10/28/22: Anxiety Update
TLDR
Update: Anxiety and pets
Listening: The Gray Area
Making: Podcasts
Playing: Minerava
Reading: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Watching: Lots of things
End Notes: You can contact me at jadettman@gmail.com
THE UPDATE
My anxiety was cranked to 13 this week apparently because Bean had an appointment at the vet for dental work. I might have hit a 17 when I had to sign the paperwork where I had to decide whether to revive her or not if she died during the procedure.
How do I know this, other than being super cranky and touchy? As soon as I picked her up from the vet I felt an immense relief.
I’m still my usual level of cranky.
LISTENING
I know I’ve recommended Vox Conversations in the past. Recently, they’ve renamed it The Gray Area (initial reaction: why?) but so far it still seems good. The most recent conversations with Reza Aslan and Neil Degrasse Tyson particularly stand out.
The Gray Area - Vox
Resist certainty, embrace ambiguity. The Gray Area is a philosophical take on culture, politics, and everything in between with host Sean Illing. We don’t pretend to have the answers, but we do offer a space for real dialogue. Get some cool takes on a very hot world. New episodes drop every Monday. Transcripts of the show are available here. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Megaphone
MAKING I’ve been trying my hand at podcasting lately. My friend David and I are working on one called Gameways which, as you might guess, is about games and gaming. It’s largely an excuse to chat and if you want to listen to us talk about such things, we have one episode up now.
I’ve also been working on a second podcast called Conversation Adjacent that I really wanted to call Conversation Adjasont but, as was pointed out, no one would ever find it. (Theoretically) CA is mostly just me talking to people about whatever is in our brains at the moment. Practically, it’s me talking to my friend John, who lives in NY, unless I get some additional conversational volunteers. (That was a hint).
Anyway, I’m trying something new out. It might stick, it might not.
Gameways • A podcast on Spotify for Podcasters
Talking about games and life.
PLAYING
Tried out Minerva twice in the last two weeks. It’s an interesting tile-laying boardgame that is thematically about building a Roman city but mechanically about arranging your tiles in the most advantageous layout to maximize your resources and, simultaneously, your victory points. Because you acquire resources by activating specific buildings, and because you can only activate them in specific ways, you can only really gain resources from your tiles so many times.
It’s quite the strategy puzzler.
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Minerva | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
Manage and develop an ancient Roman city to earn the favour of the goddess Minerva.
READING
I just finished reading Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It is, as the title suggests, a gothic novel set in Mexico. Honestly, I’m still trying to decide whether I liked it.
The basic premise is that a young woman is sent to the countryside to check on her recently-married cousin because her cousin sent a weird letter. In the countryside, she find a troubling family and a creepy house. It gets creepier and weirder from there.
I guess what I’ll say is that I didn’t not like this book. I liked the main character, I thought the prose was good, and I thought that it was an improvement over the last book I read by this author. I think my main complaint was how slow the book was, which I suppose created dream-like quality that may have added to the creepiness but often felt the book could have been significantly shorter.
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: 9780525620808 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “It’s Lovecraft meets the Brontës in Latin America, and after a slow-burn start Mexican Gothic gets seriously weird.”—The Guardian ...
WATCHING
I’ve been all over the place lately but especially watching some old favorites (probably for anxiety calming reasons).
Rewatching: Ted Lasso, The Dragon Prince, Stargate: SG-1
In the new watches area, we’ve been watching The Old Man on Hulu. Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow (I needed no further explanation to start watching this) play old spies. Bridges is on the run and Lithgow is trying to catch him, interspersed with personal history and the occasional fight seen. It’s good. Recommended.
Alaska Daily, also on Hulu. Hillary Swank is an abrasive, disgraced reporter who has washed up in Alaska to work on the story of a murdered Indigenous woman. The pilot almost put me off this one but I have a general policy of giving a show three episodes unless it is very bad. I’m still not sold on this one. The second episode was better, the cast is okay, and the Alaskan landscape is lovely. Still under consideration.
Derry Girls on Netflix. I did not expect to like this show about teenage girls in Ireland though I’ve seen several recommendations for it. It’s a comedy. I like comedies. And it’s funny. Still under consideration.
END NOTES
If you'd like to send me some feedback or discuss one of the topics I've talked about here (or even a different topic), email me at jadettman@gmail.com
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