the working weak

There's an Arab Strap album called "The Week Never Starts Around Here." I begin to see the problem with that.

My work schedule was shifted around a little, having to work last Saturday and then Monday to Thursday... so it feels a little like having had no weekend. The casualty of this all has been my less-than-Tony Robbins-like motivation at work the past four days. The store, except for a little more clean vinyl and less loose paper, looks today more or less like it did on Monday. I've spent all my computer-sitting time at the lab poking around Bit Torrent sites or playing games at the Pogo.com site.

On the up side, from 10 pm tonight (Thursday) 'til 5 pm Monday I am free free freeeeeeeeee from work. Well almost.

The one "deadline" thing which must be taken care of over the (long) weekend is cobbling together my "best of 2004" lists for Exclaim magazine. Just doing the preliminary work today, though, it looks like it'll be a pretty easy task. I'll post my findings come Monday. Usually a few months after I make one of these "carved in stone" proclamations I come to realize that I don't particularly even like one or more of the albums I've put on my list. It may be a function of music for special occasions. If, like me, you are prone to sometimes latching onto and fostering a mental or emotional state well beyond the biological imperative would necessitate it, then you too might fall victim to music that fits your funk. No, no, no not funky music... which in fact is universally enjoyed by people who are, in fact, funk-less. Funky people usually don't need funky music... they generate a suitable layer of funk which carries them through life like a slipstream.

Rather, sometimes a record... or even just a song... comes along that just suits a mood, a moment. If that moment happens to be proximal to the year end list, by golly it'll likely show up there... and those statements of irreducible aesthetic fact are tough ones to go back and fix down the line.

On the other hand the weekend holds the possibility of re-listening to a lot of good music just to get it cemented in my mind as to how I, now, feel about it. And maybe drink a little beer while I'm doing it? Why not? It helps with judgement.