The Thursday Dispatch - 11 June 2026
I don’t really know what I want to talk about, so let’s see where this goes.
I woke up to severe storms this morning. From what I can tell, there was no damage or anything in my area, just a lot of noise. To the south though, there was a flood warning out for a while. And into Iowa, that line of storms really ramped up, sometimes producing hurricane-force winds.
Anyway, that’s what got me up today. I did my usual routine of laundry and wasted a bit of time until my therapy appointment today. It was mostly recap, expansion on that recap, and a place for me to just talk. One thing I’ve been feeling is that despite all the things that I do well, the writing my random thoughts into a pocket notebook whenever anxiety hits, keeping all my work and organizing my days in yet another pocket notebook, journaling every day for now over three weeks, and countering my negative thoughts with positive ones, I still feel like there’s a missing piece. So now it’s learning how to dig deeper on those surface-level thoughts.
The other thing is learning how to enjoy myself in my own space. I only have a couple of core friends where I live. They all have full lives as it is for one reason or another, which is to say there isn’t always time for us to get together. I literally helped a friend move furniture a week ago as an excuse to come over and chat for the first time in a while. Point is, most of my time is going to be alone and I’m someone who can’t sit and watch an episode of a TV show by themselves, much less a movie without getting stir crazy.
One thing that occurred to me was if you drop me off in a random city, I’m likely to roam that city a bit. I want to find the things tourists don’t usually find, the neighborhood bar, the coffee shop, the sandwich place no one talks about. I want to see how I can get there by mass transit or by walking. I’ve walked both Seattle and San Francisco in my past and found many little nooks like that. Yet, I don’t do enough of this in my own city. There’s a craft beer hall across the street from me that I keep telling myself I need to frequent more. I’m getting back into craft beer, so I might as well.
All of this to break up the monotony of my every day life. Find the pub, the coffee shop, the sandwich place, in my own damn city. Maybe find one I like enough that I go there enough that people actually say hi. I’m not saying waste my life or bank account away in these places, but just frequent them enough. Maybe I’ll meet some people along the way too.
Weekly Photo
It’s been another active week of storms in the area. This cloud was hanging out southeast of me as part of a line that stretched back into Iowa.
This Past Week
Songs in the Chaos
This is my weekly list of songs that either caught my attention or came to mind this past week. I post these throughout the week on a site called Crucial Tracks, where they’re also added to a playlist on Apple Music. Feel free to follow me on either space.
