Originally published at LonPrater.com. You can comment here or there.

* Received penultimate copy of Talebones today.  ::glumness is::   Gonna take my time with it this time around, rather than jumping right in like I usually do.

* After hearing Punch Brothers last year, I made a note to seek out the band its prime mover had spawned from,  Nickel Creek.  Got a hold of some of the CDs and I was able to give a devoted listen during my workout today.  Wow!  These are people who know every single sound their instruments can make, and use that knowledge to take you on an ecstatic emotional romp.  Talk about lifting my spirits–there are songs and crescendos on here that had me shouting out and scaring the other people–not to mention groundhogs–on the path.  (Those who know me know I’m what they call fairly inhibited about responding to music.)  And at the other end of the spectrum, there were songs of such despondence I had to really focus on keeping my pace up.    I’m pretty sure Nickel Creek will be a heavy hitter on my playlist when I finish this novel and start mulching for the next one.

* Seeing forward motion in my emails for Triangulation: Dark Glass and Tales Out of Miskatonic University makes me happy.

* Due to a near-mutiny inducing snafu involving a flubbed iTunes download of Spongebob’s The Yellow Album, I find myself with two free song downloads, and no idea what I should get.  What two songs would you pick for me?