It’s been a wild week. Let’s get into it.
Quote of the week:
“None of us sees the world as it ‘really’ is. Our perceptions, including of other people and ourselves, are always some blend of objective reality and personal interpretations of reality. We are unable to see the world from any perspective other than our own or fully escape the tendency to perceive the world through the filter of our own self-interest. Each of us is naturally, inherently, and incontrovertibly egocentric.” —Mark Leary, Ph.D.
What I’m reading:
I read a great Haruki Murakami story collection this week—Men Without Women. I enjoyed every story, which is rare (for me) with a collection. I’m now reading Becoming the One: Heal Your Past, Transform Your Relationship Patterns, and Come Home to Yourself by Sheleana Aiyana (founder of Rising Woman).
What I’m listening to:
I listened to This is Not a Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan this week. It was quite heavy and sad… wasn’t really the best pick for me this week.
What I’m watching:
I finished Season 3 of Couples Therapy. That’s about it. I don’t have much time these days for shows.
Writing news:
No big news to report this week. I’m continuing to dabble in writing poetry and a children’s book while I take a break from novel-writing. I’m starting to do research on something that will probably be in my next novel. I love the early stages of researching.
What I’m talking about:
- The Supreme Court. I mean, it’s getting absurd. They told women that they can’t have freedom over their own bodies. But then they also said it’s not the place of the court to place limitations on corporations’ carbon emissions. Nothing makes sense. They also decided that prayer in school is OK. What happened to their undying loyalty to the founding fathers? Separation of Church and State is very clear in the Bill of Rights. Nothing bothers me more than blatant hypocrisy. As AOC said recently, “The Supreme Court is actively delegitimizing itself.”
- The Jan 6 hearings. It’s so clear that Trump and people close to him not only knew what was going to happen, but encouraged it. And they also knew it was wrong. I really hope these hearings lead to appropriate consequences
- The drought in the American West. John Oliver said recently that it’s no longer really a “drought”; it’s a progressive aridization of the West that can’t really be stopped at this point. #climatecrisis
Interesting things I learned this week:
- The human brain reaches 90% of adult size by age 5
- Researchers have identified 36 common secrets and the average person keeps 12 of them
- More than 300,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine
- 5% of young adults identify as trans or non-binary according to a Pew survey
- The probability of you drinking a glass of water that contains a molecule of water that also passed through a dinosaur is almost 100% (read here)
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
This isn’t really “weird,” but I googled “restore tabs” like 20 times this week. My laptop keeps crashing and I always have 20 tabs open and I cannot seem to remember the buttons to push to restore them (SHIFT+CTRL+T, FYI). Probably time to get a new laptop.
What I’m grateful for:
- My daughter got her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine this week. No issues. So grateful for science
- A wonderful weekend with my good friend (of 28 years!). I finally got to meet her baby daughter and our girls got to play together. So special
- I’m getting great feedback from early readers on my new manuscript. Excited for what’s to come with this one!
- My sweet friends. Shout out to my dear friend, Huong, who sent me socks with my doggie’s face on them (photo below!)
- Long and winding phone conversations that fill my cup
A few snapshots:
