4/17/17
i'm thankful that it didn't really rain yesterday, that the hours just kept passing without it really raining, despite the weather forecast saying it was supposed to rain all day long. i'm thankful when weather forecasters are wrong. i'm thankful that in the afternoon i went out to go running and it wasn't raining but that somehow i didn't have the energy or the motivation and so walked a bit. i'm thankful that this is rare for me, that i normally have the energy and the motivation, since it's a good way to empathize with other people who, because of their neurochemical makeup, might not normally have those things. i'm thankful to have done an hour of yoga, which was nice and i'm sure good for me, even if it didn't leave me on the endorphin high i would have gotten from running. i'm thankful that i will go running this morning.
i'm thankful to have done chores around the house that i needed to do. i'm thankful to have bagged my sweaters and scarves and hats and coats and other winter clothes and put them away in the closet. i'm thankful to have done two loads of laundry and to have put them away immediately. i'm thankful to have put the clothes i wear on a daily basis (i.e., since i am a remote worker, t-shirts and sweatpants) in a place where they're easier to access. i'm thankful to have filled up my medication and supplement pill organizers for the first time in several months, which is one of those tasks i should always do because it makes taking things so much easier and yet i am often lazy about actually doing, a laziness that results in a net total of way more effort than if i had just taken the time to fill the organizer once a week.
i'm thankful to have not done any work this weekend. i'm thankful to recognize that i have probably been doing too much work outside of work the past few weeks. i'm thankful that i have felt motivated to do so and have enjoyed doing so, because i really like my job and there is so much to learn and so many opportunities to try new things, but i'm thankful to recognize that it's also important to rest and recharge. i'm thankful that though there are still some work things i want to try in the evenings this week and that it will be fun to try them, to also remind myself not to push too hard, since i don't want to burn out.
i'm thankful for the college student who i overheard, semi-ironically but also semi-genuinely, say that she felt accomplished for having watched all of the the fast and the furious movies in one weekend. i'm thankful to have overheard another talking about how in iraq, in lieu of toothpaste, her brother had brushed his teeth with spray cheese. i'm thankful that another praised d's pretty summer dress and for my extended rambly compliment to d about how pink was the right hair color for summer, not on the nose like orange would be but still tropical—i'm thankful to have realized, as i discussed the semiotics of different starburst flavors, to have realized how silly i sounded. i'm thankful for our extended discussion of the implications of affixing "boho" as a prefix to different adjectives (i.e. boho-chic, boho-glam).
i'm thankful to have sat in bed for several hours yesterday and finished reading swing time, which was an incredible novel, maybe my favorite of zadie smith's thus far. i'm thankful that it is wide in scope while at the same time still feeling incredibly intimate. i'm thankful for the way she starts chapters, dancing in and out of different timelines. i'm thankful that the novel is often quite sad but never feels like a "sad novel," which is a genre of which i'm not a fan. i'm thankful for the complexity with which she constructs and depicts her characters. i'm thankful after finishing to have last night started reading roadside picnic, which is quite fun so far.
i'm thankful we watched part 2 and part of part 3 of o.j.: made in america. i'm thankful for the in our time episode on rosa luxemburg. i'm thankful whenever jacqueline rose, who is one of my favorite panelists, was on the show. i'm thankful for the heated disagreement she got into with another panelist about whether luxemburg incited violence. i'm thankful for the description of luxemburg's response to critiques of revolutionary violence, which had to do with all of the invisible violence that capitalism does unto the working class if capitalism persists without revolution. i'm thankful that in our time always has a bonus clip where the panelists can talk for a few more minutes and i'm thankful it always ends with a p.a. opening the door to the studio and asking if people want coffee or tea, which is such a lovely way to end the show.
i'm thankful to have watched chrissy teigen's easter party on multiple snapchat stories. i'm thankful to have just thought about the word "stories" and how in the past that's what people would call the daily soap opera they watched and how now it's what we call these little daily fragments we're fed of other people's lives. i'm thankful for chrissy teigen and for her marriage to john legend, whose music i have never been the hugest fan of but who seems to be a really nice person who doesn't take himself too seriously. i'm thankful to hope that it was he and kanye wearing the giant bunny costumes at the easter party. i'm thankful to be hopeful that kanye is okay.
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