I am on a deadline and trying to wrap up work early today, so let’s get right into it!
Quote of the week:
“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.” –Anais Nin
What I’m reading:
When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection by Gabor Maté. Quite fascinating.
What I’m listening to:
Infinite Country by Patricia Engel. Just started on my run this morning and liking it so far.
What I’m watching:
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari. RIVETING.
Writing news:
Ways the World Could End comes out in paperback this Tuesday! I’ll be doing a giveaway on Instagram, so keep an eye out there! You can order wherever you normally get your books (I like here).
What I’m talking about:
- The mystery objects being shot down by the US government. Umm, what is going on? I guess one was a Chinese spy balloon, but the others are…mysteries? Interestingly, the government set up a new UFO task force this week…
- The Michigan State University shooting. Here we go again. Some of the students who survived this shooting also survived shootings in high school. This has to stop. I was telling a writer-friend of mine how sad I am that my daughter will likely go through active shooter drills when she goes to kindergarten next year. My friend said it probably won’t even be traumatic for her because it will be made to seem normal/routine, which is just messed up
Interesting things I learned this week:
- A recent study found that, since COVID, we’ve become less extroverted, creative, agreeable, and conscientious. In other words, our personalities have dimmed: “About one-tenth of a standard deviation,” the researchers wrote, “which is equivalent to about one decade of normative personality change.”
- A male birth control drug was found to be 100% effective
- Bookstore sales were up 6.2% in 2022. Woot!
- More Americans are choosing to stay single
- Loneliness is as toxic to the body as smoking 15 cigarettes a day
- Koi no yokan is a Japanese word meaning a “premonition of love,” that feeling of excitement when you first meet someone and feel that you will fall in love
- Due to COVID, half of kids fell below grade level in at least one subject
- The NFL spent two years preparing grass for the Super Bowl, at a cost of $800K
- The word spinster was used to refer to single women between the ages of 23-26, while thornback is reserved for those 26 and above
And now for some fun Presidents Day facts:
- Barack Obama worked at Baskin-Robbins as a teenager
- John Tyler had 15 children
- Saxophone-playing Bill Clinton was in a band called “Three Blind Mice” in high school
- Abraham Lincoln stored letters and documents in his stove-piped hat
- James Madison was just 5’4” and weighed 100 pounds
- James Garfield was ambidextrous and could write in multiple languages at the same time
- Calvin Coolidge had a pet raccoon named Rebecca
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“Drug sniffing squirrels.” I read that China’s police force is going to start using squirrels to sniff out drugs, so I had to investigate. It’s true, though the troop has not been deployed yet. You can read more about it (and see photos!) here.
What I’m grateful for:
- Feeling healthy again, just in time for my half marathon next weekend
- Celebrating my daughter’s dad’s big 4-0! Yes, we are divorced. Yes, we still hang out
- Fun outings: Bowling on Super Bowl Sunday, Whitney Cummings comedy show at the Improv
- Phone dates with friends who live too far away
- Getting ready to move! I’ve been starting to shop for furniture and I am equal parts overwhelmed and excited
Snapshots:
