It’s beginning to feel a little like Fall. When we wake up in the morning, my daughter has been saying, “Mom, it’s too early. It’s still dark out.” I love this time of year. I’ve ordered my Halloween decorations and I am ready.
Quote of the week:
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” –Albert Camus
What I’m reading:
I finished Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur this week. Liked it. I’m now reading Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls.
What I’m listening to:
On my run this morning, I finished Blood Orange Night by Melissa Bond. It’s about how she was prescribed Ativan for insomnia and built up a life-altering physical dependency on it, requiring a years-long detox. We’ve all heard about the dangers of opioids (Painkiller on Netflix was so good—just finished that). This book opened my eyes to the dangers of benzodiazepines.
What I’m watching:
I started The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu. I’m very overwhelmed by the multiple seasons and plan to just watch the first season since it aligns with the book, which I loved.
Writing news:
Working on various things. Noodling on a new idea for a novel and starting to do some research. I’ve also started a new series of posts on Instagram with quotes about the magic of reading and writing. I’ve been storing quotes in a Word document for years and wanted to start sharing them. A couple I’ve shared so far:
Interesting things I learned this week:
- Pluto never made a full orbit around the sun from the time it was discovered to when it was declassified as a planet
- A billion seconds is about 32 years. I am going to use this fact the next time my daughter says, “Mom, you’re taking a billion seconds!”
- Over the last three decades, 80% of the top sports news shows had ZERO stories on women’s sports; in general, women’s sports receive only 5% of the media coverage
- The milk of humpback whales is PINK
- According to a new Human Rights Watch report, children in the US can be legally married in 41 states, physically punished by school administrators in 47 states, sentenced to life without parole in 22 states, and work in hazardous agriculture conditions in all 50 states
- More than 100,000 people in the US die of drug overdoses every year—higher than the number of people who die from suicides and homicides combined
- The Mandarin term yu yi can be translated to “the longing to feel intensely again, as you did when you were a child”
- Alfred Nobel (of the Nobel Prize) invented blasting sticks that he called “dynamite” (from the Greek word dunamis, or “power”). In the process of testing various explosives, several people were killed. He was also called “the merchant of death” because his invention was used in warfare
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Hippocampus sea horse.” Am I the only one who didn’t know that the hippocampus in the brain is named after the Greek word for “sea horse” because it’s shaped like a sea horse? Google says: “‘Hippocampus’ comes from the Ancient Greek hippókampos, itself from híppos meaning ‘horse’ and kámpos meaning ‘sea monster’ or ‘sea animal’.”
What I’m grateful for:
- A bunch of fun kid-centric things this week—my daughter’s first real concert (Kidz Bop!), the start of soccer season, a few playdates, and my first Back to School night experience
- Successful 20-mile run this morning! Shoutout to my mom for coming to my house early so I could get this done before my work day. I’m about three weeks out from the Chicago Marathon!
- Tea at the Huntington Library with my mom. I got her this as a gift years ago, then the pandemic happened, then the tea room was closed for renovations. It’s finally open and we had a great time
- Loving my new job. I work full-time in the marketing/advertising world, which I find is a great complement to my creative pursuits
Snapshots:
