Every day this week, I was a day ahead. I thought Tuesday was Wednesday, Wednesday was Thursday, etc. I’ve had a gnarly head cold so I’m going to blame the brain fog on that. Very happy that we’ve finally arrived at Friday.
Quote of the week:
“I want to tell you to live in the messy world, throw yourself into the convulsion of the world. I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment.” –Joan Didion, 1975 commencement speech at UC Riverside
What I’m reading:
This week, I read Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood by Jessica Grose. I always enjoy her writing for the New York Times and was so excited to read this book. It’s good, but was more pandemic-focused than I was expecting. I just started Mother in the Dark by Kayla Maiuri and I can already tell I’m going to like it.
What I’m listening to:
I devoured Des Linden’s memoir, Choosing to Run: A Memoir, and am now starting Joyce Maynard’s memoir, At Home in the World.
What I’m watching:
Bad Sisters on Apple TV. It takes me about a week to watch one episode, which says nothing about the show and everything about my life right now.
What I’m talking about:
- My sinuses and how much misery they bring upon me
- The Dalai Lama telling a child “suck my tongue.” At first, I was like, “Are there any men in power who are not creeps?” But now I’m questioning my initial repulsion. Apparently, in Tibetan culture, it’s common for elders to give children a small candy or piece of food from their mouths. Then, when there is nothing left, they will say the phrase “Ok, now eat my tongue” (the Tibetan phrase is Che le sa). It’s basically saying, “I’ve given you all my love and candy so all that’s left to do is eat my tongue.” Meant to be playful. There’s no way of knowing the Dalai Lama’s intentions. He did apologize for any offense. Reading this shed some important light on the situation for me
- GOP 2024 presidential hopefuls attending the NRA convention in Indianapolis. Gross. I envision a future where people look back on this and say, “Wait, we had a whole association for gun-lovers? And this association was related to politics? HUH? And we let people just walk around with armed weapons?” At some point, hopefully not too far off, we are all going to agree this is madness
Interesting things I learned this week:
- Biden signed a bill officially ending the COVID-19 national emergency
- NPR is the first prominent news organization to leave Twitter
- 80% of CEOs have stay-at-home wives
- New York City has hired its first-ever “rat czar” (official title: Director of Rodent Mitigation. I hope it pays well)
- The US Dept of Health and Human Services recommends that low-income people pay no more than 7% of their earnings in childcare; yet in 8 states and DC, childcare centers cost over 35% of average income
- Between 1950 and 2012, annual hours worked per employee fell by about 40% in Germany and Netherlands, but by only 10% in the US
- Fewer than half of children under 18 live with 2 married, heterosexual parents in their first marriage
- A 2020 study reported that 59% of workers would only consider a new position or job if it allowed them to work from the location of their choice
- Women are 10x more likely to take time off to stay home with a sick child
- Japan is the only G-7 country not to recognize same-sex marriage
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Climate change home runs.” I heard on The Late Show that climate change will lead to more home runs. So interesting. The science of it is that when the air is cooler, air particles are much closer together, which can slow down a fast-moving ball. When the air gets warmer, air particles are much farther apart, enabling a ball to travel through the air faster. Researchers from Dartmouth College looked at 100,000 Major League games and found that at least 500 home runs since 2010 can be attributed to climate change. From Grist: “As the planet warms, the authors predict that climate change could be responsible for nearly 10 percent of all home runs by 2100, with each degree of warming associated with 95 more home runs per season.”
What I’m grateful for:
- A night out with my mom to see Chelsea Handler do her thing at the Improv
- A bunch of fun Easter activities last weekend. We are well-stocked on chocolate
- Snagging tickets to October’s Ohana Fest. Foo Fighters!
- My contractor, who is making my new house look so good I could cry. My furniture delivery is scheduled for today. It’s happening!
Snapshots:
