It’s been a couple weeks since my last roundup. I was on a family trip to Maui. We’ve been going there since I was a little kid so it’s always a special time. Last year, I cut my trip short because it was so emotional for me to be there without my dad there. This year was less grief-y. I came back to a finally-sunny southern California. Summer is here!
Quote of the week:
“We’re born, we try, we learn, we change, we die, we’re born again once more, all in one lifetime. And sometimes, all at once.” — Steph Catudal (I loved her memoir)
What I’m reading:
Once Upon A Time We Ate Animals: The Future of Food by Roanne Van Voorst.
A couple books I read on my trip and loved:
The Whispers by Ashley Audrain
On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good by Elise Loehnen
What I’m listening to:
Always the Last to Know by Kristan Higgins.
On my trip, I listened to The Celebrants by Steven Rowley. Very enjoyable!
What I’m watching:
I’ve started watching The Morning Show on AppleTV, but am not really into it yet. Does it get more engrossing? Caveat: I have zero attention span lately. I just watched Amy Schumer’s new comedy special, Emergency Contact, and liked that! Also watched Fire in Paradise, a documentary about the awful 2018 Camp Fire.
Writing news:
The last podcast episode of People Who Knew Me aired yesterday and I got a bit choked up at the end! I’m so pleased with the show and happy that people are discovering the story in this format. If you haven’t checked it out, you can watch episodes via BBC Sounds (no subscription necessary) or wherever you get podcasts.
Some podcast press:
- The Financial Times called it “pacy and bingeable”
- The Guardian described it as “excellently soundscaped, grippingly plotted, smoothly acted”
- Star Rosamund Pike said, “It’s a remarkable story and one I felt emotionally drawn to”
- Radio Times wrote, “Daniella Isaacs has penned a masterful script, created an unsettling atmosphere and produced a piece of work that demands attention. You should. You should give it your full concentration. It’s worth it”
In other news…
Book birthdays! No Hiding in Boise turned 2 and Tiny turned 4!
Interesting things I learned this week:
- Today is National Typewriter Day AND National Hydration Day
- The longest chess game took over 20 hours and 269 moves
- The average person groans for 34 minutes on a Monday vs 22 minutes on other days
- With the new IOS update, autocorrect will no longer change “fuck” to “duck” (hallelujah!)
- Danish Dad, Jacob Sommer Simonsen, set the world record for a half marathon with a stroller (1:08:04). Incidentally, he also holds the Danish national record for the beer mile (5:18)
- Earlier this month, a wolverine was spotted in the California wilderness for only the second time in a century
- 90% of ocean trash is plastic
- You are more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than by a shark
- The longest word you can type with just your left hand is “sweaterdresses”
- The treadmill was invented as a prison rehab device
- The farthest flight of a paper airplane was 289 feet and 9 inches (and the plane was created by Boeing engineers)
- According to legendary marriage therapists Drs. John and Julie Gottman, 69% of conflicts between couples will never be resolved, typically because there are significant differences in personality or lifestyle needs
- 98% of venture capital money goes to men, according to Crunchbase data
- Michigan is the only state with explicit laws on the books stating that you cannot discriminate on the basis of body shape or size
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Bo Jackson hiccups.” My daughter was complaining about hiccups and her dad mentioned that Bo Jackson was in the midst of a year-long battle with hiccups. So I had to investigate. It is true. He says he’s tried everything, including sniffing a porcupine’s butt. Related: American Charles Osborne had hiccups for 68 years, from 1922 to February 1990, and was entered in the Guinness World Records as the man with the longest attack of hiccups, an estimated 430 million hiccups.
What I’m grateful for:
- A great family trip complete with my mom, my sister, my sister’s kids, my daughter and her dad. We also spent a good deal of time with our “Hawaii family” (hi, Rob and Gloria!)
- The end of house projects (for now). I’m so relieved and excited to just settle into my home
- Time with one of my best friends who is in town visiting
- Doggie on the mend. My 13-year-old pup had a stroke earlier this week. I was pretty sure that would be the end for him, but he seems to be recovering slowly
- Sunshine! As we were leaving on vacation, I saw a headline that said southern California hadn’t had a day of full sunshine since February! There’s been so much gloom this year. But the sun is officially OUT
A few snapshots:
