friday random elevenish: “diving” edition
This is hardly the first time I’m saying it, but it’s honestly been too much week, professionally, personally, mentally, and emotionally.
I sit here on a Friday morning at 7am after clearing the inbox of overnight crises, with slightly over my official forty on the books. I do plan on knocking off a bit early this afternoon for a nice, long, mind-clearing bike ride, though I’ve got a few things to handle first; it’s how I keep making the slighty-larger-than-average bucks.
Career-wise, it’s piles and piles of business cases and process flow diagrams, plus keeping eyes on a test I have scheduled for next week. I’ve written probably thirty-thousand words of business copy myself, and reviewed and commented on twice that from other folks. The most significant thing today was reading a capability need statement paragraph that started and ended with exactly the same sentence. Add “In conclusion” to the final bit, and it would be largely indistinguishable from a third-grader’s persuasive essay.
On the more personal, it’s been trying as well; apart from the greater-than-usual clutter as the rest of the household tackles the latest attempt at Marie Kondo’ing the upstairs (thanks Sif, you motivated them the way I’ve been unable to) and wrapping up a non-covid bug running through the girls, we’re down a car, as the kids’ Scion xB gave up the ghost. Yes, it had a lot of miles, but appeared in all manner of good shape when we bought it four months ago. Now? Blown motor.
It’s nothing anyone actively encouraged, but dammit, that’s more than five grand in purchase and upkeep and tires and such down the tubes – I certainly won’t get a fifth of that back in salvage.
The lesson I’m taking from this? No more private sales for me. The tentative plan is to just accelerate the timeline of replacing my meticulously cared-for 2016 by a couple of years and pass it back to the kids. I was hoping to avoid that car payment for a while, but in the scheme of things, it’s likely more economically feasible and reliable than dropping a few hundred bucks a month into keeping the walking (rolling?) dead on the road.
That’s assuming I can actually find a successor on a lot somewhere, but I’m working on that.
That whole business has really kept me from enjoying the one or two cool things I got to do this week, like having won tickets to the Lake Street Dive show at the raceway on Tuesday. They’re a band whose pop-jazz-Carole King-rock vibe I’ve come to really enjoy, and the show was really quite good, what with talented performers on stage and nobody sitting within five rows of me in the outdoor amphitheater (that’s not my photo above), but I just couldn’t fully get into the headspace, especially since I didn’t partake of the $18 24oz White Claws everyone else in the venue was drinking…
Oh well. This is life. I’ll manage. Next week, though, is the dental examination of some lingering problems, so there’s that fresh hell to deal with.
Anyway – tunes. Kinda neat pop stuff (I’m really digging the vibe on #10), plus a fresh helping of weird (lookin’ at you, #11):
- “A Little Tune” – Bret McKenzie
- “Lemon Firebrigade” – Haircut 100
- “Talkin’ to Myself” – Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
- “The Headmaster Ritual” – The Smiths
- “Fem in a Black Leather Jacket” – Pansy Division
- “Place in the Century” – Adam Ant
- “Little Green Men” – Steve Vai
- “Kick It Out” – Heart
- “Lover, Leaver (Taker, Believer)” – Greta Van Fleet
- “Brand New Kind of Blue” – Gold Motel
- “Party All The Time” – Thank You Scientist
- “Dancin’ Late At Night” – Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
- “The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism” – The New Pornographers
- “Listen to Your Heart.” “No.” – Cheekface
- “I Can’t Break Away” – Big Pig
In conclusion, This is hardly the first time I’m saying it, but it’s honestly been too much week, professionally, personally, mentally, and emotionally.
