Happy Friday! Look at me, getting a weekly roundup done on time. To all the moms out there, I hope you feel special and loved this weekend. For anyone who is struggling with Mother’s Day (for any number of reasons), I see you. Sending love.
Quote of the week:
“The luminous and shocking beauty of the everyday is something I try to remain alert to, if only as an antidote to the chronic cynicism and disenchantment that seems to surround everything these days. It tells me that, despite how debased or corrupt we are told humanity is and how degraded the world has become, it just keeps on being beautiful. It can’t help it.” —Nick Cave
What I’m reading:
Penitence by Kristin Koval. I love me a complicated family drama.
What I’m listening to:
Next to Heaven by James Frey. It’s about a swingers party gone wrong. Spicy and fun.
What I’m watching:
Season 2 of The Last of Us on Max—so good. Dying for Sex on Hulu. Vikings on Netflix (which my boyfriend thought I would like and I did not think I would like, but I actually like).
Writing news:
Final copies of of Woman on the Verge are HERE! It’s getting real. Release date is July 1!
Interesting things I learned this week:
- McDonald’s once made bubblegum-flavored broccoli
- The average cloud weighs over one million pounds
- Ninety-nine percent of the world’s population now lives in areas where the air quality does not meet World Health Organization standards for safety — including one-third of all Americans
- Trump’s approval rating is at 39%, the lowest approval rating at the 100-day mark in the past 80 years
- Related: 6% of self-identified Trump voters say they now regret their vote
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“origin of hello phone greeting.” My friend sent me something about this on Instagram so I did a little investigating. So interesting: “Thomas Edison is credited with popularizing hullo as a telephone greeting. In previous decades, hullo had been used as an exclamation of surprise (used early on by Charles Dickens in 1850) and halloo was shouted at ferry boat operators by people who wanted to catch a ride. According to one account, halloo was the first word Edison yelled into his strip phonograph when he discovered recorded sound in 1877. Shortly after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he answered calls by saying ‘ahoy ahoy‘, borrowing the term used on ships. There is no evidence the greeting caught on. Edison suggested Hello! on August 15, 1877 in a letter to the president of Pittsburgh’s Central District and Printing Telegraph Company, T. B. A. David: ‘Friend David, I do not think we shall need a call bell as Hello! can be heard 10 to 20 feet away. What you think? Edison – P.S. first cost of sender & receiver to manufacture is only $7.00.'” (source: Wikipedia)
What I’m grateful for:
- Celebrating my mom’s birthday. She’s healthy and witty as ever
- The last month of school for my daughter. I can’t believe how fast first grade went
- SUN! We have serious “May gray” and “June gloom” here but we’ve had a couple days of spectacular sun and warmth. It’s amazing how much it affects my mood
- Fun plans for Mother’s Day weekend
A couple snapshots:
From top to bottom: I don’t know how I’m supposed to work in these conditions; puppy comforting me as I read up on the very unqualified US Surgeon General
