Apart from some health maintenance events, it’s been a remarkably dull and humdrum week. And those events? They mostly brought with them some dull and inconvenient but largely unremarkable aches.

The dentist noticed some gum issues a few months back, so I got those evaluated, with all the resultant poking and prodding and x-rays and whatnot, leaving my jaws kind of sore, with the imposing spectre of some further treatment on the horizon. Yeah, it sucked, but the final news could’ve been much worse, and the folks at the specialists’ office were pretty cool.

And yesterday after work I got my annual flu shot and the latest bi-valent COVID booster; both in the same arm, which is now kind of sore, but whatever. Folks I know who’ve gotten this one (Pfizer, btw; I’ve had better luck with theirs overall) have dealt with fewer side effects than the previous ones, which I’m hoping remains the case, though I’ve got a whole lot of nothing on the agenda for the weekend in case I get hit with anything.

…And after the last couple of weekends, and weeks, with the cars and the appointments and the tens of thousands of words written and the multiple test box crashes, I could honestly use that whole lot of nothing.

And yes, since it’s Friday, that means tunes rolled out from the algorithms, and this week’s list comes across as…um…theatrical? Yeah, there’s definitely some cabaret song and dance in there along with the bluegrass emo covers and americana:

1. “L.A. (Looking Alive)” – Madison Cunningham
2. “Hollywood Witches” – Woody and Jeremy
3. “Pain” – The Texas Gentlemen
4. “Barely Alive” – Yola
5. “Why’d Ya Do It” – Sierra Farrell
6. “Head Rush” – Art d’Ecco
7. “Just Like Heaven” – The Infamous Stringduster
8. “Chloë” – Father John Misty
9. “Miles and Miles” – The Heavy Heavy
10. “Half Moon” – Janis Joplin
11. “Anitra’s Basement Tapes” – The Coup
12. “A Postcard to Nina” – Jens Lekman
13. “F**k Me Up” – Pokey LaFarge
14. “Easy to Love” – Sam Evian