Brief Summer Update

Sorry for the lag in posting -- been a sludgy few weeks here. Caught a vicious summer cold that dragged on for two weeks, first cold I've had since about 2000, first time I've missed any work (five hours one day) due to any sort illness, which I don't take lightly. (Pride myself on never getting sick, just won't allow it, because I can see that one day, unless we die violently, we'll all "get sick" and pass on. From what I've seen, that's not a physical state one should ever invite, humor or tolerate in his life. Something for people who take sick days at the drop of a hat, and who are always getting sick, should ponder.)

Immediately after that, spent a week pulling together a humongous "Alt 70s" MP3 collection (coming up on 800 songs) from my stuff and various other, cough, sources. Great stuff. I tend to forget that the 70s were much more wild than the 80s musically, although the 80s will be forever known as the "new wave" decade. There was plenty of that stuff in the 70s, and it was/is much more shocking and inventive than what went on in the 80s, where the concept of "alternative" music having it's own genre came into being. (In the 70s, it was just weird shit that didn't sell too well and you had to be "hip" to in some sense to purchase in a record store.) Decades from now, these gigantic MP3 collections I've been making should make a lot more sense. For me, it's an unprecedented way to gather music, and I don't think I've quite grasped what it all means to pull together hundreds of songs into one folder of identifiable music. I haven't quite grasped what it means to have a device in my pocket that not just touches upon, but delves into every type of music I've ever listened to in my life, thousands of songs, which are like a portable collection of my much larger physical collection. It's fucking incredible. You need to have plugged an eight track into a shitty Soundesign stereo to fully grasp how incredible.

And now, we're into the dog days of summer, temperatures into the 90s the past week, with some more ahead. City gets weird like this. On one hand, you're so irritable you feel like attacking people for their usual minor manner infractions. On the other, you just want to be left alone because it's so damn hot. Best idea is to float through the haze and come out the other end in the low 80s, noticing how the sun's going down a little earlier every night. It's football practice season. Hey, guys, leave that piccolo player alone, get back with the group so we can walk back to the gym and hit the weights. Still got one more practice at 3:00, full contact. Football's coming soon -- I can feel it. For now, just feel that think trickle of sweat on my lower back in the oven-like subway station and tough it out.

Will have more in the next few days, before I clip out to Pennsylvania for a quick visit to mow some lawns and run though the woods. Good time of year to do that. Even the tourists swarming over Midtown look vaguely angry.