my careless contagion

The Handsome Family has a song called All the Time in Airports , which talks about seeing someone familiar "just a hundred feet away." This person is always just out of reach , and when you get too close, they disappear. It's a phantom trick of the mind to make you believe you're seeing someone. You want them to appear, so like a dream they appear, but you're not really seeing them. So, too, this happens with television. Watch enough and you'll see people you know.  I'm one of perhaps millions enamored with Natalia Dyer's character on the Netflix hit Stranger Things. My reasons are personal. It's not like I have a thing for her. I think she's a great actress and she's obviously attractive, too. My reason for watching is because she reminds me of someone. If you've been following this blog, then I'm sure you can guess with 100 percent accuracy who that woman is.  Natalia's character, Nancy Wheeler, is from a good family...

*If there's a band that sums up the way I feel about my 20+ year relationship that ended this year, that band is The Handsome Family. I don't know that I've ever heard a collection of songs that can trigger so much unhappiness in me.  You could describe this band as alternative country, gothic country, or a number of other sub-genres. I remember the night I found this band. I was perusing music on the internet because we'd had a fight and she went to her mom's house for the night. It was like my heart went and found the soundtrack for how I was feeling.  I could have picked a hundred different songs for this post, but this one was one of her favorites. I can't even describe how I feel about this failed relationship. It is one of the most disappointing things I've ever tried and failed at, endured, pumped life into, whatever you want to say. The Handsome Family is a husband and wife core (Brett and Rennie Sparks) with other musicians coming...