THAT’S NOT OUTSHINED

If I know anything, it’s the intro to ‘Outshined’ by Soundgarden.

I was out running errands recently, and was in the mood for some 90s grunge, and of course went back to ‘Badmotorfinger.’ I asked Siri to play ‘Outshined’ via my Apple Music subscription, and for some reason it played the studio outtake version from the Super Deluxe Edition that came out whenever.

Fuck that.

That got me to dig into an external hard drive and look up the album of my ripped music, and there it was – an MP3 rip of the album I owned in the 90s, and that was the version I needed to hear.

That got me thinking – maybe I should get back to getting my old, ripped MP3s out and listening to music that way. I downloaded Swinsian and kicked the tires a bit.

That was fun for about 20 minutes, but then tracks were missing. Albums were split up because of different words being capitalized. Art work was gone.

Then I remembered what I love doing around 4 or 5pm – not being on my computer.

I’m on my computer most of the day everyday for work, and I don’t want to spend more time in the evening fixing fucking album spellings or artwork mismatches.

That got me looking at CD players again, and I found this amazing beauty; the Yamaha MCR-040, though I’ve seen it named the CRX-040, too.

It’s from 2010 or so, and I love it, and I need to get one, I think.

Via Gadget Guy

I’ve been feeling like I need to own more physical media, and I don’t really want to do vinyl, so I think re-building my CD collection is what I need to do.

CREIGHTON UPSETS IOWA

To think that Lauren Jensen played for Iowa the previous year, transferred to Creighton, then hit the eventual game winning three pointer to beat her former team IN IOWA.

It’s their first ever trip to the Sweet 16, too. Wow.

COVER MODEL RUN

I was hungry, didn’t bring any water, and it was one of the warmest days of the year so far. Did my best to be present, appreciate the sounds and scenery, and head out 2.25 miles on the D&L Trail in South Bethlehem.

I ran into two young kids who were taking photos with their polaroid. When I came back I asked how the photo turned out, and it was blown out – you could only see my shorts! So they took another shot, and said I looked like I could be on the cover of Vouge. I did the whole Madonna “strike a pose” thing, which may have been lost on them given their age, but it was still a good time.

THE HOLY ERRAND

My friend is out west, and posted some amazing pics from the desert. The Grand Canyon. She desribed this adventyre as a holy errand, and that’s the first time I ever heard those two words together.

Holy errand.

I was out on my run tonight, on an old route. It’s always easy to to gauge the “success” of the run by the pace, the speed, the heart rate. Can I run to that tree without stopping? To the top of the hill?

Tonight was a holy errand. I heard crickets for the first time this year. Saw this amazing sky.

Pace? Distance? Eh. I was able to get to the top of some hills. Maybe not as fast as I would like, but I made it. And tomorrow I’ll do it again.

It’s a holy errand.

A LONG DRIVE

Sometimes something comes unblocked, and you just have to be intentionally grateful. This has happened to me over the years from being broke as fuck, to finally today earning a decent living.

Like, “not having a bank account,” broke. Grateful for a friend to PayPal me $20 so I can get food sort of broke. Tough times!

But then I financed a car in 2018 all on my own, without a co-signer. A 2015 Chevy Sonic. It’s paid off now, too. The first song I played in the car was ‘Outro’ by Vulfpek (above).

The weather is amazing now, and I went for a long drive to nowhere in particualr. Just needed to get out, working from home and all. Windows down, sun setting, listening to Kowloon Walled City.

Looking forward to some more adventures this year.

LOVING THE OLD MAN AND THE THREE

I’ve been watching NBA basketball since the early 90s, during prime Knicks, Bulls, Pacers. Jordan, Reggie Miller, Patrick Ewing, Bird, fuck…. and through all the years, like, damn, I still watching the game.

During most work days I have ESPN going in the back ground. Just background noise, but it’s a nice way to put in the work hours and hear some good stories.

Gotta say, thouhg – the Old Man and the Three podcast by JJ Redick is so good. The latest with Willie Green is great – the story about how he got into coaching.

Some of my other faves:

Seriously – like stories of eating shit, doing the worst gigs, playing overseas, bus rides… not that allll hard work leads to riches, but man, if you don’t put in the work, that’s usually a good indicator that you ain’t gotta win it all, too.

Love these.

ON NOT KEEPING UP

“Oh I know, I read your Xanga.” I remember a friend telling me that from like 20 years ago. I told him something, and he replied with the above quote.

And now we’re all on whatever version of Xanga we’re on, and it’s… too much.

Lately when I’m about to post something on socials, I stop and think that maybe it’d be better to send to a friend. Not ALL my friends, but the people who are special in my life.

Why am I sending this photo to 2,300 followers on Twitter when maybe 5% might see it? That’s just 115 people. Everyone else is excluded because of algorithms.

So I sent a text to a friend today, instead. And they sent me back a photo from Joshua Tree, and told me how they just visited the Grand Canyon on a whim.

They didn’t Tweet that… at least if they did I didn’t see it. But if I never messaged them, I’d still never know.

I don’t know… maybe not knowing what everybody is doing is okay.