second Civil War aside, I had a very low-key 4th of July, other than a long, barely populated drive out to Amherst and back, dropping the eldest off with a couple of her professors and a cadre of her fellow students who will, quite likely by the time many of you read this, be on a very long journey to the land of Vegemite and dangerous animals, Australia, for a week or so of attendance at an international dance conference and hopefully some very cool experiences. The price was largely right, and given the fact that I had no such opportunities at her age, we made sure she could be capable of having such an opportunity herself. My summers during college involved eighty hours a week of driving catering trucks and peeling potatoes, which, while not an awful experience, pales in comparison to being able to travel to the other side of the world, meet people with shared interests from across the planet, and pet baby koalas.

As a parent, these are the kinds of things you gotta make happen for the kids.

This week, given the 4th being on Wednesday, has made my office pretty much a ghost town all week; to that end, I’m taking Friday off (thus this Thursday entry again), because it makes sense to do so. I could use the mental health day, and I’ve decided, more or less that tomorrow is going to be my big VA Capital Trail ride – given how busy my spouse is with prepping costumes and and such for the WIDA US Open Championships the school is hosting next weekend (it appeasr I’ll be running sound for one of the stages, as expected), I think it’ll be a 15-17 mile out and back thing, rather than a “have the wife pick me up in Williamsburg” thing, which is fine, as the return leg always feels shorter anyway. It’ll feel good to get that crossed off the schedule.

Getting that out of the way will also clear the decks for the plans we have Saturday (I won’t feel so guilty about skipping a day if I did 35 day prior), which is to attend the Compassionate Action Conference downtown, which is a day of speakers about animal welfare and cool stuff like that; also, The Kitten Lady will be there, and we’re all big fans of her work, and especially some of her rescue kittens. It’ll be cool.

Otherwise, life is life, which, if you are keeping track, is not the best it could be right now for me (so much stress), but whatever. Gonna get through it, which is all we can do.

Anyway, tunes are the thing. Pretty standard; lots of indie, two generations of Zappa, and the Wang Chunk single that’s better than the one everybody knows anyway:

1. “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It” – Frank Zappa
2. “Eyes Without A Face” – Billy Idol
3. “Sublime” – What I Got
4. “June -N- July” – Cadallaca
5. “Stolen Dance” – Milky Chance
6. “Dance Hall Days” – Wang Chung
7. “We Belong” – Pat Benetar
8. “The Torture Never Stops” – Dweezil Zappa
9. “Slepp Meg” – Lumsk
10. “She Sells Sanctuary” – The Cult
11. “Pompeii” – Bastille
12. “Photograph” – Def Leppard