Welcome to Tuesday Night Moronitude! It’s like Sunday Night Moronitude but two days later because I couldn’t get my act together. This weekend was so sunny and nice (almost warm) that I couldn’t bring myself to hole myself up in front of the computer. Instead I sat outside, drank some Pacifico and got a tiny little bit of sunburn. I was in a good mood. Jolly even.
It was a nice change of pace. Not to say that I’ve been a permanent downer, but my thoughts have been pretty dark recently. So when I started out writing the newsletter I had planned on talking about the Iraq War celebrating its 18th birthday. But rambling on about forever wars, especially in light of the two horrific mass shootings in the past week, seemed far too bleak. I don’t think any of us really want to go there in our few moments of respite. Then I saw this Tweet:
Naturally, I got immediately nostalgic for the many, many hours I spent goofing around during my college years. Whether those hours were spent watching a soap opera featuring a little person as a doll that came to life (“Passions” was deeply weird), playing Ken Griffey Baseball or putting together ska shows in a church basement, there was always time.
Time to hang out with friends. Time to plan out elaborate pranks. Time to write out lengthy emails to my group of high school friends in the hopes that this particular email would be in consideration for the awards we’d give out at the end of the year. Yes, we actually had an email Oscars. It was the ‘90s, man, email was still novel to us.
It’s not that I wasn’t studying my ass off, I was doing that too. I read so much, both for school and for pleasure. I went to lectures, not for class, but in the evenings. For fun. It seems kind of wild now.
It got me to thinking deeply about a subject I’ve pondered quite a bit recently: work/life balance. Maintaining a healthy balance is difficult in the best of times, the last year has thrown everything into disarray. I’ve been going back to the office since July, but when I was working from home during the lockdown it was as if I was on call at all times. I would wake up, “commute” from laying in bed to sitting on the bed and check my email immediately, always before 9. And I almost never called it a day prior to 5. When your coworkers know you’re going to be home because of a lockdown, the boundaries between when work starts and stops becomes blurred.
Even though I was saving two hours of my day by not commuting, I ended up just spending those hours working. I was finding it harder and harder to carve out time to spend on things I want to do. There once was a time when I kept a notebook to keep track of my progress throughout an entire 162 game season of the aforementioned Ken Griffey Baseball with notes about how I did in each game. Yes, it’s weird and obsessive and definitely a waste of time, but I was able to do that and do all of the other things I needed to.
Now I spend 10-11 hours a day dedicated to getting to and doing my job, I check emails periodically throughout my down time and I take work-related calls whenever they come in. Despite thoroughly enjoying my job—I do get to do some really cool things—I’d really like to go back to the time when my profession didn’t dominate my life.
For years I have argued that Americans need to reprioritize our lives when it comes to the work/life balance. We need more vacation time and to work fewer hours per week. We need to have hours in the week to pursue passions. I say this as a person is not only lucky enough to work in the field I want to be in, but I’m childless, which means I have significantly more free time than most people.
There’s been a lot of talk about how COVID has given us an opportunity to reinvent the American office experience. In the next couple months we’ll find out if there is any true desire to do that, or if we’ll just go back to the way things used to be.
Maybe this time I’ll make better use of my free time. A man in his forties has no business keeping notes about a silly baseball video game. But to build the perfect fantasy team… well, that seems like a pretty noble pursuit to me.
Weekly Song to Rock Out To
The Great American Going Out of Business Sale by Dave Hause
Life is cyclical. So is music. As a young punk rocker I used to get excited when one of my favorite bands would turn a pretty weak country/pop songinto a rager. Now that I have entered the realm of being “wicked old” I find that musicians are turning the ragers of my youth into folksy jams.
Dave Hause used to play punk rock, but as he’s gotten older he’s transitioned into playing Americana-style folk music. It’s fine. Others have done a better job pulling the same stunt (Tim Barry, Chuck Ragan). But this past year Hause did a cover ep of five Dillinger Four songs and it is tremendous. The stripped-down version of these tunes really shows what a tremendous songwriter Paddy is. This song was written in 1998, but it feels like it could have been written about the past year. Hause’s version lets you really pay attention to the lyrics in a way you just don’t when pumping your fist in the air and screaming along, bringing out the beauty that lay just under all the aggression.
Things to Read
Charles Pierce, one of my favorite writers, penned a beautiful ode to Marvelous Marvin Hagler. https://defector.com/marvelous-marvin-hagler-wouldnt-bend/
Dave Parker ruled. I remember when he showed up on the Oakland A’s, a shell of his former self, but still a giant in my eyes. The story behind his iconic “If You Hear Any Noise…” shirt is phenomenal. https://www.mlb.com/news/origin-of-dave-parker-s-boys-boppin-shirt
And you thought Chekhov was the only one with a gun. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/literary-gun-devices-chekhovs-and-otherwise
The Mutiny will always stand out in my mind for two things: being host to some of the worst bands I’ve ever seen play live and the six foot tall urinals. Raise a glass to Ed Mroz and enjoy this tribute to him. https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/03/17/musicians-ex-employees-mourn-death-of-logan-square-dive-bar-owner-ed-mroz-the-mutiny-was-eds-party-and-everyone-was-invited/?fbclid=IwAR26lgdn8GZBHHjzkTgKlFCAqT5eRnn72AauDBGKI1s1H9qNafJGPjg40oo
That’s it for this week. We’ll be back to the normal schedule on Sunday. Sorry you had to wait so long. But if you feel the wait was worth it… you know the drill.