Stephanie Says

You can’t see it, but I’m in my office with the lights on very low and a holiday candle burning.

It smells great.

When I get the Sunday Scaries, I like to embellish my wind-down routine with extra dim light, good smells, and soft music on the radio. My radio is permanently tuned to KOSU 91.7 FM so I can listen to The Spy.

And tonight I heard a song that I figured was fairly new.

Nope. It was Lou Reed with the Velvet Underground, a tune recorded in 1968 but released in 1985.

It’s called “Stephanie Says.” It caught my attention when I heard the lyric, “It’s so cold in Alaska.”

I thought, “That’s interesting.” It was painting a picture in my head.

The sound matched the vibe I was going after precisely.

Chill. Dark. Wintry.