We made it to February! As a meme on Instagram said, “January was a long year.” It feels like the holidays were three months ago, doesn’t it? February is a short month and then we’ll be heading into Spring. I am excited to leave winter, and its viruses, behind (I have another cold. It’s neverending). Here’s this week’s roundup!
Quote of the week:
“Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger than we were before.” –Alice Walker
What I’m reading:
Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach. Such a bittersweet story of sisterhood. I’m really enjoying it.
What I’m listening to:
A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life by Ayelet Waldman. Really interesting!
What I’m watching:
I watched The Menu on HBO and it was so creepy and entertaining (if you like stories with sociopaths haha). I also watched Alone Together on Hulu, which was light and cute. I tried to watch Everything Everywhere All At Once because of all the Oscar buzz and turned it off after a half-hour. The whole multiverse storyline does not interest me at all.
What I’m talking about:
- The death of Tyre Nichols. So senseless and tragic. Police reform is needed; that much is clear
- House Republicans replacing their flag pins on their lapels with pins in the shape of assault rifles. Ummm, what is wrong with them? There have been 50+ mass shootings so far THIS YEAR. It’s like they’re applauding that stat
- Florida’s High School Athletic Association asking athletes to share their menstrual history. This is for real. This is not a drill. Women’s bodies are under attack
- Florida’s new bill going into effect, mandating that books be screened before going into classroom libraries. Educators who do not comply could face a third-degree felony. What happened to free speech? Interesting how conservatives are cool with some parts of the Constitution, but not others
Interesting things I learned this week:
- Humans still have the genes for a full coat of body hair (but evolution has disabled them)
- John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the SAME EXACT DAY (and it was Independence Day)—July 4, 1826
- In the 18th century, children played with toy guillotines. Macabre, but I like it
- Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which means 6 more weeks of winter… but he’s only been right 39% of the time
- When children have a home library with 20+ books, they achieve 3 more years of schooling than kids with fewer/no books at home
- Last year, Costco sold enough floral stems to wrap all the way around the planet
- Napoleon was not as short as people think he was. According to pre-metric system French measures, he was 5’2″. BUT the French inch at the time was 2.7cm, while the Imperial inch was 2.54cm. So, he was about 5’5″, just an inch under the average height of an adult male at the time
- The origins of modern-day policing can be traced back to the “Slave Patrol” of the 1700s
- The percentage of companies that offered paid maternity leave beyond what the law requires fell from 53% in 2020 to 35% last year
- 63% of Americans say people should have the option to manage their abortion safely at home
- The Japanese have a practice called shinrin-yoku, which translates to “forest bathing” or “taking in the forest atmosphere.” This type of ecotherapy has been shown to be more effective for treating depression than SSRIs!
- Viraha is a Hindi word for realizing you love someone only after you’re separated
- The findings of a Pew Research Center survey reveal that mothers were more likely than fathers to say that being a parent is stressful and tiring all or most of the time
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“zoo name cockroach after ex.” I saw something about this on Instagram so had to investigate. Turns out the San Antonio zoo will let you name a cockroach after your ex and feed it to an animal on Valentine’s Day. This is a tad dark for a zoo, but ok.
What I’m grateful for:
- A couple fun outings lately. Went to see Sarah Silverman perform at the Irvine Improv this past weekend, and took my daughter to a UCLA vs Oregon State gymnastics meet too!
- Negative for COVID, flu, and strep. So whatever I have is not those awful things
- A healthier week ahead (I’m choosing optimism over complete despair. I chose complete despair yesterday and it wasn’t fun)
Snapshots:
