Not sleeping enough. Working on several different things that are all possibilities, so there’s not much to announce yet. Still making art though, so you know I’m still alive.
Listening:
I’ve spent a lot of time with my headphones in this week. Listening to music isn’t the same now that I’ve lost so much of my hearing; I’m completely deaf in my left ear so putting in that earbud is kind of just for show. (Otherwise people try to talk to me.) I can hear some of the instruments and I know when people are singing, though I’m relying more and more on my memory of the lyrics since I can’t usually make out the words. I listen to older music I already know, or – like with the phenomenal Spiderverse sountrack – I have to look up the lyrics and teach them to myself.
Which I do because I love music. I don’t mind being deaf. It doesn’t bother me to have to keep subtitles on when I watch TV (plus I watch a lot of foreign-language films, and as we all know from 90s anime fan dubs, subtitles are always better). I already didn’t talk on the phone much, and I can still follow a conversation pretty well when it’s just the two of us. I’d rather have an intimate moment with a close friend anyway.
But I don’t want to lose hearing my son tell me he loves me, or hear the right person say my name. Everything else is negotiable. Music, though, if I can keep what I have left of that…
My current uptempo playlist includes a couple of Spiderverse tracks, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Queen, half the Muppets From Space soundtrack, some Bowie, Aquabats, The Runaways, Janelle Monae, Gorillaz, a bunch of Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies covers, and the best songs from Tokyo Drift.
Oh! And I discovered I still have the Chess Broadway cast recording ripped, so that’s on my phone now too.
Watching:
My tv and movie consumption has gone way down the last few months. It started before the pandemic; I think it’s getting into a good work from home groove. Since I can’t watch anything I care about while I work (need those subtitles) I either leave it on something forgettable (HGTV, Law and Order, the news) just to have background noise, or I make time to set aside everything else so I can focus only on what I’m watching. My queue is staggeringly long right now. But I did watch Attack the Block again, and got excitable about the movie’s opening here.
Reading:
I’m on a non-fiction kick this week, mostly books about books/book history.
I did post my thoughts about MIND MGMT book 2, if you’re interested.
Extra Bits:
Everything we’re doing now to keep functioning while trying not to come into contact with strangers, like no-touch deliveries and grocery pickup, writing letters, appreciating what we already have at home, and being more open to tiny bits of love and joy? I hope we keep all of that.