Pushing Forward Back July/August 2019

July (which I know isn’t over today, but close enough) was mostly work, work, work as I had two back-to-back six day work weeks, and while I said that because I don’t work that long of days, that I’d still have time to read as many books, watch as much TV and movies, and listen to as much music as I wanted, I didn’t really do that. However, I did…

• Read two books, both during the 24in48 Readathon on July 20 and 21: Bruno, Chief of Police, by Martin Walker and The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō , Buson, & Issa, edited by Robert Hass. I probably will finish the second Bruno mystery, The Dark Vineyard, this afternoon.
• Watched Season 3 of Stranger Things, more of the second half of Season 6 of Drunk History and a lot of different seasons with The Office with my wife; more CSI and CSI Miami by myself. I just finished Season 8 in each of the latter ones. We enjoyed Stranger Things, but as with many – at least of these limited run – shows, I liked the first season the best (the epitome of examples, for me: Daredevil on Netflix).
• Listened to lots of chill music, including this mix by Philadelphia musician Ulla Straus:

On the personal front, I was approved by our insurance company for three gel shots for my left knee, two of which I had this month and the third and final one, next week. I also started physical therapy again and hope to be able to get into a regular routine (after some initial miscommunication and misunderstanding among our insurance company, our doctors’ offices, and ourselves).

August isn’t as heavy on the work front. The major events include celebrating my mom’s 75th birthday with a Southern Gospel concert in a nearby town and my wife and I going on a day trip to Seneca Lake in upstate New York for wine and whiskey. In addition, I would like to…

• Read more Bruno mysteries. I also have On the Come Up by Angie Thomas, checked out from our library.
• Watch Season 2 of Derry Girls (Netflix) with my wife. We loved the first season and are looking forward to this one.
• Listen to the new albums by Sleater-Kinney and Bon Iver, The Center Won’t Hold and i, i, respectively. I also am intrigued to hear the debut album from 20-year-old Clairo (Clairo Cottrill), Immunity, out this coming Friday, Aug. 2. I’ll leave you with the first single she released from that album:

How was your month of July? Read any good books, seen any good movies and/or TV shows, listened to any good music? What was the highlight of your month? What are you most looking forward to in August? Share in the comments.

Addendum: I also wrote a post this past month in where I was being honest here again, but I lied. I said I wouldn’t be using bullet point lists anymore here on the blog, but as you can see from today’s post, that’s not true. The main thing, though, is I’m still keeping it short here.