Almost the new year.  A good time to reflect.  I switched jobs this year.  Finally got out of what had become a bad situation for me.  My current job is not without its challenges, but they are of the positive kind, for the most part.  

 

Growing up Jewish in America and pretty into it, there was always a lot of questioning, in my mind, whether I should accept Christmas gifts, and bring Christmas things into my house.  I am totally over that.  I respect and even like Christmas, and I am glad to place a Christmas gift I received next to my Jewish star decorations.  It's all about respecting everyone else's holidays.  Season's greetings to all my friends, whether Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or whatevs.  

Now, my friends, do not let Ricky Martin violate you on Christmas just because he has no gift for you.  His logic is completely flawed.  

My not yet year end list of some albums I listened to this year.  The same thing holds as the last year.  Not doing favorites, or which I considered the best, just some I liked....Most albums are best listened to rather than talked about.....

Exquisite new stuff from Cate LeBon.

 I feel compelled to post about someone who meant a lot to me who passed away this week.  That person is Claire Spechler, who I did not have as a Hebrew School teacher, but who I interacted with when she led the children's services at my synagogue, which I attended very often as a kid.  I remember her amazing collection of puppets.  Upon demonstrating to her that you learned the name of the puppet in Hebrew, the student would get to hold the puppet for the remainder of the service.  Another thing I remember is how a lot of the prayers we did were able to be sung to the tune of American songs, for example, I remember how the words to one prayer was able to fit perfectly to the tune of "rock around the clock."

The fact that she instilled the values of the religion on me really reflects on the person who I became, and the kind of person who I hold myself accountable for being.  Mrs.  Spechler is always in my heart.  

I found this sketch from this past week's SNL to be especially funny.

I've been having a lot of the kind of days where trying to talk about music just feels like trying to avoid actual conversation.  I've been so confused about my identity for years.  We just put on certain brands of clothing and list certain bands on our profiles just to avoid the core of what or who we really are.  Some days, I feel like I am getting closer to figuring it out.  

Anyway, sometimes this stuff can be a good diversion in a good way, which is why I blog, I think.

New covers album from Cat Power coming this year.  

This guy went to my high school!

Do you like your private parts.....DVD? Ebay just asked me if I like my Private parts....DVD.   I wish my private parts worked....the dvd that is...

In other news, work is very difficult, but I am good at my job.

 

A new Radiohead song from Amnesiac era, that they never released.

One piece of sweetness for what hopefully is a sweet year for everyone.  New music from Lana Del Rey.

     It is the Jewish new year, and I am trying to reflect.  Some things went well for me, and others did not.  Clearly, my new job has taken precedence in my life.   I still keep this blog for fun.

Been exploring the fairly prolific work of Parquet Courts lately.  

I had a client today named Richard (Dick) Dix.  I didn't laugh at his name.

 It was bound to happen.  I had a client propose marriage to me over the phone today.

I didn't accept..oh well..

I actually stayed for more than an hour at my company picnic.  Maybe ten years ago, it would have been five minutes, so maybe I'm getting better.

I'm sorry if I upset anyone by posting about my dill doe.    

This week I had the most unexpected experience.  I had a lesbian couple OVER 60 YEARS OLD as clients.   It is in my script, but I crossed it out, because it is just so rare.   I did not expect to get any same sex couples in that age range.  

Deerhoof released some of the most stellar music I ever heard, with Apple O, Friend Opportunity, and Runners Four being some of my favorite albums released between 2000 and 2010.  I'm excited for new music from them.  

I'm posting about my favorite dill doe, in honor of the Milwaukee Bucks winning the NBA Championship.  I liked both teams this time around and also wanted Chris Paul to get a championship ring, but I absolutely love Giannis and how he is so loyal to the team they built in a smaller market.  

 

The War On Drugs were always an epic band, made for people like me..   I mean sometimes I feel like I am the only who just wants a room to myself with the doors closed and the chance to just let music reveal itself to me, and that's what albums from the War On Drugs are made for.  

Sometimes my friend Nick discovers stuff before me.

I was too cool for him for a while, but I actually like this track.

If only there was a band called the Syvnagogues or the Mvosques, all would be fair.  But still happy the Chvurches are back.

The Wallflowers are back, with their first new album in a while!  

Just when you thought there wasn't room on your shelf for another album, Japanese Breakfast releases one of the sweetest albums I've heard in a while.

I'm absolutely in love with her new EP with Matt Healy of the 1975.

Now for something unusual...

One of my favorite bands, coming out with a new album soon.  

I'm extremely disappointed about the Sixers, but still I really liked what they showed throughout the season.  Not at all a bad group of players, despite the final outcome.  Also, people need to just leave Ben Simmons alone.  He's just a human.    

Also, for the first time, an active NFL player came out as gay.  Wow.

They're still making new albums.  I've been there since the beginning.  

Wow.  I did not expect a new Lorde video today.

 

20 albums at around the halfway point of the year that I loved so far.   

 I had one of those days at work today.  The only saving grace was that I had a client named Miss Mary Mack.  Not sure if she was all dressed in black.  I just thought that was worth noting.  

I love this new Iceage album.  No one else sounds this Madchester in 2021.

BTS is huge for a reason.  They're like-able people and fun at the same time.  

Just got my second Covid vaccine.  I can't even describe my feelings right now.  Just wish we could have saved more people.  It is possibly survivor's guilt. 

Looking forward to a new album from Sleater Kinney, now only with two official members.  

This one is breaking records.

I'm loving this new track.  

Ceasefire in Israel, please!

More from the upcoming Faye Webster album.  She released a great little album a few years back.  

I have to write something to pay tribute to my former professor, Matthew Hoffman, who I recently heard has passed away.  Not only did he know everything about Jewish History, but he was also a genuinely good man.  I am very saddened to hear about has passing.  I was actually one of the students who wrote a letter to help him get tenured. 

The real Morrissey was not too thrilled with this.

Another song from arguably my most anticipated album of the year.

Not sure how I feel about him, but Elon Musk's hosting SNL was quite interesting...

New job is hard.  Although I am no longer being put into extremely dangerous and unfair situations physically, I am now basically in a role where someone is basically always listening to me.  

One of the more esoteric bands that I liked back in my heyday is still making music.  

New music from Garbage in 2021? Yes, really!

My thoughts are with Israel today.

Right to #1 on trending on Youtube! 

Looking forward to a new release from Chai.  

They're still here.

Loving this.  

Strange video, but good new song...

 

Looking forward to a big release this year from St. Vincent.  Pretty cool to see her on Saturday Night Live.

 I started a new job this week.  

The victims of the Boulder, Colorado mass shooting are on my mind.

The Avalanches were always one of those artists that seemed to be from a version of the universe that I liked.  They released a new album at the tail end of 2020.  

My heart is with all my Asian-American friends right now, after the awful, likely hate-motivated crimes in Atlanta.  

Anyway, the Go! Team have returned.  

 Trying to sum up what may have been the end of my run at Amazon.  It kind of resembled getting really close to going all the way with your partner, but then your ding dong just stops working properly so that kind of sets you back.  

In this case, the ding dong, metaphorically speaking, is my body, and going all the way, metaphorically speaking, is getting that elusive promotion. 

Though I never received my interview feedback from my last couple of interviews, which I was supposed to get, I believe I had all the tools and was really close, but as I discussed with a few others, it is hard to showcase what you can do when you are working in an environment that seemingly wants to destroy you and make you physically and mentally sick, and for a company that doesn't really see you as a human being but as a cog in a machine that it can easily replace with someone else.

I mean, why would the fact that someone missed a rate by one or two boxes mean that someone can't teach or coach someone in how to do a process? I mean, is Gregg Popovich still an NBA player? No, he is coaching because he isn't physically able to play as well as NBA players at his age, so they have him as the coach of the Spurs, and he wouldn't get fired for not being able to run at the same rate as Dejounte Murray or Patty Mills.  Also, when none of your trainers are able to make the desired rates, what does that tell you about the rates?.  

Also, I don't understand how one is supposed to make a rate if there is no work coming towards them.  It makes no sense.          

I had some fantastic managers who really handled things fairly and actually listened to their associates (and a few not-so-good ones), and some moments where I really felt like my brain was being challenged in a positive way.  Not to mention I learned that I could do the really physical stuff with the biggest of big guys, and actually did a lot better with it than I thought I could, and a lot more of it than a lot of people did!   

I truly became a team player, as cliched as that sounds.  People wanted to work with me and they wanted to work around me, and even some of my most challenging co-workers and harshest critics came around to appreciate my value to the workplace, and all the nitty gritty things I did to contribute that weren't recorded on camera or anything for everyone to see.          

If today was my last day at Amazon, what a journey it has been.    I don't think I've ever laughed so much or cried so much at any single workplace.   

 I seem to have this way of making every accomplishment in my life into something that isn't enough.  For example, I got an offer letter for a new job.  They called me to tell me that I got the job the day after the interview.  So either that means that I was really good, or that they were really desperate and hire just about anyone as soon as they can.  The majority of votes in my head say it is the second of those two things.  

So, it is for this company:

Navient (Nasdaq: NAVI) is a leading provider of asset management and business processing solutions for education, healthcare, and government clients at the federal, state, and local levels.

We help our clients and millions of Americans achieve financial success through our services and support.

New Japanese Breakfast, highly anticipated third album coming this year.

Driving out and about yesterday.  A first of mine since I quarantined.    

I seem to be past the days of quarantining.  I went out in the sunshine and walked around for the first time in a while yesterday.  

Very few symptoms, but still quarantining.  

 Very much surprised by my positive covid test.  Surprised because I am good at following safety protocols and not going to a lot of places that I don't need to go to.  Not surprised because I work in a pretty large building where we get quite a few cases despite strong efforts to keep things safe.  

Daft Punk is over, but their legacy lives forever.  

 Got a pretty big gash on my arm during my Saturday shift.  Thankfully, it seems to be okay.  Strangely, when I take my temperature it seems to come in at 100.1, which might be normal for some people....maybe..

 Absolute crap week at work, but  I've got the skills to do my own taxes correctly now without anyone's help.  

New Rosalia and Bad Bunny.

I found this segment to be hilarious, especially Bowen Yang's facial expressions.  I always get turned on by $4,000,000 real estate in Jackson, Wyoming listed on Zillow.  I am still on the lookout for a girl who makes a lot more money than me, so we can buy a home like that.  Also eating more Vietnamese food and seeing Bat For Lashes live are on my bucket list.  

Also known as the girl on the 1975's track "Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America" with that line about masturbating.  Yeah, that line in that song kind of sticks out...

Ok, so I always dig out obscure albums that weren't made for the masses and that probably only I care about, but for people like me, they are just about everything and the only thing.  Bonnie "Prince" Billy/Matt Sweeney collaboration Superwolf from 2005 was one of those special albums.  Those two are collaborating again, and the results are interesting thus far.    

 The QAnon Shaman is getting organic food in jail, because of a judge's orders, while others in this country are starving.  That makes me angry.  

The last time I listened to these guys, I was a really different person and wearing much tighter pants, but they're back, and loud as ever.

New stuff from Iceage.  They've had a string of well received albums, but have been questioned about appropriating Nazi imagery.  If they really don't believe in that stuff and are truly sorry, I'm willing to forgive if I like their sound...I suppose.  

So, good news with me.  My MRI came back with normal results.  So yes, very glad it wasn't cancer, as we can see how fast it killed Dustin Diamond.  It runs in my family, so I have to watch. 

 

Biggest snow fall of the year has hit.    

In other news, so how much do I really care about recent allegations of abuse in relationships against Marilyn Manson and him getting dropped from his label and various projects he was doing? Not at all.  He hasn't been much more than a curiosity in my life.  Good luck to him.  But people like that don't deserve much of anything in my way of thinking, even if they can make some form of music that people listen to.     

 Rest in peace Susan Love, Director of the nursing home that my grandma is at.  She did so much and meant so much to the community.

RIP  Dustin Diamond aka Screech.  

Sometime artists do things that no one else is doing.  Sophie was one of those artists.  Rest In Peace.  They (yup that is the gender pronoun that Sophie preferred), were only 34.  

Just got out of my MRI.  They gave me some kind of dye injection so that they can get a better view of my insides.  The machine gets pretty loud, but the strange part is that you are in a machine with a pretty low ceiling.  There was a light right above me in the machine, which kind of made it a little better, and they give you an "emergency ball" to squeeze if you need to get out of there.  

Anyway, my friend from work released a new video.  He is very classy and fun, and his voice sounds just like he does in the music when you talk to him in real life.  

An unpleasant encounter with a really heavy box may have saved my life.

So it turns out that I didn't have acute angina as I thought (it was actually some swelling of my myrcchodial tissue or something like that).  When I went to get checked out for that,  they noticed something else in my liver, so I went to get an ultrasound of this "cyst".

I got a call yesterday that they want to do further tests of these abnormalities.   I don't know what "abnormalities" could be, but they want me to get an MRI.  

I am hoping for benign findings, but who knows, maybe the boxes that scraped against my chest which caused unpleasantness at the time will actually save my life, because I wouldn't have gotten any tests done otherwise and they wouldn't have found the abnormalities in my liver.  

 It reminds me of what happened recently with Caris LaVert getting traded to the Pacers from the Nets.  He needed a physical exam  for the trade to clear.  They found cancer on his kidney.  He is expected to have surgery and recover, but the trade probably saved his life.  

 

New Tune-Yards.  Love this artist.

 Bad news.  There are abnormalities in my liver, I have just been informed.  I need to get an MRI.  Friends, please keep me in your thoughts.  

I went back to work, told my friends that I am in good health, then this happens :(  And I don't even drink...

One of my favorite songs of the past year.  This guy is just amazing.  

Somehow these two made a song together.  

Re-united for the first time in 22 years to play for Joe Biden.

 "Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path.  Every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war."

-Joe Biden

 I think I saw some sunshine, shining through deep and dark depression, as we inaugurated a new president and vice president today.   

First came the track, then came the video.

It is hard to gauge how big of a star Cristin Milioti is right now, but I suppose a lot of people know her if she is making appearances on late night TV now.  Yes, I did know her and played in bands/sang in choir with her in high school.  I just remember she was one of those people who knew everybody's name.  Even mine.  Anyway, it is pretty exciting to see her on late night TV in this segment.

I got an abdominal ultrasound done today because my doctor noticed a cyst on my liver and wanted to further investigate.  Hoping for benign results.  

He wrote this song after watching "My Friend Dahmer"!

Gorgeous new track from Mogwai.  Reminds me of someone giving birth or something. 

So I have been informed that I have some sort of cyst on my liver, and my doctor is ordering an abdominal ultrasound.  Hopefully, it comes back with benign findings.  

 Age-ism is really a problem.  I can't count the number of times that I was correct about something, but my thoughts or ideas were turned down by someone who was older than me just because I am younger than them.  Just one example: my obsession with stocking up on things we are going to need proved to be right during the pandemic.  

To quote my father: "I don't find it necessary."  -My dad on toilet paper, when there were like 2 rolls left.

Months later, we have the toilet paper mountain in the house.  I was definitely right about toilet paper.  I actually did not buy most of those though...

Not to mention how I knew that the trees were going to fall on the car and break the windshield, and that the cabinets in the kitchen were coming off the wall because the caulk wasn't working, and that we had to take out all of the dishes and cups before it all came crashing down.  

  Also, Lana Del Rey is releasing new music in 2021.  

 After yesterday's events in the United States, I am still unable to really put into words how I feel.  I tried to have as normal a day as possible.  Just went to CVS, Starbucks, and Walmart and picked up some stuff that I need, but I am definitely still processing what happened.  I hope to see change in this country, and I know that some Republicans, such as Lindsey Graham, have had enough.  I'm hoping that Pence will utilize the 25th amendment and remove Trump from office.  Hopefully not much more harm can be done, but Trump has done enough to be removed.  I'll give it to him, he won fair and square in 2016, but this isn't 2016.   

Also, I never knew that Chuck Schumer is the father of Amy Schumer.  I guess it takes a really serious man to have such a hilarious daughter.  

Maybe a new Kings of Leon track will offer a respite from all the garbage in the news.

Protestors who think Trump won the election have breached the Capitol and are tussling with police officers.  Can things get any more ridiculous?

Edit: So, most media sources aren't even calling them protestors anymore.  They are calling them domestic terrorists.  

2021 has already given us a new Gwen Stefani song.