This week has not been amazing in terms of personal well-being, or, you know, the well-being of seventeen people in Florida. After a thoroughly enjoyable experience with Friday night’s Father-Daughter dance, and a pretty decent adventure Saturday with the D&D crew, and an excellent batch of cajun chicken salad derived from this pretty much perfect Instant Pot “rotisserie” chicken recipe, I began feeling seriously fatigued.

I woke up Sunday morning with the Mother of All Sore Throats™, and it only got worse from there. I struggled through work on Monday and Tuesday, but pretty much just collapsed as soon as I got home each day; Wednesday I didn’t move. I totally slept through Valentine’s Day (though given our schedules, my lovely wife and I mutually agreed to punt it to the weekend). I went back into the office Thursday, because I had shit to solve, but I ended up bailing early, and setting the time sheet up for the same thing Friday. I’m hoping the long Presidents’ Day weekend will see me through this particular relapse (I went through a less severe bout two weeks ago); I blame my entering The Belly of the Best itself, the elementary school, on Friday night.

I can only imagine how bad things would be if I hadn’t gotten the flu shot.

Oh well. This weekend, beyond convalescence, has some teenage boy birthday activities scheduled (Black Panther! Teen Boy D&D One Shot!), and maybe getting out for a romantic (as much as possible, given how we’re all feeling) meal with the spouse. That’s honestly probably enough.

Oh, and in spite of the feeling so shitty, I’m kicking #FAWM ass, with eleven of fourteen down on the sixteenth. I’m gonna finish this and then some. About half of these are even good!

I figure I’ll share the lyrics of the latest; I’m rather proud of it:

Hey there my friend it’s been a while since we’ve shared more than simple pleasantries
we used to be so close but then things happened like careers wives kids geography

now it’s facebook likes and christmas cards, odd 8x10s of Gil Gerard and Erin Gray
I miss our old adventures, I’m sure you do too but it seems life’s just got in the way

I think of you each time I take a tipple from that flask you got me as a gift
when we used to wedge so many of us in the car for trips it was impossible to shift

hanging out at your apartment, talking beer and tech and science fiction films
I never could get you into RPGs, but not everything gives everyone the same cheap thrills

We haven’t shared a meal together in I guess it’s been like seven years
but I kind of think we’d fall right back into old habits, that void would disappear

I find my current life lacks something without your presence wit and unique outlook
But across the years and distance I can recall your image just like a picture in a book

That disastrous bachelor party,
late night talk, barstool philosophy
I kind of wish that we could get that back…

…but then the robots attacked.

Yeah, I only have so much wistfulness in me.

Here’s some tunes I didn’t write:

1. “Under The Sun” – Diiv
2. “Saturday” – Go Betty Go
3. “Spectral Light” – Temple of the Fuzz Witch
4. “Never Been Wrong (demo)” – Waxahatchee
5. “The Thunder Answered Back” – Eskimeaux
6. “Avant Gardener” – Courtney Barnett
7. “Night of the Sabbath” – Legion of the Damned
8. “Tainted Love” – Soft Cell
9. “Kickstart My Heart” – Mötley Crüe
10. “Hold Me Now” – Thomspson Twins
11. “Photograph” – Def Leppard