (already kinda started on that one).
    • Lots to do.
    • Time moves pretty fast.
    • If you don’t make moves to control yours, someone else will.
    • I have taken advantage of the convalescence.
    • Or let it take advantage of me, anyway.
    • Move it.
    • Walking around last week, I lamented the fact I’d forgotten my pocket notebook.
    • Things would pop into my head and … what to do?
    • Sure, I could use a Notes phone app.
    • But then I have to remember to check it because that’s not part of my routine.
    • (FU, computer grammar police; I mean “have to,” not “must.” This isn’t a fucking period piece.)
    • Here’s what I did: I emailed myself the note.
    • From Gmail to my primary.
    • One of them was an Insta post.
    • One of them said, “Metalhead.”
    • Which, yes, obviously.
    • But in this instance, not what you think.
    • LWIL: I have a titanium plate and screws in my head now.
    • Had no idea.
    • No one mentioned it before.
    • Beforehand, the neurosurgeon said she’d be putting the bone they removed back.
    • We’ve spent 11 weeks thinking the bone spot was just in there regrowing, fusing back with the rest of the skull.
    • And she said she did that, but also … plate in my head.
    • “Don’t worry. It won’t mess up any MRIs.”
    • Got that, lady. Already had three of those since the surgery.
    • There were other revelations in that appointment, like the size of the tissue she removed (think diameter of a dollar coin).
    • Anyway.
    • Metalhead.
    • Accurate.
    • Again.
    • And literal this time.
    • One of the other emails says, “311 drums.”
    • The drummer for 311 is a badmotherfucker.
    • So was Green Day’s.
    • Sublime … isn’t.
    • No, I’m not going to elaborate on that.
    • At the time of this writing, Snacks is standing on my chest, Kong in his mouth, begging me to save him from Emmy.
    • Because she takes his away every time, obviously.
    • Nevermind he’s bigger.
    • She’s meaner and more tricksy.
    • Yesterday, I stood by the backdoor and watched those two take care of business, and I could feel the inferno with my eyes.
    • (Steph was trying to nap, and our doors beep when you open, so … monitoring it because I didn’t let it fully close.)
    • While I watched, nearly napping, suddenly I felt a touching, touching of my little toe.
    • Looked down and Ginny had settled next to my foot, extending her paw to lay atop my toe.
    • Then she climbed up on the couch arm and asked for pets.
    • One of the cats missed me.
    • The other attacked my leg because I did not hold her long enough.
    • And probably for being gone for a week.
    • She’s still not talking to me.
    • Cat, sometimes we have to leave home for a spell.
    • Doesn’t mean we’re leaving you.
    • Don’t be a clawing shithead about it.
    • Thanks.
    • – Mgmt
    • On the way home from Minnesota Monday, I put on my “Liked Songs” playlist.
    • It literally played the entire time with no repeated songs.
    • Well, maybe a couple, but only because I’d liked two different versions of the same song.
    • I don’t think the women hated it.
    • We rolled my Dad’s Subaru Forrester.
    • … Okay, I have trouble reconciling that in my head.
    • He’s a Chevy guy.
    • It’s his first-ever brand-new car.
    • I’m used to him tooling around in a GMC 4×4 extended cab, extended bed, monster truck.
    • Still not sure how he ended up with the Subie.
    • (His doesn’t blow holes in its engine block walls like mine does.)
    • Anyway, he loans it to us for these Minnesota trips.
    • It is the best road trip car ever.
    • (Except for napping in the passenger seat; so I’m told.)
    • Android Auto is awesome.
    • Better than Apple Carplay.
    • What I’m saying is … I guess I have a shitload of “Liked” songs.
    • I did spend an afternoon in Minnesota adding songs to it, so there’s that.
    • Want a taste?
    • “Francesca,” Hozier
    • A ton of Metallica songs (because I had not liked them individually).
    • “Eruption,” Van Halen
    • “Enjoy the Silence,” Lacuna Coil (cover of DM)
    • “Santa Monica,” Everclear
    • “Brain Stew,” Green Day
    • “Prayer of the Refugee,” Rise Against
    • “The Distance,” CAKE
    • “Slither,” Velvet Revolver
    • “Judith,” A Perfect Circle
    • “My Hero,” Foo Fighters
    • “Float On,” Modest Mouse
    • “Shame,” Stabbing Westward
    • “Highway Tune,” Greta Van Fleet
    • “Personal Jesus,” Depeche Mode
    • “Break Stuff,” Limp Bizkit
    • “Even Flow,” Pearl Jam
    • “Creep,” Radiohead
    • “Bleed it Out,” Linkin Park
    • “Hash Pipe,” Weezer
    • “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” Twisted Sister
    • “Song 2,” Blur
    • “Let’s Go Crazy,” Prince
    • “I Wanna Be Sedated,” The Ramones
    • “Need You Tonight,” INXS
    • “Could Have Been Me,” The Struts
    • “Back in Black,” AC/DC
    • And we’re stopping on that one, because it’s thematically appropriate (and sets off a whole bunch of summer memories in someone’s Camaro).
    • There’s a fuckton more, obviously.
    • I guess I could share it, but … feels kinda personal.  
    • See you tomorrow, probably.

  • Scratch That Itch

    Scratch That Itch

    • Started up Spotify, which picked up where I left off yesterday.
    • “Disgustipated,” by Tool.
    • Nevermind it’s funny.
    • “These are the cries of the carrots. Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses!”
    • That’s only half the reason I like it.
    • The other half is the percussion.
    • Danny’s a genius.
    • Has to be one of the best of all time.
    • Though … there are different kinds of musicians.
    • Those who are technically brilliant.
    • Those who can phenomenally match the soul of the song.
    • A precious few who can do both.
    • I’m not making a list.
    • I do not have the expertise.
    • I do think Danny can do both.
    • Or like David Gilmour of Pink Floyd on guitar.
    • (Again, my perpetual promotion of “Comfortably Numb.”)
    • “The “Comfortably Numb” guitar solos by David Gilmour are iconic and widely regarded as some of the best in rock history. The song features two distinct solos, both of which utilize the B minor pentatonic scale and are known for their expressive bends, phrasing, and use of vibrato.”
    • Thanks, Google AI!
    • Which means, of course, take everything in that copy/paste for what it’s worth.
    • (Might be worth nothing, but holy hell, I love those solos.)
    • That just played, btw.
    • Followed up by “Breathing Lightning” by Anthrax, which is a damn good song.
    • Good effing lord.
    • I have an all-over body rash.
    • Have had for days.
    • Literally everywhere.
    • Docs at the Mayo said, “It can’t be related to the meds or it would’ve started before now. Take a benedryl.”
    • Did that.
    • Still itchy.
    • Can’t get into the primary care people until Thursday, which makes it a perfect whole week of doc appts.
    • And before you say, “Hey, they make ointments for that kind of thing …”
    • I would have to bathe in the stuff.
    • Not cost effective.
    • I’m losing my mind.
    • This from someone who’s had 24/7 tinnitus since 2009.
    • But … it’s in my armpits, behind my knees … holy shit this is worse than having my skull cut open.
    • I’m going to have to go take a scalding hot shower.
    • You increase the pain to lessen the pain.
    • Forced recalibration?
    • Deliberate perspective shift?
    • Those of you who get poison ivy know what I’m talking about.
    • Running that shit under hot, hot water is almost orgasmic.
    • I remember doing that kind of thing as a kid.
    • The “adding pain lessens pain” thing.
    • When you’d have a splinter or something wanting to be infected, I’d mash on it to make it hurt worse for a moment.
    • No?
    • Just me then.
    • Weird.
    • Got it.
    • I can endure all kinds of physical hardships, but a goddamn itch pushes the limit more than almost anything.
    • Possibly controversial take: the “Bring the Noise” with Public Enemy and Anthrax is better than the original (except for the parts where the Anthrax guys rap).
    • (Let the real rappers rap, boys.)
    • I remember “I’m the Man” getting played at my first junior high dance where kids from both our town’s schools could attend.
    • We expected rumbles.
    • I don’t remember any.
    • “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
    • Yesterday, driving home from picking up dinner, the state of the road set my brain off on a spiral.
    • It drives me insane every time I hear someone bitch about taxes.
    • Taxes fund our society.
    • Full stop.
    • The road I drove on last night … full of patches and potholes and cracks and unevenness.
    • Moon rover.
    • Tax money would fix that.
    • If our city collected enough of it.
    • And that money was spent properly.
    • instead, dipshit congress people (who are those wealthy enough to run), continually misspend the tax money collected, work to lessen taxes collected, and do not really give a shit about the implications of defunding valuable programs that allow us to have a functioning modern society.
    • Roads. Schools. Social welfare programs.
    • Sorry, kids, but taxes are VITAL.
    • Maybe we should all be focusing on how these people opt to spend our tax dollars instead of being catfished by inflammatory subject matters like abortion or sexuality.
    • Once again, I’m asking you to stop believing the propaganda and start looking at what the policies do for our society.
    • Sure, not everything affects you personally.
    • But you have to stop and assess its impact on the greater good.
    • (The greater good.)
    • Government is not a business.
    • It exists to serve the people.
    • All of us.
    • Even you.
    • Yes, there’s spending on things you don’t think are important.
    • Cool. There’s more than you here.
    • That fucking road is embarrassing is what I’m saying.
    • Should not be allowed to get into that condition.
    • I wonder why it’s not a priority?
    • (Because choices have to be made about where to spend the limited funds.)
    • Defunding education makes the country less competitive globally, makes people less able to critically think (and thus easier to be manipulated), and limits upward economic mobility.
    • OMG, taxes.
    • Sorry, but privatization of services is not for the greater good.
    • It always, ALWAYS, leads to shittier service and increased cost.
    • Because greed, and fuck Gordon, is not good.
    • Freedom and prosperity aren’t free, and that includes more than robust military.
    • This from a shitty road.
    • Road’s got me ranting.
    • And this damned itching.
    • We’re going to extend this a bit so we don’t end on an argument.
    • Happy birthday, Candice!
    • We all said that to her (because she’s in town to help care for Mom).
    • Didn’t sing.
    • I’m not from a family of singers.
    • Or performers.
    • Or musicians.
    • Well, one of my mom’s cousins is a musician.
    • Symphonic.
    • Taught at a college and everything.
    • Anyway, there will be bundt cake.
    • And responsibility for choosing dinner.
    • Hallelujah!
    • My playlist went from “As the Rush Comes” to “Welcome Home (Sanitarium).”
    • Natives getting restless now.
    • Mutiny in the air.
    • Mirror stares back hard.
    • Seems the only way for reaching out again.
    • (I left out all the killing business.)
    • Hetfield writes good lyrics most the time.
    • Better riffs, but still.
    • And then to “Enjoy the Silence.”
    • Randomized playlists of songs you’ve liked are the bomb.
    • I wonder if randomized life would be as satisfying.
    • I’m guessing … no.
    • Because that’s pretty much what we have, and we’re missing the “like” button.
    • See you tomorrow.
    • If the itch doesn’t send me to the sanitarium between now and then.

  • Short-Term Memory Issues

    Short-Term Memory Issues

    • Favorite cover of a song.
    • Go!
    • I don’t have favorites of anything, really.
    • I like lots of things, and depending on the mood, sometimes something climbs to the “favorite” spot.
    • Ephemeral Favorites.
    • I’m overusing that word.
    • Was listening to Ruelle’s cover of “Where is my mind?”
    • Was playing when I started typing, anyway.
    • Last night, I started thinking about writing.
    • I know, I know.
    • But specifically, scripts and books in terms of paychecks.
    • When a movie gets made, for instance, they’ll pay the actors millions, even cutting them into the profits of the film.
    • RDJ got north of $75 million for Avengers: Endgame, I think I read somewhere.
    • The Director gets his millions.
    • The writers, however, the people who come up with the story, get a pittance in comparison.
    • “For WGA members, the minimum for a first draft screenplay is around $106,000, and rewrites and adaptations start at approximately $54,000.”
    • What the actual F.
    • Without the writing, without the idea, you have nothing.
    • I don’t deny acting talent, but c’mon, those people get paid because they’re pretty.
    • Now’s a good time in history to be pretty.
    • Always better to be pretty.
    • It’s another inherent bias.
    • Back on topic: Not everyone can write worth a damn.
    • How is it they are always underpaid?
    • Started thinking about this because one of the guys in the clan shared an article about the death of SEO and the responsive rise of authentic influencers.
    • Like people writing their own content and developing a following for their ideas.
    • Followed for being thought leaders.
    • Which harkens back to the beginning of the internet.
    • Sounded nice.
    • I’m not sure I believe it.
    • I’m not sure the algorithms would let that happen.
    • Zuck has already said he wants meta products to be less about people, and more about fill your head with content generated by AI.
    • I’m not a trend guy.
    • I react negatively when we try to do things the way everyone else does them at work.
    • I write content based around the idea of developing a relationship.
    • If you don’t …
    • Nm.
    • Revisiting material.
    • That happens when you’re still sitting on the couch with your laptop on your lap.
    • NP: Metallica, “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”
    • When this song plays, I see my bedroom in the house I grew up in.
    • I remember climbing out the window to go skate the half-pipe in the backyard.
    • I remember the music as I fell asleep.
    • Again, repeating, but I used to play that tape in my Panasonic boom box on my headboard at lights out, and I’d usually be in Nevernever Land by four or five songs in.
    • Sometimes, Master of Puppets (album) throws me into memories, full spectrum.
    • Smells. Sounds. Sights.
    • I’ve had that a couple of times lately when I’ve been outside (without the music).
    • Catch a smell and I’m a teenager again.
    • It’s bizarre.
    • Something yesterday threw me back into leaving the house on my skateboard on a summer morning.
    • I remember those years better than my 20s.
    • Or my 30s.
    • Hmmm, I wonder why.
    • I won’t go into the work rant again.
    • I don’t have to
    • You know.
    • I wonder if our memories get worse because of rote repetition.
    • If you’re not creating new pathways, your brain falls apart.
    • “Variety is the spice of life.”
    • Yeah, might be the secret to longevity.
    • I made an “old” quip to Kaia last night at bedtime along the lines of “I’m old, my brain doesn’t work.”
    • She got onto me, told me my brain worked fine.
    • “Okay, my short-term memory sucks.”
    • I can’t even remember what I told her I couldn’t remember. 
    • Just now, I had to ask her what we were talking about that I couldn’t remember.
    • Ah.
    • Bringing the cat upstairs to her room.
    • Of course.
    • I’ve never been good at repetition of anything.
    • Boredom … it means different things to different people.
    • Some people use it when they have nothing to do.
    • I can have a million things to do and still be bored af.
    • I hate the word, but a lack of “engagement” is the thing that causes boredom for me.
    • Disinterest destroys me.
    • (Directly fueled my Internet addiction.)
    • I see it in the kid, too.
    • Another thing for which I owe her an apology.
    • Disinterest fuels procrastination.
    • And dissatisfaction.
    • “Oh, well then, do something that interests you.”
    • Would love to, except I have to work.
    • It’s already this way.
    • AI’s going to make it worse.
    • If I had to work an assembly line, I’d … think self-harm thoughts.
    • Yeah, let’s nosedive into the weekend with this subject matter.
    • As with everything, we make decisions that change our paths or keep us on them.
    • I had a therapist, when we’d talk about this stuff, he would always bring up my values.
    • Would talk a lot about choice.
    • We make choices according to our values.
    • Mine would be family and taking care of them.
    • I go to work because I need to have a paycheck to provide what I can for my family.
    • I don’t see it’s a Choice in modern society.
    • Man.
    • Okay … ah, I think Daft Punk’s Tron soundtrack is better than most their albums.
    • I don’t even want to post this.
    • I will because I’ve got time in on it.
    • Debbie downer, eh?
    • Pet peeve: fingerprints on my laptop screen.
    • Check out The Glitch Mob, btw.
    • (“Band.” Kinda. Do you call electronic artists bands?)
    • They have a couple of remixes that are spectacular.
    • Like the one of “Seven Nation Army.”
    • (Trust me, queue that one up and listen to it in the car.)
    • I’m rolling with the Liked Songs playlist again.
    • Played some Moby while I was shooting up my antibiotics.
    • “Flower”
    • I have so many syringes I feel like a substance abuser.
    • …
    • You guys still wear watches?
    • I love watches.
    • I’ll probably never stop wearing them.
    • Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s the watch or having something on my wrists.
    • I’d roll killer bracelets, too.
    • I bought one that’s got a bunch of brass skulls on it.
    • On the left, there’s my Citizen field watch Steph got me like 17 years ago …
    • On the right, some blue/gray/navy/black friendship bracelets Kaia made.
    • I’ll never take those off, unless it’s an MRI or surgery and they make me.
    • She put little happy face beads on the second one.
    • Which is ridiculous.
    • But here we are.
    • Just a ray of sunshine.
    • Not a pocketful, mind you.
    • You thought I’d forgotten.
    • Try this one: “Disparate Youth,” Santigold.
    • When you text, typos ruin the joke.
    • Every time.
    • Especially when you’re making fun of someone or something.
    • Running long today because I’m sitting here typing.
    • Lists aren’t narratives.
    • Should’ve stopped after the sunshine shit.
    • Ah well.
    • Thanks for stopping by.

  • “… In a Burger King Bathroom …”

    “… In a Burger King Bathroom …”

    • So this happened.
    • Made sliders for dinner on the griddle.
    • Retired to the tv room.
    • We have one of those L-shaped sectionals.
    • The kid occupies the corner.
    • She’s the “corner troll.”
    • She’s working on the plot and structure of her fan fiction novel.
    • Steph took one side, feet facing the kid, and surfing whatever app she surfs when she’s on her phone.
    • Some cursed Meta product probably.
    • I have no idea.
    • I think she was surfin’ the ‘gram.
    • A snippet of “Wild Thing” blared out.
    • It wasn’t Tone.
    • Someone’s modern redo.
    • I found the original on Spotify.
    • Because sometimes, when you hear a snippet, it demands the real thing.
    • Know what I mean?
    • And then I played Biz’s “Just a Friend.”
    • And then … well, we’ll see. It’s still happening. I’m writing it past tense, but as it is happening.
    • (Narrative time travel is a common occurrence in the safe-for-work List.)
    • Kaia said, “Is it almost over?”
    • I gotta do Young MC next.
    • And then maybe Too Short (“Life is …”
    • Maybe some Kool Moe Dee (“Wild Wild West”)
    • LL Cool J (“Going Back to Kali”)
    • Run DMC (“It’s Tricky”)
    • Sir Mix-A-Lot (“Posse on Broadway”)
    • Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock!! (“It Takes Two”)
    • Digital Underground (“Humpty Dance”)
    • N.W.A. (“Straight Outta Compton”)
    • Ict T (“Colors”)
    • Public Enemy! (“Fight the Power”)
    • I put in my earbuds after Biz.
    • I mean, damn, “Humpty Dance” still slays.
    • That bassline. So good.
    • Even on the ear pods.
    • I’ll eat up all your crackers and your licorice.
    • Heh.
    • Man, rappers were not shy about rapping about sex, were they?
    • I thought my childhood was a bastion of prudish censorship.
    • PMRC, right?
    • We Did have Two Live Crew, though, and my memory is for shit.
    • DEAR LORT, WHAT IS HAPPENING?!
    • The right earbud just stopped playing sound.
    • (Insert Darth Vader’s “Noooooooo” soundbite here.)
    • I have troubleshot it for 30 minutes.
    • No dice.
    • Fuck.
    • I can’t wear the Heavys because they’ll crush my not-healed skull!
    • I could go get the bone conductors, I suppose.
    • But people can hear that, and the sound is garbage compared to the Pixel buds.
    • I may be desperate.
    • Okay, I am.
    • I am desperate.
    • Nooooooooo.
    • I donned the Shokz.
    • And now “Jam on It” is playing.
    • Francis and I played the hell out of this song.
    • It’s what was available.
    • We also listened to Kraftwerk.
    • A lot.
    • But lots of early rap.
    • Hell, we played “Funky Cold Medina” in James’s LeMans just to hear the bass.
    • (Because he had a subwoofer in a box that took up half the back seat, obviously.)
    • (That song … is about dosing girls’ drinks? The hell, man.)
    • (These damn headphones have no bass.)
    • (What is the point of that?)
    • (I gotta go try the Pixel buds again … maybe they’ve had a change of status, decided to suck less.)
    • I’m screwed in the zombie apocalypse is what I’m saying.
    • You, me, and the Starbucks girl have already discussed that.
    • You couldn’t even wrap yourself in solar chargers because none of the music services would be functioning.
    • All you’d have are the songs you’ve downloaded to your device.
    • And even then, those scurvy shyster bastards probably have code that won’t let you play the music if you don’t tag into the server on occasion.
    • I do not own a discman anymore.
    • See?
    • This is what happens when you have my brain, and it did this before the tumor.
    • Why am I not playing the music through the laptop speakers?
    • Well, the sound is okay, but not great.
    • It would annoy the kid.
    • Maybe Steph, too.
    • Trying to be considerate.
    • But goddammit, I need my music.
    • Please don’t stop the, please don’t stop the music …
    • This is how I lose it.
    • …
    • See?
    • Not metal all the time.
    • Most the time.
    • But not all the time.
    • That Rihanna song is on a playlist.
    • Heard it today.
    • Well, yesterday.
    • It’s only today for me.
    • It’ll be yesterday for you.
    • Tomorrow, currently.
    • Yes, I hunted down an ‘80s hip-hop playlist.
    • I can’t remember all of these, but I know ‘em when I hear ‘em.
    • I know all the words to so many of these songs.
    • By heart.
    • I’m on a mission, you better just listen …
    • What the hell have I done.
    • Maybe this will be the theme of the week.
    • I’m going to bring up all the earworms from our GenX youth.
    • Maybe tomorrow tomorrow, we’ll get neck-deep in hair metal.
    • You’re safe in some regards.
    • You know I’m not wading into that pop music bullshit.
    • I only post things on Facebook to people on my Friends list.
    • I do not share with the world in that place.
    • I do on the blog, but its viewing potential is smaller.
    • Why?
    • Because I generally don’t want to deal with the bots, trolls, and assholes of the world.
    • I gotta get over that.
    • You don’t build an audience by catering to the one you already have.
    • I need to build a larger audience to enact pieces of The Plan.
    • Mostly targeted at GenXers and early Millennials, obviously.
    • Taking advantage of those shared life experiences and nostalgia.
    • Like, no one who wears a fucking flat-billed ballcap is going to buy into my bullshit, you know?
    • We debated with a couple about that at a pizza place once.
    • Were there for someone’s birthday.
    • Bro had one of those on.
    • Him in his flat-bill, me in my “dad cap.”
    • I thought he looked stupid.
    • That’s me being judgmental, which we talked about last week.
    • My opinion’s irrelephant.
    • You do you.
    • Have a Monday.

  • Recalibration Ride-A-Long

    Recalibration Ride-A-Long

    • It occurred to me this morning I did not listen to any music when writing yesterday’s odd, perhaps demoralizing List.
    • Remedying that today.
    • Hit play on my “Liked Songs” in Spotify.
    • Just after clicking the shuffle button.
    • Obviously.
    • First up, Machine Head’s cover of Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name.”
    • Fantastic cover.
    • Metal that shit up.
    • Maiden’s never struck me as a metal band, really.
    • I’m not sure what they are.
    • Iron Maiden, I guess?
    • No one sounds like them.
    • Almost all their songs contain a narrative, which is cool because I’m not sure a lot of modern music does?
    • (I have nothing to support that claim.)
    • Btw, the denizens of the Discord made up a new word this morning: buttcry.
    • Which was supposed to be “buttery.”
    • “This is what it sounds like when buttcry.”
    • Anyway.
    • Iron Maiden.
    • I did not listen to them at all for like four years after going to their Tulsa show at the BOK.
    • For one, at the time, I thought they were too loud (when really, it was my faulty ears).
    • For another, they played mostly new stuff, which I thought sucked.
    • I wanted to hear the hits.
    • Lately, however, lots of Maiden in the rotation.
    • I have been playing Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and Number of the Beast (albums) during gaming sessions.
    • I know, I know.
    • If you don’t like Maiden, you dgaf.
    • Got it.
    • We watched the first two episodes of Dept. Q on Netflix.
    • “By the guy who did The Queen’s Gambit.”
    • Sold.
    • Dept. Q is good stuff.
    • Like it a lot so far.
    • Again, character’s the thing.
    • It’s full of good ones.
    • And it’s gorgeous.
    • Music interlude: NP – “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo,” Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
    • And then because I typed some other stuff first: (cover) “Where is My Mind,” Maxence Cyrin
    • “Got the Time,” Anthrax (also a cover, but I can’t remember the originating band’s name)
    • Damn, I love that song.
    • Was released my senior year of high school.
    • I remember trying to get the people in the car to listen to it on our way back from a student council thing in Edmond.
    • “No such thing as tomorrooooowwww …”
    • I write about music all the time.
    • I can’t live without it.
    • That guitar thing I mentioned a couple weeks ago.
    • Bucket list skills.
    • Gonna do that.
    • Hell, James was over here Friday night doodling around on the Fender we got the kid a couple years ago and I had to stifle a bit of jealousy.
    • What is it that keeps us from doing the things we’re interested in?
    • That we want to do?
    • Goddamn phone.
    • It’s not just that, however.
    • Not the phone at all, really.
    • All our speedbumps are internal.
    • NP: Moby, “Flower.”
    • Man, that Moby album had a shitload of good songs on it.
    • They’re still good, btw.
    • Might want to revisit that one.
    • (Having an a.d.d. kinda day.)
    • What I was saying is Music has a monumental impact on my mood.
    • Would you rather go blind or deaf?
    • Oof.
    • Neither.
    • NP: Spiritbox, “Circle with Me.”
    • (Nice bassline in this song.)
    • (Actually, this song is cool af.)
    • I’m not trying to convert anyone.
    • If you’re not into metal by now …
    • You do you, man.
    • In this world of “influencers …”
    • I got my first-ever writing gig back in college as a columnist for the O’Colly.
    • No joke, I wanted to be Dave Barry.
    • That led me into journalism and creative writing as degrees.
    • “Wait. I can do this for a living?”
    • (Yeah, kinda. You gonna be po’, kid, but yes, technically, you can write for a living.)
    • My question now … what’s a modern-day columnist?
    • Are they the “influencers?”
    • These lists are columns.
    • Format is jacked, but … your attention spans have been abbreviated. Amputated?
    • And I’m bludgeoning you with music today.
    • Books tomorrow.
    • Streaming shows and movies.
    • NP: Killswitch Engage, “My Curse.”
    • (Brother can SING.)
    • Does GenX give af about influencers?
    • I ask for market research purposes.
    • (Coming soon to an Internet near you.)
    • For real though.
    • Who do you read/listen to (not music) and why?
    • (I have no one I follow consistently.)
    • (I’m not exaggerating when I beat the “no heroes” drum.)
    • Okay, the riff is the thing.
    • I love a great metal riff.
    • LOVE IT.
    • Sure, it has to have good around it.
    • Great bass. Great drumming.
    • But something about that metal guitar sound …
    • Better than a pocket full of sunshine, I tell you.
    • Also, it’s not just about the riffs. Or Metal.
    • Beautiful solos.
    • Like the last one in Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” or the last one in Maiden’s “Wasted Years,” (which is one of my favorite songs ever, btw. Holy shit, so good.)
    • NP: Anthrax, “Intro to Reality,” which is an instrumental.
    • I’m typing on the couch listening to this song, bobbing my head, feeling … happy and satisfied.
    • Sure, the specter of work looms, but the tunes and typing are keeping it at bay.
    • NP: NIN, “Eraser (Denial: Realization)”
    • Here comes the riff …
    • I’m not apologizing for the weirdness of the list.
    • It’s a playlist ride-a-long.
    • Music: keeping the outside world, and the nonsense in my head (literally and figuratively), away.
    • NP: Pixies, “Where is My Mind.”
    • Great place to stop.
    • I’ll see you tomorrow.
    • Do not go gentle.

  • Raiders of the Lost Years

    Raiders of the Lost Years

    • At this moment, I’m sitting on the couch watching Raiders.
    • Yes, again.
    • Turned it on to give myself something to watch while I injected the antibiotics.
    • My brain runs on Raiders quotes.
    • They pop up all the time while navigating the day-to-day.
    • I wish there were more good Indy movies.
    • Two, maybe three.
    • Though I didn’t hate the latest one.
    • Got me thinking back to that article about rewatching/rereading.
    • Maybe I should make my Revisit List.
    • It’d have to be tiered.
    • Because some get rewatched a lot.
    • 1) Raiders
    • 2) Fellowship of the Ring
    • And then after that …
    • Mission: Impossible flicks
    • The Matrix
    • The Terminator
    • Die Hard (though I only watch that on Xmas Eve)
    • Random Marvel flicks, though Captain America: The Winter Soldier would be the most frequent.
    • I’m actually sitting here plotting an Indy book in my head where he goes after a scepter that would allow cultists to summon Cthulu.
    • Because he’s an expert on the occult.
    • Why all the big things he chases have to be Biblical?
    • Screenplay would be easier.
    • All these people keep trying to find the Indy magic and screwing the pooch.
    • The latest would be Guy Ritchie’s Fountain of Youth, which I didn’t hate, but wasn’t great, either.
    • John’s good. Natalie’s … not?
    • Neither is compelling enough to be an Indiana Jones.
    • Character’s the thing, man.
    • Any movie you love, no matter the epicness of the spectacle, rises to greatness on the richness of its characters.
    • Good dialogue helps, too.
    • “They call him Bellosh.”
    • I know I overshare here.
    • Still a lot I keep back.
    • Like, I’m not talking about toilet paper choices and consequences while you’re on IV antibiotics for going on six weeks …
    • I could.
    • But I won’t.
    • Ain’t nobody got time for that.
    • That scene in Raiders where they have the monkey throw the Nazi salute kills me.
    • Subtle commentary, right?
    • Maybe not so subtle.
    • Depends on how you’re watching.
    • This list is a ridealong I guess.
    • I do wonder how the fight scenes would’ve been choreographed today.
    • Those haymakers Indy throws you can see coming from a mile away.
    • Then again, professors didn’t study kung fu in the ‘40s I imagine.
    • “You can’t do this to me! I’m an American.”
    • Yeah, that didn’t age well.
    • Would it be safe as an American to sit at a table in Cairo and down a bottle of whiskey?
    • That scene where Indy and Belloq bandy insults in the bar, Indy slightly out of focus in the fore of the frame, the Frenchmen talking in focus in the back.
    • That kind of shot does not show in modern flicks, like modern filmmakers don’t know how to compose a shot.
    • And there I go again, tripping into movie criticism.
    • I’ll stop.
    • With that anyway.
    • Another confession: I have my “computer glasses” on because I’m typing this and have the movie playing, so everything on the screen looks fuzzy.
    • Are they “readers?”
    • Kinda.
    • I don’t wear glasses when I read something, but I have to have them when I’m on the computer, and definitely for anything in the distance.
    • I tried that progressive stuff a few years ago, but I move my eyes too much without turning my head, so I didn’t like them.
    • Multiple glasses to see sucks.
    • Toting them around.
    • Having to get up after I’ve sat down because I have the wrong damn pair.
    • I’m not ashamed.
    • Indy has glasses, after all.
    • My favorite bit of music from Raiders is the bit in the Map Room.
    • Epic and haunting.
    • Williams has a ton of those moments in his catalogue.
    • My second favorite would be the track during the asteroid escape sequence in The Empire Strikes Back.
    • Music can elevate a movie to another level.
    • Do not ever discount the emotional impact of great music.
    • I had a plan to write about bodies of water today.
    • Not gonna happen.
    • We’ll save it for tomorrow for after the MRI and the valium.
    • (Because I can’t do an MRI without being chemically relaxed.)
    • (I’d rather sleep through the whole thing.)
    • Don’t get me wrong, the Ark leitmotif hits me the same way as the Map Room bit.
    • So good.
    • No, I do not know how much of this is nostalgia, familiar comfort engrained in my being at this point.
    • I’m sure I give this movie too much credit.
    • I dgaf.
    • I shall not recant.
    • Also, thank you John Williams for everything.
    • Why Raiders today, on my 24th anniversary?
    • Because I woke up with “I don’t know. I’m making this up as I go” playing in my head.
    • That quote shows up daily.
    • Because it’s true.
    • Every moment of every day.
    • I know every line of dialogue by heart.
    • “Unless you are able to give me something to placate them.”
    • Well.
    • We’re probably at the outer limit of Mikey’s attention span, so we’ll stop here.
    • “I told you it would be alright!”
    • Out.
  • Pixie Dust

    Pixie Dust

    • The stereo in the Pilot is old.
    • Because the Pilot is like a 2013 or 2012.
    • I can never remember.
    • What I’m saying is it does not do Bluetooth worth a damn, and plugging in my Android phone does nothing.
    • Why the hell would car manufacturers limit connections to one kind of phone?
    • There are more Android phones on earth than iPhones (last I bothered to give af to check), but sure, limit people’s car stereo connections to iPhones.
    • Effing Apple.
    • (As he types on an Apple product …)
    • Because of the tech limits of the Pilot, we listen to the radio a lot.
    • OMG, I hate radio.
    • Hate it.
    • I hate the commercials.
    • I can’t stand the DJs.
    • I can’t stand listening to songs I do not care about.
    • I do not have the patience for it.
    • When I drive the Pilot, I’ve taken to putting in the earbuds and firing up Spotify.
    • In many ways, streaming has been a blessing.
    • I get to listen what I want when I want.
    • No filler.
    • I do, from time to time, listen to Spotify-created playlists.
    • They’re based on my listening habits, after all.
    • Though why it keeps making me listen to Slayer I do not know.
    • Not a fan of Slayer.
    • Most boring of the Big 4.
    • Anyway, radio.
    • It’s always sucked if you want to get down to it.
    • There’s always been a filter to what you got to hear.
    • Some radio exec decided everyone needed to hear this artist and this song with this sound …
    • For the stations, find the song they think will be most popular so more people tune in to hopefully hear that song so the station can make more ad revenue.
    • Which, you know, they did not use to increase DJ pay.
    • You had to get those indie stations where the DJs actually got to choose what music you heard, like Jones used to do in College.
    • Find a DJ you like, whose tastes aligned with yours, you could make radio tolerable.
    • Other than that, fundamentally fucked.
    • Do you ever think about that?
    • How much of your life is steered by the taste of others?
    • The will of others?
    • Of other people knowing better what you need.
    • We’re all used to it, of course.
    • Takes constant vigilance to battle it.
    • Again, the older I get, the fewer opinions I seek.
    • I have people.
    • Would never say I don’t.
    • But that circle shrinks by the day.
    • I’ll find and polish my own.
    • Which brings us to these Lists.
    • Do not take my word for it, ever.
    • I’m just a talking monkey with a keyboard who wishes he could write like Shakespeare.
    • I had no plan today, obviously.
    • I had two notes, really.
    • One was about how I’ve started screen capping stupid shit on social media.
    • Dumb ads.
    • Dumber headlines.
    • Shitty attempts at consumer manipulation.
    • Tired of being manipulated for someone else’s bank account.
    • And now I want to get into politics.
    • Nay!
    • The other note says, “Walk.”
    • Went on one yesterday.
    • And it was challenging.
    • WTAF.
    • A walk!
    • Met with an infectious disease doc this morning.
    • Dude was confident the antibiotics were shrinking the thing, but they can’t take me off the IV stuff until they see it on the MRI.
    • Can’t get the IV out until then.
    • Can’t get released to go to work until the IV is out, which, you know, has its benefits.
    • Earliest appt is not until June 11.
    • Was a good call.
    • But until the IV is out, I can’t do jack except … walk.
    • That’s whining.
    • Imma stop.
    • The other part of the Walk note was … Pantera.
    • Because that’s one of their best songs.
    • Obviously.
    • (Btw, at work, I have my readers trained to do “obviously” in the Alan Rickman Snape voice.)
    • I hope to do that here, too.
    • The radio rant.
    • Unplanned.
    • Sorry for the rant.
    • But then everyone thinks I’m angry all the time anyway.
    • It isn’t true, but there it is.
    • It’s just my face, as I like to say.
    • Not shy about voicing my frustrations, however.
    • What the hell do the rest of you do?
    • Keep that bottled up?
    • Emotional cancer, man.
    • Let it out.
    • Let it flow, let it flow …
    • “Do no harm, but take no shit.”
    • That’s one of my favorites.
    • A driving mantra moving forward.
    • You think I’m angry.
    • If I am, it’s because part of me thinks I take a lot of shit.
    • I. Am. Tired of that.
    • I had an awakening in the aftermath of surgery.
    • Seriously.
    • Different tolerances for bullshit moving forward.
    • I’ll do it with a smile on my face, but … yeah.
    • Advocate for yourself.
    • You get one shot at this.
    • Time’s a-wasting.
    • Enjoy your holiday weekend.
    • …
    • …
    • …
    • And then a thing happened he did not expect.
    • What do I do when the List is too damn long already, but something else came up I  needed to get out of my head?
    • Multiple posts?
    • You really think the algo’s going to show them equally?
    • Came across this cover of “Where is My Mind,” by Ruelle.
    • (Which I shared in the List Discord server music channel.)
    • (I can’t drop a link in the List without the algorithm limiting who sees it.)
    • (The Algo, in my head, is the MCP from the original Tron.)
    • (An antagonist.)
    • (We should all be thinking of our relationships with social media algos as adversarial.)
    • (Because they are.)
    • Anyway.
    • The cover of that song is awesome.
    • Ruelle is pretty awesome, too.
    • Makes me want to go hunt down all the covers of  “Where is My Mind?”
    • We listened to the Ruelle version three or four times this morning.
    • Kaia said she still likes the original best.
    • I don’t disagree.
    • It’s good stuff.
    • First time I ever heard it was at the end of Fight Club.
    • Thank you, David Fincher, for giving me The Pixies.
    • The film that keeps on giving, you know?
    • And the answer to your unasked question … dude’s last name is Walters.
    • Okay, now we’re done.
    • Way out in the water slowly swimming …

  • Whiskey in the Jar O

    Whiskey in the Jar O

    • Dear lord, I want an Old Fashioned.
    • One of the things I can never write about at work is alcohol.
    • I’m not an alcoholic, mind you, but I like a good drink or beer from time to time.
    • Old Fashioneds serve as my drink of choice.
    • That or Rye whiskey, neat.
    • More than a decade ago, I went with the Wife to a conference in San Diego.
    • While she was conferencing, I got to hang out with LBSUTKE and Gaius, two of my Halo buddies who live in the area.
    • They took me to the Aero Bar, which has more than 700 whiskeys and bourbons.
    • The bartenders hand you a three-inch binder when you come in, and there’s a wall of bottles behind them.
    • Gaius picked for me because I was not a whiskey guy.
    • One of them was Japanese, and I don’t remember which it was.
    • The other was the Thomas H. Handy rye from the Buffalo Trace antique series.
    • It melted my brain it was so good.
    • And he’d only let me drink it neat.
    • Everything else pales in comparison.
    • The closest I can get is the Midwinter Night’s Dram from High West.
    • Which is damn good, mind you.
    • I think Tulsa only gets like 13 bottles of the Handy every year, so those fuckers are snatched up by Liquor Store employees.
    • (If you know anyone in Tulsa or anywhere who can help me get a bottle for under $200, lemme know.)
    • But yeah … Whiskey.
    • I love the complicated taste of it.
    • How each is different.
    • And the burn does not bother me.
    • None for me for … 11 more weeks.
    • Sigh.
    • Margaritas are in there, too.
    • And a selection of beers.
    • But no gd IPAs.
    • Those are the fucking worst.
    • I found this Hawaiian shirt with skulls all over it.
    • I’m inclined to buy it.
    • I used to wear Hawaiian shirts all the time.
    • Mostly because I hate tucking things in.
    • I know, I know, if I want to move up the corporate food chain, I have to tuck shit in.
    • The struggle is real.
    • Anyway, I showed it to the Teenager.
    • She said, “I hate Hawaiian shirts.”
    • So does the Wife, apparently.
    • I’m like, you guys have no idea about male attire.
    • We get either t-shirts or things with collars.
    • Polos.
    • Button-downs.
    • Things that will accommodate ties, which are a level of hell-on-earth.
    • That’s kinda it.
    • And as we reviewed yesterday, I don’t do well with … rules.
    • Then she (the Teenager) told me she never really likes my wardrobe choices.
    • What. The. Hell.
    • I did not get far enough to see what she’d prefer to see me in.
    • Probably dressed like a British gentleman.
    • I want the Hawaiian shirt for two reasons:
    • 1) Because they’re hella comfy, especially in the summer;
    • 2) I want it to wear under my jacket at work.
    • I’m a Creative Director now for F’s sake.
    • That’s why I wear Van’s.
    • Cause I can.
    • Cause it’s expected.
    • I did get a TSR shirt this week, which is noice.
    • IYKYK.
    • I still have a jonesing for a pair of Doc Martens.
    • Why am I talking about stuff?
    • I got nothing else to do?
    • I’ve been reading book four of The Wheel of Time.
    • They have fucked up that show.
    • Anyway.
    • I know Barry provided me with Italics instructions, but … I can’t be bothered.
    • It also won’t let me hyperlink copy.
    • I can add the web address outright and it’ll give you all something to click on.
    • Again, go to the blog (skepticlysm.com), sign up for the newsletter.
    • You’ll get these in your inbox and never have to come here.
    • I have some fiction up over there, too, if you haven’t already read it.
    • I have plans.
    • I have had epiphany after epiphany since the surgery.
    • Shit is in motion.
    • Stay tuned.
    • The other day, when talking music, one of my Halo buddies sent me a song from a band I’d never heard before.
    • “Shakin’ Off the Rust,” by The Blue Stones.
    • (https://open.spotify.com/track/5MKtQtz40BsJZvqkS5FmC6?si=e5899226f9c143a8)
    • It is freaking spectacular and literally every song I listened to from them was good.
    • Insane to have never heard of them.
    • They may not have a pocket full of sunshine, but they’re damn good.
    • Okay, here’s the truth about these lists.
    • They are procrastination.
    • I should be working on the novel.
    • I’m not.
    • Yet.
    • My brain’s not 100 percent back yet.
    • Just you wait.
    • Or something.
    • I got a …