2026-01-27: cold af

the last week and a half have been bitterly cold. after a spell where we saw the weather go up above freezing (in january!), we're now in the midst of extreme cold, -30 and colder for most of the last week. before that, it was "only" the low -20s. my dogs are getting a little squirrely. i know they want to go for a walk, but they get outside, quickly do their business, quickly come in. they know that cold is cold. they seem to have a tipping point, and it seems to be -15.

i've been holed up inside. sitting in the basement, working, drinking these ridiculously big cups of tea. idly working at guitar stuff on my breaks. just strumming patterns. trying to form good habits, make them automatic. and writing, too. several poems already so far this year. definitely feels like the coldest months are usually my most productive. i'm waiting on a couple pedals i bought for christmas (a volume pedal, a compressor), one of them back-ordered by the store. i've been sketching out some stuff, just using volume knob swells instead. more awkward, less precise. but it's good enough to get started, to write down what i want to do, plan some recording for whenever the pedals finally get in.

one eye on the news, one eye on my work. as i mentioned earlier, things aren't great, either in the world at large or for myself personally. but i'm trying to find ways through it. acknowledge, compartmentalize, distract. i had a music rehearsal last weekend. it was good to see other people outside of a work context. been a couple months. we had our little celebration after the fall concert, had christmas: time to get going for the new year.

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