This is the Friday Mood Boost, where I’ll share some recommendations, thoughts and general vibes while you slack off on a Friday afternoon.
Well damn, it’s been a busy week. Usually I’ve started writing one of these posts a couple days ahead of time, but the finishing touches on it Thursday night and ship it out to you all on Friday. But it is 10:16am Friday morning and just getting around to it now.
This week’s mood boost is an appreciation of the dreariness of early Spring. Where I am it is overcast and rain is in the forecast for the next week without much break. It actually snowed here last week, followed by a day near the 80s and then back down to the 40s-50s. Weather talk: thrilling content!
Much like Autumn, I actually like this time of year when it’s neither too cold and lightless or the sun too bright and domineering. The sound of a light rain, pallid gray light, cold enough for sweatpants or a blanket, still hot coffee season (unless you’re a year-round iced coffee pervert). Great reading weather. I’ve got on my relaxed fit red flannel that I’ve had at least 20 years and got a TBR pile taller than I am1.
I tore through The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie this week. It was good! I love me some noir and I’m a sucker for anything set in New England2. It’s not high literature but it was a lot of fun and is led by a strong cast of women. This will be made into a movie, I’d bet on it. It is very cinematic, the characters chew the scenery, there’s a touch of the paranormal. Nothing startlingly original, but it reads like a solid action/drama movie.
Unsolicited Recommendation(s) of the Week
The perfect soundtrack for an overcast day. I wish I was some kind of jazz or blues aficionado, but I ain’t.
Journaling.
Figured I’d skip a week of recommending beers3. I recently cracked open my tenth journal. I did a quick lookback and realized that I’ve been journaling, near-daily, for the last decade. Somewhat ironic since I thought I was taking to the habit late.
You’ve likely seen a metric ton of online articles about the benefits of journaling. They are entirely overblown. Or maybe I just feel things at like 50% of normal human capacity. Either way, it’s something I can explore through writing in my journal, which is a nice way to start and/or cap the day and keep little notes of things I want to remember. I’m also able to look back and see where/who I was during - say - COVID. I thought I had a good recollection of what COVID was like, but even a few years removed it’s like it happened to a different person4.
I’ve drifted in and out of using it as a to-do list, and now mostly use Post-It notes for that. I bought one of those receipt spikes and enjoy driving it through completed Post-Its. I don’t really have hard and fast rules for my journals/notebooks, but I keep a ton of them around. I’m basically John Doe at this point.
Napping.
The best rainy-day activity. Especially with dogs.
Mood Board
That does it for another edition of the Friday Mood Boost. Stay dry.
- V
Which is not tall, but not short.
Except Connecticut; if beige were a state.
Nothing beats an Allagash White this time of year (when sunny).
Reading my notes from COVID actually convinced me that I have a lot of unresolved trauma and depression and got me to (intermittently) seek therapy. Journaling is very much therapy for people without health insurance.