Five hours of good sleep Thursday night did not feel like nearly enough. Of course it’s not, but quite often I can make it feel like it since it’s something of an improvement over most nights.
I finished the short piece about the dental programs and submitted a first draft. Worked a bit more on the UH Hilo story. Outlined a few responses for my midyear self-assessment. Wasn’t super productive and only kind of industrious.
Friday felt like Monday all day long. I even texted Crush Girl to ask how her weekend was. She didn’t call me on it; just replied nicely.
I listened to several new albums, all metal, and none of them really did it for me. The new Therion album is my kind of metal, but it was mostly unmemorable. I spun it twice and it just doesn’t stick. Might listen again with headphones to see what the deal is. I might as well since nothing outstanding has come out yet this year.
The new Liquid Tension Experiment single is the monster’s balls, though. If it’s an indication of what the new album next month (tried to pre-order but the package I want isn’t available yet) is going to sound like, it’s going to be tough to beat for album of the year.
After work I (sing it with me!) crashed and took a long nap. Then lazed in bed for far too long. I kept looking at the clock to see what was still open for dinner takeout. I was actually out of bed, dressed, and headed to the door with my key in my hand to get Italian takeout when I realized if I made pasta myself I’d enjoy it almost as much.
So angelhair pasta and jarred sauce (with gin, brown sugar, and blue cheese) it was, and it was lovely, and while I would have loved a thin, pan-fried chicken fillet in lemony butter sauce with capers to go with it, what I had was more than pleasurable enough. And I didn’t overdo it, as I certainly would have done with takeout.
I worked on Saturday’s NYT crossword while I ate, and then read the news for like the fifth time of the day. Cleaned up, got ready for bed, and read Jerry Craft’s Class Act in its entirety (it’s a graphic novel) in a couple of hours. Excellent book.
There have only been a small number of writers to win the Newbery twice, a couple of them for works I question the value and impact of (however, Lois Lowry and Katherine Paterson definitely deserved both theirs). No writer has won it in consecutive years. No writer has won it the second time for a sequel to the first Newbery-winner. I would be surprised for this reason if Jerry Craft won it in 2021 this Monday, after winning it in 2020.
But it would not be shocking, and it would probably be deserved. It’s not as good as its predecessor by just a couple of whiskers, and it’s more ambitious, more nuanced, and more immediately relevant to its time. Truly a super-impressive follow-up.
The author calls it a companion, not a sequel, and I can see why, but it does have the same characters a few months after the end of the first book. Discovering why it’s not exactly a sequel is possibly better left to the reader, so go read it.
Went to bed at around three.
Not much texting Friday. Crush Girl a few times. Texted Jennifer to respond to a couple of texts she sent Wednesday. Got some weird messages in the Suzanne-Cindy-Julie group text. Asked JB how his family’s doing.
Breakfast was from the Taco Bell drive-through. Skipped lunch and had the pasta for dinner. In between were a small bag of chips and a slice of Dutch apple pie.
Sucky pandemic sucking sucks and continues to suck for several more months. Don’t go through it disconnected. Leave a comment if you want my contact deets. No promises I’ll reply promptly, but I’ll reply.