Reasons to be Cheerful Part 2

The last post started with food so I’m going to start this post with food. Being gluten free I’ve become used to sub-par substitutes for things I used to enjoy. I’m happy to report that the everything bagels from The Essential Baking Company are divine. Not only are they delicious, but the surface area of the bread is comparable to a regular, non-gluten free bagel. I have been eating this every day for two weeks now and they bring me much joy.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to play guitar more. I could probably be playing guitar more, but even with the limited time I do play, it makes me very cheerful.

The main reason I’m not playing guitar as much as I’d like is most of my time in the evening is spent playing Super Mario Maker 2. I like making simple and dumb levels. What I didn’t know when I started making levels is just how hard these simple levels can turn out to be; all of my uploaded courses have clear rates of less than 10%. Find my courses under the name Lolodada.

The mayor of Naperville threatened censure against a city council member who has atavistic views on drug policy.

The last thing that makes me cheerful is I rediscovered this DJ set from the late, great Blu Jemz. It’s not the best DJ set, but it’s a great and memorable set because Jemz goes off the rails. He’s playing after Gaslamp Killer, who is a beast behind the decks, and he’s trying to salvage the crowd. It really starts to turn about 20 minutes in, when Jemz gets on the mic and encourages the audience to dance. Then it just implodes and he plays 15 minutes of Tupac straight because “I didn’t come to LA to play Tupac for nothing.” It keeps going as he requests “more Hennessy to the DJ booth” and then he cuts out the music and raps on the mic doing everyone’s verses. He’s his own hypeman and he just doesn’t care what the crowd thinks. Every time I listen to this set it makes me smile. I really miss him.