Content Nausea No. 106: True Love And A Life Of Free Will
And it’s all out war for the soul between / Dreams that are hungry and the fears that feed
Welcome to the 106th edition of Content Nausea. You can read No. 105 right here. Please let me know what you think. Thank you for being here. Here is the welcome blog.
Some content I wrote this week
A freshman wants to continue his development after being an observer for almost all of 2022.
A mid-year enrollee is making an early impression in Happy Valley.
Penn State gives back.
Some basketball history in State College last week.
Why a top pro prospect came back.
Some content I listened to this week
I am going to pass on complaining about my listening habits at this juncture of the year again.
I spent a lot of time around people who loved Screaming Females, though I never became one of them. The newest offering, Desire Pathway, is good. In the past, I have scanned the band’s tour dates and wondered if this is the time to see them, but it hasn’t happened yet. “Ornament” is a good song.
I was googling days Wednesday night (don’t worry about it) and learned that Bobby Darin and I have the same birthday. This is an all-time favorite.
An old friend sent me this song earlier this week. A good throwback to high school.
I’ve been listening to this song a lot, too.
I like some of the the things happening with the guitar tone on this song.
Here’s the February playlist:
Some content I read this week
Helena Fitzgerald’s recent Griefbacon essay on “bad coffee” and the different types of it is great. Overall, I’ve limited the types of “bad coffee” that I have in my life where I’m able to avoid the classic bad gas station coffee by making sure to consistently stop at Sheetz or Wawa, and then there’s always a Starbucks or Dunkin somewhere. Maybe the most I’m exposed to bad coffee — outside of press boxes — is in hotel lobbies.
During the 2019 NFL season, I went through the effort to grind up some beans, pack my pourover and bring my own coffee on road trips (I distinctly remember doing it in Dallas). When I went back out on the road in 2021 and again last fall, I contemplated doing it again. Even now on my master to-do list, I have “coffee” written on it, which means a couple different things: 1. Organize the cabinet with the beans, mugs, gear and tea in the kitchen, and 2. Finally put together my travel coffee kit (and figure out what exactly I need in a travel coffee kit).
At the same time, I don’t want to do that because I want to keep drinking hotel lobby coffee. It’s really good. I don’t know why. There’s also something about making the multiple trips between the room and the lobby for those 8 oz cups — I always forget to pack a thermos or some other drinking vessel — that breaks up the morning and gets things kickstarted a little bit more. Fairfield Inn coffee has never let me down.
I’m going to Chicago for work for a couple days next month, and I started thinking about which coffee I should bring and what else I would need to pack. But as I locked in my itinerary this week, I figured that I could just leave it up to the lobby again.
The subscriber-only b-sides from Griefbacon are pretty good, too.
Alicia Kennedy on martinis.
There’s a lot of Eagles/Super Bowl pieces in my Pocket queue, but it’s not that timely anymore. Maybe the best thing I read, though, was Dan McQuade in Defector on his lucky shirt and fandom. Also, Lil Uzi Vert running out onto the field with the team before the NFC Championship Game is an underrated moment.
Mac McClung’s path to a slam dunk contest win.
Some other content I saw or thought about this week
The priest promised a “no muss, no fuss” mass on Ash Wednesday, and he got us out in 34 minutes with a startling display of efficiency. I am now ready to participate in Mark Wahlberg’s 40-Day Challenge.
Thank you for reading the 106th edition of Content Nausea. It will get better. Thank you, and see you soon.
Spill your secrets and paint my days
Passion is your palette, your canvases cafés
And null my nights in the harbour and hell
Of the cantina’s counsel and meals of mezcal
—D.G.