Doing

I re-did my website! I've detailed it all in a separate post, but I'm really excited about making weird stuff online here. I will miss being on the bearblog discovery feed, but this is also a push for me to get involved more on webrings & other small web communities.¹
I'm starting to get my classroom ready for the school year. I'm really excited about some of the changes I'm making — the physical layout of the room, curricular changes, routines, and philosophies. We go back to school on Tuesday, so this is really the end stretch of summer.
I was pretty social this week! I had a friend and coworker over to help us identify some of the plants we have on our property; had a different friend over to play some games; went to see a Fleetwood Mac cover band with some of my partner's coworkers; and had my sister and her boyfriend over to go hiking and out to lunch.

Reading

An unrelenting sense of longing (or: “Maps”) by Keenan. "Maps" rocks and I love reading fellow music sickos.
Death Is Not an Option by Suzanne Rivecca. Plugging along, slowly. Rivecca's prose is excellent but none of the stories have really gripped me; all the protagonists are of a singular type that I don't really connect to.

Into the Aether's Pokemon Emerald Nuzlocke We finished it this week — a tragic end to a great series. RIP TONYSOPRAN.

Pokémon White Version. Played here and there; I think I'm losing my enthusiasm for it.
We had a friend over and played a little Rock Band and Mario Party Superstars.
Final Fantasy XIV. Just a bit on Sunday night; focusing on leveling my Marauder (almost to 50!) and my Squadrons. I've also started doing my Sylph Beast Tribe quests again because I want the Goobbue Mount.

Oblivion Will Own Me and Death Alone Will Love Me (Void Filler), Every Moment of Every Day, and Fates Worse Than Death, Short Fictions. I saw Short Fictions at Warsaw when they opened for Los Campesinos! I really enjoyed them live and sat down to listen to a few of their albums (they were kind enough to post their setlist!). Their music lacks some novelty compared to the live performance, but I still like a few songs — notably, "Anymore," "Nothingness Lies Coiled at the Heart of Being (It’s Such a Good Feeling)," and "Forever Endeavor."
"Feather Test" by A Weather. This may be my song this year.² I fell in love with it a few months ago and returned to it this week. I love, I love, I love (I will, I will). A beautiful, breathy mix of fleeting, intersecting harmonies with a rich and simplistic production. Every line strikes. ("Brush your hand / Across where you felt me / Do I pass the feather test?")