the week(s) in joy
I’ve been fighting long Covid the past few weeks. Feeling constantly fatigued is not an ideal way to live! But each day gets a little better and I feel like in a month or so (?) maybe I’ll feel normal again. Meanwhile, most of the brain fog has lifted so let’s get on with some joy, shall we? A walk through the past three weeks of joy:
That’s right. The Yankees are American League East champs and finish with the best record overall in the American League. Which seems insane given how many times this season I felt like throwing the towel in. It was a frustrating season and I am having a hard time reconciling that with the picture above. Do I think this is a World Series team? No. Will I root for them like they’re gonna win it all? Of course. Baseball is life and life is about getting those Ws.
This is the greatest time of year if you are a sports fan. I’ve got playoff baseball, Bills football, and my New York Islanders are back in action.
That’s right, I’ve got three screens going there. Mets, Yankees, and Islanders. On Sundays we add NFL RedZone to the mix and I run out of screens. I love this so much, as both a sports fan and as someone who loves to multitask when consuming media. Please keep in mind that all three screens are on mute and I have music playing. This is the life that brings me joy. Totally in my zone.
Speaking of music, it’s been a stellar few weeks for new songs and albums. I’d like to introduce you to an album that has brought me incredible joy since it came out a few weeks ago. I had the pleasure of interviewing Arthur Alligood of phoneswithchords for my upcoming website and I can’t wait to share that with you. This is just good music. Call it indie pop, call it bedroom pop, call it whatever you want. Just listen to it. I like this one when I have airpods in at 4am; it feels intimate and personal and makes my heart soar.
Natalie was here! She flew in for a wedding last weekend and while she was only here a few days and we had limited time together, it was such a joy to have here again. I might not see her until next summer (unless I make it to LA in March, which is a maybe right now) and it’s so good to have her presence fill my house.
There were other joys in the past few weeks; listening the new Foxing album again and again, discovering ravens in my yard, eating a Ring Ding for the first time in decades. But being in the house for over three weeks doesn’t lead to much discovery (but a lot of introspection). The one thing that did keep me busy was getting the new website together. I Have That on Vinyl is coming together nicely. I’ve already done five interview and I have 23 submissions to read, and about 100 more coming. I’ve hired my brilliant friend Josh to build the site, and build me a personal CMS to use and he’s doing a bang up job. There’s a welcome sign on the site now, and I’ve mocked up what it’s going to look like. My creative director (my sister Lisa) is responsible for all graphics as well as encouragement.
I am going for the blog aesthetic, something out of the early 2000s, when websites were simple and readable above everything else. No bulky ads, no unnecessary graphics, no pop ups. Just text and illustrations and some really great reading. I’ll be launching around Thanksgiving and I hope you all tune in. It’s gonna be great.
I think I’m pretty caught up here. I have some essay topics sitting in drafts ready to be worked on, so the newsletter will go back to its normal schedule now that I’m feeling slightly better. Thanks for your patience, and have a great week ahead!
Here’s a song I’ve been enjoying a lot.