D&F 10/10/21
Boo!
Spooky season is fully upon us and to get in the mood I recommend re-watching Over the Garden Wall, and reading some spooky stories. My friend also runs a newsletter every day during October that consistently makes me smile. It’s like an advent calendar for ghosts.
I haven’t always enjoyed Halloween, because I’ve had the experience where someone thinks I’m doing drag just for wearing my actual clothes, but as a fan of witch shit, the devil, and the color black, I’m trying to get more into it. I do at least love the giant skeletons that I occasionally see on bike rides, and Japanese squash. Pumpkin Spice is an affront to tongues and noses though, and definitely give any flavor of candy corn a wide berth.
This video shows what life is like for a few Black Americans living in Japan. I’ve heard from other American women that they similarly feel the way I do in Japan, which is that we aren’t afraid to walk around at night. There are for sure instances of racism in the ultra-homogenous Japan, particularly against Chinese and Korean folks who visit or live there, but it’s interesting how many other people find it a breath of fresh air. I really hope I get to visit again in the next year.
If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you’ve likely seen me talk about attention and productivity but today I want to also talk about how where we choose to place our attention can inspire or dull us. I’ve been a fan of RSS since the early 2000s, and if I find a neat site, blog, or writer, I try to subscribe. Some do fallow, only to return in full bloom years later, and others have excellently weird archives. Even if you think you don’t have much to write about, sharing your world with the internet via a personal blog is a neat way to give back to the best, niche parts of the web. I don’t have a counter on my site, or any analytics, nor do I depend on readers for money or advertising, which frees me to dig into whatever caught my eye this week. Maybe no one reads the things I write, but worst case, I’ve created an archive of my fancies for my own future perusal.
Sometimes I miss the silly joke formats of Twitter, but these days I mostly just message my intrusive comedy thoughts to a Discord, Slack, or iMessage group, which is just as rewarding, and much, much less dangerous. Sure, I’ll never go viral, but I don’t see any real benefit to that unless you’re trying to cultivate a certain kind of narcissism. This isn’t to say that I don’t see tweets—friends and Discords send me good ones from time to time, and I’m RSS subscribed to a few friends’ feeds. Ultimately, it’s up to you how and where you spend your time, but if you’r up for it, I recommend taking a week where you just chat with your friends and read your RSS feed once or twice a day.
Do you feel a creeping sense of dread this weekend? That’s likely because the new Metroid game is out. If you need me, I’ll be spin-jumping my way through an underground space-maze. I’m still playing Eastbound and Deathloop as well—this is probably the most games I’ve played simultaneously in some time. With the days being shorter, movies and games are a nice thing to curl in a chair and enjoy, I think.
Links
- The bird wife guy is a little overplayed by the end of this week, but in case you missed it:
Closing
This weekend there’s another F1 race, and a lot of clear, bike-friendly skies, so most of my time will be spent on or watching wheeled vehicles. The chill in the air is much welcome, despite meaning I have to think about sleeves and wind jackets on my bike. I hope wherever you are you can start enjoying a warm fire and a mug of something tasty with your loved-ones. And as always, keep spooky, keep loving, space cowgirls~