I always want to write more here and then I end up spending my evenings staring into my phone or watching reruns of Frasier. We choose the path of least resistance if nothing else.
Lately, life has been pretty good and I do get scared that it may all come crashing down at any moment because historically it has sort of operated that way not absent of my own choices.
My workplace recently had some layoffs, I was not part of those thankfully but work has been slower which isn’t great for me. I feel optimistic about my choices past my current role but really don’t want to lose my job, of course. Round two of funemployment probably wouldn’t take me overseas this time (see: Australia 2016).
Austin and I are moving into a new place this summer…it isn’t a house but it is a three-level structure with a basement and my own office so I no longer have to sit like a shrimp at our kitchen counter. The new place is not in our current part of town but I am compromising. Austin isn’t big on places with character and I am just kind of ready to not work at the kitchen counter any longer. I am afraid about the move and how the new environment will make me feel. It feels already too midlife. Too close to death. How to stay far away from death seems to be increasingly the goal. I recently started taking Metamucil.
Speaking of mid-life…a recent podcast started me thinking about the genre of “dad rock”. I must admit I highly enjoy many a dad band (and so does David Letterman apparently). My dad didn’t really like traditional dad bands, he was more of a Brahms, Tchaikovsky, or Handel kind of guy. Nothing like blasting classical music to embarrass your children in front of their friends or giving Stravinsky cassettes as Christmas presents. Honestly, though, it was cool as hell.
With those thoughts – I created a little playlist of “dad rock”. It is pretty low-key now that I listened to it but could be something.
I am also entertaining the idea of offering to create playlists for my friends or anyone who wants one. Let me know, as they say.
Other than that, no crises. No big announcements. Oh, maybe one? I completed a course as an Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist! It is offered by the state through OSU as a way of educating citizen scientists. I learned quite a bit out my great state of Ohio including:
· Ohio is the 5th largest salt producer in the US
· We have 3-6 native species of lizards (I took this photo myself!)
· The best place to find fossils in Ohio.
· Anceint glaciers change the soil quality and vegetation across the state.
· Invasive honeysuckle is literally everywhere!
· We also have weasels and they are the smallest carnivore in the world.
· Climate change is coming for (all) us!
Lastly, I’ll leave with one additional current obsession, because I do this thing where I get very obsessed with one band for about a year and dive headfirst into everything they have ever created. It feels good, OKAY?
2023’s band is Nothing But Thieves.
They’ve been on my radar since 2017 but I’ve truly leaned in this year. They did a cover of “Flowers” by Miley recently on Australia’s triple j. As well as a previous cover of Australia’s beloved Gang of Youths (and 2021 obsession).
The band has a ton of live stuff on YouTube as well…watched this whole video and felt transported.
I’ll be making a pilgrimage to Cleveland’s House of Blues1 to see them in September. I am shifting into the part of my life where I am only staying up late for UK bands because they tour so infrequently in America.
Anyway, that is it from the home office now. You can catch me these next few months putting my life in boxes and creating dairy-free deserts in my new Ninja Creami.
Enjoy your summer!
This location reminds me of the time I went to see my then favorite “scene band” at HOB Cleveland in 2006 only because I was on their “scene team” through Myspace. I may or may not have also slept with their merch guy too. A narrative for another time maybe…never. I need to be absolved.