I think music may be the one thing all human beings enjoy. There is so much music out there I can’t stand to listen to, but when I see it making other people happy, I can appreciate it being there. I can’t stand Taylor Swift or modern rap, but y’know, if it genuinely makes someone happy, then I’m glad it’s there for them. Everyone deserves to have that.
I had a friend back in college who didn't listen to music, and would talk about how much it can control and shape human emotion and behavior when asked about it. He was, generally speaking, a normal and upstanding guy. I can't really disagree with his assessment of the issue. I certainly can tell that different types of music can influence my mood and energy, although how much sway it has is quite varied. Perhaps I'd nap less at work without the dark ambient playlist on, but whatever, I'll save the EDM for when I want to hop around in my free time.
I think I'm doing well. I think I might be doing the best I've been in over a decade. I'm getting out on my days off, and not as superficially as I was before. I'm not just enjoying a morning walk in a local park, I'm smiling and greeting the others out there when I pass by. I'm having nice casual conversations with people at the flea market, and even striking up more of a functional conversation than "uhh, thanks?" when some girl compliments my hair. Haven't managed to be smooth enough to remember to ask for a number during any of said conversations yet, but I fear such boldness may come soon. I even did an extroverted cliche thing and stopped into a pub to start off my 'weekend'... Wednesday morning. I was the only patron in the place, but its the spirit that counts, right? Had a couple beers, a mediocre burger, chatted a bit with the lady who runs the place, kinda half watched the end of a rerun hockey game. I was relaxed, in the moment, unwinding and enjoying the ambiance: Mission accomplished I suppose.
As for the dark hours of the night on my days off: One DIY project hit a wall and is delayed for the moment, another proceeds on planned. The project that hit the wall was foreseeable: The usual case of "buy once, measure, buy correctly the second time" when ordering something that has parameters you aren't entirely savvy of ahead of time. The 10 bucks of too-thick optical fiber will find its way into another project given time. In my 3am jogging circuit (Now maintaining a steady jogging pace for over 3 miles without the random stops to catch my breath), I dropped off a card in an old friend's mailbox, one I haven't spoken to in like, 6 years, to provide him with my number. So now we're texting and catching up. He had been far more self confident and outgoing and whatnot back when we were in school, but apparently some health issues have led him into isolated neetdom. I intend to drag him out to get a beer on Monday: he might not be able to bootstrap my social network into a sprawling spiderweb like I had hoped, but at least he doubles it from just myself to the two of us. If nothing else I can hopefully get some sort of peer pressure feedback loop going between each other to force ourselves to go out and do things. I know my default desire to sleep in late on my days off is easily crushed if I have something scheduled and structured to do, so I can use him as a way to get me into the bars during, ya know, the hours normal people go to bars.
Humanity restored! Yes it's 2 A.M.!
