D&F 1-24-21
Happy Bernie meme week! Far and away, these are my two favorite ones:
Bless the the weebs and the otaku, because they bring us great joy.
If you live in the US, or probably on the planet “Earth” you likely know we in the middle bit of North America swore in our new old white man, and he cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline and got us back into the Paris climate accord, which unbeknownst to the Zodiac killer, concerns more than Paris. This even led small climate child Greta to say:
“So happy that USA has finally rejoined the Pittsburgh Agreement. Welcome back!”
What a week!
On a personal note, I got some new cleats, boots, and pedals for my bike. It’s a whole new world of trying not to fall over and embarrass myself while riding. More on this journey on my site to come.
Queue up some music:
Let’s dive in! I don’t know if you like systems as much as I do, but in the above link, Tania Rascia walks us through the chill ways she keeps track of her life. I don’t do all of this stuff by any means, but during the quarantine, it’s been very helpful to have Things remind me when to water my plants, or refill medication. Time feels meaningless, but if I move little bit every day, hang out with Snorri, and bake bread, the endless now is great. One of my favorite tips from this article is to do the annoying thing immediately. Sometimes this means taking the dishes out when you walk to get water, and sometimes it means making that phone call before you build it up in your head. It’s helped me a lot, but ymmv.
Speaking of systems, how would you like to learn about deflation?! Nope, not balloons, this is all economy baby. There’s a lot of MMT going around these days, but a lot of terrible economic theory of yore seems to be put out to pasture, as people understand that perhaps, inflation isn’t the enemy. I don’t pretend to understand all of this, but I’m trying to figure it out.
Did you never quite manage to get a webcam during the wild rush of 2020? Good news! They’re not very good. Maybe you’d be better served by using your phone or even that DSLR you bought when you thought you’d become the next 荒木経惟(Nobuyoshi Araki). Using one of these two will leave every coworker asking, “how do you look so good?” and you can say “it’s my stillsuit”.
Earlier this year, before everything closed down, I got to see Kyle Chayka talk about his book with fellow author Robin, and he’s delivered again with this article on nothing. After all:
“The culture of negation inspires a taste for nothingness and glorifies numbness.”
From Xanax to Ketamine there’s a lot of drugs for depression or just getting out of your head, if nothingness is what you seek. Of course there’s also the wildest drug of all which just entails sitting with yourself. It helps but also sucks sometimes.
Finally, don’t forget that you alone are not responsible for saving restaurants, even though it helps to get some take-out and just tell the chefs and wine folks in your life you care. Maybe our new American old man will finally give people some money to support people staying home.
Links
- “Nobody knows why it happens”. This video brings me so much joy.
- CW: suicide. I’ve had this one in the hopper for weeks, because it’s a bummer, but I think it’s important to think about how the pandemic is effecting mental health in Japan and other places.
- It’s nice to watch someone make a mug, even though personally I find pottery punishingly hard.
Closing
Are you ready for a whole lot of rain in the Bay Area? Maybe you live somewhere with “winter” or “weather” but here we get super excited when water falls from the sky. We’re stepping into a week of wet wet sky water, and I am thrilled. If you look at this newsletter just right you’ll see Snorri and I sitting by the window with a few candles, under a wool blanket gazing out at the pitter-patter of the rain when not illuminated by the glow of a screen.
I hope you find some kind of nice indoor activity while it storms, or get to jump in puddles in your rain boots.
I’ll miss cycling this week, as I’m pretty skittish on wet pavement after snapping my thumb a few years ago after slipping on slimy leaves riding to an optometrist. Hell, I still feel really freaked-out by gravel or a bit of detritus on the bike path. Hopefully I’ll get a bit more comfortable.