What I Listened to This September
Some songs and some shows and some audiobooks.
Published October 7, 2026
Tune In's a monthly-or-so column for me to share what I'm listening to (and sometimes watching.)
September was a strange, insular month, largely because of the worst insomnia I've ever had. I was up until 4 A.M. and trying (and failing) to keep a regular wake up time; I'm a morning person cursed with occasional nocturnal spells. Yesterday, I finally made it to a doctor who gave me a prescription and, although shaking off some drowsiness today, feel very grateful that I'm able to fix it now that it's crossed from the psychological into the physical realm.
My Latest Playlist
Not much to report musically, although could share that my alarm song for 10+ years (since 2017) has been Budapest by George Ezra, largely because I magically still enjoy the song despite having it for my alarm, and once I made that discovery, I had to keep it forever.
However, I briefly wondered if that was making me ignore it, and therefore included two more—Clair de Lune by Debussy, to ease me into the day peacefully, and Bad Things by Caitlin Russo, to wake me up with a start (because it has a sharp opening, sounds euphoric to me, and starts off my day well.)
Bad Things underscores the vibe to my TEAL II playlist, named as the continuation of TEAL, which was the playlist I listened to while doing green and blue laps after work while living in Park City in the winter of 2023. I am heavily considering applying to go be a liftie at Deer Valley Ski Resort this winter if my job situation is still the same—meaning, remote and largely self-scheduled writing that doesn't pay me all that much.
I very much associate 93 by Hans Williams both with my friends Kelsey & Eddie in Hawai'i (Eddie is a Hans lover too) and with a particularly snowy powder day ripping down one of my favorite runs that year. I vividly picture it, and I love that time capsule of a song.
Some Audiobooks
I've been switching over from print to audio at night because of aforementioned poor sleep, and wrote about revisiting some childhood series like Eragon by Christopher Paolini. For massive tomes like this one, it's also helpful to be able to switch between formats to keep the momentum going, as I'm never in a high fantasy mood for long.
- Eragon by Christopher Paolini — narrated by Gerard Doyle — and I'm currently on Eldest, the sequel.
More soon!
Book-to-Film Adaptations
We're in a heyday of book-to-film adaptations, which I love. I have a separate post to write about this, but I am not one of those people who needs the book and movie to be the same; I see them as wholly different formats of media, each of which command their own need for detail. I do not care if a character is depicted as brunette when they're supposed to be blonde; the only time I care is when the format choices don't work at all or if it's culturally sensitive as in it erases a marginalized demographic or similar in a way I find negligent.
The other night, I put on The Love Hypothesis (based on The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood) not expecting a whole lot. I absolutely loved it! It's tropey, which nowadays I normally experience as "tired," but it felt fresh for various choices. So now I need to read the book. So that was a win.
More soon!
I did ruin the song for my twin sister though. Sorry.
You'll recognize the first few as being the soundtrack to Heated Rivalry, which tracks considering I started it last December when the show dropped.
As in, you can evaluate a film/TV adaptation on its own parameters and therefore the piece doesn't work on its own either—but I know very little about film/TV technique and therefore can only give my thoughts as an average consumer—
