This week in squirrels…

Summary

  • The rainiest drive out
    • Several coworkers and I all carpooled out to the work meetup, and it was an unexpectedly soaked drive. It felt like it went quickly since I had company, but seven hours of intense rain was a lot.
    • At least I finally got some significant and extended mileage on the car, and with all the rain, it didn’t get too bug-covered.
  • Company Meetup
    • We have these two to three times a year, and it’s been getting difficult in 2025. I had my first miss for the spring one and drove up to this one.
    • The energy in this one was a bit weird for me. I think it was a combination of the fact that many of the engineers missed this one and many people slept very poorly for various reasons.
    • We didn’t even have our regular closing ceremonies, where we talk about the next meetup and how the meetup has gone.
    • I don’t want to talk about the content of the meetup on my blog, but it was good to sit down and have face-to-face conversations about where we are going. I love some of it, feel anxious about some of it, and am outright displeased about some of it, but isn’t that everything work?
  • All the Snow
    • We went to a very snowy place, and I was able to see snow for the first time since I was in my single digits.
    • I learned how to drive down a mountain in ice and snow for it. It was touch-and-go and scary when I started sliding down the road a few times, but nothing bad happened.
  • The longest drive back
    • We took a new way back on the way home, and it was about the same time, but there were almost no places to stop for most of it, and it got a bit rough in parts, but we made it.
  • Weird week
    • For the whole week, I didn’t have much reading time, watching time, or music time at all. I am not one to put headphones on in a room full of people I can talk to, so the rest of this list is short of more profound thoughts, just sharing random news.

Books

  • If I Could Reach You, Vol 1 ⭐⭐⭐
    • The art is decent enough, and the emotional writing is strong, so much pining. The book feels as if it were a single volume about a teenager’s unrequited first love; it would be pretty good. But there is a bit too much “teens with crushes on adults,” which makes me uncomfortable. I am going to give the next book or two a read, but this is not going to stick for me.
  • If I Could Reach You 2
    • Starting this and unsure about it.

Music

All of this music I listened to, more or less, in the car while driving people around, so I will have more thoughts later.

  • Swan’s “The Seer”
    • I think this is one of my least favorite of them so far
  • Seeming
    • I have been going back through Seeming’s fantastic catalog in preparation of the new album. I still think “Talk about Bones” might be my favorite track, but generally, I think most Seeming works best in Album form.
  • Cynthoni’s “LIFELESS MISERY”
    • This one caught me off guard immediately. The dreamy synths and harsh crunch over breaks I had come to expect from Jvne were gone from the start. Instead, the album dropped into some hard D&B and dark, evil samples. Parts of it reminded me a lot of some of their earlier doom/industrial works. The album does eventually slide into some familiar sounds on the last track but is the most significant stylistic divergence in a long time.
  • Snog’s “The Last Days of Rome”
    • My favorite Snog album that still manages to be as relevant as ever. Honestly it feels like the more time passes the more Snog becomes relevant.
  • Xiu Xiu’s “13” Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn Grips"
    • If I were going to get into Swans, why not more experimental rock groups? This album is more fun and engrossing than most Swans albums. I also checked out “Women as Lovers,” and it seems that moving back in their catalog, I find things that catch me even more.

Reads and Videos

Quote of the Week

I see a lot of people saying, “We need to have a serious conversation about this.” This means they want to spend 4 hours arguing about it, then all agree that absolutely nothing can or will be done about it.

  • JA Westenberg