Ridiculously painful. I'd rather have my current cracked ribs.

Yesterday I spent six hours in a civics engagement training workship.

I hate when they decide to take six hours out of people's days on a Saturday but it was good to connect with like minded people and get a refresher on civics 101.

Not a very good day. But it stormed, so at least there's that.

A lot has happened since my 4PM post of my day, and as it's after midnight I'm posting the update.

I happened upon a channel of a charming Bulgarian gent who presents fantastically informative and entertaining video shorts on YT named exurb1a. Each video is engaging, humorous, and packs an impressive amount of thought-provoking info into tiny 4:30 features.

But what absolutely blew my mind was my realization that this was the very channel which birthed the wonderful 4-minute sci-fi short about artificial intelligence that inspired me to start a thread on The AI Singularity and Transhumanism back in March of 2016!

Better still - the fellow published a sci-fi book of his own which readers call engaging, thought-provoking, philosophical, deep, and humorous. I'll definitely be picking up a copy.

I've put together a channel of 12 of my favorite 4-minute features, ending with the aforementioned AI short film, dubbed "27".

Check them out. You will hate them.

My left hand is still swollen, mainly around the ring finger joints in my hand. Gone down a lot though. Haven't been able to bend a note in over two weeks. I'm putting the guitars away for a bit to try and heal. My ribs have gotten better but sneezing and coughing can still be dicey. My ****ing sciatica just won't go away. I spent the entire day today doing ice and rest. Ice and rest.

I am seriously getting too old for this ****. Basically, physical pain pretty much every waking moment for the last 8 weeks. It takes me 15 seconds getting out of my reclyner just to make sure I don't pinch my sciatic nerve again.

If not for ice cubes, clear rum, caffiene diet coke, two really cool dogs, and Linny, I think I'd have have put a round in my head by now.

2017, give me a ****ing break for cripes sakes.

With winter having come and gone abruptly, we're in that season again. The warm, humid weather of North Carolina. Nights of restless frogs and crickets, the hum of the highway drifting in and out our Southern home's open windows. I've always articulated a certain mood with this season. It's... calm. A romantic calm that's I've always felt would be spent best at someone's side; be it a close friend or a lover. I have neither currently, but I have myself. And the feeling of spending this season alone is just as powerful emotionally as with someone I love. Because I feel longing, intense longing. I feel alive.

I remember last year around this time I was really into Whenever, If Ever, and I think that that album is really the perfect soundtrack to the feelings that come with it.

aww <3

And now come the long, humid nights where I am forced to constantly shift in my bed in order to escape the slimy dampness from my copious amounts of sweat.