It’s getting both harder and easier to believe that this year is winding down in both the most eventful and uneventful ways.

Absolutely wild to know that at the beginning of this year we were all going out to eat, seeing our parents and friends and family, having dinners in people’s houses, having drinks in bars, seeing concerts, seeing sports games, riding on crowded trains, walking down the street, going to gyms, not queueing for anything, sitting in movie theaters, and going to grocery stores during peak times like nothing mattered.

I guess if I had to find a positive right now I’d say to some extent the solitary time is good. Not that I find it particularly comfortable, but I enjoy the forced perspective of looking around me and appreciating what I had, even from a distance: a healthy, loving family, friends also trying to figure it all out in their own hemispheres.

For one thing, the habit I do enjoy is mostly looking to this blog to jot down notes about what I like and what’s going on. I love reading the comments when I get them about how everyone else is doing. This About An Hour playlist is just part 8 of what I suspect will be a 12-part project to encapsulate my mood, or what I wish my mood was, with these silly playlists and mood boards. I’ve been doing this for about 5-6 years now, and this year I really understand the value of this habit: control and a sense of normalcy.

I put on the playlist when I’m doing my jump ropes and work outs, trying to keep the pace, and close my eyes and things almost feel back to normal.