1/17/17

i'm thankful that i didn't use a computer yesterday, in the hopes of reducing the amount of worry i felt. i'm thankful that though this wasn't entirely successful, it was still something. i'm thankful to distract myself that i folded and put away the three large loads of laundry that i did over the weekend. i'm thankful for the way that cleaning is something you can do on autopilot but that can make you feel accomplished and productive. i'm thankful to have cleaned out my closet (which is not actually a closet but a high shelf and then a large cabinet) and organized it to make it more efficient and useful and nice looking. i'm thankful to create space. i'm thankful for this artist who spent three years hand-painting the Quran in gold on black silk.

i'm thankful to have learned that president obama read the three body problem, one of my favorite books of recent years, and how he appreciated that “the scope of it was immense. So that was fun to read, partly because my day-to-day problems with Congress seem fairly petty — not something to worry about. Aliens are about to invade!” i'm thankful that he is able to find solace in that, even though thinking outside of the thing i'm personally worried about right now just makes me feel more worried and so is not a productive strategy. i'm thankful to have read a bit of life and fate by vasily grossman, which i had never been able to get into when i tried before but am appreciating now.

i'm thankful for the most recent issue of new york magazine, which has features on jared kushner, abortion, and a robot that makes crab bisque. i'm thankful for this perfect paragraph (describing a horrible thing, but with such crystalline clarity at the junction of an intersection) by rebecca traister: "That the right wing’s focus is not simply opposition to abortion but also reducing women’s access to contraception gives away the game: Theirs is an effort to keep women from making decisions about when, if, and under what circumstances to have children, and thereby to keep them from exerting agency over their families, their work, their partnerships, their sex lives, and their bodies. That the restrictions on access most profoundly affect those with the fewest resources means that abortion is not just about women’s equality; it is at the very heart of economic and racial inequality." 

i'm thankful that d wanted to watch 50 shades of grey because she thought the trailer of the second one looked interesting and also really likes that song with tay tay and zayn. i'm thankful to have made a real effort at watching it with her, even though we both quickly realized that it is not just a bad move but a BAD MOVIE. i'm thankful in particular for the main character played by dakota johnson who is perhaps the dumbest human being i have ever seen. i'm thankful that d did not get annoyed when i picked up my phone a quarter of the way through and then opened my laptop and stopped watching altogether two thirds of the way through. i'm thankful for the olsen twins.

i'm thankful for the young pope, which i really enjoy even though i have no idea of whether it's actually a good show or not. i'm thankful for this emperor's new clothes feeling, which seems to enact how the characters in the show feel about the young pope. i'm thankful for a show that is tonally chaotic enough to confound my judgement of whether it is actually good or not, which is a judgement i can usually make very quickly and without equivocation. i'm thankful to know that to me that's probably a sign that it's good on balance, but i'm thankful to sit with its badness too. i'm thankful the young pope didn't go in the same direction with its soundtrack that westworld did.

i'm thankful to get to watch another episode tonight. i'm thankful for another thing from new york, which was a series of blind tastings of bottled water. i'm thankful for this cake d made for dessert, which is one of my favorite cakes. i'm thankful that one bag of frozen raspberries is enough frozen raspberries to make two cakes. i'm thankful that not only is there winter citrus, but that there continue to be cheap and delicious winter berries. i'm thankful for this metafilter thread about people who can't bear to eat certain foods, which is sad but fascinating. i'm thankful to feel lucky to not be one of those people as adult, even though i was a picky eater as a child. i'm thankful for rock egg.