Looking back, I think I was still feeling a bit lost and directionless as far as creativity went. I did have a few ideas here and there, but for the most part I was still focusing mostly on Real Life Stuff, considering I was so out of my element in multiple ways. I did entertain brief thoughts about doing some freelance writing, though in retrospect that ended up being more of a pipe dream than anything. [I did try my best at figuring out how to follow through, but the more I worked on it the less I felt interested and fascinated by it. Like I’ve said since then: I think I’d have been good at it, but I wouldn’t have found it fulfilling at all. And it’s probably for the best, as the country’s economy would tank within a year or two.] It took some time, but I would continue focusing on my fiction writing instead.

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The Killers, Sam’s Town, released 2 October 2006. It was pretty hard for them to follow up their absolutely brilliant 2004 debut Hot Fuss, and result felt less about Vegas glam and more about rural Nevada. It’s a great album on its own, but it wasn’t the big hit they needed, and that did end up derailing them for a bit.

Beck, The Information, released 3 October 2006. Considering Beck’s penchant for switching up sounds and styles with every album — the catchy Odelay to the moody Mutations to the disco Midnite Vultures to the lovely and sad Sea Change to the experimental Guero — this wasn’t quite a return to Odelay but more like a mix of the best all five of those albums. There’s some oddball stuff here like “Nausea” but then there’s the excellent earworm “Think I’m in Love”. It’s kind of a forgotten album but it’s so worth it.

Cold War Kids, Robbers and Cowards, released 10 October 2006. I really didn’t like this song at first but it grew on me, especially a few years down the line when I started hearing more of their singles and deep cuts like “Out of the Wilderness” and “Bulldozer” off 2011’s Mine Is Yours.

My Chemical Romance, The Black Parade, released 24 October 2006. Yes, that song that you could not escape no matter how hard you tried. I’ve mentioned previously that their 2004 breakthrough Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge grew on me the more I heard it. Pompous and overblown? Sure, but it’s also catchy as hell and a lot of fun if you don’t take it all that seriously. This was a rare iTunes download for me and I actually quite liked the album.

Lady Sovereign, Public Warning, released 31 October 2006. Another find via the International Music Feed cable channel, this London rapper took pages from Eminem’s goofier side and released tracks that weren’t just fun and funny (“Random” takes a hilarious jab at Nelly’s weird accent, for instance), they were clever and catchy as well. She only put out one further album after this (2009’s Jigsaw) but allegedly she’s staging a comeback this year…?

U2 & Green Day, “The Saints Are Coming” single, released 31 October 2006. Originally a punk track from the Scottish band Skids (featuring a pre-Big Country Stuart Adamson), these two bands covered it to raise money for those in New Orleans affected by Hurricane Katrina. As it happened, it was released just in time for the first NFL game played at the Louisiana Superdome since it had been heavily damaged during the hurricane. It became a huge international hit.

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Coming up: winding up the year and looking forward