Seems I’ve been pushing myself hard this week, even as I intended certain elements to be “low impact,” in the sense that I gave my muscles a bit of a break by leaving the bike in storage and instead spending some time hiking the local trails after work as my chosen fitness-slash-head-clearing activity.

Being able to take in more of the scenery (like that view of the river from one of my favorite parks above) while moving around three-and-a-half miles per hour rather than 13-15 is nice, of course, though with the weather slowly plodding into a more atumnal mood, the various molds, pollens, and particulates of the season are definitely making their presence known, and it’s playing havoc on my sinuses.

That, along with a heavy work week developing job processes for the organization, wrestling with budgetary issues in an unusually plodding bureaucracy in the age of continuing resolutions, attempting to wrangle complicated systems answers out of unresponsive technical SMEs, and working and re-working piles and piles of paperwork while the threat of stress-related migraines looms on the horizon for these and other reasons I won’t explore here, my head, and all it’s subsystems, has not been a happy place.

That said, I’ve gotten a hell of a lot done in spite of it all, which I suppose is something I can be proud of. I’ve also had some forward movement on an atypical creative project for me that I’ll go into later; I’m just waiting for some more concrete scheduling information. Plus, as they say, I’ve been getting up every day, managed my required domestic tasks, and haven’t felt the need to murder anyone; so that’s good.

I continue to watch the world do dumb, irresponsible things and impede progress, but here in the timeframe of late 2021, that’s frustratingly the standard order of things.

I’m hoping to catch Dune this weekend with some friends (on the small screen via HBO Max), which hasn’t been derailed so far, but otherwise, I’m hoping for a little less mental heavy lifting and responsibility.

We shall see.

As for tunes, some interesting fringe 70s and 80s alternative stuff (including my favorite band of the era closing things out), which, y’know…cool. Also, #9 is a song I really dig from a band I haven’t explored nearly enough; I might have to change that.

1. “Corduroy” – Pearl Jam
2. “Surfing with the Alien” – Joe Satriani
3. “I Think of Demons” – Roky Erickson
4. “In The Street” – Big Star
5. “Stick Around” – Julian Lennon
6. “Cars” – Gary Numan
7. “My City Was Gone” – Pretenders
8. “Elenore” – Flo & Eddie
9. “She Sells Sanctuary” – The Cult
10. “Go Down Gamblin'” – Blood, Sweat & Tears
11. “Detroit ’67” – Sam Roberts Band
12. “Lips Like Sugar” – Echo & The Bunnymen
13. “Love and Anger” – Kate Bush
14. “Obscurity Knocks” – Trashcan Sinatras
15. “Within Your Reach” – The Replacements