All We Love, We Leave Behind : The Töp's Monthly Playlist, September 2021

It's been a fairly quiet month around here at the Töp, at least in terms of blog activity. Durf has been navigating a cross-country move while Mick and Tom have been all to busy sulking over the horrid starts to their Chicago Bears and New York Giants' seasons. With no energy left to give, there were no squabbles about stolen tracks this time around. Hopefully, October will see them being more at each other's throats once again.

As a reminder of what this post is all about : Affectionately named after the Converge album, this monthly post will feature a collaborative playlist pinpointing tracks from this year that have been in heavy rotation for us. You may see some end up on our year-end lists. Some you won't. But rest assured they'll make for some eclectic listening. We'll try to keep the tracks as recent as possible, but you can at least bank on them being from this current year. Each of us will present 6 tracks because three 6s = well... you know.

Durf's Weekly Workout # 29: September 17th, 2021

Well, today's the day.  As you're reading this, the Casa de Durf is officially on the market to be sold.  This was obviously the plan as soon as the Durfette and I decided to move, and we have been working hard on getting things cleaned and ready for showings, as well as decluttering, donating and getting rid of things we don't want to take with us, and generally just condensing as much of our life into cardboard boxes as we can.  It has been more than a little stressful, slightly more challenging than I anticipated, and, sometimes, just a slight bit of fun, too (mainly because of the power washer.  If you ever - EVER - have the opportunity to power wash anything, fucking do it).  But now the house is on the market, and hopefully it will be sold before too long, and then we'll move away and in all realistic likelihood never see it again.  And the other day, as I was mowing the lawn for perhaps the last time, I got a little nostalgic.

Durf's Weekly Workout # 28: September 10, 2021

Well shit, that was a larger break than I anticipated.  A whole bunch of THINGS HAPPENING converged around my life over the past month, culminating in my taking an extended hiatus from lifting, and then from writing about said lifting.  Which is ok, because as much as I love working out, and the centering effects it has, sometimes you just gotta sleep after a crazy day/week/month.  Basically, the Durfette and I made the decision a couple months ago that we were going to leave Idaho, and that we should do it sooner than later. 

All We Love, We Leave Behind : The Töp's Monthly Playlist, August 2021

I can already hear the masses asking "what track did the Töp fight over for their August playlist?!" Well, this month did not disappoint as there were TWO track disputes. Durf and Tom duked it out over Hooded Menace with Durf emerging the victor while Mick snuck in to claim Møl, leaving Durf a bit salty (despite him already having a Deafheaven track!). We all see the common thread here, right? Durf came out swinging this month. That figure of speech about having your cake and eating it too comes to mind.

As a reminder of what this post is all about : Affectionately named after the Converge album, this monthly post will feature a collaborative playlist pinpointing tracks from this year that have been in heavy rotation for us. You may see some end up on our year-end lists. Some you won't. But rest assured they'll make for some eclectic listening. We'll try to keep the tracks as recent as possible, but you can at least bank on them being from this current year. Each of us will present 6 tracks because three 6s = well... you know.

Durf's Weekly Workout # 27: August 6th, 2021

I teased this a couple weeks ago, and at the time, my choice to extol the virtues of the greatest pop song ever written was absolutely the correct one.  But now, my friends, the time has come, as this is obstensibly a blog about music and working out, which means we can't ignore or avoid it anymore.  It's time to talk about stretching.

Durf's Weekly Workout # 26: July 30th, 2021

A sixty hour work week, late (for me) nights, 2am workout wake ups, 100 degree temperatures, smokey skies, both Durflings out of nowhere deciding that sleep is for suckers, yard work, consults with professionals about additional yard work, and quite honestly a little bit of poor time management all conspired together to make this blog post an exercise in persistence to just finish.  Which is probably a good lesson about perseverance, but I'm probably grasping there.  Either way, this is probably the shortest Durf's Weekly Workout yet, and I deeply, deeply apologize to the amazing bands below who deserve so much more than I was able to give them this week.

All We Love, We Leave Behind : The Töp's Monthly Playlist, July 2021

AWLWLB has made it to its second iteration. Huzzah! However, not all is well in paradise. As you'll learn from the description of the first track, having three cooks in the kitchen is not without its consequences. As Durf put it in a group chat of ours : "I love the acrimony these posts produce." Perversely, this may be the fuel that keeps the fire of this monthly post going.

As a reminder of what this post is all about : Affectionately named after the Converge album, this monthly post will feature a collaborative playlist pinpointing tracks from this year that have been in heavy rotation for us. You may see some end up on our year-end lists. Some you won't. But rest assured they'll make for some eclectic listening. We'll try to keep the tracks as recent as possible, but you can at least bank on them being from this current year. Each of us will present 6 tracks because three 6s = well... you know.

Durf's Weekly Workout # 25: July 23, 2021

You'd think I'd start a list of topics for these intro blurbs, instead of just waiting for some half-assed (and occasionally whole ass) inspiration to fire a shot across my bow.  But no, if I think of something fun to write about while I'm at work or driving, I follow that thought up with one about how if it's good, I'll remember it later.  So now I'm sitting here trying to write something entertaining, and it's all just non-starters.  I've really become enamored with golfing lately? Who cares; everyone has hobbies.  The Durfette went to a Happy Hour with some work friends the other night, and I managed to put BOTH Durflings to bed successfully? I mean, that's one hell of a flex, so it sort of fits the whole "workout" theme of these posts, but nobody really wants to hear about me singing "Ten Little Dinosaurs" until my throat bleeds, so that's out.  Even these two ideas are just feints, my futile attempts at drumming up something interesting to talk about, clearly to no avail.  So, I dunno, you guys wanna talk about stretching routines, or how "Dragula" is pretty much the greatest pop song in written history?

Durf's Weekly Workout # 24: July 16th, 2021

Well, last week was insane, for a few reasons, all of them pretty fun.  I had a friend come in for the Fourth of July weekend, which was spent swimming, grilling, and watching the first two-thirds of Independence Day (that movie is loooong, and after entertaining a toddler in 100 degree heat all day, you're spent).  Then, after he left Tuesday morning, the Durfette and I immediately had to start preparing for a trip to Deer Lodge, Montana to visit her mom and her mom's husband.  We left Friday morning at 3am, because it's a 7.5 hour drive, and we wanted to have as much time there as possible before we left Sunday morning to come back.  Due to my buddy being in town through Tuesday, and the rapid-pace nature of our trip the following weekend, I decided it was the perfect time to throw down on a vitally important, but often overlooked component of a fitness routine: the rest week.

Durf's Weekly Workout # 23: July 2nd, 2021

Well holy cow, it's July already!  This year is going by much, much quicker than last year, which is a huge relief.  If you've been with us for a bit, you know that for my first post in April I did a baseball-themed sort of quarterly recap, and I said then that you should expect similar posts in July and October.  Well, as we've established, it's July, so I think you know what lies ahead.  So without further ado, play ball!