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Just realized that every day, at least one of my Spotify Daily Mix playlists is an easy listening station. It’s filled with modern artists and recent songs, but the vibe is very similar to the easy listening radio stations my aunts and mom played growing up.
I’m unexpectedly ok with this. 🎵
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Maybe what’s at the end of the tunnel is capitalist disappointment, but we can still enjoy the tunnel itself!
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Yesterday was wonderful not just for the good food and beer, not just for seeing a good friend, but for that friend validating and enjoying my weirdness. It’s an intense feeling, when you find yourself in the warm and rapt smile of a friend who’s genuinely interested in your strange hobbies.
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My mother gave me a frozen turkey on Thursday, since we were having Thanksgiving at my uncle’s instead. It’s been out of a freezer for five days now. I started prepping it for dinner tonight, and it’s still frozen.
So if anyone needs a portal to Jotunheim, I can hook you up!
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The David Bowie burlesque show was pure joy from start to finish. The performers somehow topped themselves from last year in creativity, energy, and musical virtuosity. The comfort of a safe queer space combined with cheers and joy from the crowd made the night magical. And the cherry on top is the dinner and companionship of my friends who joined me.
We’re all agreed this needs to be a yearly tradition. I’ve already set a reminder to book our tickets next year.
Now I’m on a train bound home, rested, happy, content.
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How Can You Sing - acoustic version - Front country
A beautiful, plaintive song with angelic singing by Melody Walker. The studio version is here.
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Settling in for a David Bowie themed burlesque show! (This is probably the only SFW pic I’ll take tonight!)
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Dinner was supposed to been jerk chicken and spiced smashed potatoes, but due to poor planing, it became grilled chicken and mashed potatoes. Mistakes are acceptable when they’re tasty. 😋
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I could look at these photos of starlings in flight for hours. Read her other two essays in the gallery for thoughts on complexity and how starling murmurations explicate it.
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The Europa Clipper mission will launch in 11 months to explore the icy Jovian moon. You can sign up to have your name etched onto the spacecraft! 🚀
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The holidays are already getting expensive. At least I’m able to spend it at friend’s and local businesses, and they need it, but damn.
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Two long awaited items arrived this weekend. Can’t wait to play the game while wearing this shirt! 🎲
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Reuse, Reframe, Renew
A few months ago, I was considering selling my iPad. It’s an older model, the battery had lost some strength, and I thought a newer model would solve what I thought of as deficiencies.
The more I thought about it, the more I questioned if I even needed a tablet. This is an important part of my relationship to things and the mindful use thereof. Most of the reasons I had bought a tablet to begin with - watching videos, reading books and articles, journaling, do some online chores - had evolved to be met by other devices, like my Kobo reader and my laptop. A new, expensive device with all the “needed” accessories wouldn’t solve these problems any better.
Still, I was left with an expensive, perfectly useful device gathering dust in my closet. I liked the idea of the iPad, just not the execution, in my life at least.
Separately, a new need arose. I’ve been worldbuilding as part of a homebrewed campaign setting, but the note taking part had been a struggle. I tried Drafts and Obsidian, but I work with text documents in my job and working with more text documents was taking me out of my headspace. I spent more time organizing my notes than actually writing and capturing ideas. At the same time, a paper notebook felt like an unnecessary extra step, one more thing to lose or get damaged or sort through when I wanted to reference a note, and I’d have to transcribe all of my content from it. I needed another solution.
On a whim, I tried my iPad with a Pencil and Goodnotes, and it fit the purpose perfectly. The weak battery doesn’t matter when I’m only using one app and recharging it every night. The app syncs to all my devices, so I won’t lose anything. I can quickly jot down or expound on what I’m writing or researching, using my writing muscle memory, without the temptation to organize or get distracted by other trivial tasks. OCR can handle transcription.
it’s not perfect, of course: the device almost has to be used on a flat surface like a table for the Pencil to work with it properly, where a paper notebook would have more options. The Pencil that works with this model is terribly designed. I’m almost certain that an iPad Mini would fit my needs even better than this old device. But for all these nitpicks, I’m happier with a device being reused to fit a hobby that has given me a lot of joy.
The next time you find yourself with an old device gathering dust because it no longer fits your need? Put it down, and reflect on what brings you happiness; then let your mind percolate on whether that device can fit your life in a new way. Chances are, it will find its niche.
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Currently reading: Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir 📚
I love how Muir makes every book a different feel and experience, and the sequels set up so you’re guessing how the past fits into the present. I can’t say more, without ruining the experience for those who haven’t started the series!
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Being on ADHD medication, for me, is kind of like having a good motivation buzz going all the time. It’s great for staying focused; it’s bad when you’re planning your time and want to do all the things.
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A new weekly ritual: an evening at a cafe with some wine or (in this case) tea, my laptop, and my iPad as a notebook, writing and researching about what I’m writing. I look forward to this every week, and would love to make it happen even more.
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My brain today. 🐉⚔️
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“Landmine people,” said Pyrrha … “Some people were put into the universe to rig it to explode, then walk away … I always fell for that.”
- Nona the Ninth 📚
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I love it when I’m included in a work pilot project without being notified. I really love it when said project interferes with my ability to log into critical systems. 🤬
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Half A Million Kinksters Can’t Be Wrong—Asterisk
The title doesn’t capture what’s great about this essay. Aella details what goes in to a great survey, the considerations and trade offs, agonizing over how to get a representative sample pool, and more. This is a nerd nerding out over their passion, and I am absolutely here for it. (It does have frank talk about fetishes, though, so trigger warning and maybe don’t read at work.)
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I specifically scheduled my flu and COVID booster shots for this morning, and nothing else today, so I could spend the rest of the day in bed with side effects and not waste a weekend. How inconsiderate of those side effects to not show! 😤💉
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Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One is the exemplar of a brainless action flick. But it’s well choreographed, everyone does their parts, and the end feels satisfying, so I’ll give it a thumbs up. 📽️
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Trying to beat off a sudden tide of sadness by reaching out to friends and doing some chores. A bit of external love to shore up the internal.
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An excellent way to end a weekend: working on my character’s backstory while watching an ongoing TTRPG live play. Doesn’t get much better than this!
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The Puzzmo Manifesto
It says “Work cannot be magically reformulated to become play,” but I feel like many of the elements in this can be applied to work too. In particular, “Players, not users” could be reformulated to:
Work must never trick you out of your time. You should never wonder “what am I even doing with my life?” when you work. Good jobs/occupations/employments are a collaborator to you in the pursuit of productivity and life. Good work inspires curiosity.
I signed up! This looks like a welcome addition to my morning puzzle solving ritual. Head to the home page to solve the invitation puzzle.
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