HI there. It’s been a while and that feels weird. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned ad nauseum, I had the flu last month and, while I have been feeling better, I hadn’t been feeling quite right. That suddenly changed this weekend, when my energy suddenly returned, the color returned to pretty much everything, and my mood lightened tremendously.
I wouldn’t say it’s properly “ironic,” but my vim sure chose a funny time to come back. I’ve been “on call” this weekend (by the way, when interviewing for a job, don’t just ask about “paid time off; be sure to ask about how much “unpaid time on” you’ll be asked to take on), the weather has been garbage, and my soccer team got clobbered. We did sexy, exciting things like “shopping for cat litter” and “baking bread” and it was absolutely great because I felt like I was really present and not just miming the motions of a healthy me from the bottom of a pit.
“So, Ridley, what’s been going on?”
I’m glad you asked! Nicole, on a whim, bought one of those new Crosley record players that looks like something from the mid-60s. We bought a bunch of used records, a lot of jazz, some classical, and, um, a couple of Genesis albums and, while I won’t pretend that it sounds any better than digital music, it’s really cute and and “used jazz albums with amazing covers” are a cheap hobby for casual collectors.
I bit the bullet and switched, or rather am about to switch, over to Project Fi, Google’s phone service. I’m not sure I’ll really save any money; the big draw for me is the fact that it works on so many LTE networks at the same time. I’ll report back when I’ve used it enough to have an opinion.
Oh, and the final piece of my Christmas present from Nicole was an Arturia Beatstep Prop, which is an interesting MIDI controller/sequencer, drum thingie that I’m going to be using to make all of my toys play nice with each other. I say “going to” because the old MG-1 isn’t cooperating, but it’s working well with everything else. It’s not substitute for “talent,” of course, but I’m considerably closer to being able to fake it, so yay.
We went ahead and booked a couple of vacations while our cashflow was positive. We’re going to be staying at the Ace in New Orleans in a few weeks, and then we’re heading back to Marfa in June to stay at El Cosmic. It’s taken me half a century or so, but I’m finally starting to feel the full restorative value of getting the hell out of Dodge. The trick, I suppose, was figuring where “out of Dodge” one likes to go.
What else? My last piece for my moonlighting job was probably my best yet (and under unfortunate circumstances), or at least I thought it was. My editor wasn’t quite so enthusiastic, but what do editors know? Oh, they know a lot. Back to work, then.
I think that’s about it. I wanted to get this down for my own sake as much as anything, but if any of you found it interesting, then so much the better. I should probably get to bed now. Good night, all.
-RK