D&F 4/9/23
It’s spring break for many of my colleagues, but in my house the focus is on the Paris Roubaix bike race. They call it the Hell of the North, and if you’re curious I’ve got a video explainer for you:
Maybe racing isn’t your thing, but you do want to see a bunch of fit, mostly-unclothed dudes putting on a show? I don’t judge. When I was growing-up, this weekend usually meant a piñata and maybe some cash in an egg hidden somewhere in the yard. I’ve never been a huge candy fan, but for a lot of folks, easter is the halloween of spring. Or, perhaps you’re more of a passover person, or want to learn all about it from some animated babies? I owe most of what I know about Judaism to the Rugrats, tbh.
In bittersweet news, one of the cat friends of this newsletter, Lightning, has been adopted and I won’t get to hand out with her while her foster parents travel anymore. The silver-lining is that she’ll have a permanent home, and it frees my friends up to foster yet more cats. I briefly considered trying to add a friend to Snorri’s house, but I worry that at the age of 14, he might be over it.
Finally, against all odds, the shelf portion of my new “closet” arrived this weekend after it was absent from the other delivery. Hilariously for a company named Design Within Reach, you can’t easily reach anyone or pick up any goods from their shop. My apartment is devoid of any real cabinets or closets, but after 4 years I’ve added enough storage for me to actually keep all my clothing in some kind of organization. The cool thing about a mostly empty loft space is you get to pick out all the bits to make it livable, but the tough thing is you also have to pay for every piece.
Enough about that, though, let’s hear it for the…
Links
- This cat-based construction project is almost enough to make me want a warehouse to build things in:
- Known loser and ruiner of things, Elon has make his ugly cars even worse by removing their ability to tell you before you hit things. Much like tactile, ergonomic controls, ultrasonic sensors are just a solved problem in proximity alerting, and it worries me a lot as a cyclist and pedestrian that these 3 ton behemoths are creeping around with this bad of an understanding of their surroundings. Maybe pick up one of these instead. They’re more fun, and way better for the environment.
- Finally, a job I can excel at!
- If you’re a fan of anime at all, I recommend a show I watched on Friday called “Tatami Time Machine Blues”. It has a fantastic and strange animation style along with a 5 episode main plot and delightful characters:
- And finally, I know you’ve always wanted it: a way to kiss bugs
Closing
My stack of to-read books keeps growing now that I’ve really leant into ordering from Bookshop.org and a decent income means plenty of money to spend supporting authors. This weekend is all about whittling down that list by one or two books in addition to riding my bike a bit. On the current docket is:
- Isolate by L.E. Modesitt Jr., a very slow boil political steamworks thriller
- Loki’s Ring by Stina Leicht, a ring-world sci-fi from the author of Persephone Station
- How to Be an Anti-capitalist in the 21st Century by Erik Olin Wright, my current non-fiction pick
Ever since I was young I liked listening to music while reading, and have strong associations between some albums and some books, but it’s likely this reading session will be fueled by Rachel’s, the new Yaeji, and Wednesday. With so many movies and TV shows available, not to mention podcasts, my time to enjoy music and books has shrunk a bit, but they will always be my first loves, even if it takes a little effort to rekindle the spark.
Take some time to revisit something you loved doing as a kid this week, and let me know how it goes, especially if it’s peanut butter play dough , space cowgirls~