New moon is the beginning of the cycle, so that means planning for the next four weeks. There are a few areas that I need to get started on, so this is the perfect time to ruminate on them.

First is a need to get back to making things for 1000s of cats as opposed to the last couple of months. I was in admin mode since July. It feels like a lot of the business side of the band has a system now. There was a lot of figuring out how to do things due to rogue waves. I need to make things, whether it is free digital downloads, podcasts, ringtones, or whatever.

The second thing that is going to start is the website. It is currently using static HTML files with some JSON files for the shows. We need to switch the site to Drupal for a few reasons. One being that I would like to communicate with our mailing list. I've looked into all the services, and our list is approaching the size where we'd have to pay a monthly fee to send out emails.

Another reason for going with a CMS is that we can edit and add to the site at rehearsals, commuting, and shows. Do band stuff while in band mode. Use all that waiting-around time purposely. Also, I can set things up so that everyone can update content. Currently, only I can, and it isn't fair. No one wants to ask someone else if things can get updated.

Yet another reason to do this is getting everything into one spot. We have so much info spread out over tons of apps, folders, and files. We need a spot that is where everything is and is accessible and editable by everyone. Fun to plan but feel the need to convince myself this is a good move.

My thinking has shifted a lot over the past month. That trip to the post office was really jarring for me. It was like all the news I was seeing from the US was suddenly in my face. Being across the ocean, I have the luxury of turning on or tuning out the barrage of news. Being told that I can't send our stuff to a place and being from the place made things very real. Then it got me ruminating on what this all actually means. As I zoomed out levels higher and higher, I could really start to see what is really happening.

Not being able to ship small things to the US isn't about economy. It is about cutting off people from their homelands. It is about messing with people’s interests and hobbies. It's about unworldly people bothering worldly people. Cutting people's ties to the globe. Ruining relationships. Choking scenes like music and art.

It is very discouraging and energy-draining. That is probably their aim. Make everyone so tired that they just give up. I was drained for about two weeks for sure. I am not drained anymore, though. We figured out how to flow around this problem. That will be true for any other problem set in front of us.

Don't let them drain your energy.