Some Fridays, I am full of energy. Other Fridays, I am braindead. This Friday is the latter. With no deep thoughts to share, let’s get into the roundup.
Quote of the week:
“Life is good until it isn’t, and it is in these moments we learn how to love. From the depths of sorrow sprouts a beautiful truth: we are not alone in pain. We are a network—roots connected in sadness and growing out of darkness towards the light.” — Steph Catudal
What I’m reading:
The Bird Hotel by Joyce Maynard, one of my favorite authors.
What I’m listening to:
The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos (she’s a hospice nurse). This book is especially poignant after being with my dad in his final days. A lot of the stories in this book align with my own experience.
What I’m watching:
Haven’t had much time for shows this week, but still making my way through The Morning Show and The Bear.
Writing news:
Nothing noteworthy this week.
Interesting things I learned this week:
- Arlington, VA was named the fittest city for the sixth year in a row by the American College of Sports Medicine
- The Greenland shark has the longest known lifespan of all vertebrates, living for up to 500 years
- Brazil has changed the country’s work hours so employees can watch women’s World Cup games
- A bill has been reintroduced in Congress to end the federal death penalty
- The Federal Reserve says that Taylor Swift’s Eras tour is so massive that it’s boosting the economy
- Since Texas criminalized abortion in 2021, infant death rates went up 11.5% (likely because women were forced to carry babies to term who had anomalies that were not compatible with life)
- Over the last 50 years, the marriage rate in the U.S. has dropped by nearly 60%
- 97% of teens use the internet daily; more than a third say they are on social media “almost constantly” and nearly half say they are online “almost constantly.” Girls are more online than boys
- The word “date” did not appear in use until the end of the 19th century
- Of all the wild mammal species that have ever lived on this planet over the last 4.5 billion years, only one-sixth remain. The rest have died out since the emergence of humans. Of all those mammals that have died out, half of them have gone extinct in the past fifty years
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“replacing quartz tube.” I inherited by dad’s beloved hot tub and it brings me such joy, but there is a lot I need to learn in terms of maintenance… like the annual requirement to change the UV bulb that helps disinfect the water. The bulb is in a quartz tube that I promptly broke accidentally when trying to change the bulb. In this process, water from the spa started gushing out and I realized I was supposed to drain the tub before this procedure. It was not comical at the time, but it is now.
What I’m grateful for:
Air conditioners, pool time (my daughter is obsessed; see below photos), foggy mornings, concerts in the park, time with friends, new breweries.
Snapshots (courtesy of my photographer sister):
Happy Summer! The pool looks very inviting!