I forced myself to step away from my work yesterday, and refused to even think about classes for a day. It was marvelous! I spent the day only doing things that sparked joy…which for me is setting a very low bar, so I tidied up my home office — there are still a lot of cables around here, but at least they’re tucked away — and went for a walk and read a book (fiction!) and cooked a light dinner and went to bed around 10, and even my dreams spurned any consideration of lectures and labs.
This morning I continued the trend and went into the lab for a while and tended to the spiders (still sparking joy), and now I’m relaxing in front of my better organized computer, enjoying (???) the news. Twitter continues its decline, with Musk lifting the bans on Jordan Peterson and Donald Trump, becoming even more of a garbage dump. And I don’t care! I think I’ll continue my policy of blithe sanguinity for the rest of the day. Tomorrow I’ll have to slap myself back into dogged work and cynical disappointment in the state of the world, but that’s tomorrow. Today, I play a little more.
I imagine you probably weren’t aware when you wrote this post, but today really isn’t the best day to make a lighthearted joke about “enjoying (???)” the news.
Started off my day right.
I shitcanned my twaddle account.
Every last right-wing politician and media figure has blood on their hands and they need to be fucking stopped.
Have you considered hiring a professional cable wrangler?
As a musician, I’ve been dealing with cables about as long as I can remember, but now that I have two TVs, a laptop, a desktop, a DVD player and a VCR, each running through two separate sound systems, plus a guitar amp and a bass amp, I’ve considered asking for help, especially as my advancing age has left me prone to tripping over stuff. I suppose admitting I have a problem would be the first step.
Blithe sanguinity sounds very nice, although I always thought Blythe Danner was better looking.
@wzrd1
Good for you!
I did the same.
A light-hearted post at Youtube about what would really be the priorities if we lived in the kind of paranoid nightmare the conservatives imagine.
“How to protect your shopping trolley from improvised explosives”
https://youtu.be/_1btDc5xJe0
I’m feeling a little better myself this morning. I’m currently at my Friendly Local Game Store, painting fantasy figures with friends. Tonight we’re having a ham and scalloped potato casserole then I’ll peruse YouTube for more Inkscape lessons. I’m learning how to make vector graphics files I can use on the local library’s laser cutter to make buildings and terrain pieces for gaming. Then I’ll turn in, go the bed, wake up, and go to work…
Fuck,I made myself sad again.
@7- Akira MacKenzie
The ham and scalloped potato casserole sounds yummy.
Hopefully I can get out of bed tomorrow. Thursday’s shingle shot seems to have started a war in my armpit, though it’s subsiding. And…I may have overexerted myself taking down a young tree in the making with some pruning shears. I didn’t feel like breaking out the electric saw. I am sore. I have a huge pile of yard waste that needs to be reduced. Two days of effort with pruning shears so far.
I’d have some celebratory beers but I want the shingles shot to have a full unencumbered effect.
As for work I heard positive self-talk helps, but for whom I have no idea. I’m usually already irked from driving amongst the Trumpenproles before I get there.
At least one dystopia is ending tonite…The Walking Dead series finale (sorta?).
What a lot of things you do use “Good morning” for,
BilboPZ! Now you mean that you want to get rid of me, and that it won’t be good till I move off.Professor Myers:
Off topic, obviously, but this morning I read a very disturbing account of an action by the Minnesota State College and University System which seems nearly deranged. The account is from a source I generally trust. As an employee of this system, you must have some thoughts about this, which I would very much appreciate hearing if you have a chance.
Here is a link to the article:https://religion-is-a-mental-illness.tumblr.com/post/701051690698309632/equity-2030-higher-eds-brave-new-world
PZ takes a break and suddenly we get crap from here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_the_American_Experiment
…presented from a frickin’ tumblr account.
Wonder how long before that deranged stalking troll shows up. I have my guess who that is based on Coyne’s commentariat when PZ is mentioned.
A friend started up a local Mastodon server, so I signed up there. Early indications are encouraging.
Anyone who was ever into The Walking Dead. Series finale in less than 30 minutes.
It’s not just BIPOC students . They’re all just scarily undereducated! Met a 15 year old white kid who didn’t know what the planet Venus was. His mother and I just stared at each other in complete shock after I pointed out the planet to her.
As an aside Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are easily visible right now and if the moon is out they line up across the sky
@10
PZ doesn’t work in the Minnesota State College and University System, he is part of the University of Minnesota. Separate educational systems. Do better.
Brightmoon @ 14
I donated a simple telescope to the local school where I grew up, and I was happy to learn that the classes with 11-14 year olds sometimes were brought out at evenings to watch the sky and get some rudimentary understanding of the night sky.
I also donated an easy-to-use drone with the hope that not just the nerdy kids would grow to like tech. In that age it is important to show the kids the world outside TV and the most common hobbies.
Hey, PZ, what book did you read and is it good?
I’m currently reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun and it’s fantastic so far (2 parts in).