Commonplace : June 2021
The cicadas are singing their love songs
The Barry Manilows of insects are loud this year as Brood X emerges in my neck of the woods. We live in an ideal area for them, with loads of established landscaping that hasn’t been touched in far more than the 17 years they’ve been under ground.
Near the street, they’re quieter, but the backyard is an astounding susurrus of song. I find it rather pleasant, far more low key than the cicadas we hear most summers, that produce that grating high-pitched cacophony. Their shells are everywhere, too, a strange detritus of chitin clinging from every plant and tree trunk in sight.
We’ve been calling them “the aliens”.
News
- Work continues to be more work than I’d like it to be, though it remains extraordinarily satisfying and challenging in all the good ways that mean I’m growing.
- I’m a bit late to it, but I’m working my way through book 2 of the Queen of the Tearling series and quite happy that something long-form finally grabbed my attention. Of course I’m picking up the most recent Becky Chambers book soon and I’m sure that will suck me in as her writing always does. This reminds me I still have Bloody Rose sitting on my to-read shelf when I’m ready to be taken in by another book.
- Metric has eaten up a lot of my listening time in the last couple months, along with the surprisingly awesome Lego White Noise album during work.
- The June issue of Luna Station Quarterly is also out, if you appreciate amazing stories by up and coming authors like I do.
A few quotes of interest
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is a quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” — Mary Anne Radmacher
It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer. – Albert Einstein
I hate the Kindle… It is an attempt to erase 600 years of progress. A printed book is a random access device, a Kindle is not. - Errol Morris
Some reading
“I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I never got over not having to punch a clock.”
Reiki Can’t Possibly Work. So Why Does It?
“When Jamie introduced Reiki at the VA center 10 years ago, she overrode the objections of some colleagues who thought it was pseudoscience and out of step with the general culture of the VA, where people are inclined to be suspicious of anything that might be described as “woo woo.” But she insisted that the VA—which also offers yoga, acupuncture, massage, clinical hypnosis, and tai chi—should explore any supplementary treatment for chronic pain and PTSD that doesn’t involve pharmaceuticals, especially narcotics.”