The Scenic Route
This one is about remembering that failure could actually just be a fun detour.
It is inevitable that you'll mess up. That's just life, baby! It happens a lot when trying to build habits. You won't get a walk in that day, you'll fall off a drawing challenge, you'll have a rough couple of months that eats through your newsletter queue (all hypotheticals here, of course). A thing I try to remember is for most stuff, if you can get it 80% of the time that's pretty good! Trying for perfect is a quick way often to feel like you're just failing failing failing. And if you've failed why keep trying, etc. A mean old cycle.
I like to think of myself as an optimist but it is work to be one sometimes. But it's also worth the work so onward we go. My big thing is not just to-do lists (although I love a to-do list), but "done" lists. I have a horrible memory and will forget quite easily things I've done or accomplished, so a big part of my toolbox is looking at my done lists for the previous month and realising "oh I did quite a bit actually."
Though also it's important to remember one doesn't have to do things to justify one's days. We try to use the phrase "fruitful" rather than "accomplished" or similar phrases in our household. So like, "I had a fruitful day today," is more generous to the concept that sometimes you're just trying to live through the day than "I got a lot done today." An example from literally today as time is ticking down for me to get this newsletter done, did you know that the US Copyright Office has a "virtual card catalogue" to browse for entries pre-1978? Literally it is like a card catalogue but virtual.
ID: A partial screencap of a virtual card catalogue showing literally what is on the tin: what look like card catalogue drawers but as simplified graphics. End ID.
ID: Another screenshot of the virtual card catalogue, this one showing scans of individual cards from a drawer, each card representing a S.S. Adams Co. prank item registered for copyright in 1959: a prank beer glass, "crazy calling cards", a magic card deck, disappearing ink squirter, dribble glass. End ID.
This was one of several things I learned while I spent several hours the past couple of days trying to find the origin of the classic (to me) packet design for the "Rattlesnake Eggs" gag item. You know, with the snake photo on it.
ID: A product image with a white background of a small manilla envelope labeled "One Dozen Rattlesnake Eggs" with a high-contrast black printed illustration of a rattlesnake with its mouth open. Next to the envelope is a device of bent wire, rubber bands, and a washer. End ID.
Yes, there were things on my to-do list that were not looking up the multitude of people who have claimed some sort of trademark or copyright associated with this prank toy since it was first claimed in copyright by S.S. Adams in 1959 (the gag and joke gift company, this post has a nice overview). But I wouldn't have learned about the virtual card catalogue. Or found some truly amazing entries in the Internet Archive's collection of Works of Art Copyright Catalogues, things like dishware patterns, photographs of a "saucerlike object," and incredibly dry descriptions of what sounds like a pin-up calendar of sassy co-eds from The Osborne Co., heck, I wouldn't have even learned about this series of travelling salesman calendars!
Of course, the things I need to get done still need done, and they will. But I'm trying to be gentle to myself about taking a more wandering path there if I need to. And it's a nice thing to remind oneself--you're worth the scenic route.
Book recommendations, mostly about friends and being stronger together - most links go to Bookshop because they're a nice neutral jumping off point.
- These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart by Izzy Wasserstein is a dark little technothriller about identity and community. If you've not read any Wasserstein, but love a heavy sci-fi with a thread of hope spun from the family you make, she always hits.
- Picked up as a rec from Ann Leckie's newsletter the bouncy muder-mystery Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell has the most charming voice and messy group of main characters. The interplay of the group and their foibles is a joy and the mystery is a snappy one.
- Speaking of group dynamics, if you've never picked up Tamora Pierce's Circle Universe books, they're smashingly good YA fantasy with a charming quartet of main characters who are a wonderfully balanced mix of strengths and failings. Plus the magic is very fun, and I love a well-applied system of magic.
Some turn-of-the-season vibes in photos this time.
ID: A photograph taken in a dark room so only the sash window is distinct, the light outside softly highlighting the striped drape as it is pulled back. Outside the window is a full hydrangea tree, pink so pale it's white, against a clear blue sky. At the top of the window frame is a blood drip gel cling. End ID.
ID: A photograph taken close up of a thick cluster of dry-looking flowering plants that have sprays of yellow green stems ending in globes of tiny white flowers. Distant in the background are mountains. End ID.
ID: A photograph that is looking up into the sky, framed at the left and bottom by branches of pine needles. Crossing the image vertically are powerlines, where a single dove sits. Beyond them in the soft dusky sky is a half moon. End ID.
These links hang together in theme, I swear.
- A friend recently had a nice rundown of the "walk n talk" genre of games, the kind where most of the gameplay is navigating an environment and chatting with NPCs. Some recommendations in there and a nice companion to this essay on the concept of the "relational playworld" and the relationship of game designers to players.
- The Etiquette of Mythique Fine Dining by Carolyn Rahaman, a short story about chefs and sexism and choices and the dangerous meat of magical animals.
- The Tessa digital collections at LAPL are a fun dive to take, there's fruit crate labels, menus, autographs, and more. It's tempting to just look at "old" stuff (ie: midcentury) but there is something delightful about menus from decades that are old, actually, even if you don't want to admit it, like the '90s.
- An article I found while looking up what people did before pinning insect specimens - they put them in books like one does with pressed flowers, which is not what I would have expected, tbh! ]Adventures of the oldest butterflies By Katie Pavid](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/adventures-worlds-oldest-butterflies.html)
If you've thought of donating eSims, this guide was very helpful, and Crips for eSims for Gaza is a good option if you can't easily manage topping them up. There are also more traditional donation targets like the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, UNRWA, and Doctors Without Borders. If you prefer giving directly to families, Gaza Funds is a nice resource that facilitates finding campaigns.