So, after that “Am I going to even keep doing the thing?” post back in May, there’ve been a bunch of things worth talking about (apart from that Dragoncon post pinned up there ↑, that is)…

As I alluded to in that post, I’m working on a new record, currently untitled, that I hope to have wrapped before ConGregate in July, so I can sell a few copies to folks I know are already fans there who have my other discs, and be ready with some fresh new stuff to sell (along with the old records I’m not all that in love with any longer) to the new folks who’ll see me down in Atlanta,perhaps for the first time as a solo artist.

Said record’s coming along; I’ve got a bunch of tracks in process, a couple of covers licensed (because they’re popular live), and should be able to get things finished, mixed, tracks ordered, and title and cover art conceptualized and created in time to get something printed before mid-July.

Wish me luck…

Otherwise, I’m pretty busy, rushing headlong into the program managers’ deadlines ahead of fiscal year end, especially since, as usual, at work I’ve picked up a bunch of orphan requirements that someone else couldn’t handle, because I’m a superhero when it comes to acquisition paperwork. I’ll feel pretty good come the end of June when I ideally have all this stuff done, but until then? Crazy.

As if I didn’t have enough going on, I’ve also signed up for the Capital Trail Summer Challenge, this year, being the trail’s 9th birthday, I’m working on knocking out the equivalent of nine times the trail’s length (465.3 miles total) before the first week of September. So far, I’m making solid progress.

I also recently took a little vacation, camping with the spouse and someone-else-to-be-named-in-a-later-paragraph at Smith Mountain Lake State Park for a couple of days last week/weekend, and hitting four other parks besides, bringing my Trail Quest total up to 25 parks as of this writing. It was nice, and I even forgot about the work stress for a few days.

…and that someone-to-be-named-later? Meet Tifa:

Yeah, about eight or nine weeks ago, my lovely spouse brought this eight month old, sixty-five-pounds-and-counting mixed breed puppy into our lives. I was, at first, skeptical, though I’ve since come around, because she’s so damned sweet and eager to please, even if she’s still in the midst of a bunch of Big Toddler Energy™ that comes with puppyhood. That said, apart from her puppy chewing tendencies we’re stuck with for the moment, tearing up a bunch of things like rugs and oven mitts and toys and mail and whatever else she can get a hold of, she’s really quite well behaved, has done wonderfully in obedience classes at the local Petco so far, and last week on the camp-out, she earned all kinds of complements from fellow campers for her excellent behavior.

I think I’ll keep her.

But yeah, the size thing is, for now, kind of a lot. While she’s far from pure-bred, our research so far has suggested that she’s got a lot of Greater Swiss Mountain Dog in her (one of these days we’ll confirm with one of those doggy DNA tests), which means we’re looking at her topping out around 100 pounds, so I expect I’ll be shopping saddles before long.

So anyway…those are the kind of things that are going on around here; it’s keeping me pretty busy, so if I don’t throw up the usual “life’s been happening, here’s a playlist” post every Friday these days, it’s because I have shit to do (some of which I’ve not talked about yet), and life is cranking on and on, and I need to keep living it.