December 3, 2014

Looking back at Twitter, it’s pretty clear that I spent the day like everyone else I know: being outraged and frustrated & demoralized by the Eric Garner grand jury decision. 

I RT a lot of people who are more articulate & more invested than I am, so maybe just go look over there for that.

On the home front, M got home from a multi-day trip to western Kentucky to deal with an aging parent. My parents are so totally on top of every aspect of their care & living situations from now until the end of time that I haven’t ever had to directly deal with this stuff – I’m peripherally aware of it, but mostly I’m peripherally aware that it’s more or less dealt with.

M’s dad isn’t quite so squared away, and thus we’re both learning things about the state of elder care in America that make me devoutly hope that I go like Ian McLagen did: Actively gigging & touring right up until a massive stroke killed him within 24 hours.

I’ve been trying to listen to a bunch of the [ostensibly best] metal released this year. So far I’m liking a lot of it in an academic way, but not really resonating with any of it. The albums that I was most anticipating didn’t really do it for me, so I’m sort of casting about at random. I mentioned the latest YOB the other day; it’s the only thing so far that has really made me feel anything.

I’ve been heartily amused by Triptykon, though, and I’m warming rapidly to Abigor. But there has been nothing that I’ve liked as much as any of the metal on my 2013 list.

December 3, 2014

December 1-2, 2014

M is out of town, so I’m getting by however I can. Had dinner at Dos Perros on Monday, because Taco Night, always, although I actually had the pork pozole, which was delicious.

I think I stayed up too late reading, but I don’t remember what. Probably Volume 1 of the Kelly Sue DeConnick run of Captain Marvel, which is full of confusing time-travel stuff, but also kickass midcentury women aviators. I’m of course so old and out-of-touch that I didn’t even realize that there was a difference between Marvel’s Captain Marvel and DC’s Captain Marvel, aka Shazam.

Work is really time-consuming and stressful right now, because I’m basically having to take on a whole new job function in addition to all the ones I already perform. Which is actually kind of fun, and gratifying (and marketable, in the long run), but like I said, time-consuming and stressful.

Today the guy I was supposed to interview bailed at the last minute, which is actually really a bummer, because I interviewed him once before & really liked him. But it cleared my calendar for essentially the whole day, which means I’m nearly caught up at this point, at least in terms of the stupid quotidian crap that was clogging my inbox.

And I had time to download a bunch of 2014 metal albums so that I can figure out whether there’s anything that came out this year that I’m going to want to listen to again. Apart from the latest YOB, which I already know is awesome.

I downloaded 7 albums this evening & I paid for five of them. Not such a bad ratio. And I only pirated the other two because I couldn’t find anywhere to pay for digital copies.

They were:

Lord Mantis
Panopticon
Swallowed
Witch Mountain
Abigor
Teitanblood
Coffinworm

I’ll let you know on January 1st which, if any of them, made the cut.

Had dinner at Gocciolina because unlike M, I could eat there every day & not feel constrained, menu-wise. Of course I’m also the person who can happily eat lunch at the same 2-3 restaurants (or ONE restaurant, under certain circumstances, Park Diner RIP) for literally years.

December 1-2, 2014