D&F 4/2/23
It’s an on-call weekend in the Shelley house, which means Snorri and I are short on sleep[^5 hours Friday night.], and stuck close to home. The weather looks great, but the challenge of on-call is if I do ride a bike, I can’t go further away than about 10 minutes walking distance without a computer and internet access. In a fit of civic duty I volunteered for our incident commander rotation a few years ago, and despite no one forcing me to continue, I find myself carrying on. I’ve had mixed success convincing every manager at work to do the same, since a larger amount of participants means even rarer shifts. Currently I only have a weekend shift once a quarter, which makes it far more relaxing than my old IT jobs.
Fortunately, it’s also F1 weekend with a race in Australia, and Ronde Van Vlaanderen in the cycling world, and I’ve got a new game on my Switch. I’m also cat sitting for a friend, and said cat is getting friendlier and even rolls around on the carpet inviting limited petting. Later this month I get another chance to impress a second friend’s cats, who until now only love each other, their owner, and the other person cat sitting. I don’t spend much time seeking anyone’s approval, but I need these cats to like me.
Links
- There’s a big difference between solitude, being alone, and being lonely, and the mental effects are severe for the latter. Whether introverted or extroverted, being lonely is bad news, and research shows it spirals as a lonely person’s brain starts to negatively read expressions and situations in a way that encourages further isolation. Anecdotally I’ve noticed people with partners or spouses tend towards the acceptance and attention that prevents loneliness but for the single among us it’s harder work. I love being alone, but the trick to living and working alone at home is spending intentional time cultivating relationships and reminding my brain and nervous system that I’m loved. Do you part by reaching out to someone you care about and catching up or saying “I love you” today.
- Do you like go-cart tracks and fixed gear bikes? Well I’ve got a great video for you of this year’s Rad Race in Berlin:
- I can’t decipher whether or not Lebanon is in DST right now due to some wild last minute legal decisions that have programmer saying, “no thanks.” It’s time we finally move to Swatch Internet Time to Beat time. This is one of the only amazing things France gave us.
- Stop. Driving. To. Attractions. Or if you do, don’t complain about it because you are the problem. A great solution to traffic is to avoid driving unless you have to, and spoiler, you rarely have to. A great thing to go every time you’re angry about traffic is find ways to lobby your local government to fund and support public transit, bike lanes, and other alternative means of going places. In my experience, sitting on the bus for 5 more minutes is vastly better than sitting nervously behind the wheel, inching your way forward on a highway.
- Finally, an important message from our friends across the pond: “Don’t help cops”.
Closing
I’m due for a nap soon, and I hope it won’t end with a page from work. Unlike when I was a teen, coffee doesn’t replace sleep very effectively. I hope you’re well-rested, and cozy, and the image of a bunch of Sleepytime bears dozing off reading my newsletter is sustaining me as I write this sentence. Until we meet again, fight hate with love (and direct action), fuck cops, and protect trans rights in every state and every land.