An uplifting experience on Friday, the sort of thing that reminds me of the powerful mood-altering effects of music: 

First, it was a sucky day because I checked my bank balance first thing, expecting to see a hefty credit, my first teaching paycheck. Since the college waited six weeks to pay me (and all the other adjuncts), I expected to see a month's worth of pay. Instead, I was greeted by what I calculated to be roughly two weeks worth of pay. Needless to say this put me in a foul mood immediately. It's demoralizing enough to have to work six weeks without pay; not to have a hefty paycheck after that time was crushing. Even so, I managed to get myself together and ready to go teach (yes, insult added to injury).

We got in the car and, in an unusual move, James turned on the radio. It was tuned to <a href="www.krcl.org" target="blank">KRCL</a>, Radio Free Utah, the SLC community station. As we made made our way to the interstate, I recognized "I Feel For You" by Chaka Khan, then the sweet beat of the Commodores' "Brick House" came boom-chunking from the speakers. What followed was mo' funk, mo' funk, mo' funk&mdash;granted, not all of it as good as "Brick House," but we did get to hear some Midnight Star, Mary Jane Girls, Jacksons, Gap Band and, (second) best of all, "Love Rollercoaster" by the Ohio Players. I was in a much better mood by the time I got to school.

I had hoped to learn that we could enjoy the funk daily but have discovered instead that it's a Friday only show. An appropriate way to kick off the weekend, but it's too bad we can't hear it every day (MWF for me) on the drive to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Valley_%28Utah_County%29" target="blank">Happy Valley</a>.