happy friday, folks. It’s been a week of ups and downs, not the least of which involves waking up to find that somebody hacked my ebay account and bought a few unauthorized steam/itunes gift cards. It was thankfully only 45 bucks’ worth, and I’ve already nipped it in the bud, but this isn’t the kind of crap any of us need to deal with.

Been dealing with some crap (in the shape of a certain individual) at work, though I think that’s largely been avoided/worked out; we’ll see. The issue will all be overcome by events in another workday anyway. I’m simply tired of trying to hit a moving target and being gaslighted about what I and my team committed to contribute to a project. Whatever; I’m letting it go.

The above situation, along with some other general life things has really been tweaking my anxiety/depression; I’m normally a reliable “semi-regular down cycle” guy, though I’ve been getting a little bit of the peaks as well this time; it’s weird. Still, when you add up seasonal changes, the aforementioned work stuff, all kinds of life things, the recent national political scene, and the coming holidays, such an experience is not unexpected.

Probably doesn’t help that I just finished reading a Jenny Lawson book all about mental illness (and more than a little taxidermy), which made me laugh with familiarity, but just might have planted a couple of suggestions. Maybe.

I did accomplish one thing this week that should likely reduce some stressors; thanks to my excellent credit rating allowing me to re-arrange some financial commitments, I’ve managed to significantly improve my cash flow situation, allowing me a lot more liquidity each month and grab some savings via much lower interest rates. I kind of feel like a grown-up again, which is nice. I make way too much money to feel as poor as I was feeling after paying the bills each month for a while there.

Another nice thing was that I got to play some music with some friends last night; it was nice, both the making of the music, and hearing through that experience that a friend’s personal situation (which was somewhat dire) is on the mend. Also, her runaway cat thought lost came back home while I was there. I’ll take it as a sign.

Nothing I can think of on the horizon this weekend; probably pay the bills, make my kids clean the house, finish off Game of Thrones season six, and try to relax, because next weekend with the holiday and the big Irish Dance Extravaganza™ to deal with, is gonna be a little crazy. At least I’m working a short week again.

Some streaming pandora tunes for you – nice mix, with a longship’s worth of viking metal for some reason. On my daughter’s recommendation, I’ve been flirting with Spotify this week, but I keep coming back to the old standby. Spotify, to be fair, has more of my friends on it (hell, more than a couple of records I play on are on there), and maybe I just haven’t figured out how to use it effectively yet, but I’ve curated my feed on big blue enough that I can just click it and go and have a decent background soundtrack for hours.

1. “White Wedding” – Billy Idol
2. “Tonight’s Alright” – The Donnas
3. “Zombie Woof” – Frank Zappa
4. “To Holmgard and Beyond” – Turisas
5. “Power of Soul (live” – Jimi Hendrix
6. “Luxtos” – Eluveitie
7. “Space Oddity” – David Bowie
8. “Overkill” – Men at Work
9. “Dondergod” – Heidevolk
10. “Telomere” – Mystery Jets
11. “Godzilla” – The Doubleclicks

Oh, because I still keep doing the Eleven thing: Doctor Strange-r Things; why didn’t I think of this?