So here's how it's going.
Work is balls to the wall and has been for about five straight weeks. I love it and hate it: love because this is probably the most fun I've ever had while getting paid for it, hate because I'd like to have a few days where it's not deadline mode or crisis mode or both.
It feels like all I've been capable of recently is scattered random thoughts, so here are some of those random thoughts.
I've discovered that many of my ongoing projects suffer from a bit of neglect and/or decay and/or failure around the three-year mark. I have a medium-term attention span on some things, it seems. Adding content to this site now falls into that category. Sure, I have indeed been busy. But invariably, none of my old analog paper journals lasted longer than about three and a half years (a milestone which is coming in December). I have no explanation for that, but I've found I can indeed push beyond with some effort, because I do have some ongoing projects well-past the three-year mark. So here we go, hopefully... hang on.
The election, may it all end soon please. I have sat through the convention hoopla on both sides and this week I saw an awesome speech by former president Clinton. And despite all the posturing and pointing and rah-rah flag waving and the usual political horseshit, the big decision will boil down to the electoral votes of Florida and Ohio, just like it has for the last twelve years. The rest of the country is already deep red or deep blue or too small to sway anything one way or the other.
The virtuosa has band practice every evening and football games every Friday. This Friday is an exception, I presume because of the Labor Day holiday. So last weekend I attended a high school football game for the first time in probably twenty-three years. It was a blowout, so after she did the halftime show, we (that is, the non-Katie members of the family and myself) disappeared. Odd thing about that game: it was 90° outside and very humid, nothing at all like football weather should be.
Walking to my car after work this afternoon, I was listening to some music from the early 70s — Carly Simon, Three Dog Night, Linda Ronstadt, no real pattern to it except that it's all on one of those massive Time Life collections. While listening, the following thoughts occurred to me in this order:
- I remember hearing some of these on the radio when I was a kid.
- Hey, I can remember Papaw Ralph singing some of these songs when I was a kid.
- I bet I'm pretty close in age now to the age he was then when he did that.
- Shit.
This summer, the Mrs. and I watched Breaking Bad on Netflix after hearing half the world rave about it. It's a good series and definitely worth the time. The plot in a nutshell: Chemistry teacher Walter White is diagnosed with stage four cancer. To pay for the very expensive treatments and provide for his family in case of his demise, he puts his knowledge of chemistry to use by cooking meth. He turns out to be extremely good at it. I'm not saying anything else besides watch this show... it's fantastic. We caught up to the current season and now must wait until it returns next summer, just like the rest of the hoi polloi. I'm going to add that AMC is running the three best shows on TV right now — Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and The Walking Dead, each very different from each other and from anything else which has been on before, all addictive as hell. AMC is doing it right.
That's it. Sorry for the blatant mental dump, but my brain just feels like a steaming pile of mashed potatoes anymore, bombarded from all sides with a million things requiring my attention. I think I need to get out and commune with nature for a few hours, away from tasks and responsibilities — hide among the trees and breathe in and out and do little else.
Thanks for reading.