Today’s header refers not to unfortunate automotive issues (thank goodness), but rather to an old joke I’ve likely made at least a few times before in this space over the years, about having difficulty “getting my ass in gear.”

The last few days, while not being particularly unpleasant, seem to line up with some song lyrics I wrote a few years ago that I haven’t really done anything with yet, but come to mind regularly, for a tune called “White Collar Lament”:

I’m here. I’m here.
But my give-a-shitter is broke

My path is clear.
but what’s keeping me going is Diet Coke.

I’ve got the same meeting three times today
My weekend is still three days away
and my paycheck is already spoken for anyway.

That’s pretty much it. I do the thing, but struggle to care. This is likely most of us. It helps when you give up buying into that “do something you’ll love, you’ll never work a day in your life” crap. My job pays the bills and lets me afford to do some cool stuff now and then; it’s a means to an end, not the end itself. If I meet someone who claims to find meaning and affirmation in the kind of job I do, I’m immediately suspect; they’re either deluded, broken, or trying to sell something. What I do is technically necessary to keep the public infrastructure running, but it’s also unnecessarily complicated by too many steps, too many cooks…too many somethings.

But those of you who are veterans of this particular void-screaming exercise, you already know this. I shall not belabor it further.

Y’know, I’m not even sure it’s worth talking about what the weekend’s going to be like, because you all know what it’s going to look like. It’s going to look a lot like this week, apart from my not booting up the work computer. Stay around the house, maybe go walk in the woods at the local conservation area park along the river if it’s nice. Read, watch a couple of movies, play a game. Cook something…

I actually have been cooking a little bit, improvising with ingredients on hand; earlier this week, I made a really nice homemade chicken barley soup and baked a decent loaf of beer bread. I saw a picture of lasagna this week, so I might go down the street to the store and get the stuff I need for that, because I kind of want some now.

Or, it could be like the other days this week when I couldn’t be bothered and just ate chicken salad sandwiches. Too bad I finished off the chicken salad yesterday.

Nevertheless, we persist. And talk about tunes. Spotify weekly discovery is largely contemporary indie pop and 80s new wave, with some nice modern folk wedged in (I saw the Secret Sisters live last year, and they were amazing. Remember live music?). Not significantly different from the average hour listening to wnrn, and that’s something I won’t complain about, especially with some ‘Mats in the mix:

1. “Double Life” – The Cars
2. “Walking Down Madison” – Kristy McColl
3. “Things I Learned” – Motel Mirrors
4. “Dancing In The Dark” – Lucy Dacus
5. “Better Things” – The Kinks
6. “Hand Over My Heart” – The Secret Sisters
7. “Slipping Away” – Dave Edmunds
8. “Confetti to the Hurricane” – The Deer
9. “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” – Todd Rundgren
10. “Can’t Hardly Wait” – The Replacements
11. “You Better You Bet” – The Who
12. “Dim” – Dada
13. “Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard” – Me First and the Gimme Gimmes