D&F 2-14-21
Ah the big day of disappointment, chocolate, and confusion. A pox upon Mr. Valentine and the prevalence of regret-inducing lactose. I hope you take this opportunity during a global pandemic to not celebrate a Hallmark holiday, and instead celebrate Lunar New Year—the food is way better.
恭喜发财! May your 红包 be bountiful and your Ox be strong. Also I’m really hoping that 2032 is a much better year of the Rat (my Zodiac animal) than 2020.
This jazz solo is dedicated to February 14th:
There’s a story behind this solo that is a bit more interesting and complex than, “yea, he just kinda stayed on that note… no one knows why” and you may enjoy learning about it:
Speaking of jazz, queue up that terrible Sinatra song that appears all over Evangelion because baby, this dharma is headed to space. That’s right, there’s going to be a space temple. I think this is pretty silly, and a bit of a gimmick, but hey, if I could launch shit into space I probably would too. Perhaps even a large sex mecha. Buddy, they don’t even let me fuck the robot.
My girlfriend is books because I’m a fun-loving, attractive young lesbian about town, and sometimes I have affairs with data, so imagine my pleasure at seeing Robin Sloan’s latest book data perversion. Libraries are amazing. Tip your local librarian.
If you’re programming nerd (or geek? nerd was always the good one in Texas), then perhaps you’ll enjoy this site full of interviews and articles about strange coding languages.
Mental health guitar solo
As you might notice from knowing me or even reading this newsletter, I can be a bit all over the place, and depending on the world I’m interacting with, the work I’m doing, or the economic pressures of my life, this can be all kinds of bad. This essay does a great job of talking about the ways that capitalism specifically hurts folks, and indeed has pressured many of us into commodified identities in order to gives us something to cling to. Also it mentions a weird thesis project by the dude who started identity sorting hat Buzzfeed. All sorts of mental and chemical states exist, but the pressures of life and capitalism turn what could be a benefit into a way to feel bad about ourselves, and we’ve decided that many of them are immutable instead of finding ways to work through and with them. Personally, I’ve gone to a number of very helpful non-diagnostic therapists who encourage me to think about myself as separate from the challenges and depression that sometimes travel alongside me, and that’s helped with piecing-together a way forward.
Another thing that helped me a lot with getting things done was doing the hard thing first and dumping my confusing, anxious brain into an app that lets me save cycles and remember things without effort or guilt. For me, the app is Things, but for you it might be a physical calendar, or even a bunch of post-its. It was pretty hard to find a rhythm for a while, but it’s helped me an immeasurable amount with the “stare at the ceiling and think about everything I should or could be doing” while trying to sleep especially.
Your mileage may vary!
Oh, and I also really think regular therapy and pharmaceutical intervention can help as well. I am not a doctor.
Ok, back to the links!
Links
- There’s something incredible about this cat’s look, and honestly, I want to see if Snorri is also cool now:
- Machine-translation? Yes please:
In closing
I’m riding my bike a lot more lately, especially since I can do it indoors. For me, a mildly competitive activity is extremely enticing, and getting new sprint records makes me feel more like an athlete, and less like a hermit. Just this week I’ve been to Paris, London, Virginia (ugh), and even circled a volcano! Sure, I could also go outside more, but there’s disease and cars outside, soooooo.
How’ve you been coping? Have you found an activity that makes you feel a bit more like things are moving forward? Baking? Reading? Movies? Maybe you have a partner you’re really finding new things to love? I hope you have.
Regardless of how you’re doing right now, or what you’ve surrounded yourself with as we collectively await the all-clear siren on this pandemic, I am glad we get to share this newsletter. Thanks! Keep doing what you’re doing, and hang in there—see you next week, space cowgirl~