The good kind of mystery

As several posts lately have indicated, it's been a stressful run for a bit here. The family stuff continues—getting good progress and unexpected help from people who haven't been helpful in the past—and so do some other things. But this weekend, for whatever reason, a lot of my gloom has lifted. I've rested better, made a conceptual breakthrough in a possible novel, made another in current work, and just plain been happier.

I suspect that something that's been detoxing for a couple-few weeks now finished its passage out. The rest...who can say? But sometimes I'm content to appreciate the goodness and put it to use.
 

Horror month, #5: Two songs about dark things

One of the most perfect songs I know about despair, Alan Parsons Project's "Oh Life". When I comment on my down dark times, the way they sing "there must be more" here is part of my internal soundtrack:

And one of the first songs to strike me as implying a genuine horror story, Berlin's "Masquerade":

I'm interested to find, as I look it up, that the album this song is on came out in 1982, meaning I was 16 when I first heard it. In my memory I'm about three years younger than that and it plays a larger, more formative role in shaping my love of and tastes in horror.

A good day, the sequel

I'm really curious about my subconscious right now. I continue to feel the great lightness of spirit that hit on the weekend after...what, three weeks or so of not-easily-accounted-for extra gloom. Regular readers will have noticed the shortage of pictures and walk observations lately. Well, today I got out for a nice long walk and, er, discovered I hadn't put recharged batteries in the camera. *facepalm* But I assure you, it was a very nice day, and I listened to a fascinating lecture (part of John Searles' course on The Philosophy of Society, UC Berkeley, available via iTunes U), and thought about the psychology of vampires and how their consciousness might break normal rules to interesting effect, and about upcoming visits with Mom, and about planning out this week's housecleaning, and about possible visits with friends I haven't seen in a while, and it was just really good.

Counseling tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to it.