Relatively uneventful week for my part; solved some smaller problems at work for folks, hiked more than a few miles at local parks and in my building while on conference calls, jumped into Harry Potter: Wizards Unite! with so many other friends have (review so far – it’s got some neat mechanics, but overall, after earning ten levels, I still think I like it’s sibling AR game, Pokemon Go, better), and haven’t accomplished nearly as much on the record this week as I would have liked…so far anyway. Was all set to work on some stuff Wednesday night, though I ended up having a weird brain chemistry day (not exactly depression, but the occasional side-effects of my anti-depressants seemed to hit me hard), so after cooking dinner and sending the girls off to the dance studio, I spent a little time fiddling with an old demo of “Drift Away” that I recorded while I was on the road in Aberdeen last August, which I might be able to salvage into more than a demo (vocals are decent, but feel kinda, I dunno, “lazy”), but other than pushing some sliders around, I didn’t get much done. I just put the computer away, took care of my evening ablutions, then read a couple of chapters in this first contact novel I found while wandering the shelves in the library that I’m not sure I’m really into yet but has some neat ideas, and passed out around 8pm.

As happens most of the time I have those weird brain days, I woke up Thursday (which is when I’m writing this, because reasons) feeling hung over without the benefit of having gotten drunk first. Luckily, Thursday’s a relatively light work day with little mental heavy lifting scheduled.

By the time you’re reading this, the family will have had our big outing for the week (and the final family Christmas present gift coming to fruition), “Weird” Al Yankovic with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra on the “Strings Attached” tour, which is passing through town this week. Early word is that this tour’s pretty great – Al’s always a good show, so I’m looking forward to a good time.

Looking to the weekend, I’m planning on sitting in with my son and some of his friends in their summer D&D campaign at my friend’s local comic/gaming shop, and there just might be a drag show in the offing for Sunday, as Castleburg is doing a big Pride event with music and stuff all day, and I won’t say no to a beer or two in order to do my part as an ally to support the LGBT+ community. Plus, DRAG SHOW!

I would also be remiss if I didn’t put out a big thanks to the rest of the family who have, through summer break thus far, done a hell of a job clearing out clutter and such in the house, which was a big problem we’d been dealing with for a long time. It’s a process, but they’ve nailed a hell of a lot of it so far, and they’ve definitely earned the reward (which I’ll mention when it happens) that I’ve been dangling to motivate them.

I didn’t get to watch the Democratic Debate, part one, last night (no cable, fuzzy brain), though it sounds like Liz Warren held her own, and Cory Booker and (gasp!) Bill DeBlasio had decent showings. Part two, which has a lot of the other first-stringers – Bernie, Joe, Kamala, Pete – is supposed to be the more interesting one, but as I’m gonna be watching Al, I’ll catch up later. Of that pack, I’m really in Kamala’s corner; I like a lot of what she brings to the table, and am impressed by her presence and charisma. We’ll see what goes down.

Anyway, that’s really all there is at the moment, apart from the tunes. Decent little playlist so far; yeah, there’s Bowie, but it’s a deep-cut alternate recording. It’s been some comforting background noise, which I can occasionally use.

1. “Living in the Past” – Jethro Tull
2. “The Great Gig in the Sky” – Pink Floyd
3. “Chicken: 30” – The Coathangers
4. “Seventeen” – Winger
5. “Rebel Yell” – Billy Idol
6. “Moonage Daydream” (John Peel Recorded 5.16.72) – David Bowie
7. “Vide Noir” – Lord Huron
8. “Langt Nord I Trollebotten” – Lumsk
9. “True” – Spandau Ballet
10. “New Slang” – The Shins
11. “Fire and Blood” – Vance Joy
12. “Short Version” – Wild Flag
13. “Here I Go Again 87” (2018 Remaster) – Whitesnake