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“They didn’t explain it to you because there’s not a good reason,” she says. “It’s just how the story is to them, and they don’t know how to read any deeper.” She pulls me closer. “Or maybe they’re just pretending. I think the entire world depends on people pretending they don’t know they’re doing terrible things.“
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, pg. 205, emphasis mine. 📚
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To the person driving the dirty red Corvette in front of me, blasting Nirvana’s Unplugged album: you have good taste in music. If only your driving skills matched.
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60° today. I have my windows open, and the balance of the air against my bare skin and my warm tea feels both centering and promising. I can hear the day care center across the street, through the hall and bedroom window. The kids are being themselves, loudly, but their calls and shots are proper and grounding. This is how life should be, the world’s gentle hand on our shoulders as we go about our work and lives, a murmuration of works and goings to and fro.
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Why can’t Daylight Savings Time ever be synced to my internal clock? Stars above, my internal and external schedule is so out of whack today.
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Waiting for me while waiting for a massage. By the end of this week and the rain it’s bringing, I hope the ducks will be here for real!
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Seen on my morning walk to the cafe. I’d say it’s a fairly common sentiment this weekend after a week long street parking ban. 🌨️🚗
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The attack on Iran today, February 28th, 2026
I am absolutely disgusted with my country right now. This attack on Iran is morally and politically bankrupt, and will do nothing but confirm for the rest of the world why they are better off without the US.
This “regime change” that they talk about, will have consequences for us down the road. But what do our leaders care? They won’t be around to see the outcomes. The dust will settle on the poor, the maimed, the downtrodden, and the powerless, and our leaders will blame them for being filthy. They will jeer at the opposition to clean up the mess if they care so much, they’re too busy making the world in their funhouse mirror image.
They do not understand - you do not bring about your goals by preparing the way for it. Preparing the way for it is how you bring about your goals. Practicing peace and prosperity is how you bring about peace and prosperity. This will do nothing but salt the earth we live on.
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This storm is wild, everyone. It’s shaken the building in just the right way to make me think a window or door has slammed open, all night long.
The snowball fight tomorrow is gonna be epic, though!
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Someone left googly eyes behind yesterday at my favorite tea shop. The staff knew what to do!
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The FreakQuencies open with a new cover song and a full house!
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After half a week of what felt like nothing but pointless meetings, I have two days when I can just focus at work and get projects finished.
The empty stretch on my Outlook calendar stares back at me, as if daring me to take action. As if it knows how to parry any attack I make. The catch-up-on-documentation pose? How quaint, when it has the layout-updates and queue-cleanup riposte. I can’t counter without leaving my documentation exposed, though!
Well, I’m gonna get cut no matter what I do. Might as well get started.
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I was worried the book club would be sparsely attended tonight, or that I might be the only one. I’d messed up the date in the announcement, and didn’t realize my error until sending the reminder.
It ended up being one of the better attended ones, and with a great discussion too. It was less about the book and more what defined “psychoanalysis”, but aren’t some of the best discussions borne of tangents from the topic?
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Snowmageddon 2026!
Drove around Providence on a last minute errand before the snow, and the streets were eerily empty. Other than the middling streetlights, beaurocratically working as if it were a sunny Sunday, I could drive freely and without the usual traffic. It reminded me of the beginning of the COVID lockdown, only with an air of anticipation and expectation, not hesitation. During COVID, the people didn’t know what the air would bring; this morning, the only uncertainty was how much of a workout the shoveling would be.
Businesses are handling this in stride. My favorite tea shop decided to open for as long as they felt like it. But now I’m home, cooking a stew and doing some laundry, before I settle in for some tea and a good book.
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There is a woman catching up with a friend at this cafe, with an amazing laugh. I don’t want them to think I’m eavesdropping, because I’m not, but every time she laughs it takes effort for me to not join in.
And she just left, off to make someone else’s day brighter, I hope.
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This month just continues to get worse and worse. Now my DnD campaign lost a decisive battle. Heck, our efforts to stop the BBEG ended up helping him.
Remind me to hibernate for January of 2027, would ya? 🎲⚔️
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Between sickness, allergies to medication, isolation, cancelled plans and ruined routines, January has turned into the kick in the butt I needed to get working on moving out of Providence. All the comforts that kept me complacent faded, and what’s left shows me I’m not where I’d like to be.
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There comes a point where people will take advantage of the standards you hold yourself to.
I’m still learning how to take the L to my pride, and take the W to my self respect.
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Becoming the Coyote: Lessons from a Year of Survival
Annalise’s photography is even better than her writing. This essay reflecting on some hard times and hard lessons in 2025, and connecting them to her encounters with coyotes in her wildlife work, is a statement about resilience and adaptability, and a plan for a path forward we call can learn from.
I’ve followed Annalise for a very long time, since we were mere acquaintances in early aughts blogging networks. We’ve never been close in any sense of the word, never more than very distantly engaged with each other through the pre-web2.0 era and that only briefly, but I’ve always enjoyed following her, as she’s claimed her life and followed her passions. She’s one of the people who, just by living her life, inspires me to keep trying in mine. It’s good to have such people tangentially in your life, not as a replacement for real and in-person connections, but as a source of admiring inspiration, someone who makes your heart say, “Good, I’m glad they’re doing well and still going, good on them,” and raise a glass in distant salute.
If you have such people in your life, who you’d never talk to but feel inspired by, raise a glass in their honor today and consider how they can inspire your life. It’s a good way to spend a Sunday morning.
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Why I did not go into medicine.
Recently, a two-day flu has been going around my part of the globe. It sucks for 48 hours, then you feel better. I didn’t think much of it at first, just made sure to stock up on medicine, soup, and tea.
A week later, and I was still suffering. My chest was tight, my throat raw and inflamed, my coughing irrepressible. Why? Was it something more? A COVID test came back negative, upping the medication did nothing. Only last night did it hit me: all my cough suppressants and over-night flu medications were cherry flavored. I’m allergic to stone fruit.
Half a day after replacing my medicine, and I’m already feeling 1,000% better.
I am a smart person. I promise.
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