I keep thinking of that Counting Crows song “Long December” because this December feels particularly long. Just me? All parents of young children? Everyone?
Quote of the week:
“We shake with joy, we shake with grief. What a time they have, these two housed as they are in the same body.” –Mary Oliver
What I’m reading:
Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, but it’s been very enjoyable.
What I’m listening to:
I just started The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid on my run this morning. Loving it. Earlier this week, I listened to Ronit Plank’s memoir, When She Comes Back, which was great.
What I’m watching:
At the request of a few work colleagues, I started watching The White Lotus on HBO last night. I am late to this party, but I’m glad I came. I also watched The Swimmers on Netflix–great movie based on a real story of two sisters who leave behind their home in Syria for a chance at a better life.
Writing news:
I’ve been working away at some book updates. Editing is so weird. I was very confident my latest manuscript was DONE a few months ago and now, as I re-read it, I see so many places that need work. I should have another “done” version in a week or so.
What I’m talking about:
- The 10th anniversary of Sandy Hook. It is distressing that so little has been done in the past decade to prevent this from happening again. Twenty six-year-olds were killed. TWENTY SIX-YEAR-OLDS. If this didn’t immediately lead to gun restrictions, I don’t know what will
- The death of Stephen “tWitch” Boss. Thinking of the pain he must have been in, and the pain of his family, puts a lump in my throat. It’s been hard to see some comments online about his act being selfish. I liked the quote Glennon Doyle shared, from Warsan Shire, writing on refugees: “you have to understand… no one… (leaves home) unless the water is safer than the land”
- President Biden signing the Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday, enshrining federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages into federal law for the first time. This good news was very much needed
Interesting things I learned this week:
- The 5-star scale to rate hotels began in 1979
- South Korea is adopting the “international system” for calculating age (which states that a person is age 0 at birth and then age 1 a year to the day after their birth). Currently in South Korea, the most common way to calculate age is where a baby is age 1 at birth and then turns a year older on January 1, regardless of the date of birth (so, a child born on December 31, 2021, turned 2 years old on January 2, 2022)
- Oregon has a million acres of dead trees (due to drought)
- “Embargo” spelled backwards is “o grab me”
- Between 2003 and 2019, the aggregate time-spent-alone went from 43.5% to 48.7%, according to the American Time Use survey. Between 2019 and 2021, it went up to 50.5%. By 2019, the average American spent only 4 hours per week with friends (a sharp 37% decline from five years before, probably due to the proliferation of smartphones). As of last year, the average American spent less than 3 hours per week with friends
- Velociraptors weighed less than 35 lbs, contrary to their scary depiction in media
- The combined weight of all humans currently living on earth is around 385 million tons. The combined weight of our livestock is 800 million tons. The combined weight of every other mammal and bird on earth is less than 100 million tons
- Every year, between 250,000 and 350,000 people gather to watch the Indy 500, making it the largest annual non-religious gathering of human beings on earth
- The term “knocked up” comes from the 1800s, when the price of an enslaved African woman was “knocked up” by the auctioneer when she was pregnant
- Dictionary.com’s word of the year is “woman.” Apparently, searches for the word on Dictionary.com doubled this past year versus previous years
- The most common keys on the keyboard are typed with the left hand
- Snakes have clitorises (thank you to Stephen Colbert for enlightening the nation on this very important fact)
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Bald-faced lie.” I was using this term in my new manuscript and then I thought, “wait, is that right? Bald-faced?” So I googled. Apparently, “bold-faced” is also used, but “bald-faced” is the preferred term (read here).
What I’m grateful for:
- Writing. It is my greatest anti-depressant. I’ve been a little down with the holiday season–second one without my dad, first one since my divorce–and writing continues to be a reliable mood-lifter
- Running, my other great anti-depressant. I wasn’t planning to sign up for any races soon, but I may do a half marathon in February. I’ll see if I stay healthy!
- A mostly healthy household. We dealt with a minor cold this week, but have been spared the other big things going around (so far… I probably just jinxed it)
Snapshots:
