"Hours and Days" by Turn Off the Stars, Tuesday, November 30, 2021

This is our third entry from Credential Recording's short-lived band, Turn Off the Stars. I don't know much about what the band members did after breaking up. Guitarist and backup vocalist Andrew Walker now leads worship at a church, but the other members don't have much of an Internet presence. Signed to Credential Records, a home to acts like Edison Glass, Seabird, Future of Forestry, Sixpence None the Richer at one time, and Swichfoot's Jon Foreman and his side project with Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins, Family Fiction, the label seemed to drop most of its supported bands in the late '00s. Some of the bands transitioned, but others, like Turn Off the Stars, folded. Now the label partnered with Jon Foreman's label Lowercase People and only market's Foreman's projects other than Switchfoot. 

BUT YOU DO IT TO YOURSELF. The fourth track on the moody album, "Hours and Days" is a brooding song about tediously waiting for someone to change. The song begs for the monotony of a "broken record" of a day to change. It begs for old patterns to be fixed. It begs for others to change, or perhaps the speaker is looking at himself from an outside perspective. Lately, the days have been going by quickly. Everyone seems to say that 2021 is moving so quickly. But as the calendar pages turn to the last month of the year, I think about how little I've accomplished. The hours are no longer endless, but they are "wicked" as they have snuck up on me and rendered me useless. I started out this year with a list of things to accomplish, most of them were concrete tasks. But my free time slipped away faster than any other year. Of course, this was the year that I decided to dedicate to writing every day. And thus far, I've written a post ever day. I know from reading On Writing Well this year that writing isn't supposed to get easier. And I know that from reading that book that I am really a poor excuse for a writer because I spend so little time rewriting. But at some point, I wonder when will life get easier. At what point will I have to apply for that spectacular job? At what point will I have that I feel ok as a writer? At what point will I be able to spend the time that I want to catching up with the ones I love the most? Time isn't too slow; it's way too fast!

THESE RAGGED HOURS AND RAGGED DAYS KEEP ME DOWN. But maybe I'm being too hard on myself. This year was hardly back to normal, but I put pressure on myself to accomplish pre-covid levels of productivity. I imagine living in a tidy house, plenty of time to write and read, cook healthy meals, and exercise and spend the entire weekend away with my partner. But instead, work leaves me exhausted, and it's a struggle to keep up with the evening priorities. Giving myself more grace as I realize that most days I don't accomplish all of my goals. With one more month in 2021, it's time to start crafting our goals for the next year. I don't want to have "endless hours and endless days" full of accomplishments that don't even matter. It's time again to start thinking about who I want to be in my five, ten, and fifteen year plan, and start prioritizing choices that will make those things happen. 

 

Read “Hours And Days” by Turn Off The Stars on Genius.