Aside from some back pain, I am feeling a million times better than Thursday, when I was sick. And a whole lot better than Saturday evening, when I was drunk. LOL.

To backtrack, I was basically out of commission with a cold on Thursday. Left work one hour early and just went home to rest. I committed to taking Friday off too, though I actually felt quite a bit better by then. But I chalked it up to a mental health day. I eased into it, getting the kids off to school, showering, then going to get a pedicure. Hadn’t had one since October! I went home and heated up some soup and then got to work cooking egg rolls. My son’s history class was having a Chinese New Year celebration and he (so kindly) volunteered us for that! On a normal day it would never have worked out. But since I was home, I cooked 30 mini egg rolls, wrapped them up, and took them to his school.

Since I was already halfway down that road, I went to Bradley’s country store for some bread and butter pickles and bacon. Even though the weather was not great, it was a nice drive down a canopy road.

I was going to go straight onto Costco but I forgot my card, so I went home and THEN to Costco and Publix. By then I was super tired, having also been manning the pool robot most of the day. So I took about a 45 minute nap in my chair until the younger kids got home. All in all, a nice day.

On Saturday we had soccer pictures, then two games. We went to lunch then Ash and I both took naps before Brew Bus! So basically, it starts at a local beer place and takes you around to 3-4 breweries of your choosing. We went to 3 and only one had I not been to before. It was a heck of a good time, though I definitely drank too much. Luckily, it started at 4 so it was not too late when I got home – and went straight to sleep. I woke up around 1 am and felt… alright. Took some pills and drank more water. I felt decent in the morning. Not 100% but the big breakfast helped. I had ordered tacos at the beer place when we got back from the tour but ended up taking them home. I ate one before breakfast, I was so hungry!

But the majority of Sunday was relaxing and some various house chores. I needed to rest and hydrate. I was going to watch the Grammys last night but they are bullshit anyway. For one, my band, Ghost, lost in both categories. For another thing, they announced the rock categories before it even began, showing how little they even care about that. If it’s not insipid pop or rap, no one who has anything to do with the show cares. Not to be THAT person who is mad about pop culture or THAT person who is all “get off my lawn” about music… BUT it’s all glad-handing for the popular people anyway. Regardless, my Ghost boy looked pretty with his wife on the red carpet so there’s that. (Also, he’s like, one year younger than me so definitely not a boy. But whatever.)

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My first offering on this here freebie week is a Norwegian band named Black Viper. So, there’s a grad student in my department who comes into my office every so often and recommends bands and then I tell him about some and it’s all good fun. He found this one and they definitely have an old school 80s thrash sound about them. I dig it.

And now, an epic 10 minute song by Symphony X, which I can only describe as a kind of Iron Maiden/Metallica cross-over, though they also have some symphonic undertones, which I like.

And I shared a Katatonia song a few weeks ago. Here’s another great one. It’s hard but slower? I love this guy’s voice too. It’s super melodic and no screaming!