So, on Tuesday, I turned 48 years old.

As I spend most of my time in this space lately (and in conversation with others, and in songwriting, etc…) ruminating about what middle-age feels like, I’ll leave it for now, and focus on the “gift” I received this year.

A positive COVID-19 test result.

I dodged it for over three years, which I suppose is an achievement in itself, but I guess it’s my turn. My lovely spouse and I both tested positive, which leads me to believe that our common exposure point was that theater show we went to on Friday, but who knows.

That show, by the way, was pretty neat – the band was a spot-on recreation, and we got a nice bonus of local hero/late 90s folk-rock sorta-was Kyle Davis opening things up (you might’ve heard this one at some point if you’re of age); which was a pleasant surprise from a musical history standpoint – he’s who I’d have been listening to in dive bars in college if I was down this way then instead of up north listening to the Badlees.

In any case, the symptoms started hitting us Monday; lightly for me, less lightly for her. We tested Tuesday morning as we suspected, and both came back clearly positive. I advised the friends we spent Saturday with (who haven’t reported issues so far), and we’ve been isolating in the bedroom and the office in the meantime; I worked Tuesday and Wednesday (mostly just dealing with a scratchy throat), though the “brain fog” hit Thursday, so I gave myself the day after mostly failing at writing coherent market research memos for an hour or two, and just kinda crashed and let the body repair itself, and maintaining semi-consciousness for the entire day was not a problem at all, even if I had been restless the previous two days.

I’m feeling much better this morning (as is she), so I’m finishing my forty cleaning up the week’s efforts and lining the last things up before Labor Day next weekend (after which I’ll start some bigger projects), and hoping that things get cleared up and I test negative so I don’t have to bow out of rock star adventures for the holiday break.

That said, having it kinda sucks; I’m definitely glad I’m vaxxed, boosted, and have continued to take precautions, because if we’d have gotten it earlier, it would have been a hell of a lot worse. Wear your mask, think twice about letting your guard down (believe me), and know that this isn’t over, and probably never will be, to be honest.

Dammit.

But, since it’s Friday, here are some tunes. All over the place, but kinda cool stuff (I’d never heard #1 before; it’s like Rush with more rough edges), and I dug it.

Stay safe, folks!

1. “My Favourite Headache” – Geddy Lee
2. “Amber” – The Residents
3. “Moonlight Drive” – Blondie
4. “Wild Cats of Kilkenny” – The Pogues
5. “Super Stupid” – Funkadelic
6. “Kingdom Come” – Sir Lord Baltimore
7. “Smells Like Lemon, Tastes Like Wine” – Alan Price
8. “Üdü wüdü” – Magma
9. “Armageddon Days (Are Here Again)” – The The
10. “Time” – U.S. Girls
11. “Instrumental Introduction/Don’t Look Down” – Lindsey Buckingham
12. “Come Back June” – Pussy
13. “Placebo Syndrome” – Parliament
14. “Randy Scouse Git” – The Monkees