Ramble On

Trying to catch up on missing two years of these year-end playlist posts and stay up to date for 2024 is a challenge, but I am currently in El Paso, TX, trying to gain perspective on the last two years anyway, so it seems like the right time to try.  I've finally regained my motivation to do this and have been enjoying reviewing the songs I tucked away in 2022 for this post and never had a chance to sort, digest and mull over.  I had two flights yesterday and a long out and back drive today which gave me the time and quiet I needed to finally go through it.  I put over 64 songs on the "possibilities" list in 2022. That's a long list, even for me. I think there were several contributing factors to it being such an exploratory year:  I was in transition between my non-profit and making a move to consulting.  I pieced together employment for most of the year with jobs that weren't always full-time and stayed well within the bounds of a 40 hour work week.  I go...

It took me getting Covid-19 to give me the margin I needed to actually bear down and complete this, 5 full months into the year.  I'm recovered, isolation is complete. I'm about to re-enter the world again.   I'm changing jobs, changing a lot of things, and trying to plan with little to no information required for planning.  But I'm leaning into the mystery and trying to enjoy the space I have for now, because time like this doesn't come around very often.   I have the benefit of extra time between the writing of this post and the selection of the songs.  I have been thinking about these songs for so long, it feels good to finally get the thoughts organized and out of me.  I finished up a big redesign on my apartment. I had a good streak going for most of the year where I spent the night of the first day of every month away from home.  So I explored some great new places and have a great new permanent space too!   A list of 20 songs...

Perhaps the best way to sum up my 2020 is to say that my world got smaller but more focused. When time is given back to you in a way you never expected it would be, figuring out the right ways to spend it and with whom are vitally important.  We're still holding our breath collectively as we wait for the vaccine to be more widely available. We're wondering about the untold long-range effects of this pandemic on our interior lives, our relationships, our governments, our economies, and many other aspects of our lives. But I will say that the pandemic sharpened my idea of what home is, helped me hone my concept of adventure, and brought immediacy and urgency to understanding the idea and necessary components of meaningful connection (like with my sweet new nephew and the rest of my immediate family, who now reside all in one geographic area.)  2020 also allowed for a concentrated study on desire, both as a concept and an effort to inventory my own. Music proved once again a re...

I'm on a roll, folks. I may just get this post completed before another year passes! Panajachel sunrise I've detached from old rhythms and really lots of things over the last couple years, but I think I'm finally able to start thinking about some (the good ones?) again.  I had to put down this kind of writing for a while and I've missed it.  It feels so good to be writing about music again. 2019 was a banner year.  I traveled to 6 countries and 9 states, redesigned a website, finished a graduate program, led another Camino pilgrimage, three reading groups, read lots of books, went to not as many concerts, and fell in love ... with my brother's rescue dog .  I feel like in some ways I am coming back to myself, or a renewed version of myself that is more me than I've ever been. And the best way I know to tell you about it is to let others sing you the story. As usual, they are arranged thematically. Also standard operating procedure: not all the son...