I’m breathing deep. It smells of onions and peppers and chorizo and I Love it. Coffee. Spring has sprung aggressively and there’s a little bit of optimism that comes with sunlight and cool mornings. We’re out. About. In motion. May’s full of shows and noise.
My friends from Sweden have moved to America. Now, THAT’S optimism. There are many horror stories here, but their move back to the United States was mostly a question of paperwork, paperwork that languished in limbo for over a year before they were able to finally pack up and return to Laurel, MD. There’s STILL paperwork (getting a social security number was apparently a two week process last year when they applied, or even two months ago when their move was finally truly in motion – now it’s going to be a 6-8 week process), there’s still arbitrary bullshit to go through (no, we can’t take your police records from October from Germany, we need them from the past 90 days – no, it doesn’t matter that you haven’t been to Germany in four years) and technological hurdles (no, it needs to be a physical letter, you can’t email it, fax it or file a web form)…
BUT they made it through customs and are IN THE COUNTRY and that goes a long way. We had dinner in Ellicott City last night and just walked as the sun went down and I didn’t mean to talk about my own fears and cynicisms but I did. They are glad to be back in the United States – and have a powerful perspective that actually things are getting kind of crazy EVERYWHERE, but the U.S. is the root of a lot of those problems, and at least here they get a vote (assuming citizenship for him comes through and her citizenship isn’t summarily revoked for some random reason, these seem like bigger assumptions than they once were).
This week I got to record some Balkan music, run my open mics, play a fantastic show in Annapolis, mix some Rebecca Berlin and tomorrow I get to record my friend Kosi. I’ve tried to work out steadily, to mixed results. I’ve tried to help schedule my 32nd Year High School Reunion (not exactly sure how to word that) and memorial service, to mixed results. I’ve been looking at a map, trying to bend roads closer and bend time apart, to mixed results.
I’ve been thinking about what’s important.
Ish.
Mixed results.
I’ve also been playing a game on my phone to avoid doom scrolling and wasting time.
Mixed.
Results.