Hello. It’s Harry. I was at a concert last night, and when the headliner began what felt like their 100th song, I started losing focus. I thought about a few things – the cool lights on stage, the guy next to me who kept turning his head all the way to the side and staring at me, and, most importantly, I thought about writing. For a self-proclaimed “aspiring writer”, I don’t actually do a whole lot of writing. Sometimes I’ll sit down and come up with a poem or two, but there is no pattern or consistency to my output. So, I thought, I need a way to pump out some text in a manner that I’ll actually enjoy. Under the flashing blue lights of the Athenaeum, I came up with this. A little weekly roundup, serving both as a kind of diary and as a way to force myself to write. Maybe I’ll commit to it. Maybe not. You’re just gonna have to deal.

AUGUST 29TH – SEPTEMBER 4TH

Now, what did I do this week? Hmm. Mm. Ehhhh… no. Uh, football season is back. I went to my first game of the season. Ohio Bobcats against the Florida Atlantic University Owls. I think the best part about live sports is that you can boo anything you want to. I was booing holding calls, false starts, incomplete passes, just about everything that I deemed to be stupid. When you watch the game on TV, sure, you can boo, but you may as well be hooting and hollering into the void. In person, however, there is an infinitesimal chance that a referee or player on the other team will hear your booing. Will it affect them? For their sake, I hope not, but I’m all about forcing people to perceive me. I posture as if I hate the eyes of my fellow human beings, but deep down I live for it. Harry Rosenberg was meant to be seen. And heard.

Friday night I hit the Smiling Skull Saloon. A few friends of friends (of friends?) were playing their first show, and a cover of only $4 makes the decision a no-brainer. Their band, Lavandula, played first, and I thoroughly enjoyed their set. Yes, it was 66.7% covers, but I’m willing to look past that for a band’s first handful of performances. Their original shit sounded good, evidenced by the only notes I took during the show: “Smooth Crooning I fuck with it”. Lavandula has a whole lot of potential, and you will certainly see me at their next set. Then came on Neon Straitjackets. Look. I have this moral rule, right? I can’t hate on live music. It takes so much effort and courage to go stand up there and present your art to the world that regardless of what it sounds like, I have a baseline level of respect for every performer or speaker. That being said, I did not have fun during their set. When I hear a band say something like: “Everybody on the right side of the crowd say ‘HEY’! Everybody on the left say ‘HO’! HEY! HO!”, some chunk of my brain activates and implores me to flee. It feels like I’m at a fucking pep rally. Also, they played a cover of Circles by Post Malone. Need I say more?

Work has been fine. I’m wary of writing too much about it, due to my still living in Athens for at least another 8 months, but just know that I am processing permits and entering data like a boss. I can tell you this, I guess. As part of my job, I get emails whenever a citizen submits a complaint through an online app the City uses. Approximately 1/40 complaints I see are legitimate. My favorite from this week read: “strange hose attached to manhole in front yard”. I’m always amazed to read this kind of stuff. I can’t imagine seeing a hose in a manhole and not just assuming it’s meant to be there. Gotta respect the attention to detail.

Classes started again. Aye-yi-yi. I don’t know if that’s how you spell that. Not gonna look it up. This is my website motherfucker I get to come up with the rules. It’s funny that I was actually looking forward to classes during the summer. I couldn’t wait to have some structure, some framing to my daily life. Well, I have structure alright. It sucks and I hate it. I’m taking this class on Ethics in Law Enforcement because I needed three more credit hours to maintain my full-time student status and it was the only thing that fit into my schedule. Is there such thing as a class that’s so easy it’s hard? Let me present you with a question from my most recent quiz:

Question 8:

Ethical systems are more complex to explain than to apply.

  • True
  • False

What the fuck? Are you serious? I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read it. Mulled it over for a while and decided that, sure, it’s true. Nope. Minus 0.2 points. Normally, I would not describe myself as someone who gets upset over a grade. Above failing has been good enough for me since I began college. When I saw the results of this test, I jumped into the air. Literally left the ground. Can’t wait for next week when she asks us: True or False? Is God real?

I talked a bit about the show I went to last night in my cute little intro, but I’ll give you some more details. Hotline TNT, Momma, Snail Mail. In that order. I bought a ticket pretty much only to hear Speeding 72 by Momma live, and my wish was fully granted. What an incredible song. Hotline TNT is a band that has been on my radar for a little while, but I’ve never really gone out of my way to listen to them. They sounded very good. Plus, one of the guitar players had a dope pink Eli Manning jersey. Gotta respect the legends. Momma was on next (not Mommy, random yelling guy in the crowd), and they killed it. So fucking good. I’m not gonna try to write up some bullshit analysis of their guitar tone or stage presence or whatever so you’re just going to have to take my word for it when I say they rocked. Finally, the headliner: Snail Mail. Eh. Set felt like it took 13 years, long enough that I found myself praying for the words: “Alright, we’ve got one more.” It wasn’t bad or anything, just long and slow. Didn’t stop the girl behind me from screaming at the top of her lungs, however. After that, me and my cool friends got Taco Bell and ate it in a big empty parking lot. Fun night.

Music:

Last chase – Bussdown Tae, Dooman low, Chosen kidd, Pmn mar, Meir low

Check this out if you’re in the mood for something hard as hell. I’m pretty sure everyone on this track is a child, but you wouldn’t know it just from listening. Great beat, great vocal performances, great song.

Panic – thanks for coming, Lily Konigsberg

Sometimes I’ll hear a song that makes me instantly want to get in the booth and copy it. This ’21 single off #1 Flake in North America combines everything I love about thanks for coming: a stripped-back instrumental, lyrics about forsaken love, and an endearingly casual vocal delivery. Worth a listen.

TV:

How To with John Wilson

If you didn’t know this show was executive produced by Nathan for You star Nathan Fielder, you will undoubtedly suspect it after watching an episode or two. John Wilson taps into the same human vulnerability as Fielder, using awkward pauses and stilted dialogue to ensnare interviewees into revealing more about their lives than seems appropriate. There is something so beautiful about this show, so touching, so perfectly human that each episode is impossible to predict. If you enjoy Andrew Callaghan’s Channel 5 or anything Nathan Fielder has ever touched, you will enjoy this show. I promise. Unless you don’t. In which case, promise rescinded. Fucker.

House of the Dragon

Let me preface by saying that I did not finish Game of Thrones. Not even close, in fact. I believe I stopped watching around Season 4, not for any reason, just didn’t keep watching. Therefore, I’m sure there are a million references I’ve missed in the first three episodes of HOTD (House of the Dragon). I’m fucking with it. Lots of the same gruesome scenes that defined GOT (Game of Thrones), lots of royal drama, lots of dragon scenes. I can’t wait to see which child gets wedded off next.

See you next week.