Been another week getting lost in the work (the last few days? A hugely successful development sprint for much-needed budget and planning data reporting tools) and trying to not think too hard about the larger world, at least when it’s not intruding into my work inbox.

I’ve been mostly successful, I think; the fact that I had forty hours logged before lunch on Thursday is evidence of that. Sure, Thursday felt way too much like Friday, and the prospect of facing at least a couple of hours on Friday dedicated to walking some folks through the week’s results so they can sell it to the right people isn’t the best feeling, but I’ll get there.

In the less-than-usual off hours, it’s been a lot of changing dressings and cleaning up some blood spatter, since the other morning, one of the eldest’s rats snagged the dog’s ear as she passed the cage and dog ears bleed like crazy. I think we’re mostly past the worst of it, although Tifa’s been very depressed about it, especially the old t-shirt sleeve she’s been wearing to protect the dressing that, among other things, makes her look like a pathetic canine babushka:

Still, she’s a good dog, and has been getting lots of special treats to offset the inconvenience.

The weather’s been uniformly unpleasant, with more rain than snow, so I’ve not gotten outside much. I have, however, filed my taxes, knocked out at least lyrics for seven of fourteen songs for FAWM, recorded what I think will probably be my last parts for the new Humdingers’ record, and managed to spend an hour or two playing Civ VII, which I pre-ordered a few months back before all this uncertainty about whether I’ll have a job in a year crap starting flowing out of the White House…

At least I’m heading into a long weekend and don’t have too many plans, apart from getting together with some friends on Saturday evening for a low-key hangout.

So, tunes. In any attempt to clear my head of a particular earworm I woke up with, I played that first one, and it mostly worked (I have no idea how I remembered every single lyric to a song I haven’t heard in decades). After that, I went down the usual Spotify “Discover Weekly” rabbit hole, and found a bunch really cool stuff I’d not heard before; seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever hit the plus sign icon so many times in succession. it’s all good (especially those guitar solos at #10 on the Bowie cover):

1. “All Out of Love” – Air Supply
2. “It’s Alright” – Cecilia Castleman
3. “All In My Head” – The Linda Lindas
4. “Apocalyptic Folk Song” – Rett Madison
5. “Back in Town” – Connor Bracken and the Mother Leeds Band
6. “So Sweet I Could Die” – Lucia & The Best Boys
7. “Stranger” – Cash & Skye
8. “Highway Forever” – Glitterfox
9. “Better Than Nothing” – Ray Bull
10. “Moonage Daydream” – Magenta Moon
11. “Love Will Probably Kill Me Before Cigarettes and Wine” – Luke Spiller
12. “Holy Roller” – Emily Wolfe
13. “Vanish” – Blueburst