(1) A/C | (2) Air, period. Between my aging body and the hardwood floor. | (3) Ginger slaw. | (4) Serendipity. (I think.) | (5) Escape velocity. | (6) That part in Jaws where Chief Brody’s slinging chum into the water and he’s bored and pissed and feels put out, but then The Great Fish reveals itself and he drops the ladle and backs away muttering, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” | (7) This realization: I’m gonna need a bigger boat. | (8) My charmed friend Ben, who told me it means (a) I’m on the right track and (b) now I have to go to Ireland. With a one-way ticket. And he was totally serious. And he’s charmed, so he must know. | (9) Levon Helm. | (10) The acoustics in my empty summer apartment. | (11) The sound of my own voice. | (12) The Misfit Pilgrimage queue (in no particular order): Le Poisson Rouge. Grand Canyon. Christ of the Ozarks. Clarksdale. Woodstock. Big Pink. Galway. Dublin. Belfast. Derry. | (13) “I don’t use the accident because I deny the accident.” J. Pollock. | (14) Heady conversation. Overheard. | (15) So I guess it’s official: I’ve done turned into Ricky Fitts: “…That’s the day I realized that there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video’s a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember… I need to remember… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it, and my heart is just going to cave in.” R. Fitts. | (16) Which is to say: the beautiful young family that is, as I type, reflected in my laptop screen, their equitable arrangement: papoose, sippy cup, intermittent traded bites of croissant, sips of coffee, juice, etc. | (17) Which is to say: etc. etc. etc. “…there’s so much beauty in the world…” | (18) Investing, but not in the way that grows money. | (19) Silky jazz. The coffee. | (20) The mean coffee shop lady who’s not really mean, per se. | (21) Rest. | (22) Some new lines on my face. | (23) Faces generally. | (24) Slow, steady(ish) progress on my guitar. | (25) Slow, steady(ish) progress in coming to terms with the ways I’m a little bit crazy. | (26) Making my sister watch the fireworks show on TV with me. | (27) Taking the time to enumerate. | (28) That there’s an Ulster Co. NY and that Woodstock and Big Pink are in it. (Please see #4 and #12 above.) | (29) Rabbit holes. | (30) Music people. The rabbit hole of that idea.