I was out of commission earlier this week, and that’s maybe not even the right way to say it. I was run over by a virus, which left me as a barely functioning human being. My kid had been sick, and then my wife got sick, and between helping them both out and dealing with getting the driveway cleared of 2+ feet of snow, followed by a few too many celebratory glasses of scotch, it was only a matter of time before my immune system collapsed.
There are sick days, and then there are sick days. Some sick days I can still get some stuff done; I can read, I can sit on the couch and play a game, I can try to do some writing. But whatever I had earlier this week just completely wrecked me. I spend most of those days horizontally, unable to keep my eyes open yet also unable to sleep, alternating between freezing and sweating every 20 minutes, just trying to stay comfortable as best I could.
So this is why I have very little to report.
I have.. um.. quite a lot I want to say, but this is probably not the best spot for that sort of thing. If I could remember my Livejournal password I’d probably talk about it over there. But the short version is that in December 2014, after going through my college diary for research for a writing project I was about to start, and then crumbling under the weight of 10,000 memories I’d completely misplaced and all these friendships that I’d allowed to wither, and especially all the romantic relationships that ended in something just short of chaos, I’d sent what I thought was a very sincere, heartfelt apology to someone that I’d hurt. I had no ulterior motive.
Two days ago, I heard back. And.. the response sorta defies belief. My apology may have been “self-indulgent” and “masturbatory”… but the response is so bewilderingly inconsistent in its tone and message that it almost doesn’t make sense. (You can’t write an email this hostile and then say, with a straight face, that you literally don’t care.) The response also made sure to tell me that my original apology – which was, again, written in December of 2014 – was also apparently used as a stand-up comedy routine, so… there’s that.
I can’t even get mad at the fact that the email was used in a comedy routine, considering that I’m currently trying to finish an album that covers that specific period of my life. It’s funny, though, because for all this time I was approaching this particular angle in a very specific way, and now, suddenly, the angle has changed utterly and completely. The door is closed. That question is answered.
I stopped playing those sorts of games at least 16 years ago.
As for regular pop-culture stuff, again, I don’t have much to say. Before I got sick I was trying to grind my way up to an appropriate level in Witcher 3 so that I could finally play some of the new DLC, but I’m still a long ways off; then the cold got me, and I knew I didn’t have the motor skills to even pretend to be competent. On Tuesday I played the first 30 minutes or so of The Witness before getting stumped, but in fairness, my brain was a bowl of cold oatmeal at the time. I’d like to get back to it shortly. I did finish the Baba Yaga DLC for Rise of the Tomb Raider, which was 2-3 hours of more Tomb Raider, which I’m happy to have.
I’m around 2/3 of the way through Cixin Liu’s “The Dark Forest“, which is still very absorbing.
I’ve not been listening to much music beyond my own tracks; I’ve been trying to work on lyrics for a bunch of things at once, and I need to focus on them as opposed to listening to outside stuff, which at this point is a distraction.
Anyway: I’m alive.
Shouts From The Couch 