Hey, gil. The bugs are really flying around, eh. Mostly recovered from mine, COVID or no. Still have some lingering sinus congestion and the odd coughing fit but that's normal for upper respiratory bugs with me. This could go on for the rest of February. 🙄

Good morning. Been doing geek work on the site where I am the admin plus shopping so I am a bit late here. Brewing up some Tobermory Grotto coffee and some Red Rose tea.

Later.

With a month to go until the launch of their 19th (yes, really) studio album, Judas Priest are keeping things moving. Crown of Horns is the latest release from Invisible Shield.

Suck - duck

Flowers are always nice but even the green of plants is pleasant.

Houseplant or cut flowers?

Coffee is brewing. Since I am now back a week, I pulled out the Colombian dark. Teas are on, too. I went with an English Breakfast and Raspberry Royale. Cold beverages and hot chocolate supply looks good.

A nice day, by January standards, is expected here today. 5C and sunny, though it seems to be struggling a bit on the latter front right now. Brighter than the last couple days, but still a fair bit of cloud. Still, if it turns out that nice, might get in a walk.

I have some notes together on the background of my new "urban fantasy" universe. My old story "Songs to Keep Monsters Away" may or may not end up in this universe. Probably not. The fit isn't great and I was hoping to spin something else off from that story.

Quote by Cora
Tonight is Candlemass, a special Mass said in the Catholic faith every Feb 2. It marks the end of the Christmas Season. After Mass concludes, the faithful go up to the Communion rail and kneel where a priest blesses the throats of each individual with blessed candles. It's going to be beautiful. Right now I'm tired but I'm really looking forward to tonight.

As a non-Catholic (raised Protestant, currently unchurched), I know little about some of these less known festivals and special masses. Hope you had a good evening.

Quote by AnnaMayZing

One of my absolute favourite pieces. It sends shivers up and down my spine whenever I hear it. Best loud!

Wagner Götterdämmerung - Siegfried's death and Funeral march Klaus Tennstedt London Philharmonic

Followed by, of course, Brunnhilde basically singing herself to death. Wagner is epic, if nothing else.

Nothing but birdies right now.

Loving people have more friends.

Iron Man

If I could find a good artist to work with (since my visual art skills kind of suck), sure.

WYE try your hand at writing a song (could be as a lyricist or as composer, too)?

Quote by redwriter

How did you both know it was 18? I thought I'd kept it a secret.

I'm psychic. Or is that psycho. I forget which now. 😜🤣

I doubt it. Retail isn't my thing and if I was going to do it, I'd probably try my hand at something like a comic and/or game store.

WYE migrate to a foreign country where you did not know the language?

Promises are something to keep.

(The) Greatest Story Ever Told

Quote by redwriter
Today I moved on to seven in the morning.

I'm at four but only three different drugs. One I take two of.

Quote by verbal
Cold and snow are moving in, just in time for the weekend. I’m not complaining!

Quite the opposite here. 4-5C and sunny is our forecast. I might even try going for a walk tomorrow.

Well, no one has done the prep yet, so.........

Here's some Nicaraguan dark roast from Las Chicas. Teas are Raspberry Royale and Earl Grey. Cold drinks looking good but I've restocked the hot chocolate and marshmallows.

I have an idea for a "universe" but still trying to figure out a story to set in it. It's urban fantasy, basically.

Quote by redwriter

April 4th---the big one!

Wow, so you're turning 18 this year? 🤣 Marking it on my calendar!

Curse of the Werewolf

A little over 50 years after his first big hit "Piano Man" (which came out in November 1973), Billy Joel has returned from a lengthy break from songwriting this morning. Here is "Turn the Lights Back On". It's vintage Joel. Not his best, perhaps, but definitely a Billy Joel song and a pretty good one.

Quote by redwriter
Wow, only one error and done in good time. Things are get better! And the speech therapy is due today! Hope she is pleased.

Good to hear. Take care and keep working at it!

Ape comes in bangin' his head. Snarfs a couple maple walnut cookies from Snoopy

Getting better all the time, but still a bit stuffed up and low on energy.

Coffee is an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from Fire Roasted. Teas are Scottish Breakfast and Earl Grey Supreme (EG but with more bergamot). Washed the cold drink pitchers and whipped up some fresh iced tea and lemonade.

We are into the back half of the week. What's up, folks?

The Sixth Extinction - Ayreon

Arjen Lucassen's formula of pulling together top singers and musicians for symphonic metal concept albums has served him and Ayreon well for many years now. This is from a live performance by Ayreon last year. I can name a bunch of the various singers who appear but I'll bet I've heard others and just don't know them on sight.

Big nope. Blasting down the road without a steel/aluminum/composite shell around me ain't happening.

WYE handle a snake?

Request help from help desk.

grabs a couple carrot cake cookies from Snoopy

Good afternoon. Man, this place is getting livelier, esp. with Cora coming in to do an afternoon hot beverage service. Yee-haw.

I looked at the 4 drafts I have for a sequel to Shadows of Tan Maldrin (well, one possible sequel). I think I have completely lost the plot with that planned series. Too bad, but I am going to squirrel it all away somewhere and move on, I think.

I have thoughts on a couple possible "universes" I can use for some new stories. These wouldn't be series so much as stories with a shared setting and maybe some interplay among characters. One I have scoped out a bit in my notebook. The other is rambling around my head.

Good morning, all you happy people!

No, I'm not over the bug yet, but feeling better.

Coffee is some Colombian dark roast. Teas are Russian Caravan and English Breakfast. Cold beverages looking good. Restocked the hot chocolate and marshmallows.

For the poets among us who might have enough written to consider publishing. There is a link in the article to another that explains why the reading fees exist in the first place, but these ones don't have it.

https://authorspublish.com/102-traditional-poetry-manuscript-presses-who-do-not-charge-reading-fees/

LOL. Will that poor song ever escape the legacy of being in Pulp Fiction? I mean the original song dates so far back, it's origins aren't known. The first recording was by a Greek musician in 1927. Even the surf rock version used in Pulp Fiction actually dates to 1962, And, yet, almost everyone today associates it with that movie.

This version, interestingly, dates to the same time as the Pulp Fiction. It's jazz take from Vince Guaraldi.

My language learning skills have declined, but that's one I might consider.

WYE go to a "meet and greet" to meet a musical artist you are a fan of?

Reading list from my Cruise:

A Collection of Short Stories and No One Writes to the Colonel, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

We were stopping in his homeland (Colombia) on the cruise and I have never read the Nobel winner so I decided to do so. Very good writing and some intriguing characters and stories but a bit too morose for my mood these days.

A Brief History of Earth, Andrew H. Knoll

In 8 chapters, geologist Knoll takes us from the Big Bang to the Anthropocene. Does a good job of giving a high level look at our world's history and our place in it.

Hadrian's Wall, Adrian Goldsworthy

Nice overview history of the Roman wall that runs across Northern England. Cute anecdote about the author scratching out the "H" in "Hadrian" in a book when he was a kid so it would be "Adrian's Wall".

The End of Everything, Katie Mack

A cosmologist looks at various ways the universe could end and, in doing so, gives a good review of various current theories and speculations about it origins and nature. Good pop science in the vein of Sagan or Degrasse Tyson.