Quote of the week:
“Revelations can be disastrous, but they can also be a way of building. You rip apart what you were holding fast to and then you discover new reserves in yourself. And, to me, that is exactly what we’re going through right now with the pandemic.” –Rita Dove
What I’m reading:
The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning by Paul Bloom
What I’m listening to:
The Girl Before by JP Delaney (I wanted to check this out before the HBO series comes out next month. Liking it so far!)
What I’m watching:
The Lost Daughter on Netflix. I liked it.
Writing news:
Don’t forget to enter the Goodreads giveaway for Ways the World Could End. Last day to enter is February 8.
What I’m talking about:
I’m talking a lot about pandemic fatigue. My daughter’s preschool classroom has closed multiple times this month due to Covid exposures. Thankfully we are still negative (somehow). There really seems to be so much collective despair lately. As Glennon Doyle said on her podcast this week, we are all kind of dead inside at this point. In the UK, they are easing up restrictions significantly and I wonder if we should consider that here in the US (or if that would lead to more problems).
Interesting things I learned this week:
- 19-year-old Zara Rutherford became the youngest woman to fly around the world solo
- The color of an egg matches the earlobe of the hen that laid it
- The roar of an adult male lion can be heard up to 5 miles away
- Flannery O’Connor kept peacocks
- The tallest sandcastle ever made was 69 feet tall, made in July 2021
- There is now a hair-based autism diagnostic
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Can’t open push and turn cap.” I could not get the cap off my daughter’s container of gummy vitamins and the Internet really came through for me. It told me to jam a tack into the top and that worked!
What I’m grateful for:
I’m grateful for stress-relieving runs, anxiety-reducing puzzles (see the one I did this week below), and smile-inducing drawings created by my daughter (see below of one she did of her with her two friends).
