Tag Archives: writing

What I would want from an Animorphs TV show

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https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/animorphs-tv-series-disney-plus-ryan-coogler-1236678435/

In the above link, you can find a story that Ryan Coogler’s production company is in possible works to make an Animorphs TV show. They did it before and it was not that great. The andalites just shoved each other around instead of fighting with their tails. They barely morphed throughout the series because it took too much money to handle the animals. Let’s take some time and I’ll talk to you about what I want in the series.

  1. Animated

I like real animals as much as the next guy but c’mon, it would be very expensive and dangerous to have the Animorphs’ battle morphs on set at the same time. They are in no particular order tiger, bear, gorilla, wolf and red tailed hawk. Along with whatever nonsense they’re going to do for the andalites. That’s going to be no small task in live action, I mean look at these things:

The solution, I think is turning it into animation. We’ve had some great serious animation like with Invincible and Primal and I think that this would make it easier to do some of the major sci-fi things and animal violence without involving real animals.

I’m not sure what kind of style I would do it in, maybe a more realistic one. Considering the anti-war messages, I think having some starkness to it would be better. People have mentioned Invincible and I think that’s the best option. Realistic but then body horror during the morphing. I would love to see everyone’s reactions to the things that we had to see in our mind’s eyes when we were kids reading these books. Behold that time Jake’s tiger morph nearly got eaten by fire ants. Behold that time Marco’s gorilla morph had skin ripped off from the ice that he landed on in the arctic in book 25. Those are just the ones off the top of my head.

2. Make every book a two part episode

I’m not talking two hour long episodes but instead the way they split up the original Justice League cartoon episodes. We’re sticking with that this is in animation and hopefully less to produce. Plus, it would make sure that there’s enough time for the entire book to get covered. Such as with book 6 where Jake gets a yeerk in his ear after a mission. There’s a part in the book, where Ax realizes what’s going on before anyone else and whips his tail up against Jake’s throat screaming <YEERK!>. Boom, episode end.

The next episode starts with Jake being locked in the shed that he would spend the rest of the book in. There’s not much in these books but you do need to give them room to breath. Which brings me to my next point…

3. Make room for more characterization

There’s not much downtime in an Animorphs book. You know enough about the kids that I can give you their personality traits. They would also always have a little adventure in the beginning as in one of the books they go to the circus and free the animals because Cassie hated the circus.

It would be great to get some little best friend moments between the two friendships, Jake and Marco and Rachel and Cassie respectively. Have some moments where we see Tobias going about his day as a hawk and maybe when he can get the chance to morph again, showing him getting used to being a human. Going on little adventures with Ax possibly. Hanging at the mall, which brings me into another point…

4. Place in its time period of the mid to late 90s

It’s going to be difficult to keep the secret of the Animorphs in the modern age. Sure, you could explain away kids morphing by saying it’s AI but that’s only going to last for so long. Plus, if they don’t have access to a whole bunch of other things like Uber and cell phones, it can help hype up the tension. Plus, there aren’t many good things that came out of the late nineties or early aughts. Give them something.

5. Keep the enemies mysterious

On Battlestar Galactica, we got three and a half seasons of the Cylons being an overarching and mysterious threat to the colonists. Then we started getting plot lines on the basestar, which were okay but for me never had the same impact as the human storylines. It did however showcase their eventual change throughout the series into what they would become in the end. A completely different entity. I don’t need to know what Visser Three gets up to in his spare time. The Yeerks should not get the same characterization as the children. Let them just be a threat.

In conclusion, I’m excited by the idea but it’s going to take a lot to make me think this is viable. Animorphs is a tough nut to crack off of the page. I wouldn’t be surprised if this didn’t make it past the planning stages.

A Moment in the Life of Fred Durst

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(I wrote this because I was listening to the Mom Can’t Cook episode about Lemonade Mouth where the bad guy is a rap rocker. I listened to Break Stuff and it is a really good song for what it is. This idea just popped into my head. I actually have a great deal of respect for the man. Him showing up in I Saw the TV Glow, a deeply trans film and Y2K where he good-naturedly made fun of himself. I think that he might be an alright dude.)

He didn’t have to look around to find his trusted red baseball cap. It was always within arms’ reach and of course, he could easily summon it to his hand through the deep magic of nu metal. He could not show people that though, lest he be stripped of his powers by the nu metal mages that taught him his dark craft. But now was the time to write. Now was the time to express himself.

He sat down at his desk. He tapped his pencil against the desk, it’s point ready to be dulled through his art. He looked at his notebook. What would he bring into the being? What would he draw from the fabric of creation?

He decided that he had to speak to the people. To the everyman. What was one of the most universal things to say to somebody else? He thought for a few moments and nodded to himself.

“Did you ever have one of those days?”

There it was. A cordial phrase. One that you would say to a friend. Someone you loved. They would know that you’re going to talk about a shared experience. What else did people not want? Sometimes you…

“Did you ever have one of those days? Where you didn’t want to wake up.”

Yes, yes, YES. He was describing a bad day. Everyone had had bad days. Of course, he was far richer so his bad days were much better than others. Much easier. But he could still relate to the people. He needed to describe the people that you encountered.

“Everything is fucked. Everybody sucks.”

Beautiful. He was a wordsmith. He had to keep going.

“You don’t really know why.”

Excellent. Time to express the anger. Truly express it.

“But you really want to justify ripping someone’s off.”

What if he was an assassin? One that you didn’t want to make angry?

“No human contact. And if you interact, your life is on contract.”

His pencil was nearly on fire. He kept writing. When he was done, the eraser remained untouched because why would you need to erase any of it? He had had his pencil wore near down to the nub. But he looked upon his song, “Break Stuff”. This certainly wouldn’t come back to bite him in the year 1999.

The Genius of the Power is Power scene

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A bit of a primer for this scene is that Petyr Baelish is trying to play the Lannisters, here represented by Cersei. He mentions the fact that Cersei is sleeping with her twin brother, Jaime and that he can use that knowledge to harm them. Thus, him telling her that knowledge is power. What follows is Cersei demonstrating that it’s hard to tell people what you know when a guard cuts your throat.

My God, the writing was strong back in the early seasons. But of course those are just words on a page. You need talent to bring them to life. Aiden Gillan brings slimy heat to Petyr but of course, it’s Lena Headey that’s the MVP of this scene. She moves from overwhelmingly powerful to flippantly violent. The way she laughs as she says “I’ve changed my mind”. She then instructs her guards to close their eyes.

Maybe it’s the tone of her voice or just everything we’ve just seen, but we know that they’ve closed those eyes without having to take away from them being random faceless guards. I don’t remember if this scene is in the books but if it was, I would have something in there about Petyr knowing that the guards had obeyed her without having to see their faces.

It’s not just the absolute loyalty that the guards have whether through fear or pay, but the pettiness. Her playing these guards like they’re her toys. And the fact that she turned on a dime from a normal conversation to getting ready to spill someone’s blood in the middle of the palace. Because she knows no one will say a god damn thing.

In the later seasons as she made mistake after mistake and then more mistakes trying to fix those first mistakes, it’s hard to remember this Cersei. The one that seemed to be confident and capable. But that’s generally what I think makes villains interesting as they realize that their plans were always stupid and doomed to fail. Kind of like Randall Flagg from Stephen King’s novels. At the end of the Stand, he wasn’t that much. Same as Cersei who couldn’t stop what was coming. Of course that ending sucked but… you have to take what you get.

say hi to your dog for me

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Lorelei had been driving around with the bumper sticker from WeRateDogs on the back of her car for the last two years. She wasn’t a dog owner but she was a fan of dogs. She would go to the parks and watch people walking their dogs. Wishing she had the room or time for one. Not right now. Not until she got her promotion and had more control over her time. Soon. Soon.

She pulled up to the light and sat there. She knew this light and that she was going to be there for a long time. At least it was a nice day. Bright and clear. There weren’t too many folks on the road.

With a rev of an enormous engine, a pick up truck pulled behind her. It then revved again and pulled up next to her. She heard the sonorous sound of the horn and glanced over.

The man sitting in the car next to her was white, bald and wearing wraparound sunglasses. He was smiling a wide smile. She didn’t know what to make of the man. She wondered if he was about to say something to her whether sexual or racist. He kept smiling though.

“Say hi to your dog for me?” he called. “How about you do it yourself.”

He lifted up his hand and Lorelei nearly died. He held a chihuahua in his hand that was small and black and brown. The eyes were bugging out. It was shaking in the hand of its owner. She couldn’t tell if he was scared or just shaking like most chihuahuas do.

“Oh my God, look at that sweet angel,” Lorelei cooed. “What’s their name?”

“Apple pie!” the man called back friendly.

The light finally turned green.

“You two have a wonderful day,” Lorelei called after him as the man lowered Apple Pie back to their seat.

He gave her a friendly wave and drove through the light. Lorelei continued with her day as well, feeling a little bit happier. A little bit brighter having seen such a beautiful little one. Such is the power of the dog.

Here I Am

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I’m staring down the barrel of being old

The big 4-0

Bad for being young

Bad for score in soccer if you’re on the opposing team

Have I been to enough parties?

Have I done enough?

Will there be enough time?

Should I find love?

Should I get a cool car?

There are so many questions

But the age has just changed

They’ve always been there

Just like me

I am infinite

And I want to be kind

Two Suits

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I bought two suits in 2020
The promise of getting a new job
Things didn’t work out that way
And they stood in my closet
Waiting for a chance to do their thing
Now, I’ve worn them out
I lost sixty pounds from when I bought them
They fit me better now
I keep track of how often they go
To sad events or happy ones
Unfortunately, the score isn’t even
It’s been a hard five years

The Dog Catcher

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The door slammed and her words rang. He sat there on his couch, staring at the cooling, dimming TV. He saw his reflection there. The bulge of his stomach. The stains on his t-shirt. The five day stubble that hurt to shave.

She had left, calling him a loser. Telling him that she had fallen out of love with him. That he had no direction. Nowhere to go. His heart ached. Maybe that was his high choleric diet or maybe it was the heartbreak. Who could say. He hadn’t been to a doctor in years.

He sat there for a long time. He took a deep breath. He thought about getting up and going to his fridge and getting a beer. He thought about ordering a pizza and drowning his sorrows in a night of video games. But the shock to his system was rippling through him. He had lost her because of nights like that. Maybe it was time to change.

He thought about doing some situps or pushups. But his floor was covered in garbage and clothing. He reached an impasse in his life. He could sit and become a fungus on his own catch or he could get up and make a change. He thought about the love that had left his life.

He stood up.

*Years Later*

He sat patiently. He was reading. The day was getting colder. The bowl of dog food was sitting next to him. He had been brining it closer to him every day. Today was the day.

The nose emerged first. The rest of the dog followed. It was a golden retriever and he was in a bad way. His coat was dirty and clogged with barbs and other things. He had been through it. He was someone’s pet, not a wild animal. Above all, he was scared.

The dog came to his side and started eating. When the dog was finished, he licked his chops and looked at him. He held out his hand to the dog and the dog sniffed it. He whined. He went slowly. He put his hand on the dog’s head. He petted him slowly. The dog let out another whine.

“You’ve been through it, haven’t you, girl?” he said. “Think you would like to come home with me?”

The dog let out another long whine.

“Come on,” he said. “My name’s Keith. I think I’ll call you Stella for now. Let’s go.”

He put a harness and leash on Stella. It seemed she wanted to be found by someone. He had developed this kind, slow energy over years of doing his job. He brought the dog to his car and opened the door for her to climb in. He drove a familiar route. He got to the office and helped Stella out. He brought her into the clinic and she was once more fearful. The sounds and smells hitting her all at once. He scratched her behind the ears.

“You’re going to have to be brave,” he said calmly. “C’mon.”

Stella followed him but she was walking quickly. She wanted to be away from this place. He did as she wanted and brought her to a large shower. He leashed her inside and started spraying her with the hose. She started whining once more. He worked the barbs and everything out of her fur. He shampooed and did what he could. He gave her a treat as he dried her off.

“There you go, much better,” he said.

He brought her into a small office and there was a woman there in scrubs and a lab coat. The dog started whining.

“I know, I know,” the woman said. “I’m your nightmare. But I’m here to help. You brought in a beauty, Keith.”

“Yea, this was a pet project I had working on. She was hiding near my house,” he replied.

“Well, let me do my exam and I’ll let you know when she’s done.”

“Thanks, Leslie.”

He went back to his office and did some paperwork. When she messaged him on slack, he got up and walked back to the examination room.

“So, there’s something interesting,” she said.

“What’s that?” Keith asked.

“Look who the owner is.”

A familiar name flashed up on the screen.

“Hunh, that’s funny,” Keith said.

“Turns out her name is Muffins. Do you want to drop her off?” Leslie asked.

“Yeah, I owe her a favor.”

“Really? What?”

“She broke up with me.”

Leslie’s eyes shot up.

“Are you planning to kill her?” Leslie asked.

“What?! No!” Keith replied honestly taken aback.

“Then explain.”

Keith rolled his eyes. He pulled out his phone. He scrolled through an app and while he did so, he absentmindedly pet Muffins. He pulled up a picture and showed it to her.

“That’s what I looked like three years ago when she broke up with me,” Keith said. “The day she did I did the first situp I had done since I got out of high school. I was a fucking loser. Now, I’m in the best shape of my life. I’m happy, I’m healthy and all it took was her stomping my heart. And no, I don’t think we’re going to get back together because I can see that the primary owner is the dude she left me for. So, I want to show my thanks.”

“And possibly find out if the guy she’s dating is a scumbag?” Leslie said.

“Yes… but I’m not hoping for that.”

“I believe you.”

He put a collar and leash on Muffins.

“You should call first,” Leslie said.

“Eh, it’ll be fine,” Keith said. “C’mon girl, let’s go home.”

The drive was long and much happier than the one before. Muffins seemed much happier to be clean and unburdened by dirt. As he followed his GPS, Keith wondered when Muffins would realize she was getting close to home. They passed by a coffee shop and Muffins started whining and barking. He smiled to himself. They turned onto her street and he could see her tail whipping back and forth.

He pulled up in front of a nice little ranch house and she was going nuts. She was trying to get out through the window. He opened the door and came around to where he let her out. She was pulling hard on the leash. He could see how she had gotten away from her owner.

Maybe it was some off hand glance through the window. Some happenstance but the owner had seen his dog coming up the walk being pulled by a handsome animal control worker. He threw the door open and Keith let the leash go. Muffins ran to her father. The man hugged his dog who was licking at his face. He was crying hard enough to shake his body. Keith watched with his back against the door to his car.

There was paperwork to fill out but that could wait. Sometimes the job was heartbreaking when he had to witness the cruelty and sadness for creatures that didn’t understand. Today though, today it felt good.

“Keith?” a voice behind him said.

He turned around and he saw Viv, his ex coming up the street. She had been coming home from a run seemingly. He smiled at her.

“Hey,” he said raising his hand to her.

She was confused looking at him. She looked from him to her front door and saw her dog and boyfriend reunited. She let out a cry, having immediately forgotten about her ex and happy to see her baby. The dog jumped at her. Happy to see her.

Keith watched them for a while before getting his paperwork and clipboard and approaching them. The man stood up and reached out his hand to Keith.

“Thank you, god bless you,” the man said. “Who found her?”

“I did,” Keith said. “She was hiding in a bush near my house. I saw her going through the garbage and followed her to her hiding place. I’ve been trying to get her to trust me for the last week.”

“She ran off on me while we were on a walk,” Viv said.

“She’s very strong.”

“Yeah, is that paperwork to fill out?” the man asked.

“Yeah, I figured you’re her owner, Bruce, based on what we got but I just need to make it official. Can I see your ID?”

“Yea, let me just run in and get it.”

He left the two alone and Muffins ran into the house with him. Keith smiled into the awkward silence between them.

“You look good,” Viv said.

“Thanks,” Keith said. “So do you.”

“What happened?”

“Don’t take it the wrong way, you broke up with me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s the wrong way the apology should go. I made you miserable for years. You were so patient with me. I was blind and such an asshole.”

“You were.”

“So, yeah, I’m sorry. You deserved better and looks like you found it.”

“He’s great.”

“His dog loves him. That’s enough to tell me what kind of person he is. Are you happy?”

“I’m so happy.”

“Good.”

He smiled contentedly. Bruce came walking up and handed off his license to Keith. Keith took down the information.

“There we go,” Keith said. “Glad to help.”

“Am I allowed to give you like a tip or anything like that?” Bruce asked.

“It’s frowned upon.”

“By the way, you two seem to know each other.”

“We’re just old friends, my name’s Keith.”

“Oh… wait, that Keith?”

Keith let out a laugh.

“Yeah, I’m the ex,” Keith said.

“You’re not what I was expecting,” Bruce said.

“I’m sure every story you heard about me was true. I spent the last three years trying to be less of a waste of space. That’s how I got this job!”

“Are you happy?” Viv asked.

“Very much so,” Keith replied with a warm smile.

“Are you seeing anyone?” Bruce asked.

“Think I’m trying to steal her back?”

“Nah, I have a friend whose single. Maybe I could give her your number?”

“Which friend?” Viv said.

“Tanya,” Bruce replied.

“You are not inflicting Tanya on him.”

“I’m just saying…”

Keith held up his hand.

“I’m good,” Keith said. “I’m happy.”

He took the two in for a moment.

“And I’m happy that you two are happy as well,” Keith said. “I have to get back to it. You two have a good one.”

He gave them a brief nod and when he saw Muffins wagging through the glass door, he gave her a two fingered salute. He climbed back into his car and drove off.

Leslie noticed him humming throughout the rest of the day. She didn’t ask. Didn’t want to make him question his happiness.

A week or so later, he got a text from Viv. It was asking if he would want to go out with them for a drink. He smiled at his phone. He started texting back.

The First Book I Loved

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I don’t know why this book popped into my head. My thoughts often come at random and without any guidance. I think one of those thoughts was: Brian from the book Hatchet would make a great Animorph. That’s not what I’m going to be talking about in this article but it’s important to tell people where you came from.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was a book that resonated with me for some reason. I read it and wanted so badly to be living in the woods by myself with my wits keeping me from starving. As an adult, my heart breaks for that poor boy. He was only about thirteen(same age as the Animorphs) and he had so much happen to him. It’s the same thing like being Batman or Spider-Man, the life itself seems super fun. You don’t consider the implications that that life comes from unbearable loss.

For those that don’t know the book, Brian is given the titular hatchet by his mother because he’s flying out in a small Cessna plane to visit his father on an oil rig. During the flight, the pilot has a heart attack and dies leaving Brian alone. He crashes the plane in the L-shaped lake and swims to shore. The only thing he has are his clothes and his hatchet. He then has to survive in the wilderness and let me see how many trials I can think of that he had to go through: nausea from “gut cherries”, learning how to fish, creating fire, dealing with swarms of mosquitoes, bears, a tornado, nearly drowning in the lake when previously mentioned tornado drags the ship out of the lake and having to dive deep into the water to get his dropped hatchet. Let me head to wikipedia and check… oh I thought the skunk was only in Brian’s Winter but he has to deal with that, along with a bull moose, a pack of wolves and porcupine.

In the original ending, he gets rescued at the end of summer. In the new canonical ending, he has to survive through a Canadian winter because many fans pointed out to the author, that’s the true test. I had read the sequel, the River, which I didn’t like that much. I thought that the premise wasn’t that strong. It had nothing to do with the writing, Gary Paulsen is a master of the form. I’m reading through Brian’s Return and it still brought that same spark as when I read the original.

I’m trying to figure out why that spark hit. Maybe like your first kiss, your first love and all other things, nothing hits like that first one. Well, I think when it comes to kissing it comes down to your first good kiss. There are terrible kisses and you get to decide which ones truly count.

I think that if I didn’t love this book I wouldn’t have fallen in love with some of the other books that I’ve loved down the line. The Lord of the Rings, with its similar breathtaking descriptions of beautifully wild scenery. Animorphs, the idea of young people having to overcome adversity that they never should have to face.

And finally, my favorite book, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. Both books feature men in the wilderness though Inman has to deal with the press of humanity despite his best efforts. They also harken back to an older time and a deep respect for the native Americans while subtly noting the terrible things this country has done to them. They’re also just plain beautifully written. I wish I was as good as either of those men.

I read that book more than thirty years ago. I’m older now. I go for walks in the woods. I own a hatchet though I’ve never used it the way Brian has and probably never will. But when I’m in those woods, Brian walks with me. I don’t know if Gary Paulsen knew how important this book would be for me and others who have read that book. I hope he did.

RIP Gary, I hope on the other side you’re in a canoe floating down a river. The blue sky over your head endlessly and a smile on your face. From the deepest part of my heart, thank you.

Putting up numbers on the board

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I’ve been writing for what will be twenty-seven years next February.

I worked in pharmacy for twenty years.

It’s a strange thing looking at those numbers. When I was younger, I met people who would describe the businesses or occupations they were in, in this way. It was insane to me that anyone could do anything like that for this long.

And now I’m one of those older people. I’m going to be forty next year. I’m looking back at half a life time in pharmacy and more than half a lifetime pursuing the dream of becoming a writer. The closest I got was someone asking me to give them an extra thirty pages of one of my manuscripts.

So, do I look back at those years with regret?

Not in the slightest.

It would be easy to do so. I’m not rich in a financial sense. I’m not a writer in the acknowledged sense of someone offering me money for my works except for the time I got twenty-five bucks for selling a story where Teddy Roosevelt had sex with a male yeti.

(You can do that by buying my book of horror short stories here: https://books2read.com/u/3nJPzP my plugs are nothing if not shameless)

The reason I don’t have any regrets is because in those time periods I haven’t wasted my life. I have loved two women with everything I had. Kissed a fair more than that. I have climbed mountains and seen both shores of this great land. I’ve eaten delicious meals and made some too. I’ve laughed to the point that it hurt and erased hurts of the past with my friends. I have felt loss so deep that it scars my soul.

See, defining yourself by the money you earned or the time you spent doing a certain thing, it erases everything else. It makes it sound like you’re a robot in a tube waiting to go back to work. It’s just a piece of everything. All those other things are what make me who I am. And I’m proud of them.

Now that I’ve written this out, I look back at the times people have told me who they are and I didn’t ask followup questions. I should have been more curious and tried to round out the person I was talking to. I still have a fair time on this world, hopefully. I’m going to take that lesson with me and be more curious.

Goal Achieved: 100 Albums

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So, in earlier posts on this blog, I was talking about how I wanted to listen to 100 albums in a year that I had never listened to before. Over the weekend, I achieved it. I’ve made screenshots of the albums that I’ve listened to.

Okay, so my main takeaway looking at them from a distance is that I only have one rap/hip-hop album on here that I don’t really think counts, which is Gorillaz’ Humanz. I think I’m going to spend the next few months rectifying that.

I was going to say I don’t know why I didn’t listen to more rap but it’s because I admittedly get stuck staring at cement blocks without knowing how to start chipping away. This isn’t just rap, there are other things in my life that I look at and I’m like “I’m too old and too tired to start learning about that.” That’s a defeatist attitude and I don’t want to let that keep me out of things.

Two of those things are League of Legends and Fortnite. They got started and I have no idea what’s going on in those games and I don’t want to figure them out. They seem like time sucks that I can’t deal with.

I’m getting off topic. But it’s kind of the same thing with rap. The main thing is that rap is such a diverse and wide spreading genre that it’s hard to know who I’m going to click with. And maybe I’m not being adventurous but I kind of want to find things that I’m going to have at least an inkling of liking them. I love Dessa, Epic Beard Men, Doomtree, Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., Missy Elliot, Black Star(and it’s two actual stars Talib Kweli and Mos Def), the Yah Mos Def, Common, N.W.A, the Fugees and others. I’ve been thinking about getting into De La Soul, but was worried about how they eventually started going mostly sketch on their albums. Still, they have classic albums. Along with them, I want to listen to the Roots and see what I’ve been missing.

Speaking of seeing what I’m missing, HOW THE FUCK DID I NOT LISTEN TO LEMONADE UNTIL THIS YEAR. THAT ALBUM RIPPED.

I tried to make sure I listened to smaller artists but as you can see there is a lot of Taylor Swift on there. So I’m a hypocrite. I don’t regret listening to Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter. What was I supposed to do? Not listen to a 70s disco infused album that’s really good?

I notice there’s a lot of sad guitars from the guys and girls, Azure Ray, Iron and Wine and First Aid Kit. Maybe that’s just where I was this year. Also four of five albums were old school R&B, Al Green, Tammi Tyrell, Marvin Gaye and Minnie Riperton. I should have listened to more.

There is a lot of K-pop on here, which does have some R&B and rap elements but I still think that’s a genre all its own. That was mostly influenced by my buddy, Chris. Chris, you put me on some good stuff.

I’ve already made a post about how I was surprised by the sadness of Jimmy Buffett.

Alice Sara Ott’s two albums of beautiful piano music were what I listened to while studying for my Server+ exam.

Choosing 69 Love Songs as my last album was insane. That album is nearly three hours long. It’s good but finishing your race like that is like running back four miles before heading to the finish line.

I could keep talking about these albums and I probably will. But I want to talk about what this whole thing meant to me. First, it fell good to finish something. Secondly, it made me listen to more music. A lot of times I’ve found myself listening to debaters and reddit story read videos exclusively. This has made me choose music more often. Not just new stuff but falling back in love with old stuff. Like coming back to meet an old friend.

So, yeah, this was a fun time and positive experience. Next year, I want to challenge myself by listening to an album from an artist from every country in the world. Those penguins in Antartica probably have some sick beats.