Life keeps on dragging for the most part unfortunately, but I'm still kicking, still pushing. I was in touch with my son finally earlier and that was just outstanding. I miss him so so much.

The world has been entrenched in a lot of chaos recently, wars, major crimes, drama, intense words and opinions flying all over the place. I don't even know how to react anymore. I'm remarkably numb these days. My own life is stressful enough, hearing about violent, dramatic events just feels.... grim.

At least there's chess. And music. My chess 'development' has stalled. I also have been too busy to really grind. I also realize grinding doesn't always equate to progress in chess. At first that seems depressing, but I find that to be oddly realistic and oddly interesting. It's hard to put into words without creating a ton of word salad. I might play a few games tonight, but I won't get all upset about the wins or losses. I'll play my game, do my best and just have fun.

For the music portion of the post, I'm feeling like sharing one band for some reason. That band is One Republic. This band is so good, so many classics! Let's go.

For the first song, I'm sharing a throwback of theirs that many have heard called 'Stop And Stare'. I loved this song instantly as a youngster and I still love it. I relate to it more than ever as a stuck individual as I am. Man, what a beautiful tune.

But I've become what I can't be...

This one is a total classic, catchy, banger of a song called 'Apologize'. Timbaland later remixed it and it gained a ton more fans, that one is good too. But this original hits so different and deeply for some reason. The violins are just so crystal clear. I'm pretty sure I'm hearing violins anyway LOL.

This one is perhaps one of my favorite uplifting songs I've ever heard. I am immediately transported to my childhood listening to this on my PSP. I must show my son this song asap. It's called 'Good Life'. Everything briefly feels ok when this song plays.

This could really be a good life... I hope so!

My random video of the day is from a channel I discovered called 'History102'. What an interesting channel and interesting guy. His name is Rudyard Lynch. He has a main channel called 'Whatifalthist' as well. He seems deeply knowledgeable on history and just explains many large historical topics, and even topics many people overlook. He's from my home state of Pennsylvania too which is cool. Listening to this while playing chess is absolutely great fun.

When in doubt, play some chess.