The Victors: Gloomy November
Melodrama is not my aim, but "grieving" would be the best word for my humor and attitude in the wake of this year's football season. I am grieving for the calamity just endured, grieving for the joy and fun now absent that for so long was assumed to be a natural part of this time of year, grieving, I am not ashamed to admit, for myself and all that I have invested in the triumphs and travails of the valiant Wolverines. The agony of defeat is not a blow or a laceration. It is an ache, a tightness and a soreness and a melancholy that stays and stays and gloats that it will never go away. (The gloating rites include a mocking little dance that must be seen to be believed.) Gods above and below, what a price I would pay never again to have occasion for this dismal mood.

Special Request
In the midst of this gloom, I could really use my best friend. But then, to his great glee, the Dark Bastard reminds me that I don't have a best friend anymore. Bog, I miss having a best friend; I don't so much miss my erstwhile best friend, my fury precludes my missing that Judas, but I miss the notion of a best friend, that inimitable source of comfort and replenishment. I wonder if I shall ever have another best friend. I'm not musing about my emotional accessibility or any such namby-pamby tripe, I'm honestly wondering if such a bond is even possible between people who meet and forge a friendship as adults. I certainly hope and choose to believe that it is.

So, to my gloom add a goodly portion of doom, and not Dr. Hee Haw's patented "I'm doomed!" brand of smile-inducing, joyful doom. Dire, doomy doom, like meeting a moosey fate. Doom and gloom, boys and girls, and never before have I been able to muster so little enthusiasm for Thanksgiving. Our guests from Ohio are set to arrive Wednesday evening; their departure cannot come too swiftly. Family has rarely seemed such a burden. Tomorrow should be jolly, but the days thereafter will be abysmal.

"If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,"
--Kipling, "If-"

I'm working on it, boss, I am striving so mightily.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Josie and the Pussycats, "I Wish You Well" from Josie and the Pussycats: Music From the Motion Picture (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Soundtrack of a satirical movie about a fake band notwithstanding, Josie and the Pussycats is hands down one of the best rock albums I own.

Sonntag, 23 November
The Misfits, "Mars Attacks" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Mention The Misfits to me and I don't actually think of the band, not at first. No, I think of the ubiquitous black hooded sweatshirts (paraphernalia of the band, yes, but the black hoodies are far more widespread than the music, at least in my experience, and thus have taken on a life all their own) and the storyline from Batman: Shadow of the Bat (Nos. 7-9, "The Misfits"), to which I was introduced by my pal and fellow Blue Tree Whacker Ki-El. I've even got an idea for a parallel Superman story, titled "Supernumeraries."