rethining the to-do list
The news is extra terrible this week. I can't even imagine what it's like for parents of school children. There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said, except that maybe the only way we'll get any kind of gun control in this country is to have mass shootings every single day for a month. And that's a horrible fucking thought.
If you're looking for some distractions, I have two weeks of links below. (Last Wednesday, after driving home from NY, I passed out for four hours. In my youth, I drove across the country and back. Twice. Easily. Now, 4-5 hours of driving wipes me out completely, and the place where my right hamstring meets my right buttcheek hurts like hell starting at hour 3. If anyone knows any long-distance truck drivers who have some kind of ass hack, let me know?)
First, and I probably got this from Roxane Gay's newsletter, this year-old tweet kind of rocked my world:
https://twitter.com/jdesmondharris/status/1408868731707555840
My to-do lists are a jumble of things I think I "should" or "need to" do. There is little order to them. I tried this new-to-me organization method, and realized that the first category is fairly short. Pay taxes, order meds, etc. Seeing a small and manageable number of things in that section means I can bang them out and get on with my life.
More importantly, reframing "should do" as "WANT to do" is the kind of attitudinal shift I didn't know I needed. Like, instead of "ugh, I have to go to the hardware store to find descaling solution for the kettle" somehow becomes "cool, as soon as I run this errand I can clean up the kettle."
As for the things other people want me to do... They just have to ask nicely.
Everything else
"If you think free speech is defined by your ability to be an asshole without consequence, you don’t understand free speech (but you remain an asshole)." Mike Masnick (who I met once 20 years ago when he and I drove from SF to Fresno and back to see a really disappointing Lets Go Bowling reunion show) gets Headline of the Year for this one. (TechDirt)
This is the Southern Baptist apocalypse. You know it's bad when one of their own tears them a new one. Meanwhile the Catholic Church is relieved to be out of the spotlight for five minutes. To the Baptists' credit, they're at least going to release all the names of the predators. (Christianity Today)
I’ve always struggled with my weight. Losing it didn’t mean winning. Because it's not often enough that you read about grown men struggling with weight loss. Plus he's a good writer. (NYT).
If you've ever wondered what it's like inside John Waters' house. (Buzzfeed)
I just installed something called Super Agent that is supposed to block all those "accept cookies" pop-ups. So far, so good. I wish someone would make one for Firefox that prevents videos and "give us your email address" windows from popping up too. (Lifehacker)
I want to go back to Japan to see this wisteria. Wow. (My Modern Met)
Speaking of travel, a good article about "sustainable" safari trips, and the Tanzania one is especially appealing. (Elle)
A great "obituary." For the record, I don't even like potato salad, let alone know how to make it. (SmokeLong Quarterly)
I went into a vintage clothing store in the Hudson Valley while I was up there catsitting. Behind the counter they have this Carlo of Hollywood painting that they refused to sell to me. It's like six feet long and glorious. (Pinterest)
In case you haven't seen this Muppets x Dirty Dancing mashup, it made me smile. (Twitter)
Students from Georgia Tech Filipino Student Association performing the Philippine national dance called Tinikling to a Lil Nas X song. Watch this, it will make you happy I promise. (Twitter)